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Open Culture
How Art Gets Stolen: What Happened to Egon Schiele’s Painting Boats Mirrored in the Water After Its... George Clooney may be better regarded as an actor than as a director, but his occasional work in the...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
George Clooney may be better regarded as an actor than as a director, but his occasional work in the latter capacity reveals an admirable interest in lesser-dramatized chapters of American history. His films have found their material in everything from the early years of the NFL...
Haterade
I Regret to Announce that I Cannot Stop Eating the Shaq Gummies I have the blood sugar of a very large, very tall man.
5 months ago
Open Culture
Explore the World’s First 3D Replica of St. Peter’s Basilica, Made with AI In the trailer below for the world’s first 3D replica of St. Peter’s Basilica, Yves Ubelmann speaks...
8 months ago
54
8 months ago
In the trailer below for the world’s first 3D replica of St. Peter’s Basilica, Yves Ubelmann speaks of using “AI for Good,” which isn’t just an ideal, but also the name of a lab at Microsoft. Microsoft and Ubelman’s digital-preservation company Iconem were two of the participants...
Seth's Blog
The run-on sentence Periods were an extraordinary invention. It took thousands of years of writing before we settled on...
8 months ago
40
8 months ago
Periods were an extraordinary invention. It took thousands of years of writing before we settled on this simple convention. The most direct way to improve your writing is to make your sentences shorter. I was reading a magazine article yesterday and was rapidly losing interest....
Seth's Blog
Diagnostics “If it breaks, we’ll know how to fix it.” Old cars had an oil light, and that was about it. Often,...
a week ago
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a week ago
“If it breaks, we’ll know how to fix it.” Old cars had an oil light, and that was about it. Often, we build things hoping they’ll work. But complex systems are more resilient when we build in the diagnostics for failure from the start. A multi-unit retail chain, a medical...
Haterade
Turns Out, Nobody Needs A Restaurant Critic The Haterade diss track
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Who is undermining your brand? There’s a high-end grocer in a very expensive neighborhood of New York–and they focus all of their...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
There’s a high-end grocer in a very expensive neighborhood of New York–and they focus all of their energy on Italian food. Everything is imported, and they spend a lot of time and money earning the premium they charge for an authentic Italian shopping experience. And then a lazy...
Seth's Blog
Two sides of “a big deal” Many businesses thrive by helping people deal with projects that feel like they have high stakes. A...
a year ago
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a year ago
Many businesses thrive by helping people deal with projects that feel like they have high stakes. A kid’s first haircut, the offsite storage of data backup, an upcoming family reunion, a medical procedure or the inscription on a sentimental piece of jewelry or watch. But, if the...
Seth's Blog
The tactics trap You have a strategy. Perhaps you didn’t even choose it but you have one… and it’s not working. The...
4 months ago
24
4 months ago
You have a strategy. Perhaps you didn’t even choose it but you have one… and it’s not working. The dominant question is, “what do I do now?” Which tactic do we use? How do we get the word out? How do we close this sale, solve the problem and succeed? Perhaps we should look to […]
Open Culture
Philip K. Dick Theorizes The Matrix in 1977, Declares That We Live in “A Computer-Programmed... In 1963, Philip K. Dick won the coveted Hugo Award for his novel The Man in the High Castle, beating...
a year ago
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a year ago
In 1963, Philip K. Dick won the coveted Hugo Award for his novel The Man in the High Castle, beating out such sci-fi luminaries as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Arthur C. Clarke. Of the novel, The Guardian writes, “Nothing in the book is as it seems. Most characters are not what they...
Seth's Blog
A good idea, well executed Why isn’t this enough? There are plenty of good ideas, easy to learn from and copy. There are...
a year ago
32
a year ago
Why isn’t this enough? There are plenty of good ideas, easy to learn from and copy. There are countless projects, well executed, with the steps on display. Any entrepreneur could find a local business and bring a version of it from over here to over there. And a social change...
Handprinted - Blog
Testing your Copper Sulphate Solution When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you...
a year ago
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a year ago
When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you haven’t used for a few months, it’s good practice to test the strength of your solution. By creating some test strips for both line and tones, you’ll create yourself a reference point...
Seth's Blog
The search tax Amazon took in more than $30 billion in ad revenue last year, money spent to elevate some products...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Amazon took in more than $30 billion in ad revenue last year, money spent to elevate some products over others in the hierarchy of attention. It’s probably true that someone shopping on Amazon is going to either buy something or not… the purpose of the “ads” isn’t to amplify...
Seth's Blog
Raising the bar That’s not the same as raising the average. With the advent of the high jump, the idiom raising the...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
That’s not the same as raising the average. With the advent of the high jump, the idiom raising the bar became well understood: If you can’t jump over the bar that the current leader cleared, you don’t win. But most of the innovations that change our culture don’t actually...
Seth's Blog
“I’ve never seen you paint” … said the collector to the painter Jasper Johns. “Neither have I.” Watching is different than...
a year ago
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a year ago
… said the collector to the painter Jasper Johns. “Neither have I.” Watching is different than doing. Trying to do both at the same time is a challenge.
Seth's Blog
On to the next thing Vitally important, rarely taught, easily messed up. In order to go onto the next thing, which we all...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Vitally important, rarely taught, easily messed up. In order to go onto the next thing, which we all do (unless you’re still wearing pajamas with feet and taking ballet lessons), we need to walk away from the last thing. Wrap it up, learn from it, leave it in good hands. And we...
Seth's Blog
Portfolio theory One show can make Netflix’s year. One stock can make the numbers for an investor. One player can...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
One show can make Netflix’s year. One stock can make the numbers for an investor. One player can drive a team to victory. The key is, “I’m not sure which one it’s going to be, but it’s going to be one of these.” The challenge with falling in love with the potential of just one...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Caroline Whitehead I’m a printmaker based in East London. For about eight years now, I’ve been obsessed with...
a year ago
47
a year ago
I’m a printmaker based in East London. For about eight years now, I’ve been obsessed with alternative forms of lithography (mokulito (wood litho), kitchen litho, prontoplate litho, waterless litho, gum transfer). I also make prints on clay. As well as making my own prints, I also...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Pretty much all I want in life… … is to make things and then have other people look at those things and be like “woah, cool”
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
The Zoom stretch There are a lot of structural reasons why in-person meetings don’t involve a break every 12 minutes....
11 months ago
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11 months ago
There are a lot of structural reasons why in-person meetings don’t involve a break every 12 minutes. It takes too long to stop and start. But those rules don’t apply to Zoom. Screens off! Stand up. We’ll be back in 60 seconds. If it’s not worth coming back, the meeting should...
Seth's Blog
Avoid unnecessary amplifiers This is extremely unique vs This is unique I’m very upset vs I’m upset and I love you a ton vs I...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
This is extremely unique vs This is unique I’m very upset vs I’m upset and I love you a ton vs I love you Sometimes, more words aren’t better.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Rachael Haggerty Hello, I’m Rachael and I am a printmaker based in Bath, UK. I generally work with linocut and mainly...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Hello, I’m Rachael and I am a printmaker based in Bath, UK. I generally work with linocut and mainly print in monochrome or bright primary colours. My work celebrates family life, nature and the local area. Describe your printmaking process. I normally sketch out a composition...
Seth's Blog
The perfect conditions Somewhere, there is the ideal soil for growing mangoes. Or the best possible wave for surfing. Or...
a year ago
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a year ago
Somewhere, there is the ideal soil for growing mangoes. Or the best possible wave for surfing. Or the most romantic sunset for a proposal. But it’s not right here and it’s not right now. Our success has a lot to do with how we dance with conditions that aren’t quite perfect.
Seth's Blog
Figs, ivy, silphium and of course, commerce It’s just a week until Valentine’s Day, a multi-billion dollar spending jamboree. As often happens,...
5 months ago
28
5 months ago
It’s just a week until Valentine’s Day, a multi-billion dollar spending jamboree. As often happens, the people we depend on for much of it get the short end of the deal, but a little mindful planning can make a difference. The heart shape we associate with love came from leaves....
Seth's Blog
Nothing to ad A recent discussion about the challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing of a skincare product ended...
a year ago
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a year ago
A recent discussion about the challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing of a skincare product ended with one participant describing the hard part with, “nothing to ad.” She was referring to how much the thread had covered, but the pun wasn’t lost on us. Social media offered an...
Seth's Blog
The marketing department That’s the first part of the confusion. It’s a group of people who can’t decide what the thing they...
a year ago
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a year ago
That’s the first part of the confusion. It’s a group of people who can’t decide what the thing they do is supposed to be. Is it: Advertising Publicity Increasing retail distribution Direct and measured response SEO Making the logo pretty Wholesale and trade relationships...
Open Culture
Free: 356 Issues of Galaxy, the Groundbreaking 1950s Science Fiction Magazine Along with Astounding Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
Along with Astounding Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy Magazine was one of the most important science fiction digests in 1950s America. Ray Bradbury wrote for it–including an early version of his masterpiece Fahrenheit 451–as did Robert A....
Seth's Blog
But what’s it really for? An expensive watch isn’t purchased to tell time. We already know what time it is. The food at a...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
An expensive watch isn’t purchased to tell time. We already know what time it is. The food at a wedding isn’t really there to keep guests from going hungry. A cookie could do that. Our focus, energy and money are often spent on transactions that are disguised as something else....
Seth's Blog
But what if it’s voluntary? For more than 130 years, we’ve celebrated Labor Day in the US and Canada. And May Day has been...
a year ago
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a year ago
For more than 130 years, we’ve celebrated Labor Day in the US and Canada. And May Day has been around about as long. Around here, it’s become mostly a seasonal marker, but it was founded to devote just a day to something that deserves much more… to commemorate and celebrate the...
Stat Significant
Is Music Stardom in Decline? A Statistical Analysis Is music stardom dying?
8 months ago
Seth's Blog
Retreat! We’ve managed to lionize, celebrate and elevate the mindset of “CHARGE!” Even when better judgment...
12 months ago
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12 months ago
We’ve managed to lionize, celebrate and elevate the mindset of “CHARGE!” Even when better judgment and experience would indicate that we’re often more likely to succeed with a strategic re-evaluation of the situation. Making a new decision based on new information isn’t weakness....
Seth's Blog
Comfortable with the fuzziness Atmospheric conditions on Earth limit visibility on a perfect day to less than 200 miles. Time works...
7 months ago
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7 months ago
Atmospheric conditions on Earth limit visibility on a perfect day to less than 200 miles. Time works the same way. When we’re doing the same thing, in the same way, our perception of what will happen next can feel crystal clear. Plant some apple seeds in your backyard, and you’re...
Ian Betteridge
Weeknote, Sunday 10th November 2024 It’s been a while since I wrote a weeknote, although I’ve kept up with the other kinds of writing...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
It’s been a while since I wrote a weeknote, although I’ve kept up with the other kinds of writing that I do. But: I work now. I’m working at a small B2B publisher helping them sort out a few things. This was originally going to be an in-and-out job which would take nine months,...
Seth's Blog
A little faster than you What’s the best speed to drive? I was caught in a snowstorm the other day. Visibility was low, so I...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
What’s the best speed to drive? I was caught in a snowstorm the other day. Visibility was low, so I was going about 25 mph. Someone passed me on the highway, doing 30. Not 55 or 75, but fast enough to take a risk and pass the rest of traffic. Do that often enough and […]
Seth's Blog
The Mississippi River paradox There’s no water in that river that was there ten years ago. The boundaries have shifted in that...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
There’s no water in that river that was there ten years ago. The boundaries have shifted in that time as well, there’s no riverbank that’s exactly where it was. And the silt and the fish have all moved too. So, what’s “the Mississippi River”? It’s a label, a placeholder, and a...
Seth's Blog
A small shopping list (floss and more) Here are some books and household items that I wanted to share. I’m mostly into audiobooks these...
a year ago
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a year ago
Here are some books and household items that I wanted to share. I’m mostly into audiobooks these days–a good narrator combined with a good author is pretty rare and wonderful… It turns out that a breakthrough rice cooker is a bargain, even if it seems expensive at first. The...
Seth's Blog
The thing about Hobson People talk about Hobson’s choice as if it’s always a bad thing. A liveryman in pre-industrial...
a year ago
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a year ago
People talk about Hobson’s choice as if it’s always a bad thing. A liveryman in pre-industrial London, he rented horses. And every customer was allowed to take the horse closest to the door. Hobson’s choice is no choice at all. Of course, this system meant that the horses were...
Handprinted - Blog
Using Hawthorn Process Colours We've been stocking Hawthorn Stay Open Inks for 6 years now! These inks are oil based inks and work...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
We've been stocking Hawthorn Stay Open Inks for 6 years now! These inks are oil based inks and work beautifully for relief printing. We have a fantastic range of colours including the process range. Process colours are inks specially formulated to create a full spectrum of...
Open Culture
60 Free Film Noir Movies You Can Watch Online, Including Classics by John Huston, Orson Welles &... During the 1940s and 50s, Hollywood entered a “noir” period, producing riveting films based on...
a month ago
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a month ago
During the 1940s and 50s, Hollywood entered a “noir” period, producing riveting films based on hard-boiled fiction. These films were set in dark locations and shot in a black & white aesthetic that fit like a glove. Hardened men wore fedoras and forever smoked cigarettes. Women...
Open Culture
Iconic Animator Chuck Jones Creates an Oscar-Winning Animation About the Virtues of Universal Health... While our country looks like it might be coming apart at the seams, it’s good to revisit, every once...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
While our country looks like it might be coming apart at the seams, it’s good to revisit, every once in a while, moments when it did work. And that’s not so that we can feel nostalgic about a lost time, but so that we can remind ourselves how, given the right conditions, things...
Open Culture
Revisit Episodes of Liquid Television, MTV’s 90s Showcase of Funny, Irreverent & Bizarre Animation MTV stands for Music Television, and when the network launched in 1981, its almost entirely music...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
MTV stands for Music Television, and when the network launched in 1981, its almost entirely music video-based programming was true to its name. Within a decade, however, its mandate had widened to the point that it had become the natural home for practically any exciting...
Seth's Blog
Too much competition There are two approaches: Broaden your offerings, make them easier, cheaper and more available. Dumb...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
There are two approaches: Broaden your offerings, make them easier, cheaper and more available. Dumb them down and race to the bottom. Or… Focus on the customers who care enough about your idiosyncratic and particular offerings that they’ll not only happily walk away from the...
Seth's Blog
After the meteorite When it slams into your house and destroys it, we’re likely to pursue one of two lines of thinking:...
a year ago
33
a year ago
When it slams into your house and destroys it, we’re likely to pursue one of two lines of thinking: –How did I cause this? What choices did I make, what mistakes did I permit, why did I deserve to have this damage, or who can I blame? –Well, that happened, now what should I do?...
Seth's Blog
Appropriate tension Growth usually feels risky. The feeling is a protection mechanism, a way to avoid failure or even...
over a year ago
23
over a year ago
Growth usually feels risky. The feeling is a protection mechanism, a way to avoid failure or even the fear of failure. Of course, risk also feels risky (or at least it should). Differentiating between the two is difficult, which is why finding institutions, methods or coaches...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date” Edition 1. Who rules us? Google changed its rules on what kind of behaviour it regards as “spam” and, of...
7 months ago
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7 months ago
1. Who rules us? Google changed its rules on what kind of behaviour it regards as “spam” and, of course, the impact on some companies will be pretty negative. The behaviour it is targeting is so-called “parasite SEO”, where a publisher allows a third party to create content for...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Back into the FE-AL: Iron Pour at Sculpture Trails Indiana In which I detail the process of making a cannonball by participating at a very unique iron...
over a year ago
Open Culture
How Editing Saved Ferris Bueller’s Day Off & Made It a Classic “In our salad days, we are ripe for a particular movie that will linger, deathlessly, long after the...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
“In our salad days, we are ripe for a particular movie that will linger, deathlessly, long after the greenness has gone,” writes the New Yorker’s Anthony Lane in a recent piece on movies in the eighties. “When a friend turned to me after the first twenty minutes of Ferris...
Open Culture
How Car Chase Scenes Have Evolved Over 100 Years: The Technology Behind Bullitt, The French... For many a classic action-movie enthusiast, no car chase will ever top the one in Bullitt. The...
8 months ago
55
8 months ago
For many a classic action-movie enthusiast, no car chase will ever top the one in Bullitt. The narrator of the Insider video above describes it as “the scene that set the standard for all modern car chases,” one made “iconic partly because of the characters, but also because of...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #137 Mitochondria, Image Generation, Nobels, Vast, Common Sense, AI Lifeguards, Tina He
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
The value of artifacts An artifact is an object that holds or signifies an idea. A book on paper is an artifact: it’s the...
6 months ago
49
6 months ago
An artifact is an object that holds or signifies an idea. A book on paper is an artifact: it’s the object plus the words. Now that you can get the words in many other ways, the value of the book is changed. A wedding ring is an artifact. If lost, it has sentimental value far […]
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Lisa Stubbs Hi, I'm a printmaker and illustrator living in the Holme Valley in Yorkshire, with a little print...
a year ago
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a year ago
Hi, I'm a printmaker and illustrator living in the Holme Valley in Yorkshire, with a little print studio in the neighbouring Colne valley.   Describe your printmaking process. Playful and experimental! I love being curious during my process, combining different processes together...
Open Culture
Twin Peaks Actually Explained: A 4‑Hour Video Essay Demystifies It All I don’t know about you, but my YouTube algorithms can act like a nagging friend, suggesting a video...
9 months ago
63
9 months ago
I don’t know about you, but my YouTube algorithms can act like a nagging friend, suggesting a video for days until I finally give in. Such was the case with this video essay with the tantalizing title: “Twin Peaks ACTUALLY EXPLAINED (No, Really)”. First of all, before, during,...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Caroline Fearn Hello, I’m Caroline. I live in London. Two years ago I picked up a carving tool and a block of lino....
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Hello, I’m Caroline. I live in London. Two years ago I picked up a carving tool and a block of lino. I quite liked it.   Describe your printmaking process My process is an intuitive one, so I typically just start, and I will see what develops through doing. Experimenting with...
Seth's Blog
Them or us? What kind of culture will we build? At work, in our community, online? Each of us builds culture...
a year ago
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a year ago
What kind of culture will we build? At work, in our community, online? Each of us builds culture every time we interact with anyone else. Opting out isn’t possible, all we can do is decide what sort of impact and contribution we’re each going to make. It’s tempting to say, “they”...
Seth's Blog
Education is free, learning is expensive That’s a complete reversal of how it used to be. Colleges used to be measured by how many books they...
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
That’s a complete reversal of how it used to be. Colleges used to be measured by how many books they had in the library. Access to courses was restricted. If knowledge was power, controlling access was essential. They even call it the ‘admissions office.’ Part of the status that...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Fiona Black My name is Fiona Black and I am an artist, folk musician, writer, history geek and lover of stories....
a year ago
93
a year ago
My name is Fiona Black and I am an artist, folk musician, writer, history geek and lover of stories. Home for me is the Highland village of Evanton, just north of Inverness on the shore of the Cromarty Firth. I am happy to have returned to live and create in the Highlands, and I...
Seth's Blog
Different kinds of people It’s a tempting shortcut. Different kinds of people prefer pop tarts to pizza, or prefer expensive...
a year ago
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a year ago
It’s a tempting shortcut. Different kinds of people prefer pop tarts to pizza, or prefer expensive wine to beer, or prefer amusement parks to bowling. Except everyone is the same and everyone is different. What’s actually useful is to realize that in this moment, under these...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker Round-Up 2024! It has been another incredible year of printmaking inspiration. We've put together a round-up of all...
7 months ago
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7 months ago
It has been another incredible year of printmaking inspiration. We've put together a round-up of all our fantastic Meet the Maker artists from 2024, alongside their advice or inspiration for other printmakers. Read through for a wholesome dose of printmaking magic, and click...
Seth's Blog
The hubris of creativity Where’s your permit? Who said you could try to solve this problem? I don’t get it… That’s too...
a year ago
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a year ago
Where’s your permit? Who said you could try to solve this problem? I don’t get it… That’s too original. It’s not original enough. You missed a comma. That’s not funny. That’s been done before. That’s never been done before. It’s not your best work. None of us are authorized to...
Seth's Blog
Bottom of the funnel It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions....
a year ago
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a year ago
It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions. More buzz, hype, promotion. Get the word out. Just about all the time people who call themselves “marketers” spend is on this. Don’t worry about what happens later, just pour more...
Seth's Blog
Vocal fatigue Most of us talk, some of us do it for a living. When your voice is on the fritz, it can affect your...
10 months ago
56
10 months ago
Most of us talk, some of us do it for a living. When your voice is on the fritz, it can affect your entire body as well as the way you approach your day. I’ve read all 25+ of my audiobooks myself, and I used to be able to complete each one in a day […]
The Last...
Real Men Want To Drink Guinness, But Don't Expect Them To Pay For It the reason the bubbles go down is because of the drag created by the bubbles rising up the center. ...
over a year ago
24
over a year ago
the reason the bubbles go down is because of the drag created by the bubbles rising up the center.  yeah, like a metaphor. "The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character." Yeah, we're sheep.  Message received.  That wasn't the message?  Are you...
Seth's Blog
Just looking Lots of people go to the beach but very few get in the water. 3,000 students go to the football game...
a year ago
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a year ago
Lots of people go to the beach but very few get in the water. 3,000 students go to the football game to watch 20 of their peers play. And we go to a conference to meet people and connect, and then spend most of our time hoping someone else will see us and care enough […]
Open Culture
Watch James Earl Jones Read Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter Urging High-School Students to Create Art & Make... As cultural figures, the late James Earl Jones and Kurt Vonnegut would seem to have had little in...
9 months ago
43
9 months ago
As cultural figures, the late James Earl Jones and Kurt Vonnegut would seem to have had little in common, but each could easily be recognized by his voice. Jones’ will come to mind as soon as you think of Darth Vader, Simba’s father, or “This is CNN.” Vonnegut’s distinction was...
Seth's Blog
As slow as possible A six-hundred-year-long organ recital is going on, and today marks a change in notes. If you miss...
a year ago
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a year ago
A six-hundred-year-long organ recital is going on, and today marks a change in notes. If you miss it, the next one is in two years. We’re used to the rapid increase in speed in just about everything around us. Absolutely positively overnight is mostly too slow for many industries...
Seth's Blog
Inverting the vex Life can be irritating. And sometimes, we can make a choice. The thing that’s vexing you: is it a...
a year ago
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a year ago
Life can be irritating. And sometimes, we can make a choice. The thing that’s vexing you: is it a situation or a problem? Problems have solutions. If we care enough, we can find a way to solve a problem, but it might cost more money, require more effort or involve more risk than...
Marian's Blog
Lego Part Designer I made a web app that lets you design your own Lego Technic parts and save them as printable STL...
over a year ago
67
over a year ago
I made a web app that lets you design your own Lego Technic parts and save them as printable STL files. You can check it out here. I got the idea for this project when I was building with Lego parts and wondered how many of the common parts can be described with a simple rule...
Handprinted - Blog
Block Printing Registration Using Measure Pattern Tape and Madder, Cutch and Co Inks Measure Pattern Tape is a really useful bit of kit for your printmaking projects. This adhesive...
5 months ago
44
5 months ago
Measure Pattern Tape is a really useful bit of kit for your printmaking projects. This adhesive ruler tape can be stuck onto your printing surface or board to help lay out your designs accurately. It's self-adhesive and we've even found it can be lifted up and re-used a couple of...
Seth's Blog
The strategy sessions I’m workshopping a new book. For the last few months, I’ve been feverishly writing a book about...
a year ago
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a year ago
I’m workshopping a new book. For the last few months, I’ve been feverishly writing a book about strategy. Strategy for individuals, small organizations and large ones as well. Strategy for someone seeking to make a difference, and strategy for people who do projects. Starting...
Seth's Blog
The Hegelochus lesson More than 2,000 years ago, an actor in Greece botched a line in a play. In an inflection error, he...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
More than 2,000 years ago, an actor in Greece botched a line in a play. In an inflection error, he said “weasel” when he meant to say “calm sea.” As a result, he was mocked by Sannyrion and then Aristophanes and others. He never worked again. The lesson might be that one innocent...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Ben Goodman Hello. I’m a wood engraver and printmaker who specialises in portraiture. I work from my studio in...
a week ago
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a week ago
Hello. I’m a wood engraver and printmaker who specialises in portraiture. I work from my studio in South Bristol where I’m lucky enough to have an old Albion Press. I’ve lived in Bristol for 18 years and love the friendly and open-minded spirit which it seems to...
Seth's Blog
Time, consquences and opportunities Dreams have consequences Hisham Matar Time passes, decisions are made, we face the consequences or...
a year ago
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a year ago
Dreams have consequences Hisham Matar Time passes, decisions are made, we face the consequences or enjoy the benefits. A few books for this moment, about navigating our days, and the possibility of light. It bends toward justice. The Return, by Hisham Matar. A beautiful and...
Seth's Blog
Better than Google I haven’t done a Google search in months. Perplexity is more powerful, more pleasant and more...
a year ago
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a year ago
I haven’t done a Google search in months. Perplexity is more powerful, more pleasant and more effective. Instead of being corrupted by invasive ads, surveillance and sneaky dark patterns, it presents you with a simple, footnoted explanation of exactly what you’re looking for....
Seth's Blog
Get/Want/Have To Get to, want to and have to are an endless braid. How much of our time do we spend on each? Have to...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
Get to, want to and have to are an endless braid. How much of our time do we spend on each? Have to is often up to someone else. The things we’re required to do by the system or the people in it. Get to is a matter of perspective. Trust and health and leverage […]
Anarchy Unfolds
Paths to peace Letters to an anarchist - Part 4
8 months ago
Seth's Blog
Dreams, plans and contradictions Dreams are fine. And dreams involve contradictions. We want this AND that, but both can’t happen....
a year ago
47
a year ago
Dreams are fine. And dreams involve contradictions. We want this AND that, but both can’t happen. That’s what keeps them from being plans. Plans embrace boundaries and reality, they don’t ignore them. Plans thrive on scarcity and constraints. Plans are open for inspection, and a...
Handprinted - Blog
Projects for the Year Ahead Are you looking to start the year by learning a new skill or starting a fresh project? Perhaps you...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Are you looking to start the year by learning a new skill or starting a fresh project? Perhaps you just need a boost of inspiration? We've put together some projects to get you going for the year ahead. Introduction to Linocut Did you get some new tools for Christmas and you'd...
Open Culture
The Soviet Union Creates a List of 38 Dangerous Rock Bands: Kiss, Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, Village... Image by Mario Casciano via Wikimedia Commons Music is dangerous and powerful, and can be, without...
a month ago
12
a month ago
Image by Mario Casciano via Wikimedia Commons Music is dangerous and powerful, and can be, without intending to, a political weapon. All authoritarian regimes have understood this, including repressive elements in the U.S. throughout the Cold War. I remember having books handed...
Open Culture
How to Potty Train Your Cat: A Handy Manual by Jazz Musician Charles Mingus Charles Mingus, the innovative jazz musician, was known for having a bad temper. He once got so...
7 months ago
35
7 months ago
Charles Mingus, the innovative jazz musician, was known for having a bad temper. He once got so irritated with a heckler that he ended up trashing his $20,000 bass. Another time, when a pianist didn’t get things right, Mingus reached right inside the piano and ripped the strings...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #134 Blue Ghost, Starlink, Roche’s SBX, Wooly Mice, Female Brains, Tardigrades
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
The friendly professional Friendly doesn’t mean saying ‘yes’ all the time, or changing every policy, or giving up our...
a year ago
34
a year ago
Friendly doesn’t mean saying ‘yes’ all the time, or changing every policy, or giving up our principles. Friendly is how it feels, not what it does.
Seth's Blog
Getting AI to do your work That’s the first step, certainly. If you don’t, your boss will. The second step is to take the time...
10 months ago
61
10 months ago
That’s the first step, certainly. If you don’t, your boss will. The second step is to take the time you’ve freed up and do work that the AI can’t do.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Rob Jones I am a textiles artist working with Japanese techniques such as Shibori, shaped resist and Katagami...
a year ago
90
a year ago
I am a textiles artist working with Japanese techniques such as Shibori, shaped resist and Katagami stencilling (using indigo to dye the fabric). I also work with formal Japanese embroidery techniques - Sashiko and Kogin (counted thread) embroidery as well as some Boro inspired...
Seth's Blog
The lonely zone For many, the goal is to be the deciding vote, the donation that gets a cause over the goal, the...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
For many, the goal is to be the deciding vote, the donation that gets a cause over the goal, the person who counts. And often, we enjoy piling on. Once the cause or fashion or tech is clearly working, it’s easy and fun to say “me too.” More rare, more vulnerable and more...
Open Culture
How the Oldest Company in the World, Japan’s Temple-Builder Kongō Gumi, Has Survived Nearly 1,500... Image from New York Public Library, via Wikimedia Commons If you visit Osaka, you’ll be urged to see...
11 months ago
106
11 months ago
Image from New York Public Library, via Wikimedia Commons If you visit Osaka, you’ll be urged to see two old buildings in particular: Osaka Castle and Shitennō-ji (above), Japan’s first Buddhist temple. In beholding both, you’ll behold the work of construction firm Kongō Gumi...
Open Culture
Beautiful 19th Century Maps of Dante’s Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise & More Even the least religious among us speak, at least on occasion, of the circles of hell. When we do...
7 months ago
56
7 months ago
Even the least religious among us speak, at least on occasion, of the circles of hell. When we do so, we may or may not be thinking of where the concept originated: Dante’s Divina Commedia, or Divine Comedy. We each imagine the circles in our own way — usually filling them with...
Handprinted - Blog
Mark Marking - Using Etching Tools When you’ve degreased and prepared your plate for etching, there are a variety of tools you can use...
a year ago
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a year ago
When you’ve degreased and prepared your plate for etching, there are a variety of tools you can use to mark into the surface. Any marks made into the surface of the grounds will expose your plate to the mordant. When etched, these marks will become sunken areas for ink to sit,...
Seth's Blog
A treaty Successful treaties calm things down and let us get back to what’s really important. Sometimes, the...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Successful treaties calm things down and let us get back to what’s really important. Sometimes, the fight becomes the entire point. Not surprisingly, when we’re busy fighting a war in our head about a previous injustice or slight, we can effectively consummate a treaty without...
Open Culture
Stephen King’s Top 10 All-Time Favorite Books Image by The USO, via Flickr Commons So you might think that if Stephen King – the guy who wrote...
a week ago
13
a week ago
Image by The USO, via Flickr Commons So you might think that if Stephen King – the guy who wrote such horror classics like Carrie and The Stand – were to rattle off his top ten favorite books, it would feature works by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft or maybe J. […]
escape the algorithm
Not your usual subscription confirmation Or why you shouldn't ignore the back catalog
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Uncomfortable ideas The ideas aren’t uncomfortable, we are. You don’t have to like the weather to acknowledge that it’s...
2 months ago
15
2 months ago
The ideas aren’t uncomfortable, we are. You don’t have to like the weather to acknowledge that it’s raining.
Open Culture
William S. Burroughs’ Scathing “Thanksgiving Prayer,” Shot by Gus Van Sant “Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986” first appeared in print in Tornado Alley, a chapbook published by...
7 months ago
44
7 months ago
“Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986” first appeared in print in Tornado Alley, a chapbook published by William S. Burroughs in 1989. Two years later, Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Milk) shot a montage that brought the poem to film, making it at least the...
Open Culture
Watch Animated Sheet Music for Miles Davis’ “So What,” Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” and Charlie... Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue changed jazz. It changed music, period. So I take it very seriously. But...
a week ago
10
a week ago
Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue changed jazz. It changed music, period. So I take it very seriously. But when I see the animated sheet music of the first cut, “So What,” I can’t help but think of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts cartoons, and their Vince Guaraldi compositions. I mean no...
Seth's Blog
The hard parts (and the important parts) The hard parts of what you do all day can feel fraught. It’s heavy lifting. Emergencies. Dangerous...
11 months ago
69
11 months ago
The hard parts of what you do all day can feel fraught. It’s heavy lifting. Emergencies. Dangerous labor. The stakes are high and the work can be difficult. The important parts of what you do all day are valuable to someone else. This is what you’re getting paid for–solving a...
Open Culture
Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa Now Appears on Japanese Banknotes If you’ve lived or traveled in Japan, you know full well how much of daily life in that...
a year ago
54
a year ago
If you’ve lived or traveled in Japan, you know full well how much of daily life in that cash-intensive society involves the use of thousand-yen bills. Once considered the equivalent of the American ten-spot, the yen’s lately having fallen to its lowest value in decades means that...
Seth's Blog
Publicity or public relations? Publicity is the hard work of getting media outlets and social media influencers to talk about you....
a week ago
11
a week ago
Publicity is the hard work of getting media outlets and social media influencers to talk about you. Hustle for attention and mentions. Public relations is the much harder work of engaging with internal teams to make something worth talking about. It’s not spin, it’s story telling...
Seth's Blog
Checking all the boxes The simplest way forward is to see which boxes your target market has and then check all of them....
5 months ago
57
5 months ago
The simplest way forward is to see which boxes your target market has and then check all of them. Unfortunately #1: The audience doesn’t publish their actual list of boxes, they conceal many of them. Unfortunately #2: They don’t all have the same boxes. Unfortunately #3: If it...
Seth's Blog
The hard part first If you’re trying to reduce risk, do the hard part first. That way, if it fails, you’ll have...
a year ago
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a year ago
If you’re trying to reduce risk, do the hard part first. That way, if it fails, you’ll have minimized your time and effort. On the other hand, if you’re looking for buy-in and commitment so you can through the hard part, do it last. People are terrible at ignoring sunk costs, and...
Seth's Blog
Grab and go Every retailer knows that the items that sell the best are at eye level or at the cash register....
a month ago
14
a month ago
Every retailer knows that the items that sell the best are at eye level or at the cash register. Some people are hungry, rushed, distracted and lazy. If you want to reach them (us), you need to make it convenient. The lesson is simple: We can market to ourselves the same way...
Seth's Blog
Rethinking the Sports-Industrial Complex School sports can have some valuable outputs: And yet, many schools act as if all they have is a...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
School sports can have some valuable outputs: And yet, many schools act as if all they have is a trophy shortage. They bench kids who might not (yet) have the physical attributes necessary to win, or they build huge stadiums, go on long road trips, berate students that make an...
Open Culture
An Architect Breaks Down the 5 Most Common Styles of College Campus Every now and again on social media, the observation circulates that Americans look back so fondly...
11 months ago
85
11 months ago
Every now and again on social media, the observation circulates that Americans look back so fondly on their college years because never again do they get to live in a well-designed walkable community. The organization of college campuses does much to shape that experience, but so...
Open Culture
Get Unlimited Access to Courses & Certificates: Coursera Is Offering 40% (or $159) Off of Coursera... A heads up on a deal: Between today and June 23, 2024, Coursera is offering a 40% discount on its...
a year ago
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a year ago
A heads up on a deal: Between today and June 23, 2024, Coursera is offering a 40% discount on its annual subscription plan called “Coursera Plus.” Normally priced at $399, Coursera Plus (now available for $239.40) gives you access to 7,000+ courses for one all-inclusive...
Seth's Blog
The challenge of nonprofit fundraising When someone starts a business, they spend a bunch of time with a business plan, working to raise...
a year ago
36
a year ago
When someone starts a business, they spend a bunch of time with a business plan, working to raise funds and get it off the ground. After that, though, the purpose of the business is completely aligned with the idea of not running out of money. We run a business to make money, not...
Open Culture
1980s Metalhead Kids Are Alright: Scientific Study Shows That They Became Well-Adjusted Adults In the 1980s, The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), an organization co-founded by Tipper Gore...
a month ago
21
a month ago
In the 1980s, The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), an organization co-founded by Tipper Gore and the wives of several other Washington power brokers, launched a political campaign against pop music, hoping to put warning labels on records that promoted Sex, Violence, Drug...
Open Culture
How Sci-Fi Writers Isaac Asimov & Robert Heinlein Contributed to the War Effort During World War II Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague De Camp at the Navy Yard in 1944 Robert Heinlein was...
a year ago
40
a year ago
Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague De Camp at the Navy Yard in 1944 Robert Heinlein was born in 1907, which put him on the mature side by the time of the United States’ entry into World War II. Isaac Asimov, his younger colleague in science fiction, was born in 1920 (or...
Seth's Blog
What sort of progress? Nothing stays still. Relative to the rest of the world, even something that’s not moving is...
5 months ago
49
5 months ago
Nothing stays still. Relative to the rest of the world, even something that’s not moving is changing. It’s tempting to talk about not making fast enough progress. But it’s far more useful to ask which direction we’re progressing. Often, people will point to the velocity of the...
Seth's Blog
High fidelity It might be the high fidelity of a good LP on a great turntable. It sounds just like the original...
a year ago
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a year ago
It might be the high fidelity of a good LP on a great turntable. It sounds just like the original recording. It might be the high fidelity of loyalty. No shopping around for a momentarily better deal. It might be the high fidelity of genre. This is just what you hoped it would...
Seth's Blog
“No photos” That’s what it said at the florist shop. I’m guessing because ‘taking’ a photo sometimes feels like...
over a year ago
82
over a year ago
That’s what it said at the florist shop. I’m guessing because ‘taking’ a photo sometimes feels like a taking. The creativity, skill and effort that goes into making a distinctive arrangement might feel uncompensated when someone simply takes the work and posts it. This misses the...
Marian's Blog
Procedural pixelart generator I made a procedural pixelart generator that is inspired by the art style of the upcoming space...
over a year ago
21
over a year ago
I made a procedural pixelart generator that is inspired by the art style of the upcoming space adventure game No Man’s Sky. Check it out and generate your own pixelart: https://marian42.github.io/proceduralart/ The art generator is written in javascript and uses noise functions...
Seth's Blog
The next one When asked what his favorite composition was, Duke Ellington said, “the next one.” This is the...
a year ago
23
a year ago
When asked what his favorite composition was, Duke Ellington said, “the next one.” This is the essence of the artistic process. When we’re in the liminal space between now and what is about to come, we’re fully alive.
Ian Betteridge
Weeknote, Sunday 8th December 2024 This time of year, work becomes a tension between two opposing forces: the inevitable winding down...
7 months ago
44
7 months ago
This time of year, work becomes a tension between two opposing forces: the inevitable winding down of the year, as fewer projects appear and people begin to drift away, and the equally inevitable rush to get whatever remains to be done. It’s a tension that keeps me awake at night...
Stat Significant
6 Reasons to Be (Cautiously) Optimistic About Movies in 2025: A Statistical Analysis Six reasons to be optimistic about the film industry.
6 months ago
Seth's Blog
Spire confusion When architects show off their work, or propose a bold new building complex or even ask for a zoning...
a year ago
46
a year ago
When architects show off their work, or propose a bold new building complex or even ask for a zoning variance, the public sees the external photos. The tall spire, the innovative use of glass, the weird hole in the center of the building. And when a car company shows off a new...
Seth's Blog
It could have easily gone the other way It could have been way better. It could have been far worse. It’s easy to imagine that outcomes are...
a year ago
25
a year ago
It could have been way better. It could have been far worse. It’s easy to imagine that outcomes are inevitable, but they’re not. Was it your fault, or was it luck (good or bad)? If our story of the past is filled with second guesses, shame or blame, it can carry forward. Or...
Seth's Blog
Discernment in creativity The hard part isn’t good ideas. It never has been. The hard part is choosing. Ask GPT for ten...
over a year ago
31
over a year ago
The hard part isn’t good ideas. It never has been. The hard part is choosing. Ask GPT for ten subtitles for your book, or sixteen ways to hold a surprise party, and you’ll be delighted at how useful they are. Ask Dreamstudio or Kittl for some logo designs, same thing. There is...
Seth's Blog
Pleasant We often use words like “beautiful” or “stunning” or “perfect” when we actually mean “popular” or...
over a year ago
85
over a year ago
We often use words like “beautiful” or “stunning” or “perfect” when we actually mean “popular” or “pleasant.” Every day is beautiful in its own way. But the weather yesterday was pleasant. Hit songs are hits. But they’re rarely perfect. I’m a big fan of pleasant. And I often like...
Stat Significant
How Streaming Elevated (and Ruined) Documentaries: A Statistical Analysis Unpacking streaming's embrace and erosion of non-fiction storytelling.
9 months ago
Open Culture
The Story Told on the Famous Bayeux Tapestry Explained from Start to Finish They say that history is written by the victors, but that isn’t always true: sometimes it’s...
3 days ago
5
3 days ago
They say that history is written by the victors, but that isn’t always true: sometimes it’s embroidered by the victors. Such was the case with the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the build-up to and successful execution of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Created not...
Open Culture
Why Bob Dylan’s Unreleased “Blind Willie McTell” Is Now Considered a Masterpiece Most Dylanologists disagree about which is the single greatest song in Bob Dylan’s catalog, but few...
3 weeks ago
9
3 weeks ago
Most Dylanologists disagree about which is the single greatest song in Bob Dylan’s catalog, but few would deny “Blind Willie McTell” a place high in the running. It may come as a surprise — or, to those with a certain idea of Dylan and his fan base, the exact opposite of a...
Seth's Blog
Complex or complicated? Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the...
a year ago
26
a year ago
Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the complicated portions into smaller pieces. And complicated problems often have an emotional component, because there are parts of the problem we don’t want to look at closely, or deal with...
Open Culture
Watch Bob Dylan Play “Mr. Tambourine Man” in Color at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival It was at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival that Bob Dylan famously “went electric,” alienating certain...
a month ago
13
a month ago
It was at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival that Bob Dylan famously “went electric,” alienating certain adherents to the folk scene through which he’d come up, but also setting a precedent for the kind of quick-change musical adaptation that he’s kept up into his eighties. At the...
The Great Discontent...
Ophelia Chong Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that...
a year ago
10
a year ago
Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that spans from magazines and music labels to film festivals and book publishing. When a family member’s medicinal marijuana use inspired her to dip her toes into the world of weed, Chong...
Seth's Blog
Decisions and choices Decisions are easy, choices are hard. A good decision is our best analysis of the facts, options and...
6 months ago
48
6 months ago
Decisions are easy, choices are hard. A good decision is our best analysis of the facts, options and risks. If it’s too close to call, flip a coin, because it’s too close to call. On the other hand, a choice involves understanding our priorities, evaluating our preference for...
Open Culture
Bringing Tsarist Russia to Life: Vivid Color Images from 1905–1915 History escapes us. Events that changed the world forever, or should have, slide out of collective...
10 months ago
42
10 months ago
History escapes us. Events that changed the world forever, or should have, slide out of collective memory. If we’re pointing fingers, we might point at educational systems that fail to educate, or at huge historical blind spots in mass media. Maybe another reason the recent past...
Stat Significant
Who's the Worst Actor in Movie History? A Statistical Analysis Who's the worst actor of all time, and why?
10 months ago
Handprinted - Blog
The Endless Possibilities of a Square Block Repeat Using a simple square block can create a myriad of possibilities of pattern. We have used Speedy...
over a year ago
104
over a year ago
Using a simple square block can create a myriad of possibilities of pattern. We have used Speedy Carve and Versafine inks for this project. Cut a square from the Speedy Carve using a scalpel. Draw a quarter circle curve on the block using a pencil. Above the curve draw some...
Haterade
Nostalgia Pizza The virtues (and limitations) of the Soggy School Lunch Square
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
The prevailing conditions It doesn’t matter how hard you try, you’re not going to change the direction of the wind. That...
11 months ago
66
11 months ago
It doesn’t matter how hard you try, you’re not going to change the direction of the wind. That doesn’t mean you can’t get good at sailing, though. And yes, if we do try, we can change the conditions in our household, community or workplace. It might feel like wind, but it’s...
Handprinted - Blog
Should I use Caligo Extender or Opaque White? When mixing shades of ink, we have the choice to dilute the colour with either Opaque White ink or...
over a year ago
53
over a year ago
When mixing shades of ink, we have the choice to dilute the colour with either Opaque White ink or Extender. Both of these give us different results so which should we choose? We have performed a few experiments to show the difference between mixing with Opaque White and...
escape the algorithm
Folk search engines Strategies better than plain Google.
a year ago
Open Culture
4 Franz Kafka Animations: Watch Creative Animated Shorts from Poland, Japan, Russia & Canada Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari thought of Kafka as an international writer, in solidarity with...
a year ago
87
a year ago
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari thought of Kafka as an international writer, in solidarity with minority groups worldwide. Other scholars have characterized his work—and Kafka himself wrote as much—as literature concerned with national identity. Academic debates, however, have...
Prolost
iPhone ProRes Log in Peru and Taiwan This is a blog post about a video, which is about new color-conversion LUTs for Apple Log footage...
a year ago
116
a year ago
This is a blog post about a video, which is about new color-conversion LUTs for Apple Log footage from the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (updated from my first set). The video is also a mini-travelogue of my recent trips to Taiwan and Peru. This post dives a bit deeper into both the...
Seth's Blog
Eight marketing maxims
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Charged by the word In a hurried world with infinite content, it’s worth considering that you’re no longer paid by the...
3 months ago
34
3 months ago
In a hurried world with infinite content, it’s worth considering that you’re no longer paid by the word when you write, in fact, you should pay for every extra word you use. Be as brief as is useful.
Open Culture
J. R. R. Tolkien Reads from The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings & Other Works If you wanted to hear the voice of your favorite writer in the nineteen-sixties — a time before...
a week ago
9
a week ago
If you wanted to hear the voice of your favorite writer in the nineteen-sixties — a time before audiobooks, let alone podcasts — you consulted the catalog of Caedmon Records. That label specialized in LPs of literary eminences reading their own work. This may or may not be the...
Neocha – Culture &...
Spectacular Skin
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Product and process What do we get in exchange for our work? There’s pay, of course, and the satisfaction of a job well...
a year ago
39
a year ago
What do we get in exchange for our work? There’s pay, of course, and the satisfaction of a job well done. There’s stress and human interaction, learning and physical exertion. We get the drama of what might happen next and the delight of actually pulling it off. And mostly we get...
Infinite Scroll
JD Vance and Vice Signaling Abandon your values for power and profit
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
The four arcs They can carry us away, amplify our work or slowly change everything around us. These arcs can...
6 days ago
7
6 days ago
They can carry us away, amplify our work or slowly change everything around us. These arcs can easily become invisible forces, pushing us to make choices and to ignore their origins or consequences. Capitalism is the most common one, along with its shadow, industrialism. We show...
Seth's Blog
Are we cannibals? Part of the challenge of hanging out with cannibals is that it’s very difficult to get a good...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Part of the challenge of hanging out with cannibals is that it’s very difficult to get a good night’s sleep. The math of finding a group of people that cares about community is pretty compelling. While individual selfish choices might feel productive in the moment, if they...
Open Culture
The First Recording of Allen Ginsberg Reading “Howl” (1956) Image by Michiel Hendryckx, via Wikimedia Commons Occasionally I slip into an ivory tower mentality...
a year ago
85
a year ago
Image by Michiel Hendryckx, via Wikimedia Commons Occasionally I slip into an ivory tower mentality in which the idea of a banned book seems quaint—associated with silly scandals over the tame sex scenes in James Joyce or D.H. Lawrence. After all, I think, we live in an age when...
Seth's Blog
Throwing shade or throwing light? One takes a little more effort than the other. While throwing shade might be more fun, it eventually...
over a year ago
35
over a year ago
One takes a little more effort than the other. While throwing shade might be more fun, it eventually runs out of energy. It’s designed to end conversations, not start them, to intimidate, not encourage. Turning on lights helps everyone.
Seth's Blog
Feeding the algorithm The marketing consultant told the client that they have to post three times a day on LinkedIn. “It...
10 months ago
37
10 months ago
The marketing consultant told the client that they have to post three times a day on LinkedIn. “It doesn’t matter if it’s good.” The SEO consultant explained that the website had to be loaded with keywords, and that a big budget needed to be set aside to develop inbound links....
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Ian O' Halloran My name is Ian O’Halloran. I am a professional Artist and Printmaker living and working in the...
2 months ago
35
2 months ago
My name is Ian O’Halloran. I am a professional Artist and Printmaker living and working in the Sussex Weald near Herstmonceux (UK). I am and always have been inspired by the British landscape. I came to art later in life than most, having had a career in civil engineering first...
Seth's Blog
Don’t know, don’t care Clients and customers can be frustrating. Perhaps they don’t know what you know. Perhaps they don’t...
over a year ago
87
over a year ago
Clients and customers can be frustrating. Perhaps they don’t know what you know. Perhaps they don’t care. It’s possible to educate and inspire. It might be more productive to find the few that want to go where you do.
Open Culture
David Bowie/Nirvana’s “The Man Who Sold The World” Played on the Gayageum, a Korean Instrument from... East meets West, and the Ancient, the Modern. That’s what happens every time Luna Lee plays one of...
2 months ago
20
2 months ago
East meets West, and the Ancient, the Modern. That’s what happens every time Luna Lee plays one of your favorites on the Gayageum, a Korean instrument that dates back to the 6th century. We’ve featured her work in years past (see the Relateds below). Above, watch one of her...
Seth's Blog
Snowballs and avalanches Residents leave a town because of a lack of services, which cuts the tax base, which leads to more...
9 months ago
55
9 months ago
Residents leave a town because of a lack of services, which cuts the tax base, which leads to more services lost, which leads to more residents leaving… A hip new brand attracts a few opinion leaders, who flash the logo, which attracts more hipsters, who then establish a status...
Open Culture
Hear Moby Dick Read in Its Entirety by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, John Waters, Stephen Fry... Image of Moby Dick by David Austen. In 2013, Plymouth University kicked off Moby Dick The Big Read,...
9 months ago
82
9 months ago
Image of Moby Dick by David Austen. In 2013, Plymouth University kicked off Moby Dick The Big Read, promising a full audiobook of Herman Melville’s influential novel, with famous (and not so famous) voices taking on a chapter each. When we first wrote about it here, only six...
Seth's Blog
Which inbox? It’s easier than ever to fall into an inbox mindset. There are things to do, and we do them. Inbox...
a month ago
15
a month ago
It’s easier than ever to fall into an inbox mindset. There are things to do, and we do them. Inbox zero is the unattainable goal that fills our days. But it avoids the real question, which is: which inbox are we emptying? There’s the inbox of urgent texts. Or the inbox of...
Seth's Blog
Freedom of attitude There are two franchised pack-and-ship shops about equidistant from my home. One has a 4.5 rating...
a year ago
23
a year ago
There are two franchised pack-and-ship shops about equidistant from my home. One has a 4.5 rating and is reliably busy. The other has an astonishingly low 1.5 out of 5 rating. The physical plant is virtually identical, and the marketing and promo are the same. The only difference...
Seth's Blog
The missing file It contained some of my best writing. Cogent, clear and powerful. I found it. It wasn’t nearly as...
10 months ago
66
10 months ago
It contained some of my best writing. Cogent, clear and powerful. I found it. It wasn’t nearly as good as I remembered. In fact, it was hardly useful. The opposite happens with the things we fear. When they show up, they’re likely to be a lot less fearsome than we imagined.
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Suckered Yet Again Influencer boxing, BlueSky winning, and incredible calendar confessions
8 months ago
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Lucy Gell Hi, I'm Lucy. I studied graphic design and illustration at Staffordshire University and later began...
over a year ago
64
over a year ago
Hi, I'm Lucy. I studied graphic design and illustration at Staffordshire University and later began a career in animation. During this fun and exciting time I was responsible for fabricating the Martians in the Tim Burton film ‘Mars Attacks’. I made many foam latex and silicone...
Seth's Blog
Unforced errors In hospitality and customer service, perfect is elusive. Someone is going to miss a shift, have a...
8 months ago
48
8 months ago
In hospitality and customer service, perfect is elusive. Someone is going to miss a shift, have a bad day, or fail to understand a situation. But there’s a second kind of error, the one that’s far more common. When management makes bad choices, or underinvests in systems,...
The Last...
Randi Zuckerberg Thinks We Should Untangle Our Wired Lives how hard could it be, none of those circles are actually connected Randi Zuckerberg is...
over a year ago
20
over a year ago
how hard could it be, none of those circles are actually connected Randi Zuckerberg is CEO of Zuckerberg Media, which, according to its 10-K, is an iphone.  If you have no idea who she is, and you shouldn't, then the answer to your one and only question is yes. In her...
Seth's Blog
Peak infrastructure Community resources are easy to take for granted. Unevenly distributed, they’re the sort of thing we...
a year ago
87
a year ago
Community resources are easy to take for granted. Unevenly distributed, they’re the sort of thing we miss only when they’re gone. Invisible things are easy to ignore. I was stunned to see a sign in Connecticut that listed the names of dozens of highway workers who had been killed...
Open Culture
The Illustrated Version of “Alice’s Restaurant”: Watch Arlo Guthrie’s Thanksgiving Counterculture... Alice’s Restaurant. It’s now a Thanksgiving classic, and something of a tradition around...
7 months ago
86
7 months ago
Alice’s Restaurant. It’s now a Thanksgiving classic, and something of a tradition around here. Recorded in 1967, the 18+ minute counterculture song recounts Arlo Guthrie’s real encounter with the law, starting on Thanksgiving Day 1965. As the long song unfolds, we hear all about...
Seth's Blog
The maverick and the status quo The future isn’t the same as the past. Technology develops, systems change and most of all, someone...
a year ago
29
a year ago
The future isn’t the same as the past. Technology develops, systems change and most of all, someone cares enough to make things better. The maverick isn’t the selfish gunslinger of myth. In fact, she’s focused on resilient, useful interactions that change what we expect, pushing...
Seth's Blog
What spoiled wrecks There’s nothing wrong with abundance and joy. But being spoiled causes two real problems: As a...
a year ago
80
a year ago
There’s nothing wrong with abundance and joy. But being spoiled causes two real problems: As a community increases in wealth, the number of spoiled citizens increases as well. It’s often the acid that corrodes the magic that created the wealth in the first place. Whining is a...
Rectangle
The first rectangle And the first of many
over a year ago
John Reynolds -...
Collage Collage 2016
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Nice bike A well-designed bicycle is efficient, inexpensive and delightful. If you use your bike on the right...
a year ago
36
a year ago
A well-designed bicycle is efficient, inexpensive and delightful. If you use your bike on the right paths, with appropriate goals, it can deliver exactly what you need, while also allowing you to go at your own pace, see what’s going on around you and feel grounded. Until, of...
Open Culture
When 20,000 Americans Held a Pro-Nazi Rally in Madison Square Garden in 1939 Above, two-time Academy Award nominee Marshall Curry presents A Night at The Garden, a film that...
8 months ago
42
8 months ago
Above, two-time Academy Award nominee Marshall Curry presents A Night at The Garden, a film that revisits a night in February 1939 when “20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism — an event largely forgotten from U.S. history.”...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: BookTok Perverts Plus! Elon's mania, presidential crypto, and concerning turkey behavior
4 months ago
Open Culture
Hear Leo Tolstoy Read From His Last Major Work in Four Languages, 1909 In years past, we’ve brought you rare recordings of Sigmund Freud and Jorge Luis Borges speaking in...
a year ago
105
a year ago
In years past, we’ve brought you rare recordings of Sigmund Freud and Jorge Luis Borges speaking in English. Today we present a remarkable series of recordings of the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy reading a passage from his book, Wise Thoughts for Every Day, in four...
Open Culture
How Las Vegas’ Sphere Actually Works: A Looks Inside the New $2.3 Billion Arena If the United States of America is the Roman empire of our time, surely it must have an equivalent...
a year ago
60
a year ago
If the United States of America is the Roman empire of our time, surely it must have an equivalent of the Colosseum. A year ago, you could’ve heard a wide variety of speculations as to what structure that could possibly be. Today, many of us would simply respond with “the...
Seth's Blog
Two chicken jokes “Why did the chicken cross the road” tells us a bit about jokes. It’s a joke about jokes. The first...
a year ago
33
a year ago
“Why did the chicken cross the road” tells us a bit about jokes. It’s a joke about jokes. The first half is a setup, reminding us that an absurd question creates tension, which is then relieved by the punchline. But the second half undoes this by refusing to release the tension....
Prolost
Red Giant & Maxon, Sitting in a Tree Red Giant, where I’ve been Chief Creative Officer for a couple of years now, but making filmmaking...
over a year ago
28
over a year ago
Red Giant, where I’ve been Chief Creative Officer for a couple of years now, but making filmmaking tools for you for 17 years, is merging with Maxon, makers of Cinema 4D. From the Red Giant blog: Hi folks — by now you’ve probably heard the news that Maxon and Red Giant are...
Seth's Blog
The useful agreement Contrary to expectations, written contracts don’t have to be adversarial. In fact, the effective...
a year ago
20
a year ago
Contrary to expectations, written contracts don’t have to be adversarial. In fact, the effective ones rarely are. When you hand someone a release, a royalty agreement or even a partnership document, it pays to point out the gnarly parts, the controversial bits and the ones that...
Seth's Blog
More vs. better If every building in the shopping district in a big city was owned by one landlord, rents would go...
a year ago
24
a year ago
If every building in the shopping district in a big city was owned by one landlord, rents would go up. So would the prices of everything sold. The landlord would keep a significant percentage of each store’s profits and innovation would suffer as well. Google’s monopoly is real....
Seth's Blog
Jevons paradox is not surprising When a resource can be used more efficiently, we end up using more of the thing, not less. So, when...
a year ago
36
a year ago
When a resource can be used more efficiently, we end up using more of the thing, not less. So, when cars get better gas mileage, people drive more, and consumption can actually go up. When AI learns to write computer code, the demand for programmers goes up, because more...
Seth's Blog
Preference and utility Taste varies. That’s why we don’t call it utility. Taste is individual preference, not absolute...
a year ago
29
a year ago
Taste varies. That’s why we don’t call it utility. Taste is individual preference, not absolute truth. In team settings, then, it’s much more helpful to say, “I prefer this over that,” instead of, “this is wrong.” Some things are wrong. There are standards that we can all accept...
Handprinted - Blog
Fabric Painting - which fabric paint is right for my project? When it comes to painting onto fabric, there are a few differences to consider. Does the paint need...
a year ago
99
a year ago
When it comes to painting onto fabric, there are a few differences to consider. Does the paint need to be opaque? Can it be diluted? Would you like metallics?  Aimee has tested three different fabric paints: Jacquard Textile Colour, Lumiere Metallic Paint and Handprinted Fabric...
John Reynolds -...
2024.04.14 2024.04.14
2 months ago
Marian's Blog
Raspberry Pi Projekte Was macht man eigentlich mit einem Raspberry Pi? Ich habe mir vor einem halben Jahr einen gekauft....
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
Was macht man eigentlich mit einem Raspberry Pi? Ich habe mir vor einem halben Jahr einen gekauft. Seitdem steht er hier auf meinem Schreibtisch und führt eine Reihe von Aufgaben aus. Hier eine Übersicht: http-Server für einige Webseiten auf dem Pi und die Daten auf meiner...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: New Popes and Cooked Kids Plus! Meme Wars and 16th Century TMZ
2 months ago
Prolost
Kino: My New Favorite iPhone Video App The new Kino app recording ProRes Log with a custom preview LUT. Yes we’re still talking about...
a year ago
127
a year ago
The new Kino app recording ProRes Log with a custom preview LUT. Yes we’re still talking about shooting video on iPhones. But I also want to talk about digital cinema shooting in general, in a world where top camera makers are battling to give filmmakers everything we want in a...
Seth's Blog
Enrollment and engagement Teachers and organizations benefit from both, but they’re not the same. Engagement is the delight we...
3 months ago
23
3 months ago
Teachers and organizations benefit from both, but they’re not the same. Engagement is the delight we have when we lean into the process. Engagement happens when social media is optimized for maximum focus, and it also can be seen in a student who’s in sync with a teacher who...
Seth's Blog
Five lessons from week one of This is Strategy Once you decide to write a book about strategy, it raises the bar for having a strategy for the...
8 months ago
55
8 months ago
Once you decide to write a book about strategy, it raises the bar for having a strategy for the launch. People generally focus far too much on the launch of a project. Rocketships need a perfect launch, because just about everything after the launch is simply ballistic. But most...
Seth's Blog
Fooled Now it’s a business model. People are regularly fooled by crypto scams, NFT hype, opioid felons,...
over a year ago
97
over a year ago
Now it’s a business model. People are regularly fooled by crypto scams, NFT hype, opioid felons, algorithmic spam at scale, health claims, illogical political arguments, fundraising pitches, overnight shortcuts on the road to riches or happiness and MLM hustle. Your account has...
Open Culture
Ridley Scott’s Cinematic TV Commercials: An 80-Minute Compilation Spanning 1968–2023 “In the future, e‑mail will make the written word a thing of the past,” declares the narration of a...
a month ago
21
a month ago
“In the future, e‑mail will make the written word a thing of the past,” declares the narration of a 1999 television commercial for Orange, the French telecom giant. “In the future, we won’t have to travel; we’ll meet on video. In the future, we won’t need to play in the wind and...
The Great Discontent...
Rafael Espinal Rafael Espinal was just 26 when he became an elected official. For the next 10 years, he worked...
9 months ago
12
9 months ago
Rafael Espinal was just 26 when he became an elected official. For the next 10 years, he worked within the halls of government, first as a New York State Assemblymember and then as a New York City Councilmember, advocating for artists, independent workers, and underserved...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Holly Nairn Hello! My name is Holly Nairn and I am a full time Art teacher in Hertfordshire, a job I absolutely...
a month ago
17
a month ago
Hello! My name is Holly Nairn and I am a full time Art teacher in Hertfordshire, a job I absolutely love. I work under the name PaperInkDream and I currently live in Essex with my husband and my cocker spaniel Teddy. Apart from printmaking, I am cycling obsessed and love nothing...
Open Culture
Meet Fanny, the First Female Rock Band to Top the Charts: “They Were Just Colossal and Wonderful,... When the Beatles upended popular music, thousands of wannabe beat groups were born all over the...
a year ago
84
a year ago
When the Beatles upended popular music, thousands of wannabe beat groups were born all over the world, and many of them–for the first time ever, really–were all-female groups. This Amoeba Records article has a fairly exhaustive list of these girl bands, with names like The...
Seth's Blog
“We used to do that” When electricity came along, there was a swath of industries that were trapped in an old way of...
a year ago
32
a year ago
When electricity came along, there was a swath of industries that were trapped in an old way of thinking. The only ones that thrived were able to walk away from what they used to do and eagerly embrace something new. When the internet was young, the major book publishers had...
Seth's Blog
Choose your customers …choose your future. It’s an odd way to think about your project, your job, your startup, but...
a year ago
32
a year ago
…choose your future. It’s an odd way to think about your project, your job, your startup, but there’s little that matters more. There are two key elements: At one extreme is the first few years of Google’s growth. The salesforce didn’t matter–the customers showed up on their own,...
Seth's Blog
Who pays? Supply and demand are always in a dance, with one outpacing the other from time to time. In the last...
a year ago
41
a year ago
Supply and demand are always in a dance, with one outpacing the other from time to time. In the last three years, the green tech revolution has accelerated dramatically. Countless companies are being created to change how food is grown, people are transported and energy is...
Marian's Blog
Quadcopter Lightpainting Die Fotos wurden mit einem beleuchteten Quadrocopter, einem Stativ und 15 Sekunden Belichtung...
over a year ago
20
over a year ago
Die Fotos wurden mit einem beleuchteten Quadrocopter, einem Stativ und 15 Sekunden Belichtung aufgenommen. Bei diesen Fotos stimmte die Einstellung noch nicht, sodass sie zu dunkel sind: ...
Seth's Blog
Create value If your job feels like a dead end, it might be because you’ve traded agency and responsibility for...
a year ago
32
a year ago
If your job feels like a dead end, it might be because you’ve traded agency and responsibility for the feeling of security. But real security lies in creating value. Creating value isn’t easy, but it’s resilient and generous and often profitable. “How do I create more value?” is...
Stat Significant
How Do Music Listening Habits Change With Age? A Statistical Analysis How does music listening change as we grow older?
5 months ago
Open Culture
David Bowie Songs Reimagined as Pulp Fiction Book Covers: Space Oddity, Heroes, Life on Mars & More In the last year, screenwriter Todd Alcott’s hobby has blown up into a legit side career. This Etsy...
10 months ago
76
10 months ago
In the last year, screenwriter Todd Alcott’s hobby has blown up into a legit side career. This Etsy seller isn’t peddling kombucha SCOBYs, letter pressing new baby announcements, or repurposing old barns for use as cutting boards. No, Alcott’s crafty fortunes fall squarely at the...
Seth's Blog
And then that happened The world changes and we have a choice: • Fight hard to keep it the way it was. • Notice what...
over a year ago
48
over a year ago
The world changes and we have a choice: • Fight hard to keep it the way it was. • Notice what happened and then decide to do something with that insight. Thirty years ago, AOL was my company’s biggest client. They charged users $3 an hour to use their precursor to the internet,...
Seth's Blog
The grid of inquiry Expertise and firmly held beliefs don’t always go together. Here’s a simple XY grid to help us...
a year ago
42
a year ago
Expertise and firmly held beliefs don’t always go together. Here’s a simple XY grid to help us choose where to sit at whatever table we’re invited to: Plenty of well-trained professionals have earned the right to have strongly held beliefs. These convictions save them time and...
Seth's Blog
Non-professional writers Nobody asks you to design a bridge, write a sonnet or do open heart surgery. We leave these...
11 months ago
60
11 months ago
Nobody asks you to design a bridge, write a sonnet or do open heart surgery. We leave these essential tasks to trained professionals. But many job descriptions carry the unstated addendum, “and write.” Write memos, proposals, and even instruction manuals. The local supermarket is...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Michelle Hughes I’m a printmaker and illustrator, living in York, North Yorkshire. I create limited edition linocut...
over a year ago
69
over a year ago
I’m a printmaker and illustrator, living in York, North Yorkshire. I create limited edition linocut prints inspired by the British countryside and British wildlife. Describe your printmaking process. When I started making lino prints I used SoftCut lino and a wooden spoon to...
Neocha – Culture &...
Natural Selection
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Worthless noise isn’t information Data becomes information when at least one of two related things are true: If you’re not getting one...
a month ago
16
a month ago
Data becomes information when at least one of two related things are true: If you’re not getting one of these things, then the data is simply noise. A distraction that wastes our time and confuses us. Breaking news is up to the recipient.
Seth's Blog
Books and more, winter 2024 They’re a gift that lasts forever, because your friend will remember what they learned and how they...
7 months ago
45
7 months ago
They’re a gift that lasts forever, because your friend will remember what they learned and how they felt… and they can keep it on their bookshelf or hard drive as a reminder in case they forget… Amazon chose This is Strategy for a Kindle deal today. It’s only $4. Also, the...
Seth's Blog
The two bicycle errors Momentum activities like public speaking, board sports and leadership all share an attribute with...
11 months ago
59
11 months ago
Momentum activities like public speaking, board sports and leadership all share an attribute with riding a bicycle: It gets easier when you get good at it. The first error we often make is believing that someone (even us) will never be good at riding a bike, because riding a bike...
Seth's Blog
And it can also do that If you were around when the Model T was first announced, you could have built the organizations that...
a year ago
31
a year ago
If you were around when the Model T was first announced, you could have built the organizations that became Disney, McDonald’s and Holiday Inn, all of which were powered by cheap, plentiful cars. You could have become a major developer of suburbs, mortgage banking and even pop...
Seth's Blog
Promo creep Hustle harder. Run more ads. Spam people. Interrupt. Make the logo bigger. Post again. Post again....
over a year ago
79
over a year ago
Hustle harder. Run more ads. Spam people. Interrupt. Make the logo bigger. Post again. Post again. Add more blurbs. Push the press release to irrelevant people. Do one more ad. Use AI to create faux intimacy. Get the word out. Burn trust. Get more attention. In the last forty...
Seth's Blog
16 minutes Some facts and assertions about healthcare (particularly in the US) and then an outline of a change...
5 months ago
42
5 months ago
Some facts and assertions about healthcare (particularly in the US) and then an outline of a change agent that could improve health, perhaps dramatically. And so, a system that’s organized around treatments and status, that misallocates time and effort, causing stress for...
Seth's Blog
The Pinocchio protocol He had a hard time lying because his nose got longer every time he did. Gas-powered leaf blowers...
a year ago
53
a year ago
He had a hard time lying because his nose got longer every time he did. Gas-powered leaf blowers would disappear if the smoke they belched out was black instead of invisible. And few people would start smoking if the deposits on their lungs ended up on their face instead. We’re...
Seth's Blog
Fire inspectors Running into a burning building is heroic work. Keeping buildings from burning down in the first...
11 months ago
60
11 months ago
Running into a burning building is heroic work. Keeping buildings from burning down in the first place is actually just as important. And it scales more reliably.
Seth's Blog
Amplifying the fringes Culture is: “People like us do things like this.” We might even have a chance to choose our group....
9 months ago
58
9 months ago
Culture is: “People like us do things like this.” We might even have a chance to choose our group. Hipsters do this, hippies do that. People in this town wear this outfit, students at this school hang out here on Saturdays… We might be born into a culture. Less agency, but just...
Seth's Blog
Naming is part of marketing A name is a hook for us to hang a story on. We need to begin with empathy and a useful story… useful...
a year ago
44
a year ago
A name is a hook for us to hang a story on. We need to begin with empathy and a useful story… useful to the people who want to believe it, spread it, and use it to accomplish their goals. But then, the story needs firm footing and a way to stick with us. Patagonia […]
Open Culture
How Kodak Invented the Snapshot in the 1800s, Making It Possible for Everyone to Be a Photographer We still occasionally speak of “Kodak moments,” making conscious or unconscious reference to the...
9 months ago
67
9 months ago
We still occasionally speak of “Kodak moments,” making conscious or unconscious reference to the slogan of the Eastman Kodak Company in the nineteen-eighties. Even by that time, Kodak had already been a going concern for nearly a century, furnishing photographers around the world...
Seth's Blog
It’s simple (it’s complicated) It’s simple: This surgery will fix your problem and you’ll be better. It’s complicated: Changes in...
a year ago
19
a year ago
It’s simple: This surgery will fix your problem and you’ll be better. It’s complicated: Changes in lifestyle, diet and attitude will, over time, help you feel better. Or… Our enemies are bad, and we’re good. Vote for me. The world is a big place that is filled with nuance,...
Marian's Blog
LED Matrix Software I wrote two programs that run on my LED matrix. They have different approaches and different...
over a year ago
20
over a year ago
I wrote two programs that run on my LED matrix. They have different approaches and different aims. This post describes one of them.  The app offers a web interface where users can write simple programs that are then compiled and started instantly from the website. The concept is...
Seth's Blog
Ready to be… Disappointed Delighted Amazed Offended Ripped off Grateful Loved Sometimes we get what we expect.
a month ago
13
a month ago
Disappointed Delighted Amazed Offended Ripped off Grateful Loved Sometimes we get what we expect.
Seth's Blog
Bullies Bullies use intimidation and power to force others to act against their best interests. Bullies...
a year ago
64
a year ago
Bullies use intimidation and power to force others to act against their best interests. Bullies blame the victim, assuring everyone that they wouldn’t have to use force if people would simply go along with what they want. Effective bullies organize a small mob to enforce their...
Open Culture
Do All Roads Lead to Philosophy on Wikipedia?: They Do About 97.3% of the Time Pull up the Wikipedia page for Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love,” the 1984 single now known for...
10 months ago
45
10 months ago
Pull up the Wikipedia page for Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love,” the 1984 single now known for re-popularizing the genre of Japanese “city pop.” Then click the first of its links (not related to the language of the article itself), which leads to Takeuchi’s own page. If you keep...
Seth's Blog
The sportscar quadrants They apply to jobs, relationships, art projects and everything in between: The top right is the rare...
over a year ago
81
over a year ago
They apply to jobs, relationships, art projects and everything in between: The top right is the rare one–a car that goes fast but doesn’t feel like it’s on the edge. The hot rod is a car that is actually pretty safe, precisely because it doesn’t feel that way. You don’t have to...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: The Ban Cometh TikTok banned, RedNote reversal, TrumpCoin and Gjörfbunkle
6 months ago
On the Arts
The Sea Has Always Looked the Same A View of the Ocean as a Connection to the Past
over a year ago
Blog - Mac Pierce
The making of A Scanner Darkly How and why I made A Scanner Darkly, an art piece that reads off text using spotlights in the...
over a year ago
85
over a year ago
How and why I made A Scanner Darkly, an art piece that reads off text using spotlights in the shape of security cameras.
Seth's Blog
Walking the city, walking the world Last week, I passed 800 people as I walked my way through New York. I decided to look at the folks I...
a year ago
27
a year ago
Last week, I passed 800 people as I walked my way through New York. I decided to look at the folks I was walking near. Of those 800 people, not one was as conventionally attractive as a movie star. Few looked like the images I saw on the billboards I passed. Most wouldn’t be cast...
Seth's Blog
It’s Mac Day (#40) A lot shifted when the Apple Macintosh was introduced, and it wasn’t about the RAM, the chips or the...
a year ago
35
a year ago
A lot shifted when the Apple Macintosh was introduced, and it wasn’t about the RAM, the chips or the processor speed. Our world changed forty years ago today. Marketing, technology, commerce, luxury brands, communities, communication and our expectations for how we might spend...
Seth's Blog
The length trick It’s possible that the memo or video is simply too long. A 14 minute video explaining how to have a...
a year ago
21
a year ago
It’s possible that the memo or video is simply too long. A 14 minute video explaining how to have a 10 minute brainstorming meeting might benefit from some editing. But it might be that your instruction manual would benefit from some more photos and better in depth explanation....
Seth's Blog
PW 2: Productivity in community We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand...
a year ago
40
a year ago
We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand of us now. It was an experiment, now it’s a useful tool. The initiative hat is often ill-fitting. We rush to take it off and get back to doing chores. And that’s why a community...
Blog - Mac Pierce
10 Billion Minus 1 - Making a 10 digit 7 segment display for Lovepop The process and steps of making a multi-digit display.
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Predicting the past It’s not unusual to encounter conflicting weather reports. One site says it’s going to rain, the...
4 months ago
32
4 months ago
It’s not unusual to encounter conflicting weather reports. One site says it’s going to rain, the other insists it won’t. On the other hand, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. It’s sunny, right now, you can tell. A weather service that said it was...
Seth's Blog
Secret recipes “You can try this at home…” But you probably won’t. The secret recipe isn’t the reason Coke is...
6 months ago
38
6 months ago
“You can try this at home…” But you probably won’t. The secret recipe isn’t the reason Coke is successful. And the recipe for KFC isn’t much of a recipe at all. The secret way you do the thing isn’t what keeps your clients coming back. It’s the part you do in public that matters.
Open Culture
Enter an Archive of 10,000+ Historical Children’s Books, All Digitized & Free to Read Online We can learn much about how a historical period viewed the abilities of its children by studying its...
4 weeks ago
15
4 weeks ago
We can learn much about how a historical period viewed the abilities of its children by studying its children’s literature. Occupying a space somewhere between the purely didactic and the nonsensical, most children’s books published in the past few hundred years have attempted to...
Seth's Blog
The last little bit Important hills usually get much steeper at the top. 99% of the training in competitive athletics is...
11 months ago
65
11 months ago
Important hills usually get much steeper at the top. 99% of the training in competitive athletics is devoted to the last 1% of performance. A tenth of a second. The same is true for squeezing the last bit of performance out of a car, a grape or a semiconductor. And healthcare,...
Seth's Blog
The other choices The intentional, noticed choices are obvious. “Vanilla or chocolate?” But most of the choices we...
a year ago
81
a year ago
The intentional, noticed choices are obvious. “Vanilla or chocolate?” But most of the choices we live with are unseen. They’re expensive, challenging and invisible. When we plan an event with an outdoor component, we’re choosing to be anxious about the weather in the week leading...
Prolost
Visual Effects Compositing in Adobe After Effects: My IBC 2019 Talk Adobe graciously invited me to speak at their IBC 2019 booth about visual effects compositing in...
over a year ago
29
over a year ago
Adobe graciously invited me to speak at their IBC 2019 booth about visual effects compositing in After Effects — something I’ve been doing against all advice for many (many!) years. You can watch the entire talk here:
Open Culture
Ernest Hemingway’s Favorite Hamburger Recipe Image via Wikimedia Commons In 2013, the food writer Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan stumbled across an article...
a year ago
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a year ago
Image via Wikimedia Commons In 2013, the food writer Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan stumbled across an article in the Boston Globe describing a trove of digitized documents from Ernest Hemingway’s home in Cuba that had been recently donated to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and...
Open Culture
How Upside-Down Models Revolutionized Architecture, Making Possible St. Paul’s Cathedral, Sagrada... For 142 years now, Sagrada Família has been growing toward the sky. Or at least that’s what it seems...
8 months ago
52
8 months ago
For 142 years now, Sagrada Família has been growing toward the sky. Or at least that’s what it seems to be doing, as its ongoing construction realizes ever more fully a host of forms that look and feel not quite of this earth. It makes a kind of sense to learn that, in designing...
Seth's Blog
All of it, all at once The smartphone is the most expensive device most people own, and the one they use the most. Here’s...
5 months ago
27
5 months ago
The smartphone is the most expensive device most people own, and the one they use the most. Here’s everything you can’t have, can’t afford and won’t get, right here. Here’s everyone you want to have an argument with, one click away. Here is every piece of bad news we can imagine,...
Seth's Blog
The future doesn’t care It doesn’t care whether you’re excited or filled with trepidation. It arrives, regardless. What an...
a week ago
10
a week ago
It doesn’t care whether you’re excited or filled with trepidation. It arrives, regardless. What an opportunity. Or a threat. Up to us.
Handprinted - Blog
In the Studio 2022 We have had the pleasure of hosting lots of new and exciting Fab Friday workshops and wonderful...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
We have had the pleasure of hosting lots of new and exciting Fab Friday workshops and wonderful Guest Tutors in 2022, exploring a variety of printmaking techniques. Take a look at this selection of work produced by students throughout the year:   Life Drawing - Mono Screen...
Seth's Blog
The list of compromises All the no-compromise solutions have failed. If there was a way to solve our problem without giving...
over a year ago
54
over a year ago
All the no-compromise solutions have failed. If there was a way to solve our problem without giving something up, we would have done that already. So, if a persistent problem important, the question is not: Should we compromise or not? The question is: Which changes are we going...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Creating art out of a weapon. Using the Stuxnet Virus. How and why I made Portrait of a Digital Weapon, a piece of electronic art made from the Stuxnet...
over a year ago
Open Culture
Talking Heads Release the First Official Video for “Psycho Killer”: Watch It Online On social media, the Talking Heads teased a major announcement on June 5th, leading fans to wonder...
a month ago
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a month ago
On social media, the Talking Heads teased a major announcement on June 5th, leading fans to wonder if a reunion—41 years after their last tour—might finally be in the offing. As one fan put it, “If this is a tour announcement, I am going to freak out!” Alas, we didn’t quite get...
Anarchy Unfolds
Did we really just get taken over by fascists in less than a month? Red Round-up #2
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
There are no stupid mistakes There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is...
over a year ago
79
over a year ago
There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is what happens when we refuse to learn from our mistakes. “Don’t be stupid” is a fine mantra. It’s particularly apt when talking about cultural forces, political agendas and our...
Handprinted - Blog
Creating Cyanotypes using the Speedball UV Lamp Cyanotypes are made using a light sensitive solution to create designs on fabric and paper. Prints...
a year ago
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a year ago
Cyanotypes are made using a light sensitive solution to create designs on fabric and paper. Prints are typically created using direct sunlight. Unfortunately here in the UK, sunshine is often in short supply! But we have discovered a work around using the Speedball UV Lamp, a...
Seth's Blog
Actionable feedback “Do you want to know what I think?” The best answer might be, “no.” Because this person is not very...
over a year ago
30
over a year ago
“Do you want to know what I think?” The best answer might be, “no.” Because this person is not very good at offering useful feedback. Because you didn’t create this product or service or performance to please this person. They’re not the customer. Because you’re not going to...
Open Culture
Behold the Kräuterbuch, a Lavishly Illustrated Guide to Plants and Herbs from 1462 When Konrad von Megenberg published his Buch der Natur in the mid-fourteenth century, he won the...
11 months ago
39
11 months ago
When Konrad von Megenberg published his Buch der Natur in the mid-fourteenth century, he won the distinction of having assembled the very first natural history in German. More than half a millennium later, the book still fascinates — not least for its depictions of cats,...
escape the algorithm
Befriending neighbors and beneighboring friends The Casement Window Theory of community building
11 months ago
Open Culture
William Faulkner Resigns From His Post Office Job With a Spectacular Letter (1924) Working a dull civil service job ill-suited to your talents does not make you a writer, but plenty...
a month ago
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a month ago
Working a dull civil service job ill-suited to your talents does not make you a writer, but plenty of famous writers have worked such jobs. Nathaniel Hawthorne worked at a Boston customhouse for a year. His friend Herman Melville put in considerably more time—19 years—as a...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Enclosing a Prusa MK3, or how to completely overbuild an Octopi setup. Overbuilding a Prusa enclosure
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Working with problems Situations have no solution, they’re not problems, they’re simply the way it is. Problems are...
6 months ago
46
6 months ago
Situations have no solution, they’re not problems, they’re simply the way it is. Problems are distinguished by the fact that they have solutions. But that doesn’t mean that the solution is obvious, easy or convenient. If the problem is important enough, we should pick the best...
Handprinted - Blog
Making an Aluminium Plate Etching We recently covered in our blog how to make marks on etching plates using tools and resists. Now...
10 months ago
104
10 months ago
We recently covered in our blog how to make marks on etching plates using tools and resists. Now we’re going to put together what we’ve learnt to create a print! This blog is part of a series featuring tips and techniques to get you started with aluminium or zinc plate etching....
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Jessie de Salis I am Jessie de Salis. I run a screen printing textile business with my cousin, Alice. We print...
11 months ago
69
11 months ago
I am Jessie de Salis. I run a screen printing textile business with my cousin, Alice. We print colourful patterned fabrics from a Somerset barn, a space we share with the sparrows and house-martins. What inspires you? I love bold and bright design. I always seem to come back to...
Seth's Blog
Deadlines and tailgaters If the ferry is leaving in fifteen minutes, do you drive faster than normal to get to the dock on...
a year ago
30
a year ago
If the ferry is leaving in fifteen minutes, do you drive faster than normal to get to the dock on time? If someone is driving close behind you and pressuring you to turn when you don’t feel safe, are you more likely to go for it? We can do our work as fast as makes […]
Open Culture
Albert Einstein Tells His Son That the Key to Learning & Happiness Is Losing Yourself in Creativity... As one particularly astute observer of human emotions might put it, it is a truth universally...
5 days ago
7
5 days ago
As one particularly astute observer of human emotions might put it, it is a truth universally acknowledged that we can’t all be Albert Einstein. In fact, none of us can. That unique experience was denied even Einstein’s son Hans Albert, though he did go on to his own...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Ghibli-fy Everything Plus: Elon's fake numbers and a Good Shrek Prediction
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Understanding pricing The money we exchange for a service or item isn’t based on how much it cost to make, how hard it was...
7 months ago
59
7 months ago
The money we exchange for a service or item isn’t based on how much it cost to make, how hard it was to produce or how much the producer likes it. That’s hard to hear, because when we make something, we spend most of our time thinking about those very things. Price is based on...
Open Culture
How Olivetti Designed the First Personal Computer in History, the Programma 101 (1965) If you were to come across an Olivetti Programma 101, you probably wouldn’t recognize it as a...
11 months ago
37
11 months ago
If you were to come across an Olivetti Programma 101, you probably wouldn’t recognize it as a computer. With its 36 keys and its paper-strip printer, it might strike you as some kind of oversized adding machine, albeit an unusually handsome one. But then, you’d expect that...
Seth's Blog
The opposite of insubordination “Do as I say.” That’s industrial management in four words. If you don’t follow the instructions to...
a year ago
32
a year ago
“Do as I say.” That’s industrial management in four words. If you don’t follow the instructions to the letter, you’re insubordinate. Not subordinate. Complete subordination might have been the goal in an industrial setting. But now, it’s dangerous, expensive and inefficent....
Open Culture
Johnny Cash & The Clash’s Joe Strummer Sing Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” (2002) In 1958, Merle Haggard saw Johnny Cash play in San Quentin, and went on to sing honest country songs...
9 months ago
79
9 months ago
In 1958, Merle Haggard saw Johnny Cash play in San Quentin, and went on to sing honest country songs for country outlaws. In 1982, future Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello saw Joe Strummer play with The Clash in Chicago and went on to play angry righteous rock for...
Seth's Blog
Hard to predict The outcome of our work can be easy or difficult to predict. It’s not hard to determine if a bridge...
3 weeks ago
13
3 weeks ago
The outcome of our work can be easy or difficult to predict. It’s not hard to determine if a bridge is going to fall down or if code is going to compile. The scientific method and statistics do a great job of helping us foresee some dynamic events. On the other hand, it’s almost...
Open Culture
An Architectural Tour of Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Iconic Desert Home and Studio By some estimations, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West home-studio complex took shape in 1941. But...
a month ago
12
a month ago
By some estimations, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West home-studio complex took shape in 1941. But even then, the Arizona Republic presciently noted that “it may be years before it is considered finished.” The Taliesin West you can see in the new Architectural Digest video above...
Open Culture
The Medieval Masterpiece, the Book of Kells, Is Now Digitized and Available Online If you know nothing else about medieval European illuminated manuscripts, you surely know the Book...
9 months ago
46
9 months ago
If you know nothing else about medieval European illuminated manuscripts, you surely know the Book of Kells. “One of Ireland’s greatest cultural treasures” comments Medievalists.net, “it is set apart from other manuscripts of the same period by the quality of its artwork and the...
Open Culture
How Marcel Duchamp Signed a Urinal in 1917 & Redefined Art Marcel Duchamp didn’t sign his name on a urinal for lack of ability to create “real” art. In fact,...
10 months ago
53
10 months ago
Marcel Duchamp didn’t sign his name on a urinal for lack of ability to create “real” art. In fact, as explained by gallerist-Youtuber James Payne in the new Great Art Explained video above, Duchamp’s grandfather was an artist, as were three of his siblings; he himself attained...
Seth's Blog
Finding agency The first few moves of a chess game give the player almost unlimited freedom. There are countless...
over a year ago
40
over a year ago
The first few moves of a chess game give the player almost unlimited freedom. There are countless legal moves, and nothing to constrain the choices that a player makes among them. But as we add leverage to our culture and our organizations, the choices aren’t as easy. Jerry...
Seth's Blog
Convenience and scams The scam era is upon us. Aided by AI, borderless currency and the internet of things, there are more...
a year ago
26
a year ago
The scam era is upon us. Aided by AI, borderless currency and the internet of things, there are more people than ever before making a living hustling to steal, impersonate, defraud and otherwise violate our trust. When the world was inconvenient, this was difficult. The banker...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Fei Fei I’m Fei, a printmaker and designer working in Beijing. I make cards, prints, and run workshops in...
4 months ago
37
4 months ago
I’m Fei, a printmaker and designer working in Beijing. I make cards, prints, and run workshops in the city.  I have a day job as a brand designer, and I use my spare time to grow my printmaking practice.  Describe your printmaking process. I start with simple sketches in my head...
Open Culture
Honoré de Balzac Writes About “The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee,” and His Epic Coffee Addiction 174 years after his death, Honoré de Balzac remains an extremely modern-sounding wag. Were he alive...
a year ago
67
a year ago
174 years after his death, Honoré de Balzac remains an extremely modern-sounding wag. Were he alive today, he’d no doubt be pounding out his provocative observations in a coffice, a café whose free wifi, lenient staff, and abundant electrical outlets make it a magnet for writers....
Seth's Blog
No thank you Failing to acknowledge a favor or a courtesy is a triple mistake, and it’s becoming more common....
a year ago
24
a year ago
Failing to acknowledge a favor or a courtesy is a triple mistake, and it’s becoming more common. ChatGPT is now promoting the idea that it can write a thank you note for you, and a text is a lot easier than a handwritten note, and yet, the level of ‘thank you’ seems to be...
Seth's Blog
Dumbing it down There’s a lot of pressure to make things dumber. Better to make it dumb than to have someone simply...
8 months ago
43
8 months ago
There’s a lot of pressure to make things dumber. Better to make it dumb than to have someone simply walk away, apparently. With so much to consume, and an unlimited amount to learn, there’s a race to make knowledge into a checklist item. Freon gas! Large language model!...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Loading, please wait... Starting the 1A2A3D project. Starting out on a project looking at the first amendment, second amendment, and 3-D printing.
over a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
Mono Screen Printing Using a Guide Mono screen printing is a great technique if you want to create beautiful painterly prints but...
over a year ago
111
over a year ago
Mono screen printing is a great technique if you want to create beautiful painterly prints but achieve the flatness of a screen print. It allows you to incorporate multiple colours in one layer and play with brush strokes and mark making.  When working with this technique,...
Blog - Mac Pierce
+ / - , Actualization Reposting some writing I did a while back on the subject of how additive manufacturing is...
over a year ago
89
over a year ago
Reposting some writing I did a while back on the subject of how additive manufacturing is necessarily a destructive process.
Seth's Blog
The paradox of insular language We often develop slang or codewords to keep the others from understanding what we’re saying. Here’s...
a year ago
28
a year ago
We often develop slang or codewords to keep the others from understanding what we’re saying. Here’s an example (thanks BK) of the lengths that some are going to be able to take about Chinese politics. Of course, if you come up with a concealed enough code, the people you’re...
Open Culture
Destino: The Salvador Dalí — Disney Collaboration 57 Years in the Making In 2003, Disney released a six minute animated short called Destino, finally bringing closure to a...
8 months ago
34
8 months ago
In 2003, Disney released a six minute animated short called Destino, finally bringing closure to a project that began 57 years earlier. The story of Destino goes way back to 1946 when two very different cultural icons, Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí, decided to work together on a...
Open Culture
This 392-Year-Old Bonsai Tree Survived the Hiroshima Atomic Blast & Still Flourishes Today: The... Image by Sage Ross, via Wikimedia Commons The beautiful bonsai tree pictured above–let’s call it the...
a year ago
37
a year ago
Image by Sage Ross, via Wikimedia Commons The beautiful bonsai tree pictured above–let’s call it the Yamaki Pine Bonsai–began its journey through the world back in 1625. That’s when the Yamaki family first began to train the tree, working patiently, generation after generation,...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Rosanna Reade I am a printmaker and illustrator from Northern Ireland, living and working in Edinburgh. I studied...
over a year ago
56
over a year ago
I am a printmaker and illustrator from Northern Ireland, living and working in Edinburgh. I studied History of Art at University but have reverted back to creating art rather than talking or writing about it! As a self-taught printmaker, there is quite a lot of trial and error...
Open Culture
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic...
8 months ago
79
8 months ago
Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic works. Even better, the museum has placed the vast majority of these images into the public domain, meaning they can be downloaded directly from the museum’s website for...
Seth's Blog
The leaping curve The learning curve is familiar to many people. It might be steep, but it’s continuous. Organizations...
over a year ago
89
over a year ago
The learning curve is familiar to many people. It might be steep, but it’s continuous. Organizations (and people) work their way up it, one step at a time (it’s the black line in the graph below). But there’s rarely a continuous learning curve. Instead, it’s often interrupted by...
Seth's Blog
Analyzing the last move When the deal falls apart, or the team loses the game, or a partnership hits the rocks, it’s easy to...
a year ago
33
a year ago
When the deal falls apart, or the team loses the game, or a partnership hits the rocks, it’s easy to focus our energy on what just happened. “What if they had called a different play?” This overlooks the real issue. It’s the first move, or the fifth, that led to this problem, not...
The Last...
Hunger Games Catching Fire: Badass Body Count sorry old man, I have a dress fitting to go to Number of people killed: 15 Number of...
over a year ago
23
over a year ago
sorry old man, I have a dress fitting to go to Number of people killed: 15 Number of people Katniss kills: 1 Number of times she is saved by someone else: 6 Number of times she saves someone else: 0 But boy oh boy, wasn't she spectacular at practice, 9 targets in 30...
Seth's Blog
Leverage It’s almost impossible to remove a screw with your bare hands, but easy with a screwdriver. The...
a year ago
34
a year ago
It’s almost impossible to remove a screw with your bare hands, but easy with a screwdriver. The handle might only add a little torque, but it’s more than enough. If someone is succeeding at something you find difficult, it might be because they realized they needed a screwdriver....
Blog - Mac Pierce
Fort Emplacements and FDM: making Castle Doctrine How I made Castle Doctrine, a 1:1 scale fully 3D-Printed American Revolutionary War era cannon.
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Easy/lazy tech journalism Choose either one: When a new technology comes out, review it breathlessly. Explain without nuance...
a year ago
31
a year ago
Choose either one: When a new technology comes out, review it breathlessly. Explain without nuance or caution how it will instantly change the world. Go into the details of this first instantiation of it and assume it will never change, it’s done, here we go. When a new...
Handprinted - Blog
Creating Screen Films using Sumi Ink Sumi Ink is fantastic for making hand-drawn screen films that create exposed screens with texture...
3 days ago
6
3 days ago
Sumi Ink is fantastic for making hand-drawn screen films that create exposed screens with texture and loose spontaneous marks. Sumi ink can be painted onto Inkjet Screen Film or True-Grain film to produce a variety of marks.  We experimented by painting Sumi Ink on both types of...
Stat Significant
How Have Song Lyrics Changed Since the 1960s? A Statistical Analysis How have song lyrics evolved over time?
8 months ago
Seth's Blog
The AI effort gap It can take seven years to get a PhD. And a month to write a useful business plan or a year to write...
3 months ago
23
3 months ago
It can take seven years to get a PhD. And a month to write a useful business plan or a year to write a book. And yet, when AI shows up, our mistake is thinking that if we can’t find useful brilliance in one simple prompt, it’s broken. Imagine what you could discover and create...
Seth's Blog
Digital editions on big sale As many of my readers get ready for a long weekend, here are two of my books now on discount at...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
As many of my readers get ready for a long weekend, here are two of my books now on discount at Amazon–for another few days. This is Strategy is 90% off on the Kindle. $3! And This is Marketing is discounted as well. If you’ve read or listened to either one, here’s a new AI […]
Infinite Scroll
Worst Tweets 2024 - Preliminary Rounds Vote on which bad takes will make the 2024 bracket!
7 months ago
Seth's Blog
Cat and mouse games I hope that most of us would agree that driving 50 mph in a school zone where little kids cross the...
a year ago
39
a year ago
I hope that most of us would agree that driving 50 mph in a school zone where little kids cross the street is a significant safety problem. The speed limit is there for good reason, and if you selfishly and recklessly blow through the crosswalk, you ought to get a summons....
Infinite Scroll
Why You Should Read Web Fiction A beginner's guide to an underappreciated format
7 months ago
Seth's Blog
Everyone wants to be connected But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And...
a year ago
60
a year ago
But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And everyone wants to be respected, but we often fail to offer our respect. What an opportunity.
The Great Discontent...
Britt Reilly Britt Reilly's work lives at the intersection of immersive visual arts, historic architecture and...
7 months ago
15
7 months ago
Britt Reilly's work lives at the intersection of immersive visual arts, historic architecture and preservation, and modernist design. Britt is the executive director and collections curator at the Irving & Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and when we...
Seth's Blog
Signal and noise If the signal is very weak and the noise is large, it’s easy to imagine that there’s no signal at...
a year ago
30
a year ago
If the signal is very weak and the noise is large, it’s easy to imagine that there’s no signal at all. AI and computers can be used as lenses now, which means we can strip away the noise and see things that we certainly didn’t expect. Dina Katabi at MIT can point a radio antenna...
Seth's Blog
The nature of traps Our culture is filled with man-made traps, situations worth avoiding. They have three elements:...
8 months ago
55
8 months ago
Our culture is filled with man-made traps, situations worth avoiding. They have three elements: Because of the third element, the organizer or beneficiaries of a trap can spend time and money to make it ever more seductive and to conceal the nature of what you’re actually signing...
Open Culture
Hear the Letter of Gratitude That Albert Camus Wrote to His Teacher After Winning the Nobel Prize,... When Albert Camus won the Nobel Prize, he wrote a letter to one of his old schoolteachers. “I let...
4 weeks ago
18
4 weeks ago
When Albert Camus won the Nobel Prize, he wrote a letter to one of his old schoolteachers. “I let the commotion around me these days subside a bit before speaking to you from the bottom of my heart,” the letter begins. “I have just been given far too great an honor, one I neither...
Seth's Blog
Software done well There are a few tools I use regularly that make me smile, because the craftspeople who made them...
a year ago
46
a year ago
There are a few tools I use regularly that make me smile, because the craftspeople who made them decided to build something with extra magic and care. By using and paying for well crafted software, we often get far more than we pay for… Ecamm is the tool I use for all my online...
Seth's Blog
Notes to myself
a week ago
Handprinted - Blog
Transferring a Linocut to Inkjet Film using Adigraf Water Soluble Ink We've recently discovered that you can expose a screen with artwork made by transferring a linocut...
over a year ago
83
over a year ago
We've recently discovered that you can expose a screen with artwork made by transferring a linocut to inkjet film using a water based ink. Often when we want to convert our relief prints to screen prints, we need to use some kind of digital programming to make this possible. With...
Seth's Blog
Is it possible to care at scale? After 25 years, I stopped using a certain credit card for business. It was easily millions of...
over a year ago
86
over a year ago
After 25 years, I stopped using a certain credit card for business. It was easily millions of dollars worth of transactions over that period. Did anyone at the company notice? Did anyone care? I still remember losing a client in 1987. Small organizations pay attention and care...
Haterade
Tiny Hot Dogs for the Modern Man Introducing: Smoke Sheaths
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Finding the glitch Many moths are attracted to light. That works fine when it’s a bright moon and an open field, but...
a year ago
28
a year ago
Many moths are attracted to light. That works fine when it’s a bright moon and an open field, but not so well for the moths if the light was set up as a bug trap. Processionary caterpillars follow the one in front until their destination, even if they’re arranged in a circle,...
Seth's Blog
Language conceals and reveals When a non-expert brings a strong point of view to a complex discussion, the words might not mean...
10 months ago
35
10 months ago
When a non-expert brings a strong point of view to a complex discussion, the words might not mean what they seem to mean. What might be being said is, “I’m worried. I’m afraid. I don’t understand. I am looking for solace.” Answering emotional word salad with logical insight...
Seth's Blog
Coercion One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.” But an alternative is that the most...
a year ago
36
a year ago
One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.” But an alternative is that the most powerful institutions, brands and people are the ones who are in alignment with their audience. Trust and the benefit of the doubt are more powerful and resilient than command and...
Seth's Blog
Your audiobook Here’s a useful habit that’s more than a hack… The next time things are going well, when a project...
10 months ago
56
10 months ago
Here’s a useful habit that’s more than a hack… The next time things are going well, when a project is about to launch, when a meeting has been successful, when the sun is shining… take your phone and go for a walk. Hit record on an audio app and make a twenty-minute audiobook....
Anarchy Unfolds
May '24 Myths & Recs Biden, Kurzgesagt, 90s Christian bands, and more
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Your own billboard Large sections of Los Angeles are studded with billboards for minor TV shows. These billboards exist...
over a year ago
76
over a year ago
Large sections of Los Angeles are studded with billboards for minor TV shows. These billboards exist nowhere else, even though there are televisions globally. Obviously, there’s ego at work here, but it’s sort of productive. First, there’s the ego of the producers/networks. They...