Seth's Blog
New ways to codify purpose
And then what happens? Many small businesses start with generosity and good intent at their core....
a year ago
And then what happens? Many small businesses start with generosity and good intent at their core. But it’s a rough ride, and especially when outside funding is involved, it’s easy to get seduced by the bright lights of Milton Friedman and an obsession with short-term profits....
Seth's Blog
Omitting the herbs
Without salt, human beings don’t survive long. But it’s possible to eat for a month without tasting...
3 months ago
Without salt, human beings don’t survive long. But it’s possible to eat for a month without tasting an herb. The food will sustain you. Herbs are an expensive non-obvious addition, while also being a bargain if the goal is to create delight, interest or satisfaction. As we...
Open Culture
B.B. King Changes a Broken Guitar String Mid-Song at Farm Aid, and Doesn’t Miss a Beat (1985)
The scene is Farm Aid, 1985, attended by a crowd of 80,000 people. The song is “How Blue Can You...
a month ago
The scene is Farm Aid, 1985, attended by a crowd of 80,000 people. The song is “How Blue Can You Get.” And the key moment comes at the 3:10 mark, when the blues legend B.B. King breaks a guitar string, then manages to replace it before the song finishes minutes later. All the...
Seth's Blog
Crispiness
Crisp faces many opponents: entropy, laziness, time, compromise and false shortcuts. And fear. Most...
a year ago
Crisp faces many opponents: entropy, laziness, time, compromise and false shortcuts. And fear. Most of all, fear. Things rarely become crispy on their own. Instead, it requires care and effort. An ume shiso hand roll begins with a crisp piece of nori, but within a minute or two,...
Seth's Blog
Did you see it in the theater?
We’re in the middle of a huge and unusual shift. The magazine publisher acted like the best sales...
6 months ago
We’re in the middle of a huge and unusual shift. The magazine publisher acted like the best sales were newsstand sales, even though the profit came from subscriptions and most people simply visited the website. Book publishers and editors seem to focus on selling copies on paper,...
Stat Significant
Who's the Worst Actor in Movie History? A Statistical Analysis
Who's the worst actor of all time, and why?
3 months ago
Who's the worst actor of all time, and why?
Open Culture
A Playlist of the 3,300 Best Films & Documentaries on Youtube, Including Works by Hitchcock,...
?si=yCx1pqpcATHND90L Once upon a time, the most convenient means of discovering movies was cable...
7 months ago
?si=yCx1pqpcATHND90L Once upon a time, the most convenient means of discovering movies was cable television. This held especially true for those of us who happened to be adolescents on a break from school, ready and willing morning, midday, or night to sit through the...
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
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...
Seth's Blog
2 + 2
Arguments about taste are more common than ever before. The long tail makes it easy to find what you...
7 months ago
Arguments about taste are more common than ever before. The long tail makes it easy to find what you like, and to talk about what you don’t. There’s no accounting for taste, and that’s a good thing. Because taste is useful. Flopping the toilet paper under or over the roll,...
Seth's Blog
Retreat!
We’ve managed to lionize, celebrate and elevate the mindset of “CHARGE!” Even when better judgment...
5 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....
Open Culture
Jack Kerouac’s Hand-Drawn Cover for On the Road (1952)
This falls under the category, “If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.” In 1950,...
4 months ago
This falls under the category, “If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.” In 1950, when Jack Kerouac released his first novel, The Town and the City, he was less than impressed by the book cover produced by his publisher, Harcourt Brace. (Click here to see why.) So,...
Seth's Blog
The worst person on our team
A common shortcut to cultural divisiveness is to find the single worst person in a different group...
9 months ago
A common shortcut to cultural divisiveness is to find the single worst person in a different group and highlight and attack their behavior. By making it clear and obvious that this is what THEY (the plural) want and who THEY are, it’s easy to walk away from a larger we. Their...
Blog - Mac Pierce
XL Flex Arms, posable mounting for cameras and lighting.
Making a few custom mounts for cameras and camera accessories.
over a year ago
Making a few custom mounts for cameras and camera accessories.
Seth's Blog
Assume goodwill
There’s often doubt. Giving someone the benefit of that doubt enables us to move forward, and that...
6 months ago
There’s often doubt. Giving someone the benefit of that doubt enables us to move forward, and that requires us to realize that our doubt might be unfounded. Systems that assume goodwill create possibility, connection and utility far easier than those that don’t. Being invited to...
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...
a month 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!...
Seth's Blog
The status quo is very good…
at sticking around. In fact, that’s what it’s best at. New research shows that computers and robots...
a year ago
at sticking around. In fact, that’s what it’s best at. New research shows that computers and robots are now better at solving CAPTCHA puzzles than humans. This was inevitable. The interesting question is, “how long before they go away?” First, someone has to decide that it’s...
Open Culture
Bruce Springsteen Endorses Kamala Harris & Makes the Case Against Donald Trump
The Boss speaks the truth in a dinner. Find it on Instagram.
2 months ago
The Boss speaks the truth in a dinner. Find it on Instagram.
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “I am your BFDL” edition
1. Tech benevolent dictators are still… dictators in the tech community there is a concept of the...
a week ago
1. Tech benevolent dictators are still… dictators in the tech community there is a concept of the “benevolent dictator for life”. This is a leadership model where one person, usually the founder, has the final say on decisions. They guide the project’s direction, relying on their...
Marian's Blog
16×16 LED Matrix
This is a 16×16 RGB LED matrix, made of 256 WS2812B LEDs. It’s powered by a Raspberry Pi and can...
over a year ago
This is a 16×16 RGB LED matrix, made of 256 WS2812B LEDs. It’s powered by a Raspberry Pi and can display images and animations. With a game controller attached, it can play games.
The pictures below show how I built the frame.
Painting the base plate
Drawing...
Open Culture
Roger Federer’s Dartmouth Commencement Address: “Effortless Is a Myth” & Other Life Lessons from...
In 2006, David Foster Wallace published a piece in the New York Times Magazine headlined “Roger...
6 months ago
In 2006, David Foster Wallace published a piece in the New York Times Magazine headlined “Roger Federer as Religious Experience.” Even then, he could declare Federer, “at 25, the best tennis player currently alive. Maybe the best ever.” Much had already been written about “his...
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...
a month 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 finite ordered set of interesting objects
The alphabet is one. 26 letters, no more. One order, that’s it. The Beatles are another. John, Paul,...
a year ago
The alphabet is one. 26 letters, no more. One order, that’s it. The Beatles are another. John, Paul, George and then Ringo. The Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, The Supremes. The astrological zodiac gets us to twelve, but I’m having a really difficult time finding a memorable...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Rachel Snowdon
Hello! I’m Rachel Snowdon of Rachel Snowdon Studio, a London-born relief printmaker and illustrator...
3 months ago
Hello! I’m Rachel Snowdon of Rachel Snowdon Studio, a London-born relief printmaker and illustrator who has been based in West Devon since 2009.
Describe your printmaking process.
Having recently introduced more colour into my designs, multi-block lino printing is probably...
Seth's Blog
But it’s included…
Perhaps your wedding package includes a cake. It’s paid for, better eat it. Even if you’re allergic...
a year ago
Perhaps your wedding package includes a cake. It’s paid for, better eat it. Even if you’re allergic to wheat. Perhaps the amusement park includes as many rides as you like, even if you’re feeling sick or have had quite enough for today. The thing about included is that it’s free....
Open Culture
The Story of Francis Ford Coppola’s Four-Decade-Struggle to Make Megalopolis
This past summer, out came a trailer for Megalopolis, the movie Francis Ford Coppola has spent half...
2 months ago
This past summer, out came a trailer for Megalopolis, the movie Francis Ford Coppola has spent half of his life trying to make. It took the bold approach of opening with quotes from reviews of his previous pictures, and not positive ones: when it was first released, Rex Reed...
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...
2 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...
Open Culture
Eno: The New “Generative Documentary” on Brian Eno That’s Never the Same Movie Twice
Brian Eno once wrote that “it’s possible that our grandchildren will look at us in wonder and say,...
5 months ago
Brian Eno once wrote that “it’s possible that our grandchildren will look at us in wonder and say, ‘You mean you used to listen to to exactly the same thing over and over again?’ ” That speculation comes from an essay on what he calls “generative music,” which is automatically...
Seth's Blog
Unintended consequences
…are still consequences. We’re all participants in the systems around us, and complicit in their...
2 months ago
…are still consequences. We’re all participants in the systems around us, and complicit in their consequences even if we didn’t intend them. First, we need to see the systems, and then we have the opportunity to work to change them.
Seth's Blog
The first nine minutes
Mixing up a batch of homemade vegan marshmallow Fluff® is an exercise in patience. For the first...
a year ago
Mixing up a batch of homemade vegan marshmallow Fluff® is an exercise in patience. For the first nine minutes of the ten minutes it takes in the mixer, not much happens. And then, it transforms into something fluffy and delightful. Without the recipe, it’s unlikely that most...
On the Arts
How to Start Learning About Aesthetics
Three ways to improve your knowledge about aesthetics, art theory, and the philosophy of art.
a year ago
Three ways to improve your knowledge about aesthetics, art theory, and the philosophy of art.
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
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...
The Great Discontent...
Mira Nakashima
In 1970, Mira Nakashima joined the family business run by her father, renowned furniture designer...
10 months ago
In 1970, Mira Nakashima joined the family business run by her father, renowned furniture designer and craftsman George Nakashima. Since his death in 1990, Mira has helmed Nakashima Woodworkers, now a 21-building complex and National Historic Landmark nestled among the trees in...
Seth's Blog
Kinds of power
There’s the James Bond villian sort of power, based on division, dominance and destruction. This is...
a month ago
There’s the James Bond villian sort of power, based on division, dominance and destruction. This is the short-term power of bullies, trauma and mobs. And then there’s a more resilient form of power. This is power based on connection, discussion and metrics. A power based in...
Seth's Blog
Getting it right the first time
How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The...
a year ago
How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The playwright who doesn’t need a workshop or a reading. The architect who designs a food hall that has a layout and vibe that works without one alteration… Evolution is powerful. It...
Seth's Blog
The inevitable meeting
When the person you could have been meets the person you are becoming, is it going to be a cause for...
2 months ago
When the person you could have been meets the person you are becoming, is it going to be a cause for celebration or heartbreak? This is something we must work on right now, and tomorrow, and every single day until the meeting happens.
Open Culture
Google Creates a Career Certificate That Prepares Students for Cybersecurity Jobs in 6 Months
In 2023, Google launched several online certificate programs designed to help students land an...
a month ago
In 2023, Google launched several online certificate programs designed to help students land an entry-level job, without necessarily having a college degree. This includes a certificate program focused on Cybersecurity, a field that stands poised to grow as companies become more...
Open Culture
Martin Mull (RIP) Satirically Interviews a Young Tom Waits on Fernwood 2 Night (1977)
These days, references to seventies television increasingly require prefatory explanation. Who under...
5 months ago
These days, references to seventies television increasingly require prefatory explanation. Who under the age of 60 recalls, for example, the cultural phenomenon that was Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, an absurdist satire so faithful to the soap-opera form it parodied that it aired...
Stat Significant
Does 'Avatar' Have No Cultural Footprint? A Statistical Analysis
Investigating claims of Avatar's cultural irrelevance.
2 months ago
Investigating claims of Avatar's cultural irrelevance.
Seth's Blog
“I don’t learn that way”
If you’re sitting on the dock, watching the swim class without getting wet, it’s more accurate to...
7 months ago
If you’re sitting on the dock, watching the swim class without getting wet, it’s more accurate to say, “I’m just watching.” There are plenty of theories on how different people learn. Online, we’re in the middle of the biggest learning experiment in history, with countless...
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...
3 weeks 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 70+ Classic Literary Films Free Online: The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Gulliver’s Travels, Jane...
The term gaslight has gained so much traction in popular discourse so recently that you’d swear it...
a month ago
The term gaslight has gained so much traction in popular discourse so recently that you’d swear it was coined around 2010. In fact, that particular usage goes at least as far back as 1938, when British novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton wrote a stage thriller about a...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Ariana Martin
Hi, I’m Ariana - a pattern designer and printmaker from leafy Sheffield. I create joyful patterns...
11 months ago
Hi, I’m Ariana - a pattern designer and printmaker from leafy Sheffield. I create joyful patterns and illustrations, which are particularly inspired by 20th century design, and I produce my own range of stationery and homewares.
Describe your printmaking process.
Screen...
Seth's Blog
Semantic algebra
Doing math problems in your head is a skill. No one is born knowing the answer to, “You have 35...
7 months ago
Doing math problems in your head is a skill. No one is born knowing the answer to, “You have 35 coins in nickels and quarters. They add up to $4.15. How many quarters do you have?” but we can learn. And some people find it easier than others, but yes, we can learn. The same […]
Seth's Blog
Foibles
Our habits, preferences and idiosyncrasies make perfect sense. We each know that we have great...
a year ago
Our habits, preferences and idiosyncrasies make perfect sense. We each know that we have great reasons to embrace our ways and stick with them. Other people’s habits, though, show that they are simply picky, weird or too sensitive. The difference between a preference and a foible...
Seth's Blog
What sort of bicycle?
While it’s likely that you own a bike, you probably don’t have a front-wheel recumbent bicycle in...
a year ago
While it’s likely that you own a bike, you probably don’t have a front-wheel recumbent bicycle in your garage. Even though it’s more efficient, more comfortable and often faster. How did that happen? In 1933, a twenty-year old speed record was broken by a racer on a recumbent...
Seth's Blog
Clear ice
I love Zamboni machines. They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant...
a month ago
I love Zamboni machines. They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant for ice hockey. After each period, when the ice is chopped up by play, the Zamboni rolls out and leaves behind a sheet of perfect ice. Cold, smooth and untouched. It’s useful to...
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....
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
Falling behind
We’re not in races very often. Usually, what we’re doing is more like a walkathon, or perhaps, a...
a year ago
We’re not in races very often. Usually, what we’re doing is more like a walkathon, or perhaps, a hike. And yet, we’ve been pushed to believe that the only performance that matters is a scarcity-based victory. They close the parkway near my house on Sundays. As people pedal along,...
Open Culture
Hear 2.5 Hours of the Classical Music in Haruki Murakami’s Novels: Liszt, Beethoven, Janáček, and...
Haruki Murakami’s hit novel 1Q84 features a memorable scene in a taxicab on a gridlocked freeway...
a month ago
Haruki Murakami’s hit novel 1Q84 features a memorable scene in a taxicab on a gridlocked freeway whose radio is playing Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta. “It is, as the book suggests, truly the worst possible music for a traffic jam,” writes Sam Anderson in a New York Times Magazine...
Handprinted - Blog
Making a Stamp with Japanese Transparent Stamp Carving Block
This new Japanese Transparent Stamp Carving Block enables you to carve your design and bake it in...
over a year ago
This new Japanese Transparent Stamp Carving Block enables you to carve your design and bake it in the oven until it appears clear. Clear stamps are so handy as they let you see where you’re printing! This is great for repeat patterns, accurate registration, multi-colour designs...
Seth's Blog
Early next week…
It’s going to get busy around here. I wanted to share some upcoming events (online and in person) so...
2 months ago
It’s going to get busy around here. I wanted to share some upcoming events (online and in person) so you can plan ahead… there are five more for the end of the week, but here we go: Linda Rottenberg is joining me on LinkedIn on Monday. She’s built an extraordinary organization...
Open Culture
Soviet Inventor Léon Theremin Shows Off the Theremin, the Early Electronic Instrument That Could Be...
You know the sound of the theremin, that weird, warbly whine that signals mystery, danger, and...
4 months ago
You know the sound of the theremin, that weird, warbly whine that signals mystery, danger, and otherworldly portent in many classic sci-fi films. It has the distinction of being not only the very first electronic instrument but also the only instrument in history one plays...
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...
2 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...
Infinite Scroll
How Gay Marriage Ruined Democratic Activism
The end of Moral Triumphalism
2 weeks ago
The end of Moral Triumphalism
Seth's Blog
On the way to professionalism
Professionals make choices. Including: Don’t exploit friends and family. Surgeons shouldn’t do...
a week ago
Professionals make choices. Including: Don’t exploit friends and family. Surgeons shouldn’t do surgery on their kids, and investment advisors shouldn’t manage their dad’s retirement fund. It doesn’t matter if you’re sure you’re the best in the world. Swap with the person who’s...
Seth's Blog
The generosity of concealment
Human beings never reveal all of our emotions. We don’t simply blurt out the first thing that pops...
a year ago
Human beings never reveal all of our emotions. We don’t simply blurt out the first thing that pops into our head in a meeting, or insult someone upon meeting them. We’re able to give people the benefit of the doubt (which requires doubt before we can offer the benefit) and to...
Seth's Blog
Unstable equilibrium
We’re testing a brand new way to host a charity auction, and I’m hoping you can check it out and...
a year ago
We’re testing a brand new way to host a charity auction, and I’m hoping you can check it out and even bid to support BuildOn. In this post, I want to take a moment to explain the attraction and risk of unstable equilibrium, and there’s also a fun contest at the end… If you drop...
Open Culture
Buckminster Fuller Tells the World “Everything He Knows” in a 42-Hour Lecture Series (1975)
History seems to have settled Buckminster Fuller’s reputation as a man ahead of his time. He...
5 months ago
History seems to have settled Buckminster Fuller’s reputation as a man ahead of his time. He inspires short, witty popular videos like YouTuber Joe Scott’s “The Man Who Saw The Future,” and the ongoing legacy of the Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI), who note that “Fuller’s...
Seth's Blog
The near future (and summer reads)
Near-future science fiction is a fine way to consider our now. Without the reality of today, we can...
6 months ago
Near-future science fiction is a fine way to consider our now. Without the reality of today, we can think hard about the tomorrow we’re about to live in. Summer reads are supposed to be a bit lighter. Technological change is making our near future a bit harder to dance with, and...
Seth's Blog
The simple word replacement for connection
What do we say when a customer or colleague says, “thank you”? For a long time, it was “you’re...
a year ago
What do we say when a customer or colleague says, “thank you”? For a long time, it was “you’re welcome.” This indicates that you put in some effort and you’re willing to do it again on request. Recently “no problem” has become more common. This implies that the effort could have...
On the Arts
From Gothic Invaders to Mall Goths
How an ancient Germanic tribe gave its name to a modern subculture.
a year ago
How an ancient Germanic tribe gave its name to a modern subculture.
Anarchy Unfolds
Food Waste is Bad Actually
How we frame the problem makes all the difference
2 weeks ago
How we frame the problem makes all the difference
Seth's Blog
Celebrating the thousand with a special package
[Lots of links in this post… US offer is here, international is here.] Ideas travel horizontally....
3 months ago
[Lots of links in this post… US offer is here, international is here.] Ideas travel horizontally. Not from the creator to the audience as much as from one person to another. It’s easy to misunderstand the insight of Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans. Decades ago he argued that the...
Seth's Blog
Generational shifts in punditry
In 1970, when Walter Cronkite was narrating current events for the United States, he was 54 years...
8 months ago
In 1970, when Walter Cronkite was narrating current events for the United States, he was 54 years old. Hitchcock made his last film when he was 77. When there’s a limited number of slots for narrators to fill, they can stick around for a long time. One of the overlooked cultural...
The Great Discontent...
Sofía Gallisá Muriente
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed...
over a year ago
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now Can you share a little bit about where and how you grew up and what...
Open Culture
Watch Hardware Wars, the Original Star Wars Parody, in HD (1978)
This past May, YouTuber Jenny Nicholson set off waves of social-media discourse with “The...
5 months ago
This past May, YouTuber Jenny Nicholson set off waves of social-media discourse with “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel,” a four-hour-long video critique of Disney’s hugely expensive, now-shuttered Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser in Orlando, Florida. Having gone...
Seth's Blog
The new way of work
Amazon is the last one. They are probably the last huge company where hundreds of thousands of...
a year ago
Amazon is the last one. They are probably the last huge company where hundreds of thousands of people will be surveilled, measured and ordered to follow the rule book. The pandemic didn’t create distributed work, the laptop did. Human interaction is critical, but the office isn’t...
escape the algorithm
Gift interfaces, an interview, and how you found me
Some updates on things that have happened and that are coming in the escape the algorithm cinematic...
a month ago
Some updates on things that have happened and that are coming in the escape the algorithm cinematic universe:
Seth's Blog
The reality of chasing pop
It’s tempting for a creator. To make a pop hit, a song or a book or a meme that becomes a popular...
a year ago
It’s tempting for a creator. To make a pop hit, a song or a book or a meme that becomes a popular idea and part of the culture. In our lifetimes, it’s become possible to imagine that you could even make a living creating pop. But pop is a harsh mistress, because pop means...
Open Culture
Jimi Hendrix Arrives in London in 1966, Asks to Get Onstage with Cream, and Blows Eric Clapton Away:...
Jimi Hendrix arrived on the London scene like a ton of bricks in 1966, smashing every British blues...
4 months ago
Jimi Hendrix arrived on the London scene like a ton of bricks in 1966, smashing every British blues guitarist to pieces the instant they saw him play. As vocalist Terry Reid tells it, when Hendrix played his first showcase at the Bag O’Nails, arranged by Animals’ bassist Chas...
Seth's Blog
The good news
What if there were a pipeline into your day, a series of emails or posts or feeds that had nothing...
a year ago
What if there were a pipeline into your day, a series of emails or posts or feeds that had nothing but nice things, positive feedback and encouragement coming your way? Amazingly, you could build something like that in just a few minutes and have it forever. If the bad news...
Seth's Blog
The long-range forecast keeps shifting
Exactly. That’s why it’s a forecast, not an accurate account of what’s going to happen in the...
a year ago
Exactly. That’s why it’s a forecast, not an accurate account of what’s going to happen in the future. This seems axiomatic, but our desire for certainty keeps letting us down. The shifting of forecasts is evidence that they’re merely forecasts.
Seth's Blog
The good china
Once you use your plates every day, they cease to be the good china. Of course, the plates didn’t...
a year ago
Once you use your plates every day, they cease to be the good china. Of course, the plates didn’t change. Your story did. The way you treat them did. The same goes for the red carpet. If you roll it out for every visitor or every customer, it ceases to be red.
Stat Significant
Unpacking the Rise of Fan Fiction: From 'Star Trek' to 'Twilight'—A Statistical Analysis
An exploration of modern fan fiction and the unique demography of its participants.
2 weeks ago
An exploration of modern fan fiction and the unique demography of its participants.
Open Culture
J. G. Ballard Demystifies Surrealist Paintings by Dalí, Magritte, de Chirico & More
Before his signature works like The Atrocity Exhibition, Crash, and High-Rise, J. G. Ballard...
4 months ago
Before his signature works like The Atrocity Exhibition, Crash, and High-Rise, J. G. Ballard published three apocalyptic novels, The Drowned World, The Burning World, and The Crystal World. Each of those books offers a different vision of large-scale environmental disaster, and...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Makers 2022
We've featured some fantastic makers on our Meet the Maker blog this year! Thank you to all that...
a year ago
We've featured some fantastic makers on our Meet the Maker blog this year! Thank you to all that have been involved and those that are yet to come in 2023! We love reading about your printmaking practices and hearing your beautiful words of advice.
Grab yourself a drink, pop...
escape the algorithm
ETA's Best links of 2024
Relinking some Links links
2 hours ago
Relinking some Links links
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...
5 months 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
Default to surrender
AI chatbots highight a challenge that is worth understanding. It applies to customer service,...
9 months ago
AI chatbots highight a challenge that is worth understanding. It applies to customer service, bureaucracies and teachers as well… If you ask an AI a question and it’s not confident in the answer, it should say, “I’m not sure.” That could be followed up with, “do you want me to...
Open Culture
Watch The Idea, the First Animated Film to Deal with Big, Philosophical Ideas (1932)
A vague sense of disquiet settled over Europe in the period between World War I and World War II. As...
3 months ago
A vague sense of disquiet settled over Europe in the period between World War I and World War II. As the slow burn of militant ultranationalism mingled with jingoist populism, authoritarian leaders and fascist factions found mounting support among a citizenry hungry for...
Seth's Blog
Aerodynamic figureheads
That’s sort of an oxymoron. The original figureheads were carved into the bow of a ship. They exist...
5 months ago
That’s sort of an oxymoron. The original figureheads were carved into the bow of a ship. They exist to express the spirit of the boat and to demonstrate its power and resilience. Here’s an AI recreation of the most famous one: The sailors were wise enough to understand that the...
Seth's Blog
Jargon comes and goes
Forty years ago in engineering class, it wasn’t unusual to talk about GIGO or FUBAR. These weren’t...
a year ago
Forty years ago in engineering class, it wasn’t unusual to talk about GIGO or FUBAR. These weren’t technical terms, they were mild complaints that signaled insider status and cultural cohesion. In a closed profession, like airplane pilots, the insider jargon lasts for...
Open Culture
Watch an Enthusiast Drive the First Car Ever Made, the 1885 Mercedes Benz
In 1885, Karl Benz built what’s now considered the first modern automobile. According to the...
7 months ago
In 1885, Karl Benz built what’s now considered the first modern automobile. According to the Mercedes Benz website, the car featured a “compact high-speed single-cylinder four-stroke engine installed horizontally at the rear, a tubular steel frame … and three wire-spoked wheels....
Open Culture
The Isolated Bass Grooves of The Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh (RIP)
This past Friday, the bassist of The Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh, passed away at age 84. Almost...
a month ago
This past Friday, the bassist of The Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh, passed away at age 84. Almost immediately the tributes poured in, most recognizing that Lesh wasn’t your ordinary bassist. As Jon Pareles wrote in the New York Times, Phil Lesh held songs “aloft.” His “bass lines...
Handprinted - Blog
Collagraph Printing
Collagraphy is a really versatile printing process in which a textured plate is inked up and put...
a year ago
Collagraphy is a really versatile printing process in which a textured plate is inked up and put through a press. Different textures hold varying amounts of ink and print different tones. Anything with a low relief texture can be stuck down and used: wallpaper, leaves, fabrics,...
Seth's Blog
When we get to where we’re going
…perhaps we should stop. Unless the going was the point.
a year ago
…perhaps we should stop. Unless the going was the point.
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Emergence and Generative Art
Sometimes, a system is more than the sum of its parts. Simple rules can
lead to complex and...
over a year ago
Sometimes, a system is more than the sum of its parts. Simple rules can
lead to complex and surprising phenomena. This is emergence.
Infinite Scroll
Is a Progressive Joe Rogan Impossible?
Why the online environment has broken sharply to the right
a month ago
Why the online environment has broken sharply to the right
Seth's Blog
Better at being better
In most competitive markets, when an organization offers a new benefit, others will quickly move to...
a week ago
In most competitive markets, when an organization offers a new benefit, others will quickly move to match it. This means that it’s hard to justify the hard work of creating something better, because it’s just going to become a new standard. It doesn’t pay for a credit card...
Seth's Blog
Turtleneck confusion
Apple didn’t succeed because of the way Steve Jobs dressed. Just like SBF’s hair didn’t put him in...
a year ago
Apple didn’t succeed because of the way Steve Jobs dressed. Just like SBF’s hair didn’t put him in jail. We can look at the outré behavior of various Silicon Valley overlords and come to the conclusion that it’s not only a necessary part of the job but actually the cause of their...
Open Culture
Leonard Bernstein Introduces the Moog Synthesizer to the World in 1969, Playing an Electrified...
When Wendy Carlos released Switched-On Bach in 1968, her “greatest hits” compilation of the Baroque...
7 months ago
When Wendy Carlos released Switched-On Bach in 1968, her “greatest hits” compilation of the Baroque composer’s music, played entirely on the Moog analog synthesizer, the album became an immediate hit with both classical and pop audiences. Not only was it “acclaimed as real music...
Seth's Blog
Bye now
The difference between ‘buy now’ and ‘bye now’ is very thin. Sometimes, when we push very hard for a...
3 months ago
The difference between ‘buy now’ and ‘bye now’ is very thin. Sometimes, when we push very hard for a commitment, we break the trust we’ve earned. For a while, you might not notice the broken trust, because we’re encouraged to keep pushing, treating every individual as a walking...
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...
10 months 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...
Anarchy Unfolds
Queer Folk Don't Need Orientation
How decade-old discourse shows us a way out
2 months ago
How decade-old discourse shows us a way out
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...
8 months 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...
On the Arts
Are wind turbines ugly? Could they be beautiful?
How to make ugly things appear less ugly – or appear like something else entirely.
a year ago
How to make ugly things appear less ugly – or appear like something else entirely.
Open Culture
Public.Work: A Smoothly Searchable Archive of 100,000+ “Copyright-Free” Images
We live in an age, we’re often told, when our ability to conjure up an image is limited only by our...
4 months ago
We live in an age, we’re often told, when our ability to conjure up an image is limited only by our imagination. These days, this notion tends to refer to artificial intelligence-powered systems that generate visual material from text prompts, like DALL‑E and the many others that...
Seth's Blog
Further vs. faster
Sprints and marathons are both foot races, but they have very little in common. The training is...
a month ago
Sprints and marathons are both foot races, but they have very little in common. The training is different, and so is the technique. Which one are you signing up for? What about the thing you sell? Are we trying to get there faster, or do we promise to go further?
Open Culture
A New Analysis of Beethoven’s DNA Reveals That Lead Poisoning Could Have Caused His Deafness
Despite the intense scrutiny paid to the life and work of Ludwig van Beethoven for a couple of...
7 months ago
Despite the intense scrutiny paid to the life and work of Ludwig van Beethoven for a couple of centuries now, the revered composer still has certain mysteries about him. Some of them he surely never intended to clarify, like the identity of “Immortal Beloved”; others he...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Forecast
Forecast is a long-form generative art project released on fxhash on 16th
Feb 2023. This article...
a year ago
Forecast is a long-form generative art project released on fxhash on 16th
Feb 2023. This article contains info about techniques and some rambling
about concepts and emotions.
Infinite Scroll
Infinite Scroll on Offline with Jon Favreau
A chat about online media ecosystems
a month ago
A chat about online media ecosystems
Seth's Blog
Small doses
If you go to a health food store and buy some pills with selenium, colloidal silver or other...
a year ago
If you go to a health food store and buy some pills with selenium, colloidal silver or other mysterious substances in them, it’s possible that they’ll make you feel a bit better. On the other hand, if you take a large dose, you’ll get sick or possibly die. In very small doses,...
Open Culture
Ray Bradbury Explains Why Literature is the Safety Valve of Civilization (in Which Case We Need More...
Ray Bradbury had it all thought out. Behind his captivating works of science fiction, there were...
4 months ago
Ray Bradbury had it all thought out. Behind his captivating works of science fiction, there were subtle theories about what literature was meant to do. The retro clip above takes you back to the 1970s and it shows Bradbury giving a rather intriguing take on the role of literature...
Open Culture
How Carl Jung Inspired the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous
There may be as many doors into Alcoholics Anonymous in the 21st century as there are people who...
6 months ago
There may be as many doors into Alcoholics Anonymous in the 21st century as there are people who walk through them—from every world religion to no religion. The “international mutual-aid fellowship” has had “a significant and long-term effect on the culture of the United States,”...
Seth's Blog
The Beatles and Taylor Swift
When we’re in the middle of a cultural swirl, it’s normal to believe that everyone else is too....
a year ago
When we’re in the middle of a cultural swirl, it’s normal to believe that everyone else is too. That’s part of the magic of a cultural swirl–it’s our friends, our work, our world. Most of these moments are actually tiny pockets. An episode of the much-talked-about TV show...
Seth's Blog
The arrogance of improvement
Who are you to make things better? How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take...
9 months ago
Who are you to make things better? How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take responsibility… Perhaps it might be helpful to reframe that feeling as the generosity of improvement instead. If not you, who? If not now, when?
Seth's Blog
Glib
One of the valid complaints about some AI systems is that they make stuff up, with confidence, and...
5 months ago
One of the valid complaints about some AI systems is that they make stuff up, with confidence, and without sourcing, and then argue when challenged. Unsurprisingly, this sounds a lot like people. We often end up with what we are willing to tolerate. Show your work and ask for...
Seth's Blog
Confused about good
How often do we assume that popular things are good, and that good things become popular? If your...
2 months ago
How often do we assume that popular things are good, and that good things become popular? If your work doesn’t catch on, does that mean it wasn’t good? In almost every field, people with insight, taste and experience admire and emulate good things that aren’t popular, and are...
Open Culture
Pink Floyd Plays in Venice on a Massive Floating Stage in 1989; Forces the Mayor & City Council to...
When Roger Waters left Pink Floyd after 1983’s The Final Cut, the remaining members had good reason...
8 months ago
When Roger Waters left Pink Floyd after 1983’s The Final Cut, the remaining members had good reason to assume the band was truly, as Waters proclaimed, “a spent force.” After releasing solo projects in the next few years, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright soon...
Open Culture
Artificial Intelligence & Drones Uncover 303 New Nazca Lines in Peru
If you visit one tourist site in Peru, it will almost certainly be the ruined Incan city of Machu...
2 months ago
If you visit one tourist site in Peru, it will almost certainly be the ruined Incan city of Machu Picchu. If you visit another, it’ll probably be the Nazca Desert, home to many large-scale geoglyphs made by pre-Inca peoples between 500 BC and 500 AD. Many of these “Nazca lines”...
Open Culture
Hear Flannery O’Connor Read “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (1959)
Flannery O’Connor was a Southern writer who, as Joyce Carol Oates once said, had less in common with...
8 months ago
Flannery O’Connor was a Southern writer who, as Joyce Carol Oates once said, had less in common with Faulkner than with Kafka and Kierkegaard. Isolated by poor health and consumed by her fervent Catholic faith, O’Connor created works of moral fiction that, according to Oates,...
Seth's Blog
Self restaint vs systemic restraint
It’s not hypocritical to help yourself at a buffet at the same time you counsel the owner of the...
a year ago
It’s not hypocritical to help yourself at a buffet at the same time you counsel the owner of the restaurant to limit the number of trips that people take so that the restaurant can become sustainable. It’s possible to argue for systemic changes to cultural systems while also...
Marian's Blog
Uni-Timer
Ich bin seit diesem Semester Student und in der Uni dauern Vorlesungen immer 90 Minuten, von...
over a year ago
Ich bin seit diesem Semester Student und in der Uni dauern Vorlesungen immer 90 Minuten, von “viertel nach” bis “viertel vor”. Da kam mir die Idee, dass man eine Uhr bräuchte, die nicht den Fortschritt der aktuellen Stunde, sondern den der aktuellen Vorlesung zeigt. Dazu habe ich...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Generating The Alphabet
My current generative artwork-in-progress includes text, but I don’t want to use a font. In browser...
9 months ago
My current generative artwork-in-progress includes text, but I don’t want to use a font. In browser based art work, using a “web safe” font could produce inconsistent results, while including a font file would mean a large file size. Additionally, I don’t want a visual element of...
Seth's Blog
Bought or sold?
Most things that consumers acquire are bought, not sold. We decide we’re interested in something and...
a year ago
Most things that consumers acquire are bought, not sold. We decide we’re interested in something and we go shopping to get it. Potato chips, wedding venues and cars are all purchased by people who set out to get them. Selling is a special sort of marketing. It’s interactive,...
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
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
The sad compromise of “sponsored results”
Google made a fortune and honed sponsored search results into an art form. The theory is that people...
4 months ago
Google made a fortune and honed sponsored search results into an art form. The theory is that people who want the traffic the most will pay for the clicks, and of course, if the advertisers don’t have something you ultimately want, they’ll just waste their money. Let the market...
Seth's Blog
Plasticity
It’s pretty easy for some kids to switch gears. They can go from sad to ebullient in seconds, and...
5 months ago
It’s pretty easy for some kids to switch gears. They can go from sad to ebullient in seconds, and switch contexts without much fuss. Others have more trouble. As we get older, our natural ability to thrive in a new situation can decrease. But, like a muscle or a skill, it...
Seth's Blog
What’s the right size?
There are no city buses with just four seats. And none with 400 seats. We get to leverage the...
10 months ago
There are no city buses with just four seats. And none with 400 seats. We get to leverage the driver’s effort if we put in a few more seats, but add too many and the bus is too big to make a turn–and soon we’d have to add conductors and cleaners and then the bus […]
On the Arts
The Paradox of the Garden of Eden
An Interview with Professor David Fenner
a year ago
An Interview with Professor David Fenner
On the Arts
Winter as Reading Season
David Foster Wallace on the necessity of quiet time in order to read.
a year ago
David Foster Wallace on the necessity of quiet time in order to read.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Keith A. Pettit
I am Keith A. Pettit an artist, printmaker and sculptor, born and bred in a small corner of Sussex....
a month ago
I am Keith A. Pettit an artist, printmaker and sculptor, born and bred in a small corner of Sussex. I left school and started work with a signwriter. I thought I was learning a trade for life - alas I was unaware of the digital revolution that was sweeping all before it.
I've...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “ignoring the election” edition
1. UK university fees going up (but not by enough to make the system work) For those of you not in...
a month ago
1. UK university fees going up (but not by enough to make the system work) For those of you not in the UK, the British system of university funding is a weird mash-mash of different stuff, cobbled together from the mistakes made by successive governments. When I was young, the...
Handprinted - Blog
Preparing your paper and press for etching
When you’ve created an aluminium or zinc plate etching, you’ll want to have a go at pulling your...
7 months ago
When you’ve created an aluminium or zinc plate etching, you’ll want to have a go at pulling your first print. To do this, you’ll need to learn how to prepare your paper and how to set the correct pressure on your press.
This blog is part of a series featuring tips and techniques...
The Great Discontent...
Tony Whlgn®
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed...
over a year ago
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now Let’s start at the beginning—back to the environment where you grew up....
Seth's Blog
No lunging
I’ve been working hard on my juggling (actual juggling, not metaphorical juggling). The secret, as I...
a year ago
I’ve been working hard on my juggling (actual juggling, not metaphorical juggling). The secret, as I wrote about in The Practice is the throwing, not the catching. If you get the throws right, the catches are easy. The way to focus on the throws is simple but culturally...
Seth's Blog
Sanding off all the edges
It’s easier than ever. Solvents, power tools, market research, AI, committee meetings, online...
a year ago
It’s easier than ever. Solvents, power tools, market research, AI, committee meetings, online reviews and ennui are all aligned in one direction. To fit all the way in. Of course, once you sand off all the edges, it’s hard to get traction. Hard to find the texture or anything...
The Last...
No Self-Respecting Woman Would Go Out Without Make Up
For some reason, one of the most emailed articles from the NYT was an article about whether women...
over a year ago
For some reason, one of the most emailed articles from the NYT was an article about whether women should or should not wear make up. "New York Times? Sounds progressive." Yes.
Seven
people were asked their opinion in a column called "Room For Debate,"
liars, there was no...
Open Culture
Watch The Cure Perform a Three-Hour Concert in London, Celebrating the Release of Their New Album
httpv://www.youtube.com/live/_aWDlaxvEZo Last Friday, The Cure celebrated the release of their new...
a month ago
httpv://www.youtube.com/live/_aWDlaxvEZo Last Friday, The Cure celebrated the release of their new album, Songs of a Lost World, with a three-hour set at the Troxy in London. The band kicked off the show by performing all eight tracks from the album, before then playing another...
Seth's Blog
The illusion of concern
When organizations reach scale, digital interactions belie our expectation that someone in charge...
10 months ago
When organizations reach scale, digital interactions belie our expectation that someone in charge actually gives a damn. Once there’s math to do, the CFO does the math. It quickly reveals that no, the search engine shouldn’t bother having a customer support team. That UPS or...
Handprinted - Blog
Easy Christmas Cards Six Ways
We’ve had a lot of fun this week working on easy, quick and fun ways to print your own Christmas...
a year ago
We’ve had a lot of fun this week working on easy, quick and fun ways to print your own Christmas cards! We’ve come up with six simple ways for you to try. Take a look at our instructions below and have a go yourself.
Bah Humbug Lino Printed Card
This two-layered lino card is...
Marian's Blog
Generating 3D roof meshes from aerial LIDAR data
This is my graduation project I did in computer science. The goal was to come up with a method to...
over a year ago
This is my graduation project I did in computer science. The goal was to come up with a method to generate 3D meshes of building roofs from point cloud data. The point cloud data was taken with aerial LIDAR scanners and is available online. In addition, I used building layout...
Seth's Blog
Fidelity, compression and culture
The alphabet is a miracle, one that is compounded by books. And the lessons we learn from this...
a year ago
The alphabet is a miracle, one that is compounded by books. And the lessons we learn from this cornerstone of modern culture apply to organizations, meetings, tech, politics and almost everything we do together. Your copy of To Kill a Mockingbird contains every single word that...
Seth's Blog
(Free) subscription drive
Every four years, give or take, I make a big but cheap ask: Consider subscribing to this blog. If...
9 months ago
Every four years, give or take, I make a big but cheap ask: Consider subscribing to this blog. If you’re already a subscriber, please ask five colleagues or friends to subscribe. It’s free. You can subscribe by email by putting your email address in the little box. Click below if...
Open Culture
How Édouard Manet Became “the Father of Impressionism” with the Scandalous Panting, Le Déjeuner sur...
Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863) caused quite a stir when it made its public debut in...
7 months ago
Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863) caused quite a stir when it made its public debut in 1863. Today, we might assume that the controversy surrounding the painting had to do with its containing a nude woman. But, in fact, it does not contain a nude woman — at least...
Seth's Blog
What comes after trust?
Walk into a bank with a stocking on your head and you’re probably going to get arrested. Civil...
a year ago
Walk into a bank with a stocking on your head and you’re probably going to get arrested. Civil society as we know it is dependent on identity and responsibility. A person does something and owns the consequences. This requirement of identity leads to the dynamic of the free...
Seth's Blog
Flashing on contempt
It doesn’t have to happen with intent, in fact, it rarely does. Micro-emotions appear on our face...
a year ago
It doesn’t have to happen with intent, in fact, it rarely does. Micro-emotions appear on our face and then disappear in less than a second. Blink and you’ll miss them. But sometimes, people don’t blink. We’ve evolved to be hyperware of these tiny displays of emotion. And yet,...
Seth's Blog
Focusing attention is a skill
Where we choose to direct our gaze determines not only what we learn or believe, but how we choose...
a year ago
Where we choose to direct our gaze determines not only what we learn or believe, but how we choose to see the world. Typing is a skill. Juggling is a skill. So is project management. It’s easy to overlook the fact that we can get better at what we think about, create and consume....
Seth's Blog
Find the others: Worldwide Strategy Meetups
On October 22, around the world, I’m helping to organize hundreds of in-person get togethers. A...
2 months ago
On October 22, around the world, I’m helping to organize hundreds of in-person get togethers. A chance to share your work and have a conversation about your strategy with others. Mutual support and peer connection. All the details are on this page. It’s free. A chance to connect...
Open Culture
Jean-Paul Sartre Rejects the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964: “It Was Monstrous!”
In a 2013 blog post, the great Ursula K. Le Guin quotes a London Times Literary Supplement column by...
4 months ago
In a 2013 blog post, the great Ursula K. Le Guin quotes a London Times Literary Supplement column by a “J.C.,” who satirically proposes the “Jean-Paul Sartre Prize for Prize Refusal.” “Writers all over Europe and America are turning down awards in the hope of being nominated for...
Marian's Blog
Quadcopter Lightpainting
Die Fotos wurden mit einem beleuchteten Quadrocopter, einem Stativ und 15 Sekunden Belichtung...
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
Belief is contagious
Placebos work and placebos spread. We’re wired to believe something, but the specifics of what we...
a year ago
Placebos work and placebos spread. We’re wired to believe something, but the specifics of what we believe often come from other people. When there were a limited number of channels, mainstream ideas were the focus of our conversations, because the mainstream was all that was...
Seth's Blog
Updating our stuck interactions
There are few sitcoms, thrillers or plays where the plot can tolerate the addition of a cell phone....
8 months ago
There are few sitcoms, thrillers or plays where the plot can tolerate the addition of a cell phone. Once the characters have the ability to connect and clear up misunderstandings at will, a lot of tension disappears. If Juliet had had a smartphone, she and Romeo would have ended...
Seth's Blog
Thinking about jobs
Since I was born, the planet has invented 6 billion jobs. Technology is said to threaten the...
3 weeks ago
Since I was born, the planet has invented 6 billion jobs. Technology is said to threaten the replacement of human labor, yet, somehow we’ve found useful activities for a rapidly growing population. Coordinated without a coordinator, people go to work each day, often doing...
Seth's Blog
It just barely works
This is the story of every new software innovation, and in fact, just about everything engineers...
2 months ago
This is the story of every new software innovation, and in fact, just about everything engineers have ever created. The first Wright Bros. plane just barely flew. The first version of VisiCalc was just barely useful. The earliest bridges were shaky, unreliable and made of vines....
The Great Discontent...
Taekyeom Lee
Taekyeom Lee is a graphic designer with an artist’s sensibility. As a researcher, educator, and...
a year ago
Taekyeom Lee is a graphic designer with an artist’s sensibility. As a researcher, educator, and maker — born and raised in South Korea, now living and teaching in Madison, Wisconsin he works in the space where tactility and technology meet, combining ancient materials and...
Open Culture
The Evolution of Cinema: Watch Nearly 140 Years of Film History Unfold in 80 Minutes
The video above from YouTuber Alex Day includes clips from about 500 movies, and you’ve almost...
a month ago
The video above from YouTuber Alex Day includes clips from about 500 movies, and you’ve almost certainly seen more than a few of them. Battleship Potemkin, Dumbo, Rear Window, Dr. No, The Godfather, E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Top Gun, Braveheart, Gladiator, Inception: we’re not...
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...
2 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...
Open Culture
When a Drunken Charles Bukowski Walked Off the Prestigious French Talk Show Apostrophes (1978)
Charles Bukowski didn’t do TV — or at least he didn’t do American TV. Like a Hollywood movie star...
6 months ago
Charles Bukowski didn’t do TV — or at least he didn’t do American TV. Like a Hollywood movie star shooting a Japanese commercial, he did make an exception for a gig abroad. It happened in 1978, when the poet received an invitation from the popular French literary talk...
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...
8 months 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...
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...
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...
Seth's Blog
Is it a t-shirt brand?
Not all projects become t-shirt brands, nor should they. The risk is in thinking you’re building one...
a year ago
Not all projects become t-shirt brands, nor should they. The risk is in thinking you’re building one when you’re not. T-shirt worthy brands are a very small subset of the whole. The question is: Would your customers want to wear your logo on a t-shirt? Why? If you’re creating...
Seth's Blog
Indifferent overhead
Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that...
7 months ago
Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that aren’t directly related to our income. You pay them whether or not you’re busy. But there are two kinds of overhead, worth differentiating: Different overhead … the investments that...
Stat Significant
The Fall and Rise of Nicolas Cage: A Statistical Analysis
Nicolas Cage: A Data Story
3 months ago
Nicolas Cage: A Data Story
Open Culture
Death: A Free Online Philosophy Course from Yale Helps You Grapple with the Inescapable
It pays to think intelligently about the inevitable. And this course taught by Yale professor Shelly...
3 months ago
It pays to think intelligently about the inevitable. And this course taught by Yale professor Shelly Kagan does just that, taking a rich, philosophical look at death. Here’s how the course description reads: There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to...
Open Culture
The Long Game of Creativity: If You Haven’t Created a Masterpiece at 30, You’re Not a Failure
Orson Welles directed the greatest movie ever made, Citizen Kane, at age 25, with only a limited...
4 months ago
Orson Welles directed the greatest movie ever made, Citizen Kane, at age 25, with only a limited knowledge of the medium. When Paul McCartney was 25, he, along with his fellow Beatles, released the era-defining album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. By age 29, Pablo Picasso...
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...
10 months 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....
Seth's Blog
Captives of memetic desire
How much of what we want, really want, is due to the ideas that culture has given us, and how much...
a year ago
How much of what we want, really want, is due to the ideas that culture has given us, and how much is truly what we need? If memetic desire isn’t making us happy, perhaps we can find some new ideas.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Strangford (Jo Pearson)
Hi! I’m Jo, working as a printmaker under the name 'Strangford' in Northern Ireland - though I’m...
6 months ago
Hi! I’m Jo, working as a printmaker under the name 'Strangford' in Northern Ireland - though I’m originally from South London.
Describe your printmaking process.
I make large, bright, unusual relief prints from my home studio; mostly of animals. I carve into flooring lino - it’s...
Open Culture
The “Nonsense” Botanical Illustrations of Victorian Artist-Poet Edward Lear (1871–77)
Since the Victorian era, Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” has been, for generation upon...
5 months ago
Since the Victorian era, Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” has been, for generation upon generation in the English-speaking world, the kind of poem that one simply knows, whether one remembers actually having read it or not. As with most such works that seep so...
Open Culture
Behold Gustave Doré’s Dramatic Illustrations of the Bible (1866)
One occasionally hears it said that, thanks to the internet, all the books truly worth reading are...
5 months ago
One occasionally hears it said that, thanks to the internet, all the books truly worth reading are free: Shakespeare, Don Quixote, the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, the Divine Comedy, the Bible. Can it be a coincidence that all of these works inspired illustrations by Gustave Doré?...
Open Culture
Tracking Pianist Yuja Wang’s Heartbeats During Her Marathon Rachmaninoff Performance
The Carnegie Hall YouTube Channel sets the scene: On January 28, 2023, pianist Yuja Wang joined The...
6 months ago
The Carnegie Hall YouTube Channel sets the scene: On January 28, 2023, pianist Yuja Wang joined The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall for a once-in-a-lifetime, all-Rachmaninoff marathon that featured the composer’s four piano concertos...
Open Culture
Isaac Asimov Predicts the Future of Online Education in 1988–and It’s Now Coming True
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Though that line probably originated...
7 months ago
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Though that line probably originated with a Canadian novelist called Grant Allen, it’s long been popularly attributed to his more colorful nineteenth-century contemporary Mark Twain. It isn’t hard to understand why it...
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
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
She’s here!
Some restaurants keep a photo of the local reviewer in the kitchen. The thinking is that if someone...
7 months ago
Some restaurants keep a photo of the local reviewer in the kitchen. The thinking is that if someone notices she’s in the building, everyone can up their game. And some musicians wait eagerly for A&R person to be in the crowd. If they really kill it tonight, a record deal might...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Sue Lewry
How and where did you learn to print?
A decade ago, when I first stepped into a print workshop, I...
a year ago
How and where did you learn to print?
A decade ago, when I first stepped into a print workshop, I met print technician and artist India Ritchie, who taught me various printmaking methods while studying at Arts University Plymouth.
India taught me intaglio, relief, and screen...
Seth's Blog
Confusion and delay
Marketing is generally about action. Marketers seek to create the conditions for a change to happen,...
a year ago
Marketing is generally about action. Marketers seek to create the conditions for a change to happen, for people to accomplish their goals and to satisfy their needs. But since 1950, some marketers have worked in a different direction. To sow confusion and doubt, and most of all,...
Seth's Blog
How to change the world
All successful cultural change (books, movies, public health), has a super-simple two-step loop:...
a year ago
All successful cultural change (books, movies, public health), has a super-simple two-step loop: AWARENESSTENSION–>Loop<– It’s easy to focus on awareness. Get the word out. Hype. Promo. I think that’s a mistake. Because awareness without tension is useless. The tension is like...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Frankie Brown
I’m an illustrator and printmaker based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I’m inspired by nostalgic...
a year ago
I’m an illustrator and printmaker based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I’m inspired by nostalgic storybooks and I love to create whimsical hand-printed illustrations.
I also work part-time at Handprinted; looking after the studio, liaising with tutors, teaching some Fab Fridays,...
Seth's Blog
The Western Union trap
When the telephone began to gain traction, the monopoly of the time, Western Union, decided to get...
6 months ago
When the telephone began to gain traction, the monopoly of the time, Western Union, decided to get even better at sending telegrams.
On the Arts
The Sea Has Always Looked the Same
A View of the Ocean as a Connection to the Past
a year ago
A View of the Ocean as a Connection to the Past
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...
7 months 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...
Open Culture
Solving a 2,500-Year-Old Puzzle: How a Cambridge Student Cracked an Ancient Sanskrit Code
If you find yourself grappling with an intellectual problem that’s gone unsolved for millennia, try...
3 months ago
If you find yourself grappling with an intellectual problem that’s gone unsolved for millennia, try taking a few months off and spending them on activities like swimming and meditating. That very strategy worked for a Cambridge PhD student named Rishi Rajpopat, who, after a...
Marian's Blog
Computer Vision and Robotics Demo with Raspberry Pi
This spring, I spent some time at SAP’s commercial hackerspace. I wanted to explore how computer...
over a year ago
This spring, I spent some time at SAP’s commercial hackerspace. I wanted to explore how computer vision can be used with embedded devices and robotics. I built a demo that can detect QR codes and similar symbols and point a laser at them. Possible applications of this are putting...
Seth's Blog
What to do with firm footing
If we’ve got tenure, a lifetime appointment or simply a really secure gig, what should we do with...
10 months ago
If we’ve got tenure, a lifetime appointment or simply a really secure gig, what should we do with it? One option is to race to the bottom, to chase short-term self-focused outcomes and to see how much we can get away with. (Probably, quite a bit). The other is to take this rare...
Seth's Blog
Multiple choice
“None of the above” is often the best option. We’re regularly confronted with multiple-choice...
4 months ago
“None of the above” is often the best option. We’re regularly confronted with multiple-choice questions. The foundation is already established, the options are already limited, do you want this or that? But the real questions lie in the assumptions that happened before you were...
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...
4 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
By association
We’re busy, we’re confused and we’re always seeking a shortcut. If a company is hiring, the person...
9 months ago
We’re busy, we’re confused and we’re always seeking a shortcut. If a company is hiring, the person who worked at Google or Apple or Disney gets more of the benefit of the doubt. Even if all they did was bring coffee to someone. But, if that person was one of the hundreds laid off...
Prolost
Slugline 2
From the Slugline Blog:
Slugline 2 is a new app that replaces the old Slugline for Mac. It has a...
over a year ago
From the Slugline Blog:
Slugline 2 is a new app that replaces the old Slugline for Mac. It has a slick new UI, which includes a lovely dark mode. Big new features include: a drag-and-drop outline, an awesome new timeline, color-coded notes, Final Draft import/export, and Live...
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...
11 months 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...
Open Culture
A Bicycle Trip: Watch an Animation of The World’s First LSD Trip in 1943
On August 16, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was synthesizing a new compound called lysergic...
7 months ago
On August 16, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was synthesizing a new compound called lysergic acid diethylamide-25 when he got a couple of drops on his finger. The chemical, later known worldwide as LSD, absorbed into his system, and, soon after, he experienced an intense...
Seth's Blog
Input choice is easily taken for granted
We can give instructions to a fellow human by: Most people develop voiceboxes and limbs and facial...
a year ago
We can give instructions to a fellow human by: Most people develop voiceboxes and limbs and facial expressions that make any of these usable. Computers, over the decades, have had to have them engineered. In 1983, Dan Lovy built a parser for the adventure games I was marketing at...
Seth's Blog
What do we owe the future?
You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow. That’s...
a month ago
You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow. That’s why we don’t spend every penny in our bank account, why we put leftovers in the fridge, why we earn a degree–it’s a gift to the you of tomorrow. Each of us have a way of thinking...
Seth's Blog
Which agenda?
Every day matters. It seems like a waste to spend one as a to-do list item on someone else’s agenda....
11 months ago
Every day matters. It seems like a waste to spend one as a to-do list item on someone else’s agenda. It’s easy to become so focused on checking the boxes that we forget that there are people involved. Peers, colleagues and friends that with something human to offer, if we only...
Open Culture
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Perform a Rollicking Cover of the Mary Tyler Moore Theme Song (1996)
?si=Pblv5Tzpi_F-a6cu Originally written by Sonny Curtis and released in 1970, “Love Is All...
2 months ago
?si=Pblv5Tzpi_F-a6cu Originally written by Sonny Curtis and released in 1970, “Love Is All Around”–otherwise known as the Mary Tyler Moore theme song–has been covered by many acts: Sammy Davis Jr, Hüsker Dü, and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, to name a few. After releasing a studio...
Seth's Blog
Variety and the long tail
In a We Are All Weird universe, there are two sorts of cultural disappointments. The first has been...
11 months ago
In a We Are All Weird universe, there are two sorts of cultural disappointments. The first has been around since the dawn of cable: We don’t all watch the same thing. We don’t all talk about it, hits aren’t really hits, not like they used to be. There’s no comparison in the reach...
Seth's Blog
Shields down
Michael Lopp helped coin an important term. When you’re a skilled craftsperson with high market...
9 months ago
Michael Lopp helped coin an important term. When you’re a skilled craftsperson with high market value, there may be recruiters knocking on your door. An employee who has ‘shields up’ doesn’t even bother to answer the door. When shields are down, you’re open to at least hearing...
Open Culture
Get $160 Off a Year of Coursera Plus & Gain Unlimited Access to Courses in Data Analytics,...
A heads-up on a Black Friday special: Between today and December 2, 2024, Coursera is offering a 40%...
3 weeks ago
A heads-up on a Black Friday special: Between today and December 2, 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...
cabel.com
Firehouse Five and the Cinderella Surprise
My goal was to preserve some never-before-heard recordings of an incredible Dixieland jazz band made...
10 months ago
My goal was to preserve some never-before-heard recordings of an incredible Dixieland jazz band made up of mostly Disney employees, the Firehouse Five Plus Two. But along the way, I accidentally discovered an incredible lost song that was cut from Walt Disney’s Cinderella. And...
Open Culture
A New 3D Scan, Created from 25,000 High-Resolution Images, Reveals the Remarkably Well-Preserved...
Photos on this page courtesy of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Few who hear the story of the...
a month ago
Photos on this page courtesy of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Few who hear the story of the Endurance could avoid reflecting on the aptness of the ship’s name. A year after setting out on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914, it got stuck in a mass of drifting ice...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Meaningless
My ArtBlocks debut, releasing on 30th May 2023. Find out how the algorithm
works and explore some...
a year ago
My ArtBlocks debut, releasing on 30th May 2023. Find out how the algorithm
works and explore some conceptual thoughts.
Open Culture
Watch Tom Waits For No One, the Pioneering Animated Music Video from 1979
Tom Waits For No One, above, is surely the only film in history to have won an Oscar for Scientific...
5 months ago
Tom Waits For No One, above, is surely the only film in history to have won an Oscar for Scientific and Technical Achievement for its creator and a first place award at the Hollywood Erotic Film and Video Festival. Director John Lamb and his partner, Bruce Lyon also deserve...
Stat Significant
Quantifying 'The Kevin Bacon Game': A Statistical Exploration of Hollywood’s Most Connected Actors
Examining 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' and its statistical underpinnings.
2 months ago
Examining 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' and its statistical underpinnings.
Stat Significant
What Makes a Movie Hateable? A Statistical Analysis
What makes a movie bad, and what makes a review of a bad movie?
a month ago
What makes a movie bad, and what makes a review of a bad movie?
Seth's Blog
The Pizza Principle
Good pizza is rare, even though the method to create it is well known. Any efforts to make it more...
a year ago
Good pizza is rare, even though the method to create it is well known. Any efforts to make it more convenient, cheaper or easier will almost always make it worse. If you think this post is about pizza, I’m afraid that we’re already stuck.
Seth's Blog
Niching up
Along the way, folks have talked about “niching down” as a way to help a project find focus. But...
10 months ago
Along the way, folks have talked about “niching down” as a way to help a project find focus. But that’s backward. When we identify and embrace the smallest viable audience, we’re moving up. Up the quality hierarchy. Up in responsibility. Up in the likelihood that we’ll make an...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “stoically facing the end times” edition
1. When is AI coding not AI coding? You might have heard something about how Google now creates a...
a month ago
1. When is AI coding not AI coding? You might have heard something about how Google now creates a quarter of its code using AI. But as with most things concerning everyone’s favourite hot tech, the devil is in the details. And the details, according to this poster on Hacker News,...
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...
2 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
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...
3 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...
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
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...
Open Culture
Download 1,000+ Digitized Tapes of Sounds from Classic Hollywood Films & TV, Courtesy of the...
Watch enough classic movies — especially classic movies from slightly downmarket studios — and...
3 months ago
Watch enough classic movies — especially classic movies from slightly downmarket studios — and you’ll swear you’ve been hearing the very same sound effects over and over again. That’s because you have been hearing the very same sound effects over and over again: once recorded or...
Infinite Scroll
Why You Should Read Web Fiction
A beginner's guide to an underappreciated format
3 weeks ago
A beginner's guide to an underappreciated format
Seth's Blog
A deal’s a deal
A fundamental building block of civilization is the understanding that contracts matter. Regardless...
a year ago
A fundamental building block of civilization is the understanding that contracts matter. Regardless of where someone is on the current political spectrum (from Alinksy to Mises), things can be understood to work better if the boss, the vendor, the client and the freelancer all...
Seth's Blog
The problem with the movie version
There are lights, camera and action, but mostly there’s the unreality of making it fit. Happily ever...
a month ago
There are lights, camera and action, but mostly there’s the unreality of making it fit. Happily ever after, a climax at just the right moment, perfect heroes, tension, resolution and a swelling soundtrack. Every element is amplified and things happen right on schedule. Consume...
Seth's Blog
Most people (and the people you choose)
Most people want you to make something cheap, write something short, share something funny, and fit...
a year ago
Most people want you to make something cheap, write something short, share something funny, and fit in. But the people you serve… they might want something else. The few people you need to thrive in your work might want you to write something they’ll remember for a long time, or...
Open Culture
What’s Under London? Discover London’s Forbidden Underworld
When the words London and underground come together, the first thing that comes to most of our...
6 months ago
When the words London and underground come together, the first thing that comes to most of our minds, naturally, is the London Underground. But though it may enjoy the honorable distinction of the world’s first railway to run below the streets, the stalwart Tube is hardly the...
Seth's Blog
The ledge
Drowning is devastating, a tragic and painful way to go. So much so that feeling like we’re drowning...
3 months ago
Drowning is devastating, a tragic and painful way to go. So much so that feeling like we’re drowning is a trigger, an overwhelming emotion that causes us to grasp, struggle and leave our best self behind. It’s easy to experience this even when we’re out of the water. When the...
Seth's Blog
Curation (vs the road to junk)
The independent bookstore down the street is carefully curated. Each book takes up the spot that a...
9 months ago
The independent bookstore down the street is carefully curated. Each book takes up the spot that a different book could inhabit, so the owner makes sure that there’s a great reason a title is included. Amazon, on the other hand, has no shelf space problem, and the Kindle...
Seth's Blog
The leaping curve
The learning curve is familiar to many people. It might be steep, but it’s continuous. Organizations...
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
Demanding certainty
The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It...
8 months ago
The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It sets up the conditions for doing nothing, because certainty never happens until the future arrives. It’s much more useful to look at probabilities. Flipping a fair coin has a 50%...
Seth's Blog
Beyond CRM
Many marketers spend time with their CRM systems. Expensive cloud-based tools that automate Customer...
7 months ago
Many marketers spend time with their CRM systems. Expensive cloud-based tools that automate Customer Relationship Management. Maybe customers don’t want to be managed. They probably don’t. It might be more useful to think of our most important work as customer relationship...
Open Culture
How Well Does Medieval Armor Actually Stand Up to Medieval Arrows?: A Historical Re-Creation Lets...
The popular image of the medieval suit of armor looks formidable enough that any of us could be...
6 months ago
The popular image of the medieval suit of armor looks formidable enough that any of us could be forgiven for assuming that, with its steel-plated protection, we’d emerge from even the most harrowing battle without a scratch. Yet if we really found ourselves transported to, say,...
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...
6 months 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,...
Seth's Blog
Responsibility and blame
It’s tempting to hand it to other people. If someone else takes the blame, if they accept the...
8 months ago
It’s tempting to hand it to other people. If someone else takes the blame, if they accept the responsibility, then we get satisfaction and we’re off the hook. Alas, this doesn’t work unless the others do the taking and do the accepting. Which is unlikely. We’re giving power to...
Open Culture
Watch Philosophy Lectures That Became a Hit During COVID by Professor Michael Sugrue (RIP): From...
If we ask which philosophy professor has made the greatest impact in this decade, there’s a solid...
6 months ago
If we ask which philosophy professor has made the greatest impact in this decade, there’s a solid case to be made for the late Michael Sugrue. Yet in the nearly four-decade-long career that followed his studies at the University of Chicago under Allan Bloom (author of The Closing...
Open Culture
The 63 Cuisines of China Explained in 40 Minutes: A Complete Primer
Wherever in the world you grew up, you probably grew up with an inaccurate idea of Chinese food. For...
2 weeks ago
Wherever in the world you grew up, you probably grew up with an inaccurate idea of Chinese food. For Americans, it can come as a shock to hear that such familiar dishes as chop suey and General Tso’s chicken are unknown in China itself. By the same token, almost every country in...
Seth's Blog
It goes without saying
A phrase that’s been showing up recently is, “no pressure.” It usually comes in a pitch letter of...
a year ago
A phrase that’s been showing up recently is, “no pressure.” It usually comes in a pitch letter of some sort, written by someone who isn’t in a position to exert any pressure. So why say it? It’s a bit like, “while supplies last.” And “to be honest…” which is perhaps the most...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Pia Bramley
I’m an artist, illustrator and printmaker. Having left London after a decade of city life I now live...
a year ago
I’m an artist, illustrator and printmaker. Having left London after a decade of city life I now live and work in The New Forest, squeezing in drawing and printing around caring for a three year old.
How and where did you learn to print?
I did my foundation at KIAD (formerly...
Open Culture
Hear the Isolated Vocals of Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush in “Don’t Give Up”: The Power of Perseverance
Just by chance, could you use a song about perseverance and overcoming adversity? Something to give...
a month ago
Just by chance, could you use a song about perseverance and overcoming adversity? Something to give you a little encouragement and reassurance? Then we submit to you “Don’t Give Up,” featuring the isolated vocals of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. When he released the song on his...
Seth's Blog
Misunderstanding bigness
IBM spent a fortune fighting calls for them to be broken up. So did AT&T and Microsoft. In all three...
4 months ago
IBM spent a fortune fighting calls for them to be broken up. So did AT&T and Microsoft. In all three cases, there’s plenty of evidence that they would have been better off if they had simply broken themselves up. Microsoft is still recovering and IBM never will. One computer...
Open Culture
The Evolution of Hokusai’s Great Wave: A Study of 113 Known Copies of the Iconic Woodblock Print
The most widely known work by the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japanese artist Hokusai,...
6 months ago
The most widely known work by the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japanese artist Hokusai, 神奈川沖浪裏, is usually translated into English as The Great Wave off Kanagawa. That version of the title reflects the iconic scene depicted in the image well enough, though I can’t help but...
Seth's Blog
Time, consquences and opportunities
Dreams have consequences Hisham Matar Time passes, decisions are made, we face the consequences or...
11 months 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...
Marian's Blog
Faster Than Life – Global Game Jam 2019 Project
Like in the previous year, I took part in the Global Game Jam.
I joined a team of six programmers,...
over a year ago
Like in the previous year, I took part in the Global Game Jam.
I joined a team of six programmers, unfortunately there was a shortage of artists this year.
During the 48 hour jam, we made a space game that is inspired by Faster Than Light.
You travel through...
Seth's Blog
Infamy
We’ve gotten so hung up on famous that it’s easy to forget that there are two kinds of renown. Being...
4 months ago
We’ve gotten so hung up on famous that it’s easy to forget that there are two kinds of renown. Being known for lowering the standards of discourse, cheating, or whining is a choice, but why would you trade your reputation to become infamous?
Open Culture
Why Medieval Bologna Was Full of Tall Towers, and What Happened to Them
Image by Toni Pecoraro, via Wikimedia Commons Go to practically any major city today, and you’ll...
7 months ago
Image by Toni Pecoraro, via Wikimedia Commons Go to practically any major city today, and you’ll notice that the buildings in certain areas are much taller than in others. That may sound trivially true, but what’s less obvious is that the height of those buildings tends to...
Seth's Blog
“How can I help?”
If you have a series of tasks to do, it’s easier to ignore this question and simply get back to...
3 months ago
If you have a series of tasks to do, it’s easier to ignore this question and simply get back to work. Doing the tasks is more efficient than coordinating the help. But if your work is a project, a bigger mission that involves making a change happen, it’s much more productive to...
Blog - Mac Pierce
The Whys and Hows of the Opt-Out Cap.
Why I built the Opt-Out Cap cap, and how it all came together.
over a year ago
Why I built the Opt-Out Cap cap, and how it all came together.
Seth's Blog
Stumbling in the dark
Learning is complicated. While we’re doing it, it’s easy to imagine that those around us are...
11 months ago
Learning is complicated. While we’re doing it, it’s easy to imagine that those around us are completely sure of themselves, moving forward in a well-lit space. In fact, if you visit a growing company, a useful school or anywhere that growth is happening, you’ll quickly see that...
Seth's Blog
“Not your best ever”
In order to have a best ever, hearing this is part of the deal. Each thing is not going to top...
6 months ago
In order to have a best ever, hearing this is part of the deal. Each thing is not going to top everything that came before it. Progress is rarely smooth.
Seth's Blog
Pay what you want
It’s a fascinating payment model. For digital goods and other transactions where the marginal cost...
a year ago
It’s a fascinating payment model. For digital goods and other transactions where the marginal cost of one more sale approaches zero, “pay what you want” exposes how complicated the story we tell about money can be. When we add in the charity component, it becomes even more...
On the Arts
Modern Culture is Too Escapist, Part 1: Isolated vs. Integrated Arts
Too much creative energy is focused on escaping the world, not on enhancing it.
a year ago
Too much creative energy is focused on escaping the world, not on enhancing it.
Seth's Blog
The seduction of grad school
For a certain cohort of high-performing students at famous colleges, graduate school feels...
a year ago
For a certain cohort of high-performing students at famous colleges, graduate school feels irresistible. If you’re good at school, the challenge and offer of law school, med school or a famous business school means you get to do more of what you’re good at. You’re offered a...
Seth's Blog
Assume lack of context
The person you’re working with might not know what you know, might not see what you see. It’s...
6 months ago
The person you’re working with might not know what you know, might not see what you see. It’s tempting to begin where we are. But it’s more useful to begin where they are.
The Great Discontent...
Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor
When Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor came up with the idea for Ear Hustle, the podcast they’ve hosted...
7 months ago
When Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor came up with the idea for Ear Hustle, the podcast they’ve hosted together since 2017, Earlonne was serving a prison sentence of 31 years to life—the result of California’s three-strikes law. The two met at San Quentin State Prison where Nigel, a...
Anarchy Unfolds
3 Pieces for Rethinking Identity Politics
Mental health, neurodivergence, orientation, and the path ahead
a month ago
Mental health, neurodivergence, orientation, and the path ahead
Seth's Blog
Important change is systems change
Willpower is overrated. If you want to eat healthier, don’t work hard to avoid stopping at the...
4 months ago
Willpower is overrated. If you want to eat healthier, don’t work hard to avoid stopping at the cookie jar when you walk into the kitchen. Get rid of the cookie jar. Systems are long-lasting, widespread and resilient. We can push back on them with effort, but over time, the system...
Open Culture
The First Animation That Hayao Miyazaki Directed on His Own: Watch Footage from the Pilot of Yuki’s...
Hayao Miyazaki began his career as an animator in 1963, getting in the door at Toei Animation not...
4 months ago
Hayao Miyazaki began his career as an animator in 1963, getting in the door at Toei Animation not long before the company ceased to hire regularly. Miyazaki’s equally retirement-resistant contemporary Tetsuya Chiba, already well on his way to fame as a mangaka, or comic artist,...
Open Culture
The Mushroom Color Atlas: An Interactive Web Site Lets You Explore the Incredible Spectrum of Colors...
Enter the Mushroom Color Atlas, and you can discover the “beautiful and subtle colors derived from...
a month ago
Enter the Mushroom Color Atlas, and you can discover the “beautiful and subtle colors derived from dyeing with mushrooms.” Featuring 825 colors, each associated with different types of mushrooms, the interactive atlas lets you appreciate the broad spectrum of colors latent in the...
Open Culture
Private Snafu: The World War II Propaganda Cartoons Created by Dr. Seuss, Frank Capra & Mel Blanc
Private Snafu was the U.S. Army’s worst soldier. He was sloppy, lazy and prone to shooting off his...
2 months ago
Private Snafu was the U.S. Army’s worst soldier. He was sloppy, lazy and prone to shooting off his mouth to Nazi agents. And he was hugely popular with his fellow GIs. Private Snafu was, of course, an animated cartoon character designed for the military recruits. He was an...
Open Culture
Hannah Arendt Explains the Rise of Totalitarian Regimes–and the Strategies Needed to Combat Them
“Adolf Eichmann went to the gallows with great dignity,” wrote the political philosopher Hannah...
7 months ago
“Adolf Eichmann went to the gallows with great dignity,” wrote the political philosopher Hannah Arendt, describing the scene leading up to the prominent Holocaust-organizer’s execution. After drinking half a bottle of wine, turning down the offer of religious assistance, and even...
escape the algorithm
Should this be a map or 500 maps?
500 priests, cartographic n00bism, and the limits of scale
6 months ago
500 priests, cartographic n00bism, and the limits of scale
Seth's Blog
Avoiding the trap questions
A trick question is designed to fool us into proposing the wrong answer (example below). A trap...
5 months ago
A trick question is designed to fool us into proposing the wrong answer (example below). A trap question, on the other hand, stops the train completely. A trap question demands an answer, and the answer will paralyze us and keep us from the work at hand. “Yes, but how many...
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
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...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Jenny McCabe
I am printmaker based up north in Lancaster. I currently work mainly with intaglio printmaking...
a year ago
I am printmaker based up north in Lancaster. I currently work mainly with intaglio printmaking methods, preferring metal plate etchings and card Collagraph constructed plates. I have been making printed items for many years including printed textiles and writing books about...
Anarchy Unfolds
The Weariness of Work
Why I've been away; why I'm anti-work as well as pro-labor
7 months ago
Why I've been away; why I'm anti-work as well as pro-labor
Anarchy Unfolds
Met Gala meets Hunger Games
#Blockout and beyond
6 months 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...
7 months 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...
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...
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 […]
Seth's Blog
A transformative summer
Living indoors, connected to a screen, it’s easy for the months and years to blur together. The...
10 months ago
Living indoors, connected to a screen, it’s easy for the months and years to blur together. The seasons used to matter more. But for young adults, they still do. Transitions are built around the seasons, and the headlong rush to a career is still sometimes interrupted by months...
Open Culture
How the Influential Time-Travel Movie La Jetée Was Made (Almost) Entirely out of Still Photographs
In a future where humanity has been driven underground by an apocalyptic event, a prisoner is...
a month ago
In a future where humanity has been driven underground by an apocalyptic event, a prisoner is haunted by the childhood memory of seeing a man gunned down at an airport. A group of scientists make him their time-traveling guinea pig, hoping that he’ll be able to find a way to...
Seth's Blog
PW 5: Measuring the right thing
Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the...
11 months ago
Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the appropriate measure of productivity. “I did all my homework.” Doing all your homework is a measure for industrial bosses. But what, precisely, did your homework ever do for you? The actual...
Seth's Blog
Finding agency
The first few moves of a chess game give the player almost unlimited freedom. There are countless...
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...
Open Culture
Bertrand Russell’s 10 Commandments for Living in a Healthy Democracy
Image by J. F. Horrabin, via Wikimedia Commons Bertrand Russell saw the history of civilization as...
a month ago
Image by J. F. Horrabin, via Wikimedia Commons Bertrand Russell saw the history of civilization as being shaped by an unfortunate oscillation between two opposing evils: tyranny and anarchy, each of which contains the seed of the other. The best course for steering clear of...
Open Culture
A Close Look at Beowulf-Era Helmets & Swords, Courtesy of the British Museum
Even if a student assigned Beowulf is, at first, dismayed by its language, that same student may...
5 months ago
Even if a student assigned Beowulf is, at first, dismayed by its language, that same student may well be captivated by its setting. While that mythical but somehow both gloriously and dankly realistic realm of kings and dragons, mead halls and bog monsters may feel familiar to...
Seth's Blog
Heavy Lemon Tuna
It’s easy to smirk at the ridiculous images one can make in twenty seconds with AI. People used to...
a year ago
It’s easy to smirk at the ridiculous images one can make in twenty seconds with AI. People used to smirk at photographs in the 1800s. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” is no longer a useful thing to say. Truth is real, photos are not.
Infinite Scroll
Flat Earthers and Belief in Belief
What flat earthers can teach us about politics
2 days ago
What flat earthers can teach us about politics
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
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...
Open Culture
When Leonard Cohen Guest Starred on Miami Vice (1986)
Leonard Cohen was Canada’s answer to Bob Dylan. While best known perhaps as a singer-songwriter who...
2 months ago
Leonard Cohen was Canada’s answer to Bob Dylan. While best known perhaps as a singer-songwriter who penned the tune “Hallelujah” — which was covered by Jeff Buckley, John Cale and just about everyone else under the sun — he was also at varying points in his colorful life a poet,...
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...
5 months 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...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker - Angela Hall
My name is Angela Hall, I’m an artist and silkscreen printer based in North Yorkshire, and I have...
8 months ago
My name is Angela Hall, I’m an artist and silkscreen printer based in North Yorkshire, and I have been making and selling my limited-edition prints for the last 5 years from my studio, specialised print events and regional galleries.
My creative journey started with a degree in...
The Last...
Still Alive
WHERE DID YOU GO?
I flatter myself by thinking you are asking this question. I am writing a book of...
over a year ago
WHERE DID YOU GO?
I flatter myself by thinking you are asking this question. I am writing a book of and about porn.
IS IT ANY GOOD?
Not sure. I am trying my best. It's a lot of work, complicated by relentless self-doubt. The good news is I am drinking more.
ALMOST...
Seth's Blog
The unwritten rules get written
…when someone decides to selfishly push. There’s an assumption of civility and fairness in all of...
a year ago
…when someone decides to selfishly push. There’s an assumption of civility and fairness in all of our interactions. When a harsh competitor unilaterally breaks unwritten rules (because it’s “not technically against the rules”) the community then writes down a new rule. The best...
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...
3 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...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Enclosing a Prusa MK3, or how to completely overbuild an Octopi setup.
Overbuilding a Prusa enclosure
over a year ago
Overbuilding a Prusa enclosure
Seth's Blog
Valuable contributions
We actually don’t really know. Netflix just released their first-ever detailed analysis of how many...
a year ago
We actually don’t really know. Netflix just released their first-ever detailed analysis of how many hours of engagement the top 15,000+ most watched shows on the network received over a six month period. Here’s the file. Who won? That question is actually the lesson here. The...
Seth's Blog
The challenge of focus groups for bold ideas
“We’re thinking of having a holiday every year where kids of all ages go door to door unescorted and...
2 months ago
“We’re thinking of having a holiday every year where kids of all ages go door to door unescorted and beg for candy, and adults dress up in expensive and revealing costumes and get drunk. Would you be likely to participate?” It’s not really a helpful question. (Yes, Halloween is...
Seth's Blog
The commonweal
Thanks to everyone who has read, talked about and taken action around my new book, The Song of...
a year ago
Thanks to everyone who has read, talked about and taken action around my new book, The Song of Signficance. If you have a chance to post a review, that would be great. And you can find the podcasts here. The first step in making things better is talking about it.
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
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
Ride your own bike
I was happily pedaling along on the rail trail when three spandex speedsters blew by me on their...
a year ago
I was happily pedaling along on the rail trail when three spandex speedsters blew by me on their handmade carbon bikes. For a moment, I was disheartened. What’s the point–they’re speedy, I’m not. Then I realize that it’s not a bike race, it’s a bike ride. There is no winning,...
Seth's Blog
The unaware snoop
Here’s a breakthrough that’s about to happen somewhere: A GPT that reads every email that anyone in...
a year ago
Here’s a breakthrough that’s about to happen somewhere: A GPT that reads every email that anyone in your organization has ever sent and makes it easy to ask it questions about what the entire organization knows. A person could probably not find the time, bandwidth or privacy...
Seth's Blog
Volition and placebos
If a placebo heals your illness, does that mean it was all in your head in the first place? That you...
a year ago
If a placebo heals your illness, does that mean it was all in your head in the first place? That you weren’t really sick, or didn’t really want to get better? If expensive wine tastes better to you, but you can’t tell wine apart in a double-blind taste test, does that mean it...
Seth's Blog
Closed/open
I’m told that the hardest part of being a teaching golf pro isn’t helping adult golfers develop a...
a year ago
I’m told that the hardest part of being a teaching golf pro isn’t helping adult golfers develop a good swing. It’s getting them to stop using a bad one. Our position feels so fragile, we hold on very tightly. Competence, status and connection are fleeting yet hard-won. We can...
Open Culture
Launch Your Project Management Career with Google’s AI-Enhanced Professional Certificate
?si=TMflasoogRfSD14h Back in 2021, Google released a series of certificate programs, including one...
a month ago
?si=TMflasoogRfSD14h Back in 2021, Google released a series of certificate programs, including one focused on Project Management. Designed to give students “an immersive understanding of the practices and skills needed to succeed in an entry-level project management role,” the...
Seth's Blog
Stevie and Marvin
When Marvin Gaye joined Motown, he went with his strengths. He wanted to work only in the studio. He...
a year ago
When Marvin Gaye joined Motown, he went with his strengths. He wanted to work only in the studio. He hated touring and was sure he lacked the charisma and other gifts that made some musicians great onstage. This didn’t really fit the label’s strengths, and he struggled to find...
Handprinted - Blog
Custom Screen Specifications and Artwork Guides
If you're thinking about ordering a custom screen with us, we need your artwork to the...
a year ago
If you're thinking about ordering a custom screen with us, we need your artwork to the specifications laid out in this blog post.
First, these are the technical specifications we require
Flattened PDF format only (no JPG or PNG)
Portrait
300 dpi resolution, no...
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...
7 months 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...
Open Culture
Coursera Offers 30% Off of Coursera Plus (Until September 30), Giving You Unlimited Access to...
As the new school year gets underway, millions of students are heading back to classrooms. And you...
3 months ago
As the new school year gets underway, millions of students are heading back to classrooms. And you can too. From now until September 30, 2024, Coursera is offering a 30% discount on its annual subscription plan called “Coursera Plus.” Normally priced at $399, Coursera Plus...
Open Culture
The Complete Howard Stern Interview with Kamala Harris
It’s hard to know where to start. This election comes down to whether or not we want to reward...
2 months ago
It’s hard to know where to start. This election comes down to whether or not we want to reward someone who tried to subvert our democracy four years ago. Whether we want to preserve the alliances that have kept the peace since World War II. Whether women want to resist losing...
Marian's Blog
Quadrocopter Lichtsystem
Dies ist ein Arduinoprojekt, das vier RGB-LED-Streifen an den vier Armen des Quadrocopters...
over a year ago
Dies ist ein Arduinoprojekt, das vier RGB-LED-Streifen an den vier Armen des Quadrocopters ansteuert. Das Ziel war, bei möglichst geringen Materialkosten möglichst viele Möglichkeiten bei der Beleuchtung des Quadrocopters zu haben.
Verwendete Teile:
1m RGB-LED Streifen, jeweils...
Anarchy Unfolds
May all roads lead to solarpunk
Letters to an anarchist - Part 8
3 weeks ago
Letters to an anarchist - Part 8
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: The Squirrel Gestapo
Dead Squirrels, Community Notes, and Good Frog Energy
a month ago
Dead Squirrels, Community Notes, and Good Frog Energy
Seth's Blog
The Net Promoter Score
More than two-thirds of the companies surveyed said that they used NPS methodology with their...
7 months ago
More than two-thirds of the companies surveyed said that they used NPS methodology with their customers. Some are using it to measure employee satisfaction as well. The P stands for ‘promoter’, but of course, it doesn’t actually measure promotion. If that many of your customers...
Handprinted - Blog
Monotype with Natural Materials
Like monoprint, a monotype is a print that is one of a kind but does not use a matrix like a cut...
a month ago
Like monoprint, a monotype is a print that is one of a kind but does not use a matrix like a cut block or plate. For this project we're using this simple technique to produce beautifully delicate prints using natural materials and found objects. You can also combine this with...
Seth's Blog
The clamp and the mallet
While building a project, I found that a key part was stuck. I tapped it with a mallet, then harder,...
a year ago
While building a project, I found that a key part was stuck. I tapped it with a mallet, then harder, and eventually whacked at it. No luck. Then I got smart and put three clamps around the part, gently turning each one, increasing the pressure, until it simply popped out....
Handprinted - Blog
Making a Copper Sulphate Mordant Solution
Copper sulphate is a non-toxic mordant used to etch aluminium, zinc and steel plates for intaglio...
a year ago
Copper sulphate is a non-toxic mordant used to etch aluminium, zinc and steel plates for intaglio printmaking. Copper sulphate is a safer alternative to acids - and we always opt for safer solutions here at the Handprinted studio!
Metal plates are traditionally etched using...
Open Culture
Watch the Earliest-Known Charles Dickens Film: The Death of Poor Joe
A little over a decade ago, a curator at the British Film Institute (BFI) discovered the oldest...
6 months ago
A little over a decade ago, a curator at the British Film Institute (BFI) discovered the oldest surviving film featuring a Charles Dickens character, “The Death of Poor Joe.” The silent film, directed by George Albert Smith in 1900, brings to life Dickens’ character Jo, the...
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...
3 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.
Seth's Blog
Happiness can often be traded for money
Most of us know what enough happiness feels like. But some people are stuck in an endless cycle of...
12 months ago
Most of us know what enough happiness feels like. But some people are stuck in an endless cycle of seeking more money. That’s a bad trade. Because after a certain threshold, it’s hard for more money to buy you more happiness. And the trap is that trying ends up costing you both.
Seth's Blog
Perfect pavement
Paving the ground might be an option. Pavement is invisible to the driver. It’s expected, smooth,...
6 months ago
Paving the ground might be an option. Pavement is invisible to the driver. It’s expected, smooth, resilient and gets out of the way. You only notice a road when it’s not paved well. Nature, on the other hand, is never perfect. All untouched forests are natural, yet each is...
Open Culture
Jerry Seinfeld Delivers Commencement Address at Duke University: You Will Need Humor to Get Through...
This weekend, Jerry Seinfeld gave the commencement speech at Duke University and offered the...
7 months ago
This weekend, Jerry Seinfeld gave the commencement speech at Duke University and offered the graduates his three keys to life: 1. bust your ass, 2. pay attention, and 3. fall in love. Then, 10 minutes later, he added essentially a fourth key to life: “Do not lose your sense of...
Open Culture
Buckminster Fuller’s Map of the World: The Innovation That Revolutionized Map Design (1943)
In 2017, we brought you news of a world map purportedly more accurate than any to date, designed by...
4 months ago
In 2017, we brought you news of a world map purportedly more accurate than any to date, designed by Japanese architect and artist Hajime Narukawa. The map, called the AuthaGraph, updates a centuries-old method of turning the globe into a flat surface by first converting it to a...
Seth's Blog
Population and big innovations
It’s tempting to embrace the meme that the best way for humans to solve the big problems in front of...
a year ago
It’s tempting to embrace the meme that the best way for humans to solve the big problems in front of us is to increase the population, perhaps dramatically. The thinking goes that people are the ones who can solve problems, and more people give us more problem-solvers. This...
Open Culture
What Victorian People Sounded Like: Hear Recordings of Florence Nightingale & Queen Victoria Herself
More than 120 years after the end of the Victorian era, we might assume that we retain a more or...
a month ago
More than 120 years after the end of the Victorian era, we might assume that we retain a more or less accurate cultural memory of the Victorians themselves: of their social mores, their aesthetic sensibilities, their ambitions great and small, their many and varied hang-ups. Some...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: MrBeast Games The System
Plus! A Momfluencer Horror Story and an Important Orca Update
2 weeks ago
Plus! A Momfluencer Horror Story and an Important Orca Update
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
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
Chores
They’re essential. The house begins to stink if we don’t take out the garbage. But at work, while...
a year ago
They’re essential. The house begins to stink if we don’t take out the garbage. But at work, while they might be essential, they may not be important. At least, not important enough for us to spend a lot of focus on. Chores are: The bills have to get paid. But they might not have...
Blog - Mac Pierce
+ / - , Actualization
Reposting some writing I did a while back on the subject of how additive
manufacturing is...
over a year ago
Reposting some writing I did a while back on the subject of how additive
manufacturing is necessarily a destructive process.
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