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Infinite Scroll
Why Are So Many Online Trads Still Single? We asked single trads to tell us their secrets
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Jump in the lake The waters of Buck Lake are cool and clear and restorative. All summer, it’s tempting to go for a...
a year ago
85
a year ago
The waters of Buck Lake are cool and clear and restorative. All summer, it’s tempting to go for a swim. But it’s also a hassle. You need to change your clothes, find someone to guard, bring a towel and most of all, gasp at the transition when the cold water hits. And yet… no one...
Prolost
Cameras, Phones, and Log — What’s the Juice? I know, I know, another video about shooting video in log on iPhones? I promise I’ll move on to...
5 months ago
42
5 months ago
I know, I know, another video about shooting video in log on iPhones? I promise I’ll move on to other topics, but two events happening in one week pushed me into making this video: Samsung adding log to the Galaxy s25 Ultra My brother-in-law texting me “Do you have a fix for...
Seth's Blog
The digital barback A barback supports the bartending staff. There are always clean glasses and fresh ingredients, ready...
a year ago
34
a year ago
A barback supports the bartending staff. There are always clean glasses and fresh ingredients, ready to go. Having someone else do your mise en place can dramatically improve your productivity. And now, with a bit of effort, you can train an AI and a few systems to do it for you....
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “your time is up” edition This week… But first, an announcement! TLDR: Over the holidays, I will be migrating this site from...
6 months ago
88
6 months ago
This week… But first, an announcement! TLDR: Over the holidays, I will be migrating this site from WordPress.com to Ghost. This may mean a little disruption, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum. Why am I doing this? I’ve been a paying customer of WordPress.com for my site...
Seth's Blog
Wild Hope Now: The power of books for causes Non-profits and charities depend on the emotional and financial support of their backers. And that...
a year ago
28
a year ago
Non-profits and charities depend on the emotional and financial support of their backers. And that support is always based on a story. A story of possibility, of justice, of community. They serve to right wrongs, to fix problems, to shine a light and to make things better. I’ve...
Handprinted - Blog
Screen Printing a Repeat Pattern Printing a length of your own designed fabric is so exciting but most of us do not have the luxury...
over a year ago
86
over a year ago
Printing a length of your own designed fabric is so exciting but most of us do not have the luxury of a fabric registration table. Here's an easy step by step guide to printing a repeat pattern on a length of fabric using an A4 43T screen. Draw the design motifs onto...
Seth's Blog
Digital shortcuts and cognitive load I used to drive 200 miles to Boston once a week or so. After a few trips on the highway, my...
a year ago
134
a year ago
I used to drive 200 miles to Boston once a week or so. After a few trips on the highway, my subconscious figured out that getting behind a few trucks for the entire ride enabled me to spend four hours without using much conscious effort on driving. Every day, we make decisions....
Anarchy Unfolds
We Don't Need Conspiracies The real stories behind our problems are scary enough
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Status (and the grass tax) Status shows up whenever humans do, and it is the invisible underpinning of our culture. The front...
3 weeks ago
12
3 weeks ago
Status shows up whenever humans do, and it is the invisible underpinning of our culture. The front lawn was only invented around the time of Columbus. The idea was to demonstrate that you had time and money to waste. You could take useful land and make it non-productive. You...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #137 Mitochondria, Image Generation, Nobels, Vast, Common Sense, AI Lifeguards, Tina He
3 months ago
Open Culture
Mark Twain & Helen Keller’s Special Friendship: He Treated Me Not as a Freak, But as a Person... Sometimes it can seem as though the more we think we know a historical figure, the less we actually...
11 months ago
69
11 months ago
Sometimes it can seem as though the more we think we know a historical figure, the less we actually do. Helen Keller? We’ve all seen (or think we’ve seen) some version of The Miracle Worker, right?—even if we haven’t actually read Keller’s autobiography. And Mark Twain? He can...
Open Culture
Hear Moby Dick Read in Its Entirety by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, John Waters, Stephen Fry... Image of Moby Dick by David Austen. In 2013, Plymouth University kicked off Moby Dick The Big Read,...
9 months ago
79
9 months ago
Image of Moby Dick by David Austen. In 2013, Plymouth University kicked off Moby Dick The Big Read, promising a full audiobook of Herman Melville’s influential novel, with famous (and not so famous) voices taking on a chapter each. When we first wrote about it here, only six...
Open Culture
The World’s Oldest Homework: A Look at Babylonian Math Homework from 4,000 Years Ago Homework has lately become unfashionable, at least according to what I’ve heard from teachers in...
a month ago
10
a month ago
Homework has lately become unfashionable, at least according to what I’ve heard from teachers in certain parts of the United States. That may complicate various fairly long-standing educational practices, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect an absolute drop in standards and...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Kathryn Green I am a textile artist and tutor, specialising in dye and print processes to create organic, layered...
a year ago
89
a year ago
I am a textile artist and tutor, specialising in dye and print processes to create organic, layered and textural art textile pieces for exhibition, in addition to capsule collections of wearable art and interior accessories.  Having obtained a First-class degree in textiles, I...
Seth's Blog
Bottom of the funnel It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions....
a year ago
102
a year ago
It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions. More buzz, hype, promotion. Get the word out. Just about all the time people who call themselves “marketers” spend is on this. Don’t worry about what happens later, just pour more...
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...
a year ago
84
a year 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
Download 1,600+ Publications from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Books, Guides, Magazines & More Many of us in these past few generations first heard of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while reading...
8 months ago
61
8 months ago
Many of us in these past few generations first heard of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while reading E. L. Konigsburg’s novel From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. More than a few of us also fantasized about running away to live in that vast cultural institution...
Open Culture
Behold the Codex Gigas (aka “Devil’s Bible”), the Largest Medieval Manuscript in the World Bargain with the devil and you may wind up with a golden fiddle, supernatural guitar-playing...
a year ago
139
a year ago
Bargain with the devil and you may wind up with a golden fiddle, supernatural guitar-playing ability, or a room full of gleaming alchemized straw. Whoops, we misattributed that last one. It’s actually Rumpelstiltskin’s doing, but the by-morning-or-else deadline that drives the...
Haterade
The Haterade Help Desk Is Now Taking Calls The mailbag returns (soon)
over a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
How to Design and Print a Half Drop Repeating Pattern A half drop is a great way of creating a repeating pattern where the repeat is slightly obscured. It...
over a year ago
85
over a year ago
A half drop is a great way of creating a repeating pattern where the repeat is slightly obscured. It can make for a less gridded-looking structure and add complexity to your design. Here's a simple, analogue way to make one. Start by drawing around your block. We are...
Stat Significant
When Do Viewers Get Hooked on a TV Show? A Statistical Analysis When do TV viewers become committed fans?
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
What spoiled wrecks There’s nothing wrong with abundance and joy. But being spoiled causes two real problems: As a...
a year ago
78
a year ago
There’s nothing wrong with abundance and joy. But being spoiled causes two real problems: As a community increases in wealth, the number of spoiled citizens increases as well. It’s often the acid that corrodes the magic that created the wealth in the first place. Whining is a...
Seth's Blog
Generosity and fear Fear is self-focused. Day to day, our fear is about us. What will happen if we give that speech,...
a year ago
33
a year ago
Fear is self-focused. Day to day, our fear is about us. What will happen if we give that speech, launch that project, get stuck in traffic, are eaten by an alligator… And generosity is about others. “How can I help?” Jumping in the water to save a struggling swimmer stops us from...
Seth's Blog
The Hegelochus lesson More than 2,000 years ago, an actor in Greece botched a line in a play. In an inflection error, he...
over a year ago
136
over a year ago
More than 2,000 years ago, an actor in Greece botched a line in a play. In an inflection error, he said “weasel” when he meant to say “calm sea.” As a result, he was mocked by Sannyrion and then Aristophanes and others. He never worked again. The lesson might be that one innocent...
Open Culture
The Romans Stashed Hallucinogenic Seeds in a Vial Made From an Animal Bone What’s popular in the metropolis sooner or later makes its way out into the provinces. This...
a year ago
40
a year ago
What’s popular in the metropolis sooner or later makes its way out into the provinces. This phenomenon has become more difficult to notice in recent years, not because it’s slowed down, but because it’s sped way up, owing to near-instantaneous cultural diffusion on the internet....
Seth's Blog
The Jenga situation When an organization first sets out to have an impact, it discovers that it has no customers, no...
a year ago
26
a year ago
When an organization first sets out to have an impact, it discovers that it has no customers, no clients, no constituents. So it shows up, it makes an offer and it listens. The early days are exciting. Customers are seen and heard and served. Variations are created and value is...
Open Culture
Hear Edgar Allan Poe’s Horror Stories Read by Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, James Earl Jones,... Here on Halloween of 2024, we have a greater variety of scary stories — and arguably, a much scarier...
8 months ago
62
8 months ago
Here on Halloween of 2024, we have a greater variety of scary stories — and arguably, a much scarier variety of scarier stories — to choose from than ever before. But whatever their relevance to the specific lives we may live and the specific dreads we may feel today, how many...
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
37
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...
Seth's Blog
Birthing tech No one knows the name of the maternity nurse who helped with the delivery of Marie Curie or...
3 months ago
26
3 months ago
No one knows the name of the maternity nurse who helped with the delivery of Marie Curie or Esperanza Spaulding. You might grow up to be a genius, but the team that helped your mom give birth don’t have to be geniuses–they simply have to be pretty good at their craft. The same is...
Prolost
The M1 Max MacBook Pros Apple opened their October event with a young musician creating an Apple-inspired music track in a...
over a year ago
26
over a year ago
Apple opened their October event with a young musician creating an Apple-inspired music track in a dingy garage filled with gear worth tens of thousands of dollars. Some viewers commented on the unrealistic portrayal of a creative professional. But I felt like I was looking in a...
Open Culture
How Upside-Down Models Revolutionized Architecture, Making Possible St. Paul’s Cathedral, Sagrada... For 142 years now, Sagrada Família has been growing toward the sky. Or at least that’s what it seems...
7 months ago
50
7 months ago
For 142 years now, Sagrada Família has been growing toward the sky. Or at least that’s what it seems to be doing, as its ongoing construction realizes ever more fully a host of forms that look and feel not quite of this earth. It makes a kind of sense to learn that, in designing...
Seth's Blog
Defending the apostrophe Does it need defending? The sign on some bushes near a park in my town says, Beware: Bee’s. A local...
a year ago
28
a year ago
Does it need defending? The sign on some bushes near a park in my town says, Beware: Bee’s. A local merchant adds a note to some receipts that says, Your awesome. It’s tempting to speak up and point out that the sky comma is showing up where it shouldn’t. And missing when it...
Seth's Blog
On building a cathedral If you’re in need of a gathering place, a dry, functional, centrally located facility for your folks...
a year ago
36
a year ago
If you’re in need of a gathering place, a dry, functional, centrally located facility for your folks to meet, a cathedral is probably way more than you need. It’s far more expensive to build and maintain and not optimal in delivering what’s required. But what if this building...
Seth's Blog
Elegant and classy If you announce that something is elegant or classy, it probably isn’t. There’s a humility to...
a year ago
28
a year ago
If you announce that something is elegant or classy, it probably isn’t. There’s a humility to hospitality and sophistication that evaporates when we name it.
Seth's Blog
Two chicken jokes “Why did the chicken cross the road” tells us a bit about jokes. It’s a joke about jokes. The first...
a year ago
33
a year ago
“Why did the chicken cross the road” tells us a bit about jokes. It’s a joke about jokes. The first half is a setup, reminding us that an absurd question creates tension, which is then relieved by the punchline. But the second half undoes this by refusing to release the tension....
Marian's Blog
How to build a Lego Portal Gun Resources: Parts: list, Rebrickable CSV, Bricklink XML Model: LDR, 3DS Build this MOC on...
over a year ago
23
over a year ago
Resources: Parts: list, Rebrickable CSV, Bricklink XML Model: LDR, 3DS Build this MOC on Rebrickable Instructions: ...
Open Culture
How a Steady Supply of Coffee Helped the Union Win the U.S. Civil War Americans doing “e‑mail jobs” and working in the “laptop class” tend to make much of the quantity of...
a year ago
57
a year ago
Americans doing “e‑mail jobs” and working in the “laptop class” tend to make much of the quantity of coffee they require to keep going, or even to get started. In that sense alone, they have something in common with Civil War soldiers. “Union soldiers were given 36 pounds of...
Open Culture
How Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd & Jethro Tull Financed the Making Monty Python and the Holy Grail Monty Python and the Holy Grail isn’t a big-budget spectacle, and nobody knew that better than the...
a month ago
18
a month ago
Monty Python and the Holy Grail isn’t a big-budget spectacle, and nobody knew that better than the Pythons themselves. Necessity being the mother of invention, they turned the project’s financial constraints into one of its many sources of humor, fashioning memorable gags out of...
Open Culture
The Enchanting Opera Performances of Klaus Nomi After making one of the grandest entrances in music history on the stages of East Village clubs, the...
10 months ago
37
10 months ago
After making one of the grandest entrances in music history on the stages of East Village clubs, the BBC’s The Old Grey Whistle Test, and Saturday Night Live, theatrical German new wave space alien Klaus Nomi died alone in 1983, a victim of the “first beachhead of the AIDS...
Seth's Blog
Language conceals and reveals When a non-expert brings a strong point of view to a complex discussion, the words might not mean...
10 months ago
34
10 months ago
When a non-expert brings a strong point of view to a complex discussion, the words might not mean what they seem to mean. What might be being said is, “I’m worried. I’m afraid. I don’t understand. I am looking for solace.” Answering emotional word salad with logical insight...
Seth's Blog
Confronting consciousness Everyone knows what it is to be conscious, and we imagine that other people are also aware. That we...
a year ago
25
a year ago
Everyone knows what it is to be conscious, and we imagine that other people are also aware. That we have a voice in our heads, apparent agency and free will, a little person inside who is commenting, making decisions and in charge. We’re not sure if dogs have this, and we’re...
Seth's Blog
The second mistake That’s the avoidable one and the one that usually causes the real trouble. When the first mistake...
a year ago
30
a year ago
That’s the avoidable one and the one that usually causes the real trouble. When the first mistake flusters us, breaks our rhythm or messes with our confidence, we’re far more likely to make the second one. It’s almost impossible to avoid making a mistake. But avoiding the second...
escape the algorithm
The Scan Artist What it means to copy the world
a year ago
Seth's Blog
The intentional stance Dan Dennett explained that it began as a survival mechanism. It’s important to predict how someone...
a year ago
93
a year ago
Dan Dennett explained that it began as a survival mechanism. It’s important to predict how someone else is going to behave. That tiger might be a threat, that person from the next village might have something to offer. If we simply wait and see, we might encounter an unwelcome or...
Seth's Blog
Severe weather alert For the last two weeks, my weather app has informed me that there’s a real risk (in this case,...
7 months ago
34
7 months ago
For the last two weeks, my weather app has informed me that there’s a real risk (in this case, wildfires). But, after a few days, that’s not severe weather. That’s just weather. (Metaphor alert). Patterns are easy to ignore. We pay attention when the pattern is interrupted. The...
Open Culture
Revisit Episodes of Liquid Television, MTV’s 90s Showcase of Funny, Irreverent & Bizarre Animation MTV stands for Music Television, and when the network launched in 1981, its almost entirely music...
9 months ago
73
9 months ago
MTV stands for Music Television, and when the network launched in 1981, its almost entirely music video-based programming was true to its name. Within a decade, however, its mandate had widened to the point that it had become the natural home for practically any exciting...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Holly Nairn Hello! My name is Holly Nairn and I am a full time Art teacher in Hertfordshire, a job I absolutely...
3 weeks ago
12
3 weeks ago
Hello! My name is Holly Nairn and I am a full time Art teacher in Hertfordshire, a job I absolutely love. I work under the name PaperInkDream and I currently live in Essex with my husband and my cocker spaniel Teddy. Apart from printmaking, I am cycling obsessed and love nothing...
Open Culture
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...
10 months ago
69
10 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 NSE confusions “Nobody wants this” is unlikely. “Somebody will like this” is almost certainly true. “Everyone needs...
3 months ago
27
3 months ago
“Nobody wants this” is unlikely. “Somebody will like this” is almost certainly true. “Everyone needs this” is a trap. The work begins with finding the right somebodies, while ignoring the imaginary everyone. Scale is rarely the first signal of important work.
Open Culture
William Faulkner Resigns From His Post Office Job With a Spectacular Letter (1924) Working a dull civil service job ill-suited to your talents does not make you a writer, but plenty...
a month ago
9
a month ago
Working a dull civil service job ill-suited to your talents does not make you a writer, but plenty of famous writers have worked such jobs. Nathaniel Hawthorne worked at a Boston customhouse for a year. His friend Herman Melville put in considerably more time—19 years—as a...
Seth's Blog
The paradox of lessons The people most likely to sign up for coaching or additional learning are the folks who are already...
a year ago
70
a year ago
The people most likely to sign up for coaching or additional learning are the folks who are already good at their craft. “I’m terrible at this,” can lead to, “and I don’t want to be reminded of it.” Or perhaps, “I don’t want to waste their time,” or, “I’m never going to get...
Seth's Blog
Daydream fatigue Spend enough time inventing possible futures in your head and you won’t have any time to build the...
5 days ago
5
5 days ago
Spend enough time inventing possible futures in your head and you won’t have any time to build the future we will all share. Time to get to work.
Open Culture
Mythology Expert Reviews Depictions of Greek & Roman Myths in Popular Movies and TV Shows It’s safe to say that we no longer believe in the gods of the ancient world — or rather, that most...
8 months ago
52
8 months ago
It’s safe to say that we no longer believe in the gods of the ancient world — or rather, that most of us no longer believe in their literal existence, but some of us have faith in their box-office potential. This two-part video series from Vanity Fair examines a variety of movies...
Open Culture
Watch a Japanese Artisan Hand-Craft a Cello in 6 Months Cellists unwilling to settle for any but the finest instrument must, sooner or later, make a...
a year ago
80
a year ago
Cellists unwilling to settle for any but the finest instrument must, sooner or later, make a pilgrimage to Cremona — or rather, to the Cremonas. One is, of course, the city in Lombardy that was home to numerous pioneering master luthiers, up to and including Antonio Stradivari....
Seth's Blog
Maybe it’s in how you tell it The plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey is pretty simple. You could write out a summary in three...
3 months ago
22
3 months ago
The plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey is pretty simple. You could write out a summary in three paragraphs. That’s not what made it one of the most revered movies of all time, and also one of the most difficult to make. Blurting out the plot of what we’re offering seems like the...
Not Boring by Packy...
Who is Larry Ellison? Anton Troynikov's Guest Post on the "CEO of Everything"
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
Reclaiming “fiasco” Usually modified with “total,” the failure might not be as bad as we fear. The origin of the word...
11 months ago
57
11 months ago
Usually modified with “total,” the failure might not be as bad as we fear. The origin of the word probably comes from Italian, a long time ago. The person who loses a round in a game has to buy the next bottle for the group (from: flask). Which means that there is going to be […]
Stat Significant
Which Movies Have "Aged Poorly"? A Statistical Analysis Which films have not stood the test of time?
2 months ago
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,...
a year ago
49
a year 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...
Open Culture
How Man Ray Reinvented Himself & Created One of the Most Iconic Works of Surrealist Photography It would surprise none of us to encounter a young artist looking to cast off his past and make his...
8 months ago
44
8 months ago
It would surprise none of us to encounter a young artist looking to cast off his past and make his mark on the culture in a place like Williamsburg. But in the case of Man Ray, Williamsburg was his past. One must remember that the Brooklyn of today bears little resemblance to the...
Seth's Blog
Better than Google I haven’t done a Google search in months. Perplexity is more powerful, more pleasant and more...
a year ago
44
a year ago
I haven’t done a Google search in months. Perplexity is more powerful, more pleasant and more effective. Instead of being corrupted by invasive ads, surveillance and sneaky dark patterns, it presents you with a simple, footnoted explanation of exactly what you’re looking for....
Seth's Blog
Headwinds When it’s tough going and it feels fraught, it’s easy to imagine that the headwinds will never end....
a year ago
33
a year ago
When it’s tough going and it feels fraught, it’s easy to imagine that the headwinds will never end. And yet, when all is going well and the wind is at our back, it’s tempting to imagine that this is the way it’s going to stay. Neither is true. The reason we see them as headwinds...
Prolost
iPhone ProRes Log in Peru and Taiwan This is a blog post about a video, which is about new color-conversion LUTs for Apple Log footage...
a year ago
113
a year ago
This is a blog post about a video, which is about new color-conversion LUTs for Apple Log footage from the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (updated from my first set). The video is also a mini-travelogue of my recent trips to Taiwan and Peru. This post dives a bit deeper into both the...
Seth's Blog
What do we owe the future? You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow. That’s...
8 months ago
58
8 months 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
What do we do when it breaks? The unexpected happens. Systems fail, humans are unpredictable, interfaces aren’t perfect… The...
a month ago
10
a month ago
The unexpected happens. Systems fail, humans are unpredictable, interfaces aren’t perfect… The customer service professional demonstrates their strategic insight when they plan for eventual failure instead of denying it’s possible. The first step, of course, is to design things...
Seth's Blog
Clear ice I love Zamboni machines. They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant...
7 months ago
44
7 months 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...
Neocha – Culture &...
Suit & Tiger
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Anonymity and Bugs Bunny I came across this (ironically) anonymous quote recently: “The offline world is full of sticks, but...
10 months ago
65
10 months ago
I came across this (ironically) anonymous quote recently: “The offline world is full of sticks, but the internet only has carrots.” When we come together in groups, it can bring out the best in people. When those groups are anonymous, porous and transient, though, the opposite...
Open Culture
A Japanese Zen Monk Explains What Zen Is Really About Despite developing in Asia, as the Chinese form of a religion originally brought over from India and...
2 months ago
14
2 months ago
Despite developing in Asia, as the Chinese form of a religion originally brought over from India and later refined in Japan, Zen Buddhism has long appealed to Westerners as well. Some of that owes to the spare, elegant aesthetics with which popular culture associates it, and more...
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...
9 months ago
60
9 months ago
That’s the first step, certainly. If you don’t, your boss will. The second step is to take the time you’ve freed up and do work that the AI can’t do.
Handprinted - Blog
Block Printing Registration Using Measure Pattern Tape and Madder, Cutch and Co Inks Measure Pattern Tape is a really useful bit of kit for your printmaking projects. This adhesive...
4 months ago
41
4 months ago
Measure Pattern Tape is a really useful bit of kit for your printmaking projects. This adhesive ruler tape can be stuck onto your printing surface or board to help lay out your designs accurately. It's self-adhesive and we've even found it can be lifted up and re-used a couple of...
Seth's Blog
Fire inspectors Running into a burning building is heroic work. Keeping buildings from burning down in the first...
10 months ago
60
10 months ago
Running into a burning building is heroic work. Keeping buildings from burning down in the first place is actually just as important. And it scales more reliably.
Seth's Blog
Obvious vs perhaps “Obvious” closes the door to inquiry. “Perhaps” opens it.
3 months ago
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
On the Arts
From Gothic Invaders to Mall Goths How an ancient Germanic tribe gave its name to a modern subculture.
over a year ago
Open Culture
A Short Visual History of America, According to the Irreverent Comic Artist R. Crumb As a founder of the “underground comix” movement in the 1960s, R. Crumb is either revered as a...
8 months ago
54
8 months ago
As a founder of the “underground comix” movement in the 1960s, R. Crumb is either revered as a pioneering satirist of American culture and its excesses or reviled as a juvenile purveyor of painfully outmoded sexist and racist stereotypes. Crumb doesn’t apologize. He keeps...
Infinite Scroll
The Midweek Scroll Substack's growth, RedNote reversal, and MrBeast hitting the wall
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
It’s not easy …to make it look easy. Sometimes, you don’t need to bother. Making it look hard might be a plus. The...
over a year ago
76
over a year ago
…to make it look easy. Sometimes, you don’t need to bother. Making it look hard might be a plus. The important part is how it makes the recipient feel.
Seth's Blog
Manipulation, indoctrination and addiction They’re often related. It’s not unusual for someone to have more experience or knowledge than we do....
a year ago
32
a year ago
They’re often related. It’s not unusual for someone to have more experience or knowledge than we do. If they use that knowledge to their benefit, not ours, they might be manipulating us. If we knew what they knew, we wouldn’t have gone along. This is the difference between a...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #134 Blue Ghost, Starlink, Roche’s SBX, Wooly Mice, Female Brains, Tardigrades
4 months ago
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...
12 months ago
64
12 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
Discover the CIA’s Simple Sabotage Field Manual: A Timeless Guide to Subverting Any Organization... I’ve always admired people who can successfully navigate what I refer to as “Kafka’s Castle,” a term...
7 months ago
53
7 months ago
I’ve always admired people who can successfully navigate what I refer to as “Kafka’s Castle,” a term of dread for the many government and corporate agencies that have an inordinate amount of power over our permanent records, and that seem as inscrutable and chillingly absurd as...
Seth's Blog
The problems with flat out The desire for 11 is proof that we often want to go all the way to ten. While 11 is silly, there is...
a year ago
23
a year ago
The desire for 11 is proof that we often want to go all the way to ten. While 11 is silly, there is a lot of pressure to give our all. But there are problems. The first is that if you try to sprint an entire marathon, you’ll hurt yourself. Systems can be stressed for […]
Open Culture
Take a 3D Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel & Explore Michelangelo’s Masterpieces Up Close Today, 133 cardinals from around the world enter the conclave to determine the next pope, during...
a month ago
24
a month ago
Today, 133 cardinals from around the world enter the conclave to determine the next pope, during which they’ll cast their votes in the Sistine Chapel. Despite being one of the most famous tourist attractions in Europe, the Sistine Chapel still serves as a venue for such important...
Prolost
Red Giant & Maxon, Sitting in a Tree Red Giant, where I’ve been Chief Creative Officer for a couple of years now, but making filmmaking...
over a year ago
26
over a year ago
Red Giant, where I’ve been Chief Creative Officer for a couple of years now, but making filmmaking tools for you for 17 years, is merging with Maxon, makers of Cinema 4D. From the Red Giant blog: Hi folks — by now you’ve probably heard the news that Maxon and Red Giant are...
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.
9 months ago
Seth's Blog
The search tax Amazon took in more than $30 billion in ad revenue last year, money spent to elevate some products...
over a year ago
79
over a year ago
Amazon took in more than $30 billion in ad revenue last year, money spent to elevate some products over others in the hierarchy of attention. It’s probably true that someone shopping on Amazon is going to either buy something or not… the purpose of the “ads” isn’t to amplify...
Open Culture
How Magician David Copperfield Made the Statue of Liberty Disappear (1983) In April, 1983, 50 million television viewers watched the illusionist David Copperfield make the...
7 months ago
69
7 months ago
In April, 1983, 50 million television viewers watched the illusionist David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear, straight into thin air. If you’re north of 50, you perhaps remember the spectacle. How did he do it? 40 years later, the YouTube channel Mind Blown Magic...
Seth's Blog
The explosion We spend much of our worrying time on crises. Our media is filled with warnings, coverage and fear...
over a year ago
82
over a year ago
We spend much of our worrying time on crises. Our media is filled with warnings, coverage and fear of cataclysms. The big boom, the sudden end, the crash. In fact, rot is far more common. Things decay unless we persistently work to support them. Organizations, reputations,...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Julia Triay Hi! I'm Julia Triay, I'm an illustrator and printmaker from Mallorca, Spain based in Norwich. I...
5 months ago
71
5 months ago
Hi! I'm Julia Triay, I'm an illustrator and printmaker from Mallorca, Spain based in Norwich. I moved to Norwich 8 years ago to study illustration. I fell in love with this fine city and made it my home. I recently quit my job to become a full time illustrator, which has been a...
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...
a year ago
58
a year 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...
Seth's Blog
When was the last time you used a compass? How about an astrolabe? Or even a watch? Technology advances, and sooner or later, the old stuff...
a year ago
33
a year ago
How about an astrolabe? Or even a watch? Technology advances, and sooner or later, the old stuff gets left behind. It’s easy to romanticize some of the classic devices that we built civilization on, and it’s worth remembering that the tech we’re wrestling with now will soon be...
Seth's Blog
Good businesses solve real problems But not all real problems lead to good businesses. There are problems all around us. People need...
a year ago
19
a year ago
But not all real problems lead to good businesses. There are problems all around us. People need housing, health care and food. They want delight, belonging and status. When a company shows up in the marketplace with a product or service that people eagerly choose to buy, it’s...
Open Culture
The Olympics in the 2020s Versus 1912: See Side-by-Side Comparisons of the Athletes’ Performance... The Olympic Games have their origins in antiquity, but their modern revival has also been going on...
11 months ago
53
11 months ago
The Olympic Games have their origins in antiquity, but their modern revival has also been going on longer than any of us has been here. Even the fifth Summer Olympics, which took place in Stockholm in 1912, has passed out of living memory. But thanks to the technology of the...
Seth's Blog
Too much competition There are two approaches: Broaden your offerings, make them easier, cheaper and more available. Dumb...
over a year ago
48
over a year ago
There are two approaches: Broaden your offerings, make them easier, cheaper and more available. Dumb them down and race to the bottom. Or… Focus on the customers who care enough about your idiosyncratic and particular offerings that they’ll not only happily walk away from the...
Seth's Blog
Two kinds of creative feedback If you’re the client or the boss, it’s possible that someone is going to create creative work for...
4 months ago
36
4 months ago
If you’re the client or the boss, it’s possible that someone is going to create creative work for you. Sooner or later, you’ll get something that doesn’t work. You might want to explain why it’s not good enough. Perhaps you can demonstrate how it doesn’t fit the genre or meet...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Dead CEOs and Conservative Progressives Plus! Hawk Tuah crypto scandal, gift guide season, and a good Spotify Wrapped
6 months ago
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
20
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
Stream Online Monty Python and the Holy Grail Free on Its 50th Anniversary This year, YouTube celebrated its twentieth anniversary, prompting younger users to wonder what life...
2 months ago
9
2 months ago
This year, YouTube celebrated its twentieth anniversary, prompting younger users to wonder what life could have been like before it. The fiftieth anniversary of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which premiered in April of 1975, has inspired similar reflection among comedy...
Seth's Blog
Get/Want/Have To Get to, want to and have to are an endless braid. How much of our time do we spend on each? Have to...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
Get to, want to and have to are an endless braid. How much of our time do we spend on each? Have to is often up to someone else. The things we’re required to do by the system or the people in it. Get to is a matter of perspective. Trust and health and leverage […]
Open Culture
James Earl Jones (RIP) Reads Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” Note: With the sad passing of James Earl Jones, at age 93, we’re bringing back a post from our...
9 months ago
51
9 months ago
Note: With the sad passing of James Earl Jones, at age 93, we’re bringing back a post from our archive–one featuring Jones reading two great American poets, Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman. These readings first appeared on our site in 2014. For all its many flaws the original...
Seth's Blog
Clarity about the benefits Work on climate problems is actually about efficiency. It’s easier and cheaper to avoid sloppiness...
5 months ago
41
5 months ago
Work on climate problems is actually about efficiency. It’s easier and cheaper to avoid sloppiness and side effects than it is to clean the mess up later. And energy sources that don’t burn become cheaper over time. The investment in getting started pays off in cost, health and...
Open Culture
37 Hitchcock Cameo Appearances Over 50 Years: All in One Video Early in his career, Alfred Hitchcock began making small appearances in his own films. The cameos...
11 months ago
71
11 months ago
Early in his career, Alfred Hitchcock began making small appearances in his own films. The cameos sometimes lasted just a few brief seconds, and sometimes a little while longer. Either way, they became a signature of Hitchcock’s filmmaking, and fans made a sport of seeing whether...
Open Culture
Beautiful 19th Century Maps of Dante’s Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise & More Even the least religious among us speak, at least on occasion, of the circles of hell. When we do...
7 months ago
54
7 months ago
Even the least religious among us speak, at least on occasion, of the circles of hell. When we do so, we may or may not be thinking of where the concept originated: Dante’s Divina Commedia, or Divine Comedy. We each imagine the circles in our own way — usually filling them with...
Seth's Blog
Unaware If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it. The power to speak...
a year ago
43
a year ago
If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it. The power to speak up, to participate, to invent, to lead, to encourage, to vote, to connect, to organize, to march, to write, to say ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’. It’s tempting to imagine we have less power...
Seth's Blog
The run-on sentence Periods were an extraordinary invention. It took thousands of years of writing before we settled on...
8 months ago
40
8 months ago
Periods were an extraordinary invention. It took thousands of years of writing before we settled on this simple convention. The most direct way to improve your writing is to make your sentences shorter. I was reading a magazine article yesterday and was rapidly losing interest....
Open Culture
The Brilliant Engineering That Made Venice: How a City Was Built on Water Many of us have put off a visit to Venice for fear of the hordes of tourists who roam its streets...
11 months ago
42
11 months ago
Many of us have put off a visit to Venice for fear of the hordes of tourists who roam its streets and boat down its canals day in and day out. To judge by the most visible of its economic activity, the once-mighty city-state now exists almost solely as an Instagramming...
Haterade
RECIPE: School Lunch Pizza Crust Embrace the USDA-Certified Sog
over a year ago
The Great Discontent...
Luke Zahm “Everyone eats. There's so much beauty in realizing that humaneness and that oneness.” This is the...
a year ago
10
a year ago
“Everyone eats. There's so much beauty in realizing that humaneness and that oneness.” This is the ethos of Luke Zahm. The James Beard-nominated chef, host of the hit PBS show Wisconsin Foodie, and owner of the widely acclaimed Driftless Café in Viroqua, Wisconsin, believes food...
On the Arts
How to Write a Proper Haiku A Starter's Guide to the Deceptively Simple Poetic Form
a year ago
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...
8 months ago
52
8 months 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...
Neocha – Culture &...
Spectacular Skin
over a year ago
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
72
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...
Seth's Blog
Compared to perfect Perfect is useful. It’s an absolute measure, a north star, a chance to improve our work. But it’s...
10 months ago
53
10 months ago
Perfect is useful. It’s an absolute measure, a north star, a chance to improve our work. But it’s also a shortcut to persistent dissatisfaction. Compared to perfect is helpful when we’re creating something. But it’s also worth noting that perfect is unattainable. What’s on offer...
escape the algorithm
Not your usual subscription confirmation Or why you shouldn't ignore the back catalog
a year ago
Seth's Blog
With the sound off If you’re watching a YouTube clip or a talking head, you can probably tell whether or not you...
over a year ago
82
over a year ago
If you’re watching a YouTube clip or a talking head, you can probably tell whether or not you disagree with someone even with the sound off. And we judge a book or an article on the layout and appearance long before we’ve read all the words. Human beings invented symbolic logic...
On the Arts
Generative AI and the Falling Costs of Art Creation For individual creators on a budget, the future is bright.
a year ago
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...
a year ago
59
a year 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.
Seth's Blog
The unwarranted smile When we do something nice for someone, a ‘thank you’ and a smile is nice to receive. And, in many...
a year ago
58
a year ago
When we do something nice for someone, a ‘thank you’ and a smile is nice to receive. And, in many parts of human culture, it’s a bit expected. But when something goes wrong, if we drop a plate or miss a turn or make someone late, it’s particularly delightful and memorable if we...
Seth's Blog
A labor of love That’s magical. To have the resources to expend labor on something that fills us with joy. If you’re...
10 months ago
65
10 months ago
That’s magical. To have the resources to expend labor on something that fills us with joy. If you’re lucky enough to encounter this, perhaps it makes sense not to confuse the issue by also trying to turn it into labor for maximum profit. When we focus on one, we often decrease...
Open Culture
Why You Can Never Tune a Piano Grab a cup of coffee, put on your thinking cap, and start working through this video from Minute...
9 months ago
35
9 months ago
Grab a cup of coffee, put on your thinking cap, and start working through this video from Minute Physics, which explains why guitars, violins and other instruments can be tuned to a tee. But when it comes to pianos, it’s an entirely different story, a mathematical impossibility....
Open Culture
How Zaha Hadid Revolutionized Architecture & Drew Inspiration from Russian Avant-Garde Art Zaha Hadid died in 2016, at the age of 65. She certainly wasn’t old, by the standards of our time,...
2 months ago
33
2 months ago
Zaha Hadid died in 2016, at the age of 65. She certainly wasn’t old, by the standards of our time, though in most professions, her best working years would already have been behind her. She was, however, an architect, and by age 65, most architects are still very much in their...
Neocha – Culture &...
Unorthodox Means
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
You are a media theorist If you’ve ever caught a ball, you’re a physicist. You might not be trained in it, but your intuitive...
3 months ago
23
3 months ago
If you’ve ever caught a ball, you’re a physicist. You might not be trained in it, but your intuitive sense of where the ball is going to land requires having a theory about gravity. And if you’ve ever taken aspirin for a headache, you’ve articulated a theory about medicine....
Seth's Blog
The obligation of “none of the above” As we continue to face difficult choices and work to make things better, it’s quite likely that the...
over a year ago
83
over a year ago
As we continue to face difficult choices and work to make things better, it’s quite likely that the alternatives being presented aren’t ideal or even appealing. Many organizations and communities are stuck because “none of the above” is the majority’s opinion, or perhaps the...
Open Culture
Keith Moon, Drummer of The Who, Passes Out at 1973 Concert; 19-Year-Old Fan Takes Over In November 1973, Scot Halpin, a 19-year-old kid, scalped tickets to The Who concert in San...
10 months ago
95
10 months ago
In November 1973, Scot Halpin, a 19-year-old kid, scalped tickets to The Who concert in San Francisco, California. Little did he know that he’d wind up playing drums for the band that night — that his name would end up etched in the annals of rock ’n’ roll. The Who came to...
Seth's Blog
Podcasts, international covers and more I just received copies of the new reprints of four of my books in the UK: I’m really pleased at how...
a year ago
48
a year ago
I just received copies of the new reprints of four of my books in the UK: I’m really pleased at how the books have stayed relevant and also delighted at what a good job the publisher did with the reissues. Also, the Italian version of This is Marketing just went back for its 14th...
Blog - Mac Pierce
p5.js on Squarespace - The Basics A quick guide on how to get p5.js guides working on Squarespace.
over a year ago
Anarchy Unfolds
Is human society natural? On the human/nature divide and how to overcome it
4 months ago
Blog - Mac Pierce
Back into the FE-AL: Iron Pour at Sculpture Trails Indiana In which I detail the process of making a cannonball by participating at a very unique iron...
over a year ago
Marian's Blog
BTduino BTduino is an Android app that lets you add a custom bluetooth interface to your Arduino project...
over a year ago
17
over a year ago
BTduino is an Android app that lets you add a custom bluetooth interface to your Arduino project without any programming on the Android side. Everything is better with bluetooth! Here are some examples: Download Android APK file Android 4.0 or higher is...
Seth's Blog
Tools and the long tail Have you ever made a video that was seen by someone you didn’t know? Or written something that got...
2 months ago
19
2 months ago
Have you ever made a video that was seen by someone you didn’t know? Or written something that got shared outside of your inner circle? The odds of either of these things happening a generation ago were close to zero. Now, it’s common. The skeptics said that people wanted to...
Seth's Blog
We are all goofballs When someone makes an obvious mistake, it’s tempting to label then with a term that’s dismissive or...
3 months ago
24
3 months ago
When someone makes an obvious mistake, it’s tempting to label then with a term that’s dismissive or even hurtful. A label is permanent, a noun, a way to sort and divide. But of course, others can say precisely the same thing about us when we were uninformed, selfish or in a...
Seth's Blog
Kinds of incompetence The second worst is the unaware sort. The work doesn’t meet spec, and we don’t even realize it. The...
5 months ago
76
5 months ago
The second worst is the unaware sort. The work doesn’t meet spec, and we don’t even realize it. The worst is uncaring. We know the work doesn’t meet spec, but we don’t bother to fix it. But there are other varieties, and some are worth seeking out: There’s the incompetence of...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #136 Abundance, Nvidia GTC, Splashdown, Matic, Food Dyes, Biotech Commoditization
3 months ago
Open Culture
Explore Burj Al Babas, Turkey’s Abandoned Town of 587 Disney-Style Castles Burj Al Babas might have been constructed expressly to attract the attention of the internet....
7 months ago
59
7 months ago
Burj Al Babas might have been constructed expressly to attract the attention of the internet. “Sitting near the Black Sea, the town is full of half-finished, fully abandoned mini castles — 587 of them to be exact,” write Architectural Digest’s Katherine McLaughlin and Jessica...
Seth's Blog
Adjacent but not relevant There’s a sale on band saw blades, including a really good deal on one that fits the saw you owned...
11 months ago
63
11 months ago
There’s a sale on band saw blades, including a really good deal on one that fits the saw you owned years ago. The folks who live next door to the house you used to live in are having a raucous party. A guy with a name just like yours wins the lottery… These adjacencies can […]
Seth's Blog
Mediocre tools Lousy tools are dangerous. They endanger our safety (physical or emotional) and undermine our work....
6 months ago
79
6 months ago
Lousy tools are dangerous. They endanger our safety (physical or emotional) and undermine our work. Lousy tools are pretty easy to avoid, because they reveal themselves whenever we use them. Great tools are magical. They multiply our effort, amplify the quality of our work and...
Open Culture
The Real Story of Easter: How We Got from the First Easter in the Bible to Bunnies, Eggs & Chocolate Popular culture has long since claimed Easter as an occasion for trickster rabbits, dyed-egg hunts,...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
Popular culture has long since claimed Easter as an occasion for trickster rabbits, dyed-egg hunts, and marshmallow chicks of unnatural hues — none of which are actually in the Bible. Though that probably doesn’t surprise you, you may not be aware of just how far the modern...
Seth's Blog
The positive auction In 2023, I developed a new idea that transforms an old way of doing commerce. In traditional...
a year ago
35
a year ago
In 2023, I developed a new idea that transforms an old way of doing commerce. In traditional auctions, there are rounds of bidding and the high bidder pays to get the prize. The last bid is the amount paid, and no one else is charged anything. This is an interesting ‘game’ in...
cabel.com
The Snacks & Cereals of 2024 Welcome to 2025. The vibes are a little heavy, so, I’m trying very hard to focus on the things I can...
5 months ago
47
5 months ago
Welcome to 2025. The vibes are a little heavy, so, I’m trying very hard to focus on the things I can control — and yes, that includes remembering to share things that delight me like the latest #new snacks and cereals I find at the grocery store!! Yeah. It’s an age-old, very-odd...
Seth's Blog
The problem with ‘very’ It’s a lazy amplifier. “Very” can modify almost any adjective, but it might not deliver our intended...
8 months ago
59
8 months ago
It’s a lazy amplifier. “Very” can modify almost any adjective, but it might not deliver our intended message. Putting it in front of a positive like “charming” or “kind” or “generous” can make it clear that we mean what we said, but more so. But, placed in front of a description...
Infinite Scroll
Get a Discount on Infinite Scroll Limited time! 30% off paid access to Infinite Scroll
8 months ago
Seth's Blog
The bitterness loop Spoiled leads to bitter. A sense of entitlement is a trap, because bitterness demands more evidence...
10 months ago
37
10 months ago
Spoiled leads to bitter. A sense of entitlement is a trap, because bitterness demands more evidence and seeks to maintain dominance over the other emotions. When we’re busy looking for more reasons to be bitter, we’re not taking the time to do generative work, to connect and to...
Anarchy Unfolds
April '24 Myths & Recs Sexual orientation, Cowboy Carter, mental health recovery, and more
a year ago
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...
a year ago
27
a year 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
Avoiding food waste confusion Everybody eats That’s the biggest problem. While plenty of people drive or play pickleball, eating...
over a year ago
85
over a year ago
Everybody eats That’s the biggest problem. While plenty of people drive or play pickleball, eating is particularly widespread. Seven billion people multiplies into a big number… Creating the food we eat has significant climate impact. Some of the factors, in unranked order: Even...
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...
10 months ago
70
10 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...
Open Culture
Archaeologists Discover an Ancient Roman Sandal with Nails Used for Tread A recreation of the military sandals. (Photo: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation)...
11 months ago
63
11 months ago
A recreation of the military sandals. (Photo: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation) Whether you’re putting together a stage play, a film, or a television series, if the story is set in ancient Rome, you know you’re going to have to get a lot of sandals on order. This...
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%...
7 months ago
37
7 months 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...
Seth's Blog
Your preference is not universal You’re entitled to it, and we will do our best to help you find what you want. But it’s unlikely...
over a year ago
80
over a year ago
You’re entitled to it, and we will do our best to help you find what you want. But it’s unlikely that what you want is what everyone wants. It’s hard to believe that there is only one appropriate standard for value, observance, speed or performance. The easiest way for us to help...
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...
11 months ago
64
11 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...
Seth's Blog
The right marketing question The wrong question is, “our project isn’t catching on, how do we promote it better?” The right...
over a year ago
32
over a year ago
The wrong question is, “our project isn’t catching on, how do we promote it better?” The right question is a little more nuanced and far more important, “We’re seeking to make a change in part of the world. How do we find the right people and tell them the right (true) story that...
Seth's Blog
What are the defaults? Perhaps they were chosen a very long time ago. Or with very little thought. It could be that the...
a year ago
27
a year ago
Perhaps they were chosen a very long time ago. Or with very little thought. It could be that the constraints that led to the default are long gone. They might be perpetuating bad choices, injustice or sub-optimal outputs. The best way to fix something is to look at what we assume...
Seth's Blog
Culture, care and typography I’ve been fascinated by the way we set type since I did my first packaging forty years ago. It’s a...
over a year ago
77
over a year ago
I’ve been fascinated by the way we set type since I did my first packaging forty years ago. It’s a combination of tech, art, systems, culture and most of all, deciding to put in the effort to get it right. [This is a long post, it would have been a podcast, but it doesn’t really...
Seth's Blog
The challenge of “a risky scheme” New ideas aren’t adopted all at once. A few people go first while the rest of us watch to see how it...
11 months ago
66
11 months ago
New ideas aren’t adopted all at once. A few people go first while the rest of us watch to see how it goes. “Look, Mikey, he likes it!” This is the story of tech innovations, dance crazes and even food. Ideas spread horizontally, and people who prefer the status quo will embrace...
Seth's Blog
When the committee decides They’re almost always conservative. Whether it’s a governmental body, the strategy group at a big...
a year ago
26
a year ago
They’re almost always conservative. Whether it’s a governmental body, the strategy group at a big company or the membership panel at the local country club, we can learn a lot by seeing what they approve and when they stall. Of course, each of us know a lot about our offering,...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Meta Swallows the Slop Plus: Elon's alter ego and Autistic Stew
6 months ago
Seth's Blog
Your audiobook Here’s a useful habit that’s more than a hack… The next time things are going well, when a project...
10 months ago
55
10 months ago
Here’s a useful habit that’s more than a hack… The next time things are going well, when a project is about to launch, when a meeting has been successful, when the sun is shining… take your phone and go for a walk. Hit record on an audio app and make a twenty-minute audiobook....
Seth's Blog
The head of marketing It’s easy to be confused about this job, because it’s not one job, it’s at least three. This is why...
a year ago
33
a year ago
It’s easy to be confused about this job, because it’s not one job, it’s at least three. This is why it’s a difficult job to fill, and why turnover is so high–we’re not allocating resources or setting expectations in a way that matches the work to be done. Marketing strategy: This...
Seth's Blog
If they know, they should tell us Asymmetrical information creates real problems. And fixing the flow of useful proxies benefits both...
6 months ago
78
6 months ago
Asymmetrical information creates real problems. And fixing the flow of useful proxies benefits both sides. Cigarette companies knew a great deal about the addictions they were causing and the illnesses that resulted. If the public had known, they would have made different...
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
60
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
The Ark Before Noah: Discover the Ancient Flood Myths That Came Before the Bible The Lord said to Noah, there’s going to be a floody, floody; then to get those children out of the...
2 months ago
20
2 months ago
The Lord said to Noah, there’s going to be a floody, floody; then to get those children out of the muddy, muddy; then to build him an arky, arky. This much we heard while toasting marshmallows around the campfire, at least if we grew up in a certain modern Protestant tradition....
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...
11 months ago
43
11 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 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...
8 months ago
55
8 months 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...
Seth's Blog
Invite: Behind-the-scenes webinar for the new book In two weeks, I’ll be hosting a live webinar about my new book, answering questions and connecting...
over a year ago
49
over a year ago
In two weeks, I’ll be hosting a live webinar about my new book, answering questions and connecting people to get serious in discussing the new way of work. The details are here. I hope you can make it. It’s possible that I’ve now written more bestselling business titles than any...
Seth's Blog
Secret recipes “You can try this at home…” But you probably won’t. The secret recipe isn’t the reason Coke is...
6 months ago
37
6 months ago
“You can try this at home…” But you probably won’t. The secret recipe isn’t the reason Coke is successful. And the recipe for KFC isn’t much of a recipe at all. The secret way you do the thing isn’t what keeps your clients coming back. It’s the part you do in public that matters.
Seth's Blog
But what if we’re wrong? Of course, we think we’re right. That’s why we’re sharing our opinion. But when there’s a...
a year ago
26
a year ago
Of course, we think we’re right. That’s why we’re sharing our opinion. But when there’s a disagreement, or we’re predicting the future, it’s likely that someone will turn out to be incorrect. Sometimes, being wrong is a minor embarrassment, with very little real cost. And...
Open Culture
The Night When Luciano Pavarotti & James Brown Sang “It’s a Man’s World” Together (2002) Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown are remembered as larger-than-life performers with an almost...
8 months ago
55
8 months ago
Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown are remembered as larger-than-life performers with an almost mythical-seeming presence and distinctiveness. But it wasn’t so very long ago that both of them were active — and even active onstage together. In the video above, the King of the High...
Seth's Blog
Kinds of power There’s the James Bond villian sort of power, based on division, dominance and destruction. This is...
8 months ago
62
8 months 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
The answer to every question If the thing of the moment is the answer to every single question, you might be in a bubble. If,...
over a year ago
84
over a year ago
If the thing of the moment is the answer to every single question, you might be in a bubble. If, regardless of the problem, the answer is crypto, homeopathy, or the internet, or perhaps GPT, essential oils or decarbonization, it’s possible we’re taking an easy way out. A new...
Stat Significant
Which Music Was Underappreciated in Its Time? A Statistical Analysis What music slipped through the cracks but eventually found its audience?
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Understanding pricing The money we exchange for a service or item isn’t based on how much it cost to make, how hard it was...
7 months ago
57
7 months ago
The money we exchange for a service or item isn’t based on how much it cost to make, how hard it was to produce or how much the producer likes it. That’s hard to hear, because when we make something, we spend most of our time thinking about those very things. Price is based on...
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...
a year ago
26
a year 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...
Open Culture
The Doctor Who Theme Reimagined as a Jacques Brel-esque Jazz Tune ?si=tyjBCsSNLIAgh7SM Written by Ron Grainer, and then famously arranged and recorded by Delia...
8 months ago
62
8 months ago
?si=tyjBCsSNLIAgh7SM Written by Ron Grainer, and then famously arranged and recorded by Delia Derbyshire in 1963, the Doctor Who theme song has been adapted and covered many times, and even referenced by Pink Floyd. In the hands of comedian Bill Bailey, the song comes out a...
The Great Discontent...
Ophelia Chong Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that...
a year ago
8
a year ago
Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that spans from magazines and music labels to film festivals and book publishing. When a family member’s medicinal marijuana use inspired her to dip her toes into the world of weed, Chong...
Seth's Blog
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
22
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...
Open Culture
How Rome Began: The History As Told by Ancient Historians Much attention has been paid to the fall of the Roman Empire, by everyone from august historians...
11 months ago
59
11 months ago
Much attention has been paid to the fall of the Roman Empire, by everyone from august historians like Edward Gibbon to modern-day observers wringing their hands over the fate of the United States of America. But as every Rome enthusiast knows, that long collapse constitutes just...
Seth's Blog
This time it’s personal My new book is urgent and it’s personal. Some readers have told me that it’s also their favorite. It...
over a year ago
35
over a year ago
My new book is urgent and it’s personal. Some readers have told me that it’s also their favorite. It opens the door to a better way to work and to find meaning in how we spend our days. I’ve done dozens of podcasts talking about it, but when I talk about it, it’s not nearly […]
Seth's Blog
Avoiding the trap questions A trick question is designed to fool us into proposing the wrong answer (example below). A trap...
a year ago
61
a year 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
The low-stakes argument It’s tempting and fun to argue about the logo. About the way the toilet paper is hung. About how to...
a year ago
22
a year ago
It’s tempting and fun to argue about the logo. About the way the toilet paper is hung. About how to load the trunk of the car. These sorts of arguments work precisely because they don’t matter. At all. And they distract us from the incredibly difficult work of discussing the...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Courtney Arnold Hello! I’m Courtney, a printmaker specialising in linocut. I live in a little town on the edge of...
8 months ago
60
8 months ago
Hello! I’m Courtney, a printmaker specialising in linocut. I live in a little town on the edge of Dartmoor, nestled between moorland, farmland and the exquisite River Dart. The wonderful flora and fauna of these rugged and beautiful surroundings is my main inspiration. However,...
Open Culture
A Visualization of the History of Technology: 1,889 Innovations Across Three Million Years “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” So holds the third and most...
5 days ago
5
5 days ago
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” So holds the third and most famous of the “three laws” originally articulated by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. Even when it was first published in the late nineteen-sixties, Clarke’s third law...
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...
7 months ago
52
7 months 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...
Seth's Blog
Time well spent Doing what? When we choose which job to apply for, what career to commit to, which business to...
4 months ago
37
4 months ago
Doing what? When we choose which job to apply for, what career to commit to, which business to start, it might be worth a moment (or a few moments) to get at the heart of what a day well spent produces. What’s it for? Here are a few to get you started: It’s hard to […]
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker Round-Up 2024! It has been another incredible year of printmaking inspiration. We've put together a round-up of all...
6 months ago
78
6 months ago
It has been another incredible year of printmaking inspiration. We've put together a round-up of all our fantastic Meet the Maker artists from 2024, alongside their advice or inspiration for other printmakers. Read through for a wholesome dose of printmaking magic, and click...
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...
a year ago
75
a year 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,”...
Marian's Blog
Raspberry Pi powered fishtank My fishtank is now internet-connected. It is run by a Raspberry Pi that can do three things: Feed...
over a year ago
22
over a year ago
My fishtank is now internet-connected. It is run by a Raspberry Pi that can do three things: Feed the fish, switch the lights and take pictures. To feed the fish, the Raspberry Pi sends commands to an automatic fishfeeder that I modified. It can empty any container in any order....
Open Culture
Enter a Huge Archive of Amazing Stories, the World’s First Science Fiction Magazine, Launched in... If you haven’t heard of Hugo Gernsback, you’ve surely heard of the Hugo Award. Next to the Nebula,...
a year ago
58
a year ago
If you haven’t heard of Hugo Gernsback, you’ve surely heard of the Hugo Award. Next to the Nebula, it’s the most prestigious of science fiction prizes, bringing together in its ranks of winners such venerable authors as Ursula K. Le Guin, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Neil...
Seth's Blog
Getting precise about tolerance Tolerance is an engineering term. When the parts of a car are made to a low tolerance, that means...
4 months ago
35
4 months ago
Tolerance is an engineering term. When the parts of a car are made to a low tolerance, that means that they fit perfectly. A modern Lexus is a better car than a 1976 Nova because relentless improvement means that the parts are more exact. Tolerance is a design term. When a system...
Seth's Blog
Expectations We might deserve something. We might be entitled to it. But expectations are a story we tell...
a month ago
19
a month ago
We might deserve something. We might be entitled to it. But expectations are a story we tell ourselves, and that story is up to us. The simple life hack is to lower your expectations, regardless of what you’re entitled to. Create the conditions for the outcome you seek, but leave...
Seth's Blog
Promo creep Hustle harder. Run more ads. Spam people. Interrupt. Make the logo bigger. Post again. Post again....
over a year ago
78
over a year ago
Hustle harder. Run more ads. Spam people. Interrupt. Make the logo bigger. Post again. Post again. Add more blurbs. Push the press release to irrelevant people. Do one more ad. Use AI to create faux intimacy. Get the word out. Burn trust. Get more attention. In the last forty...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Caroline Fearn Hello, I’m Caroline. I live in London. Two years ago I picked up a carving tool and a block of lino....
over a year ago
92
over a year ago
Hello, I’m Caroline. I live in London. Two years ago I picked up a carving tool and a block of lino. I quite liked it.   Describe your printmaking process My process is an intuitive one, so I typically just start, and I will see what develops through doing. Experimenting with...
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...
7 months ago
42
7 months 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...
Seth's Blog
The blank page Sometimes, we’re so afraid of creation that we don’t even leave blank pages around. If your...
a year ago
65
a year ago
Sometimes, we’re so afraid of creation that we don’t even leave blank pages around. If your workspace has a hole exactly the size of a creative idea in it, you’re more likely to fill the hole. When we decrease the number of steps to begin creating, and increase the expectation...
Seth's Blog
Indifferent overhead Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that...
a year ago
51
a year 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...
Open Culture
Jimi Hendrix Unplugged: Two Great Recordings of Hendrix Playing Acoustic Guitar As a young guitar player, perhaps no one inspired me as much as Jimi Hendrix, though I never dreamed...
11 months ago
73
11 months ago
As a young guitar player, perhaps no one inspired me as much as Jimi Hendrix, though I never dreamed I’d attain even a fraction of his skill. But what attracted me to him was his near-total lack of formality—he didn’t read music, wasn’t trained in any classical sense, played an...
Rectangle
The first rectangle And the first of many
over a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Jenny O'Leary Hi, my name is Jenny O’Leary and I am a textile artist and tutor living in Shropshire. I work with...
11 months ago
85
11 months ago
Hi, my name is Jenny O’Leary and I am a textile artist and tutor living in Shropshire. I work with batik (hot wax resist), mainly on tissue paper - combining it with bleach, ink and dyes. I sometimes stitch to create beautiful surfaces and textures. Collage and layering are an...
Seth's Blog
It’s not easy to see time Consider a simple graph of the temperature of the Earth over time. There’s nothing interesting about...
8 months ago
73
8 months ago
Consider a simple graph of the temperature of the Earth over time. There’s nothing interesting about any frame of this graph. But when we pause for just a few seconds for it to load and render, we can see 150 years unfold and then the truth becomes apparent. The snapshot is a...
Stat Significant
How Are Hit Songs Rediscovered Decades Later? A Statistical Analysis How does music undergo a cultural revival long after its original release?
10 months ago
escape the algorithm
The Real Divorcees of Facebook Marketplace For sale: wife shoes, hardly worn
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Productive assets and useful flows Assets are ownable. They are devices, skills, connections or properties that allow us to amplify our...
over a year ago
64
over a year ago
Assets are ownable. They are devices, skills, connections or properties that allow us to amplify our effort and do our work with more impact. A drill press is an asset, so is your law degree. The permission you have to talk with your customers, the benefit of the doubt you get...
Seth's Blog
The ghost in the machine “The computer wants you to click this button.” “It thinks you asked for something else.” “He’s mad...
over a year ago
86
over a year ago
“The computer wants you to click this button.” “It thinks you asked for something else.” “He’s mad at you.” Thousands of generations ago, we evolved our way into a magnificent hack. It turns out that we can more safely navigate the world by imagining that other people have a...
Seth's Blog
The Coney Island problem Disney theme parks created more than 20 billion dollars in revenue last year. Coney Island, not so...
a year ago
44
a year ago
Disney theme parks created more than 20 billion dollars in revenue last year. Coney Island, not so much. Coney Island is dozens of small honky tonk vendors and attractions, an ecosystem, not a corporation. Independent local stores got hammered by the more organized stores in the...
Seth's Blog
The thing about Hobson People talk about Hobson’s choice as if it’s always a bad thing. A liveryman in pre-industrial...
a year ago
37
a year ago
People talk about Hobson’s choice as if it’s always a bad thing. A liveryman in pre-industrial London, he rented horses. And every customer was allowed to take the horse closest to the door. Hobson’s choice is no choice at all. Of course, this system meant that the horses were...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Meaningless My ArtBlocks debut, releasing on 30th May 2023. Find out how the algorithm works and explore some...
over a year ago
21
over a year ago
My ArtBlocks debut, releasing on 30th May 2023. Find out how the algorithm works and explore some conceptual thoughts.
Seth's Blog
The paradox of points Points aren’t just for games. Points are how we keep score and decide what to do next. Pick your...
8 months ago
51
8 months ago
Points aren’t just for games. Points are how we keep score and decide what to do next. Pick your scorekeeping wisely. Too much focus on the score can bend us or break us, pushing us to engage with too much focus and without regard for balance. And our attachment to obvious points...
John Reynolds -...
2024.04.05 2024.04.05
3 months ago
Anarchy Unfolds
The hope of anarchy Letters to an anarchist - Part 6
7 months ago
Open Culture
Read 20 Short Stories From Nobel Prize-Winning Writer Alice Munro (RIP) Free Online Note: Back in 2013, when Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize in Literature, we published a post...
a year ago
61
a year ago
Note: Back in 2013, when Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize in Literature, we published a post featuring 20 short stories written by Munro. Today, with the sad news that Alice Munro has passed away, at the age of 92, we’re bringing the original post (from October 10, 2013) back to...
Open Culture
Watch Patti Smith Read from Virginia Woolf, and Hear the Only Surviving Recording of Woolf’s Voice In the video above, poet, artist, National Book Award winner, and “godmother of punk” Patti Smith...
a year ago
59
a year ago
In the video above, poet, artist, National Book Award winner, and “godmother of punk” Patti Smith reads a selection from Virginia Woolf’s 1931 experimental novel The Waves, accompanied on piano and guitar by her daughter Jesse and son Jackson. The “reading” marked the opening of...
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...
10 months ago
65
10 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...
Seth's Blog
Mind reading It’s thrilling when someone reads our minds. Sometimes we call it hospitality, or smart user...
a month ago
14
a month ago
It’s thrilling when someone reads our minds. Sometimes we call it hospitality, or smart user interface design. Sometimes, it simply feels like being seen. The person or the system knows what you need, perhaps before you even realize what that might be. This is a special sort of...
Seth's Blog
You’ve already failed No project is going to exactly match every hope you have for it. And even before you ship the work,...
7 months ago
43
7 months ago
No project is going to exactly match every hope you have for it. And even before you ship the work, you’ve already succeeded. No project is totally worthless. So, given that failure and success are on a spectrum, at least partly out of our control, the real question is: Now that...
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...
9 months ago
32
9 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
Decoding the Knock Knock situation Novels, movies, even consulting, are based on a knock knock business model. Tom Cruise made a movie,...
3 months ago
29
3 months ago
Novels, movies, even consulting, are based on a knock knock business model. Tom Cruise made a movie, and you need to buy a ticket to see it. Jane Collins is an engineering professional and you need to pay to get their insight about how to fix your bridge. This 300-page...
Seth's Blog
Books and more, winter 2024 They’re a gift that lasts forever, because your friend will remember what they learned and how they...
7 months ago
44
7 months ago
They’re a gift that lasts forever, because your friend will remember what they learned and how they felt… and they can keep it on their bookshelf or hard drive as a reminder in case they forget… Amazon chose This is Strategy for a Kindle deal today. It’s only $4. Also, the...
Handprinted - Blog
Using Hawthorn Process Colours We've been stocking Hawthorn Stay Open Inks for 6 years now! These inks are oil based inks and work...
over a year ago
82
over a year ago
We've been stocking Hawthorn Stay Open Inks for 6 years now! These inks are oil based inks and work beautifully for relief printing. We have a fantastic range of colours including the process range. Process colours are inks specially formulated to create a full spectrum of...
Seth's Blog
Bongo 4 – Thinking about power users (skive!) Power users are tempting. They know what they want, they’re happy to share their preferences and...
7 months ago
49
7 months ago
Power users are tempting. They know what they want, they’re happy to share their preferences and they show up. But power users can also be a trap, because their specific needs might not match the market you seek to serve. When you pick your customers, you pick your future. Brooke...
Seth's Blog
When the media is ready (Bongo part 2) Media isn’t a magazine or a website. It’s a system. We can learn to see the system and contribute to...
7 months ago
54
7 months ago
Media isn’t a magazine or a website. It’s a system. We can learn to see the system and contribute to it with leverage. There are three elements to consider in a media system that’s worth a professional creator’s time: Systems are changed by technology. When desktop publishing...
Open Culture
An Introduction to the Astonishing Book of Kells, the Iconic Illuminated Manuscript Whatever set of religious or cultural traditions you come from, you’ve probably seen a Celtic cross...
7 months ago
60
7 months ago
Whatever set of religious or cultural traditions you come from, you’ve probably seen a Celtic cross before. Unlike a conventional cross, it has a circular ring, or “nimbus,” where its arms and stem intersect. The sole addition of that element gives it a highly distinctive look,...
Handprinted - Blog
Choosing Printmaking Paper Choosing the paper for your printmaking project can have a significant impact on the way the print...
a year ago
124
a year ago
Choosing the paper for your printmaking project can have a significant impact on the way the print turns out. Changing the colour, thickness or texture of a paper can alter the mood, style or success of a print - it can be great fun to experiment. Although there are no rules...
Marian's Blog
Lego Part Designer I made a web app that lets you design your own Lego Technic parts and save them as printable STL...
over a year ago
62
over a year ago
I made a web app that lets you design your own Lego Technic parts and save them as printable STL files. You can check it out here. I got the idea for this project when I was building with Lego parts and wondered how many of the common parts can be described with a simple rule...
Handprinted - Blog
Offset Registration for Multi Block Linocuts Accurate registration can be difficult when printing multi-block linocuts. Offset printing will show...
4 months ago
34
4 months ago
Accurate registration can be difficult when printing multi-block linocuts. Offset printing will show you exactly where your design will sit on each block, allowing you to cut a set of blocks that will print in perfect alignment.  Begin by preparing a registration board. This will...
escape the algorithm
The perfect pecan pie will never exi— Cutting a slice of longing
7 months ago
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Duncan Tattersall I’m an artist and maker from southern Scotland, designing and hand printing bespoke textiles for...
a year ago
67
a year ago
I’m an artist and maker from southern Scotland, designing and hand printing bespoke textiles for interiors. My work focuses on the relationship between pattern & place; all of my designs are inspired by a particular location and aim to interpret the story of their surroundings....
Open Culture
Hear Edgar Allan Poe Stories Read by Iggy Pop, Jeff Buckley, Christopher Walken, Marianne Faithful &... In 1849, a little over 175 years ago, Edgar Allan Poe was found dead in a Baltimore gutter under...
a year ago
95
a year ago
In 1849, a little over 175 years ago, Edgar Allan Poe was found dead in a Baltimore gutter under mysterious circumstances very likely related to violent election fraud. It was an ignominious end to a life marked by hardship, alcoholism, and loss. After struggling for years as the...
Open Culture
The Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants: Explore the 1977 Illustrated Guide Created by Harvard’s... I mean, the idea that you would give a psychedelic—in this case, magic mushrooms or the chemical...
7 months ago
62
7 months ago
I mean, the idea that you would give a psychedelic—in this case, magic mushrooms or the chemical called psilocybin that’s derived from magic mushrooms—to people dying of cancer, people with terminal diagnoses, to help them deal with their — what’s called existential distress. And...
Handprinted - Blog
Pigment & Binder - Mixing colours for printing fabric Using Pigment Colours and Binder, you can mix your own bespoke colours for screen printing and block...
a year ago
62
a year ago
Using Pigment Colours and Binder, you can mix your own bespoke colours for screen printing and block printing. Experimenting with different ratio amounts of binder to pigment can create some lovely subtle pale shades and some strong bold colours too.   Keeping a note of your...
Marian's Blog
What I learned from building autonomous model race cars for a year I was part of a university project group that develops autonomous model race cars. We are a group of...
over a year ago
28
over a year ago
I was part of a university project group that develops autonomous model race cars. We are a group of twelve students working on the project in part time for year. We were provided with a car that meets the requirements for the F1/10th competition. Even though competing in F1/10th...
Open Culture
The PhD Theses of Richard Feynman, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein & Others, Explained with... Raise your children with a love of science, and there’s a decent chance they’ll grow up wanting to...
a month ago
20
a month ago
Raise your children with a love of science, and there’s a decent chance they’ll grow up wanting to be like Richard Feynman, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, or any number of other famous scientists from history. Luckily for them, they won’t yet have learned that the pursuit of such...
Open Culture
Leo Tolstoy’s Family Recipe for Mac and Cheese In 1874, Stepan Andreevich Bers published The Cookbook and gave it as a gift to his sister, countess...
a month ago
18
a month ago
In 1874, Stepan Andreevich Bers published The Cookbook and gave it as a gift to his sister, countess Sophia Andreevna Tolstaya, the wife of the great Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy. The book contained a collection of Tolstoy family recipes, the dishes they served to their family...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Aurore Swithenbank Hiya, I’m Aurore Swithenbank, a printmaker living in South East London with my partner and cute cat....
2 months ago
31
2 months ago
Hiya, I’m Aurore Swithenbank, a printmaker living in South East London with my partner and cute cat. I moved to London when I was 10 from France and haven’t looked back since.  Describe your printmaking process.  My printmaking method is linocut. I plan most of my designs with...
Open Culture
“The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink”: An Ad for London’s First Cafe Printed Circa 1652 The story of coffee goes back to the 13th century, when it came out of Ethiopia, then spread to...
a week ago
9
a week ago
The story of coffee goes back to the 13th century, when it came out of Ethiopia, then spread to Egypt and Yemen. It reached the Middle East, Turkey, and Persia during the 16th century, and then Europe during the early 17th, though not without controversy. In Venice, some called...
Open Culture
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Creative Process: A Look Inside the Books & Techniques That Allowed His Art... The story of Jean-Michel Basquiat has its unfortunate aspects: not just his premature death, but...
7 months ago
48
7 months ago
The story of Jean-Michel Basquiat has its unfortunate aspects: not just his premature death, but also the aggressive marketing of his work and persona in the years leading up to it. He became a vogue artist of the eighties in part because he could be taken as an unfiltered voice...
Seth's Blog
Toward leggerio We might not seek it out often enough in our work. It’s a musical term, but we can use it too. The...
3 months ago
29
3 months ago
We might not seek it out often enough in our work. It’s a musical term, but we can use it too. The light touch. A way to make a sound without making a commotion. Delicate and graceful. Showing up with care and with just enough extra, but not more than that. see also: sprezzatura
Seth's Blog
Bullies Bullies use intimidation and power to force others to act against their best interests. Bullies...
11 months ago
63
11 months ago
Bullies use intimidation and power to force others to act against their best interests. Bullies blame the victim, assuring everyone that they wouldn’t have to use force if people would simply go along with what they want. Effective bullies organize a small mob to enforce their...
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...
over a year ago
47
over 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...
Seth's Blog
The 77% threshold When the gas car was first introduced, it couldn’t compete with horses. After all, we’d had...
over a year ago
82
over a year ago
When the gas car was first introduced, it couldn’t compete with horses. After all, we’d had thousands of years to optimize our systems around horseback, and this new technology was still nascent. Roads were rare, gas stations were scarce and the cars themselves were unreliable....
Seth's Blog
As hot as possible At sea level, water boils at 100 degrees C. It doesn’t matter how much more heat you use, steam is...
a week ago
9
a week ago
At sea level, water boils at 100 degrees C. It doesn’t matter how much more heat you use, steam is what you get. It turns out that water this hot makes lousy coffee. Tea too. And an amp turned up to 11 doesn’t sound that good. Just because we can send more emails, hustle a […]
Open Culture
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic...
8 months ago
75
8 months ago
Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic works. Even better, the museum has placed the vast majority of these images into the public domain, meaning they can be downloaded directly from the museum’s website for...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Decreasing the F.Q. - A talk on Facial Recognition and the Opt Out Cap Links to a talk I gave on the Opt-Out cap and the state of surveillance via facial recognition.
over a year ago
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
81
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,...
Open Culture
Explore an Online Archive of 2,100+ Rare Illustrations from Charles Dickens’ Novels As Christmastime approaches, few novelists come to mind as readily as Charles Dickens. This owes...
7 months ago
62
7 months ago
As Christmastime approaches, few novelists come to mind as readily as Charles Dickens. This owes mainly, of course, to A Christmas Carol, and even more so to its many adaptations, most of which draw inspiration from not just its text but also its illustrations. That 1843 novella...
Seth's Blog
A new cooperative workshop My colleague Ava Morris is running her Song of Significance Workshop on Friday, October 6. It’s...
a year ago
23
a year ago
My colleague Ava Morris is running her Song of Significance Workshop on Friday, October 6. It’s powerful, effective and personal. It runs worldwide, in Zoom, and it’s completely interactive–every participant participates. This will be the third session… the first two got rave...
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...
over a year ago
45
over 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...
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
19
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...
Prolost
Linear Light, Gamma, and ACES Imagine a digital 50% gray card. In 0–255 RGB values, it’s 127, 127, 127. On the RGB parade scope,...
over a year ago
27
over a year ago
Imagine a digital 50% gray card. In 0–255 RGB values, it’s 127, 127, 127. On the RGB parade scope, the card is a perfect plateau at 50%. Now imagine increasing the exposure of this scene by one stop. “Stops” of light are an exponential scale, meaning that subtracting one stop is...
Seth's Blog
Worthless noise isn’t information Data becomes information when at least one of two related things are true: If you’re not getting one...
a month ago
12
a month ago
Data becomes information when at least one of two related things are true: If you’re not getting one of these things, then the data is simply noise. A distraction that wastes our time and confuses us. Breaking news is up to the recipient.
Seth's Blog
Calendars are a choice Humans are unique. We give names to the days of the week (we even have weeks). We eat something...
6 months ago
49
6 months ago
Humans are unique. We give names to the days of the week (we even have weeks). We eat something different for breakfast than dinner. We chronicle the passage of time. In fact, our chronicling of time is what makes it noticeable. Coordination can only happen when we’re in sync...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: The Ban Cometh TikTok banned, RedNote reversal, TrumpCoin and Gjörfbunkle
5 months ago
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...
6 months ago
50
6 months 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...
Seth's Blog
Bad design might simply be obsolete design Perhaps you’ve encountered a sink with two taps, not one. One for hot, one for cold, without a...
3 months ago
22
3 months ago
Perhaps you’ve encountered a sink with two taps, not one. One for hot, one for cold, without a chance to mix them before you scald or chill yourself. It seems absurd that the folks who figured out the technology to build sinks with running water couldn’t be bothered with the last...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Olesya Dzhurayeva I am Olesya Dzhurayeva, Ukrainian artist. I was born in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, but I...
a year ago
91
a year ago
I am Olesya Dzhurayeva, Ukrainian artist. I was born in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, but I moved to Ukraine as a child. Now I live in Kyiv. Despite the war, I am staying in Ukraine and continue to work. I am an active member of the international printmaking community,...
Seth's Blog
A treaty Successful treaties calm things down and let us get back to what’s really important. Sometimes, the...
over a year ago
85
over a year ago
Successful treaties calm things down and let us get back to what’s really important. Sometimes, the fight becomes the entire point. Not surprisingly, when we’re busy fighting a war in our head about a previous injustice or slight, we can effectively consummate a treaty without...
Open Culture
When the CIA Studied Psychic Techniques to Alter Human Consciousness & Unlock Time Travel: Discover... By now, it’s widely known that the Central Intelligence Agency ran a decades-long program of...
a year ago
108
a year ago
By now, it’s widely known that the Central Intelligence Agency ran a decades-long program of experiments involving LSD and other psychoactive drugs called MKUltra from the nineteen-fifties to the seventies. As one might suspect, that wasn’t the only research project into the...
Open Culture
Sex and Alcohol in Medieval Times: A Look into the Pleasures of the Middle Ages Playing video games, road-tripping across America, binge-listening to podcasts, chatting with...
11 months ago
62
11 months ago
Playing video games, road-tripping across America, binge-listening to podcasts, chatting with artificial intelligence: these are a few of our modern pleasures not just unknown to, but unimaginable by, humanity in the Middle Ages. Yet medieval people were, after all, people, and...
Open Culture
The Only Painting van Gogh Ever Sold: Discover The Red Vineyard (1888) It may have crossed your mind, while beholding paintings of Vincent van Gogh, that you’d like to own...
3 days ago
5
3 days ago
It may have crossed your mind, while beholding paintings of Vincent van Gogh, that you’d like to own one yourself someday. If so, you’ll have to get in line with more than a few billionaires, and even they may never see one go up on the auction block. This would probably come as...
Infinite Scroll
Trapped in the Platforms Platform lock in and the Open Web
4 months ago
Open Culture
The Wisdom of Alan Watts in 4 Mind-Expanding Animations Perhaps no single person did more to popularize Zen Buddhism in the West than Alan Watts. In a...
8 months ago
51
8 months ago
Perhaps no single person did more to popularize Zen Buddhism in the West than Alan Watts. In a sense, Watts prepared U.S. culture for more traditionally Zen teachers like Soto priest Suzuki Roshi, whose lineage continues today, but Watts did not consider himself a Zen Buddhist....
Marian's Blog
LED Matrix Materials Guide I built an LED matrix out of 256 WS2812 LEDs. This post will describe which materials I used and...
over a year ago
33
over a year ago
I built an LED matrix out of 256 WS2812 LEDs. This post will describe which materials I used and which I tried with no success so you don’t have to. Case For the case, I used a custom made photo frame. The main purpose of the case is to look good, which is...
Seth's Blog
Snowballs and avalanches Residents leave a town because of a lack of services, which cuts the tax base, which leads to more...
9 months ago
54
9 months ago
Residents leave a town because of a lack of services, which cuts the tax base, which leads to more services lost, which leads to more residents leaving… A hip new brand attracts a few opinion leaders, who flash the logo, which attracts more hipsters, who then establish a status...
Seth's Blog
Paying attention to attention There are people and organizations that are working overtime to redirect and manipulate your...
a month ago
11
a month ago
There are people and organizations that are working overtime to redirect and manipulate your attention. The question is: Are they more aware and careful in how you spend your attention than you are? The act of focusing on what we focus on pays enormous dividends.
Seth's Blog
The slog, the hobby and the quest Here’s a simple XY grid to help you think about your next project, freelance career or startup: All...
a year ago
26
a year ago
Here’s a simple XY grid to help you think about your next project, freelance career or startup: All too common are ‘fun’ businesses where someone finds a hobby they like and tries to turn it into a gig. While the work may be fun, the uphill grind of this sort of project is...
Seth's Blog
Three sheet metaphors Here’s a large blue bedsheet, queen sized. If we’re going to pull it taut, it will take the...
a year ago
25
a year ago
Here’s a large blue bedsheet, queen sized. If we’re going to pull it taut, it will take the coordinated effort of eight people, each pulling just the right amount, from each corner and edge. If we’re going to billow it up and down, like a parachute, we’re going to need those...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: All Hail New Media Censorship, platforms, and exactly who are we empowering?
5 months ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 003: Julian Lehr The case against conversational interfaces
3 months ago
Open Culture
Orson Welles Narrates an Animated Parable About How Xenophobia & Greed Will Put America Into Decline... More than 50 years and 10 presidential administrations have passed since Orson Welles narrated...
8 months ago
58
8 months ago
More than 50 years and 10 presidential administrations have passed since Orson Welles narrated Freedom River. And while it shows signs of age, the animated film, a parable about the role of immigration, race, and wealth in America, still resonates today. Actually, given the...
Open Culture
Get Unlimited Access to Courses & Certificates: Coursera Is Offering 40% (or $159) Off of Coursera... A heads-up on a deal: Between today and December 2, 2024, Coursera is offering a 40% discount on its...
7 months ago
30
7 months ago
A heads-up on a deal: 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 all-inclusive...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 007: 50 Things Brian Potter Has Learned Writing Construction Physics Things are almost always more complicated than they seem.
2 months ago
Handprinted - Blog
Designing a Repeat Block by Hand Visualising what your design will look like when printed can be the hardest thing about designing a...
a year ago
154
a year ago
Visualising what your design will look like when printed can be the hardest thing about designing a repeat pattern. We have a good method for sketching out your initial design to see how it will work when it has been printed. For this project, we will be using a mounted lino...
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...
11 months ago
69
11 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 steep part of the mountain The end of the trail is usually difficult, but without the long and winding approach, there isn’t...
10 months ago
58
10 months ago
The end of the trail is usually difficult, but without the long and winding approach, there isn’t much of a mountain. The greatest hits reel and the stunning photographs leave out most of the hard work. There’s a lot to be said for showing up, one foot in front of the other. In...
Seth's Blog
PW1: Two hats for productivity Welcome to 2024. Back to work, here we go. So it’s Productivity Week on the blog. Productivity is...
a year ago
34
a year ago
Welcome to 2024. Back to work, here we go. So it’s Productivity Week on the blog. Productivity is the measure of the output (value) we get for the time or money we spend. Two hats for productivity: When I’m clearing my inbox, responding to comments in a doc, cooking lunch–these...
Seth's Blog
The opportunity for AI formbots Forms are a convenient way for bureaucracies to collect information. They’re convenient because they...
6 months ago
72
6 months ago
Forms are a convenient way for bureaucracies to collect information. They’re convenient because they offload the work to the patient/customer/taxpayer. The shift in labor led to an explosion of self-serve forms, but the built-in inefficiencies punish everyone. The fundamental...
Seth's Blog
The defensive arrogance of TL;DR Every since there has been high school, there has been the instinct to read the Cliffs Notes. The...
a year ago
52
a year ago
Every since there has been high school, there has been the instinct to read the Cliffs Notes. The internet took this idea, added a gratuitous semicolon and perfected Too Long; Didn’t Read. This is the mistakenly proud assertion that we are far too busy and too important to read...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: MintFlamingo Hi - I’m Alex! I’m a freelance graphic designer by day, and a self-taught linocut printmaker by...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
Hi - I’m Alex! I’m a freelance graphic designer by day, and a self-taught linocut printmaker by night. Although my day job is ‘creative’ I think I really fell in love with making/designing my own linocut prints as it allows me to create whatever I like, without being restricted...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 005: Parakeet Skittle Factory Dementia Monkey Titty Monetization
2 months ago
Open Culture
The Dylatov Pass Incident: Has One of the Biggest Soviet Mysteries Been Solved? Most of us would go out of our way not to set foot anywhere near a place the local natives refer to...
3 weeks ago
9
3 weeks ago
Most of us would go out of our way not to set foot anywhere near a place the local natives refer to as “Dead Mountain.” That didn’t stop the Dyatlov Hiking Group, who set out on a sixteen-day skiing expedition across the northern Urals in late January of 1959. Experienced and...
Seth's Blog
Direct questions worth answering For everyone on the team… Do you care enough to do great work? Can we agree on what great work looks...
a year ago
29
a year ago
For everyone on the team… Do you care enough to do great work? Can we agree on what great work looks like? When the world changes, do we have a process to redefine great work? Do you have the tools you need to reach your goals? How could we create a system where great work […]
Open Culture
John Waters’ RISD Graduation Speech: Real Wealth Is Life Without A*Holes John Waters’ rollicking commencement speech at The Rhode Island School of Design offered up some...
9 months ago
34
9 months ago
John Waters’ rollicking commencement speech at The Rhode Island School of Design offered up some good one-liners and a few pearls of wisdom, though phrased, quite naturally, in an irreverent way. Ready for some sage advice on what really counts as wealth? And what career choices...
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
30
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....
Open Culture
How Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton & Harold Lloyd Pulled Off Their Spectacular Stunts During Silent... It can be tempting to view the box office’s domination by visual-effects-laden Hollywood spectacle...
a month ago
26
a month ago
It can be tempting to view the box office’s domination by visual-effects-laden Hollywood spectacle as a recent phenomenon. And indeed, there have been periods during which that wasn’t the case: the “New Hollywood” that began in the late nineteen sixties, for instance, when the...
Seth's Blog
“I changed my mind” Who is “I” and how does that “I” have the power to change the mind in question? What actually...
7 months ago
58
7 months ago
Who is “I” and how does that “I” have the power to change the mind in question? What actually happens is this: If you are brave enough to have your mind changed, experience can do that. But it’s rarely as conscious an intentional act as we give ourselves credit for.
Open Culture
How Art Gets Stolen: What Happened to Egon Schiele’s Painting Boats Mirrored in the Water After Its... George Clooney may be better regarded as an actor than as a director, but his occasional work in the...
9 months ago
53
9 months ago
George Clooney may be better regarded as an actor than as a director, but his occasional work in the latter capacity reveals an admirable interest in lesser-dramatized chapters of American history. His films have found their material in everything from the early years of the NFL...
Seth's Blog
Designed, Designy or Well-designed? If we create something with purpose, we’ve designed it. It’s not an accident. An axe handle is...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
If we create something with purpose, we’ve designed it. It’s not an accident. An axe handle is designed, and so is a symphony. Some things, though are designy. The designer’s fingerprints are all over it. The typefaces, knurled edges, needless heat sinks and homage to Dieter Rams...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Rosie Mclay I'm Rosie, a 32 year old female artist who is mostly from Bristol but can't decide whether to live...
2 months ago
16
2 months ago
I'm Rosie, a 32 year old female artist who is mostly from Bristol but can't decide whether to live in Bristol or the Welsh borders so is a bit all over the place. I've been a full time artist for eight years, mostly making art about our relationship to mortality and nature by...
Open Culture
Marie Curie Invented Mobile X‑Ray Units to Help Save Wounded Soldiers in World War I A hundred years ago, Mobile X‑Ray Units were a brand new innovation, and a godsend for soldiers...
3 weeks ago
8
3 weeks ago
A hundred years ago, Mobile X‑Ray Units were a brand new innovation, and a godsend for soldiers wounded on the front in WW1. Prior to the advent of this technology, field surgeons racing to save lives operated blindly, often causing even more injury as they groped for bullets and...
Open Culture
A 5‑Hour Journey Through North Korean Entertainment: Propaganda Films, Kids’ Cartoons, Sketch Comedy... Over the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea became rich, and in the first decades of...
a year ago
38
a year ago
Over the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea became rich, and in the first decades of the twenty-first, it’s become a global cultural superpower. The same can’t be said for North Korea: after a relatively strong start in the nineteen-fifties and sixties, its economy...
Marian's Blog
Agent V – Global Game Jam 2018 Project This year I participated in my first game jam, the Global Game Jam 2018. With a team of artists,...
over a year ago
19
over a year ago
This year I participated in my first game jam, the Global Game Jam 2018. With a team of artists, programmers and a sound designer, we made a video game within 48 hours. You play the game as a virus that infiltrates a company’s headquarters. The virus can not move on its own, it...
Seth's Blog
No thank you Failing to acknowledge a favor or a courtesy is a triple mistake, and it’s becoming more common....
a year ago
23
a year ago
Failing to acknowledge a favor or a courtesy is a triple mistake, and it’s becoming more common. ChatGPT is now promoting the idea that it can write a thank you note for you, and a text is a lot easier than a handwritten note, and yet, the level of ‘thank you’ seems to be...
Infinite Scroll
Flat Earthers and Belief in Belief What flat earthers can teach us about politics
6 months ago
Seth's Blog
How many more in the bag? In a huge bag of chips, each individual chip isn’t worth as much as if there’s only a few. On a long...
a month ago
15
a month ago
In a huge bag of chips, each individual chip isn’t worth as much as if there’s only a few. On a long vacation, each day might feel less precious than on a short one. This is an invented construct. Our perception and embrace of time and the available alternatives is up to us. If...
Seth's Blog
I’ve been doing it wrong all along This is one of the great benefits of learning. It’s also a common challenge. When we get better at...
a year ago
30
a year ago
This is one of the great benefits of learning. It’s also a common challenge. When we get better at something, it is preceded by a moment of incompetence. In that moment, we’re not exactly sure how to do it better, but we realize that the way we’d been doing it wasn’t nearly as...
Seth's Blog
The seduction of false promises Why do we buy the pitch of the snake oil salesman, the flim-flam man, the con artist, the demagogue...
a year ago
58
a year ago
Why do we buy the pitch of the snake oil salesman, the flim-flam man, the con artist, the demagogue or the trickster? As our modern world becomes more informed and more rational, we see an increase (not the expected decrease) in scams, hustles, and chaos. There are Jokers and...
Open Culture
Ancient Egyptian Pyramids May Have Been Built with Water: A New Study Explore the Use of Hydraulic... Image by Charles Sharp, via Wikimedia Commons The compelling but less-than-straightforward question...
11 months ago
63
11 months ago
Image by Charles Sharp, via Wikimedia Commons The compelling but less-than-straightforward question of how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids has inspired all manner of theory and speculation, grounded to varying degrees in physical reality. Sheer manpower must have played...
Infinite Scroll
JD Vance and Vice Signaling Abandon your values for power and profit
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
A good business Just because it’s useful, needed or worthwhile doesn’t mean it’s a good business. E-bikes are...
2 months ago
21
2 months ago
Just because it’s useful, needed or worthwhile doesn’t mean it’s a good business. E-bikes are transforming cities and offering mobility to those who previously couldn’t afford it. But they’re a commodity, and it’s difficult to make a significant profit producing them. A good...