The Great Discontent...
Schessa Garbutt
Schessa Garbutt is the founder of the Inglewood–based design studio, Firebrand. An educator,...
5 months ago
Schessa Garbutt is the founder of the Inglewood–based design studio, Firebrand. An educator, lecturer, and published essayist (see The Black Experience in Design anthology, a must-read). Garbutt works at the intersection of co-design practices and making huge, mind-bending ideas...
cabel.com
Marching Age
This is a short story about something delightful. In 2014, I did a bunch of music for my friends...
12 months ago
This is a short story about something delightful. In 2014, I did a bunch of music for my friends Neven Mrgan and Matt Comi who were making an incredible iOS game called Space Age. I had never written that much music in my life, and it was incredibly fun for me in every way. (You...
Open Culture
The Isolated Bass Grooves of The Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh (RIP)
This past Friday, the bassist of The Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh, passed away at age 84. Almost...
a month ago
This past Friday, the bassist of The Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh, passed away at age 84. Almost immediately the tributes poured in, most recognizing that Lesh wasn’t your ordinary bassist. As Jon Pareles wrote in the New York Times, Phil Lesh held songs “aloft.” His “bass lines...
Seth's Blog
The four cohorts of the status quo
The first group cares about the policy. They benefit from it. They’ve organized themselves around...
10 months ago
The first group cares about the policy. They benefit from it. They’ve organized themselves around it. The second group cares about stability. They have limited bandwidth, and they’re not particularly interested in reconsidering everything, all the time. The third group doesn’t...
Seth's Blog
Everyone wants to be connected
But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And...
11 months ago
But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And everyone wants to be respected, but we often fail to offer our respect. What an opportunity.
Seth's Blog
Real and apparent risk
Roller coasters are one of the safest ways to travel (they end up where they begin, but that’s a...
a year ago
Roller coasters are one of the safest ways to travel (they end up where they begin, but that’s a different story). People pay to ride on them because they feel risky, even if they’re not. Air travel is really safe, and the airlines work overtime to reduce the perception of risk...
The Great Discontent...
Brian Eno
From pioneering ambient music and ever-evolving light paintings to innovating production styles,...
a year ago
From pioneering ambient music and ever-evolving light paintings to innovating production styles, installations, and strategies of surrender, Brian Eno’s work occupies a rare space in this world with an imprint as deep as it is wide. For the Roxy Music founder, art is the kind of...
Prolost
Virtual NAB at C4DLive
TLDR;
Hi!
C4DLive is happening this week! Already!
Watch my talk at noon PDT on Thursday, April...
over a year ago
TLDR;
Hi!
C4DLive is happening this week! Already!
Watch my talk at noon PDT on Thursday, April 23! Ask questions!
Buy Cinema 4D, Get Red Giant Complete for 50% Off
Red Giant Complete is free for students and teachers
TGNTR;
If it weren’t for COVID-19, the newly-combined...
escape the algorithm
Be specific
Ode to ᵗᶦⁿʸ ᵗᵒᵒˡˢ
11 months ago
Seth's Blog
Kazoo lessons
Knowledge and technique used to be closely guarded secrets. Admission to the guild was reserved for...
5 months ago
Knowledge and technique used to be closely guarded secrets. Admission to the guild was reserved for a few, and crafts like typesetting, plumbing and medicine were off limits to most folks. One of the reasons for the explosion in productivity and innovation in the last century is...
Seth's Blog
Indifferent overhead
Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that...
7 months ago
Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that aren’t directly related to our income. You pay them whether or not you’re busy. But there are two kinds of overhead, worth differentiating: Different overhead … the investments that...
Open Culture
4 Franz Kafka Animations: Watch Creative Animated Shorts from Poland, Japan, Russia & Canada
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari thought of Kafka as an international writer, in solidarity with...
7 months ago
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari thought of Kafka as an international writer, in solidarity with minority groups worldwide. Other scholars have characterized his work—and Kafka himself wrote as much—as literature concerned with national identity. Academic debates, however, have...
Seth's Blog
Understanding free software
A cup of coffee costs far more than a glass of water. That’s true even though we can’t live without...
10 months ago
A cup of coffee costs far more than a glass of water. That’s true even though we can’t live without water. (Most) people can live without coffee. It’s true even though creating the infrastructure to purify and deliver clean water costs billions of dollars. The critical reason for...
Seth's Blog
Unforced errors
In hospitality and customer service, perfect is elusive. Someone is going to miss a shift, have a...
a month ago
In hospitality and customer service, perfect is elusive. Someone is going to miss a shift, have a bad day, or fail to understand a situation. But there’s a second kind of error, the one that’s far more common. When management makes bad choices, or underinvests in systems,...
Seth's Blog
Productive assets and useful flows
Assets are ownable. They are devices, skills, connections or properties that allow us to amplify our...
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
You’ve already failed
No project is going to exactly match every hope you have for it. And even before you ship the work,...
2 weeks 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...
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....
7 months 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...
Seth's Blog
Peak infrastructure
Community resources are easy to take for granted. Unevenly distributed, they’re the sort of thing we...
10 months ago
Community resources are easy to take for granted. Unevenly distributed, they’re the sort of thing we miss only when they’re gone. Invisible things are easy to ignore. I was stunned to see a sign in Connecticut that listed the names of dozens of highway workers who had been killed...
Open Culture
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...
4 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
PW1: Two hats for productivity
Welcome to 2024. Back to work, here we go. So it’s Productivity Week on the blog. Productivity is...
11 months 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
Checking the date
After 2022, it’s hard to tell for sure. And going forward, public life is going to be even more...
a year ago
After 2022, it’s hard to tell for sure. And going forward, public life is going to be even more rumor-driven than it is now. Any video, any voiceover, any photograph–we can’t be sure. If YouTube or the Wayback Machine shows us that it happened after 2022, bring some doubt. AI and...
Open Culture
Watch 70+ Classic Literary Films Free Online: The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Gulliver’s Travels, Jane...
The term gaslight has gained so much traction in popular discourse so recently that you’d swear it...
a month ago
The term gaslight has gained so much traction in popular discourse so recently that you’d swear it was coined around 2010. In fact, that particular usage goes at least as far back as 1938, when British novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton wrote a stage thriller about a...
Seth's Blog
Embodied energy
It might only cost $2 in the vending machine, but that can of soda is a complicated battery. It...
3 months ago
It might only cost $2 in the vending machine, but that can of soda is a complicated battery. It stores the energy of the machines that were used to mine the bauxite, the ship that brought the ore to Iceland, the astonishing temperatures used to create the aluminum, then more...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker - Rebecca Perdue
Hello! I'm Rebecca Perdue. I am a printmaker and artist based in a small garden studio in Wiltshire....
9 months ago
Hello! I'm Rebecca Perdue. I am a printmaker and artist based in a small garden studio in Wiltshire. I work primarily in linocut and monoprint, but also paint and make occasional silver jewellery pieces and textiles. I'm very interested in linking work across several...
Seth's Blog
Full circle with myopia
In 1983, an old article from the Harvard Business Review changed my life. In 1960, Ted Levitt, a...
2 months ago
In 1983, an old article from the Harvard Business Review changed my life. In 1960, Ted Levitt, a professor at HBS, wrote the most popular article in the Review’s history. Called Marketing Myopia, it described a different way of thinking about change and marketing. I was a (very)...
Seth's Blog
Pleasant
We often use words like “beautiful” or “stunning” or “perfect” when we actually mean “popular” or...
a year ago
We often use words like “beautiful” or “stunning” or “perfect” when we actually mean “popular” or “pleasant.” Every day is beautiful in its own way. But the weather yesterday was pleasant. Hit songs are hits. But they’re rarely perfect. I’m a big fan of pleasant. And I often like...
Seth's Blog
What does reality look like?
Not what we see when we’re present, but what do we see when we imagine we’re present? In the early...
7 months ago
Not what we see when we’re present, but what do we see when we imagine we’re present? In the early days of photography, the world was black and white, and sort of flat. It’s worth noting that no one who saw these pictures complained about the fact that they didn’t exactly match...
Open Culture
Bertrand Russell’s Ten Commandments for Living Virtuously (1930)
Image by J. F. Horrabin, via Wikimedia Commons Bertrand Russell may have lived his long life...
a month ago
Image by J. F. Horrabin, via Wikimedia Commons Bertrand Russell may have lived his long life concerned with big topics in logic, mathematics, politics, and society, but that didn’t keep him from thinking seriously about how to handle his own day-to-day relationships. That hardly...
Seth's Blog
“I didn’t get in”
There are two ways to process this: The selection committee saw me, understood me, and then decided...
11 months ago
There are two ways to process this: The selection committee saw me, understood me, and then decided to reject me. or The selection committee didn’t get what I had to offer. I wasn’t rejected, my application was. It’s not that I didn’t get in, it’s that they didn’t engage with the...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker - Angela Hall
My name is Angela Hall, I’m an artist and silkscreen printer based in North Yorkshire, and I have...
8 months ago
My name is Angela Hall, I’m an artist and silkscreen printer based in North Yorkshire, and I have been making and selling my limited-edition prints for the last 5 years from my studio, specialised print events and regional galleries.
My creative journey started with a degree in...
Seth's Blog
Delivering good taste
There are lots of books on creating cooking, photography, writing and music. But they can’t possibly...
a year ago
There are lots of books on creating cooking, photography, writing and music. But they can’t possibly help you do better until you see and taste and appreciate what you’re trying to create. If you think what you’re serving is good, but others don’t, more recipes aren’t going to...
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...
3 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...
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...
2 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...
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
A quick guide on how to get p5.js guides working on Squarespace.
Seth's Blog
In and out
Lots of organizations (and individuals) have plans and processes for getting the word out. In fact,...
a year ago
Lots of organizations (and individuals) have plans and processes for getting the word out. In fact, we spend trillions of dollars doing so. Do you have a plan for getting the word in? Is it simply random chance that some ideas get to you and your team, that cultural and technical...
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
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....
Seth's Blog
Assume lack of context
The person you’re working with might not know what you know, might not see what you see. It’s...
6 months ago
The person you’re working with might not know what you know, might not see what you see. It’s tempting to begin where we are. But it’s more useful to begin where they are.
Seth's Blog
The power of expectations
When we raise our expectations for a student, a friend or a co-worker, we open the door to...
a year ago
When we raise our expectations for a student, a friend or a co-worker, we open the door to possibility. We offer them dignity and a chance to grow. We are offering them trust. But if we become attached to those expectations, if the expectation unmet leads us to distress or...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Robin Mackenzie
I am Robin Mackenzie, a Wood Engraver and Lino Cutter based in Dorset. I create limited edition...
a year ago
I am Robin Mackenzie, a Wood Engraver and Lino Cutter based in Dorset. I create limited edition relief prints using a combination of hand printing and an Albion printing press. My work explores the British coast and countryside. Beginning with walks and research trips I seek...
Marian's Blog
No Man’s Starfield
This is a shader I made that renders a flight through a starfield. It’s meant to look like the...
over a year ago
This is a shader I made that renders a flight through a starfield. It’s meant to look like the galactic map that you can see in No Man’s Sky. Here is a link to the project on shadertoy:
No Man’s Starfield
The cool thing about this is that it runs inside a shader. A shader is a...
Seth's Blog
An end to pop
Pop culture depends on scarcity. When there are only a few TV stations or a dozen radio stations,...
a year ago
Pop culture depends on scarcity. When there are only a few TV stations or a dozen radio stations, it’s likely that many of us watch or hear the same thing at the same time. And so a popular TV show or song from fifty years ago probably reached twenty times as many people as a […]
Seth's Blog
Giving up vs. quitting
Shrug your shoulders, care less, phone it in. One software company I used to depend on has sort of...
5 months ago
Shrug your shoulders, care less, phone it in. One software company I used to depend on has sort of given up. They have plenty of cash in the bank, but they simply stopped trying. You can feel it in their updates, their customer service, their approach to the future. Giving up is...
Seth's Blog
The amateur presenter
Not “amateur” as in the unprepared professional. Amateur as in the passionate individual, untrained...
a year ago
Not “amateur” as in the unprepared professional. Amateur as in the passionate individual, untrained but with something to say. If you’re called on to give a talk or presentation, the biggest trap to avoid is the most common: Decide that you need to be just like a professional...
Seth's Blog
The rear view mirror
It’s almost impossible to safely drive a car while only looking in the rear view mirror. Only seeing...
a year ago
It’s almost impossible to safely drive a car while only looking in the rear view mirror. Only seeing where you’ve been is a terrible way to figure out where to go. But it’s really unsafe to go forward with no idea of what came before. AI plods along into the future, using machine...
Seth's Blog
Confusion about performance
The thing that your product or service delivers could be called performance, and it’s made of two...
a year ago
The thing that your product or service delivers could be called performance, and it’s made of two components: –The story and expectations and cultural impact of what you do (the story). –The deliverables that are objectively measured (the spec). It helps to have both. Many...
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...
3 weeks ago
They’re a gift that lasts forever, because your friend will remember what they learned and how they felt… and they can keep it on their bookshelf or hard drive as a reminder in case they forget… Amazon chose This is Strategy for a Kindle deal today. It’s only $4. Also, the...
Seth's Blog
The marketing department
That’s the first part of the confusion. It’s a group of people who can’t decide what the thing they...
8 months ago
That’s the first part of the confusion. It’s a group of people who can’t decide what the thing they do is supposed to be. Is it: Advertising Publicity Increasing retail distribution Direct and measured response SEO Making the logo pretty Wholesale and trade relationships...
The Great Discontent...
Carly Ayres
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed...
over a year ago
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now According to your website, “Carly Ayres is a writer using language and...
Seth's Blog
Generational shifts in punditry
In 1970, when Walter Cronkite was narrating current events for the United States, he was 54 years...
8 months ago
In 1970, when Walter Cronkite was narrating current events for the United States, he was 54 years old. Hitchcock made his last film when he was 77. When there’s a limited number of slots for narrators to fill, they can stick around for a long time. One of the overlooked cultural...
Open Culture
Public.Work: A Smoothly Searchable Archive of 100,000+ “Copyright-Free” Images
We live in an age, we’re often told, when our ability to conjure up an image is limited only by our...
4 months ago
We live in an age, we’re often told, when our ability to conjure up an image is limited only by our imagination. These days, this notion tends to refer to artificial intelligence-powered systems that generate visual material from text prompts, like DALL‑E and the many others that...
Handprinted - Blog
Mark Making - Using Resists
Using tools on your plate isn’t the only way you can create marks within an etching. You can also...
a year ago
Using tools on your plate isn’t the only way you can create marks within an etching. You can also use resists to stop the mordant from reaching the surface of your plate. Resists can help achieve more subtle marks and washes, and they can also be applied using a brush to control...
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...
6 months 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...
Prolost
Visual Effects Compositing in Adobe After Effects: My IBC 2019 Talk
Adobe graciously invited me to speak at their IBC 2019 booth about visual effects compositing in...
over a year ago
Adobe graciously invited me to speak at their IBC 2019 booth about visual effects compositing in After Effects — something I’ve been doing against all advice for many (many!) years. You can watch the entire talk here:
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
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...
Seth's Blog
Consider joining Purple Space
It’s not for everyone, but it might be for you. All the details are at purple.space It’s for...
a year ago
It’s not for everyone, but it might be for you. All the details are at purple.space It’s for creatives, independents, brand managers, strategists, founders, non-profit leaders and lifelong learners.
Seth's Blog
Don’t rush
…but hurry. The words matter. Rushing has a built-in excuse. Rushing pushes us to skip steps or ship...
7 months ago
…but hurry. The words matter. Rushing has a built-in excuse. Rushing pushes us to skip steps or ship junk. But hurrying acknowledges how precious this moment in time is. It honors our good fortune to be in this place, able to contribute something generous.
Seth's Blog
Learning, connecting, deciding (and amazing)
My new short LinkedIn class on project management just launched, and I’ll be discussing it live...
a year ago
My new short LinkedIn class on project management just launched, and I’ll be discussing it live today with Amanda Ruud … we’ll be there if you want to bring your questions. Sooner or later, all important work becomes project work. After the extraordinary feedback from her last...
Stat Significant
How Are Hit Songs Rediscovered Decades Later? A Statistical Analysis
How does music undergo a cultural revival long after its original release?
3 months ago
How does music undergo a cultural revival long after its original release?
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Rob Jones
I am a textiles artist working with Japanese techniques such as Shibori, shaped resist and Katagami...
9 months ago
I am a textiles artist working with Japanese techniques such as Shibori, shaped resist and Katagami stencilling (using indigo to dye the fabric). I also work with formal Japanese embroidery techniques - Sashiko and Kogin (counted thread) embroidery as well as some Boro inspired...
Seth's Blog
There are no stupid mistakes
There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is...
a year ago
There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is what happens when we refuse to learn from our mistakes. “Don’t be stupid” is a fine mantra. It’s particularly apt when talking about cultural forces, political agendas and our...
Seth's Blog
If “no” is not an option…
Then neither is “yes.” Enrollment requires choice. PS one of my all-time favorite encore episodes of...
a year ago
Then neither is “yes.” Enrollment requires choice. PS one of my all-time favorite encore episodes of Akimbo is out this week: How to get into a famous college.
Open Culture
The First “Selfie” In History Taken by Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia Chemist, in 1839
In 2013, the Oxford Dictionaries announced that “selfie” had been deemed their Word of The Year. The...
4 months ago
In 2013, the Oxford Dictionaries announced that “selfie” had been deemed their Word of The Year. The term, whose first recorded use as an Instagram hashtag occurred on January 27, 2011, was actually invented in 2002, when an Australian chap posted a picture of himself on an...
Seth's Blog
The weird math of halfway
6 times 1/2 doesn’t equal 3. It equals zero. We’re tempted to do a little less than we need to....
9 months ago
6 times 1/2 doesn’t equal 3. It equals zero. We’re tempted to do a little less than we need to. Perhaps we’re busy, with too many options. Perhaps it’s resistance, pushing us to hold a little bit back. Whatever the reason, when we show up just a little, we get zero credit. The...
On the Arts
On the Arts: A Year-End Review
A brief guide to everything published this year.
a year ago
A brief guide to everything published this year.
Seth's Blog
If it’s all in bold
Then none of it is in bold.
a year ago
Then none of it is in bold.
Seth's Blog
The opposite of insubordination
“Do as I say.” That’s industrial management in four words. If you don’t follow the instructions to...
11 months ago
“Do as I say.” That’s industrial management in four words. If you don’t follow the instructions to the letter, you’re insubordinate. Not subordinate. Complete subordination might have been the goal in an industrial setting. But now, it’s dangerous, expensive and inefficent....
Seth's Blog
Allocating scarcity
If we’re lucky, we invent something that’s going to be in high demand. Reservations at a hot...
a year ago
If we’re lucky, we invent something that’s going to be in high demand. Reservations at a hot restaurant. Limited edition trading cards. Concert tickets… How to decide who gets them? One attractive option is “first-come-first-served.” It feels fair, after all. The theory is that...
Seth's Blog
The Mississippi River paradox
There’s no water in that river that was there ten years ago. The boundaries have shifted in that...
4 months ago
There’s no water in that river that was there ten years ago. The boundaries have shifted in that time as well, there’s no riverbank that’s exactly where it was. And the silt and the fish have all moved too. So, what’s “the Mississippi River”? It’s a label, a placeholder, and a...
Seth's Blog
Just looking
Lots of people go to the beach but very few get in the water. 3,000 students go to the football game...
a year ago
Lots of people go to the beach but very few get in the water. 3,000 students go to the football game to watch 20 of their peers play. And we go to a conference to meet people and connect, and then spend most of our time hoping someone else will see us and care enough […]
Seth's Blog
The perfect conditions
Somewhere, there is the ideal soil for growing mangoes. Or the best possible wave for surfing. Or...
a year ago
Somewhere, there is the ideal soil for growing mangoes. Or the best possible wave for surfing. Or the most romantic sunset for a proposal. But it’s not right here and it’s not right now. Our success has a lot to do with how we dance with conditions that aren’t quite perfect.
The Great Discontent...
Luke Zahm
“Everyone eats. There's so much beauty in realizing that humaneness and that oneness.” This is the...
9 months 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...
Seth's Blog
Consider switching sides
One of the spokespeople for the new milk marketing campaign confessed that she doesn’t really like...
a year ago
One of the spokespeople for the new milk marketing campaign confessed that she doesn’t really like drinking milk. Sales are way down, and an entire generation is drinking other beverages. Other than the people who are paid to sell or lobby for milk sales, few people are...
Seth's Blog
Patience
It’s worth the most when it’s the most difficult to find.
a year ago
It’s worth the most when it’s the most difficult to find.
Open Culture
The 11 Censored Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Cartoons That Haven’t Been Aired Since 1968
For decades and decades, Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons have served as a...
3 months ago
For decades and decades, Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons have served as a kind of default children’s entertainment. Originally conceived for theatrical exhibition in the nineteen-thirties, they were animated to a standard that held its own against the...
Seth's Blog
“No photos”
That’s what it said at the florist shop. I’m guessing because ‘taking’ a photo sometimes feels like...
a year ago
That’s what it said at the florist shop. I’m guessing because ‘taking’ a photo sometimes feels like a taking. The creativity, skill and effort that goes into making a distinctive arrangement might feel uncompensated when someone simply takes the work and posts it. This misses the...
Seth's Blog
The Pinocchio protocol
He had a hard time lying because his nose got longer every time he did. Gas-powered leaf blowers...
5 months ago
He had a hard time lying because his nose got longer every time he did. Gas-powered leaf blowers would disappear if the smoke they belched out was black instead of invisible. And few people would start smoking if the deposits on their lungs ended up on their face instead. We’re...
The Last...
No Self-Respecting Woman Would Go Out Without Make Up
For some reason, one of the most emailed articles from the NYT was an article about whether women...
over a year ago
For some reason, one of the most emailed articles from the NYT was an article about whether women should or should not wear make up. "New York Times? Sounds progressive." Yes.
Seven
people were asked their opinion in a column called "Room For Debate,"
liars, there was no...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Fort Emplacements and FDM: making Castle Doctrine
How I made Castle Doctrine, a 1:1 scale fully 3D-Printed American
Revolutionary War era cannon.
a year ago
How I made Castle Doctrine, a 1:1 scale fully 3D-Printed American
Revolutionary War era cannon.
Handprinted - Blog
Hand-Painted Textiles: A Practical Guide to the Art of Painting on Fabric by Sarah Campbell Book...
We have recently added some fantastic new books to the Handprinted shop and this one is no...
a year ago
We have recently added some fantastic new books to the Handprinted shop and this one is no exception. Sarah Campbell's beautifully curated and inspirational book explores the art of painting and making patterns on fabric. Even just flicking through the pages of this book makes...
Stat Significant
The Business of the Olympics: Rising Revenues, Diminishing Cultural Reach. A Statistical Analysis
How does the Olympics remain relevant (and make money) in a world full of digital distractions?
5 months ago
How does the Olympics remain relevant (and make money) in a world full of digital distractions?
Seth's Blog
Avoiding food waste confusion
Everybody eats That’s the biggest problem. While plenty of people drive or play pickleball, eating...
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...
Seth's Blog
Goals and expectations
[a note to a frustrated friend, just starting out on a long career] There are three reasons that our...
a year ago
[a note to a frustrated friend, just starting out on a long career] There are three reasons that our goals might not be achieved. In order of palatability, they are: Perhaps the goals are too lofty, too based on chance, unlikely for anyone to achieve, surrounded by barriers that...
Seth's Blog
The strategy sessions
I’m workshopping a new book. For the last few months, I’ve been feverishly writing a book about...
7 months ago
I’m workshopping a new book. For the last few months, I’ve been feverishly writing a book about strategy. Strategy for individuals, small organizations and large ones as well. Strategy for someone seeking to make a difference, and strategy for people who do projects. Starting...
Seth's Blog
The Big-O conundrum
In computer science, Big-O notation is a way of talking about what happens to a solution method when...
a year ago
In computer science, Big-O notation is a way of talking about what happens to a solution method when the inputs start to increase. For example, sorting numbers is an easy problem when there are only five or six, but when you have to sort 5,000, a totally different algorithm is...
Open Culture
The Night Frank Zappa Jammed With Pink Floyd … and Captain Beefheart Too (Belgium, 1969)
Recently an older musician acquaintance told me he never “got into ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ and all...
3 months ago
Recently an older musician acquaintance told me he never “got into ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ and all that,” referring to the “first major space jam” of Pink Floyd’s career and the subsequent explosion of space rock bands. I found myself a little taken aback. Though I was born too...
Prolost
Log is the “Pro” in iPhone 15 Pro
And I’ve got some free LUTs for you.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max feature log video recording. This...
a year ago
And I’ve got some free LUTs for you.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max feature log video recording. This is a big deal, but there’s already some confusion about it. Where consumer devices and pro video overlap, that’s where the Prolost Signal gleams brightest in the night sky. So...
Seth's Blog
Which sort of sinecure?
Sooner or later, we find a place to hide. A place of security or sustenance. A place of safety. That...
a year ago
Sooner or later, we find a place to hide. A place of security or sustenance. A place of safety. That sort of foundation can give us peace of mind and open the door to possibility. But, it’s possible that we can turn it into a trap as well. A situation so perfectly created that...
Seth's Blog
In search of incompetence
Learning is about becoming incompetent on our way to getting better. If you’re not open to the...
9 months ago
Learning is about becoming incompetent on our way to getting better. If you’re not open to the tension that is caused by knowing you could do better, it’s unlikely you’re willing to do the work to get better. As you’re doing that work, there’s the satisfaction it brings, but also...
Handprinted - Blog
Custom Screen Specifications and Artwork Guides
If you're thinking about ordering a custom screen with us, we need your artwork to the...
a year ago
If you're thinking about ordering a custom screen with us, we need your artwork to the specifications laid out in this blog post.
First, these are the technical specifications we require
Flattened PDF format only (no JPG or PNG)
Portrait
300 dpi resolution, no...
Seth's Blog
Misunderstanding bigness
IBM spent a fortune fighting calls for them to be broken up. So did AT&T and Microsoft. In all three...
4 months ago
IBM spent a fortune fighting calls for them to be broken up. So did AT&T and Microsoft. In all three cases, there’s plenty of evidence that they would have been better off if they had simply broken themselves up. Microsoft is still recovering and IBM never will. One computer...
Marian's Blog
Faster Than Life – Global Game Jam 2019 Project
Like in the previous year, I took part in the Global Game Jam.
I joined a team of six programmers,...
over a year ago
Like in the previous year, I took part in the Global Game Jam.
I joined a team of six programmers, unfortunately there was a shortage of artists this year.
During the 48 hour jam, we made a space game that is inspired by Faster Than Light.
You travel through...
Seth's Blog
Bye now
The difference between ‘buy now’ and ‘bye now’ is very thin. Sometimes, when we push very hard for a...
3 months ago
The difference between ‘buy now’ and ‘bye now’ is very thin. Sometimes, when we push very hard for a commitment, we break the trust we’ve earned. For a while, you might not notice the broken trust, because we’re encouraged to keep pushing, treating every individual as a walking...
Seth's Blog
Cats and dogs
Does your brand have a personality? When people expect you to act a certain way, you have a brand....
7 months ago
Does your brand have a personality? When people expect you to act a certain way, you have a brand. And that expectation is worth understanding. Can you help us understand whether you’re a cat or a dog in the way you react, respond, delight or sneak around? And if you’re a dog,...
Open Culture
When the Grateful Dead Played at the Egyptian Pyramids, in the Shadow of the Sphinx (1978)
In September of 1978, the Grateful Dead traveled to Egypt and played three shows at the Great...
5 months ago
In September of 1978, the Grateful Dead traveled to Egypt and played three shows at the Great Pyramid of Giza, with the Great Sphinx looking over their shoulders. It wasn’t the first time a rock band played in an ancient setting. Pink Floyd performed songs in the middle of the...
Seth's Blog
The audacity of the crowd anthem
There’s little doubt that We Are the Champions is one of the great crowd anthems of our time. Just...
a year ago
There’s little doubt that We Are the Champions is one of the great crowd anthems of our time. Just about any group can be stirred into a frenzy just by playing a few bars: The same goes Rapper’s Delight. And yet… Can you imagine how frightening it must have been to play it live...
Seth's Blog
Gentle Scrabble hacks
Perhaps these might make a great game more fun: Maximize total score: Exactly the same rules as...
a year ago
Perhaps these might make a great game more fun: Maximize total score: Exactly the same rules as regular Scrabble, but focus on increasing the total score of all players instead of defeating the others. It’s subtle, it can be challenging for a good player, and it creates more...
Open Culture
Watch James Earl Jones Read Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter Urging High-School Students to Create Art & Make...
As cultural figures, the late James Earl Jones and Kurt Vonnegut would seem to have had little in...
3 months ago
As cultural figures, the late James Earl Jones and Kurt Vonnegut would seem to have had little in common, but each could easily be recognized by his voice. Jones’ will come to mind as soon as you think of Darth Vader, Simba’s father, or “This is CNN.” Vonnegut’s distinction was...
Handprinted - Blog
On The Course: Creating Life Drawing Mono Screen Prints
I (Bridget) was lucky enough to take part on last years Life-Drawing Monoscreen Printing workshop...
a year ago
I (Bridget) was lucky enough to take part on last years Life-Drawing Monoscreen Printing workshop with Tricia Johnson. During the course, we worked with a life model to create painterly screen prints using the mono screen method. We used acrylic based screen printing inks and...
On the Arts
How do you actually create AI art?
A Walkthrough of Using Midjourney, a Popular AI Art Creation App
a year ago
A Walkthrough of Using Midjourney, a Popular AI Art Creation App
Seth's Blog
The next one
When asked what his favorite composition was, Duke Ellington said, “the next one.” This is the...
a year ago
When asked what his favorite composition was, Duke Ellington said, “the next one.” This is the essence of the artistic process. When we’re in the liminal space between now and what is about to come, we’re fully alive.
Seth's Blog
The problem with shock design
If attention is what you seek and attention is what you measure, it’s likely you’ll create drama....
2 weeks ago
If attention is what you seek and attention is what you measure, it’s likely you’ll create drama. And drama is inherently short-lived. The managing director of Jaguar said, “We’ve certainly gathered an awful lot of attention over the last few weeks.” Choosing the word “awful” was...
Open Culture
How Georges Méliès A Trip to the Moon Became the First Sci-Fi Film & Changed Cinema Forever (1902)
If you happen to visit the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, do take the time to see the Musée Méliès...
3 weeks ago
If you happen to visit the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, do take the time to see the Musée Méliès located inside it. Dedicated to la Magie du cinéma, it contains artifacts from throughout the history of film-as-spectacle, which includes such pictures as 2001: A Space Odyssey...
Seth's Blog
Informed consent (rarely is)
Adults make choices and live with the consequences. No one else should tell us what flavor of ice...
a year ago
Adults make choices and live with the consequences. No one else should tell us what flavor of ice cream we prefer, or what career to choose. We’re good at knowing what we want. In practice, this works really well for certain kinds of decisions. But when we add the network effect,...
Seth's Blog
Launching GOODBIDS
Over the next few days, I’m going to feature a new project we launched today. A small and mighty...
8 months ago
Over the next few days, I’m going to feature a new project we launched today. A small and mighty team has been working on this for a year. I want to share the highlights along with some of the critical design choices we made along the way Each year, charities in the US raise...
Handprinted - Blog
Making a Multi-Block Linocut
A multi-block linocut uses more than one piece of lino to create a layered image. Usually, each...
a year ago
A multi-block linocut uses more than one piece of lino to create a layered image. Usually, each block is inked with a separate colour. Where the colours overlap, another colour can be achieved.
Multi-block linocuts allow you to partially print an edition and create complete...
Seth's Blog
Project resistance
In Steven Pressfield’s classic The War of Art, he introduces the idea of Resistance. It’s the...
a year ago
In Steven Pressfield’s classic The War of Art, he introduces the idea of Resistance. It’s the internal force that keeps us from doing our most important creative work. If an instinct, a habit or a feeling gets in the way of the work, it’s Pressfield’s Resistance. Things we would...
Seth's Blog
Meaningfully informed
Community requires individuals to have the option of speaking up. If we’re in this together, we...
5 months ago
Community requires individuals to have the option of speaking up. If we’re in this together, we ought to be able to chime in. But while every member of the community can speak out, the ones that are heard also have something useful to say. Being informed is a requirement to be...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Enclosing a Prusa MK3, or how to completely overbuild an Octopi setup.
Overbuilding a Prusa enclosure
over a year ago
Overbuilding a Prusa enclosure
Seth's Blog
Overstuffed
The empty part of the drawer is what makes it a useful tool. Same goes for a filing cabinet, a...
a year ago
The empty part of the drawer is what makes it a useful tool. Same goes for a filing cabinet, a toolbox and a calendar. Slack is underrated.
Seth's Blog
Better pockets
Every coat needs better pockets. There are categories of products or services where there’s a...
3 months ago
Every coat needs better pockets. There are categories of products or services where there’s a universal area for improvement. When in doubt, make the pockets better. The interesting work is in realizing that you might offer a product or service where there are non-universal...
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...
4 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
Unfettered
That’s unlikely. You’re rarely going to get the freedom and resources to do your best work...
a year ago
That’s unlikely. You’re rarely going to get the freedom and resources to do your best work unfettered. The hard part (and the opportunity) is to figure out how to get comfortable with fettered. Because fettered is what’s on offer. Boundaries and scarcity aren’t simply...
Open Culture
How Sci-Fi Writers Isaac Asimov & Robert Heinlein Contributed to the War Effort During World War II
Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague De Camp at the Navy Yard in 1944 Robert Heinlein was...
6 months ago
Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague De Camp at the Navy Yard in 1944 Robert Heinlein was born in 1907, which put him on the mature side by the time of the United States’ entry into World War II. Isaac Asimov, his younger colleague in science fiction, was born in 1920 (or...
escape the algorithm
The New Turing Test
Changing the AI conversation
a year ago
Changing the AI conversation
Stat Significant
Is Music Stardom in Decline? A Statistical Analysis
Is music stardom dying?
a month ago
Open Culture
Explore the World’s First 3D Replica of St. Peter’s Basilica, Made with AI
In the trailer below for the world’s first 3D replica of St. Peter’s Basilica, Yves Ubelmann speaks...
a month ago
In the trailer below for the world’s first 3D replica of St. Peter’s Basilica, Yves Ubelmann speaks of using “AI for Good,” which isn’t just an ideal, but also the name of a lab at Microsoft. Microsoft and Ubelman’s digital-preservation company Iconem were two of the participants...
Open Culture
Meet Fanny, the First Female Rock Band to Top the Charts: “They Were Just Colossal and Wonderful,...
When the Beatles upended popular music, thousands of wannabe beat groups were born all over the...
7 months ago
When the Beatles upended popular music, thousands of wannabe beat groups were born all over the world, and many of them–for the first time ever, really–were all-female groups. This Amoeba Records article has a fairly exhaustive list of these girl bands, with names like The...
Seth's Blog
Listening to organizational decline
Great companies and teams often get stale and then fade away. Here’s what we hear as it happens:...
a week ago
Great companies and teams often get stale and then fade away. Here’s what we hear as it happens: “I’m way too important to listen to customers. Send them to the call center.” “It wasn’t a bad idea when we implemented it, so it’s not a bad idea now.” “My boss won’t let me.” “The...
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
Red Giant, where I’ve been Chief Creative Officer for a couple of years now, but making filmmaking tools for you for 17 years, is merging with Maxon, makers of Cinema 4D.
From the Red Giant blog:
Hi folks — by now you’ve probably heard the news that Maxon and Red Giant are...
Seth's Blog
Empathy at a distance
… is almost as difficult as empathy up close. That person that’s not like you, from way over there,...
3 months ago
… is almost as difficult as empathy up close. That person that’s not like you, from way over there, the one that’s on the other team–it’s hard to imagine what they’re dealing with. They don’t believe what you believe, they haven’t experienced what you’ve experienced. And the...
Seth's Blog
Benign vs. normal
We evolved to be wary of change. Our attention is limited, new things can be a threat and the status...
11 months ago
We evolved to be wary of change. Our attention is limited, new things can be a threat and the status quo feels comfortable. As a result, we spend a lot of time and energy being afraid (and arguing about) the upcoming changes in our lives, but almost no time at all thinking about...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Ariana Martin
Hi, I’m Ariana - a pattern designer and printmaker from leafy Sheffield. I create joyful patterns...
11 months ago
Hi, I’m Ariana - a pattern designer and printmaker from leafy Sheffield. I create joyful patterns and illustrations, which are particularly inspired by 20th century design, and I produce my own range of stationery and homewares.
Describe your printmaking process.
Screen...
Seth's Blog
Pique-a-boo
Marketers seek to make an impact, and that takes interest. Three ways to spell the key word: Peak...
a year ago
Marketers seek to make an impact, and that takes interest. Three ways to spell the key word: Peak interest can’t get any higher. It never happens at launch. It’s the result of cultural change and an idea moving through the population. Peek interest happens when there’s scarcity...
Open Culture
Hannah Arendt Explains the Rise of Totalitarian Regimes–and the Strategies Needed to Combat Them
“Adolf Eichmann went to the gallows with great dignity,” wrote the political philosopher Hannah...
7 months ago
“Adolf Eichmann went to the gallows with great dignity,” wrote the political philosopher Hannah Arendt, describing the scene leading up to the prominent Holocaust-organizer’s execution. After drinking half a bottle of wine, turning down the offer of religious assistance, and even...
Stat Significant
How Long Does Music Stardom Last? A Statistical Analysis
When do music stars achieve fame, and how long does fame typically last?
4 months ago
When do music stars achieve fame, and how long does fame typically last?
cabel.com
My GDC ’24 Talk: The Playdate Story
In January, I was invited to GDC, the Game Developers Conference, to give a talk about Playdate....
7 months ago
In January, I was invited to GDC, the Game Developers Conference, to give a talk about Playdate. That talk — “The Playdate Story: What Was it Like to Make Handheld Video Game System Hardware?” — has been made available free for all to view. Now, it’s been 10 years since my last...
Seth's Blog
Commonplace technology
Not all tech is new tech. The ballpoint pen was a revelation, and a bit controversial. Now, it’s...
a year ago
Not all tech is new tech. The ballpoint pen was a revelation, and a bit controversial. Now, it’s disposable and obvious. Different industries go through tech spurts. My desk is covered with items I use every day (a mouse, headphones, a solid-state drive, transparent tape, and...
Seth's Blog
What are you thinking about?
A philosopher can spend a month, a year or a career thinking about one knotty problem. Making...
4 months ago
A philosopher can spend a month, a year or a career thinking about one knotty problem. Making assertions, testing theories, understanding how others are thinking about it as well. But this exercise shouldn’t be reserved for academics. What are you working on? When will you change...
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...
6 months 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...
Seth's Blog
Explaining yourself
The only reason we need to go into detail about our resume, the details of our new idea or the...
9 months ago
The only reason we need to go into detail about our resume, the details of our new idea or the features of a product is to cause action to happen. And action is the result of tension, status or affiliation, and these are based on trust. There are many ways to build that trust,...
Seth's Blog
Amplifying the fringes
Culture is: “People like us do things like this.” We might even have a chance to choose our group....
2 months ago
Culture is: “People like us do things like this.” We might even have a chance to choose our group. Hipsters do this, hippies do that. People in this town wear this outfit, students at this school hang out here on Saturdays… We might be born into a culture. Less agency, but just...
Seth's Blog
What does the world owe us?
This question is a trap. It’s based on scarcity and entitlement, and most of all, the world isn’t...
6 months ago
This question is a trap. It’s based on scarcity and entitlement, and most of all, the world isn’t listening. When more and more people focus on this question, it simply pushes us apart. On the other hand, “what do I owe the world?” opens the door for endless opportunity. When...
Seth's Blog
Professionals are consistent
Authenticity is for amateurs. We want the surgeon, the broadcaster or the musician to show up fully,...
3 months ago
Authenticity is for amateurs. We want the surgeon, the broadcaster or the musician to show up fully, as the best version of themselves. We know you might be tired from an overnight shift, and authentically feel like phoning it in, but hey, this is the only aorta I’ve got, and I’d...
Seth's Blog
The lonely zone
For many, the goal is to be the deciding vote, the donation that gets a cause over the goal, the...
a year ago
For many, the goal is to be the deciding vote, the donation that gets a cause over the goal, the person who counts. And often, we enjoy piling on. Once the cause or fashion or tech is clearly working, it’s easy and fun to say “me too.” More rare, more vulnerable and more...
Seth's Blog
Getting it right the first time
How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The...
a year ago
How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The playwright who doesn’t need a workshop or a reading. The architect who designs a food hall that has a layout and vibe that works without one alteration… Evolution is powerful. It...
Seth's Blog
The paradox of lottery thinking
Tim Brownson points us to this recent poll of people in Great Britain. About one out of four people...
4 months ago
Tim Brownson points us to this recent poll of people in Great Britain. About one out of four people surveyed (of all ages) believe that they could qualify for the Olympics if they trained for the next four years. This is absurd. It’s the very absurdity of it that makes it common....
Open Culture
B.B. King Changes a Broken Guitar String Mid-Song at Farm Aid, and Doesn’t Miss a Beat (1985)
The scene is Farm Aid, 1985, attended by a crowd of 80,000 people. The song is “How Blue Can You...
a month ago
The scene is Farm Aid, 1985, attended by a crowd of 80,000 people. The song is “How Blue Can You Get.” And the key moment comes at the 3:10 mark, when the blues legend B.B. King breaks a guitar string, then manages to replace it before the song finishes minutes later. All the...
Seth's Blog
Hope and truth
The candidate running for re-election offers truth. This is what I did, I would like to do it again....
a year ago
The candidate running for re-election offers truth. This is what I did, I would like to do it again. The candidate coming out of nowhere offers hope. We can’t know but we can imagine. Kickstarter offers hope. No reviews, no tests, simply a promise of what might be. Book...
Seth's Blog
A finite ordered set of interesting objects
The alphabet is one. 26 letters, no more. One order, that’s it. The Beatles are another. John, Paul,...
a year ago
The alphabet is one. 26 letters, no more. One order, that’s it. The Beatles are another. John, Paul, George and then Ringo. The Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, The Supremes. The astrological zodiac gets us to twelve, but I’m having a really difficult time finding a memorable...
Seth's Blog
Scaffolds and talent
Kindergarten teachers matter more than you think. Chess isn’t a talent, it’s a learned practice....
a year ago
Kindergarten teachers matter more than you think. Chess isn’t a talent, it’s a learned practice. We’re sorting for head starts, not growth. And that’s just the first chapter. I think Hidden Potential is the most important book in Adam Grant’s career. The indoctrination around...
Seth's Blog
True/useful
Here’s a simple grid that might change the way you think about internal stories: When we believe in...
a year ago
Here’s a simple grid that might change the way you think about internal stories: When we believe in something that’s useful but not true, it can serve a helpful purpose. The tooth fairy, perhaps. When we act on something that’s useful and also true, we’ve found a resilient path...
Open Culture
The Origins of Anime: Watch Early Japanese Animations (1917 to 1931)
Japanese animation, AKA anime, might be filled with large-eyed maidens, way cool robots, and...
8 months ago
Japanese animation, AKA anime, might be filled with large-eyed maidens, way cool robots, and large-eyed, way cool maiden/robot hybrids, but it often shows a level of daring, complexity and creativity not typically found in American mainstream animation. And the form has spawned...
Infinite Scroll
JOB - A theatrical review
A Broadway play about Content Moderation
a month ago
A Broadway play about Content Moderation
Prolost
Introducing Prolost Beta
Prolost Beta is a new subscription offering on the Prolost Store. It's an occasional email from me...
over a year ago
Prolost Beta is a new subscription offering on the Prolost Store. It's an occasional email from me containing a download or a link to something cool I'm working on, that's not quite ready to become a product yet. Or maybe ever. This will most often be Lightroom presets or...
Seth's Blog
Brakes and acceleration
Every driver benefits from good brakes. It makes driving safer. Only a few skilled drivers benefit...
a year ago
Every driver benefits from good brakes. It makes driving safer. Only a few skilled drivers benefit from better acceleration. Our habit is to compare top speed, horsepower, short-term returns and status. In every field, not just cars. But it probably pays to make sure that there...
Seth's Blog
It just barely works
This is the story of every new software innovation, and in fact, just about everything engineers...
2 months ago
This is the story of every new software innovation, and in fact, just about everything engineers have ever created. The first Wright Bros. plane just barely flew. The first version of VisiCalc was just barely useful. The earliest bridges were shaky, unreliable and made of vines....
Open Culture
Medievalist Professor Answers Medieval Questions From Twitter: Why Is It called the “Middle” Ages?,...
From Wired comes this: “Professor of English and Medieval Literature Dr. Dorsey Armstrong answers...
6 months ago
From Wired comes this: “Professor of English and Medieval Literature Dr. Dorsey Armstrong answers your questions about the Middle Ages from Twitter. Why is it called the “Middle” Ages? [What did medieval English sound like?] What activities did people do for fun? Why were animals...
The Great Discontent...
Demar Matthews
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed...
over a year ago
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now How do you explain your work? I am specifically interested in...
Seth's Blog
Pavlonian coincidence
There are two kinds of coincidences. The first is the one that we often talk about. It’s the...
a year ago
There are two kinds of coincidences. The first is the one that we often talk about. It’s the make-believe magic of two things occurring that we didn’t expect to occur. When you and your long-lost college roommate end up randomly sharing adjacent bowling lanes when you’re...
Seth's Blog
Digital prepwork
It’s so tempting to simply begin painting a wall. After all, it’s pretty easy to lay down paint. But...
a year ago
It’s so tempting to simply begin painting a wall. After all, it’s pretty easy to lay down paint. But it turns out that masking and dropcloths, painstakingly put into place, save many hours compared to cleaning up a mess afterward. The same is true for what happens when we have a...
Seth's Blog
We probably can’t buy our way out of it
That’s what we usually try to do. When technology, comfort, convenience, efficiency and price line...
a year ago
That’s what we usually try to do. When technology, comfort, convenience, efficiency and price line up, the market takes care of itself. On the other hand, seatbelts would never have happened if they weren’t required. But pizza grew to dominate our diets with no centralized...
Seth's Blog
The empathy of useful feedback
When a friend shows you work in progress, your best contribution is to imagine the point of view and...
a year ago
When a friend shows you work in progress, your best contribution is to imagine the point of view and preferences of the person it is being created for. “I don’t like it,” isn’t useful, because it’s not for you. “I could imagine that someone who wants x, y or z would be looking...
Marian's Blog
Generating 3D roof meshes from aerial LIDAR data
This is my graduation project I did in computer science. The goal was to come up with a method to...
over a year ago
This is my graduation project I did in computer science. The goal was to come up with a method to generate 3D meshes of building roofs from point cloud data. The point cloud data was taken with aerial LIDAR scanners and is available online. In addition, I used building layout...
Stat Significant
What Are the Most Commonly Used Movie Clichés? A Statistical Analysis
Exploring the cliché phrases that dominate movies.
4 days ago
Exploring the cliché phrases that dominate movies.
Prolost
Kino: My New Favorite iPhone Video App
The new Kino app recording ProRes Log with a custom preview LUT.
Yes we’re still talking about...
6 months ago
The new Kino app recording ProRes Log with a custom preview LUT.
Yes we’re still talking about shooting video on iPhones. But I also want to talk about digital cinema shooting in general, in a world where top camera makers are battling to give filmmakers everything we want in a...
Seth's Blog
The MVP and fear
The minimum viable product is a powerful way to find out if your solution is going to find a market....
a year ago
The minimum viable product is a powerful way to find out if your solution is going to find a market. Bean-to-bar chocolate in the US didn’t happen because someone raised millions of dollars, built a factory and got shelf space at the A&P. It happened because John Scharffenberger...
Open Culture
The Complete Howard Stern Interview with Kamala Harris
It’s hard to know where to start. This election comes down to whether or not we want to reward...
2 months ago
It’s hard to know where to start. This election comes down to whether or not we want to reward someone who tried to subvert our democracy four years ago. Whether we want to preserve the alliances that have kept the peace since World War II. Whether women want to resist losing...
Seth's Blog
In defense of the hard parts
Yesterday’s post was a little glib. Without a doubt, we add more value when we focus on the...
4 months ago
Yesterday’s post was a little glib. Without a doubt, we add more value when we focus on the emotional labor of important work, leaving others the chance to create commodities. But the repetitive, difficult nature of leaning into commodity production can give us insight, humility...
Open Culture
Artist Draws 9 Portraits on LSD During 1950s Research Experiment
During the 1950s, a researcher gave an artist two 50-microgram doses of LSD (each dose separated by...
7 months ago
During the 1950s, a researcher gave an artist two 50-microgram doses of LSD (each dose separated by about an hour), and then the artist was encouraged to draw pictures of the doctor who administered the drugs. Nine portraits were drawn over the space of eight hours. We still...
The Last...
Still Alive
WHERE DID YOU GO?
I flatter myself by thinking you are asking this question. I am writing a book of...
over a year ago
WHERE DID YOU GO?
I flatter myself by thinking you are asking this question. I am writing a book of and about porn.
IS IT ANY GOOD?
Not sure. I am trying my best. It's a lot of work, complicated by relentless self-doubt. The good news is I am drinking more.
ALMOST...
Handprinted - Blog
Preparing your paper and press for etching
When you’ve created an aluminium or zinc plate etching, you’ll want to have a go at pulling your...
7 months ago
When you’ve created an aluminium or zinc plate etching, you’ll want to have a go at pulling your first print. To do this, you’ll need to learn how to prepare your paper and how to set the correct pressure on your press.
This blog is part of a series featuring tips and techniques...
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...
a month 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
Neuroscience Shows That Viewing Art in Museums Engages the Brain More Than Reproductions
We may appreciate living in an era that doesn’t require us to travel across the world to know what a...
2 months ago
We may appreciate living in an era that doesn’t require us to travel across the world to know what a particular work of art looks like. At the same time, we may instinctively understand that regarding a work of art in its original form feels different than regarding even the most...
Open Culture
Download Issues of “Weird Tales” (1923–1954): The Pioneering Pulp Horror Magazine Features Original...
We live in an era of genre. Browse through TV shows of the last decade to see what I mean: Horror,...
6 months ago
We live in an era of genre. Browse through TV shows of the last decade to see what I mean: Horror, sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, futuristic dystopias…. Take a casual glance at the burgeoning global film franchises or merchandising empires. Where in earlier decades, horror and...
Open Culture
Ray Bradbury Explains Why Literature is the Safety Valve of Civilization (in Which Case We Need More...
Ray Bradbury had it all thought out. Behind his captivating works of science fiction, there were...
4 months ago
Ray Bradbury had it all thought out. Behind his captivating works of science fiction, there were subtle theories about what literature was meant to do. The retro clip above takes you back to the 1970s and it shows Bradbury giving a rather intriguing take on the role of literature...
Open Culture
Download 1,000+ Digitized Tapes of Sounds from Classic Hollywood Films & TV, Courtesy of the...
Watch enough classic movies — especially classic movies from slightly downmarket studios — and...
3 months ago
Watch enough classic movies — especially classic movies from slightly downmarket studios — and you’ll swear you’ve been hearing the very same sound effects over and over again. That’s because you have been hearing the very same sound effects over and over again: once recorded or...
Seth's Blog
Tom Peters
Tom announced his retirement today, at 80 years old, after 45 years of Excellence and perhaps...
a year ago
Tom announced his retirement today, at 80 years old, after 45 years of Excellence and perhaps 10,000,000 miles flown. I remember a photo of him sleeping on a bench in an airport in Siberia. I remember him holding my young son just before we went on stage in Florida together...
Seth's Blog
Too much competition
There are two approaches: Broaden your offerings, make them easier, cheaper and more available. Dumb...
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
Are we cannibals?
Part of the challenge of hanging out with cannibals is that it’s very difficult to get a good...
a year ago
Part of the challenge of hanging out with cannibals is that it’s very difficult to get a good night’s sleep. The math of finding a group of people that cares about community is pretty compelling. While individual selfish choices might feel productive in the moment, if they...
Seth's Blog
Demanding certainty
The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It...
8 months ago
The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It sets up the conditions for doing nothing, because certainty never happens until the future arrives. It’s much more useful to look at probabilities. Flipping a fair coin has a 50%...
Prolost
Lightroom Adds Video Color Editing, with Prolost Presets
From the Lightroom Blog:
The same edit controls that you already use to make your photography shine...
over a year ago
From the Lightroom Blog:
The same edit controls that you already use to make your photography shine can now be used with your videos as well! Not only can you use Lightroom’s editing capabilities to make your video clips look their best, you can also copy and paste edit settings...
Seth's Blog
Trouble in the grey zone
In many creative industries, there’s a similar pattern. When the stakes are very low, most creators...
a year ago
In many creative industries, there’s a similar pattern. When the stakes are very low, most creators produce things that are fairly banal and ordinary. Part of that is the law of large numbers, but it’s mostly our personal cultural resistance to leaning too far into weird stuff....
Seth's Blog
Replacing bad systems with bad systems
A metaphor involving parking meters. Over the years, parking meters in town have evolved into a...
a year ago
A metaphor involving parking meters. Over the years, parking meters in town have evolved into a cumbersome, awkward system. Coins are heavy and you need to have them handy, meters need to be reinforced against theft and breakage, town employees have to empty the coins and...
Open Culture
Andy Warhol Hosts Frank Zappa on His Cable TV Show, and Later Recalls, “I Hated Him More Than Ever”...
Had Andy Warhol lived to see the internet–especially social networking–he would have loved it,...
5 months ago
Had Andy Warhol lived to see the internet–especially social networking–he would have loved it, though it may not have loved him. Though Warhol did see the very beginnings of the PC revolution, and made computer art near the end of his life on a Commodore Amiga 1000, he was mostly...
Seth's Blog
Bitterness is consistent
It will never let you down. Bitterness is never-ending, impenetrable and refuses to negotiate. If...
a year ago
It will never let you down. Bitterness is never-ending, impenetrable and refuses to negotiate. If you give it a chance, it will persist. It lacks nuance or surprise. It’s simply a wall you can lean against, whenever you choose. Consistency is all it has to offer, actually.
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...
a month 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...
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...
5 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...
Open Culture
How the Influential Time-Travel Movie La Jetée Was Made (Almost) Entirely out of Still Photographs
In a future where humanity has been driven underground by an apocalyptic event, a prisoner is...
a month ago
In a future where humanity has been driven underground by an apocalyptic event, a prisoner is haunted by the childhood memory of seeing a man gunned down at an airport. A group of scientists make him their time-traveling guinea pig, hoping that he’ll be able to find a way to...
Open Culture
Launch Your Project Management Career with Google’s AI-Enhanced Professional Certificate
?si=TMflasoogRfSD14h Back in 2021, Google released a series of certificate programs, including one...
a month ago
?si=TMflasoogRfSD14h Back in 2021, Google released a series of certificate programs, including one focused on Project Management. Designed to give students “an immersive understanding of the practices and skills needed to succeed in an entry-level project management role,” the...
Open Culture
How a 16th-Century Explorer’s Sailing Ship Worked: An Animated Video Takes You on a Comprehensive...
These days, it feels as if you can’t go very long at all before scrolling past another announcement...
3 months ago
These days, it feels as if you can’t go very long at all before scrolling past another announcement about some new technological development (realized or scheduled) related to space exploration. Some react to this by wondering what could possibly be out there in the universe to...
Open Culture
Hear Flannery O’Connor Read “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (1959)
Flannery O’Connor was a Southern writer who, as Joyce Carol Oates once said, had less in common with...
8 months ago
Flannery O’Connor was a Southern writer who, as Joyce Carol Oates once said, had less in common with Faulkner than with Kafka and Kierkegaard. Isolated by poor health and consumed by her fervent Catholic faith, O’Connor created works of moral fiction that, according to Oates,...
The Great Discontent...
Rafael Espinal
Rafael Espinal was just 26 when he became an elected official. For the next 10 years, he worked...
2 months ago
Rafael Espinal was just 26 when he became an elected official. For the next 10 years, he worked within the halls of government, first as a New York State Assemblymember and then as a New York City Councilmember, advocating for artists, independent workers, and underserved...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Fabiola Knowles
Originally from Sicily, I grew up in Australia; however, having settled in the UK in 1996, it has...
5 months ago
Originally from Sicily, I grew up in Australia; however, having settled in the UK in 1996, it has been my home for the largest part of my life. I love the outdoors and I am drawn to open landscapes with big skies.
I am an artist working mainly with various forms of printmaking. I...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Moïra Swann
Bonjour everyone! Moïra Swann is an English and Proustian adaptation from my real name Anne-Marie:...
over a year ago
Bonjour everyone! Moïra Swann is an English and Proustian adaptation from my real name Anne-Marie: while Anne-Marie lives in France and works full-time in a wonderful museum dedicated to the French painter Anne-Louis Girodet, Moïra Swann does lino printing whenever she can, as an...
Open Culture
Why You Do Your Best Thinking In The Shower: Creativity & the “Incubation Period”
Image via Wikimedia Commons “The great Tao fades away.” So begins one translation of the Tao Te...
5 months ago
Image via Wikimedia Commons “The great Tao fades away.” So begins one translation of the Tao Te Ching’s 18th Chapter. The sentence captures the frustration that comes with a lost epiphany. Whether it’s a profound realization when you just wake up, or moment of clarity in the...
Seth's Blog
The last little bit
Important hills usually get much steeper at the top. 99% of the training in competitive athletics is...
4 months ago
Important hills usually get much steeper at the top. 99% of the training in competitive athletics is devoted to the last 1% of performance. A tenth of a second. The same is true for squeezing the last bit of performance out of a car, a grape or a semiconductor. And healthcare,...
Seth's Blog
The list of compromises
All the no-compromise solutions have failed. If there was a way to solve our problem without giving...
a year ago
All the no-compromise solutions have failed. If there was a way to solve our problem without giving something up, we would have done that already. So, if a persistent problem important, the question is not: Should we compromise or not? The question is: Which changes are we going...
Seth's Blog
Yes, but how does it work?
I worked with Arthur C. Clarke at the very beginning of my career. He’s most famous for saying, “Any...
2 months ago
I worked with Arthur C. Clarke at the very beginning of my career. He’s most famous for saying, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Magic isn’t such a bad thing. And we certainly have plenty of advanced technology around. Advanced in the sense...
Seth's Blog
Market pressure
Every competitor faces pressure, and it varies by industry, consumer/investor segment and geography....
8 months ago
Every competitor faces pressure, and it varies by industry, consumer/investor segment and geography. This applies to services, products, ideas, organizations, jobs… whenever there’s a choice and a market. The pressure might push you to be: But it’s also possible to choose a...
Blog - Mac Pierce
10 Billion Minus 1 - Making a 10 digit 7 segment display for Lovepop
The process and steps of making a multi-digit display.
over a year ago
The process and steps of making a multi-digit display.
Open Culture
The Longest Drivable Distance in the World: Discover the Ultimate Road Trip
No matter what country we live in, we’ve all fantasized about taking our own great American road...
3 months ago
No matter what country we live in, we’ve all fantasized about taking our own great American road trip, considering a variety of the infinitely many possible routes. The most obvious would be driving between Los Angeles and New York, a distance of 2,800 miles that would take a bit...
Seth's Blog
The arrogance of improvement
Who are you to make things better? How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take...
9 months ago
Who are you to make things better? How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take responsibility… Perhaps it might be helpful to reframe that feeling as the generosity of improvement instead. If not you, who? If not now, when?
Open Culture
Ray Bradbury Wrote the First Draft of Fahrenheit 451 on Coin-Operated Typewriters, for a Total of...
Image by Alan Light, via Wikimedia Commons It sounds like a third grade math problem: “If Ray...
6 months ago
Image by Alan Light, via Wikimedia Commons It sounds like a third grade math problem: “If Ray Bradbury wrote the first draft of Fahrenheit 451 (1953) on a coin-operated typewriter that charged 10 cents for every 30 minutes, and he spent a total of $9.80, how many hours did it...
Open Culture
Discover Hannah Arendt’s Syllabus for Her 1974 Course on “Thinking”
If you’ve read one work of Hannah Arendt’s, it’s probably Eichmann in Jerusalem, her account of the...
2 weeks ago
If you’ve read one work of Hannah Arendt’s, it’s probably Eichmann in Jerusalem, her account of the trial of the eponymous Nazi official — and the source of her much-quoted phrase “the banality of evil.” That book came out in 1963, at which time Arendt still had a dozen...
Seth's Blog
The Le Guin precepts
Fabled author Ursula Le Guin had a sign over her desk: Not a bad place to begin.
a year ago
Fabled author Ursula Le Guin had a sign over her desk: Not a bad place to begin.
Open Culture
Patti Smith Reads Her Final Letter to Robert Mapplethorpe, Calling Him “the Most Beautiful Work of...
If you go to hear Patti Smith in concert, you expect her to sing “Beneath the Southern Cross,”...
6 months ago
If you go to hear Patti Smith in concert, you expect her to sing “Beneath the Southern Cross,” “Because the Night,” and almost certainly “People Have the Power,” the hit single from Dream of Life. Like her 1975 debut Horses, that album had a cover photo by Robert...
Seth's Blog
“Let’s face it”
In 1959, three years after Columbia Records spent a fortune rolling out stereo recording, a senior...
12 months ago
In 1959, three years after Columbia Records spent a fortune rolling out stereo recording, a senior A&R executive named Ward Botsman told the New York Times, “Let’s face it, the craze for stereo has not been as intense as expected,” writing off the format that would end up...
Seth's Blog
What sort of bicycle?
While it’s likely that you own a bike, you probably don’t have a front-wheel recumbent bicycle in...
a year ago
While it’s likely that you own a bike, you probably don’t have a front-wheel recumbent bicycle in your garage. Even though it’s more efficient, more comfortable and often faster. How did that happen? In 1933, a twenty-year old speed record was broken by a racer on a recumbent...
Seth's Blog
What do we owe the future?
You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow. That’s...
a month ago
You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow. That’s why we don’t spend every penny in our bank account, why we put leftovers in the fridge, why we earn a degree–it’s a gift to the you of tomorrow. Each of us have a way of thinking...
On the Arts
How to Write a Proper Haiku
A Starter's Guide to the Deceptively Simple Poetic Form
a year ago
A Starter's Guide to the Deceptively Simple Poetic Form
Seth's Blog
Leverage is brittle
Debt is a financial miracle. If you buy a property for 20% down, with the bank financing the rest,...
a year ago
Debt is a financial miracle. If you buy a property for 20% down, with the bank financing the rest, and it goes up in value by just 10%, your profit is 50%. (I’ll wait while you do the math.) If you have a factory and can buy a machine that increases productivity, the money you...
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...
a month 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...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Frankie Brown
I’m an illustrator and printmaker based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I’m inspired by nostalgic...
a year ago
I’m an illustrator and printmaker based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I’m inspired by nostalgic storybooks and I love to create whimsical hand-printed illustrations.
I also work part-time at Handprinted; looking after the studio, liaising with tutors, teaching some Fab Fridays,...
Seth's Blog
Choose your fuel wisely
If worrying about paying the mortgage gets you motivated to lean hard into the next project, don’t...
a month ago
If worrying about paying the mortgage gets you motivated to lean hard into the next project, don’t be surprised if that sort of fear arises every time you have hard work to do. If your goal is to teach the naysayers a lesson, remember that you’ll need to find people who you want...
The Last...
Hunger Games Catching Fire: Badass Body Count
sorry old man, I have a dress fitting to go to
Number of people killed: 15
Number of...
over a year ago
sorry old man, I have a dress fitting to go to
Number of people killed: 15
Number of people Katniss kills: 1
Number of times she is saved by someone else: 6
Number of times she saves someone else: 0
But boy oh boy, wasn't she spectacular at practice, 9 targets in 30...
Stat Significant
How Have Song Lyrics Changed Since the 1960s? A Statistical Analysis
How have song lyrics evolved over time?
2 months ago
How have song lyrics evolved over time?
Seth's Blog
Most people (and the people you choose)
Most people want you to make something cheap, write something short, share something funny, and fit...
a year ago
Most people want you to make something cheap, write something short, share something funny, and fit in. But the people you serve… they might want something else. The few people you need to thrive in your work might want you to write something they’ll remember for a long time, or...
Seth's Blog
Who do you want to become?
Emotional enrollment is at the heart of performance, learning and connection. A coach can quickly...
2 months ago
Emotional enrollment is at the heart of performance, learning and connection. A coach can quickly tell when someone is committed to changing their approach in order to change the outcome–it’s easy to tell this person apart from someone who simply wants what they’re already doing...
Seth's Blog
Noodling for professionals
When Miles Davis recorded Kind of Blue with his quartet, they spent a total of four days in the...
7 months ago
When Miles Davis recorded Kind of Blue with his quartet, they spent a total of four days in the recording studio. They created one of the bestselling and most important jazz albums of all time in less than a week. Of course, they’d been exploring for months. In clubs, in front of...
Seth's Blog
Widespread resistance
Steve Pressfield defines Resistance as the inertia, stories and excuses we manage to create to avoid...
a year ago
Steve Pressfield defines Resistance as the inertia, stories and excuses we manage to create to avoid powerful or creative work. Writer’s block, procrastination, overconfidence, or a belief in un-delivered talent are all symptoms of resistance. Knowing that it has a name helps us...
Handprinted - Blog
Fabric Painting - which fabric paint is right for my project?
When it comes to painting onto fabric, there are a few differences to consider. Does the paint need...
6 months ago
When it comes to painting onto fabric, there are a few differences to consider. Does the paint need to be opaque? Can it be diluted? Would you like metallics? Aimee has tested three different fabric paints: Jacquard Textile Colour, Lumiere Metallic Paint and Handprinted Fabric...
Seth's Blog
No lunging
I’ve been working hard on my juggling (actual juggling, not metaphorical juggling). The secret, as I...
a year ago
I’ve been working hard on my juggling (actual juggling, not metaphorical juggling). The secret, as I wrote about in The Practice is the throwing, not the catching. If you get the throws right, the catches are easy. The way to focus on the throws is simple but culturally...
Open Culture
When Kris Kristofferson (RIP) Stood by Sinéad O’Connor at the Height of Her Controversy
One would have imagined Sinéad O’Connor impervious to any reaction from a hostile audience, no...
2 months ago
One would have imagined Sinéad O’Connor impervious to any reaction from a hostile audience, no matter how vitriolic. But even for a public figure as outspoken and unapologetic as her, it could all get to be a bit much at times. Take the 1992 concert Columbia Records put on for...
Open Culture
Carl Jung Offers an Introduction to His Psychological Thought in a 3‑Hour Interview (1957)
In the 1950s, it was fashionable to drop Freud’s name — often as not in pseudo-intellectual sex...
4 months ago
In the 1950s, it was fashionable to drop Freud’s name — often as not in pseudo-intellectual sex jokes. Freud’s preoccupations had as much to do with his fame as the actual practice of psychotherapy, and it was assumed — and still is to a great degree — that Freud had “won” the...
Seth's Blog
The cheap chocolate system
The first step in building a successful and elegant strategy is to see the systems that are part of...
2 months ago
The first step in building a successful and elegant strategy is to see the systems that are part of our lives. October is a fine month to take a moment to look closely at one: the system that brings us cheap chocolate. Like most systems, it’s largely invisible. The people in it...
escape the algorithm
The Scan Artist
What it means to copy the world
10 months ago
What it means to copy the world
Seth's Blog
After the emergency
If we need to wait until after the short-term emergency is settled, it’s unlikely we’re ever going...
6 months ago
If we need to wait until after the short-term emergency is settled, it’s unlikely we’re ever going to get to work on the long-term important work. Of course, we want to do “everything we can” when an emergency strikes. But the standard for that has always involved tradeoffs....
Seth's Blog
PW 4: Productivity and tools
Adam Smith and Karl Marx both wrote about the pin-making machine. Not too long ago, pins (for hats,...
11 months ago
Adam Smith and Karl Marx both wrote about the pin-making machine. Not too long ago, pins (for hats, to hold shirts in place, etc.) were incredibly expensive. They were a luxury item, and a handmade pin might cost more than buying lunch. The pin-making machine changed this. It...
Open Culture
What Would Happen If a Nuclear Bomb Hit a Major City Today: A Visualization of the Destruction
One of the many memorable details in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop...
8 months ago
One of the many memorable details in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, placed prominently in a shot of George C. Scott in the war room, is a binder with a spine labeled “WORLD TARGETS IN MEGADEATHS.” A megadeath, writes Eric...
Infinite Scroll
How Gay Marriage Ruined Democratic Activism
The end of Moral Triumphalism
2 weeks ago
The end of Moral Triumphalism
Open Culture
The Story of Fascism: Rick Steves’ Documentary Helps Us Learn from the Painful Lessons of the 20th...
From Rick Steves comes a thought-provoking documentary that revisits the rise of fascism in Europe,...
a month ago
From Rick Steves comes a thought-provoking documentary that revisits the rise of fascism in Europe, reminding us of how charismatic figures like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler came to power by promising to create a better future for their frustrated, economically depressed...
Seth's Blog
Nothing to ad
A recent discussion about the challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing of a skincare product ended...
a year ago
A recent discussion about the challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing of a skincare product ended with one participant describing the hard part with, “nothing to ad.” She was referring to how much the thread had covered, but the pun wasn’t lost on us. Social media offered an...
cabel.com
Firehouse Five and the Cinderella Surprise
My goal was to preserve some never-before-heard recordings of an incredible Dixieland jazz band made...
10 months ago
My goal was to preserve some never-before-heard recordings of an incredible Dixieland jazz band made up of mostly Disney employees, the Firehouse Five Plus Two. But along the way, I accidentally discovered an incredible lost song that was cut from Walt Disney’s Cinderella. And...
Seth's Blog
Infamy
We’ve gotten so hung up on famous that it’s easy to forget that there are two kinds of renown. Being...
4 months ago
We’ve gotten so hung up on famous that it’s easy to forget that there are two kinds of renown. Being known for lowering the standards of discourse, cheating, or whining is a choice, but why would you trade your reputation to become infamous?
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Evelyn Polk
I'm a full time abstract artist who primarily uses a range of printmaking techniques to make art and...
a year ago
I'm a full time abstract artist who primarily uses a range of printmaking techniques to make art and sometimes I mix it up a bit by adding paint or collage to my prints. I teach printmaking classes from my studio at home in Suffolk.
Describe your printmaking process.
I love to...
Seth's Blog
Student coach
Big football at colleges in the US costs more than $5 billion a year. And none of these programs has...
5 months ago
Big football at colleges in the US costs more than $5 billion a year. And none of these programs has a student acting as a coach. The same analysis, at a much smaller scale, applies to school theater directors and producers, conductors of the jazz band or orchestra and even the...
Open Culture
The First Recording of Allen Ginsberg Reading “Howl” (1956)
Image by Michiel Hendryckx, via Wikimedia Commons Occasionally I slip into an ivory tower mentality...
7 months ago
Image by Michiel Hendryckx, via Wikimedia Commons Occasionally I slip into an ivory tower mentality in which the idea of a banned book seems quaint—associated with silly scandals over the tame sex scenes in James Joyce or D.H. Lawrence. After all, I think, we live in an age when...
Stat Significant
The Rise and (Overstated) Fall of Radio. A Statistical Analysis
Examining radio's rapid adoption and surprising cultural endurance.
a week ago
Examining radio's rapid adoption and surprising cultural endurance.
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...
6 months 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
Can you draw it on a graph?
Explain it with quadrants? Translate it into Spanish? It’s easy to memorize a few words that purport...
5 months ago
Explain it with quadrants? Translate it into Spanish? It’s easy to memorize a few words that purport to explain something, but all they do is relabel it. If you truly understand something, you can use different modalities to help someone else understand it. The magic of a good...
Seth's Blog
Raising the bar
That’s not the same as raising the average. With the advent of the high jump, the idiom raising the...
a year ago
That’s not the same as raising the average. With the advent of the high jump, the idiom raising the bar became well understood: If you can’t jump over the bar that the current leader cleared, you don’t win. But most of the innovations that change our culture don’t actually...
Seth's Blog
Boundaries and limits
They serve different purposes. The fence near the train tracks is a boundary. You can go near it...
6 months ago
They serve different purposes. The fence near the train tracks is a boundary. You can go near it without risk. The electrified third rail, on the other hand, is a limit. If you touch it, you’re done. Boundaries can give us room to innovate and thrive. Budgets, schedules and...
Seth's Blog
Mediocre tools
Lousy tools are dangerous. They endanger our safety (physical or emotional) and undermine our work....
yesterday
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...
Seth's Blog
Getting AI to do your work
That’s the first step, certainly. If you don’t, your boss will. The second step is to take the time...
3 months ago
That’s the first step, certainly. If you don’t, your boss will. The second step is to take the time you’ve freed up and do work that the AI can’t do.
Seth's Blog
Books don’t sell
That’s not true, actually. Books sell, but book doesn’t. The odds of a particular book selling a lot...
8 months ago
That’s not true, actually. Books sell, but book doesn’t. The odds of a particular book selling a lot of copies are close to zero. The truth of the long tail is that most titles are way out on the fringe. Now that book publishing is unleashed from retail distribution, the math is...
Seth's Blog
Generosity and gratitude
A gift doesn’t diminish the giver. Sharing creates connection, possibility and energy. And the magic...
a year ago
A gift doesn’t diminish the giver. Sharing creates connection, possibility and energy. And the magic of gratitude is that it improves everything it touches, especially the person who offered it in the first place. So, what holds us back? Fear. Fear of connection, of change, of...
Seth's Blog
Complaints are a gift
It’s easy to see a complaint as simple whining, the narcissistic impatience of someone who has...
7 months ago
It’s easy to see a complaint as simple whining, the narcissistic impatience of someone who has enough insulation from the real world that they can share their dissatisfaction over just about anything. But a complaint unheard gives us no way to improve. In our current medical...
Seth's Blog
99 vs 0
If you get a 99% quality haircut or a 99% close-to-perfect meal, it’s better than good. On the other...
a year ago
If you get a 99% quality haircut or a 99% close-to-perfect meal, it’s better than good. On the other hand, if the scrub nurse only does a 99% job of disinfecting the tools in the operating room, you’re still going to die of an infection. Some projects respond very well to...
Open Culture
Every Frame a Painting Returns to YouTube & Explores Why the Sustained Two-Shot Vanished from Movies
Video essayists don’t normally retire; in most cases, they just drift into inactivity. Hence the...
3 months ago
Video essayists don’t normally retire; in most cases, they just drift into inactivity. Hence the surprise and even dismay of the internet’s cinephiles when Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos declared the end of their respected channel Every Frame a Painting in 2016. We here at Open...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
What is Generative Art?
Randomness, rules and natural systems. Some non-restrictive definitions and
an exploration of the...
over a year ago
Randomness, rules and natural systems. Some non-restrictive definitions and
an exploration of the form.
Handprinted - Blog
Testing your Copper Sulphate Solution
When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you...
a year ago
When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you haven’t used for a few months, it’s good practice to test the strength of your solution.
By creating some test strips for both line and tones, you’ll create yourself a reference point...
Open Culture
Watch the Opening Credits of an Imaginary 70s Cop Show Starring Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett: avant-garde dramatist, brooding Nobel Prize winner, poet, and…gritty television...
3 months ago
Samuel Beckett: avant-garde dramatist, brooding Nobel Prize winner, poet, and…gritty television detective? Sadly, no, but he had the makings of a great one, at least as cut together by playwright Danny Thompson, cofounder of Chicago’s Theater Oobleck. Some 35 years after...
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...
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
Stopping a runaway train
It feels urgent because it is. But by the time the train is running away, it might be too late. The...
4 months ago
It feels urgent because it is. But by the time the train is running away, it might be too late. The better strategy is to not sign up for trains that are likely to run away. The first principle of risk reduction is to figure out if you can stop it later. If you can’t, […]
Seth's Blog
Getting better at bucket management
If you throw a bucket of water on a small campfire, you’ll succeed in putting it out. Pour a...
a year ago
If you throw a bucket of water on a small campfire, you’ll succeed in putting it out. Pour a bucketful of sake into one of those little glasses and you’ll waste most of it and ruin the table setting. And try to use a bucket to refill a dried-out lake and not much will happen. […]
Seth's Blog
Possibility and opportunity
We have the chance to build something that creates connection and generates value. On the other...
a year ago
We have the chance to build something that creates connection and generates value. On the other hand, a system that diminishes agency and dignity is inherently unstable. When we seek to create scarcity and control and optimize output at the expense of our humanity, it may pay off...
Seth's Blog
“But what if it doesn’t work?”
The best way to win a short-term game is to bet it all on one strategy. Someone is going to get...
a year ago
The best way to win a short-term game is to bet it all on one strategy. Someone is going to get lucky and it might be you. But we rarely thrive in the long run if we persist in playing a series of short-term games. Instead, organizations, individuals and teams do better when they...
Open Culture
Hear the Evolution of the London Accent Over 660 Years: From 1346 to 2006
Read a novel by Charles Dickens, and you’ll still today feel transported back to the London of the...
4 months ago
Read a novel by Charles Dickens, and you’ll still today feel transported back to the London of the eighteen-twenties. Some of that experience owes to his lavishly reportorial descriptive skills, but even more to his way with dialogue. Dickens faithfully captured the vocabulary of...
Seth's Blog
Avoiding technology
Robert Caro never learned to type. He pecks out his books two fingers at a time on an electric...
11 months ago
Robert Caro never learned to type. He pecks out his books two fingers at a time on an electric typewriter. There are two reasons to avoid learning a proven new technology: You know what it can do and how it will change your life and you don’t want it. You don’t know what it can...
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...
2 weeks 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
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
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...
Open Culture
An Introduction to The Babylonian Map of the World–the Oldest Known Map of the World
Taking a first glance at the Babylonian Map of the World, few of us could recognize it for what it...
4 months ago
Taking a first glance at the Babylonian Map of the World, few of us could recognize it for what it is. But then again, few of us are anything like the British Museum Middle East department curator Irving Finkel, whose vast knowledge (and ability to share it compellingly) have...
Seth's Blog
Projects and the red zone
Many projects are never finished. There are countless broken and not-quite-fixed cars in garages....
a year ago
Many projects are never finished. There are countless broken and not-quite-fixed cars in garages. There are crafts projects, massive redevelopments and everything in between. They sit unfinished because of bad planning, lack of resources, and most of all, a lack of resolve and...
Seth's Blog
Small doses
If you go to a health food store and buy some pills with selenium, colloidal silver or other...
a year ago
If you go to a health food store and buy some pills with selenium, colloidal silver or other mysterious substances in them, it’s possible that they’ll make you feel a bit better. On the other hand, if you take a large dose, you’ll get sick or possibly die. In very small doses,...
Open Culture
Google Creates a Career Certificate That Prepares Students for Cybersecurity Jobs in 6 Months
In 2023, Google launched several online certificate programs designed to help students land an...
a month ago
In 2023, Google launched several online certificate programs designed to help students land an entry-level job, without necessarily having a college degree. This includes a certificate program focused on Cybersecurity, a field that stands poised to grow as companies become more...
Seth's Blog
Practical empathy (vs. telepathy)
“If I were you…” or, more commonly, “if you were me.” Management has never been easy, but as the...
6 months ago
“If I were you…” or, more commonly, “if you were me.” Management has never been easy, but as the world becomes more complex, it gets more difficult. We’d like to imagine that the person (or AI bot, or freelancer, or firm) that we hired has enough drive, insight and common sense...
Open Culture
Behold the Kräuterbuch, a Lavishly Illustrated Guide to Plants and Herbs from 1462
When Konrad von Megenberg published his Buch der Natur in the mid-fourteenth century, he won the...
4 months ago
When Konrad von Megenberg published his Buch der Natur in the mid-fourteenth century, he won the distinction of having assembled the very first natural history in German. More than half a millennium later, the book still fascinates — not least for its depictions of cats,...
Seth's Blog
Hobson’s choice
…is no choice at all. The stable owner gets to pick which horse you get. Take it or leave it. Some...
a year ago
…is no choice at all. The stable owner gets to pick which horse you get. Take it or leave it. Some people prefer this. It means that we’re off the hook and not responsible. It relieves us of the emotional labor of choice. Let someone else worry about it… And so we give up our […]
Seth's Blog
By association
We’re busy, we’re confused and we’re always seeking a shortcut. If a company is hiring, the person...
9 months ago
We’re busy, we’re confused and we’re always seeking a shortcut. If a company is hiring, the person who worked at Google or Apple or Disney gets more of the benefit of the doubt. Even if all they did was bring coffee to someone. But, if that person was one of the hundreds laid off...
Open Culture
An Oscar-Winning Animation of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” Painted on 29,000 Frames...
Ernest Hemingway’s romantic adventure of man and marlin, The Old Man and the Sea, has perhaps spent...
4 months ago
Ernest Hemingway’s romantic adventure of man and marlin, The Old Man and the Sea, has perhaps spent more time on high school freshman English reading lists than any other work of fiction, which might lead one to think of the novel as young adult fiction. But beyond the book’s...
The Great Discontent...
Beatie Wolfe
Beatie Wolfe has beamed her music into space, been appointed a UN role model for innovation, and...
a year ago
Beatie Wolfe has beamed her music into space, been appointed a UN role model for innovation, and pioneered new formats for art that bridge the physical and digital. Wolfe's latest projects include a visualization of 800,000 years worth of climate data, a collective postcard art...
Seth's Blog
Who pays?
Supply and demand are always in a dance, with one outpacing the other from time to time. In the last...
11 months ago
Supply and demand are always in a dance, with one outpacing the other from time to time. In the last three years, the green tech revolution has accelerated dramatically. Countless companies are being created to change how food is grown, people are transported and energy is...
Seth's Blog
Peer support
Treasure it when you find it. Offer it when you can. One of the greatest joys of being an author is...
a year ago
Treasure it when you find it. Offer it when you can. One of the greatest joys of being an author is the other authors. The game theory would indicate that authors are competitors–there are a scarce number of publishers, of bookshelf slots, of readers. But, being the only author...
Seth's Blog
Amazon Smile gets a frown
I’m pretty sure how the first meetings went almost a decade ago: “Well, we’re paying our affiliates...
a year ago
I’m pretty sure how the first meetings went almost a decade ago: “Well, we’re paying our affiliates 5% for referrals. If we pay charities a tenth of that and call it a donation, it’ll be great PR and we’ll also make a profit on every sale because we won’t need to pay a full...
Seth's Blog
Compared to what?
Emotions are often tied to events and events feel absolute. But events are rarely absolute. They’re...
a month ago
Emotions are often tied to events and events feel absolute. But events are rarely absolute. They’re almost always relative. How does this compare to what I was expecting? How does it compare to what others like me are experiencing? How does it compare to yesterday? When we change...
Seth's Blog
Is it a skill?
If so, it might be worth learning. If so, it might pay to let someone who has learned it take care...
a year ago
If so, it might be worth learning. If so, it might pay to let someone who has learned it take care of it. Coding is a skill. But it’s not clear that the person who knows how to code should be doing your design. Teaching is a skill. But simply because someone is good at […]
Seth's Blog
When in doubt, look for the fear
When someone acts in a surprising way, we can begin to understand by wondering what they might be...
a year ago
When someone acts in a surprising way, we can begin to understand by wondering what they might be afraid of.
Seth's Blog
Rituals
The things we do each day, every day, often arrive without intent. By the time we realize that...
a year ago
The things we do each day, every day, often arrive without intent. By the time we realize that they’re now habits, these random behaviors have already become part of how we define ourselves and the time we spend. Bringing intent to our rituals gives us the chance to rewire our...
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
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....
Open Culture
Watch the Performance of a Mozart Composition That Had Been Lost for Centuries
For most musicians, a long-lost song written in their teenage years would be of interest only to...
2 months ago
For most musicians, a long-lost song written in their teenage years would be of interest only to serious fans — and even then, probably more for biographical reasons than as a standalone piece of work. But that’s hardly the case for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was composing...
Seth's Blog
It’s Mac Day (#40)
A lot shifted when the Apple Macintosh was introduced, and it wasn’t about the RAM, the chips or the...
11 months ago
A lot shifted when the Apple Macintosh was introduced, and it wasn’t about the RAM, the chips or the processor speed. Our world changed forty years ago today. Marketing, technology, commerce, luxury brands, communities, communication and our expectations for how we might spend...
Seth's Blog
“What will I tell my boss?”
If you can’t answer that six-word question, you’re selling a commodity. Organizations don’t buy...
6 months ago
If you can’t answer that six-word question, you’re selling a commodity. Organizations don’t buy things, people do. And people at companies aren’t spending their own money, so this is the only question on the table. A cogent story, based on affiliation and status, one that sees...
Seth's Blog
The two bicycle errors
Momentum activities like public speaking, board sports and leadership all share an attribute with...
5 months ago
Momentum activities like public speaking, board sports and leadership all share an attribute with riding a bicycle: It gets easier when you get good at it. The first error we often make is believing that someone (even us) will never be good at riding a bike, because riding a bike...
Seth's Blog
The opportunity for AI formbots
Forms are a convenient way for bureaucracies to collect information. They’re convenient because they...
a week 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...
Open Culture
J. G. Ballard Demystifies Surrealist Paintings by Dalí, Magritte, de Chirico & More
Before his signature works like The Atrocity Exhibition, Crash, and High-Rise, J. G. Ballard...
4 months ago
Before his signature works like The Atrocity Exhibition, Crash, and High-Rise, J. G. Ballard published three apocalyptic novels, The Drowned World, The Burning World, and The Crystal World. Each of those books offers a different vision of large-scale environmental disaster, and...
Open Culture
The 63 Cuisines of China Explained in 40 Minutes: A Complete Primer
Wherever in the world you grew up, you probably grew up with an inaccurate idea of Chinese food. For...
2 weeks ago
Wherever in the world you grew up, you probably grew up with an inaccurate idea of Chinese food. For Americans, it can come as a shock to hear that such familiar dishes as chop suey and General Tso’s chicken are unknown in China itself. By the same token, almost every country in...
Seth's Blog
Effect vs affect
In a culture fascinated by attitude, gloss and performance, it’s easy to believe that adopting an...
a year ago
In a culture fascinated by attitude, gloss and performance, it’s easy to believe that adopting an affect is precisely what you need to make a difference. In fact, the persistent, generous work that happens when no one is looking is what actually makes a difference. Looking the...
Seth's Blog
Sanding off all the edges
It’s easier than ever. Solvents, power tools, market research, AI, committee meetings, online...
a year ago
It’s easier than ever. Solvents, power tools, market research, AI, committee meetings, online reviews and ennui are all aligned in one direction. To fit all the way in. Of course, once you sand off all the edges, it’s hard to get traction. Hard to find the texture or anything...
Seth's Blog
The 2 x 4 lessons
You’ll need two 8-foot boards and six five-gallon buckets. Each board is a standard 2 x 4, about two...
a year ago
You’ll need two 8-foot boards and six five-gallon buckets. Each board is a standard 2 x 4, about two inches by four inches in size. And the bucket is about two feet deep. The first lesson is simple: Put the board on the floor and have a colleague walk from one end to the other....
Seth's Blog
Promo creep
Hustle harder. Run more ads. Spam people. Interrupt. Make the logo bigger. Post again. Post again....
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...
Open Culture
Face to Face with Carl Jung: ‘Man Cannot Stand a Meaningless Life’ (1959)
Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytic psychology and explorer of the collective unconscious, was...
5 months ago
Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytic psychology and explorer of the collective unconscious, was born on July 26, 1875 in the village of Kesswil, in the Thurgau canton of Switzerland. Above, we present a fascinating 39-minute interview of Jung by John Freeman for the BBC program...
Seth's Blog
The near future (and summer reads)
Near-future science fiction is a fine way to consider our now. Without the reality of today, we can...
6 months ago
Near-future science fiction is a fine way to consider our now. Without the reality of today, we can think hard about the tomorrow we’re about to live in. Summer reads are supposed to be a bit lighter. Technological change is making our near future a bit harder to dance with, and...
The Last...
True Detective's Detective
taking part in a particular pleasure
[Pastabagel and I have emailed about the show. Some excerpts...
over a year ago
taking part in a particular pleasure
[Pastabagel and I have emailed about the show. Some excerpts of his]:
In Episode 3, the preacher says to Cohle, "Compassion is ethics, detective" when he departs the trailer leaving the reformed pedophile Burt in distress. Cohle replies...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Grace Gillespie
Hello! I’m Grace Gillespie, a printmaker specialising in reduction linocuts and based in Bristol....
a year ago
Hello! I’m Grace Gillespie, a printmaker specialising in reduction linocuts and based in Bristol. Most days you will find me in my teeny home studio, adding layers of colour to my prints, thinking about future designs or working on the never-ending administration side of running...
Infinite Scroll
On Consumption vs Production
How to improve yourself and be happier, online or offline
a month ago
How to improve yourself and be happier, online or offline
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...
2 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...
Handprinted - Blog
Screen Printing with Permaset Puff Paste
Puff Paste is a great way to add a little something extra to your fabric prints! It adds depth and...
over a year ago
Puff Paste is a great way to add a little something extra to your fabric prints! It adds depth and texture and is so much fun to use. In this project, we have exposed a screen and used it to print with Puff Paste onto a tote bag:
Half-fill the coating trough with photo emulsion....
Handprinted - Blog
Using Schmincke Water-Based Inks to Create a Jigsaw Linocut
We love the range of colours that are available in Schmincke water-based inks. We’re creating a...
over a year ago
We love the range of colours that are available in Schmincke water-based inks. We’re creating a jigsaw linocut to allow us to use multiple colours of Schmincke ink in just one block!
We are using Easy Carve Blue as it’s soft to cut up with a scalpel, making it ideal for a jigsaw...
Seth's Blog
Some simple rules for source control
Collaborating on documents and projects has never been easier, which is why we screw it up so often....
2 months ago
Collaborating on documents and projects has never been easier, which is why we screw it up so often. Sharing and interacting with intent will save you heartache and wasted time. Some things to consider: Naming: Begin by naming your file with a digit and concept and a date....
Open Culture
The Illustrated Version of “Alice’s Restaurant”: Watch Arlo Guthrie’s Thanksgiving Counterculture...
Alice’s Restaurant. It’s now a Thanksgiving classic, and something of a tradition around...
3 weeks ago
Alice’s Restaurant. It’s now a Thanksgiving classic, and something of a tradition around here. Recorded in 1967, the 18+ minute counterculture song recounts Arlo Guthrie’s real encounter with the law, starting on Thanksgiving Day 1965. As the long song unfolds, we hear all about...
Open Culture
When Samuel Beckett Drove Young André the Giant to School
Are your idle moments spent inventing imaginary conversations between strange bedfellows? The sort...
4 months ago
Are your idle moments spent inventing imaginary conversations between strange bedfellows? The sort of conversation that might transpire in a pickup truck belonging to Samuel Beckett, say, were the Irish playwright to chauffeur the child André Rene Roussimoff—aka pro wrestler...
Open Culture
A Playlist of the 3,300 Best Films & Documentaries on Youtube, Including Works by Hitchcock,...
?si=yCx1pqpcATHND90L Once upon a time, the most convenient means of discovering movies was cable...
7 months ago
?si=yCx1pqpcATHND90L Once upon a time, the most convenient means of discovering movies was cable television. This held especially true for those of us who happened to be adolescents on a break from school, ready and willing morning, midday, or night to sit through the...
Seth's Blog
What’s new at purple.space?
There are now 1,000 of us in this online community that’s not a social network. Proudly a millionth...
a year ago
There are now 1,000 of us in this online community that’s not a social network. Proudly a millionth the size of some other online experiences. It includes the original Creative’s Workshop, with hundreds of people working through it, side by side. And just added, access to the...
On the Arts
The Vertical Beauty of Hong Kong
An Interview with Photographer Romain Jacquet Lagrèze
a year ago
An Interview with Photographer Romain Jacquet Lagrèze
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
Failing to acknowledge a favor or a courtesy is a triple mistake, and it’s becoming more common. ChatGPT is now promoting the idea that it can write a thank you note for you, and a text is a lot easier than a handwritten note, and yet, the level of ‘thank you’ seems to be...
Seth's Blog
The blank page
Sometimes, we’re so afraid of creation that we don’t even leave blank pages around. If your...
8 months 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
The paradox of lessons
The people most likely to sign up for coaching or additional learning are the folks who are already...
5 months 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
Complex or complicated?
Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the...
a year ago
Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the complicated portions into smaller pieces. And complicated problems often have an emotional component, because there are parts of the problem we don’t want to look at closely, or deal with...
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