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Blog - Amy Goodchild
Forecast Forecast is a long-form generative art project released on fxhash on 16th Feb 2023. This article...
a year ago
2
a year ago
Forecast is a long-form generative art project released on fxhash on 16th Feb 2023. This article contains info about techniques and some rambling about concepts and emotions.
Seth's Blog
An overlooked and powerful editing tool Consider building a word cloud of your writing. It might be all the text on your website, or the...
6 months ago
24
6 months ago
Consider building a word cloud of your writing. It might be all the text on your website, or the last 50 emails you sent. It might be your new book or the speech you’re going to give at Rice University. It only takes a few minutes. I use wordclouds.com because it’s easy and free....
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
47
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...
Prolost
Jurassic Punk If you’re reading this blog, you probably know the story — at least, you think you do. As Steven...
over a year ago
8
over a year ago
If you’re reading this blog, you probably know the story — at least, you think you do. As Steven Spielberg began production on 1993’s Jurassic Park, he and Industrial Light and Magic’s Dennis Muren planned to execute the all-important visual effects component of the film’s...
On the Arts
The Necrologs of Bulgaria Remembering the Dead in Daily Life
a year ago
Seth's Blog
What happened vs. what we do about it It’s possible to have a useful conversation about what to do about something that’s broken or needs...
8 months ago
27
8 months ago
It’s possible to have a useful conversation about what to do about something that’s broken or needs improvement. But first, we must acknowledge that it happened. It’s not controversial to understand the facts, the data and the shifts that are happening in the world we live in. In...
Seth's Blog
The challenge of focus groups for bold ideas “We’re thinking of having a holiday every year where kids of all ages go door to door unescorted and...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
“We’re thinking of having a holiday every year where kids of all ages go door to door unescorted and beg for candy, and adults dress up in expensive and revealing costumes and get drunk. Would you be likely to participate?” It’s not really a helpful question. (Yes, Halloween is...
Seth's Blog
The landlord and the creative coach The conflict is real. “Jean-Michel [Basquiat] called,” Mr. Warhol wrote in his diary on Sept. 5,...
4 months ago
38
4 months ago
The conflict is real. “Jean-Michel [Basquiat] called,” Mr. Warhol wrote in his diary on Sept. 5, 1983. “He’s afraid he’s just going to be a flash in the pan. And I told him not to worry, that he wouldn’t be. But then I got scared because he’s rented our building on Great Jones...
Seth's Blog
Different kinds of people It’s a tempting shortcut. Different kinds of people prefer pop tarts to pizza, or prefer expensive...
a year ago
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a year ago
It’s a tempting shortcut. Different kinds of people prefer pop tarts to pizza, or prefer expensive wine to beer, or prefer amusement parks to bowling. Except everyone is the same and everyone is different. What’s actually useful is to realize that in this moment, under these...
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
18
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....
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
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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
Clear ice I love Zamboni machines. They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant...
a month ago
15
a month ago
I love Zamboni machines. They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant for ice hockey. After each period, when the ice is chopped up by play, the Zamboni rolls out and leaves behind a sheet of perfect ice. Cold, smooth and untouched. It’s useful to...
Handprinted - Blog
The Endless Possibilities of a Square Block Repeat Using a simple square block can create a myriad of possibilities of pattern. We have used Speedy...
a year ago
60
a year ago
Using a simple square block can create a myriad of possibilities of pattern. We have used Speedy Carve and Versafine inks for this project. Cut a square from the Speedy Carve using a scalpel. Draw a quarter circle curve on the block using a pencil. Above the curve draw some...
Seth's Blog
What are the defaults? Perhaps they were chosen a very long time ago. Or with very little thought. It could be that the...
a year ago
9
a year ago
Perhaps they were chosen a very long time ago. Or with very little thought. It could be that the constraints that led to the default are long gone. They might be perpetuating bad choices, injustice or sub-optimal outputs. The best way to fix something is to look at what we assume...
Open Culture
The First Animation That Hayao Miyazaki Directed on His Own: Watch Footage from the Pilot of Yuki’s... Hayao Miyazaki began his career as an animator in 1963, getting in the door at Toei Animation not...
4 months ago
23
4 months ago
Hayao Miyazaki began his career as an animator in 1963, getting in the door at Toei Animation not long before the company ceased to hire regularly. Miyazaki’s equally retirement-resistant contemporary Tetsuya Chiba, already well on his way to fame as a mangaka, or comic artist,...
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
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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
Which team? Culture seeks shortcuts. The oldest shortcut is: “Friend or foe?” If we know the answer to that, a...
a year ago
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a year ago
Culture seeks shortcuts. The oldest shortcut is: “Friend or foe?” If we know the answer to that, a whole bunch of time gets saved, and fear is reduced as well. The labeling goes beyond which team, cadre, tribe or village someone is part of. It extends to the ways we demonstrate...
Seth's Blog
Skipping the good days Part of the luxury of living near the ocean or the mountains is that you can be picky. If the surf...
a year ago
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a year ago
Part of the luxury of living near the ocean or the mountains is that you can be picky. If the surf or the powder isn’t great, leave it for the tourists. Good is insufficient, wait for the great moments… When we’re young, or the project is going really well, it’s easy to waste the...
On the Arts
How do you actually create AI art? A Walkthrough of Using Midjourney, a Popular AI Art Creation App
a year ago
Seth's Blog
On reading it in a book Mike Schur, co-creator of Parks and Recreation, said of his career, “This is not stuff you can read...
a year ago
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a year ago
Mike Schur, co-creator of Parks and Recreation, said of his career, “This is not stuff you can read in a book,” he said. “This is stuff that you have to experience.” I think it’s also useful to flip it around. There are things you will have trouble experiencing until you read...
Seth's Blog
Knowing the territory There is always room for someone who really knows their way around an industry, a technology or a...
2 months ago
36
2 months ago
There is always room for someone who really knows their way around an industry, a technology or a problem. That’s what agents, agencies and organizers do. The hard part isn’t in finding people who will value true on-the-ground expertise. The hard part is actually earning it and...
Open Culture
The Roads of Ancient Rome Visualized in the Style of Modern Subway Maps Sasha Trubetskoy, formerly an undergrad at U. Chicago, has created a “subway-style diagram of the...
6 months ago
37
6 months ago
Sasha Trubetskoy, formerly an undergrad at U. Chicago, has created a “subway-style diagram of the major Roman roads, based on the Empire of ca. 125 AD.” Drawing on Stanford’s ORBIS model, The Pelagios Project, and the Antonine Itinerary, Trubetskoy’s map combines well-known...
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
14
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...
Seth's Blog
Chasing cool The cool thing is always a little out of reach. And for most of us, once we get it, it’s not seen as...
a year ago
7
a year ago
The cool thing is always a little out of reach. And for most of us, once we get it, it’s not seen as cool any more. This is not an accident. One definition of cool are things that are just out of reach.
Seth's Blog
Is there a market(place)? Not all needs have a market (yet). A market is a category. A market is a place with competition. In...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Not all needs have a market (yet). A market is a category. A market is a place with competition. In a market, people have habits and budgets and social pressure to engage. There are buyers and sellers. In many cultures, there’s a market for all the items that go with a...
Open Culture
Honoré de Balzac Writes About “The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee,” and His Epic Coffee Addiction 174 years after his death, Honoré de Balzac remains an extremely modern-sounding wag. Were he alive...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
174 years after his death, Honoré de Balzac remains an extremely modern-sounding wag. Were he alive today, he’d no doubt be pounding out his provocative observations in a coffice, a café whose free wifi, lenient staff, and abundant electrical outlets make it a magnet for writers....
Seth's Blog
The thing about decay One reason we have so much trouble fixing chronic degenerative conditions is that we need to remove...
a year ago
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a year ago
One reason we have so much trouble fixing chronic degenerative conditions is that we need to remove elements before we can start building new functions. If we simply put effort on top of a shaky foundation, it’ll all be wasted. The best way forward might be to take a few steps...
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
37
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
The thing about Hobson People talk about Hobson’s choice as if it’s always a bad thing. A liveryman in pre-industrial...
a year ago
18
a year ago
People talk about Hobson’s choice as if it’s always a bad thing. A liveryman in pre-industrial London, he rented horses. And every customer was allowed to take the horse closest to the door. Hobson’s choice is no choice at all. Of course, this system meant that the horses were...
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
1
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...
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
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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...
Open Culture
A 5‑Hour Journey Through North Korean Entertainment: Propaganda Films, Kids’ Cartoons, Sketch Comedy... Over the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea became rich, and in the first decades of...
7 months ago
21
7 months ago
Over the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea became rich, and in the first decades of the twenty-first, it’s become a global cultural superpower. The same can’t be said for North Korea: after a relatively strong start in the nineteen-fifties and sixties, its economy...
Anarchy Unfolds
April '24 Myths & Recs Sexual orientation, Cowboy Carter, mental health recovery, and more
7 months ago
Open Culture
Stephen Fry Explains Why Artificial Intelligence Has a “70% Risk of Killing Us All” Apart from his comedic, dramatic, and literary endeavors, Stephen Fry is widely known for his avowed...
4 months ago
39
4 months ago
Apart from his comedic, dramatic, and literary endeavors, Stephen Fry is widely known for his avowed technophilia. He once wrote a column on that theme, “Dork Talk,” for the Guardian, in whose inaugural dispatch he laid out his credentials by claiming to have been the owner of...
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
38
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...
Open Culture
How Editing Saved Ferris Bueller’s Day Off & Made It a Classic “In our salad days, we are ripe for a particular movie that will linger, deathlessly, long after the...
4 months ago
35
4 months ago
“In our salad days, we are ripe for a particular movie that will linger, deathlessly, long after the greenness has gone,” writes the New Yorker’s Anthony Lane in a recent piece on movies in the eighties. “When a friend turned to me after the first twenty minutes of Ferris...
Seth's Blog
Are you pitching or are you asking? There are two easy ways to tell: First, if you have a script or a highlighted goal in mind, you’re...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
There are two easy ways to tell: First, if you have a script or a highlighted goal in mind, you’re pitching. You’re simply asking questions to create connection, tension or forward motion. Second, if you’re willing to learn and change your point of view as a result of the...
On the Arts
How to Write a Proper Haiku A Starter's Guide to the Deceptively Simple Poetic Form
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Coercion One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.” But an alternative is that the most...
11 months ago
19
11 months ago
One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.” But an alternative is that the most powerful institutions, brands and people are the ones who are in alignment with their audience. Trust and the benefit of the doubt are more powerful and resilient than command and...
Handprinted - Blog
Spooktacular Screen Printing Projects! Get into the spooky spirit with a Halloween screen printing project! Create t-shirts, tote bags, and...
2 months ago
31
2 months ago
Get into the spooky spirit with a Halloween screen printing project! Create t-shirts, tote bags, and poster prints that’re hauntingly fun and frightfully easy!   Party Prints - Speedball Night Glo Acrylic Ink on Paper! If you’re a Halloween lover this project is for you! Using...
Seth's Blog
Nice bike A well-designed bicycle is efficient, inexpensive and delightful. If you use your bike on the right...
a year ago
22
a year ago
A well-designed bicycle is efficient, inexpensive and delightful. If you use your bike on the right paths, with appropriate goals, it can deliver exactly what you need, while also allowing you to go at your own pace, see what’s going on around you and feel grounded. Until, of...
Seth's Blog
Bullies Bullies use intimidation and power to force others to act against their best interests. Bullies...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Bullies use intimidation and power to force others to act against their best interests. Bullies blame the victim, assuring everyone that they wouldn’t have to use force if people would simply go along with what they want. Effective bullies organize a small mob to enforce their...
Seth's Blog
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
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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
Wearing the costume There’s a huge difference between carrying a stethoscope and being a doctor. And being a clown...
a month ago
14
a month ago
There’s a huge difference between carrying a stethoscope and being a doctor. And being a clown requires far more than getting a clown suit. Entrepreneurs with business cards, slick websites and mission statements are confused. That’s not the hard part. If the costume puts you in...
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
21
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...
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
57
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...
Open Culture
Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa Now Appears on Japanese Banknotes If you’ve lived or traveled in Japan, you know full well how much of daily life in that...
5 months ago
27
5 months ago
If you’ve lived or traveled in Japan, you know full well how much of daily life in that cash-intensive society involves the use of thousand-yen bills. Once considered the equivalent of the American ten-spot, the yen’s lately having fallen to its lowest value in decades means that...
Seth's Blog
Don’t know, don’t care Clients and customers can be frustrating. Perhaps they don’t know what you know. Perhaps they don’t...
a year ago
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a year ago
Clients and customers can be frustrating. Perhaps they don’t know what you know. Perhaps they don’t care. It’s possible to educate and inspire. It might be more productive to find the few that want to go where you do.
Open Culture
Bertrand Russell’s 10 Commandments for Living in a Healthy Democracy Image by J. F. Horrabin, via Wikimedia Commons Bertrand Russell saw the history of civilization as...
a month ago
9
a month ago
Image by J. F. Horrabin, via Wikimedia Commons Bertrand Russell saw the history of civilization as being shaped by an unfortunate oscillation between two opposing evils: tyranny and anarchy, each of which contains the seed of the other. The best course for steering clear of...
Open Culture
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
21
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,...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “your time is up” edition This week… But first, an announcement! TLDR: Over the holidays, I will be migrating this site from...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
This week… But first, an announcement! TLDR: Over the holidays, I will be migrating this site from WordPress.com to Ghost. This may mean a little disruption, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum. Why am I doing this? I’ve been a paying customer of WordPress.com for my site...
Seth's Blog
Drama at work A divo (or diva) is an opera singer with skill. Sometimes, though, that skill comes in a package...
a year ago
17
a year ago
A divo (or diva) is an opera singer with skill. Sometimes, though, that skill comes in a package that also includes imperiousness, skittishness and a fair amount of unpredictable drama. It’s tempting to imagine that CEOs, painters or poets that bring the noise must also have...
Seth's Blog
The useful agreement Contrary to expectations, written contracts don’t have to be adversarial. In fact, the effective...
a year ago
8
a year ago
Contrary to expectations, written contracts don’t have to be adversarial. In fact, the effective ones rarely are. When you hand someone a release, a royalty agreement or even a partnership document, it pays to point out the gnarly parts, the controversial bits and the ones that...
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
38
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
Small groups, well organized And those are the two challenges of anyone seeking to make an impact. First, we get distracted by...
a year ago
10
a year ago
And those are the two challenges of anyone seeking to make an impact. First, we get distracted by the inclination to make the group as big as we can imagine. After all, the change is essential, the idea is a good one. It’s for everyone. Except that’s a trap. Because a group...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Lucy Gell Hi, I'm Lucy. I studied graphic design and illustration at Staffordshire University and later began...
a year ago
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a year ago
Hi, I'm Lucy. I studied graphic design and illustration at Staffordshire University and later began a career in animation. During this fun and exciting time I was responsible for fabricating the Martians in the Tim Burton film ‘Mars Attacks’. I made many foam latex and silicone...
Anarchy Unfolds
Food Waste is Bad Actually How we frame the problem makes all the difference
2 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
The first draft of your first non-fiction book Writing a book is good for you. It clarifies your thinking and it’s generous as well. You might not...
4 days ago
4
4 days ago
Writing a book is good for you. It clarifies your thinking and it’s generous as well. You might not publish it professionally, but sharing it with people you want to teach and lead is a useful practice. The first draft can be challenging. We’re facing a blank page, trying to find...
Seth's Blog
Bottom of the funnel It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions....
8 months ago
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8 months ago
It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions. More buzz, hype, promotion. Get the word out. Just about all the time people who call themselves “marketers” spend is on this. Don’t worry about what happens later, just pour more...
Seth's Blog
PW 2: Productivity in community We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand...
11 months ago
20
11 months ago
We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand of us now. It was an experiment, now it’s a useful tool. The initiative hat is often ill-fitting. We rush to take it off and get back to doing chores. And that’s why a community...
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
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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,...
escape the algorithm
Be specific Ode to ᵗᶦⁿʸ ᵗᵒᵒˡˢ
11 months ago
Seth's Blog
There’s always a placebo switch The trick is knowing where it is and using it well. Wanting control doesn’t always mean needing to...
a year ago
5
a year ago
The trick is knowing where it is and using it well. Wanting control doesn’t always mean needing to have control. Sometimes it is simply a desire to be acknowledged. HT to Brian.
Seth's Blog
Explaining it to a kid It can be difficult. Explaining atoms or molecules, or decision making, or what you do at your job…...
a year ago
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a year ago
It can be difficult. Explaining atoms or molecules, or decision making, or what you do at your job… The reason that it’s difficult is that in order to explain something, we need to really understand it first. Not simply be able to do the task or ace the test. But understand. And...
Open Culture
The Long Game of Creativity: If You Haven’t Created a Masterpiece at 30, You’re Not a Failure Orson Welles directed the greatest movie ever made, Citizen Kane, at age 25, with only a limited...
4 months ago
38
4 months ago
Orson Welles directed the greatest movie ever made, Citizen Kane, at age 25, with only a limited knowledge of the medium. When Paul McCartney was 25, he, along with his fellow Beatles, released the era-defining album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. By age 29, Pablo Picasso...
Prolost
Skate Warrior 1992, 1999, 2020 You May Have Seen This Image Before. In The DV Rebel’s Guide, I used this still frame as an example...
over a year ago
6
over a year ago
You May Have Seen This Image Before. In The DV Rebel’s Guide, I used this still frame as an example of guerrilla filmmaking taken too far. Which may also be an apt description of the entire film from which it was taken. In the summer of 1992, while I was home in Minnesota between...
Seth's Blog
A deal’s a deal A fundamental building block of civilization is the understanding that contracts matter. Regardless...
a year ago
55
a year ago
A fundamental building block of civilization is the understanding that contracts matter. Regardless of where someone is on the current political spectrum (from Alinksy to Mises), things can be understood to work better if the boss, the vendor, the client and the freelancer all...
Seth's Blog
Finding agency The first few moves of a chess game give the player almost unlimited freedom. There are countless...
a year ago
25
a year ago
The first few moves of a chess game give the player almost unlimited freedom. There are countless legal moves, and nothing to constrain the choices that a player makes among them. But as we add leverage to our culture and our organizations, the choices aren’t as easy. Jerry...
Open Culture
Twin Peaks Actually Explained: A 4‑Hour Video Essay Demystifies It All I don’t know about you, but my YouTube algorithms can act like a nagging friend, suggesting a video...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
I don’t know about you, but my YouTube algorithms can act like a nagging friend, suggesting a video for days until I finally give in. Such was the case with this video essay with the tantalizing title: “Twin Peaks ACTUALLY EXPLAINED (No, Really)”. First of all, before, during,...
The Great Discontent...
Brian Eno From pioneering ambient music and ever-evolving light paintings to innovating production styles,...
a year ago
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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...
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
29
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...
Marian's Blog
What I learned from building autonomous model race cars for a year I was part of a university project group that develops autonomous model race cars. We are a group of...
over a year ago
1
over a year ago
I was part of a university project group that develops autonomous model race cars. We are a group of twelve students working on the project in part time for year. We were provided with a car that meets the requirements for the F1/10th competition. Even though competing in F1/10th...
The Great Discontent...
Mira Nakashima In 1970, Mira Nakashima joined the family business run by her father, renowned furniture designer...
10 months ago
52
10 months ago
In 1970, Mira Nakashima joined the family business run by her father, renowned furniture designer and craftsman George Nakashima. Since his death in 1990, Mira has helmed Nakashima Woodworkers, now a 21-building complex and National Historic Landmark nestled among the trees in...
Seth's Blog
The tooth fairy Make a list of things you used to believe. Fervently, certainly, completely. Things that you were...
4 months ago
37
4 months ago
Make a list of things you used to believe. Fervently, certainly, completely. Things that you were sure of, but now, with the passage of time and the benefit of experience, you know to be incorrect or incomplete. Of course, it’s not just mythical creatures beloved by children....
Open Culture
When 20,000 Americans Held a Pro-Nazi Rally in Madison Square Garden in 1939 Above, two-time Academy Award nominee Marshall Curry presents A Night at The Garden, a film that...
a month ago
11
a month ago
Above, two-time Academy Award nominee Marshall Curry presents A Night at The Garden, a film that revisits a night in February 1939 when “20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism — an event largely forgotten from U.S. history.”...
Seth's Blog
Variety and the long tail In a We Are All Weird universe, there are two sorts of cultural disappointments. The first has been...
11 months ago
14
11 months ago
In a We Are All Weird universe, there are two sorts of cultural disappointments. The first has been around since the dawn of cable: We don’t all watch the same thing. We don’t all talk about it, hits aren’t really hits, not like they used to be. There’s no comparison in the reach...
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
11
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...
Open Culture
Bukowski Reads Bukowski: Watch a 1975 Documentary Featuring Charles Bukowski at the Height of His... In 1973, Richard Davies directed Bukowski, a documentary that TV Guide described as a “cinema-verite...
7 months ago
28
7 months ago
In 1973, Richard Davies directed Bukowski, a documentary that TV Guide described as a “cinema-verite portrait of Los Angeles poet Charles Bukowski.” The film finds Bukowski, then 53 years old, “enjoying his first major success,” and “the camera captures his reminiscences … as he...
Seth's Blog
Out of control It’s negative when we say that someone is out of control. They’ve lost their self-restraint, and...
9 months ago
26
9 months ago
It’s negative when we say that someone is out of control. They’ve lost their self-restraint, and they’re doing things that they’ll regret later. And it’s honest when we acknowledge that just about everything is out of our control. We can work to influence it, we can practice...
escape the algorithm
love letters to places i'll never meet a spooky digital seance
a year ago
The Last...
Real Men Want To Drink Guinness, But Don't Expect Them To Pay For It the reason the bubbles go down is because of the drag created by the bubbles rising up the center. ...
over a year ago
2
over a year ago
the reason the bubbles go down is because of the drag created by the bubbles rising up the center.  yeah, like a metaphor. "The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character." Yeah, we're sheep.  Message received.  That wasn't the message?  Are you...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Fiona Black My name is Fiona Black and I am an artist, folk musician, writer, history geek and lover of stories....
6 months ago
52
6 months ago
My name is Fiona Black and I am an artist, folk musician, writer, history geek and lover of stories. Home for me is the Highland village of Evanton, just north of Inverness on the shore of the Cromarty Firth. I am happy to have returned to live and create in the Highlands, and I...
Seth's Blog
The illusion of concern When organizations reach scale, digital interactions belie our expectation that someone in charge...
10 months ago
18
10 months ago
When organizations reach scale, digital interactions belie our expectation that someone in charge actually gives a damn. Once there’s math to do, the CFO does the math. It quickly reveals that no, the search engine shouldn’t bother having a customer support team. That UPS or...
Open Culture
The Hand: An Anti-Totalitarian Animation, Banned for Two Decades & Now Considered One of the... For obvious reasons, most art produced under oppressive regimes comes off as painstakingly...
a month ago
19
a month ago
For obvious reasons, most art produced under oppressive regimes comes off as painstakingly inoffensive. For equally obvious reasons, the rare works that criticize the regime tend to do so rather obliquely. This wasn’t so much the case with The Hand, the most famous short by Czech...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Jenny McCabe I am printmaker based up north in Lancaster. I currently work mainly with intaglio printmaking...
a year ago
34
a year ago
I am printmaker based up north in Lancaster. I currently work mainly with intaglio printmaking methods, preferring metal plate etchings and card Collagraph constructed plates. I have been making printed items for many years including printed textiles and writing books about...
Seth's Blog
The inevitable meeting When the person you could have been meets the person you are becoming, is it going to be a cause for...
2 months ago
21
2 months ago
When the person you could have been meets the person you are becoming, is it going to be a cause for celebration or heartbreak? This is something we must work on right now, and tomorrow, and every single day until the meeting happens.
Open Culture
Explore Burj Al Babas, Turkey’s Abandoned Town of 587 Disney-Style Castles Burj Al Babas might have been constructed expressly to attract the attention of the internet....
a month ago
15
a month ago
Burj Al Babas might have been constructed expressly to attract the attention of the internet. “Sitting near the Black Sea, the town is full of half-finished, fully abandoned mini castles — 587 of them to be exact,” write Architectural Digest’s Katherine McLaughlin and Jessica...
Open Culture
Hear Moby Dick Read in Its Entirety by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, John Waters, Stephen Fry... Image of Moby Dick by David Austen. In 2013, Plymouth University kicked off Moby Dick The Big Read,...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
Image of Moby Dick by David Austen. In 2013, Plymouth University kicked off Moby Dick The Big Read, promising a full audiobook of Herman Melville’s influential novel, with famous (and not so famous) voices taking on a chapter each. When we first wrote about it here, only six...
Seth's Blog
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
36
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...
Open Culture
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic works. Even better, the museum has placed the vast majority of these images into the public domain, meaning they can be downloaded directly from the museum’s website for...
Seth's Blog
Confronting consciousness Everyone knows what it is to be conscious, and we imagine that other people are also aware. That we...
a year ago
7
a year ago
Everyone knows what it is to be conscious, and we imagine that other people are also aware. That we have a voice in our heads, apparent agency and free will, a little person inside who is commenting, making decisions and in charge. We’re not sure if dogs have this, and we’re...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Caroline Whitehead I’m a printmaker based in East London. For about eight years now, I’ve been obsessed with...
a year ago
28
a year ago
I’m a printmaker based in East London. For about eight years now, I’ve been obsessed with alternative forms of lithography (mokulito (wood litho), kitchen litho, prontoplate litho, waterless litho, gum transfer). I also make prints on clay. As well as making my own prints, I also...
Seth's Blog
Get/Want/Have To Get to, want to and have to are an endless braid. How much of our time do we spend on each? Have to...
a year ago
32
a year ago
Get to, want to and have to are an endless braid. How much of our time do we spend on each? Have to is often up to someone else. The things we’re required to do by the system or the people in it. Get to is a matter of perspective. Trust and health and leverage […]
Seth's Blog
Getting it right the first time How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The...
a year ago
22
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
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
9
a year ago
When someone acts in a surprising way, we can begin to understand by wondering what they might be afraid of.
On the Arts
Plastic palm trees and inflatable pineapples An Interview with Max Ryynänen on the Tropical Kitsch
a year ago
Neocha – Culture &...
Unorthodox Means
a year ago
Open Culture
How Choose Your Own Adventure Books Became Beloved Among Generations of Readers We’ve all read plenty of literature written in the first person, and plenty of literature written in...
5 months ago
39
5 months ago
We’ve all read plenty of literature written in the first person, and plenty of literature written in the third person. The second person, with its main subject of neither “I” nor “he” or “she” but “you,” is considerably harder to come by, and the writers who take it up tend to be...
Open Culture
The Doctor Who Theme Reimagined as a Jacques Brel-esque Jazz Tune ?si=tyjBCsSNLIAgh7SM Written by Ron Grainer, and then famously arranged and recorded by Delia...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
?si=tyjBCsSNLIAgh7SM Written by Ron Grainer, and then famously arranged and recorded by Delia Derbyshire in 1963, the Doctor Who theme song has been adapted and covered many times, and even referenced by Pink Floyd. In the hands of comedian Bill Bailey, the song comes out a...
Open Culture
14 Self-Portraits by Pablo Picasso Show the Evolution of His Style: See Self-Portraits Moving from... 15 years old (1896) It’s possible to look at Pablo Picasso’s many formal experiments and periodic...
3 weeks ago
14
3 weeks ago
15 years old (1896) It’s possible to look at Pablo Picasso’s many formal experiments and periodic shifts of style as a kind of self-portraiture, an exercise in shifting consciousness and trying on of new aesthetic identities. The Spanish modernist made a career of sweeping...
Seth's Blog
Them or us? What kind of culture will we build? At work, in our community, online? Each of us builds culture...
8 months ago
22
8 months ago
What kind of culture will we build? At work, in our community, online? Each of us builds culture every time we interact with anyone else. Opting out isn’t possible, all we can do is decide what sort of impact and contribution we’re each going to make. It’s tempting to say, “they”...
Infinite Scroll
The Internet is More Real than Real Life A victory of online spaces over traditional institutions
a month ago
Seth's Blog
The reality of chasing pop It’s tempting for a creator. To make a pop hit, a song or a book or a meme that becomes a popular...
a year ago
41
a year ago
It’s tempting for a creator. To make a pop hit, a song or a book or a meme that becomes a popular idea and part of the culture. In our lifetimes, it’s become possible to imagine that you could even make a living creating pop. But pop is a harsh mistress, because pop means...
Seth's Blog
Putting up the big numbers Some people go to the gym for health and energy. Some go to lift more weight than they did yesterday...
8 months ago
13
8 months ago
Some people go to the gym for health and energy. Some go to lift more weight than they did yesterday (or more than the person next to them). You can start a company to make an impact and surround yourself with people on a similar journey, or you can seek to maximize the stock...
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
32
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
The defensive arrogance of TL;DR Every since there has been high school, there has been the instinct to read the Cliffs Notes. The...
7 months ago
31
7 months ago
Every since there has been high school, there has been the instinct to read the Cliffs Notes. The internet took this idea, added a gratuitous semicolon and perfected Too Long; Didn’t Read. This is the mistakenly proud assertion that we are far too busy and too important to read...
Seth's Blog
The Santa problem An echo chamber is created by a marketer to assemble a group of people who are insulated from...
a year ago
10
a year ago
An echo chamber is created by a marketer to assemble a group of people who are insulated from conventional discourse. It can happen to sports and music fans, to investors, to companies that have confidence in their view of the world, or to social or political gatherings. We...
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
49
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...
Open Culture
How Rome Began: The History As Told by Ancient Historians Much attention has been paid to the fall of the Roman Empire, by everyone from august historians...
5 months ago
37
5 months ago
Much attention has been paid to the fall of the Roman Empire, by everyone from august historians like Edward Gibbon to modern-day observers wringing their hands over the fate of the United States of America. But as every Rome enthusiast knows, that long collapse constitutes just...
Seth's Blog
Complex or complicated? Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the...
a year ago
11
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...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Sending a signal - DOGMAS, a project because of the RP2040 How and why I built the DOGMAS project, a self contained Morse code reader in the form of a...
over a year ago
Open Culture
9‑Year-Old Edward Hopper Draws a Picture on the Back of His 3rd Grade Report Card In a 2017 press release, the Edward Hopper House announced that it would receive over 1,000...
7 months ago
48
7 months ago
In a 2017 press release, the Edward Hopper House announced that it would receive over 1,000 artifacts and memorabilia documenting Edward Hopper’s family life and early years. The collection “consists of juvenilia and other materials from the formative years of Hopper’s life and...
Seth's Blog
Queued It’s sort of the opposite of “cued.” In addition to being delightful to spell, the idea of work...
10 months ago
45
10 months ago
It’s sort of the opposite of “cued.” In addition to being delightful to spell, the idea of work that’s queued up is energizing. The chapter ahead of schedule, the process in place for the next quarter, the continued commitment to learning… It is locked, loaded and ready to go....
Seth's Blog
Wanting and getting Modern marketing culture is designed to amplify our desires. To turn faint wants into desperate...
a week ago
13
a week ago
Modern marketing culture is designed to amplify our desires. To turn faint wants into desperate needs. As a result, we’re intimately familiar with what we want. And we strive to get it. The problem with getting what you want is that now you have a hole, because you don’t want...
Open Culture
How Man Ray Reinvented Himself & Created One of the Most Iconic Works of Surrealist Photography It would surprise none of us to encounter a young artist looking to cast off his past and make his...
2 months ago
13
2 months ago
It would surprise none of us to encounter a young artist looking to cast off his past and make his mark on the culture in a place like Williamsburg. But in the case of Man Ray, Williamsburg was his past. One must remember that the Brooklyn of today bears little resemblance to the...
Open Culture
How the Oldest Company in the World, Japan’s Temple-Builder Kongō Gumi, Has Survived Nearly 1,500... Image from New York Public Library, via Wikimedia Commons If you visit Osaka, you’ll be urged to see...
4 months ago
41
4 months ago
Image from New York Public Library, via Wikimedia Commons If you visit Osaka, you’ll be urged to see two old buildings in particular: Osaka Castle and Shitennō-ji (above), Japan’s first Buddhist temple. In beholding both, you’ll behold the work of construction firm Kongō Gumi...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “I am your BFDL” edition 1. Tech benevolent dictators are still… dictators in the tech community there is a concept of the...
a week ago
4
a week ago
1. Tech benevolent dictators are still… dictators in the tech community there is a concept of the “benevolent dictator for life”. This is a leadership model where one person, usually the founder, has the final say on decisions. They guide the project’s direction, relying on their...
Handprinted - Blog
Making a Copper Sulphate Mordant Solution Copper sulphate is a non-toxic mordant used to etch aluminium, zinc and steel plates for intaglio...
a year ago
22
a year ago
Copper sulphate is a non-toxic mordant used to etch aluminium, zinc and steel plates for intaglio printmaking. Copper sulphate is a safer alternative to acids - and we always opt for safer solutions here at the Handprinted studio! Metal plates are traditionally etched using...
escape the algorithm
Not your usual subscription confirmation Or why you shouldn't ignore the back catalog
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Five lessons from week one of This is Strategy Once you decide to write a book about strategy, it raises the bar for having a strategy for the...
a month ago
16
a month ago
Once you decide to write a book about strategy, it raises the bar for having a strategy for the launch. People generally focus far too much on the launch of a project. Rocketships need a perfect launch, because just about everything after the launch is simply ballistic. But most...
Open Culture
Watch the Original Nosferatu, the Classic German Expressionist Vampire Film, Before the New Remake... F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, far and away the most influential early vampire movie, came out 102 years...
a month ago
17
a month ago
F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, far and away the most influential early vampire movie, came out 102 years ago. For about ten of those years, Robert Eggers has been trying to remake it. He wouldn’t be the first: Werner Herzog cast Klaus Kinski as the blood-sucking aristocrat at the...
Seth's Blog
Unaware If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it. The power to speak...
10 months ago
27
10 months ago
If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it. The power to speak up, to participate, to invent, to lead, to encourage, to vote, to connect, to organize, to march, to write, to say ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’. It’s tempting to imagine we have less power...
Seth's Blog
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
95
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
Discover the CIA’s Simple Sabotage Field Manual: A Timeless Guide to Subverting Any Organization... I’ve always admired people who can successfully navigate what I refer to as “Kafka’s Castle,” a term...
a month ago
14
a month ago
I’ve always admired people who can successfully navigate what I refer to as “Kafka’s Castle,” a term of dread for the many government and corporate agencies that have an inordinate amount of power over our permanent records, and that seem as inscrutable and chillingly absurd as...
Seth's Blog
The intentional stance Dan Dennett explained that it began as a survival mechanism. It’s important to predict how someone...
6 months ago
55
6 months ago
Dan Dennett explained that it began as a survival mechanism. It’s important to predict how someone else is going to behave. That tiger might be a threat, that person from the next village might have something to offer. If we simply wait and see, we might encounter an unwelcome or...
Seth's Blog
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
33
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
Leprechauns Is there a rainbow underneath your pot of gold? Sometimes, we get it backwards.
6 months ago
Seth's Blog
Decisions as effort Why are we more likely to get tasks done than to take on new initiatives? Checking something off a...
2 months ago
22
2 months ago
Why are we more likely to get tasks done than to take on new initiatives? Checking something off a to-do list requires far less emotional energy than adding something to the list was in the first place. As is often the case, “resistance” is the answer. It’s easy to type a book,...
Seth's Blog
The status quo is very good… at sticking around. In fact, that’s what it’s best at. New research shows that computers and robots...
a year ago
10
a year ago
at sticking around. In fact, that’s what it’s best at. New research shows that computers and robots are now better at solving CAPTCHA puzzles than humans. This was inevitable. The interesting question is, “how long before they go away?” First, someone has to decide that it’s...
Seth's Blog
Searching for stars It’s easy to imagine that talent is a magical gift, and that we’ll know it when see it (and that you...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
It’s easy to imagine that talent is a magical gift, and that we’ll know it when see it (and that you have it or you don’t). And yet, over the years, Star Search has rejected each of these musicians, picking someone else to win the competition: One could argue that they’re simply...
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
57
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,...
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
1
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
It’s not easy to see time Consider a simple graph of the temperature of the Earth over time. There’s nothing interesting about...
2 months ago
35
2 months ago
Consider a simple graph of the temperature of the Earth over time. There’s nothing interesting about any frame of this graph. But when we pause for just a few seconds for it to load and render, we can see 150 years unfold and then the truth becomes apparent. The snapshot is a...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Creatively Bridge Hello! I’m Bridget. I'm a part time printmaker based on the south coast in Chichester. My love for...
a year ago
32
a year ago
Hello! I’m Bridget. I'm a part time printmaker based on the south coast in Chichester. My love for printmaking was born in the print rooms of Bath School of Art and Design where I studied Graphic Communication. This is where I first got a taste for Screen Printing, Linocut,...
Seth's Blog
Where are you? When you’re reading a good historical novel, you might be there and then. When you’re checking your...
9 months ago
16
9 months ago
When you’re reading a good historical novel, you might be there and then. When you’re checking your email, you are in a conversation between and among, over there, not here. When you’re imagining what went wrong in that conversation yesterday, you are living in yesterday. And...
Seth's Blog
Redefining a profession Pharmacists used to mix chemicals by hand to create prescriptions. Opticians used to grind lenses...
3 months ago
34
3 months ago
Pharmacists used to mix chemicals by hand to create prescriptions. Opticians used to grind lenses from scratch. Lawyers used to start with an empty page. Graphic designers needed to know how to draw. All of these jobs are still important. None of them are the same as they were...
Seth's Blog
Assume goodwill There’s often doubt. Giving someone the benefit of that doubt enables us to move forward, and that...
6 months ago
31
6 months ago
There’s often doubt. Giving someone the benefit of that doubt enables us to move forward, and that requires us to realize that our doubt might be unfounded. Systems that assume goodwill create possibility, connection and utility far easier than those that don’t. Being invited to...
escape the algorithm
Befriending neighbors and beneighboring friends The Casement Window Theory of community building
4 months ago
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Meaningless My ArtBlocks debut, releasing on 30th May 2023. Find out how the algorithm works and explore some...
a year ago
1
a year ago
My ArtBlocks debut, releasing on 30th May 2023. Find out how the algorithm works and explore some conceptual thoughts.
Infinite Scroll
Worst Tweets of 2024 - Dishonorable Mentions All of the most horrifying posts on Twitter that didn't make the final bracket
5 days ago
Anarchy Unfolds
The hope of anarchy Letters to an anarchist - Part 6
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Market pressure Every competitor faces pressure, and it varies by industry, consumer/investor segment and geography....
8 months ago
22
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...
Seth's Blog
The natural size No matter how many people come over for dinner, you’re only going to be able to engage with a few....
a year ago
34
a year ago
No matter how many people come over for dinner, you’re only going to be able to engage with a few. And no matter how big the crowd in the arena, the musicians can only see the faces of a few hundred. An investor can only be engaged and smart about a very small number of […]
Open Culture
Isaac Newton Creates a List of His 57 Sins (Circa 1662) Sir Isaac Newton, arguably the most important and influential scientist in history, discovered the...
3 weeks ago
10
3 weeks ago
Sir Isaac Newton, arguably the most important and influential scientist in history, discovered the laws of motion and the universal force of gravity. For the first time ever, the rules of the universe could be described with the supremely rational language of mathematics....
Open Culture
Browse 64 Years of RadioShack Catalogs Free Online … and Revisit the History of American Consumer... “I bet RadioShack was great once,” writes former employee Jon Bois in a much-circulated 2014 piece...
3 months ago
34
3 months ago
“I bet RadioShack was great once,” writes former employee Jon Bois in a much-circulated 2014 piece for SB Nation. “I can’t look through their decades-old catalogs and come away with any other impression. They sold giant walnut-wood speakers I’d kill to have today. They sold...
Seth's Blog
Lost on purpose …of course, if you’re lost on purpose, you’re not lost. Lost is only possible if you are fixed on...
12 months ago
13
12 months ago
…of course, if you’re lost on purpose, you’re not lost. Lost is only possible if you are fixed on getting somewhere specific.
Handprinted - Blog
Designing a Repeat Block by Hand Visualising what your design will look like when printed can be the hardest thing about designing a...
a year ago
48
a year ago
Visualising what your design will look like when printed can be the hardest thing about designing a repeat pattern. We have a good method for sketching out your initial design to see how it will work when it has been printed. For this project, we will be using a mounted lino...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Politics Yet Again GOP 4channers, more Twitch drama, and a Very Mad Laptop Company
a month ago
Open Culture
Watch a Japanese Artisan Hand-Craft a Cello in 6 Months Cellists unwilling to settle for any but the finest instrument must, sooner or later, make a...
5 months ago
38
5 months ago
Cellists unwilling to settle for any but the finest instrument must, sooner or later, make a pilgrimage to Cremona — or rather, to the Cremonas. One is, of course, the city in Lombardy that was home to numerous pioneering master luthiers, up to and including Antonio Stradivari....
Seth's Blog
Headwinds When it’s tough going and it feels fraught, it’s easy to imagine that the headwinds will never end....
9 months ago
17
9 months ago
When it’s tough going and it feels fraught, it’s easy to imagine that the headwinds will never end. And yet, when all is going well and the wind is at our back, it’s tempting to imagine that this is the way it’s going to stay. Neither is true. The reason we see them as headwinds...
Seth's Blog
Happiness can often be traded for money Most of us know what enough happiness feels like. But some people are stuck in an endless cycle of...
12 months ago
11
12 months ago
Most of us know what enough happiness feels like. But some people are stuck in an endless cycle of seeking more money. That’s a bad trade. Because after a certain threshold, it’s hard for more money to buy you more happiness. And the trap is that trying ends up costing you both.
Seth's Blog
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
28
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....
Seth's Blog
Throwing shade or throwing light? One takes a little more effort than the other. While throwing shade might be more fun, it eventually...
a year ago
21
a year ago
One takes a little more effort than the other. While throwing shade might be more fun, it eventually runs out of energy. It’s designed to end conversations, not start them, to intimidate, not encourage. Turning on lights helps everyone.
Anarchy Unfolds
To change everything, start anywhere Letters to an anarchist - Part 2
a month ago
Open Culture
The BBC Creates Step-by-Step Instructions for Knitting the Iconic Dr. Who Scarf: A Document from the... When Jon Pertwee reincarnated into Tom Baker in 1974, the Fourth Doctor of the popular sci-fi show...
2 weeks ago
3
2 weeks ago
When Jon Pertwee reincarnated into Tom Baker in 1974, the Fourth Doctor of the popular sci-fi show Doctor Who ditched the foppish look of velvet jackets and frilly shirts, and went for the “Romantic adventurer” style, with floppy felt hat, long overcoats and, most iconically, his...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Pretty much all I want in life… … is to make things and then have other people look at those things and be like “woah, cool”
over a year ago
Open Culture
How Marcel Duchamp Signed a Urinal in 1917 & Redefined Art Marcel Duchamp didn’t sign his name on a urinal for lack of ability to create “real” art. In fact,...
3 months ago
27
3 months ago
Marcel Duchamp didn’t sign his name on a urinal for lack of ability to create “real” art. In fact, as explained by gallerist-Youtuber James Payne in the new Great Art Explained video above, Duchamp’s grandfather was an artist, as were three of his siblings; he himself attained...
Open Culture
Spin the 17th-Century Death Roulette Wheel & Find Out What Would Have Killed You in 1665 A common historical misconception holds that, up until a few centuries ago, everyone died when they...
2 months ago
21
2 months ago
A common historical misconception holds that, up until a few centuries ago, everyone died when they were about 40. In fact, even in antiquity, one could well make it to what would be considered an advanced age today — assuming one survived the great mortal peril of childhood, and...
Open Culture
Ancient Greek Armor Gets Tested in an 11-Hour Battle Simulation Inspired by the Iliad By Greek law, every male citizen over the age of eighteen must spend from nine months to a year in...
6 months ago
26
6 months ago
By Greek law, every male citizen over the age of eighteen must spend from nine months to a year in the Hellenic Armed Forces. As in every country with such a policy of mandatory conscription, this is surely not a prospect relished by most conscripts-to-be. But then, it can’t be...
Seth's Blog
Walking the city, walking the world Last week, I passed 800 people as I walked my way through New York. I decided to look at the folks I...
a year ago
12
a year ago
Last week, I passed 800 people as I walked my way through New York. I decided to look at the folks I was walking near. Of those 800 people, not one was as conventionally attractive as a movie star. Few looked like the images I saw on the billboards I passed. Most wouldn’t be cast...
Open Culture
Hear 2.5 Hours of the Classical Music in Haruki Murakami’s Novels: Liszt, Beethoven, Janáček, and... Haruki Murakami’s hit novel 1Q84 features a memorable scene in a taxicab on a gridlocked freeway...
a month ago
18
a month ago
Haruki Murakami’s hit novel 1Q84 features a memorable scene in a taxicab on a gridlocked freeway whose radio is playing Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta. “It is, as the book suggests, truly the worst possible music for a traffic jam,” writes Sam Anderson in a New York Times Magazine...
Seth's Blog
The convenience fee Sometimes it’s obvious, like the $1 that you get charged for using an ATM or a credit card, and it’s...
a year ago
10
a year ago
Sometimes it’s obvious, like the $1 that you get charged for using an ATM or a credit card, and it’s simply not worth the hassle to walk a few blocks. And sometimes it’s not, like the cost we all pay for the conveniently wrapped fruits or vegetables at the market–wrapped in...
Seth's Blog
The worst person on our team A common shortcut to cultural divisiveness is to find the single worst person in a different group...
9 months ago
13
9 months ago
A common shortcut to cultural divisiveness is to find the single worst person in a different group and highlight and attack their behavior. By making it clear and obvious that this is what THEY (the plural) want and who THEY are, it’s easy to walk away from a larger we. Their...
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
52
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
Quietly change it When we think about altering a policy, a setting or even the outfit we usually wear, it’s easy to...
a year ago
51
a year ago
When we think about altering a policy, a setting or even the outfit we usually wear, it’s easy to imagine that everyone is going to notice. In fact, almost no one will. That’s because no one cares about the noise in our head (or the actions we take) nearly as much as we do. You...
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
34
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...
Seth's Blog
Is it possible to care at scale? After 25 years, I stopped using a certain credit card for business. It was easily millions of...
a year ago
52
a year ago
After 25 years, I stopped using a certain credit card for business. It was easily millions of dollars worth of transactions over that period. Did anyone at the company notice? Did anyone care? I still remember losing a client in 1987. Small organizations pay attention and care...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Rachael Haggerty Hello, I’m Rachael and I am a printmaker based in Bath, UK. I generally work with linocut and mainly...
a year ago
55
a year ago
Hello, I’m Rachael and I am a printmaker based in Bath, UK. I generally work with linocut and mainly print in monochrome or bright primary colours. My work celebrates family life, nature and the local area. Describe your printmaking process. I normally sketch out a composition...
Stat Significant
Does 'Avatar' Have No Cultural Footprint? A Statistical Analysis Investigating claims of Avatar's cultural irrelevance.
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Captives of memetic desire How much of what we want, really want, is due to the ideas that culture has given us, and how much...
a year ago
48
a year ago
How much of what we want, really want, is due to the ideas that culture has given us, and how much is truly what we need? If memetic desire isn’t making us happy, perhaps we can find some new ideas.
Seth's Blog
Two ways to defend the status quo Neither is true, helpful or generous. Both happen all the time. Call it out when you see it.
a year ago
Open Culture
Martin Mull (RIP) Satirically Interviews a Young Tom Waits on Fernwood 2 Night (1977) These days, references to seventies television increasingly require prefatory explanation. Who under...
5 months ago
37
5 months ago
These days, references to seventies television increasingly require prefatory explanation. Who under the age of 60 recalls, for example, the cultural phenomenon that was Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, an absurdist satire so faithful to the soap-opera form it parodied that it aired...
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
27
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
Brakes and acceleration Every driver benefits from good brakes. It makes driving safer. Only a few skilled drivers benefit...
a year ago
30
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
The friendly professional Friendly doesn’t mean saying ‘yes’ all the time, or changing every policy, or giving up our...
a year ago
15
a year ago
Friendly doesn’t mean saying ‘yes’ all the time, or changing every policy, or giving up our principles. Friendly is how it feels, not what it does.
Open Culture
How the 13th-Century Sufi Poet Rumi Became One of the World’s Most Popular Writers The Middle East is hardly the world’s most harmonious region, and it only gets more fractious if you...
6 months ago
41
6 months ago
The Middle East is hardly the world’s most harmonious region, and it only gets more fractious if you add in South Asia and the Mediterranean. But there’s one thing on which many residents of that wide geographical span can agree: Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. One might at first...
Open Culture
The Big Map of Who Lived When Shows Which Cultural Figures Walked the Earth at the Same Time: From... We could call the time in which we live the “Information Age.” Or we could describe it more vividly...
3 months ago
15
3 months ago
We could call the time in which we live the “Information Age.” Or we could describe it more vividly as the era of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart, Beyoncé and Bob Dylan. Whatever you think of the work of any of...
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
55
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...
Open Culture
Richard Feynman Creates a Simple Method for Telling Science From Pseudoscience (1966) Photo by Tamiko Thiel via Wikimedia Commons How can we know whether a claim someone makes is...
3 months ago
24
3 months ago
Photo by Tamiko Thiel via Wikimedia Commons How can we know whether a claim someone makes is scientific or not? The question is of the utmost consequence, as we are surrounded on all sides by claims that sound credible, that use the language of science—and often do so in attempts...
Open Culture
Why You Can Never Tune a Piano Grab a cup of coffee, put on your thinking cap, and start working through this video from Minute...
3 months ago
16
3 months ago
Grab a cup of coffee, put on your thinking cap, and start working through this video from Minute Physics, which explains why guitars, violins and other instruments can be tuned to a tee. But when it comes to pianos, it’s an entirely different story, a mathematical impossibility....
Open Culture
The Radical Artistic & Philosophical World of William Blake: A Short Introduction Over the years, we’ve featured the work of William Blake fairly often here on Open Culture: his own...
6 months ago
36
6 months ago
Over the years, we’ve featured the work of William Blake fairly often here on Open Culture: his own illuminated books; his illustrations for everything from the Divine Comedy to Mary Wollstonecraft’s Original Stories from Real Life to the Book of Job; pairs of Doc Martens made...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker Round-Up 2024! It has been another incredible year of printmaking inspiration. We've put together a round-up of all...
a week ago
19
a week ago
It has been another incredible year of printmaking inspiration. We've put together a round-up of all our fantastic Meet the Maker artists from 2024, alongside their advice or inspiration for other printmakers. Read through for a wholesome dose of printmaking magic, and click...
Seth's Blog
Bongo 4 – Thinking about power users (skive!) Power users are tempting. They know what they want, they’re happy to share their preferences and...
3 weeks ago
8
3 weeks ago
Power users are tempting. They know what they want, they’re happy to share their preferences and they show up. But power users can also be a trap, because their specific needs might not match the market you seek to serve. When you pick your customers, you pick your future. Brooke...
Seth's Blog
Can’t wait The urgent problem might actually benefit from a short cooling-off period. But important challenges...
a year ago
46
a year ago
The urgent problem might actually benefit from a short cooling-off period. But important challenges can’t wait. Today is a good day to remember that better is possible, and that we shouldn’t wait for the problem to become easy or fade away. Better begins with each of us, but it...
Seth's Blog
The generous ask “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” That’s problematic advice. Taken to an extreme, it turns us into...
11 months ago
15
11 months ago
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” That’s problematic advice. Taken to an extreme, it turns us into hustlers. The alternative is to realize that the best asks are actually offers. When we offer to help someone get to where they were going, we’re approaching the relationship with...
Seth's Blog
“What do you do around here?” There are lots of useful, honest answers. Some might include: I do what I’m told I challenge the...
a year ago
50
a year ago
There are lots of useful, honest answers. Some might include: I do what I’m told I challenge the status quo I show up on time I solve complicated problems I absorb nonsense and create calm for others I raise our standards I help people feel seen I’m steady I don’t cause trouble I...
Seth's Blog
2 + 2 Arguments about taste are more common than ever before. The long tail makes it easy to find what you...
7 months ago
52
7 months ago
Arguments about taste are more common than ever before. The long tail makes it easy to find what you like, and to talk about what you don’t. There’s no accounting for taste, and that’s a good thing. Because taste is useful. Flopping the toilet paper under or over the roll,...
Seth's Blog
Semantic algebra Doing math problems in your head is a skill. No one is born knowing the answer to, “You have 35...
7 months ago
53
7 months ago
Doing math problems in your head is a skill. No one is born knowing the answer to, “You have 35 coins in nickels and quarters. They add up to $4.15. How many quarters do you have?” but we can learn. And some people find it easier than others, but yes, we can learn. The same […]
Seth's Blog
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
19
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
Overconfidence and AI Human beings are often more effective when we’re a bit self-effacing. “I think,” “Perhaps,” or “I...
a year ago
51
a year ago
Human beings are often more effective when we’re a bit self-effacing. “I think,” “Perhaps,” or “I might be missing something, but…” are fine ways to give our assertions a chance to be considered. The solar-powered LED calculator we used in school did no such thing. 6 x 7 is 42,...
Seth's Blog
Refusing the salon of the refused This week is the 150th anniversary of the most important failed art exhibit of all time. It was...
8 months ago
22
8 months ago
This week is the 150th anniversary of the most important failed art exhibit of all time. It was organized by and featured artists who weren’t even among those that had a slot at the runner’s up exhibit for artists who weren’t featured in the real Salon in Paris. Manet didn’t have...
Seth's Blog
Sharp tools Professional woodworkers rarely have to be reminded to sharpen their tools. Of course they know...
3 months ago
19
3 months ago
Professional woodworkers rarely have to be reminded to sharpen their tools. Of course they know this. The rest of us, on the other hand, regularly use digital tools we don’t understand, don’t maintain and haven’t optimized. Sometimes, our lack of care in the choice and use of...
Seth's Blog
“I changed my mind” Who is “I” and how does that “I” have the power to change the mind in question? What actually...
a month ago
17
a month ago
Who is “I” and how does that “I” have the power to change the mind in question? What actually happens is this: If you are brave enough to have your mind changed, experience can do that. But it’s rarely as conscious an intentional act as we give ourselves credit for.
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
48
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
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
11
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....
Handprinted - Blog
Transferring a Linocut to Inkjet Film using Adigraf Water Soluble Ink We've recently discovered that you can expose a screen with artwork made by transferring a linocut...
a year ago
47
a year ago
We've recently discovered that you can expose a screen with artwork made by transferring a linocut to inkjet film using a water based ink. Often when we want to convert our relief prints to screen prints, we need to use some kind of digital programming to make this possible. With...
Seth's Blog
Promo creep Hustle harder. Run more ads. Spam people. Interrupt. Make the logo bigger. Post again. Post again....
a year ago
46
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
How Magician David Copperfield Made the Statue of Liberty Disappear (1983) In April, 1983, 50 million television viewers watched the illusionist David Copperfield make the...
a month ago
18
a month ago
In April, 1983, 50 million television viewers watched the illusionist David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear, straight into thin air. If you’re north of 50, you perhaps remember the spectacle. How did he do it? 40 years later, the YouTube channel Mind Blown Magic...
Stat Significant
Quantifying 'The Kevin Bacon Game': A Statistical Exploration of Hollywood’s Most Connected Actors Examining 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' and its statistical underpinnings.
2 months ago
Neocha – Culture &...
Unraveling the Enigma
a year ago
Seth's Blog
The hierarchy of insight It looks like this: Which do we measure the most, spend the most obtaining and argue about most...
3 months ago
16
3 months ago
It looks like this: Which do we measure the most, spend the most obtaining and argue about most often? We might have it backwards. HT Russ Ackoff.
Marian's Blog
How to add Bluetooth to your Arduino Project with BTduino This tutorial will show you how to connect your Arduino project to an Android device using the...
over a year ago
1
over a year ago
This tutorial will show you how to connect your Arduino project to an Android device using the BTduino app. You don’t need an extra Arduino library and you don’t need to code anything on the Android side. Here is what you need: an Android device running Android 4.0 or higher that...
Seth's Blog
The Cliffs Notes paradox For a decade, Cliffs Notes were the bestselling section of the bookstore. They were a simple way for...
a year ago
46
a year ago
For a decade, Cliffs Notes were the bestselling section of the bookstore. They were a simple way for any high school student to get insight, examples and answers about the books they were assigned and read (or didn’t read). When Cliffs published a list of their thirty bestselling...
Seth's Blog
Speaking up For many, the imagined cost of speaking up is almost always higher than the actual cost. And we live...
a year ago
7
a year ago
For many, the imagined cost of speaking up is almost always higher than the actual cost. And we live with the cost in our imagination daily, dying a little bit over time as we keep our insights to ourselves. Speaking up is a skill, and we can only improve it with practice.
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
50
a year ago
For many, the goal is to be the deciding vote, the donation that gets a cause over the goal, the person who counts. And often, we enjoy piling on. Once the cause or fashion or tech is clearly working, it’s easy and fun to say “me too.” More rare, more vulnerable and more...
Open Culture
An Architect Breaks Down the 5 Most Common Styles of College Campus Every now and again on social media, the observation circulates that Americans look back so fondly...
4 months ago
43
4 months ago
Every now and again on social media, the observation circulates that Americans look back so fondly on their college years because never again do they get to live in a well-designed walkable community. The organization of college campuses does much to shape that experience, but so...
Stat Significant
What Are the Most Commonly Used Movie Clichés? A Statistical Analysis Exploring the cliché phrases that dominate movies.
4 days ago
Seth's Blog
Regressing to the mean all by yourself “The mean” is the average. Another word for “mediocre.” When an organization gets big enough, by...
9 months ago
27
9 months ago
“The mean” is the average. Another word for “mediocre.” When an organization gets big enough, by definition, it’s the average. When you have enough customers, they represent the population as a whole. If you find yourself seeking to serve the largest possible number of people,...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Maplands Maplands is a long-form generative art project I released on fxhash on 5th Jan 2022. It sold out...
over a year ago
2
over a year ago
Maplands is a long-form generative art project I released on fxhash on 5th Jan 2022. It sold out 256 pieces in exactly 2 minutes.
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
8
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...
escape the algorithm
The perfect pecan pie will never exi— Cutting a slice of longing
3 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
A good idea, well executed Why isn’t this enough? There are plenty of good ideas, easy to learn from and copy. There are...
11 months ago
14
11 months ago
Why isn’t this enough? There are plenty of good ideas, easy to learn from and copy. There are countless projects, well executed, with the steps on display. Any entrepreneur could find a local business and bring a version of it from over here to over there. And a social change...
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
45
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
The close proximity gap One of the unmentioned causes of division in much of our culture happens because of the shift in...
9 months ago
14
9 months ago
One of the unmentioned causes of division in much of our culture happens because of the shift in expectations and rules when we begin to live in close proximity to one another. In a non-crowded setting, the default is independence. The expectation is that you can drive as fast as...
Marian's Blog
Generating an infinite world with the Wave Function Collapse algorithm This article describes how I generate an infinite city using the Wave Function Collapse algorithm in...
a year ago
1
a year ago
This article describes how I generate an infinite city using the Wave Function Collapse algorithm in a way that is fast, deterministic, parallelizable and reliable. It's a follow-up to my 2019 article on adapting the WFC algorithm to generate an infinite world. The new approach...
Seth's Blog
Practical philosophy Engineering is the powerful practice of being able to deliver artifacts that do what they’re...
a year ago
11
a year ago
Engineering is the powerful practice of being able to deliver artifacts that do what they’re supposed to. Bridges that don’t fall down, software that runs, IV leads that don’t get infected. But if we want to create something, it helps to know what it’s for. That simple question,...
Seth's Blog
It could have easily gone the other way It could have been way better. It could have been far worse. It’s easy to imagine that outcomes are...
a year ago
8
a year ago
It could have been way better. It could have been far worse. It’s easy to imagine that outcomes are inevitable, but they’re not. Was it your fault, or was it luck (good or bad)? If our story of the past is filled with second guesses, shame or blame, it can carry forward. Or...
Seth's Blog
Complaints The best way to complain is to make things better. Complaining can be a form of intimacy. It’s a...
a week ago
14
a week ago
The best way to complain is to make things better. Complaining can be a form of intimacy. It’s a useful way to explain our behavior. And best of all, it gives us a way to communicate as we work to create community action. The rest sort of complaint requires generosity and...
Prolost
Apple’s “Let Loose” iPad Event was Shot on iPhone — With Panavision Lenses Still from Apple’s “Let Loose” video. Apple unveiled their new line of iPads yesterday in a...
7 months ago
65
7 months ago
Still from Apple’s “Let Loose” video. Apple unveiled their new line of iPads yesterday in a pre-recorded video titled “Let Loose.” As with the previous “Scary Fast” MacBook Pro launch video, “Let Loose” ends with a tag proclaiming “Shot on iPhone” — this time adding “Edited on...
Seth's Blog
The obligation of “none of the above” As we continue to face difficult choices and work to make things better, it’s quite likely that the...
a year ago
49
a year ago
As we continue to face difficult choices and work to make things better, it’s quite likely that the alternatives being presented aren’t ideal or even appealing. Many organizations and communities are stuck because “none of the above” is the majority’s opinion, or perhaps the...
Open Culture
Thomas Edison’s Recordings of Leo Tolstoy: Hear the Voice of the Great Russian Novelist Born 196 years ago, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy’s life (1828–1910) spanned a period of immense...
2 months ago
22
2 months ago
Born 196 years ago, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy’s life (1828–1910) spanned a period of immense social, political, and technological change, paralleled in his own life by his radical shift from hedonistic nobleman to theologian, anarchist, and vegetarian pacifist. Though he did...
Seth's Blog
What to do with firm footing If we’ve got tenure, a lifetime appointment or simply a really secure gig, what should we do with...
10 months ago
45
10 months ago
If we’ve got tenure, a lifetime appointment or simply a really secure gig, what should we do with it? One option is to race to the bottom, to chase short-term self-focused outcomes and to see how much we can get away with. (Probably, quite a bit). The other is to take this rare...
Seth's Blog
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
28
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...
Seth's Blog
Getting to no “Yes” is magical. It brings possibility and forward motion. But it’s almost impossible without “no”...
a year ago
6
a year ago
“Yes” is magical. It brings possibility and forward motion. But it’s almost impossible without “no” and no can be just as frightening. First, there’s the no of “I can’t go for that.” The no of refusing to race to the bottom, the no of avoiding the selfish hustle, the no of...
Seth's Blog
Adjacent but not relevant There’s a sale on band saw blades, including a really good deal on one that fits the saw you owned...
4 months ago
38
4 months ago
There’s a sale on band saw blades, including a really good deal on one that fits the saw you owned years ago. The folks who live next door to the house you used to live in are having a raucous party. A guy with a name just like yours wins the lottery… These adjacencies can […]
Seth's Blog
Inconvenient! That’s great news. The thing you need, the road ahead, the element that will transform your...
a year ago
23
a year ago
That’s great news. The thing you need, the road ahead, the element that will transform your project–it appears to be inconvenient. That’s terrific, because it means that most other people can’t be bothered. It’s valuable because the very inconvenience of it makes it scarce. The...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “stoically facing the end times” edition 1. When is AI coding not AI coding? You might have heard something about how Google now creates a...
a month ago
2
a month ago
1. When is AI coding not AI coding? You might have heard something about how Google now creates a quarter of its code using AI. But as with most things concerning everyone’s favourite hot tech, the devil is in the details. And the details, according to this poster on Hacker News,...
Seth's Blog
Vocal fatigue Most of us talk, some of us do it for a living. When your voice is on the fritz, it can affect your...
3 months ago
26
3 months ago
Most of us talk, some of us do it for a living. When your voice is on the fritz, it can affect your entire body as well as the way you approach your day. I’ve read all 25+ of my audiobooks myself, and I used to be able to complete each one in a day […]
Handprinted - Blog
Separating Your Colour Layers for CMYK Screen Printing CMYK screen printing is a great way of bringing both your photographic and coloured art images to...
3 months ago
41
3 months ago
CMYK screen printing is a great way of bringing both your photographic and coloured art images to life through colour separation. This is achieved by layering four colours (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) on top of each other using only 4 screens. Photoshop plays a key role in...
Seth's Blog
Game design and strategy (Bongo part 3) What’s it for? Making something fun is a good place to start if you’re building a casual word game...
4 weeks ago
9
4 weeks ago
What’s it for? Making something fun is a good place to start if you’re building a casual word game like Bongo. But it’s not enough. Lots of things are fun, for a while, but that doesn’t meant that they’re worth the investment of time and money it takes to build them. From the...
Seth's Blog
Jevons paradox is not surprising When a resource can be used more efficiently, we end up using more of the thing, not less. So, when...
8 months ago
18
8 months ago
When a resource can be used more efficiently, we end up using more of the thing, not less. So, when cars get better gas mileage, people drive more, and consumption can actually go up. When AI learns to write computer code, the demand for programmers goes up, because more...
Seth's Blog
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
9
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
Designing a Lego orrery I've always been a fan of the Lego Technic series, especially those models that have gears and...
6 months ago
2
6 months ago
I've always been a fan of the Lego Technic series, especially those models that have gears and cranks and moving parts. But it seems that Lego is shifting the focus of the Technic series away from functional models, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I think an orrery is...
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
Anarchy Unfolds
Is Sexual Orientation Obsolete? Not yet, but maybe it can (and should) be soon
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
On choosing a college For some fortunate 17 year olds, the end of the year is the day for a momentous decision, one that’s...
11 months ago
17
11 months ago
For some fortunate 17 year olds, the end of the year is the day for a momentous decision, one that’s largely out of the comfort zone of a 17 year old. A four-year college education in the US can cost nearly half a million dollars once we count the expenses and foregone...
Open Culture
The Fake Buildings of New York: What Happens Inside Their Mysterious Walls You can’t go on a walk with a serious enthusiast of New York history without hearing the stories...
2 months ago
21
2 months ago
You can’t go on a walk with a serious enthusiast of New York history without hearing the stories behind at least a few notable, beautiful, or downright strange buildings. Yet most longtime New Yorkers, famed for tuning out their surroundings to better strive for their goals of...
Prolost
M1 Max MacBook Pro Long-term Report The 2021 MacBook Pro alongside the cable-management fail of my iMac Pro Back in October when I got a...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
The 2021 MacBook Pro alongside the cable-management fail of my iMac Pro Back in October when I got a chance to use a pre-release 14″ MacBook Pro with M1 Max processor, I openly questioned whether this laptop could replace my venerable iMac Pro. Four months later, I’m back with an...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Jenny Stringer I am Jenny Stringer, and I have been block printing fabrics (and sometimes papers) for the last...
4 months ago
46
4 months ago
I am Jenny Stringer, and I have been block printing fabrics (and sometimes papers) for the last thirty years; as and when possible.  How did you start your creative career?  I was an archaeological illustrator after a brief museum career, and worked with a team of...
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
41
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...
Infinite Scroll
Infinite Scroll on Offline with Jon Favreau A chat about online media ecosystems
a month ago
Handprinted - Blog
Prepping your Plate for Etching For a successful etch, there is a little bit of care and attention you need to give to your metal...
a year ago
8
a year ago
For a successful etch, there is a little bit of care and attention you need to give to your metal plate first. There are surface impurities and grease pockets within the metal that will need to be removed before coating your plate with grounds. This blog is part of a series...
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
10
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. […]
Open Culture
Join Us on Bluesky. We Will Have Fun Together There’s an eXodus taking place, and millions are finding a new home on Bluesky. In recent days, the...
a month ago
15
a month ago
There’s an eXodus taking place, and millions are finding a new home on Bluesky. In recent days, the decentralized social media platform has been gaining 10,000 new users every 10–15 minutes, or about 1 million new users per day. Open Culture is already there, sharing the cultural...
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
21
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...
Open Culture
Hear the Isolated Vocals of Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush in “Don’t Give Up”: The Power of Perseverance Just by chance, could you use a song about perseverance and overcoming adversity? Something to give...
a month ago
18
a month ago
Just by chance, could you use a song about perseverance and overcoming adversity? Something to give you a little encouragement and reassurance? Then we submit to you “Don’t Give Up,” featuring the isolated vocals of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. When he released the song on his...
Seth's Blog
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
9
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...
Ian Betteridge
Weeknote, Sunday 8th December 2024 This time of year, work becomes a tension between two opposing forces: the inevitable winding down...
a week ago
3
a week ago
This time of year, work becomes a tension between two opposing forces: the inevitable winding down of the year, as fewer projects appear and people begin to drift away, and the equally inevitable rush to get whatever remains to be done. It’s a tension that keeps me awake at night...
On the Arts
The Vertical Beauty of Hong Kong An Interview with Photographer Romain Jacquet Lagrèze
a year ago
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
42
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...
Open Culture
Take The Near Impossible Literacy Test Louisiana Used to Suppress the Black Vote (1964) In William Faulkner’s 1938 novel The Unvanquished, the implacable Colonel Sartoris takes drastic...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
In William Faulkner’s 1938 novel The Unvanquished, the implacable Colonel Sartoris takes drastic action to stop the election of a black Republican candidate to office after the Civil War, destroying the ballots of black voters and shooting two Northern carpetbaggers. While such...
Marian's Blog
Connecting my fish tank to the Internet of Things – Part 1: Hacking an automatic fish feeder I bought a used automatic fish feeder from ebay. This device is completely mechanic and very old...
over a year ago
1
over a year ago
I bought a used automatic fish feeder from ebay. This device is completely mechanic and very old (older than 1989). It has 27 containers for fish food and a disc that does one rotation per day. By sticking pins into that disc one can trigger one or more feedings per day. A pin...
Seth's Blog
Podcasts, international covers and more I just received copies of the new reprints of four of my books in the UK: I’m really pleased at how...
9 months ago
31
9 months ago
I just received copies of the new reprints of four of my books in the UK: I’m really pleased at how the books have stayed relevant and also delighted at what a good job the publisher did with the reissues. Also, the Italian version of This is Marketing just went back for its 14th...
Infinite Scroll
JOB - A theatrical review A Broadway play about Content Moderation
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Eight marketing maxims
a year ago
Seth's Blog
PW 5: Measuring the right thing Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the...
11 months ago
39
11 months ago
Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the appropriate measure of productivity. “I did all my homework.” Doing all your homework is a measure for industrial bosses. But what, precisely, did your homework ever do for you? The actual...
Open Culture
Watch Hardware Wars, the Original Star Wars Parody, in HD (1978) This past May, YouTuber Jenny Nicholson set off waves of social-media discourse with “The...
5 months ago
45
5 months ago
This past May, YouTuber Jenny Nicholson set off waves of social-media discourse with “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel,” a four-hour-long video critique of Disney’s hugely expensive, now-shuttered Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser in Orlando, Florida. Having gone...
Seth's Blog
Small doses If you go to a health food store and buy some pills with selenium, colloidal silver or other...
a year ago
20
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,...
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
66
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
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
8
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...
Prolost
iPhone ProRes Log in Peru and Taiwan This is a blog post about a video, which is about new color-conversion LUTs for Apple Log footage...
10 months ago
65
10 months ago
This is a blog post about a video, which is about new color-conversion LUTs for Apple Log footage from the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (updated from my first set). The video is also a mini-travelogue of my recent trips to Taiwan and Peru. This post dives a bit deeper into both the...
Seth's Blog
What are the stakes? How big a swing do we need to make it feel like it matters? At the casino, some folks play with $5...
9 months ago
16
9 months ago
How big a swing do we need to make it feel like it matters? At the casino, some folks play with $5 chips, some with $100 chips. Do the high rollers have more fun? Are they more engaged? It’s natural to imagine that bigger swings matter more. That a bigger audience means our...
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
52
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
Play fair & work hard Two of the building blocks of a resilient society. And the opposite of the lazy shortcut. The...
7 months ago
51
7 months ago
Two of the building blocks of a resilient society. And the opposite of the lazy shortcut. The meanings of both clauses change over time… Play fair: Work hard: Social media and politics have done a great job of celebrating people who seek selfish shortcuts, simply because it’s...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date” Edition 1. Who rules us? Google changed its rules on what kind of behaviour it regards as “spam” and, of...
3 weeks ago
3
3 weeks ago
1. Who rules us? Google changed its rules on what kind of behaviour it regards as “spam” and, of course, the impact on some companies will be pretty negative. The behaviour it is targeting is so-called “parasite SEO”, where a publisher allows a third party to create content for...
Seth's Blog
Heavy Lemon Tuna It’s easy to smirk at the ridiculous images one can make in twenty seconds with AI. People used to...
a year ago
11
a year ago
It’s easy to smirk at the ridiculous images one can make in twenty seconds with AI. People used to smirk at photographs in the 1800s. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” is no longer a useful thing to say. Truth is real, photos are not.
Open Culture
William S. Burroughs’ Scathing “Thanksgiving Prayer,” Shot by Gus Van Sant “Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986” first appeared in print in Tornado Alley, a chapbook published by...
3 weeks ago
9
3 weeks ago
“Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986” first appeared in print in Tornado Alley, a chapbook published by William S. Burroughs in 1989. Two years later, Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Milk) shot a montage that brought the poem to film, making it at least the...
Seth's Blog
New decisions based on new information More than ever, we’re pushed to have certainty. Strong opinions, tightly held and loudly proclaimed....
a year ago
98
a year ago
More than ever, we’re pushed to have certainty. Strong opinions, tightly held and loudly proclaimed. And then, when reality intervenes, it can be stressful. The software stack, business model, career, candidate, policy, or even the social network habits that we had as part of our...
Seth's Blog
Perfect pavement Paving the ground might be an option. Pavement is invisible to the driver. It’s expected, smooth,...
6 months ago
39
6 months ago
Paving the ground might be an option. Pavement is invisible to the driver. It’s expected, smooth, resilient and gets out of the way. You only notice a road when it’s not paved well. Nature, on the other hand, is never perfect. All untouched forests are natural, yet each is...
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
17
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...
Seth's Blog
Finding a more useful umwelt Add up all the senses you use and the things you notice: that’s your umwelt. It’s pretty obvious...
12 months ago
11
12 months ago
Add up all the senses you use and the things you notice: that’s your umwelt. It’s pretty obvious that your dog has a different one than you do. They see fewer colors and smell far more intelligently. Sea slugs see a much wider range of colors, and bats can sense vibrations. Among...
Seth's Blog
The opposite of ‘perfect’ It’s not junk. No, the opposite of perfect is: Meets spec Useful On time Productive Valuable By...
2 months ago
19
2 months ago
It’s not junk. No, the opposite of perfect is: Meets spec Useful On time Productive Valuable By definition, good enough is good enough. If the spec isn’t what you need, change the spec. But perfect is unattainable and perfect is a place to hide.
Seth's Blog
On the dot Hardy came home from school and proudly showed his mom the cheap plastic trinkets he had earned that...
a year ago
16
a year ago
Hardy came home from school and proudly showed his mom the cheap plastic trinkets he had earned that day. “I stood quietly on the dot and so I got some tickets. And if I stand on the dot quietly tomorrow, I can get some more prizes!” First grade! That’s one way to indoctrinate...
Stat Significant
The Rise of Nicole Kidman, Pop Culture Folk Hero: A Statistical Analysis Charting Nicole Kidman's recent career renaissance and rejection of industry norms.
a month ago
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Kathryn Green I am a textile artist and tutor, specialising in dye and print processes to create organic, layered...
10 months ago
50
10 months ago
I am a textile artist and tutor, specialising in dye and print processes to create organic, layered and textural art textile pieces for exhibition, in addition to capsule collections of wearable art and interior accessories.  Having obtained a First-class degree in textiles, I...
Open Culture
Watch Tom Waits For No One, the Pioneering Animated Music Video from 1979 Tom Waits For No One, above, is surely the only film in history to have won an Oscar for Scientific...
5 months ago
40
5 months ago
Tom Waits For No One, above, is surely the only film in history to have won an Oscar for Scientific and Technical Achievement for its creator and a first place award at the Hollywood Erotic Film and Video Festival. Director John Lamb and his partner, Bruce Lyon also deserve...
Seth's Blog
The third impossibility The first was radio and television. Humans around the world spending a significant portion of their...
6 months ago
56
6 months ago
The first was radio and television. Humans around the world spending a significant portion of their waking hours consuming audio and video recordings of other people. The second was the internet. Five to ten hours a day interacting, in real time, with other people, many of them...
Seth's Blog
Silence vs noise When a group comes together, noise is easy. Just a few people have to make a commotion for noise to...
4 months ago
35
4 months ago
When a group comes together, noise is easy. Just a few people have to make a commotion for noise to happen. But silence requires everyone to be in sync.
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
14
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...
Handprinted - Blog
Using a Thermal Screen to Print Festive Wrapping Printing your own bespoke wrapping paper or fabric can be very rewarding especially when the gift is...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
Printing your own bespoke wrapping paper or fabric can be very rewarding especially when the gift is for a loved one. This week we're printing our own kraft wrapping paper using a Thermal Screen.  Here at Handprinted we use a MiScreen Machine to make our Thermal Screens. You can...
Seth's Blog
It goes without saying A phrase that’s been showing up recently is, “no pressure.” It usually comes in a pitch letter of...
a year ago
47
a year ago
A phrase that’s been showing up recently is, “no pressure.” It usually comes in a pitch letter of some sort, written by someone who isn’t in a position to exert any pressure. So why say it? It’s a bit like, “while supplies last.” And “to be honest…” which is perhaps the most...
Seth's Blog
ChatGPT is dumber than it looks That’s not true for a screwdriver. Or a table saw or even a spatula. These are useful tools, but...
8 months ago
21
8 months ago
That’s not true for a screwdriver. Or a table saw or even a spatula. These are useful tools, but they don’t pretend to be well-informed or wise. They’re dumb, and they look dumb too. That’s one reason that tools are effective. We use them to leverage our effort, but we don’t...
Marian's Blog
How to build a Lego Portal Gun Resources: Parts: list, Rebrickable CSV, Bricklink XML Model: LDR, 3DS Build this MOC on...
over a year ago
2
over a year ago
Resources: Parts: list, Rebrickable CSV, Bricklink XML Model: LDR, 3DS Build this MOC on Rebrickable Instructions: ...
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
37
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
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
68
7 months ago
I’m workshopping a new book. For the last few months, I’ve been feverishly writing a book about strategy. Strategy for individuals, small organizations and large ones as well. Strategy for someone seeking to make a difference, and strategy for people who do projects. Starting...
Open Culture
Free: Download Over 33,000 Sounds from the BBC Sound Effects Archive There may be a few young people in Britain today who recognize the name Ludwig Koch, but in the...
2 months ago
22
2 months ago
There may be a few young people in Britain today who recognize the name Ludwig Koch, but in the nineteen-forties, he constituted something of a cultural phenomenon unto himself. He “started recording sounds and voices in the 1880s when he was still a child” in his native Germany,...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Playing dice: Randomness, determinism and the quantum world What’s the difference between unexpected, random and chaotic? Does the universe contain any truly...
over a year ago
2
over a year ago
What’s the difference between unexpected, random and chaotic? Does the universe contain any truly random events, or is it operating like clockwork, ticking from one event to the next?
Open Culture
Get Unlimited Access to Courses & Certificates: Coursera Is Offering 40% (or $159) Off of Coursera... A heads up on a deal: Between today and June 23, 2024, Coursera is offering a 40% discount on its...
6 months ago
31
6 months ago
A heads up on a deal: Between today and June 23, 2024, Coursera is offering a 40% discount on its annual subscription plan called “Coursera Plus.” Normally priced at $399, Coursera Plus (now available for $239.40) gives you access to 7,000+ courses for one all-inclusive...
Seth's Blog
Indifferent overhead Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that...
7 months ago
29
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
Umberto Eco’s List of the 14 Common Features of Fascism Creative Commons image by Rob Bogaerts, via the National Archives in Holland One of the key...
a month ago
21
a month ago
Creative Commons image by Rob Bogaerts, via the National Archives in Holland One of the key questions facing both journalists and loyal oppositions these days is how do we stay honest as euphemisms and trivializations take over the discourse? Can we use words like “fascism,” for...
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
21
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...
On the Arts
How to Start Learning About Aesthetics Three ways to improve your knowledge about aesthetics, art theory, and the philosophy of art.
a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
Drypoint - Which plate is right for my project? Drypoint is a fantastic intaglio technique as it requires limited equipment to create a plate. It's...
7 months ago
60
7 months ago
Drypoint is a fantastic intaglio technique as it requires limited equipment to create a plate. It's a great way of creating a printed drawing and is one of the printmaking techniques where the positive mark is the one that prints (unlike relief printing for example). There are...
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
50
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...
Handprinted - Blog
Glossary of Printmaking Terminology Scroll through the list below to find definitions and explanations of common printmaking...
a year ago
46
a year ago
Scroll through the list below to find definitions and explanations of common printmaking terms: Acid-free – refers to papers that are made with an alkaline pulp, usually with calcium carbonate added. Acids contribute to the deterioration of paper and therefore of prints. Aisuki –...
The Great Discontent...
Sofía Gallisá Muriente Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed...
over a year ago
34
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 ¿Puedes compartir un poco sobre dónde y cómo creciste y qué influencia...
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...
2 months ago
17
2 months ago
As cultural figures, the late James Earl Jones and Kurt Vonnegut would seem to have had little in common, but each could easily be recognized by his voice. Jones’ will come to mind as soon as you think of Darth Vader, Simba’s father, or “This is CNN.” Vonnegut’s distinction was...
Seth's Blog
After the meteorite When it slams into your house and destroys it, we’re likely to pursue one of two lines of thinking:...
a year ago
14
a year ago
When it slams into your house and destroys it, we’re likely to pursue one of two lines of thinking: –How did I cause this? What choices did I make, what mistakes did I permit, why did I deserve to have this damage, or who can I blame? –Well, that happened, now what should I do?...
Seth's Blog
The slog, the hobby and the quest Here’s a simple XY grid to help you think about your next project, freelance career or startup: All...
a year ago
12
a year ago
Here’s a simple XY grid to help you think about your next project, freelance career or startup: All too common are ‘fun’ businesses where someone finds a hobby they like and tries to turn it into a gig. While the work may be fun, the uphill grind of this sort of project is...
Stat Significant
Is Music Stardom in Decline? A Statistical Analysis Is music stardom dying?
a month ago