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Seth's Blog
Activation is not a secret …but it’s often overlooked. A farmer might yearn for twice as much land. But it’s far more efficient...
13 hours ago
1
13 hours ago
…but it’s often overlooked. A farmer might yearn for twice as much land. But it’s far more efficient to double the yield on the land he already has. Marketers often hustle to get the word out. To reach more people. And yet, activating the fans you already have–the ones who trust...
Seth's Blog
Expectations We might deserve something. We might be entitled to it. But expectations are a story we tell...
yesterday
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yesterday
We might deserve something. We might be entitled to it. But expectations are a story we tell ourselves, and that story is up to us. The simple life hack is to lower your expectations, regardless of what you’re entitled to. Create the conditions for the outcome you seek, but leave...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #143 Pope Leo, Techno-Industrial Playbook, Stripe, Vulcan Robots, Natural Short Sleep, MenB Vaccine, Ezra
2 days ago
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: New Popes and Cooked Kids Plus! Meme Wars and 16th Century TMZ
2 days ago
Seth's Blog
Hallucinations are not the same as errors I asked my AI about some obsolete card games, and it wrote a 1,000 word essay about Lansquenet. It...
2 days ago
4
2 days ago
I asked my AI about some obsolete card games, and it wrote a 1,000 word essay about Lansquenet. It made up the rules, the strategies, the betting techniques, all of it. Saying that it was raining on July 14th last year is an error. Inventing an entirely new set of rules is an...
Open Culture
How a Student’s Phone Call Averted a Skyscraper Collapse: The Tale of the Citicorp Center The Citigroup Center in Midtown Manhattan is also known by its address, 601 Lexington Avenue, at...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
The Citigroup Center in Midtown Manhattan is also known by its address, 601 Lexington Avenue, at which it’s been standing for 47 years, longer than the median New Yorker has been alive. Though still a fairly handsome building, in a seventies-corporate sort of way, it now pops out...
Seth's Blog
Good-boss friendly Workers have rarely gotten the long end of the stick. The seduction of “do what you’re told and...
3 days ago
5
3 days ago
Workers have rarely gotten the long end of the stick. The seduction of “do what you’re told and you’ll win valuable prizes” often doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, and so it’s not surprising that many people are skeptical about delivering something extra–work is called work for a...
Open Culture
How Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton & Harold Lloyd Pulled Off Their Spectacular Stunts During Silent... It can be tempting to view the box office’s domination by visual-effects-laden Hollywood spectacle...
3 days ago
4
3 days ago
It can be tempting to view the box office’s domination by visual-effects-laden Hollywood spectacle as a recent phenomenon. And indeed, there have been periods during which that wasn’t the case: the “New Hollywood” that began in the late nineteen sixties, for instance, when the...
Open Culture
How a Papal Conclave Works, and Who Might Be the Next Pope On Tuesday, the cardinals locked themselves into the Sistine Chapel, officially beginning the...
3 days ago
5
3 days ago
On Tuesday, the cardinals locked themselves into the Sistine Chapel, officially beginning the conclave to elect the 267th pope. First formalized by Pope Gregory X in 1274, the conclave (a word derived from the Latin words cum clave, meaning “with a key”) follows a highly scripted...
Stat Significant
Have Movies Stopped Killing Their Main Character? A Statistical Analysis A data-driven investigation of movie hero mortality rates
4 days ago
Infinite Scroll
The Weak Men of MAGA How Weak Men create Hard Times
4 days ago
Seth's Blog
Mind reading It’s thrilling when someone reads our minds. Sometimes we call it hospitality, or smart user...
4 days ago
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4 days ago
It’s thrilling when someone reads our minds. Sometimes we call it hospitality, or smart user interface design. Sometimes, it simply feels like being seen. The person or the system knows what you need, perhaps before you even realize what that might be. This is a special sort of...
Open Culture
Take a 3D Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel & Explore Michelangelo’s Masterpieces Up Close Today, 133 cardinals from around the world enter the conclave to determine the next pope, during...
4 days ago
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4 days ago
Today, 133 cardinals from around the world enter the conclave to determine the next pope, during which they’ll cast their votes in the Sistine Chapel. Despite being one of the most famous tourist attractions in Europe, the Sistine Chapel still serves as a venue for such important...
Open Culture
George Orwell’s Rules for Making the Perfect Cup of Tea: A Short Animation Several years back, Colin Marshall highlighted George Orwell’s essay, “A Nice Cup of Tea,” which...
4 days ago
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4 days ago
Several years back, Colin Marshall highlighted George Orwell’s essay, “A Nice Cup of Tea,” which first ran in the Evening Standard on January 12, 1946. In that article, Orwell weighed in on a subject the English take seriously–how to make the perfect cup of tea. (According to...
Infinite Scroll
Crisis PR for Dummies You too can avoid being cancelled!
5 days ago
Seth's Blog
Tools and the long tail Have you ever made a video that was seen by someone you didn’t know? Or written something that got...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
Have you ever made a video that was seen by someone you didn’t know? Or written something that got shared outside of your inner circle? The odds of either of these things happening a generation ago were close to zero. Now, it’s common. The skeptics said that people wanted to...
Open Culture
A Japanese Zen Monk Explains What Zen Is Really About Despite developing in Asia, as the Chinese form of a religion originally brought over from India and...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
Despite developing in Asia, as the Chinese form of a religion originally brought over from India and later refined in Japan, Zen Buddhism has long appealed to Westerners as well. Some of that owes to the spare, elegant aesthetics with which popular culture associates it, and more...
Open Culture
The Hobo Ethical Code of 1889: 15 Rules for Living a Self-Reliant, Honest & Compassionate Life Who wants to be a billionaire? A few years ago, Forbes published author Roberta Chinsky Matuson’s...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
Who wants to be a billionaire? A few years ago, Forbes published author Roberta Chinsky Matuson’s sensible advice to businesspeople seeking to shoot up that golden ladder. These lawful tips espoused such familiar virtues as hard work and community involvement, and as such, were...
Seth's Blog
Seeking yoyu 余裕 There are two ways of thinking about doing more than is necessary. It can become a really useful...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
There are two ways of thinking about doing more than is necessary. It can become a really useful marketing tactic. When you deliver more than people expect, your overdelivery creates connection. The surprise and delight is remarkable. People talk about it, seek you out and come...
Open Culture
See Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring in 3D in a New 108-Gigapixel Scan You may believe that you’ve had a close enough view of Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring....
6 days ago
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6 days ago
You may believe that you’ve had a close enough view of Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. You may have gone to The Hague and seen the painting in person at the Mauritshuis. You may have zoomed into the ten billion-pixel scan we featured here on Open Culture in 2021....
Open Culture
Hear the First Recording of the Human Voice (1860) When inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville sang a nursery rhyme into his phonoautogram in 1860,...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
When inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville sang a nursery rhyme into his phonoautogram in 1860, he had no plans to ever play back this recording. A precursor to the wax cylinder, the phonoautogram took inputs for the study of sound waves, but could not be turned into an...
Seth's Blog
Sorting and choosing One is far more important than the other. Sorting puts our options into two piles. One pile is the...
a week ago
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a week ago
One is far more important than the other. Sorting puts our options into two piles. One pile is the don’t-like, not-good-enough or wrong stack. These are the flavors we don’t enjoy, the paths that are dead ends and the people we simply don’t want to hang out with. The other pile...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Powerful Group Chats Plus! Every kind of AI - sycophantic, predatory and unethical!
a week ago
Seth's Blog
Seriously One way to deal with a changing world and new problems is to take yourself very seriously, others...
a week ago
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a week ago
One way to deal with a changing world and new problems is to take yourself very seriously, others not so much. The other way is to take the situation quite seriously, but perhaps not focus so much on taking ourselves seriously. As Ani DiFranco points out, rock musicians take...
Infinite Scroll
Podcast - The Culture War and MAGA ft. Cartoons Hate Her How did weird online battles over gender lead to the tariff policies we're seeing today?
a week ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #142 Neuralink, Joby, Distributed AI, Diabetes Down Under, Hill & Valley
a week ago
Open Culture
Was William Shakespeare’s Marriage Closer—and Less Estranged—Than We Thought?: A 17th-Century Letter... Image via Hereford Cathedral and Hereford Mappa Mundi Trust At this point, every aspect of William...
a week ago
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a week ago
Image via Hereford Cathedral and Hereford Mappa Mundi Trust At this point, every aspect of William Shakespeare’s life has produced more speculation than any of us could digest in a lifetime. That goes for his professional life, of course, but also his even more scantily...
Seth's Blog
The biggest thing you bring to the project is forward Forward motion is an asset, a skill and a job title. Elevators used to need elevator operators. They...
a week ago
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a week ago
Forward motion is an asset, a skill and a job title. Elevators used to need elevator operators. They didn’t go anywhere unless someone got on and announced they wanted to go somewhere. Initiative, desire and being willing to take responsibility are powerful because most of us...
Open Culture
How Eyes Evolved: A Fascinating Tour Through the Animal Kingdom Above, Lars Schmitz, a professor at Claremont McKenna College, guides us “through a giant tree of...
a week ago
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a week ago
Above, Lars Schmitz, a professor at Claremont McKenna College, guides us “through a giant tree of life mapping the evolution of eyes in the animal kingdom: how they work, why they’ve taken the form they have, and the evolutionary advantages they’ve unlocked across species.” The...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 008: Golden Age with Mike Solana Turning (Parts of) America into Rare Earth Metals Processing Disney World®
a week ago
Seth's Blog
Every tactic… Has a strategy behind it. Often unsaid, undiscussed and hidden. It’s easier to simply play with the...
a week ago
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a week ago
Has a strategy behind it. Often unsaid, undiscussed and hidden. It’s easier to simply play with the tactic of the moment. Tell me what your tactic is trying to accomplish and I’ll be halfway to understanding what your strategy is. But it makes a lot more sense to announce your...
Open Culture
Stream Online Monty Python and the Holy Grail Free on Its 50th Anniversary This year, YouTube celebrated its twentieth anniversary, prompting younger users to wonder what life...
a week ago
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a week ago
This year, YouTube celebrated its twentieth anniversary, prompting younger users to wonder what life could have been like before it. The fiftieth anniversary of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which premiered in April of 1975, has inspired similar reflection among comedy...
Open Culture
Marvin Gaye’s Classic Vocals on ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’: The A Cappella Version It’s hard to believe, but Marvin Gaye’s classic 1967 recording of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”...
a week ago
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a week ago
It’s hard to believe, but Marvin Gaye’s classic 1967 recording of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was originally rejected by his record label. The song, about a man’s grief over hearing rumors of his lover’s infidelity, was written by the legendary Motown Records producer...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Rosie Mclay I'm Rosie, a 32 year old female artist who is mostly from Bristol but can't decide whether to live...
a week ago
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a week ago
I'm Rosie, a 32 year old female artist who is mostly from Bristol but can't decide whether to live in Bristol or the Welsh borders so is a bit all over the place. I've been a full time artist for eight years, mostly making art about our relationship to mortality and nature by...
Stat Significant
What Are the Greatest Karaoke Songs of All Time? A Statistical Analysis Which songs dominate karaoke night?
a week ago
Seth's Blog
Uncomfortable ideas The ideas aren’t uncomfortable, we are. You don’t have to like the weather to acknowledge that it’s...
a week ago
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a week ago
The ideas aren’t uncomfortable, we are. You don’t have to like the weather to acknowledge that it’s raining.
Open Culture
The Heavy-Metal Band Disturbed Covered Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” Ten Years Ago, and... “The Sound of Silence” Is the Most Metal Song of the Past Decade”: imagine that headline, and the...
a week ago
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a week ago
“The Sound of Silence” Is the Most Metal Song of the Past Decade”: imagine that headline, and the contrarian culture piece practically writes itself. Not so long ago, Slate was notorious for publishing that kind of thing, but it seems they’ve now put that sensibility behind them...
Open Culture
A Stylish 2,000-Year-Old Roman Shoe Found in a Well When the Romans pushed their way north into the German provinces, they built (circa 90 AD) the...
a week ago
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a week ago
When the Romans pushed their way north into the German provinces, they built (circa 90 AD) the Saalburg, a fort that protected the boundary between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribal territories. At its peak, 2,000 people lived in the fort and the attached village, and it...
John Reynolds -...
2024.04.14 2024.04.14
a week ago
John Reynolds -...
2024.04.11-13 2024.04.11-13
a week ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Chaos is a Ladder Vertical Integrators: Part V
a week ago
Haterade
Cooking with Dom DeLuise The dream of the ‘90s is alive and portly
a week ago
Seth's Blog
More alternatives, please There are two ways for an artisan or professional to see the world: Scarcity. This is the idea that...
a week ago
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a week ago
There are two ways for an artisan or professional to see the world: Scarcity. This is the idea that if there were fewer photographers, more people would hire me to do wedding pictures. That if the bar exam were more selective, it would be easier for my firm to get clients. And if...
Infinite Scroll
Old Art is Strangling New Art Why is older content dominating every artistic field?
a week ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 007: 50 Things Brian Potter Has Learned Writing Construction Physics Things are almost always more complicated than they seem.
2 weeks ago
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: YouTube's AI Problem Plus! Vibe Shift Reversal and Dr Pepper Guy
2 weeks ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #141 Building Civilizations, Nuclear Moon, Physical Intelligence, Argentina, Creatine
2 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
Powerlessness Not a lack of power, but feeling as though we have none. Some people have been indoctrinated to...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Not a lack of power, but feeling as though we have none. Some people have been indoctrinated to prefer a life with no agency, as it also brings no responsibility. At the other extreme, some folks have decided that they have more power than they actually do. Video games offer...
Open Culture
Miles Davis’ Album On the Corner Tried to Woo Young Rock & Funk Fans: First Considered a Disaster,... Miles Davis didn’t put out any studio albums from 1973 until the middle of 1981. In explaining the...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Miles Davis didn’t put out any studio albums from 1973 until the middle of 1981. In explaining the reasons for this lacuna in his recording career, Milesologists can point to a variety of factors in the man’s professional and personal life. But one in particular looms large: the...
Open Culture
Hōshi: A Short Documentary on the 1300-Year-Old Hotel Run by the Same Japanese Family for 46... Hōshi, a traditional Japanese inn in Komatsu, Japan, holds the distinction of being the second...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Hōshi, a traditional Japanese inn in Komatsu, Japan, holds the distinction of being the second oldest hotel in the world—and “the oldest still running family business in the world.” Built in 718 AD, Hōshi has been operated by the same family for 46 consecutive generations. Count...
Seth's Blog
Simple and painless productivity On the factory floor, productivity increases are relentlessly implemented, often without regard for...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
On the factory floor, productivity increases are relentlessly implemented, often without regard for worker satisfaction. For people working with a laptop, though, they are often seen as optional lifestyle choices instead of ways to significantly boost how much we can get done–and...
Open Culture
The Roman Colosseum Deconstructed: 3D Animation Reveals the Hidden Technology That Powered Rome’s... Most tourists in Rome put the Colosseum at the top of their to-see list. (My own sister-in-law, soon...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Most tourists in Rome put the Colosseum at the top of their to-see list. (My own sister-in-law, soon to head out on her Italian honeymoon, plans to head to that storied ruin more or less straight from the airport.) Even those with no particular interest in ancient Roman...
Open Culture
The 1924 Soviet Chess Match Where The Chess Pieces Were Real Soldiers and Horses Let’s time travel back to Leningrad (aka St. Petersburg) in 1924. That’s when an unconventional...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Let’s time travel back to Leningrad (aka St. Petersburg) in 1924. That’s when an unconventional chess match was played by Peter Romanovsky and Ilya Rabinovich, two chess masters of the day. Apparently, they called in their moves over the telephone. And then real-life chess...
Infinite Scroll
Podcast: What should we do about sports betting? ft. Isaac Rose Berman As a follow up to my article from a few weeks ago Should We Ban Gambling on Smartphones?, I’ve...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
As a follow up to my article from a few weeks ago Should We Ban Gambling on Smartphones?, I’ve invited Isaac Rose-Berman on the show to talk about gambling policy.
Seth's Blog
Technical debt and AI slop Technical debt is easy to incur. It’s unnecessary added features, undocumented code, support for...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Technical debt is easy to incur. It’s unnecessary added features, undocumented code, support for outmoded interactions and anything that slows down your ability to update and upgrade your work. Tech debt is the combination of doing what feels right at the time, in a hurry, and...
Open Culture
How Zaha Hadid Revolutionized Architecture & Drew Inspiration from Russian Avant-Garde Art Zaha Hadid died in 2016, at the age of 65. She certainly wasn’t old, by the standards of our time,...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Zaha Hadid died in 2016, at the age of 65. She certainly wasn’t old, by the standards of our time, though in most professions, her best working years would already have been behind her. She was, however, an architect, and by age 65, most architects are still very much in their...
Open Culture
Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi–Walt Disney’s 1943 Film Shows How Fascists Are Made During World War II, Walt Disney entered into a contract with the US government to develop 32...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
During World War II, Walt Disney entered into a contract with the US government to develop 32 animated shorts. Nearly bankrupted by Fantasia (1940), Disney needed to refill its coffers, and making American propaganda films didn’t seem like a bad way to do it. On numerous...
Open Culture
The Extreme Life and Philosophy of Hunter S. Thompson: Gonzo Journalism and the American Condition Hunter S. Thompson has been gone for two decades now. When he went out, as the new Pursuit of Wonder...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Hunter S. Thompson has been gone for two decades now. When he went out, as the new Pursuit of Wonder video on his life and work reminds us, he did so in a highly American manner: with a gun, and at the moment of his own choosing. Even his longtime fans who respected something...
Seth's Blog
Good instincts Sometimes, in the absence of data or useful experience, we’re left to act on our instincts. It’s...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Sometimes, in the absence of data or useful experience, we’re left to act on our instincts. It’s worth noting that other people have instincts as well. And in a given situation, their instincts might prove to be as right as often as ours. Just because it’s your instinct doesn’t...
Open Culture
James Joyce, With His Eyesight Failing, Draws a Sketch of Leopold Bloom (1926) James Joyce had a terrible time with his eyes. When he was six years old he received his first set...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
James Joyce had a terrible time with his eyes. When he was six years old he received his first set of eyeglasses, and, when he was 25, he came down with his first case of iritis, a very painful and potentially blinding inflammation of the colored part of the eye, the iris. A...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: A Time To Kill Globe Emojis Gone Viral and Le Poisson Steve
3 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
Work ethic vs discipline A solid work ethic drives someone to show up, even when they’d rather not. If there’s work on their...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
A solid work ethic drives someone to show up, even when they’d rather not. If there’s work on their desk, they’ll take it on. Discipline, on the other hand, is the ability to say ‘no’ to free up focus and resources for the work that’s worth saying ‘yes’ to.
Seth's Blog
The steps vs. the concept If you memorize the steps, you have a direct, simple and fast path to obtain the result. Until the...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
If you memorize the steps, you have a direct, simple and fast path to obtain the result. Until the world changes. Even the tiniest shift in the system will render your memorization useless. On the other hand, if you understand the concept, you’ll be able to produce the steps...
Blog - Mac Pierce
The void will consume us and it'll be dank - Minionotics at Weatherproof A review of the group show Minionotics (March 13th - April 13th, 2025) at Weatherproof Gallery in...
3 weeks ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #140 K2-18b, o3 and o4-mini, Parkinson’s Research, GLP-1 Pill, Precision, Neuroscience, Abundance...
3 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
Enrollment and engagement Teachers and organizations benefit from both, but they’re not the same. Engagement is the delight we...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Teachers and organizations benefit from both, but they’re not the same. Engagement is the delight we have when we lean into the process. Engagement happens when social media is optimized for maximum focus, and it also can be seen in a student who’s in sync with a teacher who...
Open Culture
Carl Sagan Issues a Chilling Warning About the Decline of Scientific Thinking in America: Watch His... Until the end of his life, Carl Sagan (1934–1996) continued doing what he did all along —...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Until the end of his life, Carl Sagan (1934–1996) continued doing what he did all along — popularizing science and “enthusiastically conveying the wonders of the universe to millions of people on television and in books.” Whenever Sagan appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny...
Open Culture
The Real Story of Easter: How We Got from the First Easter in the Bible to Bunnies, Eggs & Chocolate Popular culture has long since claimed Easter as an occasion for trickster rabbits, dyed-egg hunts,...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Popular culture has long since claimed Easter as an occasion for trickster rabbits, dyed-egg hunts, and marshmallow chicks of unnatural hues — none of which are actually in the Bible. Though that probably doesn’t surprise you, you may not be aware of just how far the modern...
Seth's Blog
The use (and design) of tools It’s hard to build a house without a hammer. The hammer has been around for a long time, and thanks...
3 weeks ago
9
3 weeks ago
It’s hard to build a house without a hammer. The hammer has been around for a long time, and thanks to its intuitive design, a user can get 70% of the benefit after less than ten minutes of instruction. People who depend on hammers for their livelihood are probably at over 95%...
Open Culture
How to Evade Taxes in Ancient Rome: A 1,900-Year-Old Papyrus Reveals an Ancient Tax Evasion Scheme It was surely not a coincidence that the New York Times published its story on the trial of a...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
It was surely not a coincidence that the New York Times published its story on the trial of a certain Gadalias and Saulos this past Monday, April 14th. The defendants, as their names suggest, did not live in modernity: the papyrus documenting their legal troubles dates to the...
Open Culture
How to Enter a ‘Flow State’ on Command: Peak Performance Mind Hack Explained in 7 Minutes You can be forgiven for thinking the concept of “flow” was cooked up and popularized by yoga...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
You can be forgiven for thinking the concept of “flow” was cooked up and popularized by yoga teachers. That word gets a lot of play when one is moving from Downward-Facing Dog on through Warrior One and Two. Actually, flow — the state of  “effortless effort” — was coined by...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Aurore Swithenbank Hiya, I’m Aurore Swithenbank, a printmaker living in South East London with my partner and cute cat....
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
Hiya, I’m Aurore Swithenbank, a printmaker living in South East London with my partner and cute cat. I moved to London when I was 10 from France and haven’t looked back since.  Describe your printmaking process.  My printmaking method is linocut. I plan most of my designs with...
Stat Significant
Which Car Brands are Frequently Featured in Popular Music? A Statistical Analysis Which car brands are a fixture of song lyrics?
3 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
The essence of industrialism Efficiency + Convenience. Not everything is industrialized. A backyard garden, a freelance editor,...
3 weeks ago
21
3 weeks ago
Efficiency + Convenience. Not everything is industrialized. A backyard garden, a freelance editor, even a chef with a hands-on restaurant. These folks are building a practice and producing value, but they haven’t embraced industrialization. That happens when management steps in,...
Open Culture
A Forgotten 16th-Century Manuscript Reveals the First Designs for Modern Rockets The Austrian military engineer Conrad Haas was a man ahead of his time — indeed, about 400 years...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
The Austrian military engineer Conrad Haas was a man ahead of his time — indeed, about 400 years ahead, considering that he was working on rockets aimed for outer space back in the mid-sixteenth century. Needless to say, he never actually managed to launch anything into the upper...
Open Culture
Why Most Ancient Civilizations Had No Word for the Color Blue In an old Zen story, two monks argue over whether a flag is waving or whether it’s the wind that...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In an old Zen story, two monks argue over whether a flag is waving or whether it’s the wind that waves. Their teacher strikes them both dumb, saying, “It is your mind that moves.” The centuries-old koan illustrates a point Zen masters — and later philosophers, psychologists, and...
Not Boring by Packy...
Base Power Company: Chapter 2 Violently Executing to Build America's Next Generation Power Company
3 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
Where is your N + 1? If three people are coming over for dinner, does that stress you out? What if it’s 17? If you’re...
3 weeks ago
12
3 weeks ago
If three people are coming over for dinner, does that stress you out? What if it’s 17? If you’re giving a talk explaining your strategy to four people, does it feel like a high-risk event? What if it’s 54? How many more people are required before it flips to stressful? Because...
Open Culture
The Ark Before Noah: Discover the Ancient Flood Myths That Came Before the Bible The Lord said to Noah, there’s going to be a floody, floody; then to get those children out of the...
3 weeks ago
11
3 weeks ago
The Lord said to Noah, there’s going to be a floody, floody; then to get those children out of the muddy, muddy; then to build him an arky, arky. This much we heard while toasting marshmallows around the campfire, at least if we grew up in a certain modern Protestant tradition....
Infinite Scroll
The New Age of Thought Crime Conservatives raged against woke cancellations. Now they're eagerly doing it themselves.
3 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
How to win an argument with a toddler You can’t. That’s because toddlers don’t understand what an argument is and aren’t interesting in...
3 weeks ago
13
3 weeks ago
You can’t. That’s because toddlers don’t understand what an argument is and aren’t interesting in having one. Toddlers (which includes defensive bureaucrats, bullies, flat earthers, folks committed to a specific agenda and radio talk show hosts) may indicate that they’d like to...
Anarchy Unfolds
Not today, pink elephants of doom Blue Bulletin #1
4 weeks ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 006: Forsaking Industrialism Conrad Bastable on how China built its Industrial Platform and what it would take for the West to...
4 weeks ago
24
4 weeks ago
Conrad Bastable on how China built its Industrial Platform and what it would take for the West to reindustrialize (hint: tariffs aren't enough)
Seth's Blog
Charged by the word In a hurried world with infinite content, it’s worth considering that you’re no longer paid by the...
4 weeks ago
13
4 weeks ago
In a hurried world with infinite content, it’s worth considering that you’re no longer paid by the word when you write, in fact, you should pay for every extra word you use. Be as brief as is useful.
Seth's Blog
The AI effort gap It can take seven years to get a PhD. And a month to write a useful business plan or a year to write...
4 weeks ago
11
4 weeks ago
It can take seven years to get a PhD. And a month to write a useful business plan or a year to write a book. And yet, when AI shows up, our mistake is thinking that if we can’t find useful brilliance in one simple prompt, it’s broken. Imagine what you could discover and create...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #139 Dire Wolves, Base Power, ZBB Regulation, Zipline, Amca, Solano Shipyard
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Why and how Let’s get rid of science class in school. Instead, beginning in kindergarten, we could devote a...
a month ago
12
a month ago
Let’s get rid of science class in school. Instead, beginning in kindergarten, we could devote a class to curiosity and explanation. A class that persistently and consistently teaches kids to ask why and to answer how. The unacceptable single-word answers are “because” and...
Seth's Blog
Designed, Designy or Well-designed? If we create something with purpose, we’ve designed it. It’s not an accident. An axe handle is...
a month ago
14
a month ago
If we create something with purpose, we’ve designed it. It’s not an accident. An axe handle is designed, and so is a symphony. Some things, though are designy. The designer’s fingerprints are all over it. The typefaces, knurled edges, needless heat sinks and homage to Dieter Rams...
Infinite Scroll
Should We Ban Gambling on Smartphones? A conversation between two parts of my brain
a month ago
Stat Significant
Which Movies Have "Aged Poorly"? A Statistical Analysis Which films have not stood the test of time?
a month ago
Seth's Blog
A good business Just because it’s useful, needed or worthwhile doesn’t mean it’s a good business. E-bikes are...
a month ago
11
a month ago
Just because it’s useful, needed or worthwhile doesn’t mean it’s a good business. E-bikes are transforming cities and offering mobility to those who previously couldn’t afford it. But they’re a commodity, and it’s difficult to make a significant profit producing them. A good...
Blog - Mac Pierce
NCCCIAP 2025 - Photos + A photo gallery showcasing images taken at the 2025 National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron...
a month ago
18
a month ago
A photo gallery showcasing images taken at the 2025 National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practices.
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 005: Parakeet Skittle Factory Dementia Monkey Titty Monetization
a month ago
Seth's Blog
This is number 10,000 Give or take. It’s hard to get the exact count through the sands of time. But it’s at least 10,000...
a month ago
13
a month ago
Give or take. It’s hard to get the exact count through the sands of time. But it’s at least 10,000 blog posts as of today. That’s 25 years, once or twice a day. Back of the envelope, that’s about 2 billion blog post views. I’ve written and edited every post myself, hence the...
Open Culture
Isaac Asimov Describes How Artificial Intelligence Will Liberate Humans & Their Creativity in His... Artificial intelligence may be one of the major topics of our historical moment, but it can be...
a month ago
14
a month ago
Artificial intelligence may be one of the major topics of our historical moment, but it can be surprisingly tricky to define. In the more than 30-year-old interview clip above, Isaac Asimov describes artificial intelligence as “a phrase that we use for any device that does things...
Not Boring by Packy...
Us Against Spacetime On the improbability and promise of being alive on Earth in 2025
a month ago
Seth's Blog
An eroding sense of wonder We live in a science fiction universe. A $20 dose of penicillin was priceless a century ago. The...
a month ago
12
a month ago
We live in a science fiction universe. A $20 dose of penicillin was priceless a century ago. The five cents (a nickel!) we spend to light our home might have been the sort of thing we needed to trade an hour of labor for a few generations ago. The ability to press a button and...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Nervous MAGAs Plus! Creepy AI and College Admission Discourse
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Hobby mindset You might be fortunate enough to have a hobby. Something you are focused on and passionate about....
a month ago
16
a month ago
You might be fortunate enough to have a hobby. Something you are focused on and passionate about. You might read the journals, develop your skills, collect, connect with others in the field, and commit to getting better at it… Time spent on a hobby feels like time well spent....
John Reynolds -...
2024.04.05 2024.04.05
a month ago
Marian's Blog
3D Printed Mechanical Digital Clock This post is about building a 3D printed, mechanical digital clock, made out of seven-segment...
a month ago
18
a month ago
This post is about building a 3D printed, mechanical digital clock, made out of seven-segment displays. The project was inspired by a video by Lukas Deem, who built a clock with seven-segment displays where the segments slide in and out when they change their state. In his...
Seth's Blog
We are all goofballs When someone makes an obvious mistake, it’s tempting to label then with a term that’s dismissive or...
a month ago
16
a month ago
When someone makes an obvious mistake, it’s tempting to label then with a term that’s dismissive or even hurtful. A label is permanent, a noun, a way to sort and divide. But of course, others can say precisely the same thing about us when we were uninformed, selfish or in a...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #138 Isomorphic Labs, OpenAI Round, Streaming Thoughts, Dementia Vaccine?, Lipoprotein(a), Hyperlegible...
a month ago
Infinite Scroll
There is No Plan. They're Just Morons. Trump doesn't have complex trade theories. He's just an idiot.
a month ago
Seth's Blog
We can agree about schismogenesis Anthropologist Gregory Bateson highlighted that often, culture is based on oppositional behavior....
a month ago
18
a month ago
Anthropologist Gregory Bateson highlighted that often, culture is based on oppositional behavior. And it can spiral. They say “up” and the easy thing is to say “down.” Literally, “the creation of division.” Your competitor launches a product and you work to undermine it with a...
Stat Significant
When Do Viewers Get Hooked on a TV Show? A Statistical Analysis When do TV viewers become committed fans?
a month ago
Infinite Scroll
Internet Book Club: Careless People Incuriosity, carelessness, and the current political moment
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Four-word advice When there’s a complex situation that feels foreboding, you might need a manual, a coach and even a...
a month ago
14
a month ago
When there’s a complex situation that feels foreboding, you might need a manual, a coach and even a system to move forward. Or, it’s possible you simply need someone to tell you, “you’ll figure it out.”
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Frankie Brown I’m an illustrator and printmaker based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I’m inspired by nostalgic...
a month ago
96
a month 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 used to work part-time at Handprinted, but in November 2024 I decided to give being a full-time artist a try! It’s...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 003: Julian Lehr The case against conversational interfaces
a month ago
Seth's Blog
That might be the wrong question “Will it work?” Along the way, we’ve been pushed to load our decisions with a need for certainty....
a month ago
18
a month ago
“Will it work?” Along the way, we’ve been pushed to load our decisions with a need for certainty. It’s easier, it seems, to not try than it is to fail. But the question, “is it worth trying?” unlocks possibility. A surgeon in the middle of an operation should probably not...
Seth's Blog
Credulous Where do con men come from? There are three conditions that need to be met: First, there needs to be...
a month ago
13
a month ago
Where do con men come from? There are three conditions that need to be met: First, there needs to be rising societal pressure to get ahead, cut the line and find a win. Second, there needs to be people willing to set aside their ethical principles to take advantage of others in...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 002: Utsav Mamoria How to live an intellectually rich life
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Division is easier than connection But connection is where the value lies. Connected, resilient communities create possibility and...
a month ago
17
a month ago
But connection is where the value lies. Connected, resilient communities create possibility and forward motion. Division is satisfying in the short run, and it might even draw a crowd. But the only useful reason to disconnect is if it opens up the chance to increase connection...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Ghibli-fy Everything Plus: Elon's fake numbers and a Good Shrek Prediction
a month ago
Seth's Blog
“Be yourself” Really? Which self? The self you were when you were two years old, almost out of diapers? The self...
a month ago
15
a month ago
Really? Which self? The self you were when you were two years old, almost out of diapers? The self you were when you were screaming with the fans at the big game? The self you were after a long night? How about this: Become the self you’d be proud to be. Hang out with people […]
Seth's Blog
Toward leggerio We might not seek it out often enough in our work. It’s a musical term, but we can use it too. The...
a month ago
21
a month ago
We might not seek it out often enough in our work. It’s a musical term, but we can use it too. The light touch. A way to make a sound without making a commotion. Delicate and graceful. Showing up with care and with just enough extra, but not more than that. see also: sprezzatura
Infinite Scroll
How the Internet Changed Gen Z Humor "Soup Time", says Standing Frog
a month ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #137 Mitochondria, Image Generation, Nobels, Vast, Common Sense, AI Lifeguards, Tina He
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Obvious vs perhaps “Obvious” closes the door to inquiry. “Perhaps” opens it.
a month ago
Handprinted - Blog
Neocolor Pastels for Mono Screen Printing Monoprinting using an open screen is a wonderfully creative way of using your screen printing...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Monoprinting using an open screen is a wonderfully creative way of using your screen printing equipment for speedy, painterly prints. Neocolor Pastels are a great material to use when mono screen printing - you can draw directly onto the mesh and print your drawing through the...
Seth's Blog
The name doesn’t matter (that much) Busy people in important organizations waste a lot of time naming things. It could be that once a...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Busy people in important organizations waste a lot of time naming things. It could be that once a name is good enough, you’re done. That’s certainly true for the logo. Nike is hard to pronounce. Starbucks is named after an obscure character in a mostly unreadable book. Apple is...
Open Culture
The Best Photographer You’ve Never Heard Of: An Introduction to Tseng Kwong Chi Once, the United States was known for sending forth the world’s most complained-about international...
a month ago
19
a month ago
Once, the United States was known for sending forth the world’s most complained-about international tourists; today, that dubious distinction arguably belongs to China. But it wasn’t so long ago that the Chinese tourist was a practically unheard-of phenomenon, especially in the...
Stat Significant
Which Countries Have the Most Unique Taste in Music? A Statistical Analysis Which nations have the most distinct music tastes?
a month ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 001: Tina He Jevons Paradox: a personal perspective
a month ago
Seth's Blog
The NSE confusions “Nobody wants this” is unlikely. “Somebody will like this” is almost certainly true. “Everyone needs...
a month ago
16
a month ago
“Nobody wants this” is unlikely. “Somebody will like this” is almost certainly true. “Everyone needs this” is a trap. The work begins with finding the right somebodies, while ignoring the imaginary everyone. Scale is rarely the first signal of important work.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Tina Hagger I'm Tina Hagger, otherwise known as haggytea, a Printmaker based in Faversham, Kent, England. I have...
a month ago
24
a month ago
I'm Tina Hagger, otherwise known as haggytea, a Printmaker based in Faversham, Kent, England. I have been making linocut prints for about ten years now, and have begun making Tetra Pak prints in the past two years. I make my own work to sell and I also deliver workshops.  I'm...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegibility Trading Secrets for Attention
a month ago
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Idiot Plots Plus! Gavin's podcast, morning routines, and a good chickpea post
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Project ownership (equity and equity) Since the days of Atari and Apple, the culture of Silicon Valley has been based on the idea of...
a month ago
19
a month ago
Since the days of Atari and Apple, the culture of Silicon Valley has been based on the idea of programmers and early employees owning equity in the startups they took a chance on. The media is always happy to write about folks who took a shot on stock options and did very well...
Seth's Blog
The second time through One way to understand creative work is to think about the time and effort required to do something...
a month ago
18
a month ago
One way to understand creative work is to think about the time and effort required to do something the first time versus doing it again. A novel might take five years to write. Retyping it takes a day. A company could easily expend 10,000 hours of effort before launching a new...
Seth's Blog
Picky or particular? A picky customer is oppositional. Whatever you offer, they want something (slightly) different. A...
a month ago
17
a month ago
A picky customer is oppositional. Whatever you offer, they want something (slightly) different. A particular customer is easy to delight. They tell you what they want, and that’s what they want. We get to choose who we’re here for.
Seth's Blog
Maybe it’s in how you tell it The plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey is pretty simple. You could write out a summary in three...
a month ago
15
a month ago
The plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey is pretty simple. You could write out a summary in three paragraphs. That’s not what made it one of the most revered movies of all time, and also one of the most difficult to make. Blurting out the plot of what we’re offering seems like the...
escape the algorithm
Have you tried unplugging and plugging yourself back in again? A conversation with David Zvi Kalman
a month ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #136 Abundance, Nvidia GTC, Splashdown, Matic, Food Dyes, Biotech Commoditization
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Throat clearing Simply say it. The first minute of a speech, the first paragraph of a novel or the tuning of the...
a month ago
19
a month ago
Simply say it. The first minute of a speech, the first paragraph of a novel or the tuning of the orchestra before they begin… The performance improves if we skip that part. Sometimes, our throat actually needs clearing. But most of the time, we’re hooked on a ritual that doesn’t...
Infinite Scroll
Midweek Scroll: Woke Puritanism Slack Espionage, Evil Scientists, and RIP Hamster Forums
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Ways to alter the structure Cutting Growing Grinding Pruning Irrigating Sanding Cultivating Grafting Pressuring Polishing...
a month ago
17
a month ago
Cutting Growing Grinding Pruning Irrigating Sanding Cultivating Grafting Pressuring Polishing Shifting Feeding Bending Welding Celebrating Melting Burning It works better when we choose with intent.
Stat Significant
What's the Perfect Song Length? A Statistical Analysis Investigating the "ideal" song length, and whether such a thing exists.
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Waves and tides It’s easy to be distracted by the wave that’s crashing on the shore. On the other hand, the tide is...
a month ago
21
a month ago
It’s easy to be distracted by the wave that’s crashing on the shore. On the other hand, the tide is inexorable. It’s the long-term trend, the one that is quietly happening, over time. Sometimes, a big wave comes along and we lose our focus. It’s urgent. But expecting and working...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Fei Fei I’m Fei, a printmaker and designer working in Beijing. I make cards, prints, and run workshops in...
a month ago
24
a month ago
I’m Fei, a printmaker and designer working in Beijing. I make cards, prints, and run workshops in the city.  I have a day job as a brand designer, and I use my spare time to grow my printmaking practice.  Describe your printmaking process. I start with simple sketches in my head...
Infinite Scroll
Podcast: Abundance ft. Derek Thompson My other job besides writing here at Infinite Scroll is hosting The New Liberal Podcast, and this...
a month ago
21
a month ago
My other job besides writing here at Infinite Scroll is hosting The New Liberal Podcast, and this week I’m sharing an episode I recorded with Derek Thompson of The Atlantic.
Seth's Blog
Predicting the past It’s not unusual to encounter conflicting weather reports. One site says it’s going to rain, the...
a month ago
19
a month ago
It’s not unusual to encounter conflicting weather reports. One site says it’s going to rain, the other insists it won’t. On the other hand, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. It’s sunny, right now, you can tell. A weather service that said it was...
Seth's Blog
You are a media theorist If you’ve ever caught a ball, you’re a physicist. You might not be trained in it, but your intuitive...
a month ago
17
a month ago
If you’ve ever caught a ball, you’re a physicist. You might not be trained in it, but your intuitive sense of where the ball is going to land requires having a theory about gravity. And if you’ve ever taken aspirin for a headache, you’ve articulated a theory about medicine....
Seth's Blog
Asking for directions It hadn’t happened in such a long time that I hesitated to respond. As I was walking through town, a...
a month ago
15
a month ago
It hadn’t happened in such a long time that I hesitated to respond. As I was walking through town, a driver pulled up, rolled down his window and said, “is this the way to Irvington?” We now take for granted that we’re unlikely to ever again be in a car and not know where we […]
Seth's Blog
Bad design might simply be obsolete design Perhaps you’ve encountered a sink with two taps, not one. One for hot, one for cold, without a...
a month ago
14
a month ago
Perhaps you’ve encountered a sink with two taps, not one. One for hot, one for cold, without a chance to mix them before you scald or chill yourself. It seems absurd that the folks who figured out the technology to build sinks with running water couldn’t be bothered with the last...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #135 Solar, LNG, SphereX, Newsom, Packy in Austin, TBPN
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Decoding the Knock Knock situation Novels, movies, even consulting, are based on a knock knock business model. Tom Cruise made a movie,...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Novels, movies, even consulting, are based on a knock knock business model. Tom Cruise made a movie, and you need to buy a ticket to see it. Jane Collins is an engineering professional and you need to pay to get their insight about how to fix your bridge. This 300-page...
Infinite Scroll
The Midweek Scroll Substack's growth, RedNote reversal, and MrBeast hitting the wall
a month ago
Seth's Blog
The big sort The phone book was a groundbreaking innovation. For the first time, you could actually look up the...
a month ago
16
a month ago
The phone book was a groundbreaking innovation. For the first time, you could actually look up the person you were seeking to reach. At about the same time, the department store arrived. You could actually have a shot at finding what you were hoping to buy. TV Guide was, at one...
Stat Significant
Which Movies Do People Love to Hate? A Statistical Analysis Which films and actors are famous for being bad?
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Two kinds of instructions The more common, easier to execute sort: Instructions to remind people who already know what to do,...
2 months ago
17
2 months ago
The more common, easier to execute sort: Instructions to remind people who already know what to do, what to do. The more essential and harder to create kind: Instructions for people who don’t know what to do. It’s a mistake to assume that just because you know all the steps, the...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Bethan Designs Hi! I’m Beth (Bethan) a printmaker who found a love for linocut relief printing. I’m based in a...
2 months ago
31
2 months ago
Hi! I’m Beth (Bethan) a printmaker who found a love for linocut relief printing. I’m based in a little village in the middle of Derbyshire.  Describe your printmaking process. My printmaking process probably isn’t as traditional as others, I draw my designs digitally and transfer...
Seth's Blog
Birthing tech No one knows the name of the maternity nurse who helped with the delivery of Marie Curie or...
2 months ago
18
2 months ago
No one knows the name of the maternity nurse who helped with the delivery of Marie Curie or Esperanza Spaulding. You might grow up to be a genius, but the team that helped your mom give birth don’t have to be geniuses–they simply have to be pretty good at their craft. The same is...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Vance Memes Plus: Media Literacy (gone) and Production (still here)
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Freelancer as centaur Freelancers looking to build a career have two good options: The lousy options are to insist that...
2 months ago
18
2 months ago
Freelancers looking to build a career have two good options: The lousy options are to insist that you don’t use AI, but to be slower, more expensive and not as good as the AI option. Or to do tasks that an AI assigns you. Hiring an AI to work for you and getting very good […]
Seth's Blog
The tactics trap You have a strategy. Perhaps you didn’t even choose it but you have one… and it’s not working. The...
2 months ago
16
2 months ago
You have a strategy. Perhaps you didn’t even choose it but you have one… and it’s not working. The dominant question is, “what do I do now?” Which tactic do we use? How do we get the word out? How do we close this sale, solve the problem and succeed? Perhaps we should look to […]
Seth's Blog
Worst possible While it’s tempting to compare suffering, inconvenience, unfairness or general no-goodness, it’s not...
2 months ago
20
2 months ago
While it’s tempting to compare suffering, inconvenience, unfairness or general no-goodness, it’s not helpful. Someone else’s trauma doesn’t diminish yours. In fact, when we can find the space to see that others have their own mess to deal with, it opens the door for forward...
Anarchy Unfolds
Is anarchy compatible with modern society? Problems of scale and shape in imagining the futures
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
“I don’t care” This is difficult. Care requires time and effort, and we can’t care about everything, all the way,...
2 months ago
22
2 months ago
This is difficult. Care requires time and effort, and we can’t care about everything, all the way, all the time. If you’re prepared to care about every element of your work, then you also have to decide to not care about something else. Because caring equally about everything...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #134 Blue Ghost, Starlink, Roche’s SBX, Wooly Mice, Female Brains, Tardigrades
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Specific It’s one thing to say that 7,000,000 people will die next year from smoking cigarettes. It’s a...
2 months ago
20
2 months ago
It’s one thing to say that 7,000,000 people will die next year from smoking cigarettes. It’s a totally different thing to list those folks by name. When we confront risk, two things make it seem less real: We’re not sure who, and we’re not sure when. If you want to clarify our...
Infinite Scroll
Trapped in the Platforms Platform lock in and the Open Web
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
You might not get a third chance The first impression is vitally important. It positions us, establishes the tone of our relationship...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
The first impression is vitally important. It positions us, establishes the tone of our relationship and earns trust. But we’re human, and it’s unlikely that every first impression will be as useful as we’d like. Fortunately, people can speak up and let us know, particularly if...
Stat Significant
Which Songs Are Frequently Featured in Film and Television? A Statistical Analysis Which songs have become staples of film and television?
2 months ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Primer: From Software to Schools Watch now (47 mins) | To fix the school system, build schools
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
The opposite of a good idea… might also be a good idea. The hard part isn’t finding proof before you begin. The hard part is...
2 months ago
20
2 months ago
might also be a good idea. The hard part isn’t finding proof before you begin. The hard part is beginning, knowing you might not succeed.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Angela Chalmers Hi, my name is Angela Chalmers. I am a visual artist living in North Yorkshire. I work with...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
Hi, my name is Angela Chalmers. I am a visual artist living in North Yorkshire. I work with cameraless photography techniques and the cyanotype process producing 2D and 3D artworks on paper and textiles. Cyanotype dates from the early days of photography and produces beautiful...
Seth's Blog
Across and within Media theory pioneer Harold Innis saw it 70 years ago: Some cultures and ideas are built to spread...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
Media theory pioneer Harold Innis saw it 70 years ago: Some cultures and ideas are built to spread across SPACE. And some spread across TIME. It’s the tension between space and time that lead to the rise and fall of societies and cultures, and they’re worth understanding. Clay...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Striking Out General strikes, Opinion Blunders, and Yassified Shrek
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
… or the highway Our instincts might not be as good as we hope. Going with your gut is thrilling. It’s personal,...
2 months ago
21
2 months ago
Our instincts might not be as good as we hope. Going with your gut is thrilling. It’s personal, vulnerable and brave. And if it’s getting you what you seek, keep at it. But often, our instincts are a way of hiding, undermined by a lack of knowledge. If you haven’t done the...
Seth's Blog
Seeking metaphor This is how we learn. An apple is a lot like an orange, but you can eat the skin and it’s not as...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
This is how we learn. An apple is a lot like an orange, but you can eat the skin and it’s not as sweet. If you know what an orange is, you’re most of the way to understanding an apple. But the indoctrination of school pushes us to be literal. When people talk about apples […]
Seth's Blog
March is strategy month January feels like the start of the year, but there’s always a hangover from the holidays. In the...
2 months ago
19
2 months ago
January feels like the start of the year, but there’s always a hangover from the holidays. In the northern Hemisphere, February is dark and dreary and we’re mostly hunkering down waiting for the short month to end. But March? Around the world, March can be a chance to get down to...
Seth's Blog
The Ikea metaphors
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
But where are the secret recipes? Over the years, I’ve been sharing recipes as pages here on the blog, but never posting about them…...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
Over the years, I’ve been sharing recipes as pages here on the blog, but never posting about them… you only got the link if I sent it to you. Well, your wait is over. For those seeking non-obvious but delicious and light-on-their-feet recipes, here you go: (two new ones added,...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #133 Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine, Restoring Hearing, Loyal, Atlas, Apple, Coinbase, Lunar Landers
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
The lonely unicorn That’s not what usually happens. If there’s at least one unicorn in the world, it’s likely not the...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
That’s not what usually happens. If there’s at least one unicorn in the world, it’s likely not the only one. And if one can make a valid English word from seven Scrabble tiles, it’s likely that more than one word can be found. “Impossible” is a very large set of situations. But...
Seth's Blog
Getting precise about tolerance Tolerance is an engineering term. When the parts of a car are made to a low tolerance, that means...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
Tolerance is an engineering term. When the parts of a car are made to a low tolerance, that means that they fit perfectly. A modern Lexus is a better car than a 1976 Nova because relentless improvement means that the parts are more exact. Tolerance is a design term. When a system...
Handprinted - Blog
Offset Registration for Multi Block Linocuts Accurate registration can be difficult when printing multi-block linocuts. Offset printing will show...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
Accurate registration can be difficult when printing multi-block linocuts. Offset printing will show you exactly where your design will sit on each block, allowing you to cut a set of blocks that will print in perfect alignment.  Begin by preparing a registration board. This will...
Handprinted - Blog
Offset Registration for Multi Block Linocuts Accurate registration can be difficult when printing multi-block linocuts. Offset printing will show...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
Accurate registration can be difficult when printing multi-block linocuts. Offset printing will show you exactly where your design will sit on each block, allowing you to cut a set of blocks that will print in perfect alignment.  Begin by preparing a registration board. This will...
Infinite Scroll
MAGA as Master Morality How Nietzsche explains our Trumpist moment
2 months ago
Stat Significant
How Many Episodes Should You Watch Before Quitting a TV Show? A Statistical Analysis When to quit a subpar TV show, according to the data.
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
At the speed of judgment Getting to the conference in Santa Fe isn’t difficult. Someone will drive/fly you there. The hard...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
Getting to the conference in Santa Fe isn’t difficult. Someone will drive/fly you there. The hard part is deciding to go. And yet, it might take 8 hours to arrive. If they invented teleportation and offered it for free, it would be very clear that where we went would simply...
Seth's Blog
Long-term selfish (and the circles of us and now) Whenever we make a choice, we do our best. We make a decision based on our interests. In other...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
Whenever we make a choice, we do our best. We make a decision based on our interests. In other words, it’s selfish. So what makes a choice a selfish act worth addressing? There are two circles: the circle of us and the circle of now. A selfish toddler keeps both circles very...
Seth's Blog
Your project is important But that’s not why it’s your project. Lots of things are important. Countless problems need to be...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
But that’s not why it’s your project. Lots of things are important. Countless problems need to be solved, people need to be connected, a living needs to be made. But this work you’re doing now, the work you’re doing instead of everything else–it’s your project. When we talk about...
Seth's Blog
The Mona Lisa problem If you want to be a great painter, perhaps you could reverse engineer what made the Mona Lisa such...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
If you want to be a great painter, perhaps you could reverse engineer what made the Mona Lisa such an important painting. You could move to Italy. You could learn about shadows and light and technique. The problem is that the Mona Lisa isn’t the most famous painting in the world...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: BookTok Perverts Plus! Elon's mania, presidential crypto, and concerning turkey behavior
2 months ago
Anarchy Unfolds
Is human society natural? On the human/nature divide and how to overcome it
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Repeat happy accidents Those three words unlock our understanding of innovation and of biological evolution. Successful...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
Those three words unlock our understanding of innovation and of biological evolution. Successful outcomes often follow unpredicted actions. If we allow ourselves to do things that might not work, we’re far more likely to discover the things that do. And then we can repeat them.
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #132 Curing Blindness, Genetic Womb Treatment, Evo 2, AI co-scientist, Topological Qubits, Robots
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
But what’s it really for? An expensive watch isn’t purchased to tell time. We already know what time it is. The food at a...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
An expensive watch isn’t purchased to tell time. We already know what time it is. The food at a wedding isn’t really there to keep guests from going hungry. A cookie could do that. Our focus, energy and money are often spent on transactions that are disguised as something else....
Not Boring by Packy...
Who is Larry Ellison? Anton Troynikov's Guest Post on the "CEO of Everything"
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
The best intern on the team A great intern brings positive energy, a relentless work ethic and doesn’t cost very much. They ask...
2 months ago
18
2 months ago
A great intern brings positive energy, a relentless work ethic and doesn’t cost very much. They ask a lot of questions, and the most useful questions will help you see an existing situation with fresh eyes. Of course, you’ll expect them to make mistakes, and a professional needs...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Ian Phillips Hi, I’m Ian Phillips, a printmaker based in Mid Wales. I’m originally from Leicestershire and...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
Hi, I’m Ian Phillips, a printmaker based in Mid Wales. I’m originally from Leicestershire and studied illustration at Leicester Polytechnic. After graduation I attempted the life of a freelance Illustrator in London, but quite quickly, well after a few years, realised it wasn’t...
Infinite Scroll
Internet Book Club: 'Because Internet' How the internet is changing the English language
2 months ago
Stat Significant
Which Old Movies Stand the Test of Time? A Statistical Analysis An exploration of "timeless" films.
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Confusing status with skill The tenured philosophy professor at Princeton might not even be half as effective a teacher as the...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
The tenured philosophy professor at Princeton might not even be half as effective a teacher as the adjunct at the community college. The head of surgery might be relatively better at meetings and politics than they are at actually helping patients. Having a lot of social media...
Seth's Blog
Playing billiards on a boat We take stability for granted, until it’s no longer there. Some art forms and enterprises benefit...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
We take stability for granted, until it’s no longer there. Some art forms and enterprises benefit from an unstable environment, where systems are in flux and the changes are unpredictable. Others are nearly impossible. How much priority do your investors, clients and employees...
Seth's Blog
16 minutes Some facts and assertions about healthcare (particularly in the US) and then an outline of a change...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
Some facts and assertions about healthcare (particularly in the US) and then an outline of a change agent that could improve health, perhaps dramatically. And so, a system that’s organized around treatments and status, that misallocates time and effort, causing stress for...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Killing the Internet Encryption dramas, baby mamas, Reddit paywalls and a wholesome AMA
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
All of it, all at once The smartphone is the most expensive device most people own, and the one they use the most. Here’s...
2 months ago
20
2 months ago
The smartphone is the most expensive device most people own, and the one they use the most. Here’s everything you can’t have, can’t afford and won’t get, right here. Here’s everyone you want to have an argument with, one click away. Here is every piece of bad news we can imagine,...
Seth's Blog
Time well spent Doing what? When we choose which job to apply for, what career to commit to, which business to...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
Doing what? When we choose which job to apply for, what career to commit to, which business to start, it might be worth a moment (or a few moments) to get at the heart of what a day well spent produces. What’s it for? Here are a few to get you started: It’s hard to […]
Seth's Blog
Ensemble stars Over the last 50 years, 167 different people have been part of the Saturday Night Live ensemble...
2 months ago
21
2 months ago
Over the last 50 years, 167 different people have been part of the Saturday Night Live ensemble cast. Some of them went on to become comedy superstars, others lasted a less than a season and are fairly obscure in the cultural pantheon. But if you were tasked of creating an...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #131 KM3NeT, PAC-MANN, Cost Physics, IVAS, QuEra
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
“I’ve got your back” This is a complicated promise. It’s about commitment and connection and most of all, time. If we’re...
2 months ago
29
2 months ago
This is a complicated promise. It’s about commitment and connection and most of all, time. If we’re saying that we’ll do what’s in our short-term interest and convenient, then there’s really no reason to say anything at all, since that’s what we usually do anyway. Instead, we’re...
Seth's Blog
“Usualing” This is not a real word, but it’s useful nonetheless. When we default to doing what we did without...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
This is not a real word, but it’s useful nonetheless. When we default to doing what we did without examining our options, we’re ‘usualing.’ It’s a helpful way to save time, because we can’t re-examine every possible option or we’d never get out the door in the morning. We wear...
Handprinted - Blog
Block Printing Registration Using Measure Pattern Tape and Madder, Cutch and Co Inks Measure Pattern Tape is a really useful bit of kit for your printmaking projects. This adhesive...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
Measure Pattern Tape is a really useful bit of kit for your printmaking projects. This adhesive ruler tape can be stuck onto your printing surface or board to help lay out your designs accurately. It's self-adhesive and we've even found it can be lifted up and re-used a couple of...
Stat Significant
Do People Actually Hate Coldplay? A Statistical Analysis Examining Coldplay's confusing cultural reputation.
2 months ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Long Questions/Short Answers Questions reshape reality
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Two kinds of creative feedback If you’re the client or the boss, it’s possible that someone is going to create creative work for...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
If you’re the client or the boss, it’s possible that someone is going to create creative work for you. Sooner or later, you’ll get something that doesn’t work. You might want to explain why it’s not good enough. Perhaps you can demonstrate how it doesn’t fit the genre or meet...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Bro Economy Everywhere Plus! Oral Traditions, Woke Chili, and Montoya
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Noticed There’s a delay between the time something goes wrong and when we notice it. Sometimes, it can take...
2 months ago
40
2 months ago
There’s a delay between the time something goes wrong and when we notice it. Sometimes, it can take years. Part of the art of project management is noticing things more quickly. And it helps to acknowledge that by the time we notice something, it’s probably too late to easily...
Seth's Blog
A little faster than you What’s the best speed to drive? I was caught in a snowstorm the other day. Visibility was low, so I...
3 months ago
25
3 months ago
What’s the best speed to drive? I was caught in a snowstorm the other day. Visibility was low, so I was going about 25 mph. Someone passed me on the highway, doing 30. Not 55 or 75, but fast enough to take a risk and pass the rest of traffic. Do that often enough and […]
Anarchy Unfolds
Did we really just get taken over by fascists in less than a month? Red Round-up #2
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
The two-minute warning Once life gets busy, it’s sort of inevitable that we begin to sort the work to be done. And the most...
3 months ago
40
3 months ago
Once life gets busy, it’s sort of inevitable that we begin to sort the work to be done. And the most natural sort is to focus on the urgent. After all, if that plate is about to break, it’s hard to watch it fall when you’ve decided to work on something less urgent instead. Which...
Infinite Scroll
JD Vance and Vice Signaling Abandon your values for power and profit
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Rainy day surfer Of course you’re going to get wet, that’s part of the sport. And yet, only the hard core surfers...
3 months ago
49
3 months ago
Of course you’re going to get wet, that’s part of the sport. And yet, only the hard core surfers show up in the rain. If your project is about making things better, organizing the disorganized, connecting the disconnected and building community, you shouldn’t wait until the...
Seth's Blog
Figs, ivy, silphium and of course, commerce It’s just a week until Valentine’s Day, a multi-billion dollar spending jamboree. As often happens,...
3 months ago
21
3 months ago
It’s just a week until Valentine’s Day, a multi-billion dollar spending jamboree. As often happens, the people we depend on for much of it get the short end of the deal, but a little mindful planning can make a difference. The heart shape we associate with love came from leaves....
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #130 CT-179, Deep Research, NanoCas, Replit Agent, Go Birds
3 months ago
Infinite Scroll
13 Things I Learned Reading a 225 Page Report About the Gaming Industry A quick poll for readers before we get started - you may have noticed there’s a lot of politics...
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Own it and label it This takes guts, and hustlers are afraid to do so. Thirty years ago, when the avalanche of email...
3 months ago
31
3 months ago
This takes guts, and hustlers are afraid to do so. Thirty years ago, when the avalanche of email spam was on the horizon, I proposed that any commercial email should have a $ in the subject line. A simple way for email programs to filter it out if you’re not looking for it....
Seth's Blog
Polishing the problem I won’t walk away. I won’t ease any of the constraints. I won’t forgive. I won’t get a coach. It’s...
3 months ago
34
3 months ago
I won’t walk away. I won’t ease any of the constraints. I won’t forgive. I won’t get a coach. It’s personal. I don’t want to talk about it. I will think about this often. I can add another problem just like this one. I can do this. Persistent perfect problems are a great way to...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Dave Buonaguidi Dave Buonaguidi, AKA Real Hackney Dave is a Hackney-based artist who combines the visual and verbal...
3 months ago
29
3 months ago
Dave Buonaguidi, AKA Real Hackney Dave is a Hackney-based artist who combines the visual and verbal language of advertising and propaganda with unique imagery and materials of found objects and ephemera. In a previous life, Dave worked in advertising for over 35 years, founding...
escape the algorithm
Announcing the Escape the Algorithm ᵐⁱᶜʳᵒsupporter Program Welcoming tiny acts of codependence
3 months ago
Stat Significant
How Do Music Listening Habits Change With Age? A Statistical Analysis How does music listening change as we grow older?
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Clarity about the benefits Work on climate problems is actually about efficiency. It’s easier and cheaper to avoid sloppiness...
3 months ago
31
3 months ago
Work on climate problems is actually about efficiency. It’s easier and cheaper to avoid sloppiness and side effects than it is to clean the mess up later. And energy sources that don’t burn become cheaper over time. The investment in getting started pays off in cost, health and...
Seth's Blog
Muscling your way through When there’s an overwhelming amount of incoming, it’s possible to bear down and simply get through...
3 months ago
29
3 months ago
When there’s an overwhelming amount of incoming, it’s possible to bear down and simply get through it. 200 emails because of a product launch. A project goes viral and there are a lot of fires to put out. A deadline is imminent and it’s going to be a long night… But when the...
Prolost
Cameras, Phones, and Log — What’s the Juice? I know, I know, another video about shooting video in log on iPhones? I promise I’ll move on to...
3 months ago
33
3 months ago
I know, I know, another video about shooting video in log on iPhones? I promise I’ll move on to other topics, but two events happening in one week pushed me into making this video: Samsung adding log to the Galaxy s25 Ultra My brother-in-law texting me “Do you have a fix for...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: The Deep State Cometh /r/FedNews, DeepSeek hot takes, and a brutal menswear guy post
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Halfway projects Half a canoe is worth less than no canoe at all. On the other hand, eating half a pear is much...
3 months ago
24
3 months ago
Half a canoe is worth less than no canoe at all. On the other hand, eating half a pear is much better than not having one. You might get 85% of the value from only part of the pear. Some projects only benefit us when they’re finished all the way. Knowing this in advance is […]
Seth's Blog
To be in charge Every system, every bureaucracy and every organization creates boundaries. Sooner or later, we say,...
3 months ago
29
3 months ago
Every system, every bureaucracy and every organization creates boundaries. Sooner or later, we say, “I’d love to fix this, but I’m not in charge of that.” Perhaps, though, we’ve been conditioned to say this even when it’s not true. Because being in charge means being responsible,...
Seth's Blog
“Can’t complain” (but it might be worth considering) Complaining is a cultural phenomenon, but it’s particularly prevalent in societies with a consumer...
3 months ago
35
3 months ago
Complaining is a cultural phenomenon, but it’s particularly prevalent in societies with a consumer culture (the customer is always right) and those where comfort is coming to be expected. Given all the complaining we do (about the weather, leadership, products, service and...
Anarchy Unfolds
The rich don't have authority On the myth of power and money
3 months ago
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #129 Supersonic Boom, DeepSeek, Science Corp, Heart Allografts, New Space, Meter
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
What’s for breakfast? Peter Drucker didn’t say “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” but reality rarely gets in the way...
3 months ago
32
3 months ago
Peter Drucker didn’t say “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” but reality rarely gets in the way of a good quote. But what does it mean? I think what ‘not Drucker’ meant was that MBA tactics will always be subverted by the power of systems, and that systems disguise themselves...
Not Boring by Packy...
Meter: The Internet Utility A Deep Dive on Vertical Integration, Networking, and How to Win the Internet
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
What sort of progress? Nothing stays still. Relative to the rest of the world, even something that’s not moving is...
3 months ago
32
3 months ago
Nothing stays still. Relative to the rest of the world, even something that’s not moving is changing. It’s tempting to talk about not making fast enough progress. But it’s far more useful to ask which direction we’re progressing. Often, people will point to the velocity of the...
Infinite Scroll
The UnPopulist: Abundance Politics This week I’m in The UnPopulist with an article about the politics of the abundance agenda:
3 months ago
Stat Significant
Are More Celebrities Dying? A Statistical Analysis Are more famous figures dying, and if so, why?
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Organizing for urgent There are many ways to prioritize our time and focus, but the easiest and most vivid way is to do...
3 months ago
32
3 months ago
There are many ways to prioritize our time and focus, but the easiest and most vivid way is to do the urgent things first. If we wait until a house plant is sick before we take care of it, though, it’s too late. Deadlines, loud requests and last-minute interventions are crude...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: All Hail New Media Censorship, platforms, and exactly who are we empowering?
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Analysis = Facts + Interpretation If you fail to show us the facts, it’s difficult to accept your analysis. While it’s tempting to...
3 months ago
36
3 months ago
If you fail to show us the facts, it’s difficult to accept your analysis. While it’s tempting to simply share an interpretation of what’s happening, credibility and persuasion are based on showing your work.
cabel.com
The Snacks & Cereals of 2024 Welcome to 2025. The vibes are a little heavy, so, I’m trying very hard to focus on the things I can...
3 months ago
38
3 months ago
Welcome to 2025. The vibes are a little heavy, so, I’m trying very hard to focus on the things I can control — and yes, that includes remembering to share things that delight me like the latest #new snacks and cereals I find at the grocery store!! Yeah. It’s an age-old, very-odd...
Seth's Blog
Getting clear about brand value Consulting firms rank brands on value. Marketers promise to increase it. But brand value has little...
3 months ago
134
3 months ago
Consulting firms rank brands on value. Marketers promise to increase it. But brand value has little to do with whether a company is famous or even profitable. The accurate measure of brand value is the premium that consumers will spend over the generic. What time, money or risk...
Anarchy Unfolds
To beat fascism, tell better stories On false narratives and the stories we need to tell
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Checking all the boxes The simplest way forward is to see which boxes your target market has and then check all of them....
3 months ago
44
3 months ago
The simplest way forward is to see which boxes your target market has and then check all of them. Unfortunately #1: The audience doesn’t publish their actual list of boxes, they conceal many of them. Unfortunately #2: They don’t all have the same boxes. Unfortunately #3: If it...
Seth's Blog
Expertise and credentials In the ideal world, credentials would be awarded to all experts, and withdrawn from all charlatans....
3 months ago
37
3 months ago
In the ideal world, credentials would be awarded to all experts, and withdrawn from all charlatans. But they don’t always line up as neatly as that. An expert is someone who can keep a promise. Point to the results that demonstrate your skill and understanding and commitment and...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #128 Stargate, Operator, Unleashing American Energy and Crypto, Synthetic Eukaryotic Genome, Zipline,...
3 months ago
8
3 months ago
Stargate, Operator, Unleashing American Energy and Crypto, Synthetic Eukaryotic Genome, Zipline, Contrary Tech Trends, Sacca on Ferriss
Seth's Blog
The weird arithmetic of coordinated action Twenty handwritten letters received by someone in power are worth a hundred times as much as two...
3 months ago
93
3 months ago
Twenty handwritten letters received by someone in power are worth a hundred times as much as two letters. And when that becomes a hundred different personal letters, increasing in volume, from different people, delivered to an organization every week for a year… it’s worth a...
Infinite Scroll
The Unbearable Cynicism of Trump 2.0 Who cares, nothing matters, cry about it
3 months ago
Stat Significant
Which Music Was Underappreciated in Its Time? A Statistical Analysis What music slipped through the cracks but eventually found its audience?
3 months ago
Haterade
I Regret to Announce that I Cannot Stop Eating the Shaq Gummies I have the blood sugar of a very large, very tall man.
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Honesty about better “I don’t want to learn to be better,” is something we rarely admit. We don’t say: I don’t want to...
3 months ago
41
3 months ago
“I don’t want to learn to be better,” is something we rarely admit. We don’t say: I don’t want to learn statistics, even though it will dramatically improve my decision making. I don’t want to learn a new programming language, even though it will get me a better job. I don’t want...
Handprinted - Blog
CMYK Screen Printing! CMYK screen printing is a great way of bringing both your photographic and coloured art images to...
3 months ago
45
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.  To start, you will need to...
Not Boring by Packy...
Most Human Wins A Strategy Memo for Humans, 2025 and Beyond
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Trusting AI For generations, humans have been entrusting their lives to computers. Air Traffic Control,...
3 months ago
42
3 months ago
For generations, humans have been entrusting their lives to computers. Air Traffic Control, statistical analysis of bridge resilience, bar codes for drug delivery, even the way stop lights are controlled. But computers aren’t the same as the LLMs that run on them. Claude.ai is my...
Seth's Blog
Kinds of incompetence The second worst is the unaware sort. The work doesn’t meet spec, and we don’t even realize it. The...
3 months ago
66
3 months ago
The second worst is the unaware sort. The work doesn’t meet spec, and we don’t even realize it. The worst is uncaring. We know the work doesn’t meet spec, but we don’t bother to fix it. But there are other varieties, and some are worth seeking out: There’s the incompetence of...
Seth's Blog
Lulled Selfish is easy. Short term is easy. Complacent is easy. Turning our head and ignoring the problem...
3 months ago
45
3 months ago
Selfish is easy. Short term is easy. Complacent is easy. Turning our head and ignoring the problem is easy. Going along to get along is easy. But easy isn’t the point. Better is. Challenging the status quo is difficult, and worth it. Happy Birthday.
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: The Ban Cometh TikTok banned, RedNote reversal, TrumpCoin and Gjörfbunkle
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Don’t steal the revelation Learning is a journey of incompetence. First, we realize that there’s something we don’t know. Then...
3 months ago
36
3 months ago
Learning is a journey of incompetence. First, we realize that there’s something we don’t know. Then we see that we’re going to be better at it, and we’re not good at it yet. Then we figure it out and we’ve succeeded. Repeat. When we pre-process the information and simply test...
Seth's Blog
Memo to the future The experience of the now is often more vivid than a distant memory. As a result, we can make...
3 months ago
45
3 months ago
The experience of the now is often more vivid than a distant memory. As a result, we can make decisions in the future without enough regard for how we felt the last time we were in a similar situation. Here’s a simple hack that can inform your decisions… You know someone who...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #127 New Glenn, Mechazilla, Moon, Varda W-2, Wooly Mammoths, AI Tutors, MatterGen, Anduril
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Embracing externalities Freedom is something we desire. The freedom to choose, to speak up, to produce, to follow our...
3 months ago
48
3 months ago
Freedom is something we desire. The freedom to choose, to speak up, to produce, to follow our passions and our dreams. And organizations in search of efficiency, shortcuts or profits often argue for freedom as well. The freedom to organize their production and to go to market...
escape the algorithm
So you want to escape the algorithm A primer
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Building a process culture Process is the investment we make in inefficiency now to prevent errors from costing us later. Jet...
3 months ago
40
3 months ago
Process is the investment we make in inefficiency now to prevent errors from costing us later. Jet airlines are the safest form of travel ever created, largely because of the inefficient process that we put in place. They’re over tested and over staffed, with checklists and...
Handprinted - Blog
Kathryn Desforges: Meet The Maker I'm Kathryn Desforges, a Devon-born, Yorkshire-based artist with a passion for printmaking, process,...
3 months ago
45
3 months ago
I'm Kathryn Desforges, a Devon-born, Yorkshire-based artist with a passion for printmaking, process, and material experimentation. I specialise in etching, lithography and woodcut, and alongside my studio practice, my career as a printmaking technician and tutor intertwines with...
Stat Significant
What Are the Greatest Sequels of All Time? A Statistical Analysis What are the best movie sequels, and why?
3 months ago
Infinite Scroll
Stop Coping About TikTok It's proving that it deserves the ban
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Good advice The cult of consulting suggests that if you simply had better advice from someone who knew more than...
3 months ago
44
3 months ago
The cult of consulting suggests that if you simply had better advice from someone who knew more than you, your problems could be solved. Generally, the advice isn’t really the hard part. There’s endless good advice just a click away. The art is in creating the conditions for...
Seth's Blog
Annoyed Annoyance is the inflammation that occurs after a mild emotional injury or wound. Like a physical...
3 months ago
39
3 months ago
Annoyance is the inflammation that occurs after a mild emotional injury or wound. Like a physical inflammation, if it’s not cared for it can become infected. The difference is that an annoyance is easier for us to control. We can invest the energy to build a habit about what we...
Seth's Blog
Decisions and choices Decisions are easy, choices are hard. A good decision is our best analysis of the facts, options and...
3 months ago
39
3 months ago
Decisions are easy, choices are hard. A good decision is our best analysis of the facts, options and risks. If it’s too close to call, flip a coin, because it’s too close to call. On the other hand, a choice involves understanding our priorities, evaluating our preference for...
Anarchy Unfolds
We Don't Need Conspiracies The real stories behind our problems are scary enough
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
“That will never work” Every successful SNL sketch, every bestselling book, every landslide-winning candidate… every single...
3 months ago
37
3 months ago
Every successful SNL sketch, every bestselling book, every landslide-winning candidate… every single one… had skeptics. Someone in the writer’s room, or on the editorial board or even an investor looked at what was on offer and said, “no.” Not just, “I’m sorry, this doesn’t match...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Zuck Kisses the Ring Plus! A collection of LA wildfire takes
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
Slow down to speed up Almost all car crashes would be avoided if the driver were just going a bit slower. (That’s why it’s...
4 months ago
40
4 months ago
Almost all car crashes would be avoided if the driver were just going a bit slower. (That’s why it’s more accurate to call them “crashes” and not “accidents.”) That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have bold plans. That’s essential. It’s the last-second shortcuts that get us into...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #126 Sana Biotechnology, Memory Processes, METAGENE-1, McDermitt Caldera, More Speech, Enron Egg,...
4 months ago
9
4 months ago
Sana Biotechnology, Memory Processes, METAGENE-1, McDermitt Caldera, More Speech, Enron Egg, Telepathy Tapes x Jesse Michels
Seth's Blog
The magic of the commons Sheep are not like ideas. 200 years ago, William Foster Lloyd began pointing out that if land is...
4 months ago
36
4 months ago
Sheep are not like ideas. 200 years ago, William Foster Lloyd began pointing out that if land is shared, ranchers will all have an incentive to overgraze their sheep–if they don’t, the thinking goes, the others will. Each farmer expands until the commons is ruined. And this...
Seth's Blog
The problem with marketing puffery It costs more than you think. Last month, I hit the old stock on the Avery labels in my office...
4 months ago
36
4 months ago
It costs more than you think. Last month, I hit the old stock on the Avery labels in my office cabinet. I had a bunch of things to send out, and off they went. It turns out, who knew, that old labels stop sticking. It’s entirely possible some of my really important packages never...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Julia Triay Hi! I'm Julia Triay, I'm an illustrator and printmaker from Mallorca, Spain based in Norwich. I...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Hi! I'm Julia Triay, I'm an illustrator and printmaker from Mallorca, Spain based in Norwich. I moved to Norwich 8 years ago to study illustration. I fell in love with this fine city and made it my home. I recently quit my job to become a full time illustrator, which has been a...
Stat Significant
Which Celebrities Popularized (or Tarnished) Baby Names? A Statistical Analysis Which public figures impacted baby naming trends?
4 months ago
Infinite Scroll
Why Are So Many Online Trads Still Single? We asked single trads to tell us their secrets
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
Situational spending Money is a story. But money is also an exchangeable commodity, valued by different people in...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Money is a story. But money is also an exchangeable commodity, valued by different people in different ways. And time is the wildcard. Situational spending is a trap that seduces us into forgetting that time passes and debt (or assets) remain. A couple about to wed might not...
Haterade
Turkey Bacon for Teetotalers Get organized this New Year by mechanically separating your meats.
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
Busy-ness and leverage When I made breakfast this morning, I didn’t begin by making the blender. Someone else, a team with...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
When I made breakfast this morning, I didn’t begin by making the blender. Someone else, a team with more skills, resources and scale, built the blender. I simply bought it. That seems obvious–no one expects a from-scratch baker to make their own baking powder. And yet, our...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Meta Swallows the Slop Plus: Elon's alter ego and Autistic Stew
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
The value of artifacts An artifact is an object that holds or signifies an idea. A book on paper is an artifact: it’s the...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
An artifact is an object that holds or signifies an idea. A book on paper is an artifact: it’s the object plus the words. Now that you can get the words in many other ways, the value of the book is changed. A wedding ring is an artifact. If lost, it has sentimental value far […]
Seth's Blog
Working with problems Situations have no solution, they’re not problems, they’re simply the way it is. Problems are...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Situations have no solution, they’re not problems, they’re simply the way it is. Problems are distinguished by the fact that they have solutions. But that doesn’t mean that the solution is obvious, easy or convenient. If the problem is important enough, we should pick the best...
Seth's Blog
The system has fingerprints We all make mistakes. We all do things that we then realize weren’t in our interest, or useful to...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
We all make mistakes. We all do things that we then realize weren’t in our interest, or useful to the community. If we do it a second time, it’s worth taking a hard look at the system that set us up for failure. How did the system get here? Who benefits? When we can see […]
Seth's Blog
“Does it work?” That’s the first question. The second question is, “how do we make it work better?” These two...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
That’s the first question. The second question is, “how do we make it work better?” These two questions, patiently repeated, lead to incremental improvement and an understanding of reality. The opposite approach is, “because I said so.” Reality might not care what you want.
Stat Significant
6 Reasons to Be (Cautiously) Optimistic About Movies in 2025: A Statistical Analysis Six reasons to be optimistic about the film industry.
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
Collectibles (and list updates) The Strategy Deck that I made to go with my book has developed a real following. It’s a powerful way...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
The Strategy Deck that I made to go with my book has developed a real following. It’s a powerful way to break a creative logjam. Taking out the deck in a meeting lowers resistance and increases a sense of possibility and playfulness. I’ve just gone back to press for a fourth...
Seth's Blog
Winging it Tech and culture have enabled a new sort of informality. Not simply the end of suits and ties and...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Tech and culture have enabled a new sort of informality. Not simply the end of suits and ties and heels at work, but the office itself is fading away. But there’s a difference between being informal and being in such a hurry to get to the next thing that we don’t take this thing...
Handprinted - Blog
Projects for the Year Ahead Are you looking to start the year by learning a new skill or starting a fresh project? Perhaps you...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Are you looking to start the year by learning a new skill or starting a fresh project? Perhaps you just need a boost of inspiration? We've put together some projects to get you going for the year ahead. Introduction to Linocut Did you get some new tools for Christmas and you'd...
Seth's Blog
Find the others New years bring resolutions, but those resolutions rarely stick. Creating change is difficult, and...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
New years bring resolutions, but those resolutions rarely stick. Creating change is difficult, and it’s hard to do it alone. New years remind us that we might need a better strategy. A philosophy of becoming, a clear vision on where we’re going (and why). Here’s an invitation to...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: MAGA's Civil War The MAGA Civil War and a recap of recaps
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
The reality of meliorism Nearly 150 years ago, George Eliot gave us a name for our project. She pointed out that we could...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Nearly 150 years ago, George Eliot gave us a name for our project. She pointed out that we could ameliorate the problems of the human condition, day by day, year by year, toward better. Max Roser highlighted three sentences that seem like they can’t all be true: “The world is...
Seth's Blog
Calendars are a choice Humans are unique. We give names to the days of the week (we even have weeks). We eat something...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Humans are unique. We give names to the days of the week (we even have weeks). We eat something different for breakfast than dinner. We chronicle the passage of time. In fact, our chronicling of time is what makes it noticeable. Coordination can only happen when we’re in sync...
Seth's Blog
Secret recipes “You can try this at home…” But you probably won’t. The secret recipe isn’t the reason Coke is...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
“You can try this at home…” But you probably won’t. The secret recipe isn’t the reason Coke is successful. And the recipe for KFC isn’t much of a recipe at all. The secret way you do the thing isn’t what keeps your clients coming back. It’s the part you do in public that matters.
Infinite Scroll
Infinite Scroll Podcast: Substack founder Hamish McKenzie An interview on where Substack sits in the digital media ecosystem
4 months ago
Seth's Blog
Fiblets Organizations lie all the time. Big lies, sometimes, but usually small ones. Is the call volume...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Organizations lie all the time. Big lies, sometimes, but usually small ones. Is the call volume actually unusually heavy? Did a chef really prepare this meal just for me? These fiblets are so common that they become part of the culture, a trope that lets the user know that this...