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A Prediction for the 2020 Election
I think that the 2020 presidential election will finally be when we’ll see colors other than red, white, and blue showing up as main branding colors in a mainstream candidate. The 2016 election and people’s response to Trump paved the way for “outsiders” and given people permission to color outside the lines. I’d love for […]
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How to Avoid Pastoralism
I’m rereading Breaking Smart Season 1 right now and I got to thinking about Rao’s concept of pastoralism vs prometheanism and how to avoid it. Whenever you find yourself pining for a specific technological solution, especially one that was dreamt up more than 15 years ago, ask yourself whether or not you want the actual […]
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Focused vs Unfocused Reading
The gap between focused and unfocused reading is huge, especially when compounded over time. Reducing distractions can lead to huge improvements in the number of pages read and understood. Maybe even more than traditional speed reading methods. On my flight to Chicago this weekend, I read half of James Hogan’s Inherit the Stars. On the […]
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At dinner with Amanda’s French-Canadian Grandmother: “I don’t drink Bud Light. It tastes like rat saliva. Give me a nice IPA.”
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Flying out of LGA’s Marine Terminal (A) is always an unexpected pleasure. It has a classic Art Deco look to the outside, has some cool murals inside, and the lines are always short. The coffee options are slim, but I’ll take the tradeoff for a laid-back experience.
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Cronuts (Finally)
After watching the Cronut craze and wanting to try one for the last few years, I finally decided to go get some. I work from home and set my own hours, so why not? I preordered them two weeks ago, worked late night on a project, and took the morning to go pick some up […]
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New Music Friday: Indie Edition
Dr. Quandry. Guy out of Boston I’ve been following since 2008. Experimental instrumental stuff. Great working music. I recommend listening to his new album, Wayfarers II. Wayfarers II by Dr. Quandary He also has an album of sitar stuff that I find strangely interesting: Quanny Sitar Quanny Sitar by Dr. Quandary
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My answer to “What are the best things to do on weekends as a student at Hillsdale College?” on Quora
Over at Quora:Â What are the best things to do on weekends as a student at Hillsdale College? My answer: Take a break from studying and spend the weekends increasing your hiring potential after you graduate by doing one of the following things: Work at either an on-campus job, one in town, or a remote online […]
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Freeter looks like a good app for gathering various project tools in one place. I’ve spent some time setting up my own automations with TextExpander, AppleScript, Automator, and Keyboard Maestro, but I’m going to try making dashboards for a few of my projects in Freeter to bring everything under one roof.
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Two questions to ask when you are stuck on a project
What is this project about? This is sometimes a tough question, but figuring it out makes all the difference. If you figured it out at the beginning of the project, simply reminding yourself what the goal of the project is and what the core parts of the project are can be enough to get you […]
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January-June 2017 Self-Improvement Projects
Every month I do a PDP – a personal development project. These PDPs are either theme or project-based and I must do something specific every single day to further that project or theme. Here’s what I’ve done so far this year: January: Circadian rhythm fasting. Fast for 13-16 hours starting after dinner each day. Try […]
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Ted Kooser on Writer’s Block
Writing Routines, a great new sites that gives behind-the-scenes look at the daily habits of writers and authors, has an interview with Ted Kooser, a former US Poet Laureate. I love his answer to a question on writer’s block: William Stafford, one of our great poets, said that the best thing to do about writerâs block is […]
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The new Bonobo album is perfect for a rainy, contemplative day like today.
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Amanda and I sampled my barrel-aged Vieux Carre after dinner tonight. This is going to be a fantastic drink after another month in the barrel. It is already smooth and delicious.
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How to clean up text pasted from Google Docs with Atom and Regular Expressions
Have you ever pasted text from Google Docs onto your blog (WordPress or otherwise) and had to fix wacky formatting? Here is how to quickly strip out all those extra HTML tags using regular expressions with Atom.io, a free text editor. Links: Atom, a free text editor available on Windows, Mac, and Linux: http://atom.io Regular […]
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PBS used a photo today that I took back in college: I’m a huge fan of putting my work out in the free domain and I still get excited when I see people and publications use my work, whether it is a photo, tutorial, or code snippet.
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Documenting the Process of Data Visualizations
The DataSketch.es project has awesome process documentation for how Nadieh and Shirley go about making their incredible visualizations each month. This is a treasure trove of valuable insights for how they approach projects, how the projects evolve, and how they overcome issues they run in to.
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Ideas for WordPress Projects
A la James Altucherâs Ten Ideas a Day Implementing microformats into a theme Make a Timeline Builder plugin Make a book review custom post type and template Export WordPress posts and import them into Day One Tutorials explaining typical WordPress structure Persistent to-do list posts Plugin or custom post type for documenting learning Reduce database calls with hardcoding […]
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After 10 years of knowing about Pixelmator for the last 10 years, I finally dumped Adobe Photoshop and made the switch last month. The hardest part has been relearning how to do certain tasks, but the tutorials and documentation are great. I don’t see myself going back any time soon.
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The Mystic Whaler is out on the Hudson in Yonkers today.