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At The Remnant: Radical Individualism, Satisfaction, and Irresponsibility
I’m an occasional contributor at The Remnant. Isaac Morehouse issued a challenge to me and I responded. It is all about why I push myself to make things despite how irresponsible it is.
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What work/life balance means to me
I have a certain capacity for creative output. That level may increase or decrease over time, but it stays relatively constant day-to-day. You can think of this capacity as tokens that I have available to spend each day. I can either spend these tokens at my full-time job, at a side gig, or on a […]
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Series are eclipsing movies
Cameron Sorsby asked the Praxis staff today what our top 3-5 favorite movies are, off the top of our heads. I came up with 3 easily, but none were recent. Then I realized that no movie I’ve watched for the first time in the last four years is memorable. Series are getting so much better […]
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Venkatesh Rao on Big Data, Machine Learning, and Blockchains
Venkatesh Rao had a good take on the big data/machine learning/blockchain mania in Breaking Smart a few weeks ago: Many people, database experts among them, dismiss Big Data as a fad that’s already come and gone, and argue that it was a meaningless term, and that relational databases can do everything NoSQL databases can. That’s […]
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Quick iPad Sketches
One evening last week I had the idea to draw some quick sketches to illustrate some concepts in the Praxis curriculum. I used my iPad, Apple Pencil, Procreate, Paper by 53, and Pixelmator.
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Building a Wide Base of Knowledge
Someone I’m advising asked me this morning how to build a wide base of knowledge across many subjects and disciplines. Here was my answer: The short answer is that you need to be curious. Specifically: Read widely. Ask people what they are working on and dig in to understand. Ask lots of questions. Spend lots […]
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That was a good keynote. Makes me excited about Apple’s future again. I’m preordering a 10.5″ iPad Pro. I’ve been waiting a full year for an update to the line and this looks incredible.
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First radish of the season! (D’Avignon)
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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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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 writer’s block is […]
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Ideas for WordPress Projects
A la James Altucher’s 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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JavaScript Learning Project Ideas
A la James Altucher’s Ten Ideas a Day Daily quote feature with quotes from the Leonard Read Almanac. Build a searchable page to go along with the almanac. Realtime search by date and topic. Musicfor.work – take people’s Spotify inputs, sanitize, save, and display. Basic first, categories later. Cocktail visualizations Page that shows window width, […]
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Good test for determining whether or not I’m actually hungry: Would I eat a carrot right now? If not, I’m probably just craving something sweet and I should drink some water instead.
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I’ve been feeling stuck with some creative issues at work and decided to try a new tactic today: I spent 30 minutes digging into what specifically I was stuck on instead of just the general “I’m Stuck.” I picked one of the items on that list and turned it into a question. I wrote that […]
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The biggest advantage of a microblog: Lowering the posting barrier. I can post whatever I feel like instead of trying to make it “worthy.” I can get my ideas out with less anxiety. As I get into this mindset, I bet it will make putting stuff out elsewhere easier, too.
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Derek Magill on Activation over Awareness
Great stuff on marketing from my coworker Derek Magill: “Hold off on new marketing efforts and let’s fix your funnel first.” Oftentimes the most promising “marketing” strategy is not to focus on growing awareness and traffic, but in making the most of the existing awareness and traffic you already have. Read his full post here. […]
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Ignore the Rules and Be True to Yourself
“Writers write every single day.” “If you aren’t writing code every day, you can’t call yourself a developer.” “The best in every field get up at 4am and start working by 6am after a workout and an hour of reading.” Rules are so fun to state. They make you look hardcore, driven, and disciplined. But […]