Tangible Life
Eastern vs. Western Views of Happiness
Excellent article over at The School of Life:
Some of the reason why this continues to feel unreal is that we simply can’t imagine that success, great wealth and a palace wouldn’t in the end do the trick. And that in turn is because too few people who have been blessed with such accoutrements have ever given us an honest account of what it felt like to have them.
Minimalist tendencies lean into eastern sensibilities.
Write plain text files
Derek Sivers makes some excellent points throughout this piece, but two stuck out to me:
You will outlive these companies. Your writing should outlive you. Depending on companies is not an option.
Damn.
Reliable, flexible, portable, independent, and long-lasting. Plain text files will be readable by future generations, hundreds of years from now.
These qualities should be evaluation criteria for more than just writing.
5 Ways to Simplify Your Life
Leo Babauta always has gems to share, but the following really resonated with me:
This is the benefit of living a simple life, this slowness and spaciousness, but it can also be a path to the simple life. Slow down to simplify.
One of my 2022 themes is moving to more “slow apps” that don’t have the goal of engagement or stealing focus. I think I will stretch until I can fit “slow life” into the theme.
Project Milestone
Fascinating project. I could see this becoming the norm, especially with the cost of lumber skyrocketing.
In the city of Eindhoven (The Netherlands) five 3D-printed concrete houses will be built. The project is the world’s first commercial housing project based on 3D-concrete printing. The houses will all be occupied, they will meet all modern comfort requirements, and they will be purchased and let out by a real estate company.
Confessions of a Brain Surgeon
An amazing interview with neurosurgeon Henry Marsh on Big Ideas with Paul Barclay.
Hearing this episode made Marsh’s Do No Harm a no-brainer purchase for me. I wonder what part of my brain makes an intentionally cringe-worthy pun unavoidable.
Disconnect
Derek Sivers writing on his blog:
That lack of interruption is a great ingredient for flow.
Every business wants you get you addicted to their infinite updates, pings, chats, messages, and news. But if what you want out of life is to create, then those things are the first to go.
While the post is from 2016, the need to disconnect for the reasons Derek outlines are more attractive than ever.
What Is This Thing Called Design?
Khoi Vinh posted this on Subtraction in 2018. It is an even more cogent primer today than it was then.
Sometimes you need to explain what design is to people who don’t understand it, but need to.
This group of people is growing exponentially.
The end result is no longer just a “good looking” or “user friendly” interface; the goal is now to create a satisfying if not delightful overall experience for users.
The design process for so many things, especially digital interfaces, has become as much about how it works as how it “looks”. One may be a designer by title or trade, but make no mistake, it has evolved to being an engineer of the user’s experience with the product.
The eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life
Oliver Burkeman distills brilliantly in his final “This column will change your life” submission at The Guardian. The entire article is a must read, but these are the high points for me:
The capacity to tolerate minor discomfort is a superpower.
My grandfather never stated in terms of “pain”. Always in terms of “discomfort”.
The future will never provide the reassurance you seek from it.
It’s freeing to grasp that no amount of fretting will ever alter this truth. It’s still useful to make plans. But do that with the awareness that a plan is only ever a present-moment statement of intent, not a lasso thrown around the future to bring it under control.
Go with the flow…
When stumped by a life choice, choose “enlargement” over happiness.
Finding things to make you temporarily happy is easy. Growth is hard, but utlimately the most rewarding to achieve.
Thoughts on Social
My tagline on social profiles has been “I father. I write. I drink coffee.” for as long as I can remember. For almost as long, I’ve only consistently done two of those things.
Instagram was different. It wasn’t Facebook, which I deleted many years ago and never looked back. It was visual and immersive and you could find photos and collections that inspired you. You could curate an amazing group of accounts to follow on almost any creative topic. Typography, architecture, Air Jordans, interior design, graphic design, and, of course, coffee porn. It has served me well for all of those things. It has also been a great way to consume hilarious content from several comedians I follow.
All that to say, Instagram has been, and continues to be, a positive experience for me to use. Even after they started implementing features and modes that were obviously to mimic features in other platforms I don’t use and don’t care to use. Stories is Snapchat. Reels is TikTok. The list is sure to go on.
Even after they were purchased by Facebook. Even after the original leadership took issue with the direction Facebook was forcing and left the company. Even after they added “from Facebook” throughout the UI of the app. Here I am, a pleased user of a free platform I get joy from using…knowingly being the product. My data being Instagram’s digital asset. Facebook’s asset. Being targeted by their scary good ad algorithm. Justifying that the inspiration and the creators that post it somehow negates the concerning practices of the parent company and its executive leadership.
Twitter is a bit different. It’s mostly my place to follow podcasters and internet pundits I feel have something worthwhile to say or promote. Little chunks of text, often with a link out to more, that don’t take much of my attention for any significant amount of time. Occasionally a platform where I post a quick thought on something about tech or a funny take on life. Informative, but without the joy or engagement that Instagram fosters.
Reddit is pure information junkie territory. If there is a topic that interests someone, chances are other people are interacting with one another about it via a subreddit. I’d steered clear of Reddit for a long time because I worried the value wouldn’t outweigh the distraction. That wasn’t the case once I started using it. If anything, it saved me time searching for things across online forums and sites. It’s a useful platform when you curate the subreddits you subscribe to carefully and aggressively. I wouldn’t necessarily classify what I get out of it as “joy”, but learning something new or solving a problem usually brings positive emotions to my brain.
So here I am… not believing my use of “social media” is anything concerning with relation to my focus or attention. Not being consumed by it, or letting it dictate my emotions on any topic of relevance in my life. Not having written a blog post in a very long time. Not having finished a novel or a long-form piece of written prose outside of an email newsletter or in-depth investigative journalist piece. Inspired and motivated, but without the time I need to execute.
My life is a bit more hectic than most. I have a large family and a long work commute (pre-pandemic). Of course, it will take time to get my ideas out into something well-written and consumable. Of course, the list of interesting books I feel inclined to read will continue to grow. Of course, none of this makes sense when I step back and take inventory of what content consumes my time. So, I’m taking a break. I’m going to see what the rest of this insane year of 2020 can bring with a few seemingly simple changes (considering the year so far, this is peanuts).
Here’s my to-do list:
- Remove Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit apps from my phone and tablet. I’m not going full “tinfoil hat”, so if someone sends me a post they think I’d especially enjoy via text or if I see a link to one in a newsletter I keep around, it will load in the browser just fine. I’m not canceling/closing my accounts at this point; just creating a barrier.
- Setup shortcuts/automation to post about the content I’ve created to the social profiles I maintain for that purpose. Set these up using methods that don’t require the app to be installed on the devices mentioned above.
- Setup shortcuts/newsletters for an aggressively curated highlight reel from these sources. Limit consumption of this highlight reel to 20 minutes per week.
- Link to this post in the profile of my social accounts. Not because I anticipate anyone will care (I have a small number of “followers” anyway), but if they do, this experiment may interest them.
- Write posts. Read books. Evaluate how that’s gone in a few months.
Don’t consider this me quitting social media. Consider it me heading out for a coffee… or a pack of cigarettes.
The science behind a good cup of coffee
Beth Mole, writing at ArsTechnica, gives a great breakdown of why coffee is clearly the best beverage on Earth.
But, the researchers did note that in the drip coffee method, the last drops out of the coffee maker were most packed with caffeine and chlorogenic acids. This suggests that longer steeping times (5 to 6 minutes in the study) would get the most out of the beans.
This lines up with my brew methods and what I have found suits my taste.
Why the US Government Just Made Its Own Font
Interesting read from Vice:
While most of the changes won’t be terribly interesting to anyone who doesn’t build websites for a living, one big change caught our eye: the federal government has created its own bespoke typeface for the project, fittingly named Public Sans.
Coolest thing I have seen about the government in quite some time.
Fortunately, the GSA is releasing Public Sans under the SIL Open Font License, so designers working on projects outside of the federal government will be able to freely utilize the new typeface.
I actually used to run a call center program for the General Services Administration (GSA).
Begin
The hardest part of any endeavor is beginning it. Many would say that seeing things through is the hard part. I disagree. I think the minimum amount of effort is required to start any task, therefore, it is the most critical component of the path to completion. The irony is that many people thrive on the motivation to complete something due to the forward progress. None of that momentum exists without having begun.
When something seems daunting or impossible, just start. Make starting the focus of your thought and energy. Nature supports the theory as well. Watch a bird take flight. The hardest part is the take off. Once it is soaring, it glides and decides when to spend more energy to either remain forward progress or coast. It finds the way forward once flight has been achieved. Treat your goals the same.
Take off.
Drinking coffee, notebook open
Still drinking lots of coffee, but starting to want to write more about it (and all the tech). More to come…
Drinking Coffee, notebook closed
Coffee with a notebook
I was looking through some awesome coffee photography recently and saw this image. It pretty accurately describes the state of the site lately. I’m using a lot of technology, drinking a ton of coffee and not writing about any of it. Until that changes, check out some of my own coffee photography on the techandcoffee Instagram account.
Instagram Logo and UI Updates
Great post from the designers behind the changes to Instagram’s logo and UI.
Instagram logo evolved
How I Use My Notebooks
Great update post from Jenny Mason over on The Finer Point! I have a bit of a notebook fascination (or fetish, perhaps) and seeing how others use various types has always been of interest to me.
Jim Henson’s Violent Wilkins Coffee Commericals
This pre-Kermit character sure knows how to sell coffee!
Shifty Jelly
What a great highlight of the Shifty Jelly development team. Pocket Casts has been my podcast app for years now and the Android experience is by far the best.
Macstories iOS 10 Wishlist
This is why Federico Viticci and the MacStories team are best in class. Go watch the video and read the article that accompanies it.
Favorite Android Utility Apps
Every year I try to avoid “resolutions,” but that doesn’t mean I don’t take inventory and try to make changes where needed. Over the coming weeks, I’ll cover some of my favorite apps on various platforms. I use iOS, Android, Mac and Windows, so hopefully at least one of the posts will be useful to every reader.
The following Android apps do not require root privileges. Some are paid apps, but most have a free version or trial. I believe in paying for apps I rely on because the app ecosystem is ripe with apps that do not get maintained over time when there is no clear support model for the developer.
These are the Android utility apps that have made me more productive on my HTC One M8:
1Password
1Password is a great password manager on its surface, but I’ve come to use it for so much more over the last few months. It can be used to securely store credit cards, identity data like Social Security cards, software license keys and even secure notes. The Android version includes the option of a custom keyboard that will populate usernames and passwords automatically with the touch of a button.
1Password also has Mac, Windows and iOS versions that all sync reliably so that your passwords and more are available on every major platform.
Texpand Pro
Texpand Pro is a text expander/text automation app. I’ve used TextExpander from Smile Software on Mac and iOS for years, but was never satisfied with the Android alternatives until Texpand Pro came along. While it doesn’t sync with TextExpander (importing snippets from a TextExpander Sync/export would be a great feature to add), adding snippets is very intuitive and the app follows modern Material Design guidelines. Backup and restore options are available in the app settings, so moving to a new device shouldn’t be much work. Some other notable feature are as follows:
- Write phrase snippets to user dictionary
- Import snippets from user dictionary entries
- Hovering expansion button that floats as recognized phrases/abbreviations are typed
I do not use the last feature, personally, but I can see how it would be useful for some. I keep it simple and just expand snippets using a short abbreviation. For example, when I type scb it automatically expands to my full conference bridge phone number and ID. It makes creating meeting invites a snap.
Twilight
Twilight’s premise is simple; blue light from your device is bad when you need to go to sleep. Reading on phones and tablets trick our bodies into trying to stay awake. Twilight tweaks the color of your screen so that the bad blue light is filtered. You control how aggressive the filter performs and it will even allow you to dim the screen more than turning the standard brightness setting all the way down. Twilight has the option to automatically enable/disable based on on sunrise/sunset for your current location. You can also set it to start/stop at specific times. If you want to read more about what blue light is doing to your brain at night, the developers put several great references in the app description on Google Play.
Coffee in Space: A Bold Cup of Innovation
Finally… I can book space travel.
In partnership with ASI, the Italian space agency, Argotec and Lavazza have produced ISSpresso (get it?), a capsule-based machine that promises to deliver “a perfect espresso” in the weightless environment of space. Microgravity complicates literally every action astronauts perform in space, and liquids are particularly tricky to deal with up there. With this new appliance, however, they can insert a pouch of water, add a capsule of espresso, press “brew,” and voila! Caffeinated bliss.
Kit Kat Dunk
I’ve been missing out…
See it there, right next to lemon cookie and giant cookie? There is the Kit Kat — a common candy bar — pretending to be a cookie.