It was the last day of a bluegrass festival I was at one time. The very last day—that morning where all the fun is over and all that’s left is to break down camp and go home. Everyone is tired. Hungover. Sun is already beating down. Do not forsake me oh my darling One of […] | Continue reading
I was in a folk-y band in college-and-beyond called The Missing String Band. We probably played… many hundred?… gigs. Nothing major. Most local and normal Every Wednesday at The Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb! Beerfest! Some very strange. Civil War Reenactment! We only have one record … | Continue reading
I have a little website where I’ve collected Quotes on Design for a long time. I don’t keep it up as well as I should, but hey, there are a bunch of quotes on design there. It takes submissions for new quotes. An observation that has held nearly 100% true: If someone submits a qu … | Continue reading
I found this note I jotted down: Next time you ask for a favor, you should see if you can reciprocate the favor before you even ask. Seems like something I would write down. I probably felt stronger about it at the time than I do now. I’m thinking now when you’re in a position [… … | Continue reading
I enjoyed reading Malcolm Gladwell’s (article? newsletter?) How the Private Golf Clubs of Los Angeles Can Right Their Wrongs, a follow-up to a half-decade old podcast A Good Walk Spoiled about private golf clubs: After all, the taxes on a decent-sized Beverly Hills half-acre lot … | Continue reading
Never got around to posting my section of Alex Trost’s fun and charitable Holiday Snowtacular this past December. Here it is! | Continue reading
I assume you, like me, have had endless thoughts about other life in the universe. The universe is infinitely big, right? And there are more observable stars than grains of sand on Earth? That’s… uncomfortable. Clearly, there isn’t only other life in the universe but lots of it. … | Continue reading
TrackerZapper is a Mac app that sits in your menubar and automatically removes tracking parameters from any links you copy. Cool idea. I don’t mind that people use UTM parameters in links, or any other URL param gobbldygook they deem important. I don’t mind seeing them in the bro … | Continue reading
The opener of David Perell’s The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online: Writing online is the fastest way to accelerate your career. It’s the best way to learn faster, build your resume, and find peers and collaborators who can create job and business opportunities for you. Content bu … | Continue reading
Thanks to the HBO Max show, the phrase “raised by wolves” enters my brain a lot. And as a big AA Bondy fan, it makes me constantly think of the opening line to the namesake song on American Hearts: We were raised by wolvesAnd we are still wildAnd we howl when the troubled wind bl … | Continue reading
Just fun writing from Dennis Lee. “Dannis,” I said to myself, “It’s about time you learn how to bake bread. It is your Achilles heel, your one true weakness in the kitchen. If the world understood your bread illiteracy, your enemies would slay you with a sharpened baguette.” This … | Continue reading
My uncle Mike Howe thinks this fella is a direct ancestor of mine. Born in 1827 and died at 38 from wounds in the Civil War. Even further back, his dad, Peter Coyier, lived much longer: Interesting to see actual information about my family as far back as someone born in the 1700’ … | Continue reading
I must have saw Commando when I was like 5 years old, because I drew Arnold a lot based on old saved drawings I was going through. What? You don’t recognize the rectangle with four holes on the end of it? | Continue reading
I literally have no idea how I started watching Rick Steve’s Europe. It’s a long-running travel show about all sorts of places in Europe, and I hate to say it, but doesn’t even feel that particularly well-done to me. He’s this sorta white bread dude American dude with bland high- … | Continue reading
From a recent Garbage Day by Ryan Broderick: The one mystery we weren’t able to figure out is why any sane person working at Facebook would feel comfortable publishing a content report that admitted that the most viral publisher on its platform this year was a barely active drop- … | Continue reading
I remember a conversation with a dude, maybe 10-15 years older than me, who’s epitome of cool was Van Halen. Like Jump Van Halen. It didn’t land with me. I think I’m just a bit young to idolize hair bands. I’m sure Eddie can shred or whatever, but to me coolness is synonymous wit … | Continue reading
Perhaps you’ve noticed I’ve been a little annoyed at Apple’s customer support. I had this situation that I felt like I could explain pretty easily (I’m trading in an iPhone as part of the iPhone Upgrade Program, it has damage I need to pay for, the website will not take the payme … | Continue reading
Hey Apple! Following up here on my little saga that started here. Here’s the phone, you’ve mailed it back to me: I don’t want this phone. This is my old phone. I use the iPhone Upgrade Program that you offer explicitly because I think it’s cool I get to mail my phone back to you … | Continue reading
Hey Apple! Thanks for making cool phones. I use the iPhone Upgrade Program. As you know, the iPhone 13 recently came out, so it’s that time of year where I send in my old model (iPhone 12) and get the new model. When I sent my iPhone 12 back, the back of the phone was […] | Continue reading
I had a weird wave of nostolgia for this sign. My grandpa on my Mom’s side had on in their basement and I would just stare at it. Looks like on eBay they go for like $1,500 or so. Maybe someday. Maybe I need a log cabin first. | Continue reading
I understand the act of protesting. Admittedly, it’s been a minute since I’ve stood on a street corner, but I’ve been there. In college, after the 9/11 disaster, I remember being absolutely confused that the United States’ answer was… war? In Iraq? There wasn’t anything clearly p … | Continue reading
Things are good. Just trying to chip away at life. Making sure the family is happy and healthy. Making sure the businesses are happy and healthy. Trying to make sure it’s fun along the way. Currently earning a solid B. | Continue reading
I was talking with some random fellow adults one time and the subject of mountain biking came up. It was a kid’s birthday party. There was sheet cake. I had probably mentioned how I had broken my arms doing it a few years back (I’m fun at parties). One of them was pretty into it … | Continue reading
Headed out to a little old-time music campout this week. They had a little bit about general etiquette on the website, which I appreciate. It links out to this funny article about Bad Festival Neighbors with a bunch of different all-too-real personas: Dinner Bucket Bob Arrives at … | Continue reading
I hope I’m never in a situation where I have to do a “bureaucratic judo trick” in order to effectively manage a project, but this one from Adam Gordon Bell is juicy: Create an extended product roadmap and put [advice from stakeholders that doesn’t seem important to the project’s … | Continue reading
As a fat person, whenever I’m seen by any other person, my mind assumes they are thinking one of two things. 🅰 Ew a fat. They should eat less junk food. I’m (roll 1d100)% disgusted by their presence. 🅱 Ew a fat. They should eat less junk food. (Twang of guilt.) Wa … | Continue reading
A nice life story from Rands. For me, Pascal was high school, and I would have loved it if I could have written Pascal in college. I bet it would have changed my life, because I would have rolled in with confidence on the language, and I do better in situations like that. But no, … | Continue reading
There is definitely an alternate universe where I stayed in the printing industry longer. But I was still super cool, so what I ultimately did was bought one of these rad RISO Digital Duplicators and I just had a little shop that made underground zines and supported the shop by p … | Continue reading
I’m turning 41 soon, so I needed to get my list done while I’m still 40. Every decision we make, big and small, short-term and long-term, is an effort to improve our mood. Errrrybody got demons. Little is more powerful than writing. Look, it’s working! You’re getting to know me, … | Continue reading
I’m super intrigued by Substack for the same reason everyone is: there seems to be money there. Steven Levy’s article at WIRED gets into it. Here’s a bit from Casey Newton, who wrote newsletters for Vox: [Casey] sees newsletters as something he’ll be doing for his whole career. A … | Continue reading