Jason Fried:
But the most interesting designs to me are when design changes your behavior. Even the smallest details can change how someone interacts with something.
Jason Fried, When design drives behavior
Clever, but I might prefer when the UI doesn’t lie to me.
Whenever I stop by here and look at the blog I think, “Well that’s kind of nice, actually.” Then I consider moving my blogging here (again). But also, I know me and it never sticks. And yet, it’s still here.
The appeal of cynicism is that it makes you sound smart without asking for a whole lot of independent thought. It’s easier to tear down than build up, to assume the worst than to evaluate evidence, to sneer than to engage, to smirk rather than smile.
Source: Joan Westenberg, Why Cynicism is Just Moral Cowardice
We could use less of it.
That’s not entirely fair. Wallace’s most famous book, Infinite Jest—1,079 pages and weighing 3.15 pounds (in the hardcover first edition)—is challenging. But Wallace wrote many other things, and some of them are quite accessible.
Source: Ted Gioia, Where to Start in Reading David Foster Wallace
I hope that reading and talking about DFW makes a comeback. For a while there, Book Social Media was (rightfully) aligned against sound-smart lit-bros who wouldn’t shut up about Infinite Jest. I may have been one of them, because I loved (and still love) that book, so shut up.
But definitely read This is Water, even if it’s cliche by now. and A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again is a ton of fun. Oh, and his piece about Federer is amazing, even if some of it might be exaggerated. Who cares?
We cannot just sit and wait and hope that something will change in a way we wish it to.
Jeremy Mann, “Red Rabbit 7”
That explains the reading on my scale this morning, I guess.
The strength of making a decision is making it. You can always make a new one later.
Source: Optimizing for Taste
I used to want the fanciest watches I could manage to afford. I have a nice Tag automatic and it’s a fine watch.
What I didn’t expect is that these days I love the fact that my everyday and my “dress” watches cost a total of around $50.
Also, as the saying goes, “A person with one watch knows what time it is. A person with two watches is never sure.”
Each week Manuel Moreale features a different blogger as part of his “People and Blogs” series. It’s usually very interesting, but today’s entry is all about me, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
If you’re interested: https://manuelmoreale.com/pb-jack-baty
A little experiment where I write a post with pen and paper, but I transcribed it as well, just for fun
Source: This post was written in a notebook
I still write on paper almost every day, but I haven’t been enjoying it as much recently. I’m not sure why. Joel’s giving it a spin. It’s always fun to watch others working on paper. It helps me stick with it.
Hey Joel, you should definitely try a fountain pen. Get something inexpensive to start with, like a Lamy Safari or Pilot Metropolitan. You know, ease into it before it takes over your bank account.
“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.”
Kurt Vonnegut