Posts on 1651

I haven’t written here in a year and a half, but let’s see if I can finish an entry in the few minutes before the babysitter leaves.

Cleaning the house every Saturday morning has become my de facto philosophizing time.

In meditation and mindfulness practice, we’re asked in a multitude of ways to stop identifying with our thoughts, at least for a moment.

Do you think I can complete this letter in one sitting?

If you’re anything like me, your brain does not summon up reasons to be proud without some delicate coaxing.

This most powerful incantation may be my most important discovery of 2021.

This incantation works to transmute outrage, melancholy, and general complainy crabbiness; into resoluteness, tranquility, and general reasonableness.

One of my favorite moments in deep discussion with a dear friend is when the conversation seems to hit bedrock.

There are a few commonsense exhortations that I have found that function like magic incantations, cutting through unhelpful thought patterns and wresting me back into a reasonable state of mind.

Hallon, I’m apparently joining a couple of friends like Sarah and Ash by, while not having intentionally and officially stopped sending letters, starting to send them again.

After ten years away, I reread Anathem by Neal Stephenson, a book I’d suspected might be my favorite novel.

I recently had my worldview forcefully re-centered by Steven Pinker’s book Enlightenment Now.

So we had a child.

I almost always feel worse after looking at Twitter anymore.

Celebrating Inbox Zero by lying on the couch listening to Curtain Call by haruka nakamura, I imagined a video documentary series about historical figures.

Do you meditate?

How important do you think it is to be consistent?

What are your values?

Routine and habit are, I believe, the only reliable tools for improving yourself and your situation.

In February I had an evening that made me think, as long as I can experience something like this at least once per year, then life is going well.

Sketching is the cental activity of design, but it doesn’t always have to be sketching pictures.

How often do you consciously evaluate the direction of your life?

I’m working through my music library in chronological order, which has been a thrilling rediscovery of my favorite music in its original context.

Jon, My partner in UX Launchpad, put his prodigious design insight and experience into a post about why undo has been demoted in mobile interfaces.

Hello, friends.

I recently finished the book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom.

Time for another one of this series.

Do you have a system for managing your time?

Have you ever had something crappy that you made get really popular?

How about that technology?

Can I just complain for a second?

How much do you love emoji?

Do you like the band RUSH?

Pretty tired today!

Do you know Bret Victor?

Thank you for signing up.