The Brooks Review

Month: November 2015

  • Indonesia is burning. So why is the world looking away?

    George Monbiot:

    Fire is raging across the 5,000km length of Indonesia. It is surely, on any objective assessment, more important than anything else taking place today. And it shouldn’t require a columnist, writing in the middle of a newspaper, to say so. It should be on everyone’s front page. It is hard to convey the scale of this inferno, but here’s a comparison that might help: it is currently producing more carbon dioxide than the US economy. And in three weeks the fires have released more CO2 than the annual emissions of Germany.

    Holy shit.

  • Who are you reading this for?

    Often I start reading an article which I saved to read later, and I think “yeah this is good stuff, I know it all, but it’s good stuff” and then I stop.

    Why am I still reading this?

    Who am I reading this for?

    (more…)

  • Where in the House Am I?

    A few nights ago I sat down on my couch — the chaise lounge section of course — and got ready to start watching some TV. But the far lamp in our living room was turned on and from the spot I was sitting in that lamp casts a glare on the TV.

    So it must be turned off.

    (more…)

  • Dialing Down

    CGP Grey:

    I’m taking this month to dial the volume down. But the problem is more difficult than it used to be.

    I'm having to do similar things as it will be the only way I can meet the crazy goals I set for myself this month.

  • Fine Tuning Keyboards

    Since we finally have a new keyboard out from Apple, it is high time we look at what keyboard options there are. Since Keyboards map well to cars I think it is best to look at the in this vein. People tend to care a lot about their car, or not at all, and for the small group that resides somewhere in the middle: they tend to only know what cars they do not like. It is in that sense that I think keyboards fall into the same relationship with people, as do cars.

    Most people probably don’t care about their keyboard.

    And those that do care, typically care deeply.

    There is the same small group as with cars, who just know what they do not like in their keyboard.

    (more…)

  • My NaNoWriMo Challenge

    I’ve known about NaNoWriMo for years, but the thing is: 50,000. That’s a big number, like almost an insurmountable number. I’ve never felt like I wanted to participate, but I always was impressed with those who did manage to at least try.

    So this year I am going to do it.

    But I’m not writing a novel.

    (more…)

  • Sleeps to Christmas 2 Premium

    Here's another app from a co-worker (lots this week). It's tvOS / iOS and is a nice little countdown to Christmas.