The Brooks Review

Category: Free

  • For Sale: X-E2 and Lenses

    Selling my X-E2, and Fuji 35mm f/1.4, and 27mm f/2.8 lenses. It’s all up for grabs, let me know if you are interested. Here are the details:

    • Fujifilm X-E2 (silver): It’s near perfect. There is a light scratch at the top of the camera on the left hand side, and some wear on the silver paint on the bottom left hand side. $545.00 plus shipping.
    • Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4: Mint condition, perfect lens with hood and bag. $400 plus shipping.
    • Fujifilm 27mm f/2.8 (silver): Perfect condition, with lens bag. $280.00 plus shipping.

    Each item comes with original box. U.S. only, sorry everyone else. Email me if you are interested, I am happy to provide pictures, etc.

  • GORUCK Sale

    My favorite GORUCK bag, the GR1, is on sale. Which is very rare. Many of their other bags are on sale as well and I’m really having to show restraint.

  • Seasonality Go 3.0

    I’ve always been a fan of Seasonality for it’s massive amount of data that it can show you. If you really like to nerd out on all the weather data, this is the best app for that. I don’t use it everyday, but today we are having quite the wind and rain event. So I’ve been staring at the map view far too much today:

    It’s a good app, and with version 3 (as you can see) it now works on the iPhone. The design leaves a bit to be desired for me, but you can’t argue with the data it shows — there’s a ton of it.

    Note: You have to go to Map Settings and enable particle mode to get that wind chart, then zoom over to Tacoma, WA.

  • The Eight Year March

    Eight years ago, well a little longer than that, I wasn’t working. I was a little over a year out of college and was “freelancing” in various fields, but really just sleeping in late and staying up late doing only enough work to pay the minuscule bills I had at the time. I was fortunate enough to have a father who kind of let me do whatever while helping to support me. I didn’t have any money, but back then I really didn’t need any money either.

    Ah, I miss those days at times.

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  • The Only Practical Advice for Parents

    I can’t offer much great parenting advice, but there is one bit that I always find myself chanting when I am bleary eyed and trying to get a kid to sleep: “At some point, no matter what, this kid will go to sleep.”

    That’s the only thing I know to be true. Sure, sometimes that sleep may mean you only sleep for an hour or two before work, but — at some point — that kid will sleep.

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  • The Synopsis – Need to Know News

    I had a crazy idea a while back: why not do my own TabDump now that it is gone? Well, I partnered up with Bradley Chambers and created just that. We will be covering a lot more than just tech news, so come look and let me know what you think.

    Also, Conor McClure, Steven Owens, and Yuyang Guo are contributing to the content daily. Big thanks to them.

  • The Brooks Review Podcast: Episode Fourteen – Shoulder Surfing

    I’m joined by Guillaume Ross to talk about iOS 8 security. Very good show if you care at all about not having your iOS data stolen.

  • Try Ulysses for NaNoWriMo

    Free 30 day trial of Ulysses III for Nanowrimo, and this is your chance to take the best writing software you can get for Mac OS X for a spin. I cannot recommend this software enough and 30 days is exactly twice the amount of time it will take you to fall in love with the app.

  • The Brooks Review Podcast: Episode Thirteen – Rohde

    Mike Rohde joins me to talk about notes and Sketchnotes — we also dive into talking about travel journaling.

  • Release Bash 3.2.53

    MacMiniVault has a really fast way to patch BASH on your Mac.

  • The BASH Vulnerability

    There’s a nasty hole in BASH (think Terminal) which affects Macs and should be patched. You can do so manually by following this thread on StackExchange. I patched my Macs already, but note that you need Homebrew, MacPorts, or Xcode installed to use this method.

  • The Brooks Review Podcast: Episode Twelve – The One You Expected

    Shawn Blanc joins me this week to talk about all sorts of stuff. iOS 8, writing, work scheduling. Pat Dryburgh lays down a poem reading for us.

    Big thanks to Tom Bihn for sponsoring — makers of excellent baggage.

  • The Tablet Loses

    With a seemingly immenent announcement of larger screen iPhone, there has been a lot of talk about device sizing. What is ideal: smaller tablets, or bigger phones?

    In addition to all of this we are seeing tablet growth slow, as presumably fewer people are upgrading and fewer people are buying. ((No, shit, right?)) Both of these thought patterns are related, and one common thing I have seen is that the laptop isn’t being replaced by tablets, it is being replaced by phones.

    It seems crazy, as a person with a high-end Mac, an iPad, and an iPhone, that people would be using the iPhone (or like devices) as their computer. But, is it really that crazy? Not when you stop and think about it.

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  • The Brooks Review Podcast: Episode Ten – No, Really.

    Longer episode than normal, but a lot of fun courtesy of Garrett Murray and his thoughts on my Twitter bio.

    Thanks to Macminicolo.net and Rego for sponsoring.

  • New Membership Plan: Quarterly

    In honor of the seventh major design revision to the site, I am now offering quarterly memberships (for a limited time) at just $7 every three months. The plans are live, and remember you can switch plans if you want.

    The plans are now:

    • $7 every three months
    • $40 a year
    • $4 a month

    The best value is quarterly. I’d love it if you became a member.

  • The Design

    I know it can be boring to read about a blogger’s new site design, and truly there’s nothing revolutionary here, but at some point you may wonder why I made the changes I made — and that’s what this post serves to answer. An answer to ‘why’ for both of us. (Sometimes I forget too.)

    Unlike every other redesign that I have done I first sat down and figured out some clear goals for the new design.

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  • The Brooks Review Podcast: Episode Nine – Producitivytistststs

    I’m joined by Mike Vardy to chat about productivity tactics and whiskey. Good show.

  • Mikes On Mics #134: Talking Time with Ben Brooks

    Mike Vardy was kind enough to have me on his podcast this week. We talked about a ton of stuff, including my new focus on — shit — focus I guess.

  • The Brooks Review Podcast: Episode Eight – Barham

    I’m joined by an english teacher, Nate Barham, who reads this site! We discuss self-publishing, and writing habits.

  • Tragic Times in America

    This week a tragic thing has been ongoing and largely ignored in this country: a young man was shot, the police over reacted, and journalists were arrested for reporting — and so much more.

    Amy Davidson sums up the spark for this tragedy well:

    Michael Brown didn’t die in the dark. He was eighteen years old, walking down a street in Ferguson, Missouri, from his apartment to his grandmother’s, at 2:15 on a bright Saturday afternoon. He was, for a young man, exactly where he should be—among other things, days away from his first college classes. A policeman stopped him; it’s not clear why. People in the neighborhood have told reporters that they remember what happened next as a series of movements: the officer, it seemed to them, trying to put Brown into a car; Brown running with his hands in the air; the policeman shooting; Brown falling.

    The response to this was absolutely fucking nuts. There was looting and rioting, which is very bad. But the police didn’t even come close to handling the situation well.
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