Noah Berlatsky:
If you’re teaching your kids profanity, you need to teach them that profanity isn’t something they’re supposed to use. Otherwise, how will they fucking learn to use it correctly?
Every time my kids swear, I can barely contain my laughter. It’s fucking hilarious.
The word was defanged, no longer a critical insult and no longer a viable strategy within art — though it never quite gave up its veneer of provocation. Even austerity can be made decadent: To wealthy practitioners, minimalism is now little more than a slightly intriguing perversion, like drinking at breakfast.
Great follow up to my recent newsletter on the topic. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter here, it’s a thing.
(via Steve Owens)
Great advice.
The title of this post is an understatement. One of my favorite places to shop right now is Walgreens. Why? Because they have somehow managed to unfuck the current payment system.
I can not only use Apple Pay quickly and easily, but my loyalty card is setup to work with Apple Pay too. Walk in, use my watch for the loyalty card and payment, and walk out.
I’ve seen these things take forever (Apple Pay fails a lot even at the Apple Store) but at Walgreens, for whatever reason, the shit is magically fast. That’s how it should be, and frankly it makes me prefer shopping there because of it. Office Depot is the worst by far — what a stupid set of systems we have right now.
Om Malik:
Yahoo is a perfect illustration of how large Internet companies die—by fading into irrelevance. A healthy Internet service possesses three qualities: it encourages habit formation; it appeals to a younger demographic, which can age alongside it; and it displays evidence of growth.
Life on the road with just a GR2? Yes please.
Jason Snell:
If you want to turn your iPad into a nearly four-pound black laptop with mechanical keyswitches, this is the product for you.
LOL
Manton Reece on the troubles of working from home during the summer:
I’d add to his list: you might have kids at home who open your office door whenever they want. My home office is currently shared with anyone who wants to use the extra iMac or printer, and the kids often need rides to appointments, camps, and friends. For me, summer is the most important time to get a more formal schedule.
So true.
Everything about this passage is a big yep in my book:
A quick poll of my fellow Basecampers revealed that having no commute is their favourite thing about working from home, and the biggest block against considering coworking. I’m lucky in that the space I ran was down one flight of stairs from our apartment (which brought its own problems!), and any new shared office would be a short bike ride away. But, for me, an office door is enough separation between my work and life, and I’d rather spend my journey time walking the dog. Did I mention I have a dog?”
The moment I have to get in a car to do work, is the moment that working remotely is of less value to me. I have done long commutes to an office, and short 5-10min commutes to a shared workspace, and I loathed every moment I had to be in a car, no matter how short the drive was.
Manton Reece with a great line:
Companies aren’t exactly designed to fail. But that is their default outcome.
I did something similar during November when wrote over 50,000 words. It was hugely beneficial and something I am trying to start again as my writing time has become more of a back burner task of late.
Interesting post about the process of going from a take everything to a take very little traveler. I will say, he still packs a lot of stuff. But the fact he fits it all in the Aeronaut 45 is really impressive to me.
Ben Bajarin:
For years I had been writing about the need for better predictive intelligence in our software. It seems ridiculous that my smartphone does not know more about my context and take relevant actions on my behalf. If I’m in a meeting, send all calls to VM or send a text message. If I’m running late to a meeting, offer to send an email or text to those I’m meeting with to let them know I’m running late and an ETA of when I’ll be there (since it knows where I am on the road, the traffic situation, and my time to destination). Our smartphones are really not that smart when it comes to the intelligence equation. That is about to change.
User MooReview:
Given that there was no exhaustive guide on nail clippers and thesweethome’s top pick recommends the nickle-plated Muji’s (good but not great) and the awful tweezerman barrel spring nail nipper, we thought we would get snipping to see if we could find something better.
This is how you spend a Friday night. And to save you time, here’s their best all arounder (my affiliate link, as they provided no links).
Also, the BuyItForLife subreddit is one of my favorites.
Nick Bilton:
Technology is also likely to be at the center of the next major geopolitical battle. The anti-immigration, anti-one percent, anti-capitalism and anti-everything else we’re seeing right now isn’t just going to go away in a society where people feel their voices are not being heard. They’re going to continue to try to affect change, and increasingly, they will rely on technology. And it’s that same technology that is likely to ensure that all future wars bear little resemblance to previous ones.
Fascinatingly terrifying article.
Tom on The Minimal:
Going all in on iPad-only? The question for me today is when rather than how.
He’s not just talking about leaving the Mac either, he’s looking at what it would be like to just have one device. As in: iPhone or iPad only. He’s got some really good points on both sides of the coin.
I don’t agree with the title of this post, but It is a good list to get you started.
I’ve posted four bags for sale. I’ll be posting my MacBook on that page Monday. Keep an eye on it from time to time. Some great deals on some of my bags. Pretty much all of them can be considered in excellent condition.
A nice review from Steve on a bag which is easily one of the most recommended travel bags I see on forums.
This was a really fun event to attend and see happen. I also grabbed a couple of the best shots I’ve taken this year:
