I write about reading, design, programming, the web, art, religion, and more.
I know these kinds of posts about internal apps may be less interesting since you can’t actually use any of the mentioned software, but on the off chance that some of the ideas somehow prove useful in some small way to someone, here we go. These apps were all written by hand, by the way, no AI involved. I should probably include updated screenshots, but then I might never actually get around to…
Jason on analog maximalism . I’m trying to move more in this direction, primarily through writing and drawing with pen on paper in my Field Notes much more often, though I hope to move analogward in other areas too. Neal Stephenson’s advice on writing by hand . I’ve wanted to do more of this. Just need to put in the time to get my cursive hand to a place where I’m happy with how it looks, and I…
Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School , by Thomas Hardy, published 1872, fiction, 220 pages. Delightful and occasionally funny. (From what I’ve heard of later Hardy, that may not last?) Enjoyed the carolers, and the core story of Dick Dewy and Fanny Day, and the prose throughout. Still very much looking forward to reading the rest of Hardy’s works. Classics: A Very Short…
This time I have a handful of links all about AI, so if you need a break from that right now (and I wouldn’t blame you), might want to skip this one. After this we’ll return to our regular — by which I mean irregular — bundles of non-AI links. Eamon Caddigan on hating AI in 2026 . “Some people find chatbots useful and I can’t argue with their opinion, but nobody is doing anything with them that…
A Passionate Pilgrim , by Henry James, published 1871, fiction, 104 pages. A little weird, a little haunted. I really enjoyed the descriptions and characterizations, especially past the beginning. The America vs. England bit took on more meaning after I learned (while, um, writing this) that James spent the last half of his life in England. Looking forward to reading the rest of James’s work and…
The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society , by Eleanor Janega, published 2023, history, 286 pages. An interesting book. Among other things, it makes a point which hadn’t occurred to me before, that what a society considers attractive typically correlates to what wealth gets you — light skin back in medieval times because you didn’t have to to work outside, nowadays a tan…
Bryan Macomber’s teardown illustrations/animations of how things like mechanical pencils and retractable pens work . Very cool, love the style. Reminds of the explainers Bartosz Ciechanowski used to do. HellMood’s 16-byte Sierpinski triangle demo . Sixteen bytes! Derek Sivers on being a netizen . I’ve been online since 1991 and that same early ethos was instilled in me, too. I believe it makes for…
A Midsummer Night’s Dream , by William Shakespeare, published 1600, play, 64 pages. A bit bonkers. Once again, Ovid shows up everywhere. (I had no idea to what degree until after I read the Metamorphoses and started recognizing the allusions in other books.) I’d forgotten, too, that Shakespeare borrowed from Pyramus and Thisbe not once but twice. The Tempest , by William Shakespeare, published…
I am so behind on these! Road to Disaster: A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam , by Brian VanDeMark, published 2018, history, 763 pages. Really liked it. It’s a history of Vietnam up until LBJ leaves office, including a bit at the beginning on the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis (useful context for the early decisions both Kennedy and McNamara were making), looking in…
Misha Glouberman on how worried we should be about climate change , based on what the studies actually say. This was hopeful. While we still ought to do everything we reasonably can to avoid making things worse, it’s good to know that current indicators don’t lead inexorably to a post-apocalyptic hellscape. Typographica Library’s specimen books of metal and wood type . Lovely. I occasionally dream…