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AI, AI…Oh

less than 1 minute read

Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons. –R. Buckminster Fuller

Judgment Calls

2 minute read

Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life. –Albert Schweitzer

Dis-Incorporating

5 minute read

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am ab...

Leaving Twitter

1 minute read

A baby is a loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. —Ronald Knox

General Specialist

2 minute read

The future masters of technology will have to be light-hearted and intelligent. The machine easily masters the grim and the dumb. –Marshall McLuhan, 19...

Gentrification’s Wheel

3 minute read

Gentrification is complex. Many say it’s better than the alternative. In many American cities, “blighted” areas are redeveloped or otherwise transformed, oft...

Don’t Worry About College Majors

1 minute read

I’ve heard a lot recently about ‘picking the right college major’. It’s normal to worry about such things. I remember.

At First Light

1 minute read

In the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening, only with his legs. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lo-Fi Sci-Fi

1 minute read

Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. —Pablo Picasso

You Don’t Need a New Laptop

less than 1 minute read

We are not to throw away those things which can benefit our neighbor. Goods are called good because they can be used for good: they are instruments for go...

How I Write and Format Books in Plain Text

6 minute read

This is Part 2 of my short series: From Draft to Published — a minimalist guide to writing, formatting, and publishing your book without overwhelm. Start wit...

From Draft to Published

1 minute read

An upcoming short series on how to finish and publish your book–without tech overwhelm

The Roots

1 minute read

The undiscerning mind is like the roots of a tree. It absorbs all that it touches, even that which would kill it. —Master Po, Kung Fu (TV show)

Give It Up, Turn It Loose

2 minute read

The story of my relationship with playing guitar is like a love story–filled with episodes of self doubt, family tragedy, half-hearted attempts at commitment...

Trust, or Rust

less than 1 minute read

He who does not trust enough, will not be trusted. —Lao Tzu

Replican’t

3 minute read

Imagine a device that could create something out of nothing. You walk up to the device, give it your order and bang…a few seconds or minutes later, the thing...

The Last Thing I Remember

3 minute read

The last thing I remember, I was driving in the desert. It was a cool night, and I had the top down, enjoying the colitas with the rest of the band. I had my...

Memento Mori

1 minute read

This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and ...

Trust the Process

1 minute read

Everything that so far—through technology and through the accumulation of human skill—we call the increase of our powers, is leading us to destruction. No...

Re-Cursive

4 minute read

Gen Z never really learned to write in cursive

Knowledge Basing

1 minute read

Something that took me a long time to learn: You don’t need special software, skills, or systems to build knowledge. Many will tell you ‘build a second bra...

Time After Time

2 minute read

Friday night, we watched Footloose (1984) with our 13-year-old. My wife and I have both seen it, of course, but I hadn’t seen it in 20+ years.

The Path is No Path

1 minute read

‘Weird’ life paths have always been the norm, when you scratch the surface of someone’s story.

The Importance of Being Human

1 minute read

Like an approaching train, tools like chatGPT seem to be barreling towards our lives. We hear the far-off whistle and the chug of the engine, and (like waiti...

You Are Not An Average

less than 1 minute read

Much of the productivity/tech/life/entrepreneurial bro advice I read is just them discovering and regurgitating motivational speakers of the past.

Wasted

1 minute read

by Charles Bukowski

The Line Between Good and Evil

2 minute read

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn died in 2008. Solzhenitsyn has became lost to popular memory, but he was once quite famous, specifically for writing about his experie...

Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

less than 1 minute read

Throughout human history, wise people have always acknowledged one universal truth: your thoughts make your world. Marcus Aurelius “The happiness of your li...

High Tech Wreck

4 minute read

Note: This article was first published in May 2004.

Page Count

1 minute read

Today I was organizing my collection of book reading notes, and wondered: how many books have I read in my lifetime? I made a wild (and probably generous) gu...

Estates of Being

2 minute read

Last weekend, I went to an estate sale around the corner from my house. I’m drawn to estate sales, but not for the usual reasons: for me, it’s the stories.

How Woodworking Taught Me To Be A Programmer

2 minute read

When I got into woodworking, it was difficult to know where to start — even if I had a visual plan. Often I only had an idea (“build a set of shelves for the...

Deep Economy

2 minute read

NOTE: This is a revised version of an article that first appeared in the July 2007 issue of Planning Magazine.