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Every time you put something into a measurement container, some small amount of the stuff stays in the container after you empty it out. The measuring scoop you use for flour, the measuring cup for cream, the mixing bowl to combine it. We like to think that we can measure
Journal
Journal, 13 March 2020 So much of social media reminds me of Tolkien's palantirs. Dangerous and corrupting for mortals. Manipulated to show you what will redirect your will to someone else's aims. Seemingly a gift but more a temptation. Can lead even mighty kings to crazed
In conversation with a friend today, he made a passing remark: How can Google's own emails look like crap when viewed in Gmail, on a Google phone, using Google's dark mode? I think there are three things at play here. The first is that Google isn&
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You must choose your own forms of hardship, or they will be chosen for you by fortune. Suffering through workouts or being surprised by injury and frailty. Budgeting your money or being blindsided by unexpected events. Controlling the food you eat or being weakened and sickened by the lack of
So, if most people who show up for an individual competition are losers and show up anyway, what's the point? At least the guys who win are satisfied, right? In my experience? No. For the people who are interested in growing and developing their skills, winning at a
Tonight was the toughest I've had this week. I finished work, feeling drained. Steph and I walked around the neighborhood with the dog, I made dinner, we ate dinner. I had the whole evening. I sat down to write another blog post like yesterday's, since it
This moment right now is not so bad. If you're sitting somewhere, reading this, wherever you are, whenever you are, it's not so bad around you. Sure, somewhere in the world there are people facing very tough challenges. But they are less worried about their predicament
The virtues of copper: “Sleek and shining stainless steel doorknobs and push plates look reassuringly clean on a hospital door. By contrast, doorknobs and push plates of tarnished brass look dirty and contaminating,” she wrote at the time. “But even when tarnished, brass—an alloy typically of 67% copper and
Essay
I'm not familiar with Yuval Levin (I don't even remember his previous appearance on EconTalk, which I must have heard), but he was on EconTalk recently talking about his new book. The book sounds interesting enough, and if I had room on my to-read shelf for
I'm currently about six months into Invisalign. It took about a week to rewire my brain from feeling that it was weird to be wearing the aligners, to it being weird not to wear them. Now, I actually start to feel a little on-edge when I can'
Essay
Reading about Bell Labs and Xerox PARC, both histories emphasize that part of the successful R&D formula is hiring the best minds you can, giving them resources, and then leaving them alone to follow their curiosity wherever it goes. (Expect that they produce something, but not what or
Essay
It is difficult to comprehend what modern computers would look like without Bell Labs. In some abstract way I was aware of this, but reading Kernighan's new Unix history/memoir really hit that home when he talked about Bjarne Stroustrup developing C++ while he too worked at Bell