The end of secularism is nigh - UnHerd All of which should serve as a wake-up call to the West that it is not only its financial, economic and military muscle that is currently atrophying. So too is its ability to market its culturally conditioned assumptions as universal. The concept of the secular is not, as many in West like to think, a neutral one. Quite the opposite. As the very word betrays, it derives from the distinctive theology and history of Latin Christendom: for ‘saeculum’, the word given by the Romans to the endless flux of things, was counterpointed by St Augustine and his heirs to the religio, the ‘bond’, that, so Augustine had taught, joined the pilgrim Church on its journey through the centuries to the radiant eternity of the City of God.…

That’s a nice style guide you’ve been working off for the last 10 months.
It would be a shame if someone were to decided to change the whole thing and then make you search through all the website copy and update it.

(But still. The em dash is back!)

Finished reading: Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths 📚

Is this a silly idea?
Doing an Ask Me Anything for the next Learn Create Share newsletter? I’ve tried this before for another newsletter and got no questions…and so then had to just pretend nothing had happened.

I know a few MicroBlogranauts took part in a Christian survey on how Covid has affected their faith/use of technology. Well, we just published the results!

The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Malcolm Gladwell (#168) > My dad is a great question asker. And my father has this, and I’ve spoken about it many times, of his many gifts, one in particular, as a kid, always had the biggest impact on me, which is my father has zero intellectual insecurities. So this is the only thing he has in common with Obama. He and Obama are the same way.…

Putting the final touches on this week’s Learn Create Share newsletter including:
- A book review and summary - A creative challenge - a chart about parenting Subscribe to get it as soon as I finish the last minute checks.

I have an alternative idea for all those people who can’t deal with wearing a mask…

The theme of reconciliation has been on my mind a lot recently.
Although I’ve been thinking about it primarily in relations to our culture, today I’ve been thinking about it with work. There’s an opportunity for reconciliation right now, but I’m not sure either side will seize it.

I’ve got my Roost stand and Anne pro keyboard back and all is right with the world.

Must remember to send @gr36 his commission cheques for the two mentions in his newsletter this week.

Forgot my keys this morning. Just so happens to be the one day of the week when my wife is out till later. Nice excuse to read in the park (the book feels very appropriate too).

YouTube is experiencing an egregious bitcoin hack that no one is fixing - iMore > Famed Apple leaker Jon Prosser recently tweeted that his YouTube channel, Front Page Tech has been hacked. At the time of this writing, the channel’s name has been changed to NASA [News], his entire library of videos appear to have been deleted except for a live-streaming bitcoin scam video that currently has 48,000 views.…

Posing for selfies - Seth’s Blog The irony is that the people we’re most likely to want to trust and engage with are the ones who don’t pose. They’re consistent, committed and clear, but they’re not faking it. Figure out what you want to say, the change you seek to make, the story you want to tell–and then tell it. Wholeheartedly and with intent. Posing is unnecessary.…

A reflection on my reduction of podcast listening during the pandemic: It’s almost like I wanted something to silence me from my thoughts during silent moments… that’s not a good thing.

Now and then I get messy head. Where my brain seems to cycle through the million things I need to do. I try to slow down and focus on what matters, but my head struggles to make sense of things as it jumps from loop to loop until it resets and starts again. The cure is to slow down, pray or meditate, write down a list of what’s on my mind and just start with one thing.…

🎶 Joe Pass: Meditation

A question for owners of smart speakers. Have you upgraded/replaced a smart speaker? Why did you do so (gain new features, lack of continued support in current devices).

🎧 Ask Daily Stoic: Ryan and David Epstein Talk Range & Resilience A fun discovery having recently read Ego is the Enemy and Range. One of my favourite parts is when David gives the advice he recieved on how to become a writer. >“Go live on a russian fishing boat for 5 years.” The point being “live a life worth writing stories about.” It reminded my of a writing course I took.…

Learn Create Share 19: Double Meanings A little later than I had hoped due to a longer car trip but it includes a mini accountment and a new creative challenge.
Thanks once again to everyone who takes 5mins to read.

Here you go @patrickrhone six years of wear and tear. I’ve used the wrong polish, had a local cobbler replace the sole (three times. One time was a bad job) and broken two shoe laces. I’ll need to get them ready for the upcoming winter.

What’s that up in the sky? Oh wait, it’s some plasticine on a paint brush. #mbaug

I got a Nintendo voucher for my birthday, what Switch games would you recommend? 🎮 Here’s what I already have.

🎵 Desafinado: Stan Getz

Yesterday, I started a list of my mentors in Obsidian. This list is split in two, Long-term mentors (those who have much to glean from) and temporary mentors (those who are teaching me a specific skill or approach). I have pages for each mentor in Obsidian so I can see the beautiful knowledge graph that emerges as I learn more from each person and create additional notes. With very few exceptions, I have no actual relationship with these mentors.…

So after trying and failing to find a list of microblogranuts who run newsletters, I decided to Thanos it and do it myself. Micro Blog Newsletters Let me know yours and I’ll add it. I can add contributors too.

Anyone else been looking at some of the GPT-3 stuff? I keep seeing truly incredible applications. The sort that make me wonder if the robot overlords are coming for my job…then I remember they’ll probably just destroy me ala Skynet and everythings okay again.

Finished reading: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein 📚

🎧 The Art of Manliness Podcast #628: The Rise of Secular Religion and the New Puritanism > In particular, Howland makes the case that what we’re seeing today is the rise of a kind of secular religion, a new Puritanism, that worships at what he calls “the Church of Humanity.” This new Puritanism bases the idea of moral purity around one’s views on issues like race and gender, and seeks to purge anyone who doesn’t adhere to the proscribed dogma.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about “cancel culture” recently and what seems good as well as negative about it. This interview has certainly given me a lot to think about and I’d welcome critiques of Jacob’s views here. I wonder if he has misrepresented critical theorist views and I suspect that even if a critical theorist agreed with how he defined it, they might disagree about the practical outplaying in society.

🔗 A look inside Paradise Street — Hoxton Mini Press > This week we’re looking inside Paradise Street. This uplifting, irresistibly nostalgic book, the fourth in our Vintage Britain series, celebrates, among other things, the physicality of spending time outdoors. Enjoy the look back in time.…

Ideally, intelectual sparring partners “hone each other’s arguments so that they are sharper and better,” Yale historial Paul Sabin wrote. “the oposite happened with Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon.” - Range by David Epstein

Greg Morris asked for my opinion on Substack as I have been using it for my newsletter Learn Create Share. I started to type a response but when I wrote “Substack review” as a subheading, I knew it was a blog post. So here it is. TLDR - yeah, it’s okay. “I’m using it because I had set it up (I moved from revue as [Substack] has no subscriber limit for free) I like it but think I may move but I’m trying to focus on doing the newsletter and not think too much about the tool) it’s so easy to get into tool mindset and so avoid creating.…

Finished Listening 🎧: The New Testament in Its World Audio Lectures by N.T. Wright & Michael Bird

Welp. Looks like my edited post won’t update :S and is now just “T”.

The em-dash is a fantastic piece of punctuation but it’s okay to still use commas and even (gasp) colons and semicolons.

(Yes, this was inspired by work although my current work is full of colon and semicolon stans.)

🔗 The 80 best single-operator newsletters I’ve seen this list a couple of times in the last week so thought I’d share it. I’d love to get Learn Create Share on a list like this one day. I also remember someone @johnphilipin ? making a list of newsletter from microblog users. I’d like to find that again.

Back in the office for the first time in four…five months? I really can’t remember. Nice to be reunited with my fantastic clicky-clacky keyboard and a second monitor.

Me: I know how to use excel. 5 mins later Me: Why can’t I make this pivot table do what I want!

Learn Create Share edition 18 is flying across the internet searching for a nest in your inbox. 🦅 There’s a new creative challenge and some interesting resources inside. You can read it here now.

Played around with a new profile in procreate yesterday. I kind of like it.

There are certain accusations to which there is no good response. - “When did you stop beating your wife?”
- “Okay, no need to get angry.”
- “…Cray-ZEEE.”

…but there are some responses which are worse than others.

Does Zoom still have security issues and what alternatives are worth investigating?

“Friends don’t let friends measure Page Views. Ever.”

I seem to have shifted my note taking habits while sat at my desk. I’ve gone from taking mostly analog notes to typed notes. It’s partially due to experimenting with Obsidian and Notion and their day note/templates, but this shift is an interesting side effect. Maybe I should try going back to analog notes again 🤔

I’m not a developer and I suspect that some of these might not be possible/easy to do, still here are some ideas for the better developers who use MB. 1. Hide post under 280 character from the main page 2. Sharing of some sort (I was thinking like the typical WordPress share sheet but options for read later or quotebacks, medium style highlighting etc would be cool.) 3. Third party commenting systems (I guess some people might like that.…

Derek Sivers new book — Hell Yeah or No — is now live on his site. You can only buy it through him and it’s $15 for the ebook and audiobook, or $19 for the paperbook as well as the digital formats. Last year I read and enjoyed [Anything you want] by Derek so buying this book was an easy, hell yes. I love that he has the ability to publish this way, and the options here.…

“Let’s run a survey,” he said. “We could see some interesting results,” he said. “It won’t take that long to go through the results,” he foolishly said.

But I’m a millenial and discovered Hallelujah from Jeff. twitter

When you notice a typo as soon as you’ve hit send 🤦‍♂️

🔗 40 Journalism Tips by Poynter > Don’t let the powerful answer in the passive voice “Mistakes we made”

Some really good writing advice here, but I love this point.

The next edition of Learn Create Share is basically ready to go. I just need to get a post up on Sketchnote Classroom so I can share both. Even better, I already have a really great feature idea for next week’s edition ⚡

I need one more referral to get the additional Morning Brew newsletter. So sign up if you’re interested. Morning brew is a daily newsletter that has the top business and tech news. It’s a newsletter you actually want to read.

🔗The company isn’t a family - Signal v. Noise

The best companies aren’t families. They’re supporters of families. Allies of families. There to provide healthy, fulfilling work environments so when workers shut their laptops at a reasonable hour, they’re the best husbands, wives, parents, siblings, and children they can be.

Via @baldur

So, I decided to try writing a post for microblog using scribble. It’s okay, but editing is a real pain in the neck! (Update: turns out there are some actions to edit).

When you realise that although there is an external problem, the greater problem has been your response.

That’s me this week.

🔗 UK may already have enough herd immunity to prevent a second wave study says I keep hearing terrible news about COVID (like immunity may only last 2 months) but perhaps this is some good news… or perhaps it’s not considering shorter immunity and other factors. So let’s not go around licking each others faces yet, but I certainly hope this study is accurate.

The Covid Pandemic Has Changed Our Sleep - Jeff Huang > The coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected both our work and our leisure in unprecedented ways. But a third pillar of our everyday lives has been less studied: how has the pandemic affected our sleep? Some fasinating stats in here (which also has the awkward…these companies know so much about me) aspect.…

There are three note applications and systems on my mind at the moment. 1. Evernote Old faithful. Despite some dark times, Evernote is still solid and reliable as it always has been. I’ve been on the beta recently and there are some good changes coming soon. Evernote still does a few things extremely well. - Capture (from webpages and other services) - Sync (I rarely have conflicts and notes show up almost instantly) - It’s everywhere - it’s easy to start with But, it doesn’t have some of the latest ideas like the two other apps I’ve been playing with.…

My wife and I finished watching Snowpiercer season 1 yesterday. We enjoyed it even though the blood was a bit OTT for us.

The forgotten political roots of Bridge over Troubled Water - BBC Culture Simon talked about using the primetime opportunity as a Trojan horse for “a home movie about where he thought the nation was”. Directed by actor Charles Grodin, Songs of America used the duo’s hits to soundtrack footage of riots, marches and the war in Vietnam, much to the horror of sponsors AT&T, who demanded their $600,000 investment back.…

Mike Love Playing Bridge Over Trouble Water on a Baratone Ukulele And here’s a Telegraph article (paywall) on the feud between Simon and Garfunkle when making the album.…

An alternative business model for Twitter: buy credits and use them everytime you want to edit a tweet.

Putting the final touches on this week’s Learn Create Share newsletter this week’s has lesson for life from math (and Jeff Bezos) plus a creative challenge.

Sign up to get it (robot)hand delievered to your inbox.

Creep is my imposter syndrome song.

“Have holy curiosity” I had completely forgotten about the gems in mastery. I read it about five years ago but readwise has been sharing little gems with me all week.

I remember hearing about virtue signaling four years ago and thinking it was a great phrase that highlighted the sort of “clicktivism” where people say they care, but do nothing meaningful. Now, I see people accusing others of “virtue signaling” and it seems to just be a way to say that someone has (liberal) values that the speaker disagrees with.

Downloaded iOS 14 beta. I really wish there were more widgets (of course there’s no carrot weather or fantastical one yet idiot, wwdc was only weeks ago and you’re not on the betas for any of your favourite apps) and I’m going to need to do some major reorganizing.

Back after a holiday. Though I have today off as well (mostly for child care). I’ve decided to move the publication of the next edition of Learn, Create, Share (my newsletter on those three topics) to monday, which is when I originally intended to publish it.

Saw a beer ad which made me want to make my own in procreate. Getting the lighting, shadows and 3D curves is really tricky. Still need to work on the perspective with the text.

Finished reading 📚: Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community: Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Stuff about learning how to learn is all well and good…but it’s good to learn about things which aren’t learning about learning (yes, this is advice for myself after again reading a series of articles and books on this topic).

Started reading 📚: Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions: Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths & Brian Christian

Finished Reading 📚: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World: John Mark Comer

I’ve heard that a person can lend their kindle books to someone else. Today I investigated and it seems the book has to let you be able to lend it. I don’t seem to have any I can lend. Has anyone ever successfully lent a kindle book? And if yes, are you friends with Jeff Bezos?

Just getting ready to publish an edition of the learn, create, share newsletter.

If you like creating things, you should check it out.

I’ve been taking an intro to the New Testament class for the last couple of months. During that time we’ve been learning how to read a text in terms of textural, cultural and historical context using the transfiguration in Matthew as our reference point. Basically, the aim was to read the text as the author intended their audience to. On Tuesday we presented our text and our professor expanded on some points we hadn’t mentioned.…

Basically, why I sketchnote…although I don’t do the science experiments.

What’s the best book (fiction, non-fiction) you’ve read this year?

What did you like about it?

🔗 Cancel culture and the dividing line in the human heart

A twitter thread worth reading. Although it raises questions not answers, good questions are important.

An unexpectedly good work day today. I thought it would be extremely busy but it turned out to be the right level of busy: challenging but not overwhelming.

It’s the last day of June so I’m about to remove my 90% discount on 30 Creative Prompts for MicroBlog users.

My favourite prompt (seeing as you didn’t ask) is to “use a tool the way it wants to be used.” So write slowly with a fountain pen, use a wide lens for landscape, etc.

Do I have any copywriting friends on MicroBlog?

I’d like to ask you a couple of questions.

Trump retweeted a supporter saying “white power”. . This is surprising because it’s so out of character and doesn’t match his usual rhetoric and twitter behavior.

Me: I know! I’ll make an avatar like @maique made for @gabz My daughter: duckie! Me: well, I guess this will be fun.

The Learn Create Share newsletter is back!

For the first time in ages, I sent out an edition of the Learn, Create, Share newsletter. I’m really excited to get it going again. Have a look at this week’s edition and subscribe to get future editions.

Christian friends on microblog

I’d love your help with this survey on how covid has affected your faith and church. 👇 churchm.ag/covid-sur…

I’d love to get a significant sample size. Thanks for your help.

@jmaxb @joshuapsteele @mwerickson @danalcantara @odd

Listening to ATP confirmed one of my suspicions about the Big Sur design; It looks like it’s setting up a touch based mac. Now that’s an interesting development.

Have you noticed any actions or circumstance that tends to lead to you having a productive day?

An easy one I can identify is having good blocks of time. I want all my meetings together and not distributed across the day so I have blocks of time to focus on a task.

I’m weighing up three different email newsletter services. I realy can’t choose. And then I had a thought: > “When you can’t choose between two options, go for the one which is easier to use. The easier it is to use, the more you will use it.” Suddenly, that decision doesn’t seem so tricky anymore. I suspect this principle would work for other tool decisions too. P.s. Yes, I know there are times when you need “more power” and so the simplest isn’t the best.…

Do something once, it’s an experiment. 🧪
Do something twice, it’s a streak ✅✅
Do something for a week, it’s proof you can keep going. 🗓
Do something till you can’t not do it, it’s a habit. 🔁

But every habit starts with an experiment.

I was reading my daughter “that’s not my owl” and started to wonder what a version for adults would look like. Now I’d like to present the ATP “that’s not my MacBook” bed time story.…

Wife: “what’s ‘hamas’?” Me: “It’s pyjamas.”

I’m a skilled baby English translator.

iOS 14 beta question. Can you change the default music app?

Asking for me.

A little challenge for all the corporate slaves out there. Find the best example of businessease and send it to me. The winner gets 10 microblogoons.

People who are running big sur. Do those new rounded corner menu buttons look like they’d be easier to tap on a touchscreen? I’m curious if this new design hints at touchscreen macs or a macOS on the iPad.

Avoid adjectives and adverbs. Choose precise verbs and nouns. Yes, there is adjectives in this tip, but sometime there’s no alternative (please do prove me wrong!). Also I break this rule all the time and it dilutes my writing.…

I really hate that the next couple of months of Apple podcasts will be almost completely about unreleased features and the beta. I get that there is demand for this content (doing for the clicks) but it just feels kind of pointless. Especially with the condescending advice that you shouldn’t download the beta (unlike us experts) but here are all the things you should wish you had. Then again I find the endless speculation to also be kind of pointless.…

Chris a couple of years ago “I’ll never download the iOS beta again.” Apple this year “Oh really.”

Apple finally approved updates for Hey without IAP lets hope this is a step forward and not just a temporary measure to get passed this for WWDC.

Dear Tim Cook Clause, This year I’d like… iOS updates Fix whatever the hell happened to editing in text fields with mobile safari A ‘Worktime” feature to compliment “Downtime” Adding start dates to reminders iMessages on windows (I have to use windows at work…so this would be like a glass of water in hell) a bit more refining of how to search through photos (It can be really tricky to get to the right photo and you never want to accidentally go to the start of your photostream) Siri improvements (I too can use Google…it’s not that impressive Siri) iPadOS updates: Improvements to “desktop class safari” some new homescreen improvements (widget stuff?…

Microblogranuts, I really recommend checking out @cm ‘s newsletter I think you’ll enjoy it.

Took a photo walk down memory lane. I used to live just around the corner and take photos here everyday.

100 books you should read

Any 100 books you are interested in. If you don’t like a “must read book”, don’t read it. If you like a trashy novel, have fun!

I took a day of child care leave with my daughter today and we took picture of duckies in the park…and fed them bread. And stepped in duck poo. Great day.

I honestly can’t believe Apple’s attitude to Hey. I really hope this is one or two people in Apple who’ve misunderstood certain policies but that’s happened before. While there are many areas where Apple appears to set the standard that other tech companies follow, this is not one and is horrifically anti-competitive. It seems utterly crazy that this should all emerge when Apple is rumored to allow the ability to set non-Apple apps as the default.…

Something I need to do more. A procreate creation

I really want a new camera…I really don’t need a new camera but I want one. Features I -need- want that I don’t have - weather sealing - 4k video - more pixels (because why not) - the new fuji film simulations espeically acros Camears I want: - Ricoh GR iii (has non of the features I listed but has IBIS and I do love my ricoh gr) - Fuji X100v (the obvious choice.…

Some unsolicitated suggestions: - This place the MicroBlogroverse or MBU. - Users are Microbloganuts

Sketchnoting a live talk isn’t easy. Here are 6 tips to keep up with any talk, even if Lorelai Gilmore is speaking.

My daughter requested two “doddies” so we played with some watercolours and ink.

“Can you make it shorter, but also add more details.” 👆 This is basically my life.

Today’s hike lead to some experiments with macro photography. Much to learn.

The Ricoh gr iii street edition. Because when you shoot street photography you really want your camera to have a bright orange accent to make it stand out 🙄…I do think it looks fantastic.

Update: It has an optional black ring to replace the yellow one AND it comes with a custom viewfinder PLUS a special touch to snapfocus features. In summary, best street camera ever.

Daughter tries to take MacBook off the desk, realises it’s heavy and starts crying. My wife asks “Where does it hurt”? Daughter points to the MacBook.

A walk after the rain

I didn’t feel like sharing this earlier in the week with everything going on but I made a little ebook and course of 30 creative prompts. These are fun little challenges to get you thinking differently and exercising your creative muscle so you can be creative on demand. It was a little creative challenge from my wife and was suppose to take me a month to do…well, life happened and it took a few extra months to actually put it together and get it up, but draft one is here.…

What if Roam was local first and used plain text files? Maybe Obsidian is that app. - Video overview from Keep Productive.

But no iPad app… yet?

Currently Reading 📚: A Meal with Jesus – Tim Chester

Finished reading 📚:Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business – Miller, Donald, Peterson, Dr. J.J.

When people use Martin Luther King Jr‘s peaceful protests as a rebuke of the current protests, it’s worth remembering that he was accused of stirring up trouble as well.

For some reason my daughter keeps asking me to draw penguins for her. So here are some penguin images.

Wednesday

Tuesday

Wednesday

I’ve never seen a twinky, so they can’t exist. Sure, sometimes one appears on TV in a fictional series or on the news but that doesn’t mean they are actually real. Many of my friends have never seen a twinky either and I suspect those who say they have seen a twinky really saw something else. Even if twinkies were real, which they are not, just because there are some twinkies doesn’t mean all food is a twinky and I’m definitly not a twinky eater.…

4 Hand Lettering books I’ve bought and found useful. The first is the best in my opinion.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer I refuse to stay silent and I choose to act. I don’t have a perfect plan but I can start. I’m volunteering for a local refugee group, I’ve ordered “so you want to talk about race” and I’m looking at some other measures.…

🔗 Expert sandwich tips that will change your lunches for ever - BBC Food Got to try some of these!…

So we almost had a drive in with a lorry this morning. He saw us on the main road and for some unknown reason decided to drive right out in front of us. Luckily I had time to stop (although I turned off the road to avoid any contact).

How’s your morning?

Yesterday I thought it was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at different points of the day…so that’s a good sign.

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life — the life God is sending one day by day.” - C.S. Lewis

I wonder how many memes I could get out of this political crisis.

I made another meme. British Politics, the gift that keeps on giving.

Asking for a friend (literally), is it possible to use the Apple Watch cellular without a phone?

“Toilet paper hoarders” would be a good punk band name. Yes, this idea is a month or two too late.

May Micro 📖 recommendation: On Writing Well

This was the most influencial book on my writing. The basic message is to focus on clarity to communicate your ideas more effectively.
Get at your local indie bookshop

The iPad is both a great focusing device — it heavily favours one app at a time — and a great distraction device — the perfect couch device with all those games, comics, videos, and more. Increasingly, I find that the later is interfearing with the former. Maybe I need a work iPad and a couch iPad.* *my wife would not agree.…

May Micro 📖 Challange: How to think by @ayjay

I went a bit meta in recommending a book by a micro blogger. A really great read on how to (at least try to) think better. Shop your local indie bookstore

My wife has a growing interesting in speed reading and related rapid learning techniques. I was really interested in accelerated learning about seven years ago but came to two conclusions. 1) There’s a lot of rubbish out there 2) I was unsure if it led to long term learning. Speed reading was a perfect example. It promised a method to read many times faster and remember everything. I questioned these statements as they usually seemed to focus on short term memory performance and not long-term memory.…

This was one of the books that restarted my reading habit last year. Perhaps that’s not surprising as it is a book on habits. James shares theory and practical advice in an easy to read and understand layout. Shop your local indie bookstore…

I really like drawing with my daughter

Celebration of Discipline is Richard Foster’s classic look into the timeliess Christian Disciplines. He covers a the inward, outward and corporate disciplines looking at different traditions, the mindset and goal behind each and with suggested practices to start exploring the traditions. It was a hugely influencial book in my early adulthood and I have been rereading it this last year. Shop your local indie bookstore…

I don’t really think I can draw well.

I mean, I can draw better than my nearly 2-year old daughter but I’m certainly closer to her ability than DaVinci. Still, I can draw well enough to sketchnote. You don’t have to draw well to sketchnote

I turned an idea from James Clear’s newsletter this week into a handlettering on procreate on the iPad. You can watch the process on Instagram.

I’m really surprised that iOS doesn’t have an ambient lockscreen option. It seems like an easy feature to encourage people to buy the pro not the basic iphone.

‪I’m slightly afraid that today will be my supervillain origin story where I become Mr MicroManager‬. Or perhaps this is the scene where I pick up the infinity gauntlet and say “Fine, i’ll do it myself.”

Today I’ve seen one of the strongest cases for hiring for attitude and not knowledge.

My right wrist is a little painful so I drew a picture with my left. It was kind of fun.

So there’s a global conspiracy to unleash a pandemic to place chips in people but the same people behind it failed to get Hillary to visit Wisconsin once. Seems legit.

When everything is urgent and a priority, nothing is. Not inspired by current life circumstances or anything.

Yellow. Is it me your looking for? (May Micro challenge photo 3 📸)

Just had a new task assigned to me which totally “isn’t my job” and is also “above my pay grade”. My first instinct was “oh no.” but now I’m thinking it’s a good learning experience and will be a good string to my bow… it would be better if this wasn’t in addition to all the other tasks at the moment.

Orange you glad you have a good notebook…and pen.

I am not an expert. I’m not incompetent in many areas either, but I’m definitely not an expert. I have so much to learn in every area of life — work, family, faith, creativity, DIY, finance, generosity — that far surpasses what I do know. Sometimes this makes me feel really out of place in a world of Gurus. When I look at what a lot of other copywriters say about themselves, it’s all boasting about how fantastic they are.…

a quarantine blackout

4 ways to add shadows to sketchnote icons (plus multi-hit combo!) Last week I decided to try out the different approaches I knew for adding shadows and then I thought “Maybe I should blog it.” Enjoy.

Micro photo challenge: I have read this book 📸

For some reason my daughter has fallen in love with “penwin!” So here’s a procreate penguin drawing from the morning.

“Just keep swimming.” - Dory 💬

Iain Broome’s newsletter, Unsplash is a delightful read and his desk picture in this edition has me extremely jealous.

“You think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things” - Steven Covey. 💬 This quote was a real eye opener for me, perhaps it’s obvious but I realised that I hadn’t be operating this way.

I haven’t had the easiest transition in the work from home, lockdown lifestyle caused by the roller-covid-coaster. Many of the core habits for supporting my physical and mental health have fallen away and environmental factors haven’t helped me form new ones. Even before the government mandated restrictions, I wasn’t really looking after myself well. Apart from the walk part of my morning commute – which admittedly did fulfill the advised 30 minutes of brisk walking health organization recommend – I did little in the way of exercise.…

The shift to 100% remote working has been very difficult for me but I know that I won’t be going back into the office half as much as I used to after this. I doubt I’m alone.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made.” - Benjamin Franklin💬

There may be 50 ways to leave your lover…here are 7 ways to start a notebook.

Me: I’m fed up of managing books, I should focus on electronic copies and not paper versions. Also me: OH look at those full bookshelves of that person working from home! I’m so jealous. I want to look through all their books!

*temporary solution: Bookshelf virtual background.

Micro quote two: happy revenge of the fifth.

“Not all those who wander are lost” - J.R.R. Tolkien (yes, I’m going to play with some calligraphy styles for this quote challenge. This is uncial…sort of.)

iPhone photo. Not my normal editing style but I felt like a more HDR type version.

It’s a public holiday here in Poland so I have decided to do a fresh mac install and actually set up a proper user profile for my wife. She uses it the most so it’s time to give her the keys to the kingdom.

Dashboard was a technically unviable photoshop mockup that was very easy to kill. We had to choose between shipping on time, and making a fancy dashboard. We chose shipping. Some people are still upset about it today. Those people will never ship. - John O’Nolan, founder of ghost sharing some of his anecdotes from 7 years of Ghost on Twitter I remember backing the ghost Kickstarter and being extremely excited about its potential and possibility but the initial version really did disappointment.…

If you get some 1-star feedback and feel down, check out the 1-star amazon reviews of one of your favourite authors. You’ll soon see that there are a lot of people with MAJOR issues out there and if someone hates something you really like, why should your thing be different.

I’m trying out the lofree Keyboard again and it’s better than I remembered.

Excpectation: I’m going to wake up a 6am and do some writing like every morning this week
Reality: Today my daughter woke up at 5:55 and I did no writing pre-work.

Sit down. Write whole post. Sit back. That’s terrible. Start again from scratch…Okay, that’s better, still needs work. Me most days.

Play with shadows for Sketchnoting icons. There’s a video on Instagram

I’m starting to think about making a new sketchnote course so if that’s something you might be interested in, I have a feedback survey that I’d love for you to “kick the tires” of (make sure it works and is a logical flow etc). I want to answer the three questions P.s. I already have three free sketchnoting courses that you’re welcome to try.…

🎥 Eleanor Rigby” ukulele instrumental by David Beckingham (there’s a link to the tab in the description).

My wife made pão de deus and they are heavenly.

Sometimes I ponder the deeper questions of life. Like which cheese is best for a toastie and how can you make it the most melty without burning the outside.

Feature idea for a micro blog client: pick times to get notifications. Let’s say you want notifications at 10:00 am and 18:00, at those times you get a notification saying you have X new messages from Y, Z.

How does one cross their animals. Asking for a friend.

Look ma, I made a meme.

I’m not certain but I think my daughter finds it more difficult to understand that there are both Polish and English words for a concrete noun (like a door) than she does funcational phrases like “hello” or “goodbye”. I suspect this is because she uses phrases with certain people, but she points to the same nouns and then people say different things. But maybe I’m wrong about both about what she finds easier or more difficult and the reason for it.

I’m working from home in sweatpants/trackie bottoms and I feel like a king. I feel like I’m finally embracing this long-term work from home lifestyle.

I had a quick play with my work mouse (an HP of some sort) on my iPad yesterday. - 10-second impression: “This is cool and feels right! I love these little touches like how the cursor changes.” - 10-minute impression: “Urgh, this is wrong. The scrolling is janky. I can’t slide elements, how on earth do I get to the homepage without using a keyboard. Why can’t I swipe this element!…

I made a meme.

I had a few real moments of revelation over the weekend. 1. Work needs to fit my life, not my life fit my work: I really like my job, but I have been arranging my life to fit my job. In my case, this was wrong. While some people’s work is extremely valuable and is making a difference in the world, the truth is mine isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I think my company is fine and a net positive, but we’re not curing cancer and even if we were, throwing away all other aspects of my life for a company with no guarentee that they’ll keep me around tomorrow let alone when I’m old and grey is plain stupid.…

I see from CJ Chilver’s newsletter that he is preparing to move to Ghost… It seems like a good move to me. Increasingly Ghost is looking like a great way to do a newsletter and paid subscriber thing. Substack looks good too, but less customization.

Over the weekend I cracked (or perhaps it was my back) and now I’m looking at desk options for my home. I need something 1. small and can fit in a corner
2. comfortable
3. preferably standing but I doubt that there are any small ones
4. not too expensive
Ideas?

Spend last night in hospital and just got home. Apart from my slight caffeine withdrawal headache I am well.

The new iPhone SE, but in the iPhone 5s body. If only.

Person: “When people say I can’t afford to, I say you can’t afford not to” Me: 🙄

Oh digital ocean has a fathom analytics droplet…and I have credit that will probably just go to waste. Sure I’ll give it a go.

Things I’m currently reconsidering - my blog hosting platform (I’ve been playing with Ghost but I can see a cool WordPress plugin for book reviews. I’m thinking of keeping MB as a separate blog, but maybe I shouldn’t) - my task management app (todoist works everywhere but it always feels like too much hard work everywhere!) - My RSS app (Unread is cool, but maybe I should just use inoreader…or prehaps reeder 4.…

We’re in the endgame now.

Public holiday. Family game time.

Good morning. Both I and Christ are risen today.

Sometimes work from home is fantastic. Today is not one of those days.

“an enviornment where it is more important to look like you are working than actually getting work done.” Claire Lew I feel like this needs a name. Perhaps an Rhubarbary. Because extras in a movie set who look like they are talking say rhubrarb (apparently) to look like they are talking, when they aren’t.…

Note to self: Remember to spend more time doing the thing, than talking about/thinking about/ kind-of-related-to-the-thing-but-not-actually-the-thing. You probably will never reach that point, but the point is to do more of the thing. Okay?

Really enjoyed this week’s micro cast. It reminded me of how I set up automatical categories for Micro (under 280 characters) and longer (over 280 or with a title) posts and then change my theme so only long posts show on my homepage but you can see everything in the archive.

Friends with Logos, what package did you get (and why) including if you got a specific stream.

One of the dangers elements of the Internet is that “Keeping up with Joneses” can be multipled manifold. I connect with some folks who are very well off and an average income for their country may have far more than I do. Sometimes when I hear people talk about their five iPads, Macbook, iMac Pro and more accessories It can skew my sense of what I should be able to afford.…

Me: “I am happy with my blogging system and should focus more on writing than tinkering with my site.” Me five minutes later: “Oh look Ghost…let’s give this a spin!”

Imaginary Apple device idea: Apple Studio - Microsoft studio form factor - ARM processor - runs macOS /iPadOS - has all the iPad app in catalyst.

That would be interesting for sure.

We finally pushed our website update today at work. It was a tonne of work and setbacks but I’m glad we’ve managed to get it out the door and can focus on the next steps now.

You can have two iA Writer tabs on the iPad. Nice 😎 (but part of me still misses Ulysses)

When Idris Elba first turned up in the office, I kind of hoped it was somehow really Stringer Bell and at somepoint there was going to be a crossover between the office and the wire.

Starting some new studies1. Now what tool should I use to save notes and research 🤔. Needs to work on iPad and probably Windows? Don’t think I’ll have access to a mac. I still have DevonThink 2 set up (which is pretty great) but maybe I should just use the old reliable Evernote. Notion seems very cool but it doesn’t have the easy web clipping of the other two. Anything I’m missing?…

I’m working at the computer as my daughter says the Polish word for poo-poo over and over again and tries to put a nappy on her doll. This is not the work from home productivity and minimalist lifestyle of the blog posts. It’s much better.

Today I discovered, Betteridge’s law of headlines.: any headline that ends in a questionmark can be answered by the word no. I had noticed this myself and used it to avoid clickbait but there’s a name for it.

Dalgona coffee. This has poped up on my social feeds a few times recently. Has anyone tried one? What did you think?

Me: “If I leave a note saying this section is for quotes and use a really obvious placeholder quote, the developers won’t put my placeholder in, they’ll put in the quotes we have on system.” Developers: “so here I need to write ‘this is a quote, replace with real quote” - FIRSTNAME LASTNAME.’ Job done.”

I used to find it really strange how often I’d see someone taking a course and they’d want help making their own course better (two examples I’ve seen, copywriter needs to improve the landing page of their copywriting course. Handletterer needs to improve thier lettering for their lettering course). Now, I still find it strange but I also think it’s a very smart decision. If you are a coach, you should be constantly improving to make sure you are providing the best advice possible.…

I’m on an enterprise website doing some research. I’m pressing on the filter buttons and it literally takes between a minute and two to respond to every interaction! (The company boasts about the speed of its tech).

One of the best decisions I made in following tech stuff is to just not care about rumours. Well, try not to care. It’s amazing how correct some of them can be but honestly it makes no difference if I speculate for months about what a new iPad with a trackpad might be and it’s really nice to wake up and see something you didn’t know was coming. If you like and enjoy all the speculation around tech rumours then I’m happy for you but increasingly I want to use tech to do stuff and not think about how great something might be, one day.

scribd (the netflix of books and audiobooks) have a 30 day offer for new users during COVID-19 but you can get 60 days free with my link.

🎵 Ben Gibbard: Live From Home (3/18/20)

I wonder how often the average iPad pro user will touch the screen after these new keyboards? Some users currently don’t seem to touch their screen at all so this will surely accelerate it for them.

There are certain podcasters who I occasionally think of sending a tweet to… then I think about how they seem to assume the worst intention of every message someone sends (unless it’s obvious praise)… so I don’t really send messages to podcasters anymore.

… I want the new iPad …I probably can’t afford the new iPad… 😢

To give people (and myself) something to do during self-isolation/social distancing or whatever, I published my premium 30 days of sketchnoting course. 🥳 It’s 30 days of sketchnoting activites to build your sketchnoting skills (it works if you’ve never sketchnoted before, or if you have experience but want to expand your skillset). It might be a bit rough around the edges so if you use the code MARCH20, you get 75% off (and I’m going to take it down after a week and correct any issues).…

Started reading Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business: Miller, Donald, Peterson, Dr. J.J. 📚

I know this is probably a bias perspective and not accurate but this is how I feel during this time. I’m busier than ever as we have a big deadline, I’m working from home so I have zero gap between work and home and I don’t have my usual processing time during the commute. But it seems like everyone else has tones of time so they are putting out even more than usual. I’m sure this isn’t completely accurate but if you feel like me, you’re not alone.

Me: “a couple of quick questions [insert a long list of questions]”

Pro tip: make sure you never end up in a “prisoner’s dilemma” situation with any of your friends who are stockpiling.

Locked in

Hillarious landing page 👉 “Yet another collaboration tool: Claims to be all-in-one, is mediocre at everything.”

So my office has now introduced a manditory work from home policy till the end of the month. Didn’t really expect this to happen.

Sometimes doing keyword research leads to some very sad discoveries in common questions. And sometimes it leads to really interesting and funny discoveries (I just found something that depressed me, but as I typed, I realised that I don’t often take note of the positives).

I got to take part in some interviews today. I asked what aspect of their work they enjoyed the most and which they liked the least. For the first part, the candidate basically answers everything. I asked about what they liked the least and they answered a different question. I asked my question again and the candidate again avoided answering. I wonder if the candidate thought I was asking a “what’s your greatest weakness” type question when I really wasn’t.…

Just discovered a site which appears to update the published date for all its content (or they published A LOT on Feb 13). Presumably this is for the SEO benefit, still if you haven’t updated the content, that’s pretty sleazy.

Wow, I didn’t expect Biden to do well at all (which shows how little I know about US Politics… or proably politics…even though that was my degree.) Quick thoughts 1. I wonder how well he actually did. Need to see some stats 2. Oh dear God, the conspiracy theories are going to be terrible. 3. I suspect this means Trump is in an even better position than I feared. If Bernie had run away with the nomination, it would have shown broad support. In contast, Biden had his dip and only really seems to have recovered recently (what if he dips again?). 4. Maybe I’m completely wrong about that last point, maybe Biden is more resiliant than I thought? 5. I honestly can’t believe Elizabeth Warren has done so badly. 6. How is Tulsi Gabbard still in this thing.

I get a couple of emails a week with content people want me to share on a site I’m connected to. I think there has been two times when the content was actually relevant to the site and didn’t sound terrible. And yet, every time I get sent an approach email, it says differently. There’s a good chance that if you are sending emails asking to guest post on someone’s site and you get no response, you are making the same mistakes.…

(WIP idea) Two kinds of leadership 1. Mentor - helps the mentee become less dependent and grow. 2. “Guru” - makes the follower more dependent, losing them costs revenue.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 30: Vision

Finished reading Ego Is the Enemy: Ryan Holiday 📚

📸 Feb photoblogging day 29: leap (First or maybe second time using an old photo)

I thought I had unlocked the “bring child in from a car seat without waking her or him” achievement but my daughter woke up for a moment. I’ll get the badge next time.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 28: below

today was the second time I’ve used a placeholder name at work (this time John Smith) and people thought it was real and almost published it.

I just made the classic mistake of answering the question I wanted/though was being asked. Luckily I immediately realised and tried to answer the actual question but I’ll try and be more patient when others do that to me.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 27: together

iPadOS has been out for five months now. I think the “desktop class browser” May have created as many issues as it fixed…maybe more.

Camera 📸 Feb photoblogging day 26: Escape

FINE! I’ll try Notion.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 24: hurdle It hasn’t been an easy day at work. I’ve face a few barriers from other people and also myself. It feels like it shouldn’t be this way but it is. Still, I will turn up tomorrow and do my best work again. That’s what a professional does no matter the hurdles they face.

Camera 📸 Feb photoblogging day 24: double (I feel like this could be my album cover).

📸 Feb photoblogging day 23: station

📸 Feb photoblogging day 22: spectacle

📸 Feb photoblogging day 21: progress Yes, she’s getting better at drawing. I wish it wasn’t on the walls.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 20: scale Because I won’t want to step on one after this.

Third donut of the day. This one is chocolate covered with a kind of custard-cream (budding if you know your Polish things) filling.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 19: Space Second donut to occupy my work space.

Tłusty Czwartek! That snuck up on me. Time for some pączki!

📸 Feb photoblogging day 18: oppose (I really struggle with this one)

my MacBook is coming up to 7 years old. Last year it started to show some signs of its age (the battery used to be forgettable, now it needs a bit of care) but it still gets the job done. One of the best tech purchases I ever made.

🔗 Top Shots From the 2019 International Landscape Photographer of the Year 📷 Some of these are just stunning.

I try to treat everyone’s time at work as valuable. If there is something I can probably find out without bothering someone, I don’t disturb them. If I want to ask a question, I make sure I keep it short, clear and with any follow up questions I might need so that the other person only needs to respond once. I do this with supriror, people of the same rank, and inferiors.…

📸 Feb photoblogging day 17: cool

📸 Feb photoblogging day 16: rest

I’ve made a collection of free online courses to help people start sketchnoting. I’d love it if you considered signing up or sharing them with someone who might be interested.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 15: balance

Feb photoblogging day 14: warmth

I’m fairly sure I use about five PDF apps and I use each one differently as each one is different. It’s also usually not mentally taxing to work out which to use.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 13: Rise

I just saw an example of Chicago style em dash format on the web (no spaces between words). Initially, I thought it was a hyphenated word and read it as such. Perhaps this was just the layout on the website as I never have issues with the Chicago approach in books. Regardless, I’m noting this as a point in favour of other style guides.…

📸 Feb photoblogging day 12: attachment

📸 Feb photoblogging day 11: Plain.

Generally, the more populous the area you are shooting in, the wider focal length you want. - Centre of London: 28mm. - Krakow/outer London: 35mm - rural/ deserted streets: 50mm There are plenty of exceptions (some only use tele lenses. Some only wide. Also are street portraits street?) but I think this is a pretty good starting point.…

🔗 Incorrect Use of “As Such” I had an editor tell me off for this mistake all the time (and I just saw an example at work).

I always intend to take a selfie pre and post haircut…and ALWAYS forget to do so prior.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 10: sign (A sign of things to come)

My iPad has gone bad. It’s killing safari tabs and background apps all the time. It almost seems to freeze when I opened ferrite today. I don’t know if I just hadn’t noticed this or it’s come from a recent update but it’s infuriating.

📸 Feb photo blogging day 9: Lull Every Sunday I listen to the radio program “Siesta” on Polish radio channel three. The DJ selects a wonderful mix of Jazz, Bosa Nova, Fado and other music that he likes. We listen on my in-laws old radio system. No smarts here. Perfect for a lull in the day.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 8: contrast

It took a while but I finally fixed my om-d em-1. The shutter issue seemed to be connected to the SD card. The trick was to place a different card in and take the battery out, that seemed to free it up some how. Anyway, now I’m looking forward to playing a bit with this again.

📸 Feb photoblogging day 7: Above

I had an ambition idea for today’s photo challenge. it didnt happen, but it was still fun to come up with and plan (and then come up with a backup).

📸 Feb photoblogging day 6: plant

📸 Feb photoblogging day 5: hide

Current favourite YouTube channel. Steve O’nions. Fantastic photogapher in Wales who takes great film and digital photos. He’s been a great help in my campaign to get my wife and I to move to Wales someday.

Today is not a good day: anxious, issues at work, hard to concentrate.
Today is a good day: a new book arrived, progress in projects, time with family.

Oh boy, Fujifilm just announced the x100v and it answers my main wishes… i had been debating getting a new camera and I think this has settled things.

📸 Feb photoblogging challenge day 4: spot

A photo tribute to Europe

I put together a collection of my favourite pictures (and some old pictures) from across Europe in a tribute to mark leaving the EU. See which cities you can identify.

I’ve seen some writing from aspiring writers which makes me roll my eyes (and some from professional writers too for that matter). Part of me wishes they wouldn’t bother writing about these topics again (e.g. the iPad sucks/ the iPad is the best thing ever as long as you have these 20 apps), but I’m keenly aware of the dangers of wishing a writer wouldn’t bother. The creative process isn’t clean or easy.…

Philippians 4:18 > “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” I think this is something religious and non-religious can agree upon.…

📸 February photoblogging day 2: sight

February photoblogging day 1: open.

I went to the nearby playground with my daughter. There was no one else there; I guess it was their nap time. This climbing frame is small enough and easy enough for my daughter to climb and navigate alone.

Krakow Płaszow on cheap film with a Mju ii and bright sunlight.

This would have worked better in colour I suspect. Krakus mount in Krakow in the distance. Hassleblad 500cm - HP5 film

Had to come up with a new name for a product (the last one was taken) and managed it in just under 10 minutes. Not a bad start to the day (although that is really lucky and not usual. I’m also not saying it’s a great product name but when needs must, you got to do something).

just got two rolls of film back from the lab. one 35mm in black and white (on an olympus mju ii) and one hp5 on an hassleblad. haven’t downloaded the scans yet but the flick through looks good.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Your Writing) Go a week without • very • rather • really • quite • so • of course • in fact Benjamine Dreyer on Twitter Thought I’d share this as well to go along with that last bit of writing advice. “Of course” is one of those zombie phrases that still rises from my fingers no matter how many times I try to kill it… but that’s what editing is for…of course.…

“Avoid the passive voice” is one of those bits of well-known writng advice that can go to far; sometimes, the passive voice is the best or only choice. And yet, changing from passive to active is one of the most common tasks I do when editing other people’s work. Maybe it’s not as well-known as I though.

Photo experiments on the train to Warsaw

The palace of science and culture in Warsaw.

🎥 Matt Day: Shooting Ilford’s NEW Ortho Plus | First Impressions!

A new Black and White film from Ilford…time to head to the local camera shop. (I think 120 film and shooting landscapes would probably be best for me).

Finished Reading : Morning Star by Pierce Brown.. 📚

We’ve just got home to our little flat in Wieliczka after a wonderful weekend in Warsaw - including a micro meetup with @danalcantara . It’s great to be home and I hope you’ll excuse me while I collapse.

On the train to Warsaw 🚊

Just had a nice email at work, so I saved it to my “praise” collection.

I’ve always felt conflicted about Bruce Guilden’s photography, but the interview with him by Magnum has made me appreciate him far more.

Another “urban sketching” experiment (I used a photo as it’s cold and I have a kid at home!) I made some mistakes with the first layer (too heavy paint in the sky not enough variation in the church) and I thought the foundation was terrible! But I think the end result is…okay. And I’ve learnt something so who cares.

I really like MB-hosted micro.blog for the simplicity of publishing…but it’s not that easy to edit older posts. For example, if I wanted to write a list of authors I’m into right now, It would be tricky to find later. I could of course use a page — and that makes a lot of sense for this type of post…sorry, page. There are, however, occasions where I’d like more ways to revist old posts and update them.…

No, it’s not a podcast about coffee…well not direclty. Here’s the pitch: I meet up with people I think are interesting and have a coffee with them, we record the conversation because maybe other people would like that. But then again, it would probable be a bad podcast (noise of cups and sipping) and probably change the type of conversation…maybe I should just try and have a cup of coffee with interesting people.…

I’m very excited about the possible Polish Micro Meetup this weekend in Warsaw.

Atomic Habits (Affiliate link) Is only 99p today in the UK kindle store. I just grabbed a copy even though I read it on paper last year.

Will the HomePod Ever Get an Update?

The HomePod is coming up on two years old, it had an A8 professor (5 years old) and there hasn’t been an update. I wonder if there’s something in the pipeline (maybe with a mini version?) or if Apple is just going to drop it.

The best way to notice a mistake is to call a file “Final” or publish something. Suddenly you notice way more mistakes. I swear it’s magic.

🎧 Dealing With Difficult People at Work - The Accidental Creative Podcast Unfortunately, this is what I needed to hear.

📸 A new Photo story: A trip to snowy Zakopane.

It’s take film to get developed day.

Updated and simplified my now page. It was growing and growing so I’ve cut it back. Which is funny as that’s quite like my life.

I don’t share many photos of my daughter but I’ll share this one. From our trip to Zakopane.

🎵 Jamie Callum - Hey Ma (Bon Iver cover)

🎥 Why We Still Love Film: Analog Photography in the Digital Age | NBC Left Field As someone who still shoots film (on multiple cameras) I loved this. The production is top-notch and features some of my favourite YouTubers. I also love the contrast with this week’s ATP where they said that downloading images off an SD card is too slow (although I kind of understand that frustration). Now I’d better take my last rolls of film to the local developer and get out a new one.…

I discovered that I didn’t transfer any email subscribers to substack when I made a newsletter there…In other news, I’m thinking of moving back to buttondown as it’s so simple. If I were advising someone else in the same position I’d say that the tool doesn’t matter, there will always be some advantages and disadvantages and it’s more important to be consistent in publishing…and yet here I am. Still, when you’re “unprofessional”, you can ignore your “good advice”.

I got Pixelmator Photo for the iPad when it was on sales for free last year. I didn’t think I needed a new photo editing tool as the ones I had worked well. Pixelmator Photo, however, has replaced my other tools. It’s fantastic.

When you see an email from a blogger and you know that although it’s talking about something that’s “free”, this is the start of a new marketing funnel… (note to self: be generous and do stuff without a “now buy this” at the end).

I keep seeing people talk about Matthew Walker’s book on Sleep…It’s worth invistigating some of the criticisms. Certainly it’s not as clear cut as he has made out.

My new Anne Pro 2 in all its RGB goodness.

We were in Zakopane this weekend and I tried my hand at urban sketching. It’s amazing how a few points can really help. Instead of starting with the pen, I started with the underlying colours. I think it turned out much better.

A very light, easy to drink beer.

A reminder of Julia Skott’s great idea from last year. Resolution Bingo.

MyWay2020 - a free year planner from Readdle Something you might find interesting.

I’m thinking of getting an ebook reader with an e-ink display. I think I’d like one that runs on android so I could get the kindle app (where I have a few books) as well as books from other sources. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Dark Patterns Website > Dark Patterns are tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn’t mean to, like buying or signing up for something. The purpose of this site is to spread awareness and to shame companies that use them. I’m sure you’ve seen examples of this on the web. Some mild ones are the “Accept” button being clear and bold while the “decline” button is greyed out, hard to tell it is a button and not where you expect it should be.…

I’m sure the idea existed before but cortex seems to be the chief propagator or the yearly theme idea. The principle: set a word that should direct your year. It can be predictive or aspirational. I’ve done it in the past, but now I feel a bit awkward about the idea. Here’s why. Many people seem to fail Perhaps this shouldn’t invalidate the idea but on cortex both Myke and Grey seem to say that they have been unable to meet their themes more than they have achieved them.…

I decided to revisit my old photoblog and start doing something a bit different. On the farm.

I have about 20gb free space on my iPhone but photos says I don’t have enough space on my phone to sync photos…any ideas? Have I found a special iOS bug?

Merry Christmas everyone

I took my Ricoh GR with me on this family trip (and iPhone XS of course). In hindsight, I should have taken my Fuji x100t. It really is my favourite camera and while the Ricoh is a great street camera, the x100 is the better family camera. (Feel free to @ me).

I’m deeply disturbed by the rise in racists abuse at football games across Europe. Part of me wonders if this problem has been around for longer but we’re finally taking action. I hope that’s the case, but everything I’m seeing from BAME players suggests that it’s getting worse.

Farm selfie

I’m thinking of sharing a bit more of my photography with some stories about taking photos (and doing a bit more too!) I was wondering what would be the best publishing platform for this. MicroBlog is great for sharing one photo but not really a series with text between. Perhaps I’ll just stick with WordPress. Any advice @jack ?

When you read a chapter of a book and then draw this…I’m okay. Promise.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people who are “minimalists” go through a familiar path. They cut back and see significant benefits, then they expand again and need to “rediscover a life of less” or something similar. I’ve tread this path myself. Perhaps it’s just part of our natural cycle. When you try to balance on a beam, you have to shift your weight from one side to another as you counteract the forces from yourself and the outside world.…

Are there any bloggers or content producers who you have followed for more than a couple of years and you still pay attention to all their content with the same enthusiasm? I ask because I can think of many great content producers who I loved and have either gone off, think they’ve changed and don’t care for what they now do/have become, or still think they are good but just don’t focus on everything they put out.…

🎶 It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) 🎵 Not sure why, but I feel like listening to some REM this afternoon.

Just updated my reading log and it seems I’ve read 16 books this year…I think there may also be a couple which I forgot to include (just remembered one of them!) and I’m still finishing off a couple more. Either way, that’s a lot more than I read last year.

I ordered a new clicky clacky keyboard. I guess I’m going to sell my LoFree, it has a sticky “]” key and I don’t really like the keyplacement…so i guess if anyone in Europe is interested, let me know.

I broke out my little watercolour set this morning to make a picture of my daughter. Still getting used to watercolours but I managed to do a bit of highlights and shadows.

I’ve been trying to use iA writer on everything I use and Typora on my work PC so I can jot down notes and simple idea for writing when inspiration strikes. Unfortunately this seems not to work at all. Even with forced saving my data doesn’t seem to sync and I’ve lost ideas and writing. So I’m not sure what I’ll do next…Evernote again :(

US vs UK style guide wars: Episode III

Em dashes look better than en dashes when used for parenthetical clauses or replacing colons.

Thought for myself this morning: When you feel jealous, be generous. (not sure how good this advice is, but it can’t hurt…right?)

Group Chat rules - XKCD > 2. Show you care by triming the tracking junk off links you paste.

Yes.

Playing around with Substack in comparison with Revue. The substack concept is interesting (blog/newsletter in one) and the design is cool, but I miss some features like the revue extention and the way links are added with rich media. Not sure If I’ll move or even how this fits with my Micro.blog… but it’s fun to play with different tools.

I’ve been working on some company value statements. They’re great things and I really think the company tries to embody these values…but they’re really secondary considerations. There’s often a couple of primary drivers which we don’t really talk about. It makes me wonder what a company would look like if it really put the values it states above all else.…

There are some very useful TextExpander public groups…

Reading Golden Son and keep thinking “Well that escalated quickly.”

Fiona Hill, Boris Johnson and the tyranny of the plummy British accent - from the Financial Times > Accent discrimination is standard in Britain. In a poll by ComRes and ITV in 2013, 28 per cent reported experiencing it. Recruiters favour the 3 per cent of Britons who speak “the Queen’s English”, says Lance Workman, psychologist at the University of South Wales.…

Also this week’s Learn Create Share newsletter is out and it’s all about BlackInkFriday (I have some great links ready for the next one).

I busted out the pentel brush pen for #blackinkfriday five free Black Friday alternative activities.

.. maybe I should move my newsletter to Substack…Maybe I should just write something for my newsletter.

How 10 Famous Artists Would Plate Thanksgiving Dinner > In this fun series of photos titled Thanksgiving Special, San Francisco-based artist Hannah Rothstein imagines Thanksgiving dinners as plated by famous artists throughout history.…

🎥 How Ryan Holiday Reads - YouTube > When I see a copy of one of my books and it’s filled with notes, highlighters and folded pages, that doesn’t hurt my feelings as an author, that’s like the highest praise you can give a book. I love little looks behind a writer’s life and approach like this. 1. Read and highlight (add bookmarks) 2. Put notes on notecards…

So I had a random idea… #BlackInkFriday a sketchnote alternative to Black Friday. Who’s in?

I really like playing with procreate.

… I think my Olympus OM-D EM-1’s shutter is stuck… not good bob.

Yesterday evening I finished a new, free mini-course on sketchnoting. Introducing “How to sketchnote even if you can’t draw”. If you wanted to start sketchnoting but thought you couldn’t because you “can’t draw”, then I’ve got four strategies for instant results and some practice activities to help you get going.

Someone turned Trumps note into a Ramones song. It’s amazing.

Today, I was reminded of Adam Sandler’s SNL sketch where he is a travel agent who basically says his trips can’t change the person you are: unhappy at home, unhappy in Rome. Isn’t that true with everything. So much of marketing is “this will finally make you happy” and it doesn’t. Even courses on how to be happy with less. You already have everything you Need to be happy (unless you are living in genuine poverty).…

I’ve read a whole load more this year and it’s been one of the best changes I’ve ever made. I think I might set a reading goal for next year…

When I see a controversial headline and I’m not sure if it’s clickbait and so I don’t want to reward it with views, or perhaps the writer doesn’t know something and reading the article would reveal that…but what if it’s clickbait…or maybe, just maybe, they’re right!

🔗 The secret life of nuns - BBC Reel Very interesting topic and photographic style. The photographers outsider perspective must help here.

Started Reading : Golden Son: Pierce Brown 📚

What is something you’ve changed your mind on? An minor one I can think of: I used to think paperbooks were a waste of space, now I see value in both paper and ebooks.

I’d love to add some filters to my reading log page. Something that would people hide fiction/non-fiction books. I suspect I could do this on WordPress with some Javascript but what about Microblog?

I’m really enjoying using Stoop for newsletters…but I wonder if setting up a specific email address for newsletters and using a separate email app would be just as good or even better in some ways…

Morning reading from Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. 1. It’s impossible to learn what you “already know” (yup. I’ve fallen into that trap) 2. It’s never been easier to get a teacher.

I used ferrite with a bluetooth keyboard for the first time today. It’s even better!

I made a “Hawaii at night” inspired IPhone Wallpaper. Feel free to download if you fancy.

🔗 Desirable difficulties from Wikipedia > A desirable difficulty is a learning task that requires a considerable but desirable amount of effort, thereby improving long-term performance. The term was first coined by Robert A. Bjork in 1994. As the name suggests, desirable difficulties should be both desirable and difficult. Research suggests that while difficult tasks might slow down learning initially, the long term benefits are greater than with easy tasks. However, to be desirable, the tasks must also be accomplishable.…

🔗Pokémon Designer Shares Special Artwork To Celebrate The Release Of Sword And Shield - Nintendo Life

Not a bad phone wallpaper

This feels an appropriate for this week

“James Kerr portrays the team tidying up the locker room after a game in his book, Legacy:

“Sweeping the sheds.
Doing it properly.
So no one else has to.
Because no one looks after the All Blacks.
The All Blacks look after themselves.

Ryan Holiday in Today’s Daily Dad Newsletter

“To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school…it is to solve some of the problems of life not only theoretically, but practically.” - Henry David Thoreau

I’m reminded of Derek Sivers’s brilliant TED talk: keep your goals to yourself. Talk can make us ge like we’ve done more than we actually have. Silence is a strength.

Facebook for iOS uses your camera whilst you scroll your feed - iMore

The issue has come to light after a user going by the name Joshua Maddux took to Twitter to report the unusual behavior, which occurs in the Facebook app for iOS. In footage he shared, you can see his camera actively working in the background as he scrolls through his feed.

Maybe…MAYBE it’s just an unfortunate bug doing something completely unexpected, but considering how many times Facebook (sorry FACEBOOK) has previous messed with iOS (audio playing in the background to keep tracking) I doubt that this is innocent.

A question for IPad Pro with USB-C owners. If you use a dongle to connect to external storage, do you have to plug in power as well? For a lightning adaptor IPad you have to have power and I’m wondering if it’s the same (or better on the new ones).

Good morning

Had a go at recreating the classic Obama portrait.

Updated my Now page and preparing for my next email newsletter.

I disagree with Derek Sivers. In fact, that sentence is my rebellion. He suggested that quoting is lazy and sounds bad. I think it enriches communication. Okay, not always. Derek does give some good examples when it’s bad (constant quoting, to protect yourself from being attacked, constant hedging.) but I don’t believe that’s always the case. An invitation to go deeper Quoting, especially with a hyperlink, allows someone to explore and idea further.…

…so the argument for paid Facebook ads is that the Facebook algorithm favours inflammatory and false regular posts, so you have to pay for more civil posts… Maybe change the algorithm.

New notebook orded. I only had two pages left in my old one and not having a replacement ready made me take fewer notes. I went for another Rhodia (this time with dots).

I think Apple should have moved to USB C all the things this year. I was at my in laws house this weekend and even though they aren’t the most tech savvy and up-to-date of people, they now have a USB C device. I have no idea if they’ll do it next year. I could see either way.

When you see a big list of features. Look at the ones in the middle. Often these are the most boring and maybe there just to make it look like there is a lot in something. They may be very common things but together look impressive.

“I only have fifteen minutes. I can’t finish this task, so I won’t start.” How many times have I thought something similar to that? I’d guess hundreds of thousands. But when a day is made up of dozen of these moments, that’s a lot of opportunities to do something. Especially for a large project when there is rarely the whole 40+ hours to complete it in one go. Using those little moments can really add up.…

Okay…let’s see what this is like (me photoshop/lightroom subscription runs out in February. I have no intention to renew. Procreate and the affinity apps do all I need. But maybe adobe will prove me wrong)

Today, we went to the countryside and cooked sausages over a fire. Not much around, very poor phone signal, and things were as they should be. I didn’t have to think about work or what creative project I should do next. I could just enjoy hunting for firewood, sipping back a beer and playing a few games. It’s moments like this that make me realize how shallow most of my rest is.…

Finished Reading : Red Rising: Pierce Brown 📚

Last week I had an impromptu task at work that is the kind of thing I love about my job. I was asked to make a video bumper for some tutorials we’re putting together. It’s the kind of creative task that is also a bit of a break from the day to day stuff. I looked into the tools that came with my work PC, then some online services and eventually came back to the brilliant LumaFusion Pro on my iPhone.…

🔗Inktober 2019 timelaps Okay, it’s not every picture I made but I thought I’d combine all the little films I made into one. I love the differences (and similarities) between them.

I just completed the inktober challenge yesterday and I’m about to embark upon the “blogvember” or “NaBloPoMo” (or whatever you choose to call it). I know I’m not alone in attempting this or similar challenges so I thought my first post should be about the challenge – meta, I know. Be kind to yourself. With challenges like this, or starting a new habit, it’s very easy to get into all or nothing mindsets: To think that we must do the best everyday.…

Inktober day 31: Ripe. Just in time for Halloween.

Inktober day 39: catch (red handed)

In some ways, I miss my iPhone SE. With the renewed rumours of an iPhone SE 2 (fool me once…) I thought I’d finish writing a post I started on the benefits of small phones. Pocketable I have the smaller iPhone Xs but even this beast can be difficult to fit in some of my pockets! Every now and then, I accidentally set off Siri as my phone gets squeezed in my pocket.…

🔗 Kurt Vonnegut quoted by Jason Kottke > Here is the truth about the seasons: Spring is May and June. What could be springier than May and June? Summer is July and August. Really hot, right? Autumn is September and October. See the pumpkins? Smell those burning leaves? Next comes the season called Locking. November and December aren’t winter. They’re Locking. Next comes winter, January and February. Boy! Are they ever cold!…

Inktober day 29: Injured… ego

Just updated my theme so the homepage only shows longer posts and pictures…You can still see smaller posts, like this one, by clicking on Micro… or archive.

I was starting to regret moving from Ulysses to iA Writer but then I set up Typora to access my iA Writer file database and I remembered why I changed. I can easily use multiple app to access the same files or switch to another tool with no effort.

Inktober day 28: ride… the lightning

Started Reading : Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - David Epstein 📚

🔗 Humans.fyi - A website all about personal websites designed by humans A very cool site with some personal website design inspiration…I wish I could make stuff like this.

🔗 Coming in November: 30 Practical Tactics to Decrease Your Anxiety — CJ Chilvers > I’m going to post every day to this blog for the entire month of November on one subject: anxiety. More specifically, I’m going to post 30 practical tactics to decrease your anxiety, one per day. Summaries of these posts will appear in my newsletter. I’m a big CJ Chilvers fan and this sound like a great thing to watch.…

Inktober day 27: coat (of arms)

Inktober day 26: (something something) Dark side

Idea for a pub: Beerilliant.

Inktober day 25: (this is a) tasty (burger)

“You see how much time you have,” Gustie Herrigel writes in Zen in The Art of Flower Arrangement, “only when you stop thinking you have none.”

From Ryan Holiday’s newsletter “Daily Dad”

About 10 years ago, I wanted to be a professional blogger. Now I’m happy to be an unprofessional blogger. Well, most of the time at least. I thought I wanted the exciting lifestyle of making money from work anywhere I wanted. I saw these people “doing nothing” (spoiler, they were doing a lot more than what I saw) and thought that looked great. Free products to review, working in my pyjamas, travel whenever I wanted.…

Good morning.

Inktober: Dizzy Gillespie.think I did a better job than Louis Armstrong but still could be better.

I just scheduled a new edition of my newsletter for tomorrow morning. 📧

See past editions and sign up here.

Well I finally did it. I switched from my UK based Apple iTunes account to a Polish based one. A couple of years ago (sometime after June 23, 2016) I realised I probably wouldn’t be returning to the UK in the short run and looked into changing to a Polish account. The additional benefits of paying less for the same products and spending money from my account which is more regularly topped up were key factors.…

Inktober day 23: (the) Ancient (one)

🔗 The Phone Foyer Method — Cal Newport

The Phone Foyer Method

When you get home after work, you put your phone on a table in your foyer near your front door. Then — and this is the important part — you leave it there until you next leave the house.

Simple but effective idea. My wife and I do something similar to this on a table out of the way…But I don’t always stick to it.

Hey fellow imposter syndrome sufferers 👋. Just a reminder of a simple thing that can really help at work. When someone praises you/your work, take a screenshot/write a note/record it and then put that in a place you can get to. When you feel worried or think that you suck, look at those comments.

My Daughter doesn’t need this advice. She’s just turned 14 months old and she is the most curious person I know. Sometimes I don’t like her curiosity and try to stifle it. Like when she picks up a cigarette bud off the ground and moves it towards her mouth. Or when she tries to touch the dark black surface of our induction hob that is still radiating heat. While those occasions may be very noble efforts, there are other occasions where the intention and outcome are less positive.…

Inktober day 22: Ghost

Mu Two | Next Generation 63W Dual USB Type-C Wall Charger - Kickstarter > Simultaneously charge your devices with the dual USB Type-C ports. Designed with a primary USB C port for the latest Type-C charged laptops, and secondary USB C port for tablets and smartphones. This is probaby the closest I’ve come to “Shut up and take my money” in a long time. I have a Mu Traveller Duo and it’s fantastic.…

New Ludavico Einaudi Album which is 6 Hours long…Well that’s my work music sorted.

“Interesting” is the Basis of Blogging - One Man and His Blog > One of the stock ideas I use when training journalists to blog is that the basic currency of the blog is the thought “that’s interesting”. Everything you post to a blog is something you find interesting and want to share with others, be it a link, an article, a photo or a video. @adders shared this post of his yesterday and it speaks a lot to me.…

There’s a piece of data that makes me the most skeptical regarding voice assistants is how (in general) younger people prefer to text rather than call. Perhaps that reflects that younger people are less willing to use a voice assistant than type commands. On the other hand, I know many parents who say that their kids “talk to Google” or Alexa. Not having a smart speaker probably makes me biased here, but I still wonder if trying to make voice the primary method of interaction is flawed.…

Good morning

Inktober day 20: tread

Song link have made some iOS shortcuts! This is great! Now I just need to test them out.

Opinions on the best keyboard for an iPad Pro (rocking the 10.5).

Inktober day 19: sling(shot) “My name is John Crichton, an astronaut.”

Inktober day 18: misfit

🔗 Addicted to Screens? That’s Really a You Problem - New York Times > In his original manual for building enthralling smartphone apps, Mr. Eyal laid out the tricks “to subtly encourage customer behavior” and “bring users back again and again.” He toured tech companies speaking about the Hook Model, his four-step plan to grab and keep people with enticements like variable rewards, or pleasures that come at unpredictable intervals.…

Catching up on inktober

On the topic of cool Photography stuff. Hoxton Mini Press have some excellent looking new photobooks including… - Once upon a time in Brick Lane - London Underground 1970-1980

There’s a new Magnum photo course on Storytelling with Alec Soth. Probably one of my favourite photographers…I totally don’t need a new photo course…but Alec Soth.

It’s been really tough to focus at work today. I’m not sure what’s going on mentally but it feels like there are a tone of distractions. Oh and my stupid work PC’s keyboard is frustrating (keys are all in the wrong place) and the touchpad keeps deciding everything is a right click!

Does anyone know of any sites that have iOS 13 wallpapers that change dynamically between dark and light mode? The standard ones are…okay, but I’d love something like the Catelina desktop on my iPad.

Inktober day 15: Legend (of Zelda)

Them: “one of my top learnings recently is to avoid business jargon.” Me: 🤨

Inktober day 14: overgrown. I found this prompt tough.

Stoop version 2: Subscribe to YouTube channels Stoop 2 is now available in both the App Store and Google Play Store. It brings lots of little improvements over the first version and one big one: you can now subscribe to YouTube Channels and have them delivered right to your Stoop where they’ll be neatly organized, alongside your newsletters. Part of me thinks this is a great addition…and the other part of me thinks “great, you just reinvented RSS”…

Started Reading : The Artist’s Way: Julia Cameron 📚

I’ve been letting a lot of domains go recently. It’s been very theraputic.

Inktober day 13: Ash (I choose you!)

Inktober day 12: Dragon (this one lives in a cottage cheese cottage…do you know his name?)

I’ve been “sketchnoting” for about four years now, but I spent a lot longer wishing I could sketchnote. That’s why I created 7 days to start sketchnoting, so people wouldn’t waste time wishing they could sketchnote, but start immediately. I can’t remember the first sketchnote I saw, it was probably on twitter back when it wasn’t a cool place. As soon as I saw it I wanted to make something similar but two things help me back - “I can’t draw” - how the hell do you organise information so well!…

Inktober day 11: Snow …okay technically not.

🔗Opinion - To Be a Genius, Think Like a 94-Year-Old - The New York Times

Thanks to Austin Kleon for sharing this in this week’s newsletter.

Inktober day 10: Pattern

Finished Reading : They Ask You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer – Marcus Sheridan, Krista Kotrla 📚

Erm…iOS 13.1.2 you okay?

New job, new commute, new inspiration.

Art is anything you can get away with - Andy Warhol

Inktober day 9: Swing

Bad news! my current Leuchttrum softback notebook is almost finished (third notebook of the year). Good news: I have a reason to buy a new notebook. Any suggestions? My gut is suggesting a Rhodia but this time with dotes (I got plain last time).

How We Judge Others is How We Judge Ourselves - Mark Manson

The yardstick we use for ourselves is the yardstick we use for the world.

There’s a lot of truth in this. It’s also why hypocrisy and “not true Scotsman” situations are so common.

My AirPods (gen 1 almost …three years old…no that’s impossible?!?!) are starting to get really buggy. They keep cutting out and disconnecting after about forty minutes. No warning or “saddest sound in the universe” beforehand. I fear they may not be long for this world 🙁.

Inktober day 8: Frail (ego). Thanks to Steve Silbert for the inspiration.

I love some of the collective noun ideas for Programmers. An “Array” of programmers is a great suggestion.

Just curious for work. Anyone had any experience using the inbuilt call recorder with Skype on Windows? Is it any good? Any alternative options?

Inktober day 7: Enchanted (I only had my phone and procreate pocket so I had to try something different.)

The addition of templates in day one is GREAT. I’m just wondering if I can trigger them with a shortcut… or automate them a tiny bit more.

Inktober… husky. Not a great end result but fun and educational to play with different procreate tools and techniques. Can anyone guess who it is (supposed to be)?

Inktober day 5: build

Inktober day 4, Freeze…I didn’t do it!

So I’m using Windows 10 at my new job. There’s a lot not to like but there are some interesting aspect. - Windows hello is nice (Apple Watch unlock on a Mac is better) - onenote is kind of cool - I like the titles I still prefer macs.

Inktober day 3…bait

Mindless or mindful? Inktober

Inktober day one prompt…ring. (Made on iPad with procreate.)

4 common lies about performance and productivity

I’m sure some of these won’t surprise you, but I’ve definitely heard each piece of advice here.

Just before iOS 13 came out, I gave ferrite another go. It didn’t stick with me before but now I get it. With the added iOS 13 support for external storage, it’s made my weekly edit and upload the church sermon much easier. Big fan.

I was just having a shower.

IPadOS users…what are your favourite widgets? I’m wondering if I should change my iOS 12 widget setup and hoping to see some interesting ideas from other people.

I’m just a little black rain cloud 🎵

…still no iPadOS for my iPad 🥺 Isn’t the final version out?

Everyone loves magical Trevor …

The new high-key mono setting in portrait mode in iOS 13 is great for making your own Steve Jobs portrait… challenge!

It came from the deep!

Oh hello micro blog in dark mode.

I just wrote this down, and I like it.

Don’t worry about having “good” ideas, focus on having ideas. My experience has shown that good ideas are shy and tend to only come along when there are bad ideas there to keep them company.

The iPhone 11 pro review I’ve been waiting for…Austin Mann.

The sketch I need not the one I deserve

“…Leverage resources in the most optimal way” … I can’t even. (Really quote from a published book).

A trip to the hair salon

I finally put my pen addict fire on fire ink in my pen and it lead to a very different plectrum pic.

I saw a few people commenting on Robert Frank’s death. You might want to check out Chad Tobin’s tribute here.

Is it a comedy or a tragedy?

Do a barrel roll!

I’m really curious if the price of Apple TV+ and Disney+ will make Netflix lower its price. Probably not immediately, but in a year or two time…

Megaman

🔗 Sweet Potato & Black Bean Shepherds Pie Recipe · Deliciously Ella

My wife and I just tried this recipe and it was really good…plus vegan (we’re not vegans but are reducing the meat we eat).

I’ve been trying to avoid writing “impact” and choosing other verbs instead. It’s amazing how easy it is to develop lazy writing habits and how little exercises can change your writing.

p.s Some impact alternatives: - change - influence - affect - alter - modify - transform

A Lake District inspired return to the pick pics.

Yesterday was a great proof of the “drafts mentality”¹ . I started to write a quick, two sentence microblog post but as I wrote I realised it could be a longer post. Currently it’s just over 900 words and I want to add some more and edit it. Although I mentioned drafts for this feature, it’s also true of Micro.Blog. You can open the editor, start writing and change between a 280 character update, a short post with no title or a longer post with a title. Even this post was originally within 280 characters and is now longer.

Bundle packages can be great (10 courses for the price of one!) but I now believe that sometimes it’s better to just buy the individual item you want. Bundles can feel overwhelming, looking at all those resources, and lead to a feeling that you have to/ought to go through more.

The Lake District really is gorgeous.

This year I’ve seen some writers and podcasters whom I like and have followed for a while make some (interesting/bad/not-for-me) decisions. Today I saw one example and thought this person needs more of what Austin Kleon calls “eyerollers”: a person who will tell great people they are being dumb. One example I’ve seen is people taking themselves too seriously. They’ve reached a level of success and now every new thing they are doing is a HUGE deal.…

I think it was Valerie Jardin who twisted the classic saying to > the best camera is the one you take more pictures with. While this can certainly be “the one you have with you” (including a smart phone) it may also be a big bulky, dedicated camera if it encourages you to take more photos than your phone. I believe this is a good rule of thumb for most tools.…

“Well, at least Brexit can’t get any crazier.” Me every week or two…I’m always proven wrong.

Trying some new drawing techniques in Procreate. Think I’m finally starting to get how to airbrush.

“Often kids find more joy in playing with old pots and pans than with the latest space set.”
- Richard Foster — Celebration of Disciple

My daughter certain confirms to this statement. She has some fancy electronic toys that’s she doesn’t care for, but give her some bottle tops and she’s happy as Larry.

My daughter turned one last week. We don’t share photos of her online (I want it to be her choice not mine) but I feel this sketch is okay to share. BTW this is a total cheat. I started with a photo for the outline.

Just because “everyone does it” doesn’t mean it’s right for you or your company. I see these statements about marketing all the time. It’s a classic “Well, it’s just a common marketing practice” as thought that makes it right.

I had been hoping to post more from @Ukulele but - It’s been harder to record audio than I had hoped - even doing minor edits has taken me more time to get used to doing (I believe it is easy) - we’re currently in the UK and have been traveling and seeing friends (and I’m sans ukulele)

Hopefully, these issue will iron out in the future and I’ll be able to share more.

I discovered a Buddhist shrine in London yesterday. Had no idea this was here.

Gather round kids and I’ll tell you a story…

It’s funny how now there are some weeks, I use my iPad loads. Other weeks I don’t even touch it. I think this reflects on how different my weeks and activities can be (as well as how I’m spoiled for choice over devices).

Jimmy, please report to the principle’s room.

Nothing like a good manicure

A very annoying trend is articles written before something happens or is out. I completely understand why this happens (because SEO) but it’s annoying where you see a headline saying something new is out…but it’s not.

I wish I had some of these at the weekend.

Who nose what will be next

A really good skill to learn is when to kill of a project. Ideally you want to do it at its high point, that way you feel positive about it. but it’s hard to know where you are in a projects journey. - Maybe this is just a small dip, - maybe there will be a second wind, - maybe this idea was never any good I really admire people who can kill their projects before I tire of them.

Dynamic Wallpaper club

Looking for dynamic wallpapers for MacOS? This is the place. (Some of the firewatch ones are great)

Some tourist sites are disappointing

My spoke design pen arrived and it’s nice!

Do any MicroBlogranauts have a Drone? Which one? Any words of advice/warning?

Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorway Don’t block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled The battle outside ragin’ Will soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin’

The Times They Are A-changin’ - Bob Dylan

About a month ago I finally tested out an idea I had been wondering about. I registered a new account on Microblog with the username Ukulele. Today, I paid for the first months hosting. I had wanted to do it sooner, but there had been a couple of things that held me back (funds in my bank account, not having my ukulele around while I traveled) but now it is live.…

Where could my plectrum be? (Thanks @cn for the inspiration)

erm….I left my plectrum at home…How will I do today’s pickpic? 😟

…SQUIRREL!!! 🐶

When you discover song.link had an alpha api.

Back at the office with Johnny Bravo

I got round to my monthly Now page update. The main changes are
- MORE UKULELE
Perhaps I should add that I’m now in my 33rd year of life… that seems a suitable now item.

It feels like a Nick Drake kind of morning.

Very strange AirPod thing. Sometimes I try and use one AirPod (so I can hear my family) but the AirPods don’t connect. When I put both in, they usually connect straight away.

When my daughter sees something on the ground, it’s not a matter of if she’ll put it in her mouth, it’s a …oh, she already did it while I was typing.

Marketing Effectiveness cartoon - Marketoonist - Tom Fishburne Cheryl Calverley, CMO at UK mattress brand Eve Sleep recently observed:  “We’ve reached peak performance optimization. Everyone has piled in and done the easy stuff in digital marketing … so we come back round in a circle. The only way to stand out from the crowd is creative.” Interesting point and one that I suspect many in the creative department (waves hand) will like more than those in performance.…

Is it a sketchnote? Is it urban sketching? Who cares. It was fun.

A Recession Is Coming (Eventually). Here’s Where You’ll See It First. - The New York Times …another recession will come eventually. Fortunately, economic expansions, unlike coin-flip streaks, usually provide some hints about when they are nearing their end — if you know where to look. Below is a guide to some of the indicators that have historically done the best job of sounding the alarm. One caveat: Economists are notoriously terrible at forecasting recessions, especially more than a few months in advance.…

As I ready my copy of Celebration or Discipline again, I’m struck by how certain pressing issues from twenty years ago—distraction by phones, filling our thoughts with media—have taken on whole new intensities.

On Holiday In Biszczard.

Krakow train station

Take me out to the ball game (I had to research this one a bit)

Life finds a way

Get your motor running

I really want to try a chromebook. There’s something about them which really appeals to me. It’s probably because 90% of my day job is Chrome based applications (and the other 10% is creating silly graphics of my colleagues). There are, however, a couple of things that really put me off. 1. Google 2. I basically have one already Google is one of those companies that I wish I could trust but every moment they seem to move towards some better privacy standard, their underlying business model prevents that.…

Your sketchers were so preoccupied with whether they could they didn’t stop to think if they should.

Kind of similar to a previous one…but I can’t resist with all the Apollo 11 stuff.

Finished Reading : The Old Man and the Sea: Ernest Hemingway 📚

I’ve found it harder to write “title worthy” posts recently. I’m not sure the exact origin of this trend. - Perhaps I’m concentrating more on other creative activities that drain that inspirational spark. - Maybe I’m being drained more by work with a more strenuous workload. - Possibly my inspirational diet isn’t as rich as it has been in the past. - or it might just be a little creative burnout.…

🎵Alas my love you do me wrong 🎶

We’re not in Kansas anymore.

Thanks to everyone’s task management replies. I’m going through them all and ruminating on the ideas and approaches.

Off to the chippy

It took me a long time to get an idea today.

Just curious if anyone using multiple todo/task management apps? One for work and one for personal life (or a different division). What are the benefits you’ve found with that? (Also if you only use one master app to rule them all, why do you do that?)

“Sometimes the best thing to do is just practice writing things”

I just found this in my commonplace book but not sure on the source. Still it’s a good point.

Started Reading : The Old Man and the Sea: Ernest Hemingway 📚

Finished Reading : Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style 📚

Nice to know Benjamin Dreyer advocates keeping a commonplace book.

Congratulations England.

Twist (by doist) might be a good solution for a project…oh no! I’m consider switching todo apps again! (Because Todoist integrates so well. And there are other advantages).

Working in the Polish countryside

Arrived in Lublin. So very tired. But I have good wine so all is all right.

Time for another cross Poland car journey. See you later.

Preparing my newsletter for tomorrow. Sign up to make sure you get it.

P.s. Want a preview of the content? There’s something on a commonplace book.

Who can guess the Disney reference?

He puts the Taz in Tasmania…

A night stroll

I spy with my little eye.

After weeks of high twenties temperatures (Celsius of course) and stuffy humidity, yesterday was a delightful high of twenty with a refreshing breeze. But, my Polish colleagues disappointment at the weather again highlighted that I’m still an outside here.

…my manager LITERALLY just sent me a message with “if you could just go ahead and (minor task) that’d be great.” I hope she did it as a joke on purpose.

It’s been hot. At least the tower is full.

…there’s a place in Poland which is selling refurbed HomePods… must…resist!!!

Fountain pen folk. What’s your favourite black ink?

I took some inspiration from my daughter’s favourite book and the wood around me. Always fun to play with Procreate.

A bit later than usual but this week’s newsletter is out and I made a change.

Had an idea for a MICRO experiment…

Notebook almost finished 😢 new notebook ordered 🥳

Newton’s third law of physics states “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” It’s true of the creative process too. I’ve noticed a tension present in most creative work. The ideas and projects which are the most exciting and motivating also have the most inertia. The cause of that drag can be laziness, distractions and self-doubt. That tension doesn’t feel pleasant, but it’s a telltale sign that a project is a good idea.…

Is it a pick, is it a plectrum, no it’s superman.

I stole this idea from Ben Crothers’s presto sketching book.

My brain: “Maybe I should do this big project, it would take time to set up. It might overlap a bit with this other idea. Then again there’s that other idea …(carries on for a while).” (The smart part of my brain): “maybe just make something?” Thanks brain.

Happy Fourth or July

“Twitter when everyone says they’re smarter than you are and Instagram where everyone says they’re more fabulous than you are.” - David Brooks on The Art of Manliness Podcast

It’s hot today.

My A5 notebook is almost finished so I’m ordering a new one (thinking Leuchttruam softcover this time) and I might as well ad some more stuff to my cart (due to shipping). I’m not sure what though. Maybe some nicer black ink, some interesting experimental pen? Any ideas?

14 Business Jargon Phrases People Love To Hate from the Grammarly Blog An articles I’d like to send to a couple of people in the office. I really wonder if some people know any verbs which aren’t “leverage” and “scale”.…

Coming up with an idea today was difficult… you might say that this was my Everest.

Just updated my Now page for July (including a new wallpaper, updated books reading list and some other cool things).

Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a great number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people. - Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline

This is the opening of Richard Foster’s classic book Celebration of Discipine, originally published in 1979. True then, at least as true now.

Three reasons to extend a money-off promo

There are three reasons to extend a money-off promotion 1. It did better than you thought.
2. It did worse than you expected.
3. You have no other ideas…
Okay, let’s be honest. It’s just number three.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life…

Wondering round Krakow.

I just sent out this week’s newsletter. - blame at work - sleep - against the rules - and imposter syndrome If you’re not subscribed, You can read it here.

One small step for a pick…

Almost the end of the month. Time to start preparing for to update my Now page

Duh dun…

Started Reading : Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style: Benjamin Dreyer 📚

Impostor syndrome goes away eventually. You just forget about it. The fastest way to get past it is probably to help other people.
- Imposter Syndrome by Brett Simmons

I like this idea. Worst case scenario you’ve helped someone out.

Let’s go fly a kite…

You look tasty

Looking smart.

About a year or two ago I noticed Evernote was starting to (slowly) turn around (it stopped telling me about work chat). But recently the iOS apps has become incredibly buggy. This makes me sad but it’s time to bid farewell.

My newsletter (things to make you think and smile) is on its way to your inbox…if you’re a subscriber that is. If not, you can read it here.

Finished Reading : A Walk Across America: Peter Jenkins 📚

There’s a lot going on in the mural in Lublin.

Come fly with me

Today is a public holiday in Poland. I’m catching up on a good book, enjoying a beer and spending time with the extended (Polish) family by the lake.

Just keep swimming

It’s very easy to point out errors and mistakes. Whenever I work with my team mates I try to not just point out errors but make suggestions. Even if they choose something else I feel like I’m offering helps rather than just complaining. Not everyone I work with takes the same approach. Sometimes it makes me feel like they are just being annoying. Pointing out problems and not really helping. At the same time, I wonder if my approach seems belittling to some people?…

You are fine without advice and suggestions - Austin Kleon 🔗 But no, I don’t want to instruct step-by-step how the collages are done, because: 1) I’m still exploring the technique myself and I don’t want to codify it or make any rules or make it boring 2) I am certain that if curious commenters sat down and tried to approximate my technique with their own tools and materials, they would come up with something of their own.…

Just created a new keyboard maestro hot key to create a new tab and open a new google doc. Something I do at work multiple times a day and now is one keyboard shortcut and not several clicks and typing. 😎

It’s okay to cry

Office for the day at my in laws place.

Another Krakow to Lublin drive completed. Every time I make this s journey I feel exhausted…then I realise that friends in the US might view it as a short drive.

I’m no expert, but here are some thoughts. 1. Patiences 2. Humility 3. Empathy 4. Attention and focus 5. Memory Patience I’ve found the temptation to cut someone off is high, especially when someone is taking a while to get things off their chest. But listening effectively can’t be hurried. The only cure is patience which gets easier the more it’s practiced. Humility Real listening is about the other person and not ourselves.…

Did he even play in the final?

Accidental cat filter appears on Pakistan official’s briefing | World news | The Guardian

Yousafzai was giving a a briefing to reporters in Peshawar when a member of his social media team inadvertently switched on the cat filter. The event was streamed live on Facebook.

🤭

1980s Teenagers And Their Bedroom Walls > So what would your prototypical 1980s bedroom look like? Here is a collection of 40 interesting photos that show bedroom essentials every kid who grew up in that era would have. Not being a 1980s teenager, there’s an element of this which feels so familiar, and so foreign. I guess now we just have stickers on Macbooks.…

“Use the simplest program for the task…keep your tools simple it allows you to focus on what’s important, creating.” - Leo Babauta The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life

O Christmas tree, O Christmas trees. How lovely are your plectrums.

A new sketchnote on listening based off the recent Seanwes podcast episode on empathetic listening. Listening really is a superpower.

“I think it is a book of hope,” he says. He’s wearing suspenders and a shirt that matches his lively blue eyes. “Children need hope. You, little insignificant caterpillar, can grow up into a beautiful butterfly and fly into the world with your talent. Will I ever be able to do that? Yes, you will. I think that is the appeal of that book.

‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ By Eric Carle, Turns 50 : NPR

This week’s newsletter is on its way to your inbox. Traveling down the internet super highway. I hope you enjoy it, and I’d love any comments.

Out of hospital and time for some sleep.

Unexpected hospital trip after company go karting trip. Your average Friday.

🎵Friday Music🎵: Dreams - Beck

Just been working on tomorrow’s edition of “Things to make you think and smile”. Sign up here to make sure you get your (digital) copy.

A Jedi guinea pig ?

I was worried that i was starting to run out of ideas…so I needed to go deeper.

When the weather is hot…

I’ve grabbed a Nintendo pro controller. The final push is a work based mario kart competition on Friday. Very important business.

Today’s work music: Monument Valley 2 Soundtrack.

The great cat burglar

I wonder if I could get away with wearing this at work…I really like the idea of organising a string of meetings and wearing this.

Turns out I’m not the only person who had a minidisc player, Radiohead front man Thom Yorke did too and now his secret is out…as well as 18 previously unreleased minidiscs’s worth of demo music. A hacker found the stash in radioheads archives (somehow) and threatened to release them…so Radiohead released it themselves and are donating profits to a direct action environmental charity. It reminds me of the publicity they got when In Rainbows came out and was a “pay what you want” model.

Started Reading : American Gods by Neil Gaiman 📚

Micro blog needs a guinea pig logo eh… @macgenie @manton

It’s hot on krakow

Anything that’s good can be made better with emoji 😜 - @macgenie

It holds up.

Ummm delicious.

More convinced that being creative mean accepting occasionally (or frequently) looking foolish. Doing something that might not work sometimes means it doesn’t work…but occasionally magic happens.

Just updated my Reading log page. Not sure what next to go for…to many good books.

Finished Reading : How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds 📚

Humour is an essential part of the creativity we need to solve problems, no matter how serious they may be. - John Cleese

Aliens in the office?

Trying some new desk layout. My main aim, get more drawing space.

Ikea place is probably the only AR app I’ve opened more than once.

I decided to send my newsletter on Saturdays and not Fridays (as some friends had theirs on the same day). Next one is scheduled for tomorrow. Sign up to get it hot off the pixel press.

That’s no plectrum…

I’m SO glad an Indian restaurant opened in Wieliczka. In other news I’m completely full of wonderful wonderful curry.

I suffer from FOMODN…fear of missing out on domain names.

One of those things I’m wondering about. The balance between having confidence in your convictions and remaining teachable to new ideas. I think the concept of > “Have strong beliefs, held loosely.” Applies here. You make your case as best you can but you listen to the opposing case and look for the weaknesses in your own idea. Of course, it’s very easy to say and very hard to live out.…

My theme word for the week is play…today I played with Procreate.

My favourite “debate ending phrase” at work is “this is too marketing-ish”. A phrase which is used to say “I don’t like this” and then is often followed by a suggestion which is also very marketing language.

When you set up brand words in TextExpander so you get the capitalisations right every time and only have to type three letters for a long name. 😎

In my experience, your stock is best made by collecting, organising and expanding upon your flow. Social media sites function a lot like public notebooks …but the thing about keeping notebooks is that you have to revisit them in order to make the most out of them… once you make sharing part of your daily routine, you’ll notice themes and trends emerge in what you share. You’ll find patterns in your flow.…

I’ve often heard people (well marketers) say that the difference between persuasion and manipulation is if the end result is good. Sometimes it’s a variant of this and might focus on the motivation rather than the end result but I really question these statements. After all, I might believe that this product/service/course will help someone but what if they spend money which they shouldn’t on it? Does that mean they were manipulated or does it mean they are bad financial planners?…

A question I have after WWDC. Does renaming it to iPadOS mean there will be iPad focused features every year now?

I love the cheering for sign in with Apple. I wonder how many data harvesting developers are cursing under their breath.

More play at work

Quite like Bambi, Not sure exactly why.

The sketchnote army podcast maybe responsive for more of my book purchases than any other podcast… and I think another one will be coming soon too.

There are 4 types of wealth:

1. Financial wealth (money)
2. Social wealth (status)
3. Time wealth (freedom)
4. Physical wealth (health)

Be wary of jobs that lure you in with 1 and 2, but rob you of 3 and 4.

James Clear

Just updated my now page including homepage and a new lockscreen wallpaper (which I made and you can download).

The question of why we read and what books actually do for us is as old as the written word itself, and as attractive. Galileo saw reading as a way of having superhuman powers. For Kafka, books were “the axe for the frozen sea within us”; Carl Sagan held them as “proof that humans are capable of working magic”; James Baldwin found in them a way to change one’s destiny; for Polish Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska, they stood as our ultimate frontier of freedom. Neil Gaiman on Why We Read and What Books Do for the Human Experience – Brain Pickings

I moved my newsletter over to Revue so this is issue 1.5 (2 felt wrong, but so did 1). Things to make you think and smile.

It’s amazing what you can find with the things on your desk.

New edition of Greg Thinks Things by @gr36. Polecam

When I was a kid, I struggled a lot with drawing. I’d try to draw a round circle. Put pencil to paper and before I rounded the first corner, I’d know it was no good. So I’d rub it out and start again. This time the first corner would be good but it would be more oval. And so I’d picked up the eraser again, and again and again.…

I’ve recently become aware of how powerful listening is and how terrible I am at it. It’s shocking the number of times when I ”listen” but am really just waiting to speak. When I have truly listened and held back from speaking or giving my 2c, the conversation is always more edifying and usually saves time as I don’t say something the other person would have said anyway. I’m starting to think that developing my listening skills may be one of the most transformative actions I can take.…

Researchers at Brown University just got a robot to do something as linguistically improbable as it is beautiful: After training to hand-write Japanese characters, the robot then turned around and started to copy words in a slew of other languages it’d never written before, including Hindi, Greek, and English, just by looking at examples of that handwriting. Not only that, it could do English in print and cursive. Oh, and then it copied a drawing of the Mona Lisa on its own for good measure. This Crafty Robot Can Write in Languages It’s Never Seen Before | WIRED

Digital minimalism is only 99p in the UK Kindle Store…I highly recommend it.

One of the curious ideas I found in Atomic Habits is that often our environments have a greater impact on us than motivation or character. For example, if you live in a country where there’s lots of cheap fast food, you’re more likely to be overweight than in a country where fast food is expensive and most people have more restricted diets. There are exceptions, but you will be closes to your countries average (whatever that is).…

I know it’s no longer Monday but my micro @monday recommendation is @andynicholaides he’s recently returned and it’s great to have him here.

For a while I had thought that long-form content was better than short content. “Books over blogs.” Now I’m not so sure. After all, sometimes a book should be a blog post. That’s all you need.

Perhaps the best thing is just good, deep content.

In general, I believe iOS users tend to prefer out of the box solutions. It’s the whole model of Apple pricing and technology (certainly in contrast with android which favours customisation, even if it is become more standardised). I enjoy this approach a lot. Not having to think but instead just use the default option along with its decisions helps me avoid decision fatigue. When I had an android phone, I found myself fiddling, trying to set it up just right.…

Accountability is done to you. It’s done by the industrial system, by those that want to create blame. Responsibility is done by you. It’s voluntary. You can take as much of it as you want. - Accountability vs. responsibility by Seth Godin …

This is a second test of a new shortcut to post to microblog and include a category selected from a list. Second times a charm right…

I recently -complained- wrote about when a book should really be a blog post or series (hey there most business books) but sometimes the reverse can happen where expanding upon a short idea provides greater context and value. I was reminded of a great example of this, expand by Garrick van Buren. The idea of expand was simple, Garrick posted three tweets every day and then at the end of the week he found out which resonated the most and wrote in greater detail about them for his newsletter (which cost money).…

Slow Cooked Pork Belly

A quick iPad sketching practice I love lamp

Almost the end of month, which means time my now page is due for an update! I didn’t publicize my last update as it was about a week late. If you have a now page, send me a message with your link.

Famous Speeches: A List of the Greatest Speeches of All-Time After reading that talk, I got to thinking… what other great talks and speeches are out there that I’ve never heard? I’ve been slowly searching for answers to that question and the result is this list of my favorite interesting and insightful talks that are not widely known. What a brilliant list and a brilliant idea. Curating inspiring talks on a page on a blog.…

Scheduled my first newsletter. It’s full of the best articles I found this week (including some to make you think and some to make you smile) . Sign up here.

Random question…When did you last send an email to a friend? I think I pretty much use email just for business and newsletter type things. I can’t remember sending a friend an email (MAYBE to send a file but even that has got easier with messaging services). Just me?

I’m trying to write about something but I still can’t look objectively. Saved to day one and maybe it will one day see the light of day. Or not.

I have a legitimate reason to use my iPad at work 😎 this is a good day.

Typeform updated their terms and conditions and used…a Typeform to display them! Brilliant!

This will take two hours | Seth’s Blog We have so many forms of “this will only take a minute” inputs. We have Twitter, which is optimized for wasting time. But we don’t have a convention for important inputs that might take hours of work to respond to. This is one of the best things about a good non-fiction book. It’s not for wasting time, it’s for depth when you’re ready to go deep.…

The Karen O and Danger Mouse Album is great.

A new Course from David Sparks and it’s on Keyboard Maestro… I’ve been using it a bit on my work mac…I’m sure I could find some cool ideas in here…🤔

Is it ironic if I spend more on an app than the service the app is used for…I’m looking at you Timery.

Real life Scott’s tots! but where the guy actually pays.

Sometimes a book should be a blog series. - A blog series should be a single post. - a blog post should be a tweet. - and sometimes a tweet should be kept in your journal. But sometimes the reverse is true. That journal article should be shared. That tweet should be a blog post (never a thread). That blog post should be a series. And that series should be a book.…

Amazing…but what tools do you use?

(I’m one of the people who asks the question.)

It makes me sad that the word palindrome is not a palindrome.

Diving into Drafts Automation with Tim “The Drafts Man” Nahumck - Automators I’m a big fan of drafts, and this episode with Tim Nah…humus was great. It really gave me some extra ideas. Idea one, make more workspaces.…

I wanted a system to publish an email newsletter just as easily as I could publish a blog post to my hosted micro.blog. My typical workflow for micro.blog is to either use drafts and an action I have there, or the sunlit app (for photos). So for publishing an email newsletter I wanted to use drafts as well. I’m not so well versed in making draft actions so I started with shortcuts on iOS which also lets me use different apps if I choose and can be added as a drafts action.…

Some days at work are better than others. Today was one of those “others”. Still, it’s great to be challenge and learning. Switching to working in a corporate office hasn’t been easy for me but I’m still glad I did.

YouTube Premium came to Poland…Instant subscribe.

Last week as I was getting changed from a workout at the gym, I moved my bag and heard a sudden thud. I winced as I knew exactly what had just dropped on the concrete, screen destroying floor. I saw my Apple Watch, watch face down. I picked it up and saw no immediate signs of damage, but in better light saw a scratch and ding on one side.…

Krakow 11/05/19

I just saw a YouTube ad for Pen and Tellers magic masterclass. It’s the first masterclass that actually looks like they’ll teach you how to do stuff and not just an interview with a creative person about their process (nothing against that, just not really what they advertise masterclass as). I’m kind of interested.

Rhodia web notebook thoughts. (now I’m 50% through) 1. The paper really is nice for fountain pens. 2. It’s a little heavier than I like. 3. I should have got the dot paper one. 4. I think I prefer Leuchttrum 1917s

My wife and I have been watching Star Trek discovery (season 1). My general not to so hot take is that it’s a pretty good sci-fi…but it doesn’t feel like a Star Trek series to me (the episode on Pahvo felt the most classic Trek to me).

When you see @rohdesign moving cards around in the Sketchnote Army Trello board 😀

Every time someone talks about quitting their day job or stopping doing the thing they are teaching (so they can teach) I think about this post on the ‘guru’ trap from @ben

Today I had some great feedback at work and possible new opportunities. But my two highlights are getting my daughter to giggle while playing a hiding game with her (she’s 8 months old) and taking a photo of her with a bubble bath beard.

I’ve had a long battle with PocketCasts sync. Even filed a bug via support (with a “thank you we’ll investigate” reply and no more). I just discovered that i had been signed out of my account. Maybe that’s the source of the problems… but I’ve had issues since the latest version launched and with the prospect of marzipan versions of Castro and Overcast, I think it’s time to move. Not sure to which yet. Do you use Castro/Overcast/other podcast app? Why?

Finished Reading : Keep Going: Austin Kleon 📚

Wispański Exhibition in Krakow

Using my watercolour set at home.

The internet, unfortunately, is no longer a safe space to do any kind of experimental thinking, particularly for somebody with any kind of “brand.” … No, if you’re going to change your mind, you might have to go off-brand, and offline is the best place to be off-brand. Your bliss station, your studio, a paper journal, a private chat room, a living room full of trusted loved ones. These are the places to really think.
- Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad - Austin Kleon

Off to watch Avengers!

If you ever think you’ve come up with a clever turn of phrase, say it out loud (preferably to another person). Sometimes that “clever” turn of phrase is just awkward.

People say having a kid changes everything. That’s simple not true.

It changes about 90% of things.

I’ve been too negative recently. Partially I think it’s the mentality I’ve adopted at work, notice the problems. Regardless, the net effect isn’t great. I’d rather be more encouraging so I’m going to be.

Public accountability so often turns into personal shame. The person who sets the unrealistic goal, tells the world and then in a week has stopped and now avoids discussing the topic at all. In my experience, It’s better to start with a partner who is striving for the same thing to check on you or to start in private and then share the goal. If you last a month, get that public accountability going.…

I made a new phone wallpaper to remind me to focus on finishing and not over worrying about making something perfect. There will probably come a time where I need to hear the reserve message, to sweat the details and polish, but that’s not now. And I can make a new wallpaper then. Feel free to download and I’d love to know if you do.…

Started Reading : How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds - Alan Jacobs 📚

There is a real beauty in things that can’t scale. A project or task that is for one person and not many. A while back, I tried reaching out to people more via iMessage than something like twitter. It’s still digital communication but it’s one to one and not a mass broadcast. I certainly don’t write the same way in those contexts. My work talks a lot about scaling (SaaS amirite).…

If you do anything creative (writing, podcasting, etc) then you should read Austin Kleon’s latest book Keep Going.
(@RocketPanda and @gr36)

Happy Easter

In a surprise twist. I’m using shortcuts more again. Turns out that when the app doesn’t crash every time you open it, it’s quite useful.

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

I think my biggest lesson of the year (which is still ongoing) is to ask questions and check I understand first rather than speaking and giving my opinion straight away. I still suck at this but I’ve seen how beneficial it is and I want to get better at it.

“Leverage”…in 90% of situations there is a better word or it’s pointless businessease.

Started Reading : Keep Going: Austin Kleon 📚

Just updated my Reading Log with a couple of new summaries from Never Split the Difference and This is Marketing.

Migration time

Scientist unveil the first ever images of a black hole 📽️ 🤯

Finished Reading : Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It: Chris Voss, Tahl Raz: 📚

Work colleague: Vegan keto diet, that’s a crazy idea. Internet: Hold my beer…

Krakow today

I was wondering if I could get keyboard shortcuts on Pocketcasts web player. I remembered hearing about a mac app. Downloaded it, now I can pause with a simple keyboard press 😎

Communities don’t just happen by chance, it takes someone (or a group of someone’s) investing their time and effort. Sometimes it is a thankless task, but there can be great rewards. If you want to start a community, then you need to put effort in, you can’t just make a group and let it run itself.

Finished Reading : This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See: Seth Godin 📚

“Wow, this course is great. I’m getting tones of value and I’ve just finished the first part of six. That’s cool…Oh wait…this first part has SIX PARTS!”

Suddenly realising that the training program my work paid for is far more valuable than I initally thought.

No, this is no joke. I just updated my [Now page]. Continue reading if you’d like to see a few explanations of what I did and what I’m planning. Last Month: March 2019 Weekly Words: - Celebrate - Plan - Create - Focus March was a great month in many ways. Work was challenging but highly rewarding. We launched a new product at the start of the month which had required a lot of work from us all.…

Recently I’ve written a couple of posts and then debated publishing (just stopped myself from publishing something). It was inspired by an event and I’m aware that my feeling may change later. This is one of the areas where extra friction is good. Sometimes (many times?) it’s better not to share my rant or complaint. It’s basically why anger management people tell you to count to 10. Maybe I will publish it, or adapt it a lot before I do.…

Krakow Summer 2018 (Hasselblad 500cm and Protra 400)

One of the biggest difference I see in writers online are people who regurgitate idea and those who digest them. I aim to be the later, pulling in related ideas and critiquing as I go, but I’m definitely not perfect. I particularly get annoyed by people who steal idea and give no credit at all. But that’s the nature of people.

Lisbon in September 2018

For some reason, I had issues with my micro blog subscription (hence no posting). I canceled and restarted my subscription and it works now. No idea what went wrong.

Plan Your Weekends Better — Tips From Hemingway 🔗 | Art of Manliness

Hemingway wanted a life filled with excitement, drama, and real interest, and understood that those qualities wouldn’t just happen — they had to be intentionally planned for and created.

How to read more by Austin Kleon

So I’m now a Copyblogger Certified Content Marketer. That was a plesant surprise this morning.

Word of the week update “Plan” turned out to be a poorer choice. It didn’t really guide me in anyway and I didn’t have that much planning really. Still I guess it summed up the week. This week’s word is … Create I’ve got some interesting things to make and produce this week. Both at work and more outside. Looking forward to this week!

What I’ve seen of Android Q so far are the new foldable features (could be interesting for the future) and the permissions. The permissions part looks - familiar (oh hi iOS) - a good step forward - google still tracks all your location data

It’s been a really tough day but I’m heading home and today is over. Such a strange day full of communication issues. So many issue with my work (and home/church life) come back to poor communication.

Do you see how few things you actually have to do in order to live a satisfying and reverent life? Marcus Aurelius via Cal Newport …

No One Is Prepared for Hagfish Slime - The Atlantic 🔗 This is some phenomenal science writing.

I started getting some pain in my right wrist yesterday. My best guess was rsi issues. So for the last couple of days I’ve been doing as little as I can with that hand at a computer. It’s really made me appreciate - How much I love writing and typing. - How great it is to write with a pen - Dictation tools.

Two new sketchnoting books to check out (and another on the way!)

A small change I’m trying for learning a language (Polish) recording the exact context and context a new word or phrase emerges in. This is based on lexical approach principles. In the past I would either record the word in isolation with a “direct” translation or invent a phrase for it (so it had suitable collocations and was more memorable). Inventing these examples, however, could be troublesome. Often they weren’t very realistic.…

Oh boy! A new @rhonecast is out from @patrickrhone Check it!

As soon as I arrived at work, someone started to talk to me about Brexit. I then set my status on Slack to “Don’t talk to me about Brexit”…I think I may have accidentally given more people this idea.

I always find it funny how much longer “long story short” makes a sentence.

I thought from an interaction with a client today. Maybe I should ask more and better questions before/rather than give my answer. I probably made assumptions that weren’t accurate and they seemed unwilling to listen to what I had to say. Maybe I was wrong, maybe they were just not ready yet. Asking more questions would have helped. (these thoughts are influenced by the latest book I’m reading).

“Celebrate” was a good and apt choice for a weekly word, this week I think it is “plan”. Ending one major project means I need to consider what’s next. Plus there are some ideas I need to evaluate.

Krakow earlier in the week.

Friends who like sketchnoting (or would like to start sketchnoting) would you like to alpha test something for me :D

The UK and Ireland celebrate world book day today. Most of the rest of the world celebrates it on the 23rd of April. The date UNESCO designated. I mean, it’s fine to have a different book day but to call your’s “World book day”…

I’ve seen a lot of people putting out material on a subject I care about a lot. At a couple of moments I feel worried or annoyed that someone (who “doesn’t know as much as I do”) is sharing/making money on this topic. But I realised something yesterday. It’s great that this topic is receiving interest and there are more resources. In some cases they might be wrong for me, but right for many others. And finally, it’s encouragement to make the thing I wish they made.

p.s. i’m probably quite jealous.

The latest episode of Hurry Slowly could be titled “Productivity Principles over Rules”. It’s one where I think there are really good points, but also disagree on the details. For example, one of Jocelyn’s principles sounds a lot like a rule to me. In addition, I think it’s not bad to create “rules” (habits) for how you will achieve your principles, but be ready to adjust them. That way you can avoid the situation where you can justify anything as being true to your principle.

Mumford and Sons on Song Exploder. I don’t listen to every episode but I’m glad I listened to this one.

When we hold a newspaper, it feels different than a tablet, or a comic book, or a bible. The form changes the way the words sound. - Seth Godin This is Marketing

…

Today was a HUGE day at work. We launched a new product and about three months of marketing all came to a head. I’ve checked countless documents numerous times and there are little moments on magical writing I got to contribute (including the Times Square ad) but it was really a team effort. For every element of writing I rewrote, there’s a dozen where I didn’t have to touch them due to my colleagues skill. (And don’t forget the rewrites of rewrites of rewrites). There was a slightly sour note in the whole affair of office politics but I’m proud of the work we did. And today it’s time to celebrate.

I’d really like MB to have a toggle to see a timeline with just longer posts. Sometimes I’d like to see the longer blog posts my friends have posted especially as if people post them while I’m asleep, I often miss them. The alternative is just to follow via RSS…

Write for yourself, publish for others I’m trying this idea out. Write for yourself The purpose of writing should be for yourself. Writing is your chance to process the world, to organize those thoughts that are buzzing round your head. To reflect and discover something you didn’t know. Writing should be a selfish pursuit. Publish for others The purpose of publishing is to benefit other people. If you are going to share something, it should help other people.…

Why walking makes you a better worker 🔗 - BBC > Either way, it’s clear that seeking out natural settings amid the concrete of modern life is well worth doing. Or, as John Muir put it: “Keep close to nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while… Wash your spirit clean.” There’s some great insights here. - Walking in nature is far better than walking in urban areas - having some greenery in your office isn’t the same as nature.…

My theme for this week is celebrate. First thing to celebrate. This morning my daughter woke up just after me. That meant I could spend time with her in the morning and I still got a full nights sleep.

It’s time to plan the week ahead. That means reviewing calendar appointments, setting a few big objectives, tasks to achieve those objectives, some good things to learn and a word. This week’s word is celebrate and I’ve got some plans tied to that.

> Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. - E. F. Schumacher

Charlie Kirk is someone I’ve been fortunate to learn from a few times. He spent time taking photos in Turkey between 2012 and 2015 including the events in Gezi Park. He has a photobook coming called Katil var, “there is a murderer”, check out his site.

I think I’ve worked out my “weekly word” for next week.

Celebrate

I already have, and will have more, things to celebrate.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Heraclitus, - Fragments …

What does Enough look like?

The main question I’m left pondering after Paul Jarvis’s appearance on Hurry Slowly.

I just updated my Now page, if you want the short version, check that out. If you want more reflection and events from last month, check out this article. Last Month: February 2019 February was a very good month. I managed to finish a couple of projects which had been holding me back and made real progress towards others. This included the ninja course (last touches before hitting publish mostly just gaining the guts to do so) and submitted my work for the Copyblogger course.…

Wow…I can no longer use shortcuts on my iPhone at all. Constantly crashing. You would have thought apply acquiring the app would have reduced the likelihood of this happening 🤷‍♂️

White Rabbit!

The post 8 Ways to be Constantly Improving appeared first on James Altucher. I’ve looked at this image (and the blog post that goes with it) a few times now. I’d probably add an addendum that you shouldn’t fill all the gaps of your life with podcasts. …

I’ve just updated my now page. I usually try to wait till the start of the next month but there are some things I just couldn’t wait to share. I’ll publish my “now and then” update tomorrow.

As I was waiting for the train I wondered how many podcasts I am subscribed to and what I thought was a reasonable number. I came up with 10 as a reasonable number (with possible some additional micro casts or very infrequent shows) and predicted that I have about 25 podcasts in my app excluding legacy shows which no longer published.

Oh how wrong I was.

I had 45 podcasts with maybe 5 which are legacy shows.

Microblog podcast hosting question. Can you set a name that is different from the account name? And while we’re at it, what’s a good mic/ host @gr36

Why You Should Work Less and Spend More Time on Hobbies As professionals around the world feel increasingly pressed for time, they’re giving up on things that matter to them. A recent HBR article noted that in surveys, most people “could name several activities, such as pursuing a hobby, that they’d like to have time for.” This is more significant than it may sound, because it isn’t just individuals who are missing out.…

Writing to make the world a better, friendlier and stronger place. A wonderful thought from Patrick Rhone’s appearance on And You Are?

Listening to And Your Are? With @patrickrhone and @gr36 and the story of Patrick’s family returning during the filming of the minimalist documentary is classic. Maybe @rhonecast should be called “the bad minimalist” 😆

The Power of Penmanship: The Art of Manliness Podcast 🎧 via The Cramped This was a really interesting listen on cursive, handwriting and more.

If you don’t want to read Digital Minimalism. This video from CGP Grey is surprisingly related. I remembered it after finishing the book and it touches on many similar points.

First thing which it turns out I signed up using Facebook…meetup. Oh well, new account.

I made this iPhone X wallpaper from a note I took while reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. It’s one of the affirmative call of the book in contrast to the negative warning against social media and endless streams. Now I see it every time I go to unlock my phone. A reminder to not cram every minute with other people’s thoughts and words, but to spend time reflecting and thinking.…

my Micro Monday recommendation this week is @danalcantara because we have many overlapping interests.

Finished reading: Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport 📚

Just opened Siri Shortcuts on my iPhone to post a reading update…and it crashed straight away…and again…it appears Shortcuts is unusable on my iPhone.

I spent some of this morning making this hand lettering idea. It’s a message I’m seeing in a few places. When you work, work hard. When you rest, rest well. Doing both helps with the other and produces joy.…

The latest CJ Chilvers newsletter is very good.

Helping to clear my in-laws plot of land They just bought. I wish i was this type of person more but today I took a vote for it.

“Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own” Bruce Lee - Wisdom for the way …

Some of Our Favorite Typefaces — Tools and Toys Here are 7 of the awesomest and most drool-worthy font families we can think of. These are really great. Definitely some hand letter practice material here!…

Twsbi eco fine nib. I like this much more than my fine Lamy safari. Currently using some standard lamy black ink but I have something nicer on the way…

The proportions seemed wrong to me at first, tablets and phones are bigger. But then I realised that phones are really filling the role a tablet would be better suited to for many and so tablets have to be bigger to be distinct. The fact that it’s 7” also means most android apps will probably be okay as well. They are, after all, designed for big phones and 7” is a big phone now (somehow).…

I deactivated my account. I’m wondering If I’ll find an app that I have a Facebook log in for that will suddenly not work but I can cross that bridge if it comes.

My idea for an advert may be in Time Square soon. Feeling pretty amazing right now.

I have to keep myself in check against the desire to focus on the result of “having read” rather than the process reading. It feels good to get to the end of a book and know that you’ve gained some value from it, but by focusing on the end result, it actually harms the end result. Let me give you an example. Yesterday, I was reading through the Bullet Journal Method again (I wanted to read something different and this fit).…

Keeping Going Book Trailer 🔗

Really can’t wait to get my hands on this.

With all the turn against Facebook and Cal Newport’s new book Digital Minimalism, I think that this would be a great time for @patrickrhone to resurrect the “Enough” podcast. Maybe just a short series of 5-10 episodes under a different name.

new pen has arrived. Expect pictures and a review sometime (next week?)

Theory I’m testing out: The quest for “finding my voice/style” in creative fields is usually a distraction. You have a style, you just can’t identify it and once you’ve identified it, you’ll probably try to change it.

I love my aeropress. It’s a great way to get good coffee, doesn’t take much space and has a fun, kinetic experience (press that plunger!) So I made a sketchnote love letter to mine. Can a love letter have a complain (my issues with removing coffee grinds?) regardless, I wanted to show my simple technique for using an aeropress. It’s not the sort of thing that would win me any of these aeropress championships, but it works for me.…

Is it even possible to buy a course on Udemy for full price? (related: Is it possible to buy a good course on Udemy)

A game for Monday (very easy for iOS users). Go and count your open tabs. In iOS, if you long press on the tab button a dialog box opens with the option to “close all tabs”. I had 165 open on my iPad 🤪 now I have 0

Good morning. Chilly but bright.

it’s like computer crack - @gr36 on football manager

Yup.

Setting aside old and proven jokes about Work Chat and socks, most of the criticism for Evernote stems from this very issue: the company has always been too slow in listening to user feedback and bringing feature parity across platforms. - Federico Viticci In Club MacStories.

That’s a good summary of the main issue with Evernote and one of the things which annoys me about some of the continued criticism which highlights when people haven’t used the app. It’s much better, but still not consistent. I perhaps ought to shift to DEVONthink or something similar (no, not bear) but Evernote still works for me (thank you Polish regional pricing).

The Accidental Creative podcast is one of those which I frequently return to despite it often being only Todd Henry talking. I love that it isn’t overly long and often has practical tips for creativity. In a recent episode, Todd shared how he plans his week and the weekly planner he used. I liked many of the ideas he shared and knew I wanted to turn them into a sketchnote. So I found a copy of his planner (which you can buy) imported it into Procreate, and added some notes around the side.…

It arrived!
Digital Minimalism: Cal Newport 📚

One of the biggest mistakes we make is overvaluing the impact a tool will make and undervalue the impact of focus, intention and time.

The switch remastered version of Link’s awakening looks AMAZING. I played the original to death on my Gameboy

Although I most often sketchnote using pen and paper, I also use procreate for digital sketchnoting. When I started I spent a while exploring the different default brushes to learn what did what. That meant I often found myself rooting around and spending vital time searching for a suitable pen instead of actively listening and sketching. After a while, I started to settle upon a few useful tools including a custom brush or two that I picked up along the way.…

I got an email today informing me that a domain was coming up for renewal. It was one I grabbed several years ago and – unlike many others– put some effort into. But I won’t be renewing it, that idea hasn’t been my focus for a long time and keeping it would be a distraction from the one or two things I am doing now. The apostle Paul once wrote “this one thing I do”.…

https://monday.micro.blog/2019/02/11/episode-chris-wilson.html It was a pleasure to appear on Micro Monday with Jean MacDonald last week. I don’t get the chance to podcast much anymore, so this was truly fun. Some of the parts that didn’t make the recording include us sharing about long distance calls before Skype came along. …

I was never cool enough to give up Evernote. But it seems more people are giving it a second chance again. That’s good. I just wish it wasn’t so pricy for premium (thank goodness they have regional prices here in Poland) and markdown support would be wonderful.

my Micro Monday recommendation for today is @bennorris it’s been a delight to get to know him recently.

Okay Pen folks, I want to get a cheap pen with a flex nib to experiment with writing with a flex nib fountain pen. Any recommendations?

Photographing English Cathedrals • Peter Marlow • Magnum Photos This required exposures of between one and five minutes. With that length of exposure, reciprocity failure, where the film requires a much longer exposure than is indicated on the light meter, was a big problem. I discovered that Fuji FP 100 Instant film (used for Polaroids) suffered this effect to the same extent as the negative film, and that the aperture setting for a well-exposed Polaroid would be one and a half stops greater than that for the negative film.…

Trams and streets of Krakow today.