It’s all downhill after fifty

Another way to look at things... / via A Thousand Shades of Gray

thebloggess.substack.com

Illustration of flower

How to Read Poetry

Matt Haughey shares his favorite YouTube video from 2023. It's 11 minutes of Andrew Bashford explaining new ways to approach and experience poetry and it’s well worth the time.

a.wholelottanothing.org

How to Read Poetry

Nothing You Love Is Lost

A short story about love, loss and letting go by John P. Weiss, who uses photos to inspire writing. / via Dave Rogers

johnpweiss.com

Black and white photo of two folks at a cafe table outside

Mediocre ideas, showing up, and persistence.

Chris Coyier just posted a list with 43 items and this nugget was in there. I agree with this simple advice, as showing up for mediocre ideas puts them in front of others to become better. And persistence? A big part of that (for me) is to not spend all my time consuming.

chriscoyier.net

Chris Coyier's head with a ball cap on a black background

February as a month of possibility

"It’s the shortest month, so it should be the easiest for a daily 'practice and suck less' challenge." says Austin Kleon. He even made a PDF calendar you can print out to inspire said feat. I think I might try to practice walking.

austinkleon.com

February 2024 calendar to inspire daily practice

A unified theory of fucks

(Admission, I try not to swear on this site. I don't know why.) But this short essay by Mandy Brown is worthy of it.

aworkinglibrary.com

A unified theory of fucks

The Present

Dig this annual clock that takes an entire year to complete as a way to connect more emotionally with time. The gradient version represents seasons. There are other versions for a single day and moon cycles.

thepresent.is

Colorful clock with one hand that shows a year

My website as a home

Nico Chilla considers a personal website as a living space, “I want to use my website to order and document my own activity, and to interact with things and people that I care about.” Sames. / via Rachel’s updated The internet used to be fun

nicochilla.com

Screengrab of Nico Chilla's home page

Happy birthday Tina

Swissmiss shares intentions and reminders for the new year and they're all solid. Please excuse me, I’m on the hunt for a disco ball.

swiss-miss.com

Tina Roth Eisenberg

Emotional Tupperware

I keep coming back to this thought by Anson Yu to capture good notions through writing, drawing, or some other medium to save for later. This output gets filed into ‘Emotional Tupperware’ — a resource to inspire clarity and health. (Also, I love Anson’s website Collections that include gems like “Times I’ve Said Wow.”)

ansonyu.me

Screen grab of Anson Yu’s home page

soft tech

Rachel updated her The internet used to be fun table and there are some new gems like this poem of a page. I could spend many afternoons wandering these paths.

helena.mmm.page

Old etching of a mountain

Fun Water

Dave Rupert has been posting a bit here and there about getting fitter, with candid insights that have been quite motivating. This post about making water fun is one that seems so simple, but might break me of drinking Coke Zero, which is likely better for cleaning car engines.

daverupert.com

Diagram of fun water

Jack Cheng on a Gardening Class and Career Advice

There are always new discoveries to be made about yourself, about the world.

jackcheng.com

Plants photographed during the golden hour in Belle Isle, Michigan

The trick to the super-crayon was to keep adding new favorites

“Combining favorites to make new life happinesses.” (It isn’t just about making crayons)

bobulate.com

Old crayons mixed in muffin tin

The internet used to be fun

Rachel collected of articles “that to some degree answer the question ‘Why have a personal website?’ with ‘Because it’s fun, and the internet used to be fun.’”

projects.kwon.nyc

The internet used to be fun

You can only work for people that you like

Replace “can” with “should” and you have a piece of advice I would give. You can certainly work for people you do not like, but make sure the sacrifice is brief and very worth it. (Then find the good people for your next thing.)

airbagindustries.com

Airbag Industries blimp and logo

Sorting Therapy

This app is indeed delightful and reinforces the idea that meditation can come in many forms.

swiss-miss.com

Sorting Therapy app presents bars of color that can be dragged in order of a gradient

How We Feel

An app to track emotions and discover patterns — with tools to articulate, understand and shift things.

howwefeel.org

Shapes and blobs anthropomorphized

There’s always new ways to expand the scope of our care

 Robin Rendle on updating and maintaining a personal website and considering the details, like type, but also just all the things.

robinrendle.com

Headlines from Robin Rundle’s essays on the website

You have no obligation to your former self

Hank Green on investing in connection to others and yourself. / via Andy Baio

youtu.be

Man gets mohawk haircut

The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders

Stumbled on this video by Neal Foard and immediately dug his vibe and what he’s sharing. This story and parable will inspire deeper exploration of his online footprint.

youtu.be

The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders

Notes at 45

Naz Hamid gathers some perspectives on his birthday. Resonating this morning is “opt for joy, delight, or energy.”

nazhamid.com

Naz Hamid at 45

Start low-fi

Erica Heinz shares perspective on why low-fidelity is a better approach for product development. In some sense, this is a great approach for any notion...

ericaheinz.com

Low-fidelity wireframe UX sketching kit

Merlin’s Wisdom, cont.

“If you can't be a good example, at least try to become an interesting cautionary tale.” Merlin moves his wisdom but keeps adding to it. Re-linking as I’m writing a list to my future self (WIP).

github.com

A Github header for bits of wisdom that Merlin Mann has collected

Trying patch

Dan Sinker wrote about trying. He’s now made a patch to remind himself to do so.

dansinker.com

A patch that reads TRYING

Diaries of Note

Shaun Usher (Letters of Note) started this new project in January. My first visit was this excellent entry about science and art by Raymond Chandler.

diariesofnote.com

Diaries of Note

Unordered, incomplete list of things I want from a job

Lynn Fisher outlines a dream job. / via Guy

lynnandtonic.com

Illustration of a laptop displaying "Hello World" and a glass with a portrait of a Lynn Fisher

Bottles of Veuve Clicquot

Justin Duke made a deal with his partner “to celebrate things we’re particularly proud of with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.” And then he documents each moment. I really love this idea. (Plus also? There’s an RSS feed.)

arcana.computer

A bottle of champagne

Cat flyer for kindness

Brad Montague made a flyer with a cat. It’s invitation to step out and do something for someone else (and available to download and print).

montagueworkshop.com

HELP! Cat poster with tabs to pull off with things you can do to brighten someone's day

A diagram of flow

That sweet spot in the middle. / via Rachel

twitter.com

Diagram of flow showing the channel between anxiety and boredom

Tina’s 2023 Intentions

SwissMiss had a birthday, and she kicked it off with intent and goals and fortitude. Also of note, her call to find ways to celebrate her 50th: The responses are gold.

swiss-miss.com

Excerpts from an interview with Lynda Barry

Brandon Schaefer shares some great snippets that inspire reading the full NYTimes interview.

seekandspeak.com

A portrait of Lynda Barry by Mamadi Doumbouya

A community isn’t a garden, it’s a bar.

I nodded all along the cases that Derek Powazek presents and concludes. “Online communities are bars and we should admit that and start building the diverse, engaging, and safe gathering places we deserve.”

powazek.com

A crowded bar

Why keep blogging?

The sentiments here apply to so many different practices. Austin’s thoughts from 2 years ago hold up well. Nice to revisit, thanks to Michael Rill

austinkleon.com

A stack of journals next to a typewriter

The Creative Switch

Ralph Hammer suggests changing your mood space to create options. Couldn’t hurt eh?

ralphammer.com

A gray scribble swirls around a figure in a cloud of uncertainty

Performant Mental Health

Five-part series designed to ignite greater awareness of mental health issues at home and at work by Suzanne Moll and Eddie Brouse, edited by Cameron Moll

cameronmoll.com

Icon of head with check engine light icon

It’s none of your business.

"You’ve created something – a drawing, a layout, a video, a piece of code, or a blog post – and after you’re more or less done, you pause and you look at it. And you don’t like it." Mattias Ott bridges this thinking with wisdom from Lynda Barry

matthiasott.com

Lynda Barry sits at her desk to draw.

Do it poorly

Motivation in the thread.

twitter.com

Two post-its on top of a computer monitor that read "HALF-ASS IT" and "DO IT POORLY"

Small Seasons

A more fine-grained way of thinking about the year in two week sekki. We're at “Drops of dew on grass” at the moment. More insight from Ross Zurowski / via Rachel

smallseasons.guide

Dew drops on grass in the morning

3 approaches to solving problems

Appreciate these reminders gleaned from Steve Jobs - 1.) Zoom Out 2.) Focus In 3.) Disconnect

inc.com

Photo illustration of Steve Jobs looking happy on a beige background

Practice any art…

music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.

news.lettersofnote.com

A loose drawing of a man's face with the words Kurt Vonnegut

Love Every Body

A touching thread and moving last words / via SwissMiss

twitter.com

A man sits at a Waffle House and attaches a note to cash that says "Love Every Body"

Catherine Madden’s woven tapestry

This journey map captures a year of highs and lows in 2020, part of a workshop with Eugene Eric Kim.

catherinemadden.com

A woven textile with line charts representing the highs and lows of a year

The greatest output of your careers will be relationships

The list of ”10 things I wish every design student knew“ by Cameron Moll holds up incredibly well over time, but also? Works for every profession.

medium.com

A man in a black jacket stands in front of a classroom

Would I do it tomorrow?

One way to gauge participation is to ask this question. Thing is? I'd invariably say yes to more if it meant I could cancel what was already planned.

austinkleon.com

Sunrise over mist and mountains

24 Hours in the Creative Life

Advice to young, mid or late career artists. Many favorites but "Learn how to advocate for yourself." from Joaquina Kalukango is a standout this morning.

nytimes.com

A graphic that reads "24 Hours in the Creative Life"

Attempting to find more fun

A challenge to achieve, but these four steps feel solid / via smartpeopleiknow

nytimes.com

Illustration of colorful balloons against a blue sky

Why I’ve Decided to Take My Podcast Off Spotify

A cogent perspective from Roxanne Gay

nytimes.com

I duotone treatment of a photograph of a woman looking at the camera, chin in hand

Tiny Love Stories

Touching reader-submitted stories of love with no more than 100 words. This NYT series has been going for a while. Just learned of it thanks to Rachel on the left.

nytimes.com

Two happy women and a plate of food

Find your own rainbow

An enlightening Twitter thread about how Bill Grundfest cultivated comedians in Greenwich Village / via SwissMiss

twitter.com

A rainbow in front of a mountain

A Grand Unified Theory of Buying Stuff

Lots of links to this piece by Paul Ford for good reason: the payoff at the end is inspiring when we consider experiences we hope to achieve when buying stuff.

wired.com

A illustration of a man shopping for electronic devices

The Magic of Pee-wee Herman in a Dark Year

Dan Sinker writes about finding light in the darkness of a pandemic, and the timeless joy of a Playhouse

theatlantic.com

A black and white photo on the set of Pee-wee's Playhouse

Gratitude Zine

I very much enjoyed sitting at the kitchen counter while the Thanksgiving meal cooked, filling out this little number by Austin Kleon.

austinkleon.substack.com

A black and white zine template about gratitude

Intermissions

I love Austin Kleon's train of thought about putting space in-between things. I've long felt this way about books, imagining the next chapter as I fall asleep, but this is a whole other level.

austinkleon.substack.com

A black and white cover of a zine

Retain a beginner’s mind

Simon Collison collects links and pulls (an excellent) quote from an interview with Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood as they discuss the visual language of Radiohead's album art over the years.

colly.com

Kid A amnesia

Merlin’s GitHub of wisdom

Whenever you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it. (And many more!)

gist.github.com

Random bits of wisdom typed out in white letters on a black background

Tetris tames trauma

"24hrs after a traumatic event, or as soon as you are safe, play Tetris. It SIGNIFICANTLY reduces likelihood of intrusive memories." A fascinating thread with links.

twitter.com

Colorful cubes are stacked

Nick Cave on Charlie Watts

And three other related questions. A dense, concise and lovely reply. / via Daring Fireball

theredhandfiles.com

A man with silver hair in a suit smiles and looks off to the side

Sunlight

9 panels about growing by Grant Snider / via my friend Shannon

incidentalcomics.com

An illustration of a tree with the words "Shadows Dance" written

Stewardship of global collective behavior

"Addressing the harm wrought by dramatically restructuring human communication of the span of a decade, with no aim other than selling ads." Of all the challenges we face? This one is so very important to address.

threadreaderapp.com

PNAS logo over mountains