Reads, Listens, Watches

Reading list of books, magazines, newspaper articles, other physical documents, or online posts
Playlist of posts listened to, or scrobbled
Playlist of watched movies, television shows, online videos, and other visual-based events

Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

Read Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber by Susan Fowler (Susan Fowler)
As most of you know, I left Uber in December and joined Stripe in January. I've gotten a lot of questions over the past couple of months about why I left and what my time at Uber was like. It's a strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story that deserves to be told while it is still fresh in my mind, so here we go.

As most of you know, I left Uber in December and joined Stripe in January. I’ve gotten a lot of questions over the past couple of months about why I left and what my time at Uber was like. It’s a strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story that deserves to be told while it is still fresh in my mind, so here we go. 

Continue reading Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

👓 If you do this and only this, today will be a good day. | John Henry Müller

Read If you do this and only this, today will be a good day. by John Henry Müller (John Henry Müller)

How I took back my day with a simple text document.

The very first thing each morning (after coffee but before email) I write three sentences in plain text then save this document to my desktop. I call it today.txt.

It is the only file I keep on my desktop to ensure it stays in my purview. The format is simple and looks something like this ...

If nothing else, today I am going to ___________.

I am going to do this by ______ then _____ then ______.

If I do this and only this, today will be a good day.

👓 WordPress Collaborative Editing | Ma.tt

Read WordPress Collaborative Editing by Matt Mullenweg (ma.tt)
I’m really excited about the new Google Docs integration that just launched — basically it builds a beautiful bridge between what is probably the best collaborative document editor on the planet right now, Google’s, and let’s you one-click bring a document there into a WordPress draft with a...

🎧 Criminal: Finding Sarah and Philip

Listened to Finding Sarah and Philip, episode 60 (2/3/17) by Phoebe Judge from Criminal
In 2005, Teri Knight drove 650 miles on midwestern roads through Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois, pleading with the public to help her do what law enforcement and the FBI had not been able to: find the remains of her children Sarah and Philip Gehring. An Ohio woman read about Teri Knight’s search in her local paper, and decided she would try to help.

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A short, but mildly odd drama. You know in advance how the story is sure to turn out because someone is bothering to tell it, but it’s just tenuous enough to make you wonder if that’s where it’s really going…

How to Curate Better Podcast Feeds

Read How to Curate Better Podcast Feeds (Degreed)
Originally, I just browsed for new stuff by scrolling through the top picks list on the iTunes Podcasts app. But that was time consuming. After trying out the search functionality on the app, I wished I could search a little better. I decided to look for other resources that I could use to further dial in my selections. Turns out there are some pretty good websites/apps out there to help you do just that. Here are a few of the best ones I’ve found.

My thoughts on what the article leaves out:

For podcast discovery, I love using Huffduffer. It has a simple browser bookmarklet which allows you to bookmark audio to listen to later and creates iTunes or other feeds you can quickly and easily subscribe to on most of the major podcatchers.

Even better it allows you to search for topics and people. Almost everything on the site (including individuals and even the lists of people you’re following) has audio RSS feed as well as other subscription services that you can subscribe directly to. Love Elvis? Search, subscribe, and listen.

As an example, want to know what I’ve been listening to? Check out my feed where you can see a list, listen to it directly, or even subscribe.

Continue reading How to Curate Better Podcast Feeds

🎧 Criminal, Episode 61: Vanish (2/17/17)

Listened to Vanish, episode 61 (2/17/17) by Phoebe Judge from Criminal
People have faked death to escape criminal convictions, debts, and their spouses. In 2007, a man named Amir Vehabovic faked his death just to see who showed up at the funeral (answer: only his mom). It’s an appealing soap-opera fantasy, but actually disappearing requires an incredible amount of planning. How do you obtain a death certificate, a believable new identity, or enough money to start a new life? Today — the answers to those questions, stories of fake death gone wrong, and a man who spends his life bringing back the dead.

Brings up a lot of interesting “what if” questions. I’ll bet that if web browsers opened up some of their data, the data exhaust one spews on a daily basis could be easily used to track one down.

The Transparency Bills That Would Gut the EPA | The Atlantic

Read The Transparency Bills That Would Gut the EPA by Ed Yong (The Atlantic)
Two proposed laws would sever the agency from scientific experts, and scientific expertise—all under the guise of honesty and openness.
Continue reading The Transparency Bills That Would Gut the EPA | The Atlantic

The Last Bookbinder on the Lower East Side | Literary Hub

Read The Last Bookbinder on the Lower East Side: An Ancient Trade, Alive on Henry Street by Dwyer Murphy (Literary Hub)
Continue reading The Last Bookbinder on the Lower East Side | Literary Hub

👓 The Setup: John McAfee | Uses This

Read John McAfee: Security consultant (usesthis.com)

My name is John McAfee. I have spent my entire life (I am currently 68) developing security and privacy software systems, and consulting to corporations and governments in containment and national security. One of my more successful creations was The McAfee Information Security Company, which recently announced that they were changing the name of their products.

It may have been because of my recent video. My most notorious association, I believe, was with the government of Belize.

👓 Using | Jason Rodriguez

Read Using by Jason Rodriguez (Jason Rodriguez | Designer, writer, email advocate & product manager)

Inspired by this tweet from Matt Gemmell, here’s a look at what tools I’m currently using to tackle the projects I’m focusing on right now.

I’m trying to use paper and pencil as much as possible for work. So my main tools are an A5 Leuchtturm1917 notebook and my trusty rOtring 600 mechanical pencil in black. I use a bastardized version of the Bullet Journal system, which has replaced the 3-4 different task management apps I was using previously. I’ve extended the system a bit to fit my own needs, including some elements of Patrick Rhone’s Dash/Plus system, as well as adding in sections for tracking what I read, taking my medication, doing monthly reviews pre-migration, and using it as a commonplace book.

For writing, I use Ulysses almost exclusively. I love writing in markdown, and Ulysses’ combination of simplicity and hidden power can’t be beat. I’m just getting started on some longer form writing, though, so I plan on dusting off my copy of Scrivener for those projects.

I just made the jump over to Atom for my coding needs and it’s working out really well so far. For coding and testing emails specifically, there’s nothing better than Litmus Builder.

For illustration and graphics, I use Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo for damned near everything. It feels nice to get away from Adobe products, and I’ve found Affinity’s tools to do everything I’ve needed up to this point. Although, one of my favorite illustration apps is still Paper by FiftyThree. It’s my go-to for quick illustrations to accompany blog posts here and its color fill tool is one of the most brilliant illustration tools ever made. Now, if only we could get layers…

Most everything else I use is very boring. When I need to do things digitally, I just use Apple’s stock apps: Notes, Calendar, Mail, Reminders, iMovie, and Photos.

As far as smaller utilities go, I couldn’t live without Couleurs, CloudApp, Dropbox, 1Password, and Litmus Scope. For more work-y type stuff, I’m a huge fan of Slack, Google Docs, and all of Litmus’ tools. Instant previews is freaking amazing when you work with email on a regular basis.

For hardware, it’s either my Macbook Air (Pro for work stuff), an iPhone, or an iPad Air 2.

👓 Nock Co. – Hightower 3+1 Case in Midnight Blue/Foliage Grey | The Clicky Post

Read Nock Co. - Hightower 3+1 Case in Midnight Blue/Foliage Grey (The Clicky Post)

First and foremost I want to extend my congratulations to Brad Dowdy of The Pen Addict (the legend) and his colleague and newly made celebrity, Jeffrey Bruckwicki, an amazing seamster (cool word) who is becoming a legend in his own right.  These two gentlemen recently set out to create a Kickstarter campaign to present to the world their new brand, Nock Co., and their first offerings in a line of affordable pen, pencil, and notebook cases.  

 

 

Our comment quiz module is now Open Source | NRKbeta

Read Our comment quiz module is now Open Source by Henrik Lied (NRKbeta)
Our quiz module is now open source on GitHub. After launching our comment quiz module, we’ve received a lot of questions about whether it’s available for download. Now it is.
Continue reading Our comment quiz module is now Open Source | NRKbeta

Ben Carson Just Got a Whole Lot Wrong About the Brain | Wired

Read Ben Carson Just Got a Whole Lot Wrong About the Brain (Wired)
TODAY, IN HIS first speech to his staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, newly minted Secretary Ben Carson delivered an extemporaneous disquisition on the unparalleled marvel that is the human brain and memory. “There is nothing in this universe that even begins to compare with the human brain and what it is capable of,” he began. “Billions and billions of neurons, hundreds of billions of interconnections.” It was a tangent in a speech about how in America, anything is possible.
Continue reading Ben Carson Just Got a Whole Lot Wrong About the Brain | Wired

The problem with frozen beef | Flash in the Pan

Read The problem with frozen beef by Ari LeVaux (Flash in the Pan)
There is an unfortunate stigma attached to frozen meat, a widely held assumption that it’s inferior to fresh meat. This prejudice runs deep enough that fast-food chain Wendy’s tried to capitalize on it in 2008 with a promise that its burger meat was “Always fresh, never frozen.”
Continue reading The problem with frozen beef | Flash in the Pan