read | Chris Aldrich

👓 Blog Engines and Indieweb Controlling Upstream | Brad Enslen

Read Blog Engines and Indieweb Controlling Upstream by

All this WordPress 5.0 Gutenberg stuff got me thinking. With WordPress it seems like the Indieweb starts making serious and cool progress and the WordPress people come along and knock the game board and pieces off the table. And it sounds like the disruption from WordPress is going to continue for a couple of years.

Why not take a page out of Apple’s playbook and take control higher up in the food chain? Why not come out with an Indieweb compatible blog engine of our own? Either fork an existing open source project or build new? This does not mean you have to make it exclusive but make it the way the Indieweb wants the Indieweb elven magic to function. Also put in the standard blogging features most people expect. Why keep trying to adapt the Indieweb stuff to blog or CMS platforms that are at best indifferent, never designed for or just that don’t want to play ball?

This isn’t a slam on the coders who are working so hard to make everything work on WordPress, I’m just asking if maybe it’s not time to find better terrain to fight from.

If the Indieweb really wants widespread adoption they need to come out with a turnkey solution. It would act as a solution for many and a proof of concept for others to emulate. Something that can be put in hosting C-panels for one touch install. Something that just works, is easy to move to and move away from. Something supported, active, growing with enough polish that it inspires confidence in the user.

I’d really like to hear serious discussion on this.

👓 Making it easier to discover datasets | Google Blog

Read Making it easier to discover datasets by Natasha Noy (Google)

In today's world, scientists in many disciplines and a growing number of journalists live and breathe data. There are many thousands of data repositories on the web, providing access to millions of datasets; and local and national governments around the world publish their data as well. To enable easy access to this data, we launched Dataset Search, so that scientists, data journalists, data geeks, or anyone else can find the data required for their work and their stories, or simply to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.

👓 The Racial Dot Map | Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service

Read The Racial Dot Map: One Dot Per Person for the Entire United States (Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service)

This racial dot map is an American snapshot; it provides an accessible visualization of geographic distribution, population density, and racial diversity of the American people in every neighborhood in the entire country. The map displays 308,745,538 dots, one for each person residing in the United States at the location they were counted during the 2010 Census. Each dot is color-coded by the individual’s race and ethnicity. The map is presented in both black and white and full color versions. In the color version, each dot is color-coded by race.

🎧 Podcast 199: Evaluate Your “18 for 2018” List | Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Listened to Podcast 199: Evaluate Your “18 for 2018” List (We Reveal Our Own Successes and Failures), Plus an App for Finding Lost Items. by Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft from Gretchen Rubin

Evaluate your “18 for 2018” list, we reveal our own successes and failures with “18 for 2018,” plus a popular app for locating lost items.

Try This at Home: Evaluate your "18 for 2018." Looking back on the year, how did you do? What can you learn from what you did and didn't accomplish?

Elizabeth mentions the Happier in Hollywood Facebook Group. Lots of great discussion there.

Or check out my free Better app.

Happiness Hack: In response to the discussion in episode 197 about the person who refuses to keep keys in the key bowl, and so kept losing his keys, many people suggested the solution of the Tile app for keeping track of keys, wallet, TV remote control device, etc.

Read a review on the New York Times review site The Wirecutter here.

Gretchen's Demerit: This is a small, dumb demerit. I realized perfectly well that I kept running over my phone charger's cord with my office chair, and that this was a bad idea, but I did nothing to fix the situation—until my cord got wrapped up into the wheel, and I had to spend twenty minutes trying to get it out. Identify the problem!

Elizabeth's Gold Star: Elizabeth gives a gold star to an old friend in Kansas City, for arranging a gathering of old hometown friends over the holidays.

Trying out a new podcast after hearing a few people recommend it. I’ve read Gretchen’s Happiness book so I don’t expect it to be all bad, but I’m worried there’s more “fluff” in these than the sort of brass tacks bottom line productivity advice I’d really appreciate.

They’re certainly pushing out a lot of advertising in these, even for products that aren’t necessarily paying for time. It was just about what I expected. May sample a few more episodes, but likely playing at 1.40X speed.

👓 How to Configure Your iPhone to Work for You, Not Against You | Better Humans

Read How to Configure Your iPhone to Work for You, Not Against You by Coach Tony (Better Humans | Medium)

The Very, Very Complete Guide to Productivity, Focus, and Your Own Longevity

Optimize First for Single Tasking

#1. Turn OFF (almost) all notifications
#2. Hide social media slot machines
#3. Hide messaging slot machines
#4. Disable app review requests
#5. Turn on Do Not Disturb
#6. Be strategic about your wallpaper
#7. Turn off Raise to Wake
#8. Add the Screen Time widget
#9. Add Content Restrictions
#10. (Optional) Use Restrictions to turn off Safari
#11. Organize your Apps and Folders alphabetically

Switch to Google Cloud to Work Faster

#12. Choose GMail
#13. Choose Google Calendar
#14. Replace Apple Maps with Google Maps
#15. Install the GBoard keyboard for faster typing
#16. Switch to Google Photos

Install These Apps for Productivity

#17. Use Evernote for all note taking, to-do lists, everything
#18. The Case for Calm as your go-to meditation app
#19. Install the right goal tracker for you
#20. Store all your passwords in a password manager, probably LastPass
#21. Use Numerical as your default calculator
#22. Put the Camera app in your toolbar
#23. Use this Doppler Radar app
#24. Use this Pomodoro app
#25. Use Brain.fm for background noise

Use These Apps and Configurations for Deep Learning

#26. Subscribe to these podcasts
#27. Install the Kindle app but never read it in bed
#28. Use Safari this way
#29. Organize your home screen for deep learning over shallow learning

Use These Apps and Configurations for Longevity

#30. Track steps this way
#31. Prefer Time Restricted Eating Over Calorie Counting
#32. Schedule Night Shift
#33. Set up Medical ID

Make The Finishing Touches with These Configurations

#34. Change Siri to a man
#35. Change your phone’s name
#36. Turn off advertising tracking
#37. Set auto-lock to the maximum time
#38. Set your personal hotspot password to a three word phrase
#39. Turn on control center everywhere
#40. Turn on Background App Refresh
#41. Delete Garage Band
#42. Develop verbal memory for talking to Siri
#43. Set up these text replacement shortcuts
#44. Set your address
#45. Backup this way

Appendix A: Principles

Appendix B: Budget & Costs

Appendix C: Case Study

Appendix D: Updates

A terrifically long post about improving one’s productivity (on many levels), but primarily focused on one’s mobile experience.