Author: Chad
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Tools of the moment
An ongoing series Not YouTube watch history. When you turn off the watch history for your YouTube account (manage it here), your homepage becomes gloriously blank rather than cluttered with garbage served up by their algorithm. Not WorkFlowy. One day I decided I was tired of splitting my personal and professional note-taking, task management, and…
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Six thoughts on ‘Titanic’
Cinema Sugar asked on Threads: “What movie do you refuse to watch?” It provoked some interesting responses, the most common by far being Titanic and Barbie. I get the Barbie backlash since it’s new and somewhat (weirdly) politically charged. Titanic, though, is nearly 30 years old and one of the most awarded and highest-grossing movies of…
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How ‘In the Heights’ explains the COVID era
Originally published at Cinema Sugar. Scheduled to be released in theaters June 2020, the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In the Heights was in the first wave of movies that were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It got pushed back a full year to June 2021, when as part of a slate of Warner…
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Recent Views
More photography here. Shadow play: The tunnel into Brookfield Zoo: Garbage Day is appointment viewing: Barking up the front yard tree: Puddle hunting:
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Links of the moment
An ongoing series Long live the home page. The Millennial CAPTCHA is just spot-on. Some pretty great bumper stickers for your phone. A quick and entertaining primer on how not to get screwed buying a used car. The fascinating saga of a forged Apple employee badge on eBay. A camera that turns pictures into AI-generated poetry.
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Rules for Biking
I recently went on a bike ride to the library with my 5 year old. It was the first time he was on his own (training-wheeled) bike instead of riding along in the trailer and it was really fun. He was so jazzed up about it, which caused him to start monologuing his thoughts throughout…
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Recent Views, flora and fauna edition
More photography here. Lots of red admiral butterflies in our backyard: A goose family at our local park: A toad tromping through our backyard: The Great Cicadapocalypse has begun here in Illinois, and here’s one of many molting cicadas on our maple tree: Our lilac bush is so vibrant for such a short time: A…
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A birthday shadow
Today our youngest turned one year old. He and I are often outside together like in this picture because it’s what makes him feel better when he’s upset. Walking around while holding him will get tougher as he grows and begins to walk, so I’m trying my best to cherish these moments before he goes…
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How (not) to decide what movies to watch
Every time I hit Play or enter a theater is a roll of the dice, and that’s the fun of it.
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Schrödinger’s Parent, or when you can’t “cherish every moment”
One of the many clichés you hear as a parent of littles from older parents is something to the effect of: “Cherish every moment—they grow up so fast.” It’s something I’m also tempted to say to newer parents because kids do indeed grow up fast, and when you look at photos from when they were…
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Birds are the word
Well, this is me now: It started a few years ago when our firstborn got into our copy of The Little Book of Backyard Bird Songs that plays a dozen different bird calls. Then one day while on a walk through our local park, I heard a call that I recognized from the book, so…
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Links of the moment
An ongoing series Rejoice! For Kristen Wiig’s Aunt Linda returned to SNL. (As did Ryan Gosling for Papyrus 2.) A museum of old coffee makers. The wonderfully arcane world of trademark design codes. What is both an amazing astronomical phenomenon and a righteous band name? The Vela Supernova Remnant. Have fun browsing “five hundred years of the vulgar tongue” in Green’s Dictionary…
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Trust the turning of pages
Austin Kleon on a recent episode of the 1000 Hours Outside Podcast: I truly believe that with a book, on a sentence to sentence level, I trust the turning of pages. There needs to be a momentum. If you’re turning pages, the book is good, and that includes the trash reading. I do my fair…
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Scientific achievements that deserve their own ‘Oppenheimer’
I half-joked in my Oppenheimer blurb that I have a long list of history books that also deserve to be turned into IMAX-worthy epics. Well, I’m happy to report my favorite author Steven Johnson is also on board with this movement—specifically for the story of penicillin and other incredible scientific achievements: If Nolan can create…
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Keep streaming in its place
CJ Chilvers on why he’s back to using CDs: I brought physical media back into my life not to replace streaming, but to keep streaming in its place. I heard an audiophile once say that he treated streaming music services (even lossless streaming) like radio. It’s great for discovering new music and artists, and to…
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On good and gobbledygook writing
Rivaling Winston Churchill’s missive on brevity, this 1944 memo by Maury Maverick is the first known use of the word gobbledygook and dishes out some hard truths about good writing: Be short and use Plain English. Memoranda should be as short as clearness will allow. The Naval officer who wired “Sighted Sub — Sank Same” told the…
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Word compendiums for the win
It’s hard to even imagine now, but aimlessly browsing bookstores was something I did semi-regularly back in my single and then pre-kid days. One kind of book I’d always keep an eye out for was (for lack of a better name) word compendiums, an author’s curated collection of rare, idiosyncratic, or just plain cool words.…