Adam Keys @akk@refactorcamp.org
How to succeed at blogging by not even trying too hard: https://short.therealadam.com/2020/09/13/how-to-succeed.html
Austin Kleon’s list of perfect albums: #perfect31. Non-compilation albums, no songs worth skipping. Discovering these albums is one of my favorite things about listening to music. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was the first one I found myself, when I was sixteen. Blew my mind. https://austinkleon.com/2020/08/31/perfect31/
Matt Webb on Asimov’s Foundation, and what’s unique about science fiction:
Like any scientific endeavour it starts as a phenomenological exercise: what’s happening? How does this thing behave in various circumstances? Then beginning to probe: what are its limits? How do we break the p... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/08/30/matt-webb-on.html
iOS feature request: write-only interfaces & "smoke-break": https://short.therealadam.com/2020/08/17/ios-feature-request.html
Determined Disney fan recreates the original Disneyland version of the Alice In Wonderland ride-through in 3D. Same, but for Mr. Toad, one of my top 3 Disneyland favorites. https://twitter.com/djcarson/status/1292836604663304200?s=12
In my too-frequent skimming of German sports cars for sale near me, I came across a BMW 135i with a black exterior and interior. It’s a tempting car, but I’m afraid it says “I listen to two kinds of music: Kraftwerk on cassette and Kraftwerk on vinyl”.👴
Do Texans Dream of Summer Days? https://buttondown.email/therealadam/archive/do-texans-dream-of-summer-days/
1992 Lancia Delta Integrale Martini 5 Evoluzione, Bring a Trailer fodder for the day. I can’t resist Martini Stripes. Or bright yellow, extremely 80s instruments. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1992-lancia-delta-integrale-martini5/
Watched Jim Gaffigan’s The Pale Tourist. I’m surprised one can dedicate an hour-long set to Canada alone, but he makes it work. Gaffigan’s not the edgiest comedian or most insightful orator, but he is delightful. And delightful is mostly what I want out of entertainment right now! Recom... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/08/02/watched-jim-gaffigans.html
Unlocking value with durable teams, Anna Shipman:
If you build teams around projects, this means that there is a ramp-up period while the team go through the early stages, and if the team is not together for long enough, it’s possible they won’t spend very long (if any time at all) in... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/07/29/unlocking-value-with.html
I’d never seriously listened to Mazzy Star before today. Had really only heard “Fade Into You”. Now I’ve listened to all four albums and they’re a) pretty good! and b) kinda ahead of their time?
I’m a little surprised that something so straight-forward and sounding very much of the nin... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/07/28/id-never-seriously.html
Marketing folks should dispense with “this is familiar-thing two point oh”. It’s always “Underpants 2.0” or “Butter Knife 3.0” and never “Non-stick pan 2.3”. Just call it like a straight-up Hollywood sequel. “Chair 4: The Sittening” or “Ball-point Pen 7 Part 1: The Penultimate”. 🥁👴
Bunkerpunk, short sci-fi from sudowriters, “a speculative fiction writing group”. My first foray into collected short science fiction. Recommended for modern, addled attention spans, those who are intentionally avoiding mega-tomes/epic fiction worlds, and/or the biographies of Robert Ca... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/07/28/bunkerpunk-short-scifi.html
I would never have guessed that “video memos” would become a thing in remote working. Rather than sending a wall of text (which people are unlikely to read or even expand in Slack), record a short (~5 minute) video summarizing the ideas in context with metrics, screenshots, etc.
The ju... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/07/27/i-would-never.html
Awesome Cold Showers - “
It’s great when people get excited about things, but sometimes they get a little too excited.” A collection of papers for when you don’t believe the hype and need to help others think that way too. https://github.com/hwayne/awesome-cold-showers
By some kind of coincidence I’ve read The Difference Engine by Gibson & Sterling followed by Quicksilver by Stephenson (re-read) and both are set partially in a London where covering once’s face for safety is prevalent. History repeats itself, historic/science fiction doubly so.
The Freud Moment - You could draw a line from all of America’s divisiveness and much of the culture wars down to ego vs. superego.
America’s egotistical bent doesn’t mean we lack a conscience: we carry around a ton of guilt, as part of the cost of letting egos run wild the way we do. ... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/07/23/the-freud-moment.html
The Garden Of Forking Memes: How Digital Media Distorts Our Sense Of Time - grab a beverage, this one made me think of time in a whole other way and reframed our narrative-heavy, fact-light information situation:
The de-centralization of timekeeping brought about by digital media hark... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/07/22/the-garden-of.html
Tom Armitage » Props and Prototypes - props for movies are like prototypes for building technology. A hero’s lightsaber exists as different props for stunts, close-up shots, costuming, plus a digital version for CG shots. Clickable mockups, short video demos, and working code all serve ... https://short.therealadam.com/2020/07/21/tom-armitage-props.html
