A few weeks ago, I announced a new series, “Practically Paperless,” in which I was going to take lessons from my original Going Paperless series and apply them to a more practical approach for a partially paperless lifestyle, using Obsidian instead of Evernote. To read about my rationale for doing this, see my original post.…
For nearly two weeks now, I’ve had in my head an op-ed I read in the New York Times by Molly Worthen titled, “The Fight Over Tenure Is Not Really About Tenure.” As someone who knows little about the political structure of institutions of higher learning, I’m fascinated by the concept of tenure, which is…
I hate seeing a dead animal in the road, or on the bike paths, but animals die, as do we all, and coming across dead animals from time to time is inevitable. Unintentionally killing the animals is another story. For one thing, it is incredibly rare that it happens. When I was nine or ten…
One subset of travel books that I enjoy are those that mix travel with some theme of discovery. John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley is the model from which many of these books have taken their example, and Nathaniel Philbrick is quick to admit that Steinbeck served as a model for his entry in this sub-genre,…
For those who don’t follow along on Twitter or my Facebook page, I post a link to “retro post” once-a-day, selecting from one of the thousands of posts I’ve written here on the blog over the last 15+ years. Here are the retro posts for this week. 9/26/21: Dreaming You Missed Your Final Exam (2016) 9/27/21: The Los…
Every now and then I discover a new book that really hits the sweet spot for me and I can’t wait to read it. Most recently it was The Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski. I love baseball, and I have a think for the rich history of the game. Just do a search for “baseball”…
Ratings systems have screwed up the world. It seems everything these days requires a rating. Watch a show on Netflix? Rate it so that they can recommend more shows you might like. Read a book, rate it on Amazon because the more rating the more the book gets noticed and the better Amazon will be…
Here are five more interesting reads I’ve come across recently. “Writing Things Down in a Paperless World” by Robert Breen. He is another Field Notes fan; and he has some interesting things to say about where paper fits in a paperless lifestyle. “COVID Pioneer Families” by Deborah Fallows. Deborah coauthored with James Fallows, my favorite…
We need a new term for the devices many (if not most) of us carry around in our pockets. I have an iPhone, as do the other members of the family. Several times a day, I hear things like, “Has anyone seen my phone?” “There’s an alarm going off on your phone.” “Mom, you just…
A few days ago I mentioned that I needed a new office chair. I had been putting off getting one for a while, and I finally bit the bullet and ordered one. The new chair arrived yesterday, and I’ve been using it for about 24 hours now. Like anything new, it takes a little getting…