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Thanks for clearing security. Here is your plant.

November 22, 2022

When you know O’Hare better than you know your own family, when you call flights segments, when you weave the B-to-C concourse tunnel like it’s the...

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When does the next thing happen?

November 18, 2022

A few weeks ago, I wrote some text about the new dialectic, which tl;dr is a constellation of small, private, pseudonymous spaces. Since then, social media...

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Dopp Gang

November 16, 2022

Dudes don’t usually need much to clean up: soap, comb, shaver, deodorant. For doing this on the road, and for all other sundries, there is the dopp kit,...

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Ask a question in the Flame Free Zone

November 14, 2022

Screw it, we’re doing forums. Forums will never die. Everything else will die. Forums are the closest thing we have to immortality. Forum people will outlast...

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Pruned bonsai

November 10, 2022

I used to throw parties that drew over 250 people. This was easy. You became known as a person who was good at craft beer, during a time when “craft beer”...

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At least, like, ten or eleven questions about the direct-to-consumer bardo

November 8, 2022

It’s that time of year in Chicago when it’s cold enough that you don’t want to be outside any more than the bare minimum, so when you’re early to a place you...

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Kintsugi (take two)

November 4, 2022

Sorry about the formatting of the previous email, folks. Resending, this time with line breaks.

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Kintsugi

November 4, 2022

Kintsugi is an ancient Japanese technique of repairing old broken objects, especially porcelain & ceramic ones, with gold-dusted or gold-mixed lacquer. You...

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Paw paws are both real and here

November 1, 2022

Paw paws are both real and here

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What if it’s all scheduling?

October 28, 2022

Last weekend, I hung out with my family, and I did something I almost never do: I arrived late.

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Literally spend money when you use technology, for the love of everything

October 27, 2022

If it is technology, you must pay money for it. That is the rule. It is an immutable rule of technology. This is the way things go and you have no other...

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Shop early

October 25, 2022

Befitting a contemporary ecommerce professional, I have just completed 100% of my holiday shopping. I usually buy stuff for my immediate family, partner, and...

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Seven principles of packing

October 21, 2022

This is our hundredth text. A few of you have been here since the beginning. For this I am grateful. Text on text is overdue. For now, though, many of you...

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Open house

October 19, 2022

There are many reasons why Chicago is the best, and one of them is Open House Chicago, an annual event held by the Chicago Architecture Foundation to...

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May all jackets be visible from space henceforth

October 17, 2022

I haven’t owned a car since 2006, which I guess shocks people. The more shocking statistic is that I live in Chicago, a city where 40% of residents don’t own...

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Two notebooks

October 13, 2022

Here, we have two notebooks that look materially the same. They are both black. Their covers are made of thin, rigid cardboard. They are both bound by some...

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The gift of burned beans

October 11, 2022

The problem is that some roasters burn their beans. By “burn” I do not mean actually set on fire, but rather they roast the beans until the point where they...

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The new dialectic

October 7, 2022

In the on-off saga of a bad person buying Twitter, a noted fascist mouthpiece, as of this writing it appears to be back on. If it actually happens, which it...

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One to the next

October 5, 2022

In 2013, I launched Draft Revise as something a great deal smaller & more structured. I would run a few A/B tests for your SaaS business for $650 a month,...

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A different feeling (Take 11)

October 3, 2022

To love the Avalanches is apparently to never see them live. It would be one thing if they were the sort of band that never toured, that barely left their...

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