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10 redesign principles

August 7, 2025

In the process of repositioning, I’ve held to a few high-level principles: Lead with who, specifically, you are talking to.No redundant points.Pain, then...

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One small note on algorithmic resistance

August 5, 2025

Someone recently asked me where I find new music, because I’m not on any streaming apps and own my data, and because my tastes are weird & specific. The...

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🗒

July 29, 2025

I once threw a stack of post-it notes on a shelf next to my bathroom wall and put up a note telling people to write nice things about each other. Now the...

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Not the world’s only sandwich

July 25, 2025

We’ve written occasional text about Loaf Lounge, which is an okay café with peaceful vibes that makes good-enough bread and excellent pastry that also...

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Notes on a side quest

July 22, 2025

I just concluded a brief 1-month series on my job’s mailing list about an unrelated topic. The topic itself is complicated, and everybody is thinking about...

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Travel in clothes

July 17, 2025

All travel clothes are fake. They are just clothes. That’s it, that’s the whole text. I lied, here is more text. I recently saw a blazer that was billed as a...

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A fun fact about (checks notes, squints at clipboard) citric acid

July 15, 2025

One of the things you learn as a home cook is dietary restrictions. Everybody’s got ‘em. I, noted cilantro hater, have one. And so in the back of my head...

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Quacks like a Mac

July 10, 2025

We wrote some text recently about how Apple’s recent software redesign speaks to the ongoing psychospiritual impoverishment of the tech industry. It is a...

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Leaf soup

July 8, 2025

I was told the other day that there is a matcha trend, and this is creating shortages in matcha. That is sad, because matcha is both very good and quite...

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On taste

July 3, 2025

Continuing on the banger-reads tip, this universally correct piece on taste hit for me over the weekend. I’m currently writing a new offering that is...

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A few reads

July 1, 2025

Been a while since I’ve cited other reads, so: Kyla Scanlon has been on a roll lately. Her recent piece on dialectical collapse and the ascendancy of fascism...

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The same, with less but more

June 26, 2025

The chorus is nigh-universal: don’t buy this if you don’t already have a color rig. The idea of a color rig is in itself laughable, because hasn’t every...

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How to remove

June 24, 2025

As we’ve written a few times here, I don’t buy much. What we don’t talk about is how I am also slow to get rid of things. This is partly the result of not...

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Malibu Stacy has a new user interface

June 20, 2025

There’s an argument to be said in favor of it, which is: Apple has five operating systems, and they should look somewhat the same. Currently, bar fonts, they...

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How to pick a serviceberry bush

June 18, 2025

The last time we discussed the berries, Robin Wall Kimmerer had published her phenomenal essay, but not the book-length expansion that became an instant...

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One

June 10, 2025

I’ve been under the weather this past week, so I’ve naturally gone and researched one-person operations. One person sits in a room, makes stuff, sells it...

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Winter storm

June 6, 2025

Thanks to Tsutaya, my book stack is very tall right now. Thanks to one guy who is rapidly improving my thinking on independent consulting, I am moving...

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Three buildings, one bookstore

June 5, 2025

Go to Shibuya, take the local Tōyoko line one stop, and you’ll find yourself in Daikanyama, which is a neighborhood with so much retail that it feels like an...

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Pete goes golfing

June 2, 2025

The first thing you need to know about Pete Crow-Armstrong is that he is fast. He is so fast, in fact, that there were whispers as he came up in the minor...

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nickd doesn't buy a pen

May 29, 2025

The first thing to remember about buying a pen is that I do not, in fact, need a pen. There are plenty of pens. I have Kaweco AL-Sport rollerballs strewn...

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