“Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesnât just talk in crude, witless insults â he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.”
Paul offers some thoughts and insights regarding Trump, from a British perspective. I think the Australian view is similar, but members of our society are more likely to say, âwell, what else would you expect from a Seppo1?â Disparaging critique is a key element of our culture.
Seppo, short for septic tank, which rhymes with Yank, which is slang for an American citizen. ↩︎
“A true disruptive innovation, he taught, first appealed only to a niche market and appeared less attractive than the powerful incumbent it eventually usurped. In fact, the incumbent typically looked down on it as inconsequential until it ate up huge swaths of its market share.”
This article rightly focuses on Christensen’s impactful theory of disruption.
In my work I often crib Christensen’s case study about the utility of a milkshake as part of the ‘jobs to be done’ theory.
In this older article, Dan outlines the benefits of blogging, but also the challenge of getting people to see beyond big social media.
It is psychological gravity, not technical inertia, however, that is the greater force against the open web. Human beings are social animals and centralized social media like Twitter and Facebook provide a powerful sense of ambient humanityâthe feeling that âothers are hereââthat is often missing when one writes on oneâs own site.
âWe Dedicate This To The Energy Of We â Greater Than Any One Of Us But Inside Each Of Us,â says the banner page of WeWorkâs IPO document. I mentally added another âeâ to We, and hastily moved on before I cracked up.
Sometimes it is perfectly appropriate to use toilet humour.
Whenever you stumble upon an interesting thought on another site, write about it and link to it.
I stumbled across this article, and I liked it. It outlines why the IndieWeb should really just be the web.
As a result of finding this article on this website, I’ve subscribed to its RSS feed, so I’ll automatically get future content delivered to me. This is what makes the open web so great.
I’ve been noodling around trying to figure out the most effective way to write and publish onto this Blot-powered page, especially from iOS, but also recognising that I do also use macOS.
The answer is always Drafts, isn’t it? That app that I keep trying to incorporate into my workflow, and then keep forgetting about.
Thanks to @vasta and galexa I should be able to develop a better/faster/more efficient process.
In fact, this post has been written in Drafts, utilising its share sheet extension as suggested.
Print and television giant Seven West Media has taken control of Community Newspaper Group in a deal that gives the company increased control over the West Australian media landscape, but has brought fears more jobs could be lost.
The deal brings several of Perth’s major suburban newspapers under the same company that owns The West Australian and Sunday Times newspapers, and top-rating TV news destination Seven News.
Well, this is depressing. As if our local media scene was not already enough of a monoculture.
Horizontal reading rules the day. What I do when I look at Twitter is less akin to reading a book than to the encounter I have with a recipe’s instructions or the fine print of a receipt: I’m taking in information, not enlightenment. It’s a way to pass the time, not to live in it. Reading—real reading, the kind Birkerts makes his impassioned case for—draws on our vertical sensibility, however latent, and “where it does not assume depth, it creates it.”
This article provides an interesting insight into the value that reading can offer the mind; how it can engage in a way that the shallows of the internet’s social platforms cannot (and will not, because they’re optimised for engagement, not consideration).
Itâs common within Australian business culture for people, when asked the question of âHow are you going?â, to respond with something along the lines of, âIâm really busyâ, or âflat outâ.
This might be a reflexive response to avoid having to provide a more substantive answer, or it may be bluster to hide the fact they are anything but busy. Mostly, I think the response is given in the belief that âbusy-nessâ implies importance, worth and value. I think this is misguided.
When I hear somebody say they are busy, I tend to interpret it as:
I donât know how to delegate, so Iâm doing everything myself.
Iâm disorganised and canât structure my days.
Iâve failed to prioritise and eliminate extraneous activity.
Iâve actually got nothing to do, but I donât want anybody to find out.
Being busy is not a badge of honour. Itâs a cry for help. Either youâve got too much going on, or not nearly enough. Either way, thereâs going to be a lack of focus on the projects and activities that really matter, and deliver true value.
Customers donât pay for busy-ness; they pay for value provided. A customer doesnât care how much work went into something; they care if it solves their problem.
If you find yourself busy all the time, donât accept it, and donât feel good about it. Identify how to eliminate, automate or simplify the tasks that are eating away your days. Gain back some time that can be put to better use, such as long-term planning, blue-sky thinking, or relaxing by the pool.
People are not machines. Our lives should be balanced. Sacrificing some busy time for a chance to pursue enjoyment, self-development, or diversification is a trade worth making. If youâre not busy, these alternative activities will fill your time in productive ways and build knowledge and capability over time. If youâre too busy, rebalancing and jettisoning the things that donât add value will help you to concentrate on the things that matter.
One of the joys of parenting is being exposed to children’s television. Much of it is as you would expect, which is to say, execrable.
A new Australian Show, Bluey, bucks the trend. It successfully encapsulates typical family life within modern Australia.
This article with the show’s creator goes into great detail about what makes the father character particularly great:
Equally refreshing is Bluey’s take on fatherhood. Bandit is a laid-back but resourceful dad who’s heavily involved in the day-to-day childcare. In his home office, he sits on a yoga ball at his desk because, as he explains to Bluey, “I wrecked my back changing your nappies”. From cleaning to washing to school runs, Bandit navigates the drudgery of household life with calm assurance. “He’s actually really competent,” Brumm says. “He’s a good dad.”
Sometimes, in meetings, I have to scribble down a non-work-related thought or question to hunt down later just to get it out of my head so I can pay attention to what’s going on in person.
Phil nails the exact problem I have right now, as I trial using The Brain, consider how it fits into my existing usage of DEVONthink Pro, and consider whether I persist with my Wiki.
If the Australian dollar wasn’t so weak against the US dollar right now, I’d probably just purchase The Brain to relieve myself from the cogitation.
Jack Baty is a great member of the Indieweb community. He continually tinkers with online tools and services. His latest experiment is in publishing a wiki - specifically a TiddlyWiki instance he has set up at Rudimentary Lathe.
Jack’s enthusiasm has inspired me to throw up my own wiki to play around with — even though I have a local installation of DEVONthink that does a perfectly fine job of capturing and managing my knowledge and notes.
I didn’t have a super quick and easy way to install TiddlyWiki on my web host, but I did have the option to one-click create a DokuWiki. So I’ve done that and published it at my domain.
Created by Ward Cunningham, who happens to be the inventor of the original wiki, the Federated Wiki system appears designed with a more fluid, attractive front-end, supported by the concept that each author should host their own content, rather than relying on a central ‘owner’ of the content - who could go away and take your content with them.
I get the ideal, but I find the implementation confusing. Despite its allure, I don’t think this system is for me.
This iOS app, Allowance, is the first application I have seen using the new YNABAPI. It’s quite a helpful little app, just bringing front and centre a small selection of budget categories.
This is where mental models can help. As in any other area of your life, developing some principles or models that help you see how the world works will give you options for relevant and useful solutions. Mental models are amazing tools that can be applied across our lives. Here are five principle-based models you can apply to almost any family, situation, or child. These are ones I use often, but don’t let this limit you—so many more apply!
From The Farnham Street Blog, a thoughtful look at how the use of mental models can provide a more strategic approach to wrangling those children.
I am incredibly grateful that my Mum ensured I had financial literacy at a young age. We were poor but that didn’t stop me from learning the value of money. I’ve always been hyper-aware of money management, to the point of risk aversion.
I was also fortunate enough that I didn’t grow up in an era of intangible in-app purchases.