Month: October 2020

  • The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang

    The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang

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    From the subtitle, Andrew Yang positions The War on Normal people as his answer to deal with the problems America is facing with disappearing jobs and thus income issues in their homes. ## What is the Problem? In Yang’s mind the issue is that we have a lack of financial mobility and stability. This insecurity…

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  • The Internet Lets us Mimic Expertise – Friday Notes 122

    The Internet Lets us Mimic Expertise – Friday Notes 122

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    One idea I keep coming back to, in part because I catch myself falling into the trap, is that the internet allows us to mimic expertise with an inexhaustible list of facts[^See [The Death of Expertise](https://curtismchale.ca/2020/01/31/how-expertise-died) for more on this]. I caught myself doing it two weeks ago with friends. We were talking about my…

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  • Magic + Button Things 3

    Magic + Button Things 3

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    One of the under praised features of Things 3 on iOS is the magic plus button you can use to add tasks to the application. For a long time I only used it by tapping it, but then I realized how much extra power this button has especially on iPad. Today I’ll show you how…

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  • Simpletivity – Why Not Todoist

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    I particularly liked his arguments about adding friction to defering tasks around the 5:00 mark. This is why I use time blocking and all tasks must go on a calendar to get done. It’s far to easy to commit to something for Future Curtis, that Current Curtis knows he doesn’t have time for. Future Curtis…

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  • Do We Need More Male Employment or a Mindset Shift?

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    [Derek Thompson floats the theory that the low rates of male employment is due to the huge decline in construction and manufacturing jobs](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/the-missing-men/488858/). At the same time we see a rise in traditionally female jobs like health care aide, medical secretary… He says that the US may need a huge construction project to get these…

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  • A reason not to purchase smart appliances

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    While [Cory Doctrow’s Unauthorized Bread](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/), is fiction it’s not far off what companies want if we let them. John Deer already does this by bricking their tractors, and while Apple is doing a bit better with their repair programs lately…they still don’t want anyone else touching their toys. Add to this the almost [weekly security…

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  • Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

    Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

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    I don’t often talk about the fiction books that I read, but this was too good to pass up. There are some minor spoilers ahead, so be warned. In Pet a young teenage girl named Jam manages to conjure an “angel” out of a painting her mother made. The angel is here to hunt a…

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  • Divorce and the Dream Job – Friday Notes 121

    Divorce and the Dream Job – Friday Notes 121

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    We’re all looking for our “dream job”. That job where we get to do interesting work that people see value in. One where we can throw ourselves deep into the work and enjoy the challenge that it presents us daily. One where we find a state of flow during challenges. Many of us are searching…

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  • David Sparks on Task Lists and Calendars

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    [David Sparks has a great post on the relationship between task managers and calendars](https://www.macsparky.com/blog/2020/10/the-relationship-between-task-lists-and-calendars). I’ve fallen into the same groove. Things 3 is handling my tasks, and I time block on my calendar at the end of every week. Then I check in each day to see what was planned and to make sure that…

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  • 5 Signs You Need To Start Wearing Glasses

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    You may need to start wearing glasses at any stage in your life. Whether you need them for driving, reading the [latest books](https://curtismchale.ca/2020/08/07/why-i-m-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race-by-reni-eddo-lodge), or browsing the web, glasses can make your day-to-day life easier. In fact, [more than six in ten people wear glasses or contacts](https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2013/38/more-than-6-in-10-people-wear-glasses-or-contact-lenses) in the US alone. Thankfully, getting glasses has never…

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