The Daily A nerd's fetish for hoarding notes You ever see those stupid note-taking apps out there? Ok, alright, yes, I use some of them myself. It's handy to take notes and organize them if you're a high-information personality. This is an old habit and quite a useful one when you need information on tap. Almost mandatory for
The Daily That's a negative ghostrider The movie I saw this afternoon blew me out of my seat. You might say I have high standards for such things. With the state of Hollywood (and I don't mean California) there hasn't been much reason to shell out $15 and an afternoon to sit through a boring lecture
The Daily Lazy ring-tone discipline predicts bad science Weird thought hit me in the shower: I haven't heard a ring-tone in years. The best was when that awkward rap song would blast in a quiet movie theater. Can't remember the last time that happened. I think the last time was close to 10 years ago when one of
The Daily Why creating sucks You ever heard of Rollo May? He was better known in the 20th century, when he was alive and also working as a psychotherapist. He wrote quite a few books at the intersection of modern psychology -- clinical psych dealing with actual people and problems, not goof-off lab experiments --
The Daily Charismatic hermit gives tips on social skills I've gotten too friendly over the last few years. Don't mistake me, my quiet underground bunker in New Zealand is still my place of power. But somewhere along the way, I picked up a way of being charismatic entirely by accident. I don't even notice I do it. I'm sure
The Daily Putting the 'mental' in mental toughness As I sit here stewing in my own inflammatory markers after yesterday's workout, a thought occurred to me. Prompted by the stiffness working itself into my hamstrings and hip muscles like the whip-hand of an ice-demon, I remembered how different "gym people" react to a post-workout thrashing than the normals.
The Daily The most un-selfish skill set There's one skill that I value above all others: The power to detach myself from my beliefs. How many souls can you think of in your own life who dig into their beliefs like a dragon hoarding treasure? Most of them, if your honest. That includes you and me, too.
The Daily Giant sandworm wrecks nerd religion I finished reading Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune the other night. If you aren't familiar with the Dune books, this is the fourth in the series. Very different from the tight trilogy of the earlier series. This book gets out-there. It's more of a Big Ideas book. Lots of
The Daily Clear ideas convince Back when I was teaching, I spent roughly 98% of my time with students breaking them of bad writing habits. What happens is, they read awful writing and assume that it's part of the "insider club". Smart people must write this way, they think. They try to copy the style.
The Daily Excellence ain't a dirty word I read a tedious email from a marketer the other day. One of those types who thinks that humans are nothing but a collection of irrational impulses, emotions, and desires for petty self-interest. I can kinda relate to that. In my most cynical moments, I share those judgments. And for
The Daily All this freedom and this is the best we can do You know that I don't like social media, so what the heck was I doing over on LinkedIn yesterday? Truth is, I'm too much of a wallflower for my own good. I made a promise to myself to show up somewhere in public (including "virtual public") at least once a
The Daily A bird-brained masterclass in persistence In the mornings when I drop the kids off at school, I'll stop by the park to knock out some pullups on the bars if it's not raining too bad. There used to be a huge flock of pigeons hanging around the park. I haven't seen them there for awhile.
The Daily Up your game before the kids take over Yesterday morning my 7 year old daughter told me that she dreamed that she wrote a book and had her own publishing company. Kids are upping the stakes on everything these days. When I was 7 I wanted to be an astronaut. No idea how that concept got into her
The Daily The only real person left on the internet The internet is all fake. This past weekend I put up a thread in my Night's Gate group talking about this. It's called the Dead Internet Theory. There was a time in living memory when you could use the internet for cool, interesting, weird, and even useful things. I like
The Daily Chinese water torture for clear thinking Last week after it rained, I got woken up at this strange time called "two in the morning". Two o'clock belongs in the afternoon. If I'm not partying with hookers and elbow-deep into a bottle of single-malt, I don't want to know about any two in the morning. I don't
The Daily A new strain of PTSD caused by coaching The other day I had an inquiry out of the blue for fitness coaching. I wanted to vomit. I've got Post Coaching PTSD. Since I haven't said this in public anywhere, let me say it: I will never again coach anyone, concerning workouts or nutrition, in a professional capacity. To
The Daily The time I cussed at all my students I'm not a casual swear-word user but that day they had it coming. I was in a room with around 23 students, who I was teaching the fine details of social philosophy. Most all of them were bored, as can happen when sitting in a chair for 50 minutes. Even
The Daily What I'm chewing right now I like chewy quotes that make you think. One or two sentences that capture a point in fine poetic imagery. When done well, you can find endless value in a simple quote. Like this beauty: Let go, or be dragged. No idea who said that. Don't care. Look at it
The Daily Seinfeld's tips on writing The other week I picked up a copy of Jerry Seinfeld's book called Is This Anything? I'm thinking it's a biography. It's not a biography. I crack it open and what do I find but hundreds of pages of written jokes, going all the way back to the 1970s. That's
The Daily You need a crisis to grow (but this isn't what I meant) On Tuesday this week past, a guy got murdered five minutes from my house. Poor guy wasn't but in his early 20s, walking home about an hour after dark, on a forest walkway that cuts over to a shopping center up the road. The path is a little bit of
The Daily You don't get the best with lazy and cheap It's rare that the easy, simple, fast choice is right. But we all go for it. Don't lie. It's a bug built into the human hardware. We say we want all these nice things. We admire the high achievers. We might even write down the goals and set our minds
The Daily Why you can't learn philosophy from quotes I went on Twitter the other day. For purely research purposes. I keep hearing that, if you know how to use it right, you can make great connections and build an audience. I don't see it. Every time I go there, all I see is a cheap traveling carnival overflowing
The Daily My personal war on better That word "better" doesn't mean anything. What's a "better person"? Like when all these allegedly ethical business-persons love to tell you how they're making the world a better place. At Brand X, we have a Cause and Mission. We aren't just here to make a profit! We're making a better
The Daily How to beat the "depression" illusion I woke up Saturday feeling like crap. It wasn't a hangover. I rarely drink any more and when I do it is one or two beers. My tolerance for mood-altering chemicals has dropped to near zero. Even caffeine. It wasn't in my body. Not in the way you think, like
