Read this first.
The short introduction + how we do things around the Rogue Planet offices.
rogue planet
Author of the fantastic. A fantastic author.
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Aristotle's blueprint for viral content
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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
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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
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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
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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 --
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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