Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
And welcome to the 200th edition of the letter! While that's something of a milestone, it's also business as usual. Thank you for sticking with me through a double century of these little emails.
As for what you're about to read, it's a bit longer than usual and a bit of a change of pace. The topic is one that has been becoming more relevant to me in recent years, and will for you before you expect it.
There won't be an edition of the letter landing in your inbox next week. I'm having some minor surgery and will be taking a few days to rest and recover. We'll be back to our regularly-scheduled schedule on April 5th.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Getting Older
In mid-2022, a friend and I were riffing about meeting up in a city to which he'd never been and which we both want to spend some time exploring. During our back and forth, I half jokingly mentioned that since my 60th birthday is only a few years away, we should meet up then — a journey to Tokyo would make a great birthday gift to myself.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
In this edition of the letter, several thinking points about a topic that I find both interesting and frustrating. In equal measure. And, I'm sure, that there will be more than a couple of readers who will disagree with the thrust of these thoughts. As I hope they do — I don't want everyone agreeing with me!
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Technology as a Lifestyle (or Not)
[F]or most people, computers are tools, not a lifestyle.
When I read that quote, it immediately resonated with me. The thought behind it dovetails almost perfectly with several ideas that have been rattling around in my head for the longest time.
Ideas like not embracing the latest and newest in technology. Ideas like it being OK not to get excited about the cutting edge of whatever. Or even not caring much about any of that.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time 'round, a bit of a look back. Way back. At least in the context of this letter. What you're about to read picks up from Musing 079. A lot of water, both mental and metaphorical, has passed under the bridge since then so I thought I might be time to revisit the ideas in that edition of the letter.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On RSS (Again)
At end of 2022, I put one of my websites out to pasture. As part of the process of doing that, I spent a bit of time pondering whether or not to remove the site's RSS feed.
While I plan to keep that site alive for as long as possible, I won't be publishing anything new to it. Keeping the RSS feed seemed redundant in light of that. In end, though, the feed stayed. But that exercise got me thinking once again about RSS — not (just) about how I use it, but in wider terms.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time 'round, a shift away from technology to something that's gnawed at me for a long while. Something that's embraced too tightly and, in my opinion, is both overblown and overkill in many situations.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing
On Stories
I don't remember exactly when in the early 2000s it happened, but someone, somewhere decreed that story was the thing when it came to content. With that decree, everything non-fiction, no matter what you were writing, needed to tell a story. Everything non-fiction had to be jammed into the framework of a story, even if it wasn't a fit for that framework.
Telling a story wasn't optional — if there was no story, a piece of writing was a failure. It was boring. It wasn't worth reading.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
The tech world moves quickly, doesn't it? And sometimes in ways which surprise, even if those surprises have been announced or just telegraphed. It was a change like that which sparked the idea for this edition of the letter.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Social Logins
February 9, 2023 is a day that, while it won't go down as day in technology infamy, is one that will definitely be remembered. 09/02/2023 will be remembered as the day when faith in Big Tech and its intentions was again dented. Badly.
On that date, Twitter — as the company and its CEO threatened to do in the preceding weeks — flipped a switch and cut off free access to its APIs. (APIs, in case you're wondering, are a way in which one system can connect to another and use some of the other system's features.)
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time 'round, yet another edition of the letter that was inspired by a reply to something I'd recently said. And a comment that I've heard more than a couple of times over the years.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Boring Technology
I work in a field in which tool fetishism is a very real thing
At times, that seems to be on par with the level of fetishism you find in the productivity and personal knowledge management worlds.
A week doesn't go by when I'm seeing blog posts or articles by writers who spend an inordinate amount of time jumping between tools. All in a seemingly never-ending quest to find the ultimate application for outlining, organizing, taking notes, and for doing the actual writing.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time 'round, another edition of the letter that focuses on productivity. Not on tips and tricks and hacks, but instead sharing some thoughts about what's at the core of being productive. Something that seems to be missed when talk turns to this subject.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Doing the Work
I can't remember exactly when the wave of personal and professional productivity began washing over the online world. It was probably sometime in early 2000s, when various people — many of them of a more technical bent — discovered the (dubious) wonders of GTD. They embraced that system as panacea for all of their ills around working through long list of tasks, for managing time, and for whatever else the system is trying to cure. And they started to enthuse about GTD in forums, on message boards, and at other online establishments.
From that sprang up a cottage industry of bloggers and writers, of so-called lifehackers and productivity hackers. Folks sharing, often at length, tips and techniques and methods and hack and tools to help you ... well, get things done. At least that was the idea.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
It's funny how often a seemingly innocuous conversation sparks an idea for an edition of a letter. Which is the case for what you're about to read. At least, in part. The basic idea had been bouncing around in my skull for a while, but a question and the response to my answer kicked what's below into a higher gear.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Paying for Services
A few weeks before putting fingers to keyboard to write this musing, someone asked about which email provider I use. When I told him, he replied that he'd never heard of Fastmail and was curious about. I mentioned that I paid a certain amount every couple of years to get a level of security and privacy, along with some useful features like adding email addresses with custom domains (of which I have a couple or three).
When the word paid crossed my lips, I could see a mix of confusion and bemusement on his face. He told me, with tinge of smugness, that he happily uses Gmail and would never, ever pay for email when he can get it free.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time 'round, an edition of the letter that's a something of a continuation of Musing 018. What you're about to read is more a set of observations, thoughts, reminiscences, and opinions rather than something resembling a somewhat cohesive essay.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Libraries (Again)
Over the past few months, I've had quite a bit of cause to regularly drop by my local public library. There are a few reasons for that, reasons with which I won't bore you. But each visit to that small library a few minutes' walk from my home reminded me of what wonderful places public libraries are. I've been reminded of how lucky we are to have institutions like that. I've been reminded how important it is to keep public libraries alive and to ensure that they thrive.
Libraries are, in the words of a good friend, one of the great egalitarian institutions in our society. They bring information, knowledge, and learning to anyone, regardless of their means. Regardless of who they are or where they come from. Regardless, at least to a point, of their abilities.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This week, thoughts on a subject which I didn't expect to write about. As it turns out, it's a subject about which I have more than a little to say.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Goals
Goals.
We all have them, in one form or another. In one size or another. That goal might be to lose a kilo or three. It might be to study at a foreign university in a language other than your own. Your goal might be to learn the basics of wood turning, or found your own company.
Goals can be wonderful, and they can be worth aiming for. That said, I have something of a like/dislike relationship with goals. I see them as inherently useful as a route to learning or achieving something. But goals can easily, and quickly, become troublesome.