Time to create

If you haven’t, you should watch “Get Back” the Beatles documentary. Because, ya know, The Beatles.

But if that’s not enough of a reason, here’s another. Many businesses, even those that wish to consider themselves creative in nature, don’t understand the need for slack time or space.

It’ll be easy by now to find a clip of Paul McCartney strumming his bass and pulling Get Back out of the ether. There was no “C’mon Paul, we’ve other things to do!” From the other band members, or the notion of “grinding” that some successful people have embedded in our culture. Work the weekends! Stay late! Up early. Work all day, train all night! That doesn’t work for creativity.

And to be certain I was guilty of the personal version of this when I stayed up late because I find the lack of “traffic” (phones calls, dropping in people to say hi, and vice versa, and lots more) soothing. No FOMO, no I can’t believe I missed you and had to give the gig to this other person.

Still, that’s not how creativity works.

I understand that if you are a professional song writer, or painter, or podcaster, there’s a certain amount of “Just get on with it!” that is necessary. And certainly you can create environments more or less conducive to inspiration. But in the end…as the saying goes you can’t hurry love.

It’s important to develop techniques for progress. Don’t get stuck on the words… anything that fits will do, as the word pomegranate fills in for future and final for George. But we shouldn’t confuse that sort of technique for setting a ten song goal if you want something inspired to be the result.

Don’t be afraid to leave time to create all kinds of stuff, and let them ripen in their own good time.

See also:

Custom 3D Landmarks in Apple Maps — Pixel Envy

Custom 3D Landmarks in Apple Maps:

I often wonder if it makes sense that there are basically two major efforts in digitizing the world’s cartography for commercial purposes, and both are fronted by companies based in the same part of the United States. The expense of such a wide-reaching project is surely a hurdle, but it would be great if others could offer a more local solution. Perhaps one reason there is not as much competition in this space is, in part, because iOS users cannot change their default maps app. I am not sure it makes sense to modernize the in-car GPS systems that required a different disc for each region, but I also have to wonder if Apple or Google can deliver worldwide cartography that is accurate and not encumbered by their myriad other business interests.

[It would be nice if there were more efforts to help the world and not monetize all the things, all the time.]

What’s the difference between USB 4.0 & Thunderbolt 4.0 – On my Om

What’s the difference between USB 4.0 & Thunderbolt 4.0 – On my Om:

What is the difference between USB 4.0 and Thunderbolt 4.0? How are they similar? Should you care? And what should you look for before buying devices that are certified for one or the other?

Both USB 4.0 and Thunderbolt 4.0 use the same USB Type-C connector which is reversible and rounded. The USB 4.0 is also based on the very same underlying protocol as Thunderbolt 4.0, and both types are tightly connected. All thunderbolt devices come with USB 4.0 support which means if you have a device with Thunderbolt 4.0 connectors you can use USB 4.0 cables.  However, not all the devices with USB 4.0 connectors will be as powerful as the ones that are fully Thunderbolt 4.0 certified. But the good thing about USB 4.0 is that it’s cheaper than Thunderbolt 4.0.

[Once more with feeling…]

The thrill of changing your mind

The thrill of changing your mind:

To make progress on a range of topics, we have to be able to change our minds. To revisit our assumptions when the data changes or when a new way of looking at it emerges. This is true whether we talk about energy, vaccines, economics, or politics in general. Fall in love with the thrill of accepting the better argument – in contrast to mere social pressure – and you’ll help pave the path to that better world. Not through grand solutions, but through better trade offs.

[It’s hard, but worth it.]

Source: David Heinemeier Hansson

Filibust a Move | NextDraft

Filibust a Move | NextDraft:

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are in Georgia to make a push for what is clearly their most important agenda item (and by their, I mean our): Voting Rights. The rubber won’t hit the road until they get back to DC and see if they can convince their party to deploy the nuclear option and change the filibuster rules to get something done. The voting suppression efforts across the country are extensions of the Big Lie. Put aside all of our minor differences. This is the fight.

[It’s the whole enchilada.]

How to find a domain’s authoritative nameservers

How to find a domain’s authoritative nameservers:

Here’s a very quick “how to” post on how to find your domain’s authoritative nameserver.

I’m writing this because if you made a DNS update and it didn’t work, there are 2 options:

Your authoritative nameserver doesn’t have the correct record
Your authoritative nameserver does have the correct record, but an old record is cached and you need to wait for the cache to expire
To be able to tell which one is happening (do you need to make a change, or do you just need to wait?), you need to be able to find your domain’s authoritative nameserver and query it to see what records it has.

[Very helpful. Noted!]

Source:

“America Is Now in Fascism’s Legal Phase”

“America Is Now in Fascism’s Legal Phase”:

Jason Stanley, author of How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, writes about the recent revitalization of the long tradition in the United States of fascist movements using race & racism as tools to move towards their goals. And now with attacks on the courts, education, voting rights, and women’s rights, America is now in fascism’s legal phase.

According to the International Center for Not for Profit Law, 45 states have considered 230 bills criminalizing protest, with the threat of violent leftist and Black rebellion being used to justify them. That this is happening at the same time that multiple electoral bills enabling a Republican state legislature majority to overturn their state’s election have been enacted suggests that the true aim of bills criminalizing protest is to have a response in place to expected protests against the stealing of a future election (as a reminder of fascism’s historical connection to big business, some of these laws criminalize protest near gas and oil lines).

The Nazis used Judeo-Bolshevism as their constructed enemy. The fascist movement in the Republican party has turned to critical race theory instead. Fascism feeds off a narrative of supposed national humiliation by internal enemies. Defending a fictional glorious and virtuous national past, and presenting its enemies as deviously maligning the nation to its children, is a classic fascist strategy to stoke fury and resentment. Using the bogeyman of critical race theory, 29 states have introduced bills to restrict teaching about racism and sexism in schools, and 13 states have enacted such bans.

Something I was disappointed about on last week’s anniversary of the terrorist attack on Congress was too much emphasis on Trump’s role in what happened on that day, as if focusing on him somehow makes it possible that the rest of the Republican Party can jettison this bad seed at some point without losing face and American politics can get back to the bipartisan business as usual. This is a total fiction, and as Stanley correctly notes, this shift towards fascism is a party-wide effort that preceded Trump and will outlive him.

[We are sleeping our way through this. It should be the lead story for everyone reporting anything in the US.]

Source: kottke.org

Happy Public Domain Day 2022! – The Public Domain Review

Happy Public Domain Day 2022! – The Public Domain Review:

On the chime of midnight last night, as many of us welcomed in — by booze-fuelled countdown or bliss of sleep — the start of a new year, the public domain had a special moment too, welcoming in many thousands more works into its ever-growing expanse, including Winnie The Pooh, poems by Dorothy Parker, and Franz Kafka’s The Castle.
Each January 1st is Public Domain Day, where a new crop of works have their copyrights expire and become free to enjoy, share, and reuse for any purpose.

[Stravinsky eh? Cool.]