Shorter than a blog post.
I think this is a particularly insightful post… Emotional regulation is a dying art:
Phones reward a specific kind of nervous system, twitching first and thinking later. The dopamine architecture that hooks you on slot machines hooks you on outrage, and the platforms have figured out that a regulated person is a bad customer. The regulated close the app, but the dysregulated person scroll until four in the morning, bleeding cortisol and efficiently monetized.
Pluralistic: In praise of vultures:
Monopoly is to capitalism as gerrymandering is to democracy, a way to strip out any meaningful choice.
Do cell phone bans in schools work? The NY Times reports on a new study looking at school cell phone bans. Kids used their phones less, but no real shift in student engagement or test scores.
From Cal Newport’s blog: On Bottlenecks and Productivity. This is the second time recently that I’ve come across the “Theory of Constraints.” I like how Newport translates the concept to personal productivity.
Watched: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2. Enjoyed the second season of Monarch on Apple TV. I don’t know if there will be another season, but if not, I’m happy with how they ended things.🍿
I’m intrigued by the idea of using Bluesky PDS as a social enabled database for academic publication. But I’m afraid that technical possibilities are blinding people to how entrenched the traditional academic publishing ecosystem is…
Prom 2026.
Great Sprint Qualifying run for Lando. Hopefully this newfound quickness will translate into race pace this weekend.
Just paid more than $4 a gallon for gas. First time I’ve ever paid that much. 😩
The NY Times 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters story is wonderful. Lots of names I expected to see, but some that I didn’t know or didn’t think of. Complete with a playlist of hits for Spotify and Apple Music. Gift link if you want to check it out…
There will be THREE players on next year’s South Carolina Women’s Basketball roster who can dunk: Watkins, Tournebize and Edwards.
I’ve recently rediscovered my love of tea. I bought a small electric kettle for my office, ordered some outstanding Goddess Gray loose tea from Full Moon Tea Company in Asheville, and I’m using my ceramic Tea Forte Kati cup with an integrated infuser basket. A great mid-morning routine.
Thanks to Cotton Bureau for featuring my new “Happy Frank” shirt design in their T-Shirt Tuesday email. (And yes, I know his full name is Frankenstein’s Monster, but he just goes by Frank these days.)
My son was happy that his first JV lacrosse season was over and he could take a little bit of a break.
He’s currently playing a lacrosse VR game on his Meta Quest.
Avett Brothers at the Township Auditorium.
Graphic design schools are teaching tech, but are they teaching taste? Kathy Pham discusses the current state of design education. Really solid essay on a topic I’ve been thinking about recently.
I’ve been listening to the Vergecast lately and this Tuesday’s episode is outstanding. Ben McKenzie talks about crypto and his new documentary. Victoria Song discusses the pros and (very serious) cons of health tracking. A thoughtful discussion on two very complicated tech topics.
This academic study in Visual Communication analyzing G.I. Joe “Knowing is half the battle” PSAs from the early 1980s is amazing. Sadly not open access, but you should read it if you are Gen X and have access through your university library.
I’m fascinated by the minimalist approach that Slate is taking with their EV pickup. I see opportunity for customization, but others see a small truck without a built-in sound system. This article does a good job of summing up the challenges Slate faces in taking a radically different approach.
Witnessed a drone delivery yesterday for the first time when shopping in southern Charlotte. Apparently, it’s a partnership beween Doordash and Wing, and only available in a four mile radius of the shopping center we were in. Strange to see a drone lower a package to the ground, and then fly off.
Happy Easter from Team Wertz. Always wonderful to worship at St. Paul Aiken when we are in town.
Go Gamecocks!!!! 🏀
Spring is here. I looked up while grilling and noticed our backyard trees are finally all green again. 🍃🍃🍃
Ryan got his first high school start tonight when the starting goalie injured his hand in warm ups. He got the win and a shut out.
Bored, while sitting in a very long middle school car line. (I’m near the front.)
The South Carolina Women’s Basketball team is so impressive. Strong win against Oklahoma today. Ta’Niya, Raven and Tessa shot the lights out, scoring 60 of the team’s 94. Looking forward to the next game against TCU or Virginia. Go Gamecocks. 🐓🏀
The parking garage is so eerily empty when I get in early.
I’ve been impressed by Kagi News. A nice AI-curated summary of important news stories, updated once a day. Provides links to a spectrum of sources, and the site has an RSS feed, so I can easily add it to Feedbin.
Coffee shops should all have a rack of reading glasses for sale. I occasionally forget mine when I go to write or study, and I would completely pay an inflated price for a pair of reading glasses in the moment. I can’t be the only one. I think they’d make a nice profit.
Working at the Starbucks at I-26 and Broad River in Irmo tonight while Ryan is at lacrosse practice. I studied here all the time when I first started grad school. Happy to report that almost a decade after I nicknamed it “Grad School Starbucks” that it is still full of grad students.