On the joy of (self-imposed) impossible deadlines – AKA Magic Deadlines

Last year I wrote a novel. Admittedly, a novel I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to re-read for fear of what I may have written, but I wrote a novel all the same. And I managed to do it because of a deadline. It was an impossible deadline by all accounts of common sense, but impossible is a challenge worth living up to. The goal was to write a novel (50k+ words) in a month, without putting my life on hold or taking any time off work. I’m still not sure how, but I did it. And I wasn’t the only one to do this, I shared this month of madness with 256,618 people around the world who signed up for the same challenge; and that was part of the fun. To give this some context, I co-founded … Continue reading »

Things I shared on Twitter this week

Things I shared on Twitter this week http://t.co/DF7IZ6hj # "There’s no competitive advantage today in knowing more than the person next to you." http://t.co/lYMa3qex # Double Standards: "Money received from political sponsors": in Washington = Campaign contributions, in Africa = Bribes http://t.co/M5bLMsQo # Mr Cameron must speak out to reaffirm his commitment to leading the greenest government ever – YouTube http://t.co/hBcNc2pJ # Must start work on that Telephone Strategy http://t.co/HLDSrxhN via @ThisIsSethsBlog # "Bicycles will refuse to do anything for you, but will gladly do anything with you" http://t.co/uPcHs0X4 # 6 Steps to Persuasive Design | Cardinal Path Blog http://t.co/NJDDVqso # Digital data: Bit rot | The Economist http://t.co/hXh19Pxb #

Things I shared on Twitter this week

Things I shared on Twitter this week http://t.co/ypfZrqe0 # An End to the War on Drugs? by Alma Guillermoprieto | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books http://t.co/rmml69YF # Shareable: At UN Happiness Summit, A Coal Pile in the Ballroom http://t.co/XNoqL5mn # State of the planet declaration – http://t.co/cncooiwB # Hey @DECCGovuk – Where are these comments you seek actually welcome? Could you add a link in your article maybe? http://t.co/yfGmsrL8 # @DECCgovuk super – thank you # Welcome to the Anthropocene – http://t.co/26AohPa7 # Only 4 out of 50 didn't make it into my childhood. Hope my son gets the same… http://t.co/EbKdKvL6 # @wwpj – saw this and thought of you: http://t.co/EHZ0berx # “I live in the future and here’s how it works: People waste and want everything in pursuit of the unknown.” http://t.co/DrMaMF8a # Gulf seafood deformities … Continue reading »

Things I shared on Twitter this week

Things I shared on Twitter this week http://t.co/GX125AyJ # A High-Tech Turntable Converts Tree Rings Into Music … http://t.co/7QOilHd7 # The Global Transition to a new economy | http://t.co/QAI5uFe5 # @googleanalytics any chance http://t.co/8UwPWWkU can go straight to Account Home if you're logged in? Save many people many clicks # The Footprints of Ancient Civilization, Seen from Space http://t.co/zgTPlnN3 # Cracking open the shell of the human condition. http://t.co/hhB4RE0M # "children exposed to junk food advertising ate 45% more junk food than children not exposed" http://t.co/fraSNAPw # One Boy, a Cardboard Arcade, and a Flashmob http://t.co/kEU9d5hI # @andythelyonhart check out Ottolenghi for ideas – excellent veggie options! # How to get more likes on Facebook – The Oatmeal http://t.co/620fXofq # BBC News – Life after Firefox: Can Mozilla regain its mojo? http://t.co/sl5tqef2 # Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist | Do … Continue reading »

On repetition

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” - Henry David Thoreau

Things I shared on Twitter this week

Official Google Blog: Bringing self-driving cars to NASCAR http://t.co/WDd9taBE # New study tracks how conservatives have lost faith in science http://t.co/tHz1wr9H # Beyond the Gardens: The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership http://t.co/s0yNZxrh # The True Cost of Unwalkable Streets – Commute – The Atlantic Cities http://t.co/mWHLulUx # "the average high school student has more scientific knowledge than Newton did at the end of his life" http://t.co/7ujHyYHQ # INCIDENTAL COMICS: The Book of the Future http://t.co/VqJdX5br # GM Uses LEGOs for Visual Management Tool http://t.co/WFtWtFic # "This default to public has lead to so many teaching opportunities about how to handle various online interactions." http://t.co/QD9hn562 # Architecture In Development – Qinmo Village Project http://t.co/8C8u5iKB # Record Heat Wave Grips US. But Is It Climate Change? http://t.co/Ifw12ZGK # "The contents of an ostrich’s stomach, retrieved after it died in the London Zoo" http://t.co/fNyRJYtp # "what … Continue reading »

On “is the glass half empty or half full?”

I’d like to draw a line under this ongoing debate so we all have more time to do important things like drawing pictures. I conclude as follows… The glass is half full if it’s being filled, and half empty if it’s being emptied. I drew some pictures to illustrate this point: P.S. If you can think of some situation of perfect stasis, I suggest you shove it in the box with Schrodinger’s cat. If still in doubt, considering a longer timeline (say 10,000 years) resolves most unanswered questions by rendering them irrelevant.

On adjusting

I have a few blog posts sitting as drafts right now. I may finish them once I learn to change nappies with my eyes closed and catch up on lost sleep with my eyes open.

On the ‘Practical Problem Solver’

 

On ‘The Fun Theory’ and Pseudoscience

I’ve had this video sent to me three times this week, which was enough to prompt a reply that I’ll share with you. On a very basic level, this video is nice. To disrupt the mundane with something that makes people smile is great, but that’s where the good in this video stops. If that was the ultimate aim of this video, I’d give it a big thumbs and share it with enthusiasm, but it’s not as simple as that. “We believe that the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better is by making it fun to do.” That’s rubbish, and I’ll explain why. I’m interested in changing people’s behaviour for the better, so I willingly watched the video and was presented with the ‘conclusion’ that “66% more people than normal chose the stairs over the escalator. Fun … Continue reading »