I spend a lot of time doing data analysis in R, as well as writing and editing Python, JSON, Markdown, and various other formats. In my search to find a single application that could cover most of my needs well enough, I’ve landed on a setup of Visual Studio Code with Miniconda and R that works really well for my needs. While I’d prefer a more mac-assed mac app, Visual Studio Code is performant, and the flexibility it offers has been a good trade-off for me.
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Many of us have been spending more time at home over the past year, and yet this time has also brought about a flavor of exhaustion. The world feels increasingly out of control, and I’ve found that I have allowed a lot more noise into my life than I realize.
It’s easy to get swept away reading about the latest COVID numbers, the political upheaval menacing the nation, or today’s economic frenzy.
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It’s the time of year when many people are bracing for the onslaught of their New Year’s resolutions. I’ve previously written about some strategies that can make these resolutions more effective.
However, this year I’m not setting resolutions for myself. Instead, I’m setting a theme for the year (inspired by David Cain and Leo Babauta). The idea of a theme is to work in a particular direction in your life, and pursue multiple strategies throughout the year that fit within that theme.
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Have you ever shopped for something online, and then seen advertisements for that product follow you around the internet? This is an attempt to monetize your attention through targeted advertisements. Different entities spend lots of money to get their ads seen by you, whatever form they take. But these clumsy attempts are just one manifestation of a troubling trend.
Our attention is for sale each and every day. We realize this in a small way every time we see a commercial on TV, a print ad in a magazine, or a billboard.
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Have you ever picked up your phone, scrolled through your screens of apps like you were looking for something, realized you weren’t, and then set it back down again? I was finding myself doing this all of the time.
I do almost all of my work on my Mac, and I’m rarely far from my iPad or iPhone. I can get around all of these devices at nearly the speed of my thoughts, but this means that when I’m using them, even the slightest distraction can cause me to ⌘-Tab to another window, or swipe to a new app, almost before I’ve even realized it.
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So much of the current political climate in the United States seems to be born of a dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, and a desire for change.
One of voters’ top concerns in the 2016 presidential election was the economy. Despite numbers showing the economy has been improving, many Americans weren’t feeling those improvements.
It’s unsurprising that Americans are feeling stuck in light of the distribution of wealth in the U.
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I tend to avoid rewards programs. You know them, the kind that offer you points for spending money.
The reason is that rewards programs are designed to subtly change our behavior in ways that we don’t notice, and I am always trying to be more intentional in how I spend my money.
Rewards may seem worthwhile on the surface, providing cash back or points for things you’re already doing. Get some points for coming in and spending money, and once you have enough of them you can get something for free!
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The prospect of a new calendar year prompts many of us to think about changes we want to make in our lives in the form of New Year’s resolutions. Or as is often the case, re-making resolutions from past years. New Year’s resolutions often get a bad reputation, mainly because many of us make them, but often we fail to follow through with them.
However, New Year’s resolutions, at their core, are no different from any other behavior change.
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Soylent has been showing up in the news for the past year or so. This is largely because of its mission: to be able to replace your food. The Soylent website provocatively asks: “What if you never had to worry about food again?”
I found out about Soylent earlier this year, and was immediately intrigued. I’ve realized that I’m actually not that great at feeding myself. That’s a funny thing to say, but I fail to plan meals for a week.
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Keeping up with the developments in any field can be a challenge, especially with so much information spread across so many sources. Frequently this information is accessible online, but it’s tedious to regularly visit each of these sites for new content. I’ve found this to be especially true with academic journals, where there are a whole series of publications relevant to me, each with their own website and own release schedule.
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The things that we give our attention to largely indicate what our lives are. The philosopher José Ortega y Gasset concisely stated:
Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.
This really resonates with me. What occupies our time and our thoughts, which is to say our attention, is often a clear sign of our priorities, even if we’re unaware of it. I think it stands to argue that this is reciprocal as well: the things that we direct our attention to can also become our priorities.
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I have enjoyed coffee for quite some time, but it’s not until recently that I think I’ve started to truly enjoy coffee, as opposed to all the things that go with it. I can’t really remember when I first started liking it, but I am pretty sure that the experience of going to get coffee with friends or stopping to pick something up before work played a big role.
Jerry Seinfeld addresses this well in an interview with NPR, commenting on why he thinks coffee is so central to our culture:
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I decided to start from scratch with my website, because I wasn’t happy with where it had ended up. For a while, it has seemed like my site was a collection of old links and quips, but very little original writing. All of this old content created a lot of friction and baggage that was limiting my desire to continue writing. I want this site to be a place I can use to explore the burning questions and topics that are on my mind, as well as to share some observations, tips, and tricks that I have stumbled across in research and technology.
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