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Donuts & Lard
Made donuts today. It was my mother-in-law’s recipe that she has made for a very long time. No offense to Krispy Kreme or Kwik Trip, but they are the best donuts ever. I’m convinced the secret to the taste is lard. Rendered pig fat. Not vegetable oil, not peanut oil. Fat. From an animal. Mmmm,…
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A Short Piano Journey
My son played piano when he was a kid. Unfortunately, I pushed too hard on the practicing and he left it behind when our piano teacher moved away. But he had skills…maybe someday he will choose to play again.
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Amazon Books Make on Demand Virtual Tour
This is impressive. A 9 minute tour of one of the Amazon MOD (make on demand) sites. It is all about books, so I presume the “make” refers to future. Imagine a 3D print shop at this scale. Everything is barcoded and you can see that each book is different coming down the line.
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Detailed Analysis vs Just Do It
How much craft does a writer need to learn before they start to write? Should you learn deep craft techniques or just write? One Saturday afternoon when I should have been doing chores, I fell down the rabbit hole of reaction videos. Various experts (see below) play a music video, supposedly for the first time,…
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Sound of Silence: The Better Cover
I never got goosebumps listening to Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence. Until now. This song, by the band Disturbed, came out a couple of years ago and I remember hearing it on the radio and, yes, getting goosebumps. Recently, I came across this video from their appearance on Conan’s show. S&G’s version is beautiful.…
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Writing when Retired: More Experiences
One advantage of getting older is that we are not dead yet. Not being dead means we continue to accumulate experiences. The quantity and variety of these experiences become a resource for our creativity. We have more experiences, and therefore more creative resources, than we did yesterday, last year, or twenty years ago.
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Crossing the Rubicon
https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/all-in/ Character Lab is co-lead by Angela Duckworth, author of Grit (a highly recommended book). This articles talks about the being “all in” on a decision, even though there will (will!) setbacks on any major decisions. That doesn’t mean it is the wrong decision. Here is a quote from the article that explains the “crossing…
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New Book! Writing into the Sunset
I made the decision to become a writer after I retired in 2019. My style is to learn a lot from those that have gone before me. This book has a bit of my writing story and a lot of what I have learned in my writing journey. This is my third published book, so…
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Only compare yourself to yourself
https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/me-to-me/ This is a great article on the importance of comparing yourself to yourself, not to others. We do not have an objective view of our own capabilities. Also we only see the public view of others. Trying to compare ourselves to others is like looking at two paintings across the room when you have…
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Catstrap Installation on a Class A motorhome
Folks, The bastards stole the catalytic converter from my motorhome. Parked right next to my house which, unfortunately, is right next to a park so people walk by it frequently. So it is likely that someone (including the original bastards) will think of stealing it again. After some research, I chose the Catstrap option. There…
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Good for kids, good for adults
https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/sample-then-specialize/ The above article is about kids. Have them sample lots of activities and *IF* one of them grabs their interest, then specialize. Adults and jobs is the same concept. It is ok to bounce around in different jobs. Only if one of them grabs your interest should you focus there. Don’t worry about a…
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St. Paul By Bike: Kid’s View of Williams Hill
Back when kids would roam free…
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Peeing in Space: An tweet overview by Mary Robinette Kowal
For those of you willing to learn more about getting to space, read on. These are some of the many details that need to be figured out for space travel to become a normal thing. Glad to see there has been progress, but clearly more is needed. Twenty years from now, we will likely look…
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Procrastination: A short explanation
In case you haven’t seen it, this is an excellent and hilarious (they are not mutually exclusive) explanation on how procrastination works and why some tasks are more prone to it.
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Propinquity: 2021 Word of the Year
The winner of the Bredesen 2021 Word of the Year contest* is: Propinquity The Propinquity Effect refers to the seemingly obvious fact that you make connections with people you are physically, mentally, or emotionally in close proximity. I chose this word because of the work from home (WFH) situation many have found themselves in due…
John Bredesen: Remember, wherever you go, there you are.