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Jacob Pettit added 6mo
One of the most intelligent case studies in design is the Chinese tea cup. They’re made without handles simply because if it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to drink.
Humans naturally want to add more. Add a cardboard sleeve, add a warning on the outside of the cup, add a handle. The result of all these things never cools down the actual contents.
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Jacob Pettit added 6mo
My challenge, information-wise, isn't about finding a needle in a haystack. It's that I'm confronted on a daily basis, in Carr's words, by "haystack-sized piles of needles." — Oliver Burkeman
Jacob Pettit added 6mo
Careful technology
open.substack.comJacob Pettit added 6mo
"Go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as y
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30 Useful Concepts (Spring 2024)
open.substack.comJacob Pettit added 6mo
Nicolas Cole on Substack
substack.comJacob Pettit added 6mo
“Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” - Marcus Aurelius
Jacob Pettit added 6mo
Kurt Vonnegut, talking about when he tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope:
“Oh, she says well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of b
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