Audited my Threads profile for blog post ideas
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1. š± New iOS Prompts
First tab is about the new iOS prompts. Itās not so much about liquid design. Itās about how bad the flat design was for things like prompts.
View on Threads
2. š Daily Paper Journal & Analog Tools Meetup
Next oneās about my written habit that I had last year of keeping a daily written journal on paper. Thatās something Iād love to start again, and is also why Iāve been intending to go to the analog tools meetup for God knows how long, and I havenāt goneāpartly because I also havenāt kept up the habit. So this is a good reminder as well.
View on Threads
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3. š„ļø Homepage Redesign & Blog Feedback
Next tab is about some design ideas for my homepage. Although I didnāt go through with these ideas, it might be interesting to sort of design in public, as it were, and put this up on my website as a blog post and try it there. Maybe Iāll get more thoughtful feedback from my blog-reading friends and through the RSS reader. And it also gives me a chance to explain why I didnāt end up going through with the design that I liked, and show the simple tweak that I made to the homepage instead.
View on Threads
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4. š° Walt Disney, Tomorrowland & Epcot
The next tab is about Walt Disney. I thought of this because June is the IndieWeb Movie Film Club, and I think it was last month where Tantek had picked Tomorrowland. I actually wasnāt a huge fan of the film, but what I liked was that I went to the Walt Disney Family History Museum to see an exhibit on the making of the movie.
This post is a reminder of how much I liked Walt Disneyās story, how much the family museum meant to me for thatābut also, even within that, how much in hindsight even the family, who loves him so much that they made a museum, didnāt really appreciate his vision of Tomorrowland. The original vision of Epcot, which is something Iāve done presentations on and have been meaning to write up about for ages.
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5. āļø Phoneless Life, Apple Watch, and Focused Tools
Next tab is about me going phoneless and using my Apple Watch with AirPods. I havenāt thought about this in ages because my AirPods Pro broke down and died three times. Twice, it was replaced, and third time was out of warranty. I love the combo when I had it. I now sort of use a separate phone without a cell signal in order to sort of emulate that. Itās obviously a little more clunky. Has other benefits, though, because then I donāt get audio interruptions. But for the most part, I do miss this setup.
It reminds me of the āsocial media like itās 1999 or somethingā post that Iāve saved on Hacker Newsāmeaning to blog about forever. Basically, a guy had written about what itās like to get off social media and get off a smartphone. A security researcher in Germany. And he has a photo on that thatās just got stuck in my brain. I keep coming back to it again and again. It was the three tiny little focused gadgets he used to replace the all-purpose gadget: a GoPro, a Garmin watch, and a tiny little credit cardāsized phone.
My version of that is the Apple Watch and AirPods Proāor even, if Iām really being super mindful, just my watch. I use it for going on dog walks. For a while there, it became really my city outlet where I would just grab the dogs, throw them in the car, go to the beach, run them around, and come back homeāall without my phone. Even little tiny tripsānot full-day trips, but tiny little breaks in my dayābecame so much better without a phone. Just going across the street to the grocery store, or going to Starbucks or whatever.
Which might sound totally normal to boomers. They donāt necessarily have to have their phones on them all the time. Although I think now everyone just sort of assumes phones are attached to your hip.
Itās such a habit now that Iāve been doing it for so many years now that not having my phone on a regular basis has become not an act of rebellion but literally just a way of life.
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6. š¾ Nas Hamid, Overlanding, and Digital Grief
The next tab is meant to be a noteāpossibly public or notāabout how itās coming up on two years since I first became aware of Nas Hamid and his outdoor and overlanding, and specifically about how heād go camping with the Chihuahua.
I thought itād be maybe a poignant little reminder to write about, because although I still havenāt met them and I never got to meet their Chihuahua before she passed away, she made such an impact on me through the digital landscape. My two boys hereāthe picture of that in the post is something that Iād love to embed.
And also talking about how much I enjoyed the newsletter experience and following along in this sort of mini Craig Mod thing, something that Iāve been meaning to do. I got a little bit of a taste of that with my recent bikepacking projectāwhere I documented the routes I was going to do, invited friends along, wrote up recaps, etc.
It was a time-bound projectānot a full-on email newsletter or publicized. It was just more semi-private, letās put it that way. And limited to an Instagram group chat of people that were interested and already registered to RSVP for the camping trip. But it was a good test run for maybe doing something broader.
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7. š» Static Site Generator, Publishing History & Astro
Next post is about my friend deciding on which static generator to use. And the fact that that was September 2023 is a meaningful moment for me, because it was around a decade of having the same web publishing setupājust hosting my website on GitHub directly.
So going back in time here to when I was considering switching away and looking at what frameworks I was going to use is like an interesting snapshot, especially now with everything I know in hindsight about what I did end up choosing: the Astro web framework.
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8. š§āš« Advice for Junior Designers & Confidently Wrong People
Next post is about junior designers and my advice for them, based on the best advice that I got. And also a little bit of a rant about, in this sort of age where everyone wants to be an influencer so bad, that they start trying to become one before they even have the expertise.
Thatās fine for showing documentary-style learnings as you go alongābut to sort of teach, and also to teach in order to learn, like teach what youāve learned so far. But what ends up happening a lot of times is the way people present themselves is as if they have so much more expertise than they really do.
And itās just so in-your-face obvious to advanced experts. Now I kind of get why sometimes experts came across as snarky when I was growing up, because they would just see shit that was so obviously wrong, people proclaiming advice that was obviously wrong with such confidenceāit would just move you into having to say something, anything.
So itās really not just AI that has this problem of being confidently wrong.
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9. š¼ Sex Pistols, Creators, and Cultural Ceiling
Next tab is about a writer I hadnāt thought about in a while, but basically writing about mainstream culture.
Itās the one about the Sex Pistols only taking two years to go from a completely squalid situation to the top of the pop charts. But since that kind of thing hasnāt necessarily happened with online video creators, does that mean thereās a natural inherent limit to their cultural perceptionālike how low-rent it is?
Now when you say ācreators,ā itās just front-of-camera people, talking heads, basically your local news station if I were to use an analogyānot Hollywood stars.
But behind the camera, there have been people making the jump. I forget what his name is, but the something guitar guy moved on to be a legit film director. And thereās other examples of that YouTube-to-professional-comedian kind of jump. So I donāt think itās a golden rule.
But there is just something about the typical influencer typeāif you were to go back in time, it would just seem baffling. Not good or bad, just like, āWhy are these people being unpaid amateur versions of marketers that are selling nothing?ā All theyāre doing is selling the idea of selling. Itās just stupid. Who are you influencing?
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10. š Naps, Night Owls, and Morning Routine Bias
Another one is about how much I love naps, which is kind of interesting because I donāt really take them as much anymore.
I wonder if thatās becauseānot that Iāve gone all aggro about a morning routineābut sort of the opposite. That Iāve actually learned what it really means to be a night owl.
Being a night owl is not about the hours you keep, itās about sort of embracing the fact that it takes you time to gain energy throughout the day. You have social jet lag, and that doesnāt mean somethingās wrong with you that needs to be beaten out of you with coffee or willpower.
Speaking of another type of influencerāthe aggro male military bootlicker typesāfuck that, man.
That doesnāt mean being lazy and sleepy all day. Ironically, it actually means probably having to get up earlier than early birds for your brain to come on and be functional and alert enough to deal with their fucking annoying asses without saying some shit that will get you fucking divorced.
Oopsāis that too personal? Ha ha ha.
But yeah, thereās way too much advice about morning routines in general, compared to nightly routines or just not being fucking depressed enough to not want to get up out of bed and face life.
Also the fact that the advice tends to be cookie-cutter and given by people who are enthusiastic about the subject, which makes senseābut then thereās an inherent bias toward people being naturally good at that thing.
So, for example, athletes are going to talk about training in ways that they enjoy. Powerlifters are going to talk about how much they love to eat and lift and get strong, and thatās the key to life. And early birds are going to talk about how much their fucking 4 a.m. routine is the spice of life.
And the fact that they work out early in the morning, first thing, means the rest of the day they can just have self-satisfied smirks or whatever. Sorry, dudeāworking out early in the morning drains me of energy, doesnāt energize me.
So some of it works. I like the video that Dr. Mike put upāDr. Mike Israetelāabout a morning routine that works. And that really has clicked for me.
⢠Getting up and slamming waterāthatās been key.
⢠Getting out and getting some light.
⢠Very, very light exercise.
⢠And just not even doing it if my dog is like, āItās cold and it hurts.ā Iām not going to drag his 16-year-old ass around the block until he has a panic attack.
⢠Having a high-fat, high-fiber, low-carb meal to give you steady energy throughout the day, but also to cushion the blow in the stomach before you get your first caffeine.
All that has helped so much to the point where I often forget to have my first caffeine of the dayāitāll just sit there by my keyboard and Iāll forget to sip it as I start plugging away. Which would just completely and utterly shock you to the floor if you knew me or had a similar routine or struggles and cycles. And now itās often the only caffeine of the day.
I love caffeine. I love coffee. But it is a drug. Which Iāll come back to later.
Related: Upside Of Your Dark Side and its connection to Inside Out
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11. š“ Zone 2 Ride & Mission Bay Loop
Another one is about a bike ride from back in July 2023.
It was just an easy 90-minute Zone 2 training ride, so thatās a bit humbling that I was already at that state two years ago and Iām not sure Iāve progressed. My wrists still hurt and my VO2 is still not that great.
So itās really humbling how much further I have to goāboth in terms of VO2 and also weight loss, because Iāve learned that weight is actually a factor in your VO2, no matter how much you work out.
But I am getting stronger.
The other thing about it is that it reminds me how much I used to love living by Mission Bay, so that I could use that as my own personal loop. And that ended up being one of my Wednesday night rides this year, where someone else also loves it so much they started a group for it.
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12. āļø iPad + Keyboard Writing Setup, Markdown, and Pretext
Update: oh my God, Iām having so much fun with this. I just updated this post with an embed code from threads so I could see the original microblog Short post in context with my thoughts about it. And did it all from my bed on my iPhone! How Mehta is that? Updating this post here about how I update post. You might call writing about writing navel gazing, but thereās a reason we love movies and shows about making movies and shows, like The Studio.
Itās not just about speed! At some point, the speed goes away and becomes so fast that itās effortless and you just focus on your thoughts or the tasks. ļæ¼
Another one is about a photo of my iPad with my mechanical keyboard and trackpad.
Thatās a setup that I love, love, loveānot just for reading, but especially for writing. Itās like a little typewriter.
And I think this also could be a great segue into talking about what my setup is as of the last 24 hours: Iāve used iCloud and Markdown and GitHub and a local running copy of Astro so that Iāve got this awesome new web writing and publishing setup.
That links into Federico Viticciāwhatever his name isāthe guy that runs MacStories.net. Itās humbling to find out that he had elements of this setup years ago.
But I did finally stumble onto it in my own sweet time.
And now I would love to talk about why it was like a mental alarm for me to find the iOS app called Pretext. Because I loved it so much in trying itājust to edit this one markdown file that I needed on the go. Itās like a free, poor manās version of iA Writer. Which is prohibitively expensiveādefinitely worth it, but expensive. And I know itās worth it not just from trials, but because I used and still have older versions of the app.
After trying Pretext for a little bit, it made me realize that that was what I was looking for: A quick way to edit markdown files across different devices, where itās still instantly synced with iCloud.
My previous attempts at using markdown were still sort of thinking from the mental framework of needing to use Git in order to use version control to keep it synced across devices. Although you can do that in theory, the reality is that itās got way too much friction and way too hard to use for just quick little edits back and forth.
Itās fine for publishing. But after having tried it that wayāa combo of using the apps Working Copy and Textastic on an iPadāit was an interesting way to try it, but enough friction that I just kind of forgot about it.
But now I have this dual setup:
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I can quickly whip together a template on my Mac like I usually doāthatās the Mac strength, you know, for the bikepacking subpages. I designed the quick icon and color themes and set it up and made a template so I could put markdown files in it.
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And then what the iPad is good at: I took those markdown files and fleshed them out, added more markdown files.
And now, because of this instant syncing, I can not only write, but then on the iPad this morning, I was able to just pop over to the browser and see how those edits are coming outābecause they have embedded maps or other things that Iāve added to it.
Fantastic setup.
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13. āļø Caffeine, Coffee, and Bike Rides
The next three tabs are related together because theyāre about caffeine.
I need to find that book that Nate mentioned onceāI think we even talked about it when we were at Disneyland. Basically about how caffeine invented the industrialized world, and the history of coffee.
A funny sort of quip was that of course it makes sense that the Arabs invented coffee, because it comes from a culture that invented algebra. Invented math as we know it. Of course those guys would be caffeine junkies, right?
The truth is a little more nuanced. It goes back to East Africa. Iāve got to look up the storyāwhatever it is, like the minister that found the goat farmer that had the dancing goats, and that whole story.
I also have a little video/photo post of how much I love coffee on a bike rideā Itās a trick to get myself out the door: to go to a coffee destination.
And a shout-out to my favorite local roaster: Bird Rock.
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14. š Michael Collins & Apollo Program
Next post is about one of those books that I loved very, very much and that made an impression on me ā That I keep thinking about. Itās written by Michael Collins, the astronaut in the Apollo program, and his book Carrying the Fire.
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14.1 š Books
The astronaut autobiography made me think of another post idea: round up of books that have made on impact on me throughout my life that I keep coming back to. Incorporate the Tracy Strong quote about age changing your reading of the same text.
Off the top of my head: socrates, upside of your dark side, mindset (despite my misgivings), Freud, John Stewart Mill, Rich dad poor dad, millionaire next-door, cuckooās egg, Michael Johnsonās autobiography (the thing that always stuck with me is that his amazing achievements, he would visualize the progress to them as like pearls on a necklace, itās not exactly the persona. I thought he would be given how Iād only see her on TV with his brash gold shoes, and and you just assumed that he might be one of those loud type of athletic personalities, but he was actually someone I felt similar to in terms of using his brain to analyze and push through into what you would think is just a pure grunting of effort, thatās not why Iām surprised I wasnāt surprised to then see in interviews that he was such a calm, rational, yet stern and strong presence, like go watch his recent interview where he talks about performance, but also challenges in life like having had a stroke or starting new businesses)ļæ¼
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15. š°ļø Space Race, Strategy, and Misread History
Oh, thereās another tab here that relates to the astronaut thing I said earlierā
Which is how most people are wrong about the sort of current revisionism around why we did the space race. And that we lack the willpower to do hard things, etc.
The more grounded take is that the space race workedā And itās what bankrupted the USSR.
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16. š¤ Reconnecting with Rob & Side Project Notes
Next post is about how Iām coming up on the two-year anniversary of reconnecting with my friend Rob. Afterāgoshā11 years since we did Y Combinator together.
Then in 2023 we got together and started kicking around ideas.
Documenting those side project ideas in a blog post is something I can do. And I would love to get his feedback on it as sort of like a case study about case studies.
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17. š Old Trucks, Dream Cars, and Family Memories
Next post is about how much I love topless old trucks, and that I keep dreaming about having one.
I have photos saved on Pinterest of beautiful Land Rovers. But I also go and take pictures of similar vehicles when I see them around.
Thereās an orange oneāan orange Willyāin OB that I saw a couple of times. And finally had the time to track it down and just have a little photo session with it.
I could also link to the Willys thatās in my Hello World postā About the old couple that I ran into in the desert.
Thereās also a photo of a muscle car that I can addā Iām not usually into muscle cars. Thereās another one of an interior of a muscle car.
But I think it might be interesting to talk about how in another life I could be a car designer, or a car racer.
Probably not a car racerā Considering itās difficult for an American, especially of a certain time, and not rich. Or even if you are, really, honestly.
But the fact that I grew up drawing cars, doing book reports about cars, loving cars, having car wallpapers, racing go-karts, and learning to drive stick in grade school. You heard me rightāin grade school. And telling the whole story about my mom teaching me how to drive stick.
And maybe even just broader themes about how I got my speed-freak gene from my momās side of the family.
Something about living near the secretive Nissan Design Center in La Jolla, learning about the story of the Bangle Butt and his philosophy for competing design studios, and about the Pasadena school.
So much similarity to designing software and the same reason I draw inspiration from fields like architecture or industrial design - itās about making things that people use and inhabit.
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18. š Threads, ActivityPub, and Early UX
Next is a couple of posts about the early days of Threadsā And how sort of fun it was. And about ActivityPub and all that, because they recently announced some integration.
Itās been so long gestating, that itād be interesting to go back to the early days of just liking the UX of what the devs were building. Looking at the Guardian article about it. And just about how itās like a more usable version of Instagram.
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19. šø Courtney Love, Misunderstood Visionary, and Web Design as Rockstar Work
Another post is about Courtney Love and how much I love the band Hole.
Remember when web designers were rock stars?
This is an opportunity to finally capture my thoughts about what a strange influence sheās been on me recently. Or another way to put it is how misunderstood she was in her day. Where I thought she was just this problem child.
I believed a lot of the anti-Courtney hype that, in hindsight, you realize came from the corporate powers that be being against her.
When you read her letterāI think I may have even seen her famous exposĆ© letter or heard about itā She wrote a tell-all about the music industry, and it just sounded like the angry rantings of someone that didnāt make sense to me at the time.
But I realize now the problem was me. I didnāt have enough context.
And now when I read it, itās the kind of thing that even people who work in techā If they havenāt worked in startups to understand how VCs workā They donāt understand how the dynamic is similar to music labels or studios with the movies.
Now, maybe Iām wrongāmaybe a lot more people recognize that now, and weāre all just more educated about these power dynamics. But itās really interesting.
And thereās a poignant note at the end:
She says that her niece wants to become a web designer. And that theyāre the new rock stars.
And that flashes me back to the early days of web design, when it was something so new and the dot com scene was so cool that they cast Hollywood hunks in romcoms.
(40 days and nights)
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20. š· Instagram & Local Bike Scene
Then there are two posts about Instagram and what it means to me in terms of the local bicycle scene.
And how much more important it is.
And how it sucked me back inā Not just in a silo kind of way.
I have a little post worrying about that. But it might be interesting to embed these Threads or bring them back or revisit them.
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21. š§ Negative Bias, Criticism, and Steve Blankās Rule
And then the last one is a difficult one for me to admitā Which is that negative bias is a common trap.
People seem more intelligent just by criticizing things. And thatās something I forget, because I can criticize and overcorrect so much.
So writing a post about how to give criticismā But more importantly, when not to.
And why thatās just the mood killer, and riff killer, and just ruins the momentum. Like, how people just donāt know how to brainstorm and ideate.
And a good excuse for me to finally track down the Steve Blank quoteā About kicking people out of the room whose first reaction to an idea is to critique or criticize it.
Thereās the whole Steve Jobs āan idea is a fluffy, special thingā that I think Jony Ive talked about too.
But a more grounded version of that with Steve Blank.Sort of relates back toā Itās like the unspoken social rule behind the formal design process of the double diamond. Or just knowing when to zoom out and when to zoom in.
Also knowing when and whoāmore importantly, whoāto brainstorm with, and who to validate and critique with. Donāt expect people to be naturally good at cross-training and going across disciplines just because that comes comfortably to me. And itās frustrating when people canāt either ideate or canāt then shift into build mode and critique.
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Themes
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š§ META / BLOGGING PRACTICE ⢠Tab-spelunking voice memo as a capture ritualāa safeguard against losing the initial spark behind saved tabs. ⢠Idea to write posts based on abandoned design directions, using ādesign in publicā to solicit thoughtful feedback from blog/RSS readers. ⢠Analogy: this voice memo is your version of a Craig Mod-style field log or digital newsletterāsemi-private, time-bound, and personal.
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š± Interface & UX Details ⢠1. š± New iOS Prompts
Summary: Youāre critiquing the poor UX of flat design, especially in system prompts.
Feedback: This could be a great short design essay: one clear gripe, backed by visual examples.
Critique: Consider expanding on why flat design failsāambiguity? lack of hierarchy? affordances?
Further Reading: ⢠Flat Design: Its Origins, Problems, and the Way Forward ā Nielsen Norman Group ⢠A Brief History of Skeuomorphism
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š§ Thinking & Critique
Includes: ⢠8. š§āš« Advice for Junior Designers & Confidently Wrong People ⢠9. š¼ Sex Pistols, Creators, and Cultural Ceiling ⢠21. š§ Negative Bias, Criticism, and Steve Blankās Rule
Summary: This cluster explores the tension between expertise and confidence, the pitfalls of premature authority, and the social dynamics of critiqueāboth in creative culture and professional settings.
Feedback: This is your sharpest, most opinionated work. Youāre asking hard questions about how people position themselves as āexperts,ā and how that plays out in tech, design, and culture.
Critique: These pieces may provoke strong reactions. Be clear whether youāre diagnosing a trend, offering personal insight, or proposing a fix. Avoid sliding into pure rant unless thatās a conscious choice.
Suggestions: ⢠Frame your takes as hard-won lessons (āwhat I wish I knew as a junior designerā) ⢠Add vivid examplesāmaybe anonymized but real ⢠Tie back to your experience on both sides of the table: beginner and mentor
Further Reading: ⢠How to Be a Great Junior Designer ā Julie Zhuo ⢠Dunning-Kruger: Why the Ignorant Think Theyāre Experts ā Farnam Street ⢠Avoiding Groupthink in Brainstorming ā Steve Blank
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āļø Writing, Publishing, and Tools
Includes: ⢠3. š„ļø Homepage Redesign & Blog Feedback ⢠6. š¾ Nas Hamid, Overlanding, and Digital Grief ⢠7. š» Static Site Generator, Publishing History & Astro ⢠12. āļø iPad + Keyboard Writing Setup, Markdown, and Pretext
Summary: These entries capture your evolution as a writer-publisher, from hand-built sites to semi-private micro-journaling. They reflect a love of tools and the deeper emotional currents of digital authorship.
Feedback: You have a strong voice here, especially when writing about infrastructure as identity. Thereās also an interesting contrast between public and private expression that would be worth teasing out more.
Critique: Technical details can get dense. Focus less on what tools do and more on how they change your experience of writing, sharing, and remembering.
Suggestions: ⢠Compare your current setup to past iterations (with screenshots?) ⢠Write a blog post titled āWhat My Tools Say About Meā ⢠Use Nas and the overlanding entry to bridge personal and technical themes
Further Reading: ⢠My Publishing Workflow ā Robin Rendle ⢠Building a Personal Website ā Maggie Appleton ⢠Kissa by Kissa ā Craig Mod
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š Web, IndieWeb, and Platforms
Includes: ⢠18. š Threads, ActivityPub, and Early UX ⢠19. šø Courtney Love, Misunderstood Visionary, and Web Design as Rockstar Work
Summary: You reflect on the past and future of the web, especially its status as a creative medium. Youāre skeptical of platforms but fascinated by how people carve meaning out of them anyway.
Feedback: This is fertile ground for both nostalgia and critique. You might be one of the few people connecting Courtney Love to ActivityPubāand thatās a good thing.
Critique: Make sure the links between ideas are well-anchored. These are provocative juxtapositionsālean into the weirdness, but stay grounded.
Suggestions: ⢠Explore the parallels between artists and indie web developers ⢠Write a post about how the tools we use shape the culture we make ⢠Capture early Threads impressions before they disappear
Further Reading: ⢠What Screens Want ā Frank Chimero ⢠Threads, Meta, and the Fediverse ā The Verge ⢠Web Designers as Rockstars ā Archive of Courtney Loveās Letter
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š§ Habits, Health, and Energy
Includes: ⢠2. š Daily Paper Journal & Analog Tools Meetup ⢠10. š Naps, Night Owls, and Morning Routine Bias ⢠13. āļø Caffeine, Coffee, and Bike Rides
Summary: You explore the rhythms of your dayāfrom analog writing and journaling to fighting against morning-person culture. These posts are emotional diagnostics as much as they are habits.
Feedback: This cluster is deeply relatable and grounded. Thereās emotional depth here that could make these essays memorable if youāre willing to keep the vulnerability.
Critique: Watch out for repetitionāmany productivity rants follow similar beats. You can stand out by tying habits to emotions, memories, or physical experiences.
Suggestions: ⢠Use sensory details: the scratch of pen, taste of coffee, etc. ⢠Write a paired post: āWhat I Do in the Morningā vs. āWhat I Wish I Could Doā ⢠Include your own rules/rituals without preaching
Further Reading: ⢠Chronotypes and Night Owls ā Sleep Doctor ⢠The Case Against the 5AM Club ā Anne Helen Petersen ⢠Digital Minimalism ā Cal Newport
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š“ Biking and Outdoor Life
Includes: ⢠5. āļø Phoneless Life, Apple Watch, and Focused Tools ⢠11. š“ Zone 2 Ride & Mission Bay Loop ⢠17. š Old Trucks, Dream Cars, and Family Memories ⢠20. š· Instagram & Local Bike Scene
Summary: You reflect on technology, the outdoors, and nostalgiaāhow gear and place shape your everyday experiences. From silent rides to stick shift memories, these are meditations on movement and material culture.
Feedback: This cluster could form a short series or zine. You blend daily life with reverie in a way thatās grounded but resonant.
Critique: Some of this could come across as nicheāanchor it in broader themes like connection, flow, or freedom.
Suggestions: ⢠Create a photo essay blog post ⢠Use these entries to argue for ānon-digital presenceā without preaching ⢠Write about how physical rituals (biking, driving, walking) change your attention
Further Reading: ⢠Coffee Ride Culture ā Rapha ⢠The Romance of Old Cars ā Jalopnik ⢠The New Social Cycling Scene ā Bicycling Magazine
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š°ļø Space, Legacy, and History
Includes: ⢠4. š° Walt Disney, Tomorrowland & Epcot ⢠14. š Michael Collins & Apollo Program ⢠16. š°ļø Space Race, Strategy, and Misread History
Summary: You challenge dominant narratives about visionaries and historical milestonesāfrom the sanitized future of Disney to the geopolitical motives behind Apollo.
Feedback: This is big-picture writing. Youāre at your best when combining cultural critique with personal memory.
Critique: Make sure the audience knows why youāre writing this nowāground timeless themes in present questions.
Suggestions: ⢠Consider a mini-series: āStories We Get Wrong About the Futureā ⢠Frame each post with something physical (e.g., museum visit, book, photo) ⢠Show how these ideas inform your work as a designer/founder
Further Reading: ⢠The Real Purpose of Apollo ā The Atlantic ⢠Epcot as a Planned City ā Smithsonian ⢠Why the Space Race Was Political ā The Conversation
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š¤ Personal Relationships & Reflection
Includes: ⢠15. š¤ Reconnecting with Rob & Side Project Notes
Summary: You reflect on rekindling an old creative partnership and what it means to collaborate after time and growth.
Feedback: This could become a gentle, reflective essayāespecially if you contrast past and present versions of yourselves.
Critique: Not much to critiqueājust donāt let this stay buried. Itās got emotional and professional weight.
Suggestions: ⢠Document the conversation like a case study ⢠Use it to reflect on how your creative instincts have changed ⢠Consider turning it into an open invitation to collaborate more intentionally
Further Reading: ⢠How to Collaborate on Creative Work ā Figma ⢠The Importance of Side Projects ā Paul Jarvis
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Would you like any of these clusters turned into post outlines, grouped Markdown drafts, or Notion cards?