Jonathan Sick’s Timeline

-21˚C and the furnace gave up last night. Thankfully we have some redundant forms of heating and some friends dropped off extra space heaters so we should be able to keep things going until a tech arrives.

Speaking of Krugman going indie, I find it curious that even established writers are offloading platform ownership to Substack in return for the benefit of its network and (I guess?) simple technical set up. What happens when Substack stops being cool or culturally palatable?

I was let down when I heard that Paul Krugman was retiring from the New York Times — this is until I found that he’s got a new home on Substack and is commenting with ever more frequency on economics and (of course) politics. Highly recommended and paywall free (for now?)

We watched Wild Robot last night 🍿 As new parents, the story line hit hard in a good way.

I appreciated the dystopian undertones of the movie — like the Golden Gate Bridge being underwater.

And if you’re an ecologist, just try to suspend belief for about an hour for best effect.

Finished reading: Boom by Byrne Hobart and Tobias Huber 📚

The book’s idea is that useful bubbles — characterized by irrational exuberance, shared optimism, and overinvestment — are important drivers of innovation (think of bubbles as things like the Apollo program and development of the microchip rather than purely financial delusions like the 2008 financial crisis). In that sense, the current AI bubble can be seen as useful because it’s concentrating huge amounts of R&D on a shared vision of the future. And just like the dot-com bubble popped but left behind the network infrastructure necessary for the Internet we rely upon today, the AI bubble may leave behind important software and computing paradigms even if Nvidia’s stock crashes.

Boom also has its weird and sometimes eye-roll-worthy moments. The first part of the book tries to explain that we’re currently mired in a Great Stagnation compared to the rapid developments of the mid-century. One of the things it blames for stagnation is the monoculture of university campuses — as if wokeness is to blame for a lack of innovation. The book ends with a philosophical and somewhat theological discussion of bubbles and progress that frankly didn’t land with me at all in audiobook format.

The middle stretch of the book is quite nice, though, as a survey of key technological developments in the last century and how a bubble-type environment brought them about.

Finished reading: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Tj Klune 📚 This was our night time read for a while because we kept falling asleep early as new parents. I love Daniel Henning’s narration and find myself using David-the-Yeti’s voice with my son too often. I think it’s interesting how the first book concluded we can win over conservatives with love, but this book swung to towards silencing authoritarians with [magical] force and a little bit of land-back movement for good measure. Enough is enough, eh?

Finished reading: The Comeback by Lily Chu 📚A book about accidentally getting into a relationship with a K-pop idol and becoming a hashtag. I like the cross-overs with the Stand In and The Takedown.

Finished reading: The Stand-In by Lily Chu 📚 A rom-com where the main character finds her life’s work in becoming a productivity app developer/mogul? Oh yes!

Finished reading: The Takedown by Lily Chu. 📚 Lovely characters and I loved how the book poked at the cult of blind positivity. I also nerded out over how the friend Hanna is a callback to her book The Comeback.

Finished reading: Drop Dead by Lily Chu. 📚 A cute rom-com with a delightful narration duet from Phillipa Soo and John Cho. I wonder if Chu had Margaret Atwood in mind when writing Dot Voline?

Over paternity leave I crushed through the whole catalogue of Lily Chu audiobooks and I loved her whole mood board of Toronto / lady takes on the world / falls in love in the most implausible way / finds her purpose in life. Here’s some catch-up posts on each read… ✌️

My podcast listening stats for 2024 show just how much I have @macsparky in my ear! I’m sad to see Automators go (the second @rosemaryorchard podcast I’ve had sunset on me) but it’s given me the push to try improvements to my tech life and I thank them for that. 💜

This wonk podcast episode is primarily about whether passive investing is good for markets (and investors), but an idea that caught my ear is that we should have a means to invest in our local communities, but we don’t.

Right now, my biggest investment is in the US equity market. This is great for long-term returns, but it means my money has left the country where I live and isn’t making any tangible difference in my life. Why can’t I also make my local community better by investing in its businesses? In other words, why isn’t there an ETF for small businesses in Penetanguishene, Ontario?

And just like that, a night dipping to -20°, and Penetanguishene is iced in by Georgian Bay.

The first big ice formations of the season.

I enjoyed this video by Stewart Hicks on how the joining plate led to cheap trusses and ultimately the proliferation of McMansions in suburbia. So often a good idea ends up being perverted by capitalist players and the market goes along with it.

The first sunny day after two weeks of snow ❄️

You can’t tell your own stories if you’re too busy refuting the terrible stories told by others. You have to give yourself both the space—and the silence—to dream.

— Mandy Brown, Storytelling as practice

Watched Stay the Night with Andrea Bang. 🎬 We loved the thoughtful take on the rom com and coming of age genres. And perfect Toronto vibes.

My Old Ass 🎬 with Aubry Plaza and a Canadian cast surprised with the hard-hitting sentimentality of embracing the present and accepting the future (i.e. we all cried).

Started reading Handmade by Gary Rogowski because, until yesterday, it was free on Audible. 📚 I struggled through the start where he proclaimed he mastery of woodworking for ten minutes and then the first several chapters recounting his college life, but eventually it settled into a memoir on the craft similar to Peter Korn’s or even Nick Offerman’s. Definitely reminiscent of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in the melding of philosophy and craft.

Breakfast with Nikki

With great excitement we just started reading: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Tj Klune 📚 It’s a prequel to the classic The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Finished reading: I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue 📚 A lovely office rom-com about finding empathy for yourself and others. Set in Calgary. ❤️

Currently reading: The Creative Act by Rick Rubin 📚 🐈☕️

Finished reading: Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick 📚 I thought this was a great primer on where we’re at with AI and what it can do for us. For the last year I’ve been using AI as a super-charged code completion with GitHub Copilot and a web documentation librarian with my MDN subscription. I’ve just scratched the surface of what I can do and I haven’t yet delved into the more conversational modes of AI. Mollick gave some interesting tips on prompt engineering — like giving the AI a persona for more insightful responses. Huh. Overall I like how Mollick encourages us to keep probing the frontiers of AI in our daily work and adopting it intentionally — much better than using it blindly or even ignoring it altogether.

I’m loving the upgrade from the 12 Pro camera to the iPhone 16 Pro. Portrait mode-ing all the things. I’ve been using the “Natural” photo styling a lot too.

Quick update on the iPhone transfer saga. The iPhone 16 Pro still crashed and behaved oddly. I ended up doing a clean restore, this time transferring directly from the old iPhone 12. Everything seems super happy since. That the original iCloud restore was buggy is concerning, but 🤷

The camera control “button” is interesting. I don’t feel at all fast using it yet, like I do with the physical controls on a Canon, so I assume I need to practice and build muscle memory for switching between settings.

Finished reading: How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra 📚 It starts out nerdy, but grows into a profound message about the social role of public infrastructure. Highly recommended.

Today’s a very expensive day. iPhone preorder, then off to Hunter Douglas to get better and safer blinds for the nursery. Adulting.

After some paper prototyping I chickened out and didn’t get the Max size as discussed. The size of the 12 Pro I’m used to is too good. And there’s a ton of MagSafe power banks out there. So anyways, if all goes well, I’ll get pictures of our newborn with a 16 Pro!

I think I’ll order an iPhone 16 Pro Max oddly enough after realizing that my 12 Pro does most of what I want except for the battery life. Go all-in on battery and maybe another 3 or 4 year service life will be reasonable?

I’m kind of relieved that there’s no Air Pod Pro 3 or Apple Watch Ultra 3 in today’s event. I love that Apple made my existing ones better in software without a yearly churn that makes us buy more physical goods.

With a kid on the way, iPhone 16’s dedicated camera control button is perfect timing.

It was a quiet overcast Saturday morning. As I sipped my coffee and perused the Globe and Mail, I noticed I had a weekly roundup email from MacStories. One of the items was a teaser about a new feature in Unread, an RSS reader app I like:

Paul Stockton gave us a heads-up on a nice new feature coming to the RSS reader Unread .

I was intrigued. I saw that Reeder had just made a big splash this week with a new app release, so I wondered what my beloved Unread was up to.

1. I click on the link in the email, but it takes me to the MacStories+ paywall. I find the small button to login, below the larger calls-to-action to sign up.
2. I put in my email and wait 10 seconds for the Memberful magic login code email to arrive. Thankfully Apple has a feature where codes from these emails would automatically pop-up to be auto-filled in. It used to be that these “magic logins” required me to spelunk in my email app and find out which folder SaneBox sorted it in. I hate email-based magic logins. At least with this Apple feature to fill in the code for me they’re tolerable.
3. I’m logged into MacStories+ on my iPhone, but I’m left at the homepage, no sign of my Unread content yet! I go back to the email and click the original link about the mysterious Unread feature again.
4. Now I’m dumped at another MacStories+ club page, this time asking me whether I want to visit Discord via the web or via an app. The mention of Discord increases my pessimism about a speedy resolution, but I press the “web” button.
5. I now have to log into Discord. In my first attempt I fumble because 1Password autofilled my Discord user name as my email. So I put in my email and try again.
6. Discord is suspicious of this new login from someone who never really uses Discord. They have me check my email to approve the new login.
7. Over in my Mail app, I find Discord’s email and approve it. I’m sent to a new Safari tab, which tell me I’m legitimate, but I need to find the original Safari tab to continue my journey into Discord.
8. Over in Discord, where I’m now logged in, I try to find the MacStories channel. On the way, I’m shown a buch of bizzare views about Discord study clubs and exclusive themes. These views are a bit janky, likely because I’m viewing it on the web in mobile Safari and no one remembers to test Discord this way. At some point I realize I’m not a member of the MacStories Discord channel.
9. I go back to the MacStories+ account pages and find the FAQ about Discord. There’s a link to join the Discord. I click it. I have to read a code of conduct and accept it, which I do. Then there’s directions to go into the Discord channel, find #rules and thumbs-up some message. Back in Discord on the mobile web and the layout continues to be broken with things overflowing and content unreadable. I give up and download the Discord app from the App store.
10. I log into Discord on the Discord app. The 1Password login doesn’t initially show in the mobile keyboard, but once I enter my email it does. I hit sign in and confirm I’m a human. I’m told my login or password are invalid, which is odd because I’d just logged into Discord with those credentials. I realize it’s again because 1Password autofilled my username instead of my email address in the “login” field.
11. A new login location detected! please check your email! This rodeo is familiar. I wonder if this is because of iCloud’s secure VPN feature? Anyways, I find the email and then I’m dumped into a new Safari tab. I’m left on my own wits to find the Discord app again.
12. Discord is excited to see me. It wants me to choose a custom app icon. It also really wants me to turn on notifications.
13. Brushing those Discord pop-ups aside, I find the MacStories+ channel. Whew. I tap on that. I get some welcoming text and I’m let to fill out a three-part questionnaire. At last this brings me to the #rules. I read and accept all the community rules. Ok, I think we’re finally set up.
14. I find that original email again and tap on the link about the new feature in Unread.
15. At last, I’m linked to the exact message in Discord! It works!
16. I find out the feature is related to an integration with an app I don’t use.

Fair enough.

In one light, this was annoying because the teaser in the MacStories email could have given me just a tiny bit more context to tell me whether the next 20 minutes of account wrangling would be worth it.

It also don’t hold MacStories to blame for wasting my time. For them, and their readers who already have the Memberful login cookie in their browser and have already signed up for the Discord, that link really would have been a split-second content load rather than a hilarious quest.

But it does serve as a good reminder for platform operators (of which I count myself through my day job that not all of your users are super fans and that if they just want to get a tiny thing done, making them do a lot of set up isn’t necessarily reasonable. Making account sign ups, logins, and set ups as seamless as possible is incredibly important. No one wants to think about choosing a custom Discord app icon when all they really wanted to do was follow a link in a newsletter.