Tucker Chastain

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:52:28 -0400

I’m not saying AI is going to take over the world, but if it can remember things and offer to do the work instead of reminding me. I’m going to get really lazy.

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:19:07 -0400

If you have to back up to make a turn in a drive-through in your F350 super duty, your truck is too big to be driven on the road.

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:14:39 -0400

I never knew iPhones had notifications stored and now I want a Notifications app where all apps can send notifications and I can just open and look at them without getting notifications.

www.404media.co/fbi-extra…

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:05:21 -0400

I don’t know how I ever missed this weird cover.

Ed Sheeran with The Roots remixing Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen and they nail it. I love music reaching across boundaries!

youtu.be/_3JXeWFsf…

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:48:02 -0400

Evergreen title

www.vox.com/podcasts/…

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 08:52:19 -0400

I am thinking of upgrading to Notion AI and I was blown away by the interstitial! First of all props for sending a reminder email 5 days (FIVE DAYS!!) ahead of the actual charge. The way that it is laid out with the timeline makes it very easy to understand how long the trial will be.

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 11:59:42 -0400

The latest Accidental Tech Podcast is amazing! Marco describes how he set up Overcast transcription (which is absolutely amazing) and gets very into the details of how this all got setup over the past year. I’m constantly amazed at how hard app developers work on their apps and what goes on behind the scenes. Take thirty minutes out of your day while also looking at the pictures.

overcast.fm/+ABQnv4MC…

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 19:38:45 -0400

Hold on, switching back to Overcast.

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:45:53 -0400

I just finished reading Terry Godier’s post The Last Quiet Thing

This quote hits hard, “Nothing you own is finished.”

Everything needs updating, charging, or configured. It’s exhausting. Now multiply that for being the tech person in the family and everyone relies on me for everything with a battery. The mental strain of keeping up with it all is yet again, exhausting.

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 10:29:33 -0500

I briefly considered building my own RSS reader. Tools like Claude Code or OpenClaw make it technically feasible, and the idea of a custom-built solution is always tempting.

I decided against it.

Building software requires maintenance, security patches, and troubleshooting. I would rather pay Inoreader for a service I know is reliable and secure than sink hours into reinventing the wheel. My time is better spent consuming content than managing the tool that delivers it.

Inoreader also solves a specific, local problem: Facebook.

I hate the platform, but it remains the primary communication channel for my community. Schools, local newspapers, food trucks, and restaurants rarely maintain proper websites or standard RSS feeds. They post updates to Facebook Pages.

Relying on the Facebook feed means gambling with an algorithm designed for engagement, not chronology. I refuse to doom-scroll hoping to catch a school closing or a menu update.

Inoreader bridges this gap. It pulls updates from these specific Facebook Pages and delivers them alongside my standard RSS subscriptions. I get the utility of local information without the friction of the social network.

Mountainish Inhumanity: Shakespeare’s 400-Year-Old Warning

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 14:44:35 -0500

I’m not someone who goes to plays or was ever considered a theater kid, but this act on a late night show almost had me in tears.

A heartbreaking speech that was written by Shakespeare and performed by Sir Ian McKellen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has really hit me. It’s wild that 400 years can pass and the same issues are still harassing human beings.

The setup for the speech starts about 20 minutes into the show -linked here.

McKellen explains that he is one of the only living actors to “originate” a Shakespearean role, having played Thomas More in the first-ever stage production of the play Sir Thomas More in 1964. He performs the famous “Strangers” speech, which Shakespeare wrote to address a mob rioting against immigrants in London. In 1517, the Evil May Day riots saw Londoners rise up against the city’s growing immigrant population. Decades later, a theatrical depiction of these events emerged in the play Sir Thomas More. Despite its historical significance, the script remained unperformed and unpublished for centuries, likely suppressed by government censors who feared its portrayal of civil unrest.

It’s not a very long speech, but one that we all should hear. He explains that the play takes place 400 years ago in London during a riot. A mob in the streets is protesting the presence of immigrants who had recently arrived in London, and demanding they be sent back home. The authorities send a young lawyer, Thomas More, to quell the riot. More addresses the crowd that their actions are illegal and an appeal to their common humanity.

McKellen then begins the monologue after prompting an audience member to shout “Grant them removed!” to trigger the speech.

Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise

Hath chid down all the majesty of England;

Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,

Their babies at their backs with their poor luggage,

Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,

And that you sit as kings in your desires,

Authority quite silent by your brawl,

And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;

What had you got? I’ll tell you: you had taught

How insolence and strong hand should prevail,

How order should be quelled; and by this pattern

Not one of you should live an aged man,

For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,

With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,

Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes

Feed on one another.

You’ll put down strangers,

Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,

O, desperate as you are,

Wash your foul minds with tears, and those same hands,

That you like rebels lift against the peace,

Lift up for peace, and your unreverent knees,

Make them your feet to kneel to be forgiven!

Say now the king,

As he is clement if th’offender mourn,

Should so much come too short of your great trespass

As but to banish you, whither would you go?

What country, by the nature of your error,

Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,

To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,

Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England,

Why, you must needs be strangers:

Would you be pleased

To find a nation of such barbarous temper,

That, breaking out in hideous violence,

Would not afford you an abode on earth,

Whet their detested knives against your throats,

Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God

Owed not nor made not you, nor that the elements

Were not all appropriate to your comforts,

But chartered unto them, what would you think

To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;

And this your mountainish inhumanity.

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 14:41:59 -0500

I just discovered “A tiny Mac app that converts song links between Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and more.” The app, Relinq, has one of the best icons I’ve seen in a while.

What I Wish I’d Known When My Kids Were Infants

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 16:40:02 -0500

All my kids were introduced to peanut butter slowly after they were at least one year old. Back then, that was the guideline. You don’t give your kids peanuts because they might be allergic to them.

Once they were in elementary school all four loved eating peanut butter sandwiches and never had any adverse effects from eating so much peanut butter.

In this NY Times article, studies have shown a drop in peanut butter allergies due to new guidance stating to introduce peanuts and other foods early to build up tolerance.

Early introduction to the nine commonly allergenic foods a couple of times a week — like a pea-sized smear of peanut butter or a small bite of scrambled eggs, said Dr. Bracho-Sanchez — can help train an infant’s immune system.

On this past week’s Analog(ue) episode, Myke mentions his daughter has had a bit of an egg allergy and they have slowly been introducing eggs to her. My kids had eggs all the time and never had any issues.

I think that it just goes to show that you should raise your kids how you see fit and what you feel is correct and not based on what the current studies are stating because thoughts and ideas change constantly.

It’s Now Easy to Be Stupid

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:32:00 -0500

This was an interesting read that I have seen in myself and my kids. We are living in a world with the best healthcare, food, training, intelligence, etc. but what is it doing to us? We live in a world that our grandparents couldn't fathom the things we do in the first thirty minutes of waking up and yet we go about our day complaining.

Relatively speaking, these are nice problems to have. I’d rather live in an obesogenic society [a society that makes it easy to be overweight] than one with famine. I’d rather live in a stupidogenic society than one with no technology.

Hate Reading in iOS 26? Here’s the Fix

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 11:29:00 -0500

To anyone that has updated to iOS 26 and loves the new look, but hates the legibility of the text. I recommend doing the following with your iPhone.

On your iPhone, follow these simple steps in iOS 26:

Open the Settings app
Go to Accessibility
Tap Display & Text Size
Then toggle on Reduce Transparency

Are You Human Enough for This Game?

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:56:40 -0500

New site over at neal.fun by Neal Agarwal, the creator behind many playful internet experiments.

So what's it about? Instead of the usual frustrating CAPTCHA checks you see online, this is a game where the challenge itself is the fun. You'll solve quirky, puzzle-like captchas that feel more like a brain teaser than a security test.

It's not a real CAPTCHA to prove you are not a robot but gives off impossible quiz vibes from back in my day.

Check it out at I'm not a robot.

I'm Bored

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:43:19 -0500

I just watched You Need to Be Bored by Harvard Business Review and it has sparked some thoughts!

When my kids tell me that they are bored, I typically respond with a Great! or that's not a bad thing, congratulations. I tell them that I was bored once and look how I turned out! Recently, my son told me he was bored so I told him to get his shoes on and we went for a walk around the neighborhood. He wasn't bored anymore and we had a great moment. While not exactly what Arthur Brooks is talking about in the video, I hope it created a meaningful moment in my son's life. It let him know that it is OK to come up with a change in perspective when being bored.

I remember as a teenager playing video games for hours and then just setting the controller down and thinking that I was bored. I had just spent hours sitting looking at a TV screen and moving characters around accomplishing irrelevant tasks for no benefit. Fast forward to today and I have tried to use my phone less recently and have removed all social media from my phone. I still feel that pull to see what my favorite online creators have said about the new iPhone or what news story everyone is talking about. These scenarios highlight how my life is a mix of constant entertainment and my brain's need for boredom.

My brain needing to stop and rest.

I'm not the only one affected by phones. At lunch with my co-workers, we sit around for an hour and stare at our screens. We will have discussions, but the screens are always on and begging to be scrolled. This sometimes sparks conversation when someone mentions a current event they just scrolled past. What I really want, though, is to eat in my office in silence. As an introvert, it is very taxing to try and talk with my co-workers and then get up and go right back to being productive. I need some time to stop and process what has happened throughout the day and then focus on what I need to work on.

Have you ever intentionally tried to be bored? What happened?

Memory: Why We Forget and What Actually Helps

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 20:55:18 -0500

Introduction

We all experience memory lapses, from misplacing keys to walking into a room and forgetting why we’re there. It can feel frustrating, even alarming. But according to neuroscientist Charan Ranganath, forgetting is the brain’s default behavior and it's entirely normal. The human brain doesn’t have boundless storage, so forgetting helps prioritize what's truly meaningful.

1. Forgetting Is Not a Bug - It’s a Feature

,Our brains constantly encounter a flood of information. While we may become aware of many of these details momentarily, most aren’t stored unless they seem important. Think of memory like packing for a trip. You don’t take everything, you only take what you’ll need.

This efficiency can backfire when we forget things we do care about, like keys or conversations. That happens to everyone.

2. Common Memory Traps and Smart Fixes

Losing Your Keys?

This is a case of interference - you’ve made so many memory traces of “where I put my keys” that your brain gets overloaded.
Solution: Designate one consistent spot for your keys. Build the habit, problem solved.

Walking Into a Room and Forgetting Why

This happens because memory is tied to context. Leaving your office creates an “event boundary” or a mental reset making it easy to lose a thought when entering a new room.
Trick: Mentally rehearse what you need to do in the destination environment while still in the original one. For example, imagine yourself in the kitchen finding your glasses. It sets up the memory in advance.

3. Hacks to Harden Your Memory

Make guesses before learning: Guessing, even incorrectly, when learning something new for example, a Spanish phrase creates an emotional hook, making the right answer more memorable.
Write it: Handwriting something down helps embed it better in memory than typing (this one is tough for me as I dislike paper).
Memory palaces and melodies: Techniques like the method of loci (imagining info placed in familiar spatial maps like a castle) or turning content into a song can significantly boost recall.

4. Supplements & Brain Games: Do They Work?

Turmeric (Curcumin) shows modest evidence of improving working memory or the ability to hold information briefly.
Phosphatidylserine, a neuron membrane component, has some trials indicating memory benefits in certain groups but more research is needed.
Crossword puzzles and similar mentally engaging hobbies may be linked to a lower risk of dementia, although it’s unclear whether the puzzles cause the benefit or if people with better memories tend to pursue them.

5. The Real Game Changer: Sleep

In a study, participants who slept after reading an emotional story retained significantly more of it even four years later than those who stayed awake.
Sleep is fundamental for memory consolidation stabilizing new memories. Short-term sleep after learning matters across countless studies.
Conversely, poor sleep is a known risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia.

6. Let Your Brain Do the Work

Your brain doesn’t need constant stimulation. Taking breaks or going for a walk after learning gives your mind space to consolidate those memories.

Physical exercise isn’t a memory cure-all, but it provides overall mental sharpness and long-term protection against cognitive decline (especially later in life) and also improves sleep quality.

7. Stop Multitasking and Start Paying Attention

Memory requires attention. If you want to lock in important moments like a picnic with family, mindfully immerse in the details: sights, sounds, feelings. That’s the first step to creating a strong, lasting memory.

Conclusion: Your Memory Isn’t Failing You, It’s Doing Its Job

Forgetting isn’t a symptom, it’s a feature that helps your brain manage information overload.
Tools like dedicated spots, mental rehearsal, retrieval practice, storytelling, and mindful immersion can boost retention.
For meaningful improvements: prioritize sleep, allow for mental downtime, stay physically active, and pay attention to what matters most.

All information for this article was based on Science Vs Podcast - Memory: How to Boost It and was written while listening to the wonderful Wendy Zuckerman.

Spark’s X Button

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 07:51:55 -0500

I really hate that Spark has a post to X button about my email being at inbox zero.

My personal email pretty much stays at zero and it annoys me every time to see that button that I occasionally accidentally press when going to swipe down to refresh. I will NEVER post to X that I don’t have any emails currently.

I love having all my different emails together in Spark so I want to continue using the app, but a setting to turn that off would be ideal!

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 14:10:12 -0500

In the MacStories Weekly: Issue 478, John and Federico are taking a couple weeks off to recharge before the new OS and iPhone releases are announced this fall.

As much as we dislike pausing our regular publication schedule, years of doing this have taught us that a well-timed break keeps us from burning out and makes for a better fall season when we return.

I am so happy that these guys are publicly stating this. I think that it is so important to take a break and not go 100% all the time. Makes me even more proud to be a member!

Breathing

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 09:47:56 -0500

I learned this awesome breathing technique from the Focused and Bookworm podcast about the 4-7-8 breathing method.

It’s basically breathing in for four seconds, holding for seven, and exhaling for eight.

Dr. Dula discussed a different breathing method that stuck with me in my college days. Think of taking a deep breath as filling up your stomach with air, then completely emptying your stomach of all the air.

With both methods, the key is to focus on your breath, imagining your lungs expanding and contracting. I’ve been doing something similar for years, deep breathing to calm down when my mind starts racing with stress. Holding your breath seems to help clear everything out and bring a sense of peace. It’s a simple but powerful way to reset when life feels overwhelming.

I do not stress very often but have found this particularly helpful whenever I wake up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep. I typically never have any trouble getting to sleep but will occasionally wake up wide awake around 3a and think that it’s time to wake up. Combining the two breathing methods helps me to focus on relaxing and most nights, I am right back to sleep.

Following Myke Hurley’s Lead

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 18:11:14 -0500

Casey Neistat inspired me to start editing videos after watching his daily vlogs every day. It’s a weird type of inspiration, as I don’t want to be that person, but what they are doing makes me want to do something.

Myke Hurley is doing that for me now and is absolutely creating masterful content. I do not know how in the world he is able to do all that he does while raising a newborn. It’s amazing to watch someone put out so much great content.

The latest special episode of Cortex, “State of the Workflow” with John Gruber, has to be one of the best interviews I’ve ever listened to. The flow and ease of the questions caught me off guard, and I think John was surprised too, as he said, “That’s such a great question.”

I have always leaned toward Stephen among the Relay co-founders, as Myke has covered more that I’m not interested in, like mechanical keyboards and pens. Stephen also had the dad vibe that I connected with. Myke’s new blog and this run of Cortex episodes while Grey is out has me wanting more and more content from Myke, no matter what the topic is.

MacBook Choices

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 12:50:06 -0500

I’m trying to figure out the right laptop for my daughter that is a sophomore in high school before she heads to college. She’s used Chromebooks all through school, but since she’s into design, I’m thinking a MacBook might be a good fit. I’m torn between getting her something basic or waiting to see if that rumored lower-end MacBook with the A18 chip comes out. The last thing I want is to drop a ton of cash on a maxed-out MacBook Pro if she ends up not liking the Mac ecosystem. Might start her with something more entry-level and see how she takes to it.

So Evan and Achol died

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 08:52:11 -0500

This NYT Opinion piece puts a few faces and names to kids that have died due to USAID being shut off. I know the US can’t be the world’s savior and help others when so many need help within our borders, but seeing these kids and knowing they died because of greed really struck a nerve with me this morning.

I had no idea about USAID before all the DOGE happenings and I’m sure there will be more political and government organizations that I will learn about in the coming years, but cutting off aid to save some money just seems like a terrible idea to me. I would rather pull back on military spending and give more care to others.

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:20:19 -0500

Why is there no Mohawk rocker emoji?