Links #149

Ellane W on one-page notebooks. Lately I’ve been doing something similar, where I fold a 4x6 blank index card in half. Not nearly as much writing area as these one-page notebooks have, though. In using these index cards, by the way, I’ve frequently found myself wishing I’d used my current Field Notes notebook instead — for permanence — so I’ve been mulling over loose rubrics for when something is ephemeral.

Blake Ashley Jr.’s Elephant plain text work system. That daily review template intrigues me! I’m now planning to try something in that vein.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff on interstitial journaling, “a productivity technique created by Tony Stubblebine. To my knowledge, it’s the simplest way to combine note-taking, tasks, and time tracking in one unique workflow.” Interesting idea. And I still need to read Tiny Experiments.

Brad East on being out of touch with pop culture. Quite liked this. I’ve been drifting in a similar direction and it’s lovely and liberating.

Austin Kleon with a quote from Ethan Hawke: “I am so bored by A.I. One of the things I love about the theater is: A.I. can’t do it. I couldn’t be less interested in computers and fake things. I like people. I like the way they smell, I like the way they talk, and I like the way they think. I think of A.I. as a plagiarizing mechanism. That’s all it is. And I know it’s going to change the world, it’s screwing everybody up, and I’m not in denial about any of that. But I’m in open rebellion.” While I am in fact interested in computers, I too am so, so bored by AI and consider myself in open rebellion against it.

Jim Nielsen on how making software is translating intent. “This is precisely why natural language isn’t a good fit for programming: it’s not very precise. As Gorman says, ‘Natural languages have not evolved to be precise enough and unambiguous enough’ for making software.” Agreed. Introducing ambiguity and fuzziness is a regression. This is one of the many reasons why I don’t care for AI.

Anil Dash on what it means to have a tech career in 2026, given the rash of mass layoffs and the general insanity seen in the C-suites. Here’s to hoping things get normal again before too long.

Robin Rendle on websites being small and private things. “Most business models on the web have assumed a mass readership is out there—but what if it isn’t? What if the web, and most websites besides the few obvious exceptions, were instead more like book publishing? A few thousand dedicated readers out there, at best.”

Updates to the Church handbook section on English Bible translations. Over the past few months I’ve been reading the NIV Old Testament and it feels much more approachable, where the story is clearer. I also find, for what it’s worth, that it feels less like scripture to me. (But that may just be from decades of using the KJV exclusively and will fade over time.)