Active Recall!

Podcasts, videos, and iPad art

Desk setup journal: Blue Compass, MacBook Air M1, , iPad Pro, Sony a6400

I’ll keep adding to this as I make more videos—an an upcoming podcast episode. I’ve been making a few more additions to my desk and recording some short videos for it.

The main thing I’m trying to do with the setup: remove friction.

First up:

  • Remove friction from drawing on my iPad
  • Remove friction from recording my drawing sessions

Added a Blue Compass microphone arm to hold my Sony a6400

I got a large desk and can now have dedicated space to have my iPad and camera setup for drawing sessions. The desk is a little too big—I went with a 72″ but would’ve been fine with the 60″. I also got a desk shelf to clean things up a bit.

The hope is that I can draw and record without fiddling with the camera setup every single time.

Got a video capture dongle to connect the a6400 directly to the MacBook Air M1

I’d often record a bunch and then wouldn’t go back through the videos, so I thought I’d make more videos if I connected things directly so anytime I recorded it’d be in the video editor already.

But…

…since uploading this video: Not all experiments work and so far instead of fiddling with the SD card I fiddle with the cable and also need to have the MacBook Air and ScreenFlow on to record. I’ve moved the friction around instead of eliminating it.

I think the solution will be working on a better process for reviewing and renaming all the videos. (Or making shot lists for specific videos so I’m not just recording random things.)

Notepod #13: My Desk Setup

Talking about some new additions to the desk setup as I try to make more videos about drawing and stuff.

Related it to some book notes from

  • “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
  • “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon
  • “Work Clean” by Dan Charnas

And at the end I mentioned Captain Sinbad’s channel

iPad and MacBook shared clipboard

Just testing out a workflow…

I can draw things in Notes on my iPad and then use the shared clipboard to paste right into the Mac. AirDrop was fast but the shared clipboard is just that much less friction.

UntitledImage

Just testing this out but I also practiced some stick figures this morning.

Notecard

This will be the fastest way for me to share sketches and things like that. Which I do want to do here.

The Notepod #12: Reading List April 2021

Going through some recently finished and in-progress books.

Just writing out a list of different books I’ve been reading with some thoughts.

Recently finished

  • Bitcoin Billionaires by Ben Mezrich — I got more interested in crypto/blockchain through NBA Top Shot and the NFT boom. I had some Bitcoin already, but NFT popularity made me realize how little I know about how it all works. This ended up only having high level explanations of Bitcoin. But the whole story of the Winklevoss twins’ second act was fascinating.
  • Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson — Great read the week leading up to getting married. There’s plenty about getting wealthy, but the happiness chapters were more timely. The audiobook was my companion on a couple long walks in the city. If you want to mainline some of Naval’s thinking, then this is the way to go.

In-progress

  • Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa — Still working on this. I started it in December and just crossed the halfway mark. About 450 pages to go. Somewhat slow going but getting very interesting now. Good reminder to lean into things I might not enjoy but that I’ll learn a lot from.
  • The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo — Continuing to learn mode about crypto/blockchain technology. This book is about the history of Ethereum, which is the main coin involved in the recent NFT a boom. The only history I know of Ethereum is that I wish I had bought some earlier. Just started this but one takeaway is that Vitalik Buterin started by writing for Bitcoin Magazine before building Ethereum.
  • Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr — Mostly here to learn about Amazon’s use of narrative writing instead of PowerPoints. (After seeing @TrungTPhan mention it in this thread.)
  • The Energy Paradox by Steven R. Gundry — I want to get my energy back. Basically: I can rarely stay awake through a full movie after a workday. And when I’m up I just don’t have any, as the book puts it, get-up-and-go (GUAG). I’ve felt better in the past and would love to get back to that.
  • Fast Forward: Hollywood, the Japanese, and the Onslaught of the VCR by James Lardner — Combining some learnings from last year’s books (1) I enjoy reading older books about some recent technology (like Michael Lewis’s Next) because it’s fun to re-live that time without it being filtered through a modern lens and (2) I enjoy reading about Hollywood/filmmaking (one of my favorites from last year was Robert Rodiguez’s Rebel Without a Crew).

Next up (maybe… there’s a ton I want to read)

  • Daemon by Daniel Suarez — Continuing the pattern of learning about crypto, I saw this book recommended somewhere. I really should’ve written down where I saw the recommendation because I’ve completely forgot now. Anyway, this is pretty much combining three thoughts: (1) I want to learn more about crypto/blockchain technology and (2) Musashi reminds me that I should read more fiction and (3) I admire Tiago Forte’s thinking and he wrote about the value of reading science fiction.

    Tiago: “I started reading sci-fi to pass the time. I had good memories of reading Jurassic Park as a kid. I continued because I noticed that it gave me something: a stronger imagination, a disrespect for the merely possible.”

  • Two Meals a Day by Mark Sisson — Trying to get my health back in order (I wrote a long post here). I have more information than I need for my goals but reading books does help keep motivation up. And I can try to share good bits and pieces to better frame my own learning and writing.
  • Soundtracks by Jon Acuff — I enjoyed all his previous books. I’m guessing I’ll like this one as well. I tend to overthink so this seemed like something that might help me either (1) stop overthinking or (2) start overthinking in a more useful way.

 

Reading list for April 8, 2021

Just writing out a list of different books I’ve been reading with some thoughts.

Recently finished

  • Bitcoin Billionaires by Ben Mezrich — I got more interested in crypto/blockchain through NBA Top Shot and the NFT boom. I had some Bitcoin already, but NFT popularity made me realize how little I know about how it all works. This ended up only having high level explanations of Bitcoin. But the whole story of the Winklevoss twins’ second act was fascinating.
  • Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson — Great read the week leading up to getting married. There’s plenty about getting wealthy, but the happiness chapters were more timely. The audiobook was my companion on a couple long walks in the city. If you want to mainline some of Naval’s thinking, then this is the way to go.

In-progress

  • Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa — Still working on this. I started it in December and just crossed the halfway mark. About 450 pages to go. Somewhat slow going but getting very interesting now. Good reminder to lean into things I might not enjoy but that I’ll learn a lot from.
  • The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo — Continuing to learn mode about crypto/blockchain technology. This book is about the history of Ethereum, which is the main coin involved in the recent NFT a boom. The only history I know of Ethereum is that I wish I had bought some earlier. Just started this but one takeaway is that Vitalik Buterin started by writing for Bitcoin Magazine before building Ethereum.
  • Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr — Mostly here to learn about Amazon’s use of narrative writing instead of PowerPoints. (After seeing @TrungTPhan mention it in this thread.)
  • The Energy Paradox by Steven R. Gundry — I want to get my energy back. Basically: I can rarely stay awake through a full movie after a workday. And when I’m up I just don’t have any, as the book puts it, get-up-and-go (GUAG). I’ve felt better in the past and would love to get back to that.
  • Fast Forward: Hollywood, the Japanese, and the Onslaught of the VCR by James Lardner — Combining some learnings from last year’s books (1) I enjoy reading older books about some recent technology (like Michael Lewis’s Next) because it’s fun to re-live that time without it being filtered through a modern lens and (2) I enjoy reading about Hollywood/filmmaking (one of my favorites from last year was Robert Rodiguez’s Rebel Without a Crew).

Next up (maybe… there’s a ton I want to read)

  • Daemon by Daniel Suarez — Continuing the pattern of learning about crypto, I saw this book recommended somewhere. I really should’ve written down where I saw the recommendation because I’ve completely forgot now. Anyway, this is pretty much combining three thoughts: (1) I want to learn more about crypto/blockchain technology and (2) Musashi reminds me that I should read more fiction and (3) I admire Tiago Forte’s thinking and he wrote about the value of reading science fiction.

    Tiago: “I started reading sci-fi to pass the time. I had good memories of reading Jurassic Park as a kid. I continued because I noticed that it gave me something: a stronger imagination, a disrespect for the merely possible.”
  • Two Meals a Day by Mark Sisson — Trying to get my health back in order (I wrote a long post here). I have more information than I need for my goals but reading books does help keep motivation up. And I can try to share good bits and pieces to better frame my own learning and writing.
  • Soundtracks by Jon Acuff — I enjoyed all his previous books. I’m guessing I’ll like this one as well. I tend to overthink so this seemed like something that might help me either (1) stop overthinking or (2) start overthinking in a more useful way.