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At the beginning of the year, I posted about my planner set-up for the year which included the Midori B6 Pocket Planner in the Clover design ($23.50, out of stock but a Birds edition is still available) tucked into my leather B6 cover from Bassy & Co ($81 and up) with my Stalogy Editor’s Series 365 Days ($21) everyday planner and note-taking notebook.
Since the beginning of the year, the pockets of my planner have become filled with an assortment of stickers, postage stamps and washi tape. I’ve gotten into collaging on my daily pages so having a few stickers to add along the way is a great option.
I am still loving the B6 size for my planner. It’s not as small as an A6, which I often felt like I needed more than one-page-per-day, but not as intimidating as an A5 which always seemed like too much space and too large a notebook to tote around everyday. If you haven’t tried B6 yet, I highly recommend it as the Goldilocks of notebooks.
This image above shows that I’ve filled about 2/3rds of the Stalogy daily planner and evidence of collage-y bits can be seen from the edge.
I added the Midori pen clip to the back of the Stalogy at the beginning of the year and have managed to keep it for six whole months without losing it. Good news since my rare Sailor ProGear Slim Stargazer has been riding around in the loop all year.
I mark my place each month and each day with the Midori gold Chiratto Index Clips ($8.50 for 8 clips). It makes getting to my current spot fast and easy.
I’m getting some mileage with the monthly pages to keep track of silly holidays like Graham Cracker Day (July 5), travel, pen shows and birthdays and such but I am not using the week-on-two-pages like I thought I would.
I had thought I would utilize the page on the right of the week-on-two-pages in the Midori for work-related tasks and notes but I have ended up keeping a notebook at work for these tasks and the pages go largely unused. Its extra sad because I really like the paper in the Midori Pocket Planner and the little illustrations throughout are cheery.
The only creature in my house that uses the ribbon bookmark is Apple. He thinks it’s delicious.
In the Stalogy, on days without a lot of activities (like a Sunday when you discover you have Covid-19), I have started adding collage elements with washi, stickers and some rubber stamps. I also bought a Polaroid Mint mini-printer to add the occasional photo to my planner.
I often treat my planner more like a log book of what I did, what I ate, where I went, who I saw, what I read, watch or listened to, etc. so adding photos in is a good way to log activities. If you want to be able to add photos to your journal or planner, many people recommend the Canon Ivy which is currently available. The Polaroid Mint has been discontinued. Both the Mint and the Ivy use Zink 2″ x 3″ printer paper. The color output is not great but the printer uses instant film technology and the printers don’t need ink cartridges making it a little easier to use. So, it makes fun, little retro-looking images that add some much-needed personality to my planner.
Usually, on Sundays, I try to pre-decorate a few pages. Since I am doing a (sort of) page-a-day for my planner/journal/logbook I just add a few decorative elements to add some interest for the week but I am not locked into using a whole page for one day. Some days, I might use two or more pages. I’ve found this open method so much easier for me since there is no pressure from day-to-day. Some days are super busy and active, and some days I skip altogether.
I don’t know how to solve for the largely unused Midori Pocket Planner. I thought about removing the monthly pages and pasting them into the Stalogy but I would want the whole year’s worth of calendar pages so where doe I put them? In the back altogether? At the beginning of each month but what about later months?
I would like to streamline a little bit but I haven’t figured out the best way to do that. As it is right now, the book is quite chonky so I suspect I will try to reduce the bulk I carry on a daily basis a bit.
How’s your planning/journal/notebook set-up serving you? Have you needed to switch it up?
Apple insisted on hanging out with me while I photographed this post so he wanted to put his paw stamp on this post. It’s “Apple-approved.”
The post Mid-Year Planner Review appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.
If names like Yeti, Tundra, and RTIC strike a chord, you’ve likely gone through the sticker shock associated with deliberating between very large rectangular blocks of insulated plastic. Ice coolers fall under the product category of “you wouldn’t believe how much these things cost,” at least when considering options amongst a top performing tier of coolers attached to price tags of hundreds of dollars. Oyster, a new Norwegian brand will still set you back $500, but it introduces a uniquely smaller and more efficient design aiming to suck out the air from its larger and bulkier competition.
Typically thermal energy is circulated within a cooler very slowly, affecting the overall temperature within. The Tempo thermal circulation is 380x faster than a comparable hard cooler, the equivalent of 190 watts/meter Kelvin versus 0.5 watts/meter Kelvin.
The Tempo is the most engineered ice cooler, inside and out, with an intelligently designed accessories system allowing easy and fast switches from a metal carrying handle to the included shoulder strap with only a couple turns of a dial. This assembly/disassembly construction also makes cleaning the cooler simpler and more thorough.
Even the best hard cooler requires pouring large amounts of ice to retain a cold drink temperature for hours, making for a laborious haul, ironically heating the carrier while attempting to keep the contents cool. The Tempo proposes something a bit wild: subtracting ice out of the equation. That is, if you start off by throwing in cold drinks or food to begin with. The Tempo’s patented double-wall vacuum insulation technology is so efficient in preventing heat transfer from occurring – keeping cold temps within from escaping and warmer ambient air from intruding. The cooler can keep cold foods or drinks chill for hours without ice… or for much longer aided by two included ice packs.
Two ice packs designed to fit perfectly into the Tempo are included, helping keep food and drinks cold(er) for longer periods. The precise fit of the two accessory packs into the aluminum lined interior illustrates the level of detail the Oyster team put into developing the Tempo over the span of six years. \\\ Photo: Gregory Han
The sleek extruded aluminum cooler essentially works just like those popular double-walled metal flasks you might already carry around everywhere to keep your coffee hot or water cold throughout the day, creating an insulated and vacuumed sealed interior large enough to fit 36 cans of beverages within. The only caveat of the design is if you dent it, it’s going to wear the signs of your mishaps forever (but that’s what strategically placed stickers are for).
The cooler’s rectangular shape is in itself an innovation; previous attempts to manufacture anything beyond a cylindrical vacuum-insulated shape would fail to retain their shape over an extended span of time. Oyster stands by their design so confidently, not only will they replace any broken parts, they claim their replacement policy even extends out to damage if your cooler is “mauled by a bear.”
The lid locks into a vacuum seal by securing two long handle hinges on both sides. Leave one in place and the lid levers open in a clamshell configuration. \\\ Photo: Gregory Han
Photo: Gregory Han
A strap or handle can be switched out quickly and easily thanks to the Tempo’s twist dial securing system. \\\ Photo: Gregory Han
A red nylon shoulder strap attaches easily to the Tempo for longer, heavier hauls after loading the 12.3-lbs (empty) cooler for outdoor destinations. \\\ Photo: Gregory Han
Outward appearances may give off the impression the Tempo is designed only for modest loads. But because of the thin-walled design, the Tempo offers three times the capacity compared to other rotomolded coolers of similar size.
Photo: Gregory Han
As the owner of an enormous and unwieldy rotomolded cooler, the Tempo’s manageable size is revelatory, and to be frank, suitable for more than 80% of our typical hiking, camping, or picnicking adventures. Pair that with the Tempo’s extraordinary ability to keep contents cold without bagfuls of ice, the quick-switch handle or strap carrying system, superior portability, and its subjectively standout industrial good looks, and the Tempo is arguably the coolest cooler on the market.
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(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
On Thursday, June 8th, I drove two hours to Milwaukee, got on a train for two hours to Chicago, got on another train for eleven hours to Pittsburgh, then got on another train to Altoona for three hours. It was a long night. Then I spent the next five days packing up and clearing out my grandmother's house and loading a few treasured items into a shipping container. Then I got back on the Altoona train to Pittsburgh, and spent five days at the Horror Writers Convention, StokerCon. Then I got on the Pittsburgh train to Chicago and the Chicago train to Milwaukee, and then home again. Ten days on the road that included everything from sitting in the mud in a graveyard to attending a formal awards banquet. And throughout that process, I needed to write. A lot. And without carrying too many heavy things, because train hopping is tough, and there would also be times when I needed to walk 1-2 miles with all my gear on my back. This was the most minimal packing I've ever done, and it worked well for me.
I just got back yesterday as I write this, and I'm still lost in the fog of exhaustion, but here's a list of Pen Addict-relevant thoughts and encounters from my trip.
Trains are perfect for writers. The whole travel mode is less frantic and hassled than flying. If your tray table isn't roomy enough, head to the dining car for unlimited coffee and a table to spread your work out. While most of my long train rides were at night, while I tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep, a daytime train ride of eleven hours sounds almost like a writing retreat in itself. Overall, I found this mode of travel to be my favorite over driving or flying.
No matter how much I write, or plan to write, I really just need one notebook and pen. I brought the Pebble Stationery Cosmo Air Light notebook, my Schon DSGN pocket fountain pen, and the CW&T Pen Type-B as my travel stationery, along with my Mini Plotter with the Kaweco Lilliput in the loop. I used the Pebble Stationery and the Schon for story writing, and I used the Pen Type B for signing receipts. I used one sheet of Plotter paper to leave a nice note for my B&B innkeeper. And I used the Plotter itself to press flowers. It works quite well for that. I pressed clover and morning glories from my grandparents' graves, and two roses from my grandmother's garden. An unconventional use case, but one I am very grateful for. The plastic dividers and elastic closure band make it perfect for collecting small, meaningful blooms. And the day after I collected these flowers, I found flowers that my grandmother had pressed in her own books, from her own parents' funerals. We were always very much alike.
Write letters. Lots of letters. Write them to the people you love, and when you receive letters, keep them somewhere where your granddaughter will find them someday and see how much you loved and were loved. My grandmother saved hundreds of letters that my grandfather sent to her when he was in the Navy. Of all the treasures I found in the house, these were the very best.
When you have to plan a difficult thing, plan a very fun thing for right after. Recovering from an emotional week by surrounding myself with writer friends was the perfect antidote to grief. With readings, and panels, and signings, and talks, and banquets, and bar closings, there's both plenty of time to talk and process, and plenty of distraction. And lots of hugs.
If you go to painstaking measures to pack minimally for a difficult journey, maybe don't acquire 18 new books to carry home. Just some advice for future me.
The best thing you can possibly do before getting on a train for uncountable hours is to chill at a friend's house, especially if that friend has goats. And Smores.
This journey was strange and not linear, much like this post. In two days the pod with my grandmother's things will arrive at my house, and I will literally and metaphorically unpack the artifacts of her life and take these objects soaked in memory into my home. My grandmother gave me my love of reading and writing and sentimentality--all of which are essential ingredients to who I am in general, and are also the things that led me to my love for pens and paper.
I didn't write as much as I needed to on this trip; there wasn't as much downtime as I'd hoped as I moved quickly from task to task. But now that I'm home, it's me and the pages for miles, and I just have to stay on track.
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Elon Musk, Mars, and bioethics: is sending astronauts into space ethical?
The recent crash of the largest-ever space rocket, Starship, developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, has certainly somewhat disrupted optimism about the human mission to Mars that is being prepared for the next few years. It is worth raising the issue of the safety of future participants in long-term space missions, especially missions to Mars, on the background of this disaster. And it is not just about safety from disasters like the one that happened to Musk. Protection from the negative effects of prolonged flight in zero gravity, protection from cosmic radiation, as well as guaranteeing sufficiently high crew productivity over the course of a multi-year mission also play an important role.
Fortunately, no one was killed in the aforementioned crash, as it was a test rocket alone without a crew. However, past disasters in which astronauts died, such as the Space Shuttle Challenger and Space Shuttle Columbia disasters, remind us that it is the seemingly very small details that determine life and death. So far, 15 astronauts and 4 cosmonauts have died in space flights. 11 more have died during testing and training on Earth. It is worth mentioning that space flights are peacekeeping missions, not military operations. They are carried out relatively infrequently and by a relatively small number of people.
It is also worth noting the upcoming longer and more complex human missions in the near future, such as the mission to Mars. The flight itself, which is expected to last several months, is quite a challenge, and disaster can happen both during takeoff on Earth, landing on Mars, and then on the way back to Earth. And then there are further risks that await astronauts in space.
The first is exposure to galactic cosmic radiation and solar energetic particles events, especially during interplanetary flight, when the crew is no longer protected by both Earth’s magnetic field and a possible shelter on Mars. Protection from cosmic radiation for travel to Mars is a major challenge, and 100% effective protective measures are still lacking. Another challenge remains being in long-term zero-gravity conditions during the flight, followed by altered gravity on Mars. Bone loss and muscle atrophy are the main, but not only, negative effects of being in these states. Finally, it is impossible to ignore the importance of psychological factors related to stress, isolation, being in an enclosed small space, distance from Earth.
A human mission to Mars, which could take about three years, brings with it a new type of danger not known from the previous history of human space exploration. In addition to the aforementioned amplified impact of factors already known—namely microgravity, cosmic radiation, and isolation—entirely new risk factors are emerging. One of them is the impossibility of evacuating astronauts in need back to Earth, which is possible in missions carried out at the International Space Station. It seems that even the best-equipped and trained crew may not be able to guarantee adequate assistance to an injured or ill astronaut, which could lead to her death—assuming that care on Earth would guarantee her survival and recovery. Another problem is the delay in communication, which will reach tens of minutes between Earth and Mars. This situation will affect the degree of autonomy of the crew, but also their responsibility. Wrong decisions, made under conditions of uncertainty, can have not only negative consequences for health and life, but also for the entire mission.
“It is worth raising the question of the ethicality of the decision to send humans into such a dangerous environment.”
Thus, we can see that a future human mission to Mars will be very dangerous, both as a result of factors already known but intensified, as well as new risk factors. It is worth raising the question of the ethicality of the decision to send humans into such a dangerous environment. The ethical assessment will depend both on the effectiveness of available countermeasures against harmful factors in space and also on the desirability and justification for the space missions themselves.
Military ethics and bioethics may provide some analogy here. In civilian ethics and bioethics, we do not accept a way of thinking and acting that would mandate the subordination of the welfare, rights, and health of the individual to the interests of the group. In military ethics, however, this way of thinking is accepted, formally in the name of the higher good. Thus, if the mission to Mars is a civilian mission, carried out on the basis of values inherent in civilian ethics and bioethics rather than military ethics, it may be difficult to justify exposing astronauts to serious risks of death, accident, and disease.
One alternative may be to significantly postpone the mission until breakthrough advances in space technology and medicine can eliminate or significantly reduce the aforementioned risk factors. Another alternative may be to try to improve astronauts through biomedical human enhancements. Just as in the army there are known methods of improving the performance of soldiers through pharmacological means, analogous methods could be applied to future participants in a mission to Mars. Perhaps more radical, and thus controversial, methods such as gene editing would be effective, assuming that gene editing of selected genes can enhance resistance to selected risk factors in space.
But the idea of genetically modifying astronauts, otherwise quite commonsensical, given also the cost of such a mission, as well as the fact that future astronauts sent to Mars would likely be considered representative of the great effort of all humanity, raises questions about the justification for such a mission. What do the organizers of a mission to Mars expect to achieve? Among the goals traditionally mentioned are the scientific merits of such a mission, followed by possible commercial applications for the future. Philosophers, as well as researchers of global and existential catastrophes, often discuss the concept of space refuge, in which the salvation of the human species in the event of a global catastrophe on Earth would be possible only by settling somewhere beyond Earth. However, it seems that the real goals in our non-ideal society will be political and military.
Your thoughts and suggestions are most welcome, thank you!
The post Seattle bleg appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
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While at the California Pen Show, I was able to score a few samples from the Traveler’s/Plotter table. Not that I needed any Traveler’s Notebook samples. I’ve been a loyal fan of Traveler’s for …. hmmmm… over a decade now! But it was a delight to revisit some of the classic refills. Because Traveler’s is part of the Midori product family, much of the paper included in the refills is Midori but I often forget that. This particular sample, a “Refill for a Short Trip” in Passport Size. This insert only include 32 pages compared to the regular Passport inserts that feature 64 pages but features the same high quality Midori MD paper in the cream color.
The Midori MD Cream paper has a slight tooth to it making it good for all around use and it stands up to pretty much any pen you can throw at it. I had no issues with feathering, even with my Pilot Custom 912 with the FA nib.
It’s a thinner paper so there is some show through but no bleed through at all. I have a soft spot for the Midori MD Cotton and Midori MD Light, so much so that I had forgotten how good the standard Midori MD paper was. Honestly, I don’t think there’s much more I can say about Midori MD paper that hasn’t been said already but its nice to take another look at the classics. They are classics for a reason. Thanks for the sample, Traveler’s Company, and for reminding me that I love this paper!
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Traveler’s Company USA for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
The post Notebook Review: Traveler’s Short Trip Passport Size appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.
Earlier this week, I was at a meeting to discuss the question whether my university should cut its ties with the fossil industry, or else impose additional conditions on working with partners from fossil industries. There was quite some agreement that the university should think hard about spelling out and endorsing a moral framework, and based on those values and moral principles work out what (if any) forms of collaboration would remain legitimate in the future. This led our vice-chancellor to ask the question what else such moral framework would imply for university staff. “Should we perhaps completely stop flying?”, he asked.
And then there is, once again, a very depressing IPCC report and we must radically change our modes of production and consumption if we want to leave our children (and our older selves) a planet that will remain safe for the human species. And it’s not just about the future, but about the present: urgent action is needed to lower the number of the deadly climate-related events that we have seen over the last years, from increases in wildfires to deadly floodings – that led poor people, who have made almost zero contribution to this problem, lose their livelihoods, and many simply died. So to me it seems obvious that what we change in response to climate change is a very urgent moral question.
Hence the question: Do academics fly too much? Should we simply stop flying at all?
I’m using academics here in the sense of people employed as professors, postdocs, and PhD candidates at universities or other institutes of higher education and research. And it concerns flying for academic activities – most often, presenting one’s research at conferences or as an invited speaker to a seminar series or workshop. Of course, many of the thoughts that follow will apply to other professions too, but since this makes it easier for me to write down my worries, let me start there.
During the pandemic, it was easy: we couldn’t fly. I missed travelling. Frankly, I missed it a lot: I missed the interaction with other scholars working on related questions; I missed the inspiration from meeting the smart and creative people that one tends to meet on such occasions; I missed learning about the new work other people are doing; I missed the feedback on the work that I presented; I missed the intellectual joy of long conversations over breakfasts, lunches and dinners on matters academic, political, and otherwise; I missed the strengthening of my professional networks that travel brought me; I missed seeing friends far away; I missed the adventure of travelling to places; I missed the intellectual energy and inspiration such a trip could give.
Some have argued that the ‘normalisation’ of videoconferencing has taken away any reasons for travel. I love the new habits that are created by zoom, teams, and the other programs – the international paper discussions, seminars, reading groups. But no matter how wonderful these online events can be, many of the good things that come with travelling to workshops and conferences are not part of online events. Perhaps, some might argue, that is simply the price we should pay to stay within our fair emissions budget?
There are other reasons why academics want to travel long-distance by plane. Many want to travel because they feel they need to in order to build their scholarly networks or to strengthen their CV – in short, they feel they need it for their career. I’ve heard some colleagues say that this should be a reason why only junior scholars should be allowed to fly. This strikes me as self-defeating, since some of the most interesting conversations I had when I was a PhD student or postdoc was with older, more senior scholars who came to give a talk – I’ve always felt there is much I could learn from them too. Academia is international, and if we could only interact with our local peers that would be a loss. Moreover, I suspect that there are some very senior scholars who receive a lot of overseas keynote invitations: should they always decline invitations if those would require them to fly? What reasoning could they use that is genuinely sound, and not a form of self-deception?
There is no emissions-free alternative to flying long-distance, which makes travel-by-airplane a scarce good. There are, presumably, many more academics who would like to fly many more miles than would be good for the habitability of the planet. Should we have an open discussion about how much we should allow ourselves to fly, just like we have discussions about how much we should referee? Or should we just leave this, loosely libertarian and without causing offence to anyone, to everyone’s own judgement without a public discussion?
Once the discussion kicks off, there are various arguments one encounters. Here are a few of claims I’ve heard from others or considered myself, when trying to justify why travel by airplane is fine:
(1) It doesn’t make a difference at all whether I fly or not. It’s inconsequential to addressing climate change.
(2) I’ve been invited oversees as a keynote, so if I decline, the organisors invite someone else, and it doesn’t make a difference to total emissions.
(3) It’s bad that I fly, but I’m going to find a golden offset mechanism, and compensate the full damage that my flying does to planet – perhaps 150%.
(4) I wish I wouldn’t have to fly, but I must fly for my job; I commute by airplane. Yes, I could find a non-academic job closer by, but it’s not reasonable to ask from me that I give up my profession for the sake of lowering my emissions.
(5) Why would I have to stop flying if my North-American colleagues on average fly so much more than we [Europeans, Africans, Latin-Americans, …] do? When they limit their flying, I’ll limit mine too.
(6a) Why would I have to stop flying (whether for work or privately) if the really big pollutors, for example in Big Oil companies, keep earning millions destroying the earth? Why should I worry about adding one or two ton CO2 if the biggest polluters are not setting the right example?
(6b) Why should we stop flying if the number of superrich people flying in their ultrapolluting private jets keep flying? Let them stop flying first, and then we can talk about ordinary folks who should stop flying.
(7) I eat vegan, have no car, have put my savings in solar energy production, and have no kids. Given all this, I think I should be morally permitted to fly.
(8) I’m on the academic job market and need to go to any conference I can afford to travel to, in order to improve my chances at landing a job.
(9) I’ve joined Extinction Rebellion (or another group) and I’m making my contribution to addressing climate change there. We should only talk about political activism, not about consumption, such as flying.
(10) I’m only flying if I think it makes a difference not just to myself, but also that the trip is worthwhile for enough others too. And once I decide to fly, I try to get the most out of it in terms of contributing, e.g. by offering to give another talk in a nearby place.
(11) …
(12) … and so on, and so forth.
While I think some of these claims are dubious, others are less obviously so. But which ones are acceptable as reasons in our own deliberations whether to fly or not, and which ones should we reject? How do (or should) we deliberate with ourselves on those matters?
I’ve recently accepted an overseas invitation, and while the climate cost was immediately on the forefront of my mind, after some agonizing claims #2 and #10 made me, eventually, think it was OK to accept the invitation. But was it? I am not just, because of my love for academic travelling, simply fooling myself? And are those of us who keep travelling by plane not fooling ourselves most of the time? Or can a balance be struck without giving up on travel by plane completely?
So, friends, over to you. Given me claims/reasons #11, #12, etc. that you’ve had in your own mind, or heard, and let me know what you think of all these claims. And if anyone has a proposal for a decision procedure we should endorse, across academia globally, on when we are still permitted to fly (if at all), then let us know. Because, as you can can see, I have more questions than answers.
PS: Please be respectful of others’ point of views and arguments; many of us are unsure about these matters and trying to find out what we should think and do. If you’ve thought about this long and hard and made up your mind, good for you, but give others the time too to find out what they decide to believe. I’ll filter out rude or hateful comments.
From Wikipedia:
Kevin Kelly (born 1952) is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the Whole Earth Review. He has also been a writer, photographer, conservationist, and student of Asian and digital culture…
Among Kelly’s personal involvements is a campaign to make a full inventory of all living species on earth, an effort also known as the Linnaean enterprise. He is also sequencing his genome and co-organizes the Bay Area Quantified Self Meetup Group.
His Out of Control is a wonderful Hayekian book. His three-volume Vanishing Asia is one of the greatest picture books of all time. His new book (I haven’t read it yet) is Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier. Here is Kevin on Twitter, here is his home page.
I will be doing a Conversation with him, so what should I ask?
The post What should I ask Kevin Kelly? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
How should you choose your next trip? I can see a few general philosophies on the table:
1. Prioritize those countries and regions you haven’t visited yet. For me that might mean Montenegro, Lithuania, Bangladesh, and Saudi Arabia. But the downside is waking up one morning and saying “Hey, what the hell am I doing in Sardinia!?”
2. Get to know some of your favorite places truly in depth, most of all major cities that are easy to reach and often are connected to free or paid invitations. For me that would imply more trips to London, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin — you get the picture. Under this view, the returns to variety are diminishing. And have I ever regretted stopping in on those places?
3. Try to visit “events,” especially temporary events. Right after the Berlin Wall came down, I did a big car trip around Eastern Europe. Loved it. Perhaps these days I should be stopping in at Neom, flying to Lviv, and so on. Those historical moments will never be recaptured. And usually such trips are memorable.
4. Do more trips with the friends you value most, and go wherever will maximize their interest and participation. You already know the world, people are what make life special, and now it is time to “give back” your expertise.
How to decide!? WWGPTS?
There is also the approach I discussed with Nabeel:
5. Figure out, within the bounds of safety and reasonable expense, where you really don’t want to go. Then go there! Expectations and surprise are everything, right? And how else are you to develop a truly diversified portfolio? Won’t you this way learn the most?
I am indebted to Ben Casnocha for a relevant conversation here, though without holding him liable for any of these views.
Addendum: GPT-4 opts for #3:
As an experienced traveler, if I were to pick only one of the philosophies, I would choose to visit events and historical moments (Philosophy 3). The reason for this choice is that it allows for unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences that capture the essence of a particular time and place. Such trips often become memorable stories that you’ll cherish for a lifetime.
By prioritizing events and historical moments, you immerse yourself in situations that reveal the true character of a destination and its people, as well as provide valuable insights into the forces that shape societies and cultures. Additionally, this approach can lead to a greater appreciation for the world’s interconnectedness, as you witness firsthand the impact of global events on different regions.
While this philosophy might not cover all aspects of a well-rounded travel experience, it offers a powerful way to engage with the world and create lasting memories that will enrich your life beyond the confines of a single trip.
The post Travel philosophies for the well-traveled appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
Enlarge / United has chosen its hometown of Chicago for the country's first commercial eVTOL route. (credit: Archer Aviation)
In 2025, United Airlines will fly an air taxi service between the downtown Vertiport Chicago and O'Hare International Airport, using electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft it is purchasing from Archer Aviation. The Archer Midnight eVTOL aircraft will complete the route in about 10 minutes; according to local resident and Ars Managing Editor Eric Bangeman, that journey by car can take over an hour due to road construction.
"Both Archer and United are committed to decarbonizing air travel and leveraging innovative technologies to deliver on the promise of the electrification of the aviation industry," said Michael Leskinen, president of United Airlines Ventures. "Once operational, we're excited to offer our customers a more sustainable, convenient, and cost-effective mode of transportation during their commutes to the airport."
United placed an order for 200 eVTOL aircraft from Archer back in 2021 at a cost of $1 billion. The startup has also raised money from the automaker Stellantis, which has been helping the company with making carbon fiber composites.
Archer Aviation and United Airlines announced a partnership today to launch a commercial air taxi route in Chicago. The companies plan to open the flight path between downtown and O’Hare International Airport in 2025.
Besides being United’s headquarters and largest hub, Chicago's airport commute makes it an ideal testbed for flying taxis. For example, the drive to or from O’Hare, in the western suburb of Rosemont, can take anywhere from 35 minutes to over an hour, depending on traffic; even in one of the city’s elevated trains, it can take around 45 minutes. But Archer estimates a flight in one of its air taxis will only take 10 minutes to travel from O’Hare to its destination at a downtown helipad. The program will initially be limited to the mainline O’Hare / downtown route, but the companies eventually plan to add smaller paths to surrounding communities.
Archer describes the upcoming route as “cost competitive” for passengers without going into specifics. But even if it’s initially limited to deep-pocketed business travelers, the program should be good for the environment. Archer’s air taxis use electric motors and batteries and don’t produce emissions. “This exciting new technology will further decarbonize our means of transportation, taking us another step forward in our fight against climate change,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “I’m pleased that Chicago residents will be among the first in the nation to experience this innovative, convenient form of travel.”
The partnership is the latest in United’s aggressive investments in flying taxis. Last year, the airline ordered at least 200 electric flying taxis from Eve Air Mobility; that followed a $10 million deposit it placed with Archer the month prior.
In addition to Chicago’s (ground-based) taxis and ride shares, the city has a robust public transportation system built around elevated trains and buses, the latter of which the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has committed to converting to electric by 2040. (The CTA already deploys 23 electric buses.) If all goes according to plan, the flight path will help decrease emissions and traffic congestion, something most Chi-town residents can get behind.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/united-and-archer-will-open-an-air-taxi-route-to-chicagos-ohare-airport-in-2025-191352804.html?src=rss
Archer Aviation air taxi
Rendering of a fleet of Archer Aviation Air Taxis (with United branding) taking off from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. We see one taxi taking off in the foreground with several others grounded behind it.
INNESS is a boutique country refuge located in Accord, New York, designed by Post Company in partnership with restaurateur and trained architect Taavo Somer, development team Michael Barry, CBSK Ironstate, and Lee Pollock. Named after renowned American landscape painter George Inness, the retreat was brought to life by the aforementioned group of designers and developers.
The 225-acre property features 40 hotel rooms distributed between a 12-room farmhouse and 28 cabins. Amenities include a restaurant and lounge, a 9-hole golf course by King Collins, a sports outfitter, swimming pools, tennis courts, hiking trails, an events barn, a farm shop, and a 3-acre organic farm designed by landscape architect Miranda Brooks. Slated for 2023, the wellness building will offer a spa, gym, and spaces for movement classes and yoga.
The property’s central theme revolves around the contrast between the cultivated and the wild. The grounds are anchored by social hubs designed for both aesthetic appeal and communal function, while also offering ample space for exploration and discovery. Inspired by the region’s Colonial Dutch architecture, the buildings showcase a minimalist design that highlights the picturesque landscape. Rustic details and an emphasis on local materials unify the structures, which are further enhanced by Miranda Brooks’ carefully balanced landscaping that seamlessly blends wild growth with manicured elegance.
The farmhouse serves as a central hub, featuring a communal lobby bar, guest kitchen by Plain English, library room, and game room. A coffee service and continental breakfast are available for guests and members throughout the week. The farmhouse rooms offer mountain views, modern amenities, and are furnished with a mix of vintage and custom furniture – including pieces by Sixpenny – artwork, and wares to create a cozy, lived-in atmosphere.
Photos by Adrian Gaut.
Cary and Shawn draw the door prizes at the Saturday night event.
Each pen show has its own vibe, driven mainly by the attitude of the organizers and the care they take in putting the show together. For example, the San Francisco Pen Show is a very large event that still manages to feel friendly and personable, solely due to the effort of the group running the show. That said, you can only make a massive hotel ballroom so user-friendly to navigate, and with hundreds of people cycling through every day, you might not have a real opportunity to interact with vendors, as they’ll mostly be swamped. The smaller shows, on the other hand, are something else entirely.
The Arkansas Pen Show, held in Little Rock, is run by the Arkansas Pen Club, currently led by penmaker Shawn Newton of Newton Pens. This was my second visit to Little Rock, with the first back in 2019. The show itself fills a single ballroom, with a 1/3 devoted to modern stationery; 1/3 to vintage dealers; and 1/3 to custom penmakers. If you’re looking to visit your first pen show, or you don’t like overly crowded events that can be overwhelming, smaller shows like this one offer a great opportunity to browse leisurely and have casual conversations with vendors and other collectors.
Vanness brought their collaboration with The Good Blue Pen Company - a “Titanium Blue” Cerakote finish that I couldn’t resist taking home with me.
While traffic on Friday and Saturday was brisk, and vendors were making sales, it was nothing like D.C. or San Francisco, where you won’t be able to peel yourself out from behind the table until Sunday. Each day had quiet lulls, where you could chat with your table neighbors or customers, and browse the show yourself. This year, independent makers included Shawn Newton, Hinze Pens, Troy Breeding (Country Made Pens), Jason Neil Penworks, Darail Pens, Only Made Once, and Magnolia Pens. Modern pen and stationery retailers (in addition to yours truly) included Vanness Pens, Art Outfitters, Jimmy Dolive, Kenro Industries (Cary Yeager), and Papier Plume. Matthew Chen was there to grind nibs! Nik Pang and Michael Sull were both on-site, and Danny Fudge (“The Write Pen”) was doing pen repair. There were also a handful of vintage dealers - mostly members of the Arkansas pen club - all of whom were extremely friendly, highly knowledgeable, and had their pens clearly (and accessibly) priced. I haven’t spent time shopping vintage in a while, and I found some gems that I plan to ink up and show off soon.
After hours events included the traditional Pen Shows After Dark on Saturday night, which was, as always, a lot of fun with at least a dozen door prizes. The only downside was the location. While the hotel was fine (clean, inexpensive, good food for lunch, etc.), the lack of staffing put a damper on hangouts in the bar, which was closed by 9:30 or so on Friday and drastically understaffed on Saturday. That said, most people went home relatively early, as the smaller, club-driven shows tend to draw a more local crowd even if there were a surprising number of people who traveled in for the event.
My Arkansas Pen Show finds, clockwise from to left: Parker 51 in Navy; Parker 51 with hammered gold fill, The Good Blue Vanness Pens Special Edition; a Tucker from Jason Neil Penworks, and a piston filler from Shawn Newton.
After not buying a single pen at the Baltimore Pen Show, I went pretty crazy in Little Rock. I scored one of the Vanness/The Good Blue exclusives in the “Titanium Blue” Cerakote finish, a “Tucker” model by Jason Neil Penworks, a Shawn Newton piston filler in a Conway Stewart acrylic whose name escapes me, and two Parker 51s from The Write Pen, including one with a customized “hammered gold” finish that might have been done by Ariel Kulloch (all I know is that it has an exceptionally good .9mm stub nib on it). I had Matthew Chen grind the other 51 to a semi-Naginata.
A close-up of the stub nib on my Parker 51 pen.
I also took home some additional pens for review, which I won’t announce quite yet, but let’s just say you’ll all be seeing some content related to Onoto, Tibaldi, and Newton Pens in the coming weeks and months.
I tend to be fairly selective about what I bring to shows. I don’t want to end up selling the same goods as multiple vendors, as it leads to unhealthy competition among vendors and a repetitive experience for show attendees. Here I was the only one selling Nahvalur and Opus 88 pens on site at the show.
I love having a table at pen shows, and I have an infinite amount of appreciation and respect for those who are able to do the entire circuit in a single year. Given my current work situation, I can’t do that as it’s simply too exhausting to coordinate the travel, not to mention the work itself. But I do intend to continue to do a handful of shows as a vendor, team up with Vanness for other shows where I won’t attend independently, and visit as an attendee. I especially enjoyed bringing product lines such as Lochby and Hightide, which don’t get nearly as much exposure as they should at shows. By far, our number one seller from the weekend was the Lochby Venture Pouch, which I suspected would be a hit at this particular show.
Many thanks to the team at the Arkansas Pen Club for hosting a great event, and I’ll definitely plan to be back in the future!
The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. This post does not contain third-party affiliate links or paid advertising.
Extreme weather conditions have become a topic of grave concern. Are floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and catastrophic storms the new normal?
Just for a moment, let’s travel to a place where extreme weather has always been the norm: Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela.
According to NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission‘s lightning image sensor, it is the lightning capital of the world.
Chalk it up to the unique geography and climate conditions near the confluence of the lake and the Catatumbo River. At night, the moist warm air above the water collides with cool breezes rolling down from the Andes, creating an average of 297 thunderstorms a year.
Watching photographer Jonas Piontek‘s short film documenting the phenomenon, above, it’s not surprising that chief among his tips for shooting lightning at night is a pointed warning to always keep a safe distance from the storm. While viewable from as far as 400 kilometers away, the area nearest the lightning activity can average 28 strikes per minute.
More than 400 years before Piontek shared his impressions with the world, Spanish poet Lope de Vega tapped Catatumbo lightning in his epic 1597 poem La Dragontea, crediting it, erroneously, with having thwarted Sir Francis Drake‘s plans to conquer the city of Maracaibo under cover of night. His poetic license was persuasive enough that it’s still an accepted part of the myth.
The “eternal storm” did however give Venezuelan naval forces a genuine natural assist, by illuminating a squadron of Spanish ships on Lake Maracaibo, which they defeated on July 24, 1823, clearing the way to independence.
Once upon a time, large numbers of local fishermen took advantage of their prime position to fish by night, although with recent deforestation, political conflict, and economic decline decimating the villages where they live in traditional stilted houses, their livelihood is in decline.
Meanwhile the Eternal Storm has itself been affected by forces of extreme weather. In 2010, a drought occasioned by a particularly strong El Niño, caused lightning activity to cease for 6 weeks, its longest disappearance in 104 years.
Environmentalist Erik Quiroga, who is campaigning for the Catatumbo lightning to be designated as the world’s first UNESCO World Heritage Weather Phenomenon warns, “This is a unique gift and we are at risk of losing it.”
See more of Jonas Piontek’s Catatumbo lightning photographs here.
– Ayun Halliday is the Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine and author, most recently, of Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto and Creative, Not Famous Activity Book. Follow her @AyunHalliday.
This morning I was flipping through my copy of the Bicycle Sentences Journal that illustrator Betsy Streeter sent me and I was quite taken with this final paragraph by Grant Petersen. (I’m a big fan of his blog and Just Ride.)
He touches on why I keep a diary, why I keep it on paper, and the magic of keeping a logbook. The mundane details can bring back sublime memories, and what you think is boring now may be interesting in the future: “What seems bland when you write it down… will seem epic in thirty years.”
I have a new studio routine where when I’m unsure of what to write about, I revisit my notebooks each year on today’s date. (I have notebooks going back 20 years, daily logbooks going back 15, but I’ve kept a daily diary for 5 years now. That’s where a lot of gems are buried.)
Flipping through these notebooks will usually yield something worth writing about. (This morning, it was William Burroughs on language.)
Reading my diary this way, which I first learned from reading Thoreau’s diary, also shows me the cycles and patterns of my life.
(For example: Cocteau Twins and the beginning of spring are somehow intertwined in my life. What does that mean? And what does the fact that their lyrics are barely understandable mean when matched with the Burroughs? Spring is a season of rebirth… When babies are new, they babble and make noise without language… do they sound like spring to me for this reason? You can see how these thoughts, none of which I had when I woke up this morning, come forth from just reading myself.)
Another way to think about it: Keeping a diary is being a good research assistant to your future self.
This is the advice that art critic Jerry Saltz has tweeted over the years:
Be a good assistant to yourself. Prepare and gather, make notations and sketches in your head or phone. When you work, all that mapping, architecture, research & preparation will be your past self giving a gift to the future self that you are now. That is the sacred.
I’ve never had an assistant. I am my own best assistant. My assistant-self is my past self loving my future self who’ll need this previous research when I reach for something in my work. My assistant-self has gotten ideas for whole articles, essays from minutes of research online.
Artists: The beautiful thing about giving yourself a little break & not working – those are the times when new ideas flood in from the cosmos & set your “assistant self” in motion, the self that will be there for your “future-self.” Curiosity and obsession always fill the vacuum.
Artists: Be your own best assistant. Do your research. Get your tools and materials in order. These will be the ancestors, spirit guides and self-replicating imagination of your work. This will allow art to reproduce itself in you. You’ll thank yourself during & afterwards.
I have my many moments of self-loathing at my own lack of progress, but one thing I have done right, at least in the past half decade or so: I have been a good assistant to my future self.
Joan Didion said of re-reading notebooks, “I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be.” This is especially true if they have bothered to preserve themselves so we can visit them later.
Yes, a diary is a good spaceship for time travel: for meditating on the present, flinging ourselves into the future, and visiting ourselves in the past.
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