Don’t prescribe values to the weather

by Steven Garrity

I have a pet peeve about people talking about the weather, particularly on the radio, which is where I hear most of my weather-talkin’.

You’ll often here the weather-person express a kind of value judgment on the weather: it’s going to be a ‘nice day’, or the weekend ‘looks good’, or they have ‘good news in the weather forecast’.

The thing is, there isn’t good or bad weather.

Ok, there can be bad weather. No one wants a tornado or a flood.

Other than those extremes, though, weather isn’t good or bad. It depends on your preferences and needs.

Throwing an outdoor wedding reception? You probably don’t want rain. Trying to keep failing crops alive after weeks of drought? You probably do want rain.

I know people who love a hot and humid day. They call it a “beach day”. I hate hot humid days. I can only take off so many clothes.

This is mostly trivial peeve of language, but I do think there’s a deeper issue. If we prescribe values to something as arbitrary as the weather, then we allow something which we have no control to impact how we feel.

Don’t value judge the weather! It’s is a path to sadness!

 

Meetings need margins

by Steven Garrity

In the world of CSS, there are two different types of spacing between elements:

  1. Margin is the space outside of an element
  2. Padding is the spacing inside of an element
Diagram showing how padding is the space inside a rectangular element and it's contents, and margin is the space outside the element between it and other elements.

I’ve come to believe that scheduled meetings have MARGIN and PADDING too. Meeting Margin is the space between two meetings. This needs to be explicit. The screenshot below shows two meetings with no margins. They’re bumping up against each other.

Meeting Padding is the space inside a meeting required to make space between other meetings/activities before and after. For example, if I show up immediately after a previous meeting, I’ll still need a minute to find my notes, or run to the bathroom.

Screenshot from Google Calendar showing two meetings running right up against each other. The first is "Big Meeting that runs long" and the second is "Other meeting without a bathroom break"

I try to give meetings Margin so they don’t end up with too much Padding. I try not to put two meetings immediately adjacent on the calendar. I don’t always success.

I wish calendar tools like Google Calendar would make this basic human requirement a bit more obviously part of the flow of booking meetings. Let me know that this meeting runs right into the next one, or that the person I’ve invited has zero minutes between their previous meeting and the one I’m scheduling.

 

Printers are the new trucks

by Steven Garrity

Everyone knows that if you have a truck, you have a social responsibility to help your friends and family move stuff. It’s in the Bible.

Now, if you have a working printer, you have a social responsibility to help your friends and family print stuff. I humbly accept this responsibility.

 

Heavyweight (née Wiretap) is back

by Steven Garrity
Stylized orange and blue photo of a man with sunglasses with the hands of clocks in each lens, and the title "PUSHKIN HEAVYWEIGHT"

The Heavyweight podcast from Jonathan Goldstein is back on a new network after being lost in the shuffle of Spotify acquiring Gimlet Media.

I loved the show back when it was Wiretap on CBC Radio. In the latest episode, Gregor is back. I love Gregor.

 

Digging ditches

by Steven Garrity

I work hard at my job, but nothing can compare to how hard I will work on redirecting a stream at the beach. I will dig in the hot sun until my hands are blistered.

Photo of a beach with a tent and beach chairs, and a small trench dug in the sand with water flowing through, and a mini shovel.

 

The second day of school is harder than the first

by Steven Garrity

The first day of school each fall is challenging. There’s some excitement, but also some dread and anxiety.

The second day, you no longer have the novelty or excitement, and you’re exhausted from getting through the first day.

The second day of school is harder than the first.

 

YouTube is making money on scams

by Steven Garrity

This week YouTube started showing me an ad with an obviously (to me) fake video of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney asking people to sign up for some AI program. The link points to a form hosted on TypeForm.

YouTube screenshot showing an advertisement with an AI-generated Mark Carney standing outdoors with a Canadian flag in the background and a prompt button to Register here.

I’ve reported this ad as a scam at least three or four times, yet YouTube continues to serve it to me.

I can see how it would be infeasible for YouTube to screen every video they host – but as soon as they accept a penny from an advertiser, they take on the complete burden of filtering out (at least obvious) scams.

I would also expect that some facial-recognition might be in order for a G7 world leader.

Shame on YouTube.

 

Hanson + Smashing Pumpkins + Fountains of Wayne + Cheap Trick

by Steven Garrity

Did you know there was a super-group that released an album in 2009 that consisted of:

  • 🎤 Taylor from Hanson (the MMMbop dudes!) on vocals
  • 🎸 James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins on guitar
  • 🔊 Adam Schlesinger (RIP) of Fountains of Wayne on bass
  • 🥁 Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick

Weird but true. Enjoy Kind of a Girl by Tinted Windows.

Update: I learned from Wikipedia that the guitar play from the Lemonheads also performed with Tinted Windows. And the Lemonheads have a great new song out.

 

Figma annotations inaccessible for free accounts

by Steven Garrity

I learned this week that the Annotations feature in Figma is not accessible for people with free accounts. Instead, you need to have a paid account with Dev Mode access.

This is a major hindrance and disincentive to use the feature. While I understand that Figma will want to drive subscriptions, and I’m happy to pay for the tool, this is one more stone on the “Figma alternatives” side of the scale.

It was even more frustrating to learn this after our team had been using annotations for a while. I’m sure the documentation and announcements of the feature may have explained the paid-account requirements, we missed this and you may have too.

Screenshot from Figma showing a green circle with the number 1 and a note reading '1 annotation in Dev Mode'
 

The Schwartzman eye roll

by Steven Garrity

I feel that this six second clip of Jason Schwartzman reacting to someone taking too long a drink of orange juice in the movie Mountainhead will come in handy.

Video clip of Jason Schwartzman doing a kind of double-eye-roll of exasperation.