A week in review, 2019-W52

Wrote

  1. 39 (2019-12-24).

Read

  1. Seth Godin, Quality and effort, Seth's Blog (2018-11-01). We ignore checklists and processes because we've been taught that they’re beneath us. Instead of reacting to an error with, "I need to be more careful," we can respond with, "I can build a better system." If it matters enough to be careful, it matters enough to build a system around it.
  2. Gene Williams, Calvin's Other Alter Ego, The Plain Dealer (1987-08-30).
  3. Van Savage, Novelist Cormac McCarthy’s tips on how to write a great science paper, Nature (2019-09-26). And don't worry too much about readers who want to find a way to argue about every tangential point and list all possible qualifications for every statement. Just enjoy writing.
  4. Shane Parrish, How Not to Be Stupid, Farnam Street (2020-01-02). By the way, if you're in any field and you want to find ways to innovate, focus on words that are commonly used and try to define them simply. It took me about a month, and I defined stupidity as overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information. Right? It's crucial information, like you better pay attention to it. It's conspicuous, like it's right in front of your nose and yet you either overlook it or you dismiss it.
  5. Natasha Frost, What do Boeing CEO's Dennis Muilenberg's apologies actually mean?, Quartz (2019-10-31). Right now, Boeing's apologies appear to be more focused on rebuilding the relationship with customers than on actually fixing the problem or offering an explanation. It's not surprising if they thus ring a little hollow—especially since the company's attempts to fix the problem appear to be being done at the behest of the FAA, rather than its own leadership.

Listened

  1. Podcast #571: The Voyage of Character, The Art of Manliness (2019-12-23).

Watched

Meet Memo, the Marie Kondo of Fitness, The New York Times (2019-11-01).

Photo

Upcoming

  • 2020-01-01: It's a new year—we ain't makin' any plans quite yet.

There might be additional links that didn't make the cut at notes.kirkkittell.com

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