This Glorious Machine

As I weave through double parked cars and brave pedestrians, I see that this bicycle with an electric motor has returned the hope I’d lost over the years. Here, listen, it whispers: tech doesn’t have to be a con or make us the worst versions of ourselves. Look: technology has kept its promise and genuinely made the world better!

I love my single speed bike, but this essay on ebikes by Robin Rendle is lovely: This Glorious Machine!

I've had my eye on a Beachman Bike for some time, but I really do love my single speed.


Robot Karaoke

If you're in Brooklyn on Monday, January 13, 2025, you can head to Wonderville and participate in robot karaoke:

Join us for karaoke night on impossible mode as we replace the lyrics to any SONG with words from any TEXT, then try to sing the results on the spot. It all happens live, so each song has never been heard before and will never be heard again.

Past combos include Yelp reviews of psychics to the tune of Total Eclipse of the Heart and Bernie Saunders Email Subject Lines to the tune of Don't Stop Believin'.


Mused Gives You Immersive Cultural Heritage Experiences

Mused.com is like a Google Street View x Google Earth for place GSV and GE don't go. It describes itself as

Bringing Immersive Cultural Heritage Experiences to Gaming, Classrooms, and Libraries around the World.

Once you sign up for a free membership, you can do things like:

Note that I had difficulty making this work with Google Chrome but it worked with every other browser I tried. My default is Arc.


A Way Of Doing — A Playlist

Cover Art for A Way Of Doing, rotated 45 degrees clockwise so the tracks can be read.

In 2003, I had a miserable job at a miserable company called Butterfield & Robinson. There were some wonderful people there but the bosses' bosses were useless and I hated it. I lasted 13 months and — after doing a bunch of copy editing that I wasn't paid for — I quit and went back to being a freelance web designer.

Part of the culture at B&R was to have a "Daily Huddle" where the entire company would gather and discuss the previous day's business, as well as what was in the pike. The huddle was run by a different person every day and the company made a big deal out an employee's first huddle, which would come six months into your employment. You had to make it special. Most people did this with catering or special guests. I did it with music.

For my first huddle, I made two mixed CDs, which I called A Way of Doing and A Way of Being Done. I had a friend do the artwork and I made about 75 copies of each and gave them away at the huddle. The friend recently sent me the artwork and I've recreated the playlist for the first disc on Youtube. I'll post disc two in the future. If you're a member of A Tiny Bell, you can listen by playing the video below.

I'll also explain the CD titles and write a bit about my first day at the company, which was awesome and involved lunch with Sidney Pollack and stories about Stanley Kubrick.

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