Dec 2020: Consuming and Producing

November 2020

A list of books, audiobooks, podcasts, television and more that I am consuming.
A list of achievements, articles, or plans in the shop to showcase my producing.

This series also maps my consumer habits, and how my time on Youtube and Instagram leads to shop projects and purchases, as well as influences my thoughts.

What I am Reading this Month:

• Moral Mazes: the World of Corporate Managers, Robert Jackall (I’m on Chp. 4)

What I am listening to this month:

Audio Books:

• Dead Acre
• the Book of Koli
• The Craving Mind
• Escape from Virtual Island
• Forward (Veronica Roth, Blake Crouch, N. K. Jemisin, Amor Towles, Paul Tremblay, Andy Weir)

Podcasts:

• Making Sense, Sam Harris “The Key to Trump’s Appeal” [link]
• Making Sense, Sam Harris, ” A Conversation with Andrew Sullivan” [link]
• Making Sense, Sam Harris “The Price of Distraction” [link]
• The Dishcast: Andrew Sullivan and Coleman Hughes [link]
• The Knowledge Project: Randall Stutman: Admired Leader [link]
• The Knowledge Project: Episode 94: Chamath Palihapitiya: Understanding Yourself [link] 
• Philosophize this! “Henri Bergson on Laughter” part 1 History [link]
• Philosophize this! “Henri Bergson on Laughter” part 2 Vitalism [link]
• Partially Examined Life “Ep. 255: Sun Tzu’s The Art of War” [link]
• Partially Examined Life “Ep. 256: Kropotkin’s Anarchist Views” [link]
• Partially Examined Life: “Ep. 257: Locke against innate ideas” [link]
• Daily Stoic [link] ~ listening to most of the daily podcasts
• Hidden Brain: “Between Two Worlds” [link]
• Free Thoughts “the Comedy of Politics” [link]
• Free Thoughts “the Art of Gender” [link]
• Free Thoughts “The Conservative Liberalism of Burke, Smith, and Hume” [link]
• Pop & Locke “Blade Runner” [link]
• The Daily “The Social Life of Forests” [link]

What I am watching this month:

• Rick & Morty, season 4, Hulu (recommended)
• Catch-22, Hulu (recommended)
• Children’s Hospital, Hulu
• Nos4a2, Hulu
• The Regular Show, Hulu
• Adventure Time, Hulu
• The Queen’s Gambit, Netflix

Online Lectures:

• Ali Soltani, on remote architecture from NYC to Iran [link]
• Shaun Leonardo: Temple College [link]

What I am consuming

Podcast Set Up

I decided to upgrade from my Blue Yeti microphone after talking to my buddy Ian F. Thomas. And then my other friend, Joey Janishek, gave me some grief for not having my face visible, so I went down a rabbit hole of how to use a DSLR to record to your PC. And of course, I had to upgrade my microphone, but I think it is smarter than me.

To see the gear I use now and the problems I encountered (and still encounter), please check out this post:

PODCAST SET UP

What I want:

From November: I still want a dovetail saw and marking knife, but I was also eyeballing a Powermatic 18″ drill press that I would need to save up for. (Believe it or not, I didn’t get either).

December: I DID GET a Sawstop Table saw Folding Outfeed Table.

Previously, I made one myself, but it was very heavy and unbalanced the table saw when I had to move the table saw to allow my wife’s car into my sacred space. This caused other problems, such as a bolt slipping out in the mobile base, which led to my neighbor Paul helping me lift the whole unit out of the base.

I consider the outfeed table a SAFETY issue. I have had some difficult cuts lately (long, thick stock) and my extension arm keeps toppling, which is quite scary when you push down to reduce the impact as the wood falls out-of-control off the table.

Also, I had my first Sawstop brake get deployed by cutting wet timber, so between buying a new Forrest blade and another safety cartridge, that was about a $300 mistake.

It happened about 10 PM, so I was probably tired and obviously not thinking. It took me over an hour to get the darn blade/cartridge out of the saw.

Black Friday Deals? Yes.

Instead of the Powermatic 18″ Drill Press for $1,599, I went with the JET 17″ Drill Press, which was on sale from $999 to $849. From what I have read (and seen on youtube), the Powermatic Drill Press has had several problems, and costs about twice as much, even though usually Powermatic is the ‘gold standard’ (or burnt mustard) and offers several seemingly nice upgrades.

Update: Heating/AC for the shop.

I have an electrician coming over to add a 240 box, but he wouldn’t do it until the AC said where to put it. So, I invited over a local AC guy. I figured his quote would be about $2,800 since the more corporate guys were at $3,800. Nope. His price was between $4,790 and $5,700.

That is insane. A whole new unit for the house is about $8-10k.

And you may ask, how am I paying for all this?
Partly my day job, but I have a side client who needed a very complicated payment gateway on their website, and another who needed a stylistic update on their site. I try to balance the shop costs out with side income, but it inevitably dips into my actual income.

What I produced:

2 podcasts this month.

What I built:

4 art pieces this month.

The abstracted bandsaw.
I learned how to steam bend wood to create this piece. The idea was based around having 2 divided units that remained connected (thinking of partisanship/divisiveness) and removing the blade. In this way, it is not dangerous, but has lost it’s utility or agency to cut or create, becoming an inert piece of art.

The crucible / The brazen box: the steam bending setup as art. Naturally, the idea of pressure and heat being used to warp the nature of something feels very timely. But, you know, just to make it more fun, I added in some additional elements and named it after the torture device “the brazen bull” in homage to the holidays.