Nov 2020: Consuming and Producing

November 2020

A list of books, audiobooks, podcasts, and some television.
This also maps my consumer habits, and how my time on Youtube and Instagram leads to shop projects and purchases.

What I am Reading this Month:

• The Tyranny of Merit, Michael J. Sandel (I’m on Chp. 5)
• Breakdown of Will, George Ainslie (I’m on Chp. 4)
• Moral Mazes: the World of Corporate Managers, Robert Jackall (I’m on Chp. 2)

What I am listening to this month:

Books:

• Network Effect, Martha Wells
• Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (finishing)
• Pushing Ice, Alastair Reynolds

Podcasts:

• Making Sense, Sam Harris “Success, Failure, and the Common Good” Michael J. Sandel
• Making Sense, Sam Harris, “A Pandemic of Incompetence” Nicholas Christakis
• Making Sense, Sam Harris, “The information Apocalypse” Nina Schick
• Philosophize this! “Bergson on Laughter” part 2
• Partially Examined Life “Ep. 254: Michael J Sandel, Against Meritocracy”
• Partially Examined Life “Ep 252: Habermas on Communication as Sociality”
• Tim Ferris: Naval Rivkant
• Tim Ferris: Yuval Noah Harari
• Tim Ferris: Matthew McConaughey
• Joe Rogan: Matthew McConaughey
• Daily Stoic [link] ~ listening to most of the daily podcasts
• Daily Stoic: 261. Anne Applebaum, how does a stoic resist tyranny?

What I am watching this month:

• Dirk Gently Hulu
• Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld, Netflix
• Children’s Hospital, Hulu
• Legion, Hulu
• Stupid Election based crap

What I am consuming

What I want:

From October: After youtube vids, I want a Veritas router plane, a Veritas shoulder plane, a Rob Cosman dovetail saw and marking knife.
In November: I now own a Veritas router plane and Veritas shoulder plane. (hooray… more tools.)
I still want a dovetail saw and marking knife, but I am also eyeballing a Powermatic 18″ drill press that I will need to save up for.

Update: Heating/AC for the shop.
The estimate was $3,800 for a 1,800 BTU mini-split. And, I still have to have an electrician set up a 240v 30 amp box. (Ouch… I may need to get a 3rd job to keep up with my wood working habit… or DIY this sucker.)

What I produced:

1 podcast this month.
Excuses, excuses, but I went on two retreats and read quite a bit, lining up 3 new podcasts, but haven’t completed them.

2 art pieces this month.
These are quick, fun pieces. Primarily I was thinking of social constructs that allow for abuse, so one is obviously inspired by the Surveillance Capitalism podcast, and the other is more art-world centric about how stupid art (memes) promotes idiocy and outrage, devaluing the system the rely on. It is a type of joker profiteering, which is so truthful it hurts.

1 art show review
I was invited to a gallery, and ended up writing a review of the art exhibit for Glasstire.com.

What I built:

Tool holding/display area.
A dedicated area for my planes, spoke shaves, chisels, and some mark-making and layout implements. Made of maple ply and maple trim. (continued from October: you will notice the handy new router plane and shoulder plane.)

Steam Bending Wood Box
A much lengthier process than I originally thought: I watched some tutorials and realized I needed to use treated plywood for the box, get some ash (or oak) and soak it for about 3 days, then steam it. But also, I built a form and compression strap to control the process. (results will be shared next month)