Inside George Nakashima’s home and workshop
The links are in the liminal space between Spring Break and Summer Vacation. This time we’re colliding the last quiet thing, a secret reference desk, crowds admiring cats, how GPS actually works and a report from last week’s Grok Conf. More on that last one next.
Please skip around, read what you want to. Find something interesting in your own internet travels? Send me a link
—JH
This Just In
Opening sessions / Photo Credit: Zach Suggs
This time last week I was programming 170 NFC chips with my coworker Paul. We were prepping for Grok Conf, an annual tech conference in Greenville, South Carolina. It ran Wednesday night through Friday. I’m still worn out from it (in the best way), but here’s some highlights.
Paper crafts with Kelli Anderson during her keynote / Photo Credit: Zach Suggs
Attendees were about 50/50 returnees and new folks by my count. The perfect blend! People who came said a lot of nice things about it.
Grok Conf badge front
The custom aluminum badges I designed featured NFC chips that opened a bleeding-edge path full of experimental UI and tech Mark built. Paul and I programmed them so that each badge’s chip matched up with each attendee.
Grok Conf badge back
But outside tech, hearing people connect and process the opportunity and challenge of today was lovely. It’s easy to think that emerging tech calls all the shots. But deep craft, humanity and community shape what actually matters. Keynote speaker Matt Lehman quoted it best: “Move me, dude.” We still want to feel something.
Bro is moved / Photo Credit: Zach Suggs
Look for conferences, meet-ups, bookclubs, whatever in your own area. Even I, a person born without an outside voice and who’s more comfortable in my own studio, love getting out and rubbing elbows with folks I don’t know—yet.
—JH
10 curious links that would have killed the cat
🤫 The last quiet thing. Really enjoyed this one, excellent reader style too.
Terry Godier ∙ Article
🏡 Inside George Nakashima’s Japanese-style home and workshop. A meditative 20mins with Nakashima’s daughter covering the property, handcrafted furniture and historical forces. Look at that roof!
Architecture Digest ∙ Video
🔎 Google has a secret reference desk. Here’s one trick: “‘AROUND(#)’ tells Google how many words apart your two search terms can be. Try: climate AROUND(3) policy. The intent is that only pages where those terms appear in genuine proximity show up, rather than a page that mentions ‘climate’ in the introduction and ‘policy’ ten paragraphs later.” Good for when you want to form your own understanding of something rather than letting Claude mold your thoughts. As a former librarian I loved this so much.
Card Catalog ∙ Article
🛰️ A visual explainer on the physics of how GPS works. I appreciated the summary blocks for each section, interactive diagrams, and collapsed “go deeper” blocks.
PerThirtySix ∙ Article
⚒️ What live/work spaces have looked like through the ages. From Medieval Burgage Plots to Content Houses.
Dwell ∙ Article
Adam Savage watching an IMAX film reel being spooled
🍿 How IMAX 70MM film is projected. Adam Savage gets all the details. When scanned for digital, IMAX film results in something like 12K-18K video. That’s why it’s the gold standard for movies and why a 3-hour film reel weighs 600 pounds.
Tested ∙ Interview
😻 Residents of Minneapolis put their cats in the window and the crowd stops to admire them. Just a sec, checking flights…
@ContempraInn ∙ Post
🍝 Loved coming across the term sloppypasta (noun): “Verbatim LLM output copy-pasted at someone, unread, unrefined, and unrequested”. Keep your wits about you out there.
Stop Sloppypasta ∙ Website
☕️ The pioneering coffee house serving since 1645. “In Oxford, ‘runners’ would go from coffee house to coffee house, picking up all the best news and delivering it back to customers. ‘You’re talking human wifi,’ said Garner.” Le sigh.
BBC ∙ Article
🍪 Cinnamon Toast Vanilla Sourdough Cookies. Oh wow, it’s all my search terms in one recipe!
The Perfect Loaf ∙ Recipe
in Greenville, SC
After last week’s experiments with NFC chips, a custom path for Grok and brainloads of new ideas, the Lab at HQ is a shambles. We’re still collating. More updates next time.
Until next time, bee good.
High five,
Justin Hall
Editor, Partner at Pathwright