Dean's 🧠 Newsletter #4
Slow down, tie your shoes, and eat a cookie.
Hello ya’ll!
Here’s this week’s sampling of 5 things I find useful and interesting.
The Amazing Slow Downer
Last week I wrote about Rocksmith as a tool for learning and playing the guitar. If a song that I want to learn isn’t available on CustomForge, the custom DLC site, I turn to The Amazing Slow Downer. What it lacks in UI polish it makes up for in functionality. It allows you to isolate sections of songs, slow them down (without changing pitch), and loop them. Also great for learning songs on the drums. Supports Apple Music, Spotify, or BYO MP3s.
Tying your shoes correctly
One of the pinnacle experiences in life is learning that there’s a better way to do something that you do regularly. In my early thirties this TED talk from Terry Moore changed how I tie my shoes. It’s not mindblowing, but it’s a regular reminder that I have blind spots for things I wouldn’t even consider being wrong about. I’ve had a similar experience learning how to properly peel a banana.
Science & Cooking
I don’t cook much. I don’t really watch cooking shows. But I love trying new and interesting foods and learning how things work. This Science & Cooking lecture series from Harvard is a science class but taught through food. There’s a wonderful mix of chemistry, physics, and technology to learn. This course changed my egg-cooking game and also convinced me to buy a sous vide.
Lecture 1 from 2012 is a great starting point.
For more of this sort of content in book form, I’d suggest The Food Lab.
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie
To double down on the science and cooking topic I’ll share my favorite cookie recipe. The people over at America’s Test Kitchen have gone scientific on the classic chocolate chip recipe to make a more complex, better texture, better… everything cookie. This recipe has raised my bar for cookies. Here’s an explanation of each of the changes they’ve made.
Do you have a favorite cookie recipe? Send it my way.
My Favorite Pens
Over the years I’ve searched for the perfect everyday carry pen for myself. After seeing suggestions around the internet and from friends I tried Fisher Space Pens, Le Pen, Zebra F-701, and even did a custom G2 Montblanc hack. I kept running into problems. I wouldn’t always remember to put them in my pocket for the day, I’d leave them at my office, or they’d get “borrowed” by people and never returned.
I needed a pen that was cheap enough that I could buy enough to have them spread between my office and house that there was always one available. I also wanted a pen I enjoyed writing and drawing with. The pens I’ve settled on for the last couple of years are uni-ball 207 Retractable Gel Pens with Ultra Micro Point. Cheap enough to buy a bunch at once and I love writing with them.
Previous Posts
If you haven’t checked out my previous posts you can see them here: