Blog of Josh Hall

Write it down.  You’re not that smart to remember everything.  Plus, if you get hit by a bus, a lot more is lost than your life.

I stumbled on Austin Kleon’s list here.  I’ll break down his list, and add in my own advice and support for each of them.  After all, all advice is autobiographical and all I’m doing is stealing like an artist.  A lot of these are already similar to a Hall’s Rule of Social Order, and some others will be soon.

1. Steal like an artist.

   It’s kind of the art of progress.  You pay tribute to the original idea or author of the work, in the form of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, but then you also add your person style to it.  As in Ecclesiastes 1:9, there is nothing new, everything has already been done.  Maybe if theirs didn’t “take off” yours will.

2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to start making things.

   Sometimes, it’s the journey, not just the destination. Trying new things is how you get to learn about yourself. Look at Seuss’ green eggs and ham. He was so sure he knew himself, but really, he didn’t have a clue. Maybe a bad analogy, heck, all of these could be terrible interpretations of Austin’s list, but who cares? I’m doing something.

3. Write the book you want to read.

   I want to write books. At the moment, I don’t want to read any though, and I think that is what holds me back from making something.

4. Use your hands.

   Sometimes the digital world doesn’t cut it. Go meet people, shake some hands, feel mud, get dirty, experience life instead of just watching it on a screen.

5. Side projects and hobbies are important.

   TRUFE. projects and hobbies are so key to my mental health, it’s not even funny. I need to feel like I’m creating something, expressing myself, like I’m working towards something. Sometimes, it’s the waste of time that is the most important way to spend your time. It’s grounding to realize that you are in control of your time, and ultimately, you need to be happy, not just a to outside forces.

6. The Secret:  Do good work and put it where people can see it.

   Definitely a secret I’m guilty of exploiting. I’ll type up a good email, and send it off to someone to proof-read, just so they can see what I’m doing and how I take care of things. Part of it is ostentatious, but, really, it’s just giving people the opportunity to see truth and know you more.

7. Geography is no longer our master.

   I’ve worked on PHP code with friends from all over the world. I supported the computers of people in Europe from my phone in Pittsburgh. I know more people in Australia, a place I’ve never been, than people 1 block away from me.

8. Be nice.  The world is a small town.

   heh, alright, I’m not very good at this one. It’s still true though. Always be grateful for the things you learn and the people that teach you, because chances are, they still have something to teach you later on, or you’ll need to go back and ask them for a refresher course.

9. Be boring.  It’s the only way to get work done.

   Certainly easy to contradict #5 here. When all your friends go out every night, sure it’s fun, but at the end of the day, you haven’t done anything but hang out with your friends. Sometimes saving your money for investing in something tangible is the greater decision

10. Creativity is subtraction.

    Church. This is my biggest pet peeve with the advent of the youtube sensations. Adding in so many vocal effects, mastering, looping, video editing, all take away from the creativity put in creating the music. The sad thing is, people don’t care.

LEGO is a very popular medium for stop motion videos.  LEGO even makes their own cameras and software for content editing.  Here’s one of the more popular music videos with LEGO:

Get it in writing.  Otherwise, It’s your fault if they don’t follow through.

Typing 2 spaces after a period at the end a sentence is wrong.

Maybe “wrong” is too strong, but it’s not right.  Don’t believe me?  Go ask the experts, like the Modern Language Association – http://www.mla.org/style_faq3

It stems back to the old days of typewriters, where each character took up the same “space” as any other character.  Skinny letters like I and l took up the same space as M and W, which would leave sentences looking broken apart and disorganized.  So, the double space rule was implemented to make paragraphs easier to read.

I guess it’s up to you to follow the rules, but they’re there.  Let’s see people try to enforce them.

Brought to you courtesy of Slate.

“The internet should always be a place of truth, not deception.”

– George Washington