Back in 2011 I got sick of breaking the hairs on violin bows and ordered an Incredibow. The hair is polymer filament, and it's very strong. I ordered a 29" Basic Omnibow, Featherweight, and it's been just what I wanted. I think I've broken something like three hairs ever, despite some rough chopping.

As someone who writes for fun, I don't need to get people onto my site:

• If I write a post and some people are able to get the core idea just from the title or a tweet-length summary, great!

• I can include the full contents of my posts in my RSS feed and on FB, because so what if people read the whole post there and never click though to my site?

It would be different if I funded my writing through ads (maximize time on site to maximize impressions) or subscriptions (get the chance to pitch, probably want to tease a paywall).

Sometimes I notice myself accidentally copying what makes sense for other writers. For example, because I can't put full-length posts on Bluesky or Mastodon I write short intros and link my full post. Yesterday I initially drafted:

It's common to flavor truffles with extracts, but I'd like less of a liquor flavor. This time last year I made some with freeze-dried raspberries, which I think came out well. I continue to like those a lot, and this year tried strawberry and orange zest. One worked a lot better than the other: [link]

This would have gotten more people to click through, but that shouldn't be my target. Instead I posted:

... and this year tried strawberry (eh) and orange zest (great!) [link]

No need to hold curiosity hostage.

It's common to criticize "clickbait", where a teaser entices and then doesn't deliver, but even reserving key information for the full article is a product of authors (needing to!) optimize for goals other than communicating to users. I like that this isn't a pressure that I'm under. Because our culture has so many who are under it, however, optimizing for communication can require noticing and intentionally avoiding common patterns.

Growing up my dad would make chocolate truffles, flavored with a range of alcohols and fruit extracts. These are tasty, but I've been interested in making ones that have less of a liquor flavor. This time last year I made some with freeze-dried raspberries, which I think came out well. I continue to like those a lot, but this year wanted to try some additional flavors.

A couple months ago Nora (3y) got very into Otamatones. She wanted to watch lots of videos, primarily TheRealSullyG. She asked for one for Christmas, and so did I:

They're a lot of fun, but I haven't yet figured out if it's an instrument I'll ever be able to reliably play in tune.

Singing together in groups can be a great feeling, building a sense of togetherness and shared purpose. While widespread literacy means getting everyone singing the same words isn't too hard, how do you get everyone on the same melody? This has often been a problem for our secular solstices, but is also one many groups have handled in a range of ways. Here are the options I know about:

Use broader cultural knowledge:

We celebrated New Year's Eve at my dad's, including a fire in the (open, wood burning) fireplace. I was curious how much the wood smoke went up the chimney vs collecting in the room, and decided to take some measurements. I used the M2000 that I got when investigating whether a ceiling fan could be repurposed as an air purifier.

Here's what I found: