A cautionary but reassuring tale of a student, a teacher, and the limitations of technology. — Names, places, and other identifying information has been redacted from the following story to protect the guilty and the busy. That being said, everything I do relate here is absolutely true from a primary source. “I failed my first student for using ChatGPT today,” my friend told me as we…

One twist, a few settings, and an app make a big difference in my day. — I’ve had an Apple Watch for about eleven years now. I’ve had ADHD for about fifty-four. But I’ve only known about it for less than one. When it came out in 2012, it seemed the perfect tool for my busy life: all the alarms I would ever need, the ability…

How to escape the tyranny of productivity by the minute. — About six months ago I learned that I’ve been living with undiagnosed ADHD my whole life. Learning that caused a gigantic frame shift in how I understood my life, my work, my relationships, my hobbies — everything. And it made me aware that a huge part of my ADHD expresses…

What happens when a bunch of game designers share their work before it’s ready? — Protospiel Milwaukee is a popular game design and development convention. Board game designers with all types of experience get together to test and promote game prototypes in a supportive, cooperative environment. This collaborative event is based on sharing experiences and insight toward a goal of making the best games. …

Giving something up is harder than trying something new. — There’s no shortage of apps, devices, soundscapes and meditations designed to improve your sleep. Fancy-ass custom earplugs. High-tech mattress covers. Teas, supplements, and new bedtime routines. They exist because we humans likenew things, buying things, and the feeling we are Doing Something About the Problem. What if it’s not something you need, but something you already have?

Escape the grasp of the big and little hands — Time is subjective. We all know this. That’s why being immersed in something you love to do feels so good, and why doing things we dislike seem to take forever. It’s why a summer can be life-changing when you’re a teen and just a blink of an eye when you’re…

Willful ignorance or magical thinking, they keep leaving out an important point. — “…all they do is predict which word the training data says is most likely to come next… It’s just a parrot, choosing words it’s heard before out of a big ass hat.” That’s from Adam Conover’s recent YouTube rant against the evils of AI chatbots. It’s not an original argument…

They’re usually overworked and underpaid, and AI can make a difference. — When I was Executive Director of a small nonprofit in central Wisconsin, one of our board members suggested we write for a grant from his employer, a large finance firm. We were small, and didn’t have a grant-writer on staff, but the Director of Operations and I both had a…

This is how I figured it out and made them better. — I used to take a masochistic pride in my morning routine. It wasn’t complex, but it was based on years of reading about the things I “needed” to do to be productive, successful, “1% better every day.” Wake up and immediately drink a glass of ice-cold water. 15–20 minutes of…