Res ipsa loquitur.
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
Thursday, June 25, 2026
'The Vanishing Half'
I just finished this extraordinary novel, the first one this year that was so engrossing I abandoned all the things I was supposed to do for two straight days so as to read it nonstop.
I invoked SlowRead©®™ at around page 30 (of 400) so as to make it last as long as possible.
Note: rather than tell you what it's about, instead I choose to link to reviews that are then your decision to open or not.
There are those constant readers (you know who you are) who will take my word for it when I rave about a book, something I do a couple times a year.
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
My Amazon Book Royalties For The Past 2+ Years
$1.05 in 2024, 70 cents last year, 35 cents so far this year.
Long story short: Don't quit your day job!
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing!
bookofjoe's Favorite Thing: Seki Edge Nail Clipper
This is a whole different level of functionality and elegance, a step up from the shiny cheapo clippers with a useless file in a clear plastic bin next to the cash register at CVS et al.
I've had mine for nearly 5 (five) years (top) and it still functions perfectly, precise and just right in my hand.
It cuts rather than breaks the nail, which makes for a smoother edge.
$18.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
How I Decide Which Book To Read Next
This is one of my favorite things.
What a luxury, to be able to buy any book I want to read.
Back in the day I used to check out the maximum number allowed at one time from the Milwaukee County Public Library.
Weekly half mile long walks carrying them back and forth — no fun in winter.
Now the library comes to me: what a great world.
I like to have at least three but ideally four or five new novels on my "To Read" shelf.
I choose books based on reviews in the many online newspapers and magazines and newsletters I read, as well as chance recommendations/mentions in any number of online hangouts like Hacker News and Cool Tools.
But I digress.
The actual selection process is always the same: I put all the possible books in a stack next to my reading spot.
I think to myself: read the first twenty pages and if they're not compelling, put the book down and move on to the next.
Here's the thing — I very rarely get to a second or third book because invariably I'm engrossed in the very first one I started.
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
Monday, June 22, 2026
Far Out Company
Wrote Mark Frauenfelder:
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Far Out Company is a curated archive of 1960s-70s counterculture visual art: concert posters, TV shows, underground newspapers, commune newsletters, comix, hippie business advertisements, and album art.
I love the DIY design aesthetic of this era: hand-lettered type, day-glo colors, psychedelic illustrations.
Artists and designers like Wes Wilson, Rick Griffin, and Milton Glaser were doing world-class work for free newspapers.
It's a great resource for design inspiration or a trippy rabbit hole to fall into.
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Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
'I can't do it'
Every year or so I replay James Altucher's genius formulation — which originally appeared in his long-defunct Financial Times column — of how to say no without finding yourself hemming and hawing and abba abba abba-ing.
When someone who's asked you to do something hears this response they're startled and silent.
Then they capitulate without you having to say anything else.
If this doesn't work for you, let me know and I'll cheerfully refund three times what you paid for this advice.
Chili Peppers of the World
From Kottke:
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An amazing visual field guide to the chili peppers of the world by Erik Gauger.
Capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers hot, is an evolutionary filter designed to punish animals and reward birds.
Mammals feel it as pain because mammal digestion destroys seeds.
Birds lack the receptor that detects capsaicin, so they eat the fruit, fly off, and deposit seeds far from the plant from which they ate, a dispersal mechanism.
Humans entered the picture late, and changed almost everything about peppers' forms, flavors, and range.
But the underlying logic of nature remains in every fruit: a molecule that says no to the animals who won't deliver its parent seeds far from the rooted plant.
Includes hand-drawn illustrations of 176 different peppers, where they originated, their heat levels, and which hot sauces include them.
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
Sunday, June 21, 2026
11 Great Science Fiction Novels
Many reading this have never read a science fiction novel.
I know this to be true because over the years I've asked people if they've read any science fiction and many say "No."
If you're willing to dip a proverbial toe in the sci-fi water but have no idea where to start, I'm gonna make it easy for you: below, a list of 11 great sci-fi novels I've enjoyed over the years, most of which I've read more than once.
A book that thrilled me when I was kid, if it's a classic, will enchant me once again, in a different way, 60 years later.
Note: They're in no particular order; these are the first ones that came to mind when I decided to create this post.
• The Demolished Man — Alfred Bester (1953)
• Neuromancer — William Gibson (1984)
• Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson (1992)
• The Martian Chronicles — Ray Bradbury (1950)
• Dragon's Egg — Robert L. Forward (1980)
• Mission of Gravity — Hal Clement (1954)
• Flowers for Algernon — Daniel Keyes (1959)
• Childhood's End — Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
• Darker Than You Think — Jack Williamson (1948)
• A Canticle for Liebowitz — Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959)
• The Stars My Destination — Alfred Bester (1956)
The Shoehorn: What's Old is New Again
If, like mine, some of your running shoes employ a sock-like upper, you will have doubtless found that they can be devilishly hard to put on, especially if you're wearing thick socks such as Thor-Los.
After fighting with mine for years, it occurred to me that perhaps an old-fashioned shoehorn could help.
Long story short: mos def!
As any fool can plainly see in the bookofjoe Studios©®™ premiere video up top, the Nike AlphaFly Next% 2 resists my efforts to don it on my own but capitulates nicely without any undue stress or effort on my part when I employ a shoehorn.
You can too!
Two (2) Official bookofjoe shoehorns can be yours for $5.99.
Make a friend's day by giving them one.
The Mysterious Hum Only A Few Perceive
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Some people occasionally hear a low buzzing or humming sound that doesn't have a clear source. An estimated 2–4% of the world's population hear this. Scientists have been trying to figure out for decades where this sound comes from.
Some people find the sound annoying but can live with it. Others can get sick from this low-frequency sound, which is often also experienced as a vibration.
The humming sound isn't easy to hear outdoors, but it often appears indoors—and is most noticeable when you've gone to sleep at night. If you look out the window to see if there is something with a motor in the neighborhood, there's nothing to see.
And others who are in the same place hear nothing.
First discovered in coastal cities
The phenomenon was first recorded and discussed in the city of Bristol, England in the mid-1970s. Suddenly, the Bristol Evening Post began receiving letter after letters from people who heard an inexplicable sound, and wondered where it came from.
One theory was that the humming sound came from large, industrial fans that were located inside the warehouse of a large department store. However, when the warehouse was closed down a few years later, people continued to hear the sound.
Since then, the sound has been recorded in several places in the United Kingdom, mainly in coastal cities such as Hythe, Plymouth, Southampton, Swansea, but also in London.
The sound is called the hum phenomenon, or simply the hum.
In the 1990s, it cropped up in the United States, first in the city of Taos, New Mexico and in the city of Kokomo, Indiana. The phenomenon has since been recorded worldwide: in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and several European cities. The sound is typically reported in relatively densely populated areas.
A couple of years ago, people in the Oslo area also reported an unexplained humming sound, according to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).
Canadian Glen MacPherson began hearing the humming sound when he lived and worked as a teacher on Canada's west coast. When he moved to another city in the same area, the sound disappeared.
He became so interested in the sound phenomenon that he started the interactive World Hum Map [top] and Database Project in 2012, which collects data from places and people where the sound has been noted.
Many different theories
Many different theories have been offered to explain the cause of the phenomenon; everything from acoustic pollution from human-made sources to sounds that nature itself makes—as well as conspiracy theories that the sound is produced by the CIA or even aliens.
There are many human sources of low-frequency sound. These can include ventilation systems, heat pumps, traffic noise, windmills and more. Examples of natural sources include the sound of waves crashing along the coast and wind sweeping through the landscape.
The hum has attracted the interest of hearing and audiology researchers worldwide. Markus Drexl, an NTNU professor, is among this self-selected group.
He and two Ph.D. research fellows and a postdoc have conducted a study of 28 people in Germany who experience hearing an unexplained buzzing or humming. The study is published in the journal PLOS One.
Other explanations for 'the hum'
- Military aircraft and submarines
One theory that has been proposed is that the hum relates to sound waves from US military aircraft that use radio frequencies at the lowest end of the spectrum of sound frequencies to communicate with submarines. These aircraft operate at night, and their movements are top secret. The theory may also explain why many "hum sites" are located on the coast.
- Amorous fish
The Scottish Association for Marine Science has suggested that the noise in the UK coastal town of Hythe could be caused by the mating call of schools of male plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus). Amorous male fish make loud sounds, sometimes for hours, to attract females.
- Waves, volcanic eruptions, or lightning strikes
In 2015, French researchers suggested that the hum was caused by waves moving along the seafloor. When the waves collide with ridges on the continental shelves, it creates vibrations that are audible to some.
Other researchers have suggested that vibrations caused by volcanic eruptions and earthquakes could be the cause.
Yet another theory points to the lightning strikes that strike Earth every day. Lightning strikes build up a massive electromagnetic charge that creates a resonance between Earth's surface and the ionosphere—much like blowing air over the top of a bottle.
- Sensitive brains
Dr. David Baguley, head of the audiology department at Addenbrooke's Hospital in England, has done extensive research into the phenomenon. He believes it is due to sensitive brains that can pick up ultra-low sound frequencies.
He pointed out that our sense of hearing is greatly affected if we experience a lot of stress, and the brain turns up the volume to detect threatening sounds.
Sounds that can be measured
The researchers tested two hypotheses.
One was that the hum can be measured, both from human-made infrastructure and industry and also from nature itself, which creates low-frequency sounds.
"We know that there are people who hear low-frequency sounds that can actually be measured, even if other people don't hear them. But it's not so easy to find the source of these sound waves, because it's a struggle to localize low-frequency sounds," Drexl said.
These sounds have long wavelengths that can travel over great distances.
Extra good hearing?
The first thing the researchers did was test whether the participants had particularly good hearing for low-frequency sounds that are actually known to exist.
Most did not, except for two participants who had better hearing than average at certain low frequencies.
"Even though the group we tested was small, it still means that the hypothesis of having especially good hearing for low-frequency sounds does not hold for most people," Drexl said.
He adds a small caveat: There are differences in hearing thresholds (microstructures) that make it possible for some people to hear sensitively in a very narrow frequency range, for example between 50 and 51 Hertz. These nuances are not captured by conventional hearing tests.
The ear can produce sounds itself
The cochlea in the inner ear itself produces weak sounds with different frequencies, typically between about 500 and 5000 Hertz. These sounds have no function of their own, but are a by-product of a physiological sound amplification process.
"Most of us don't hear these sounds. However, a few people can actually hear the sounds that the ear itself produces. And these sounds can be measured objectively," Drexl said.
These particular sounds are called oto-acoustic emissions and can be detected by placing a sensitive microphone in the ear canal. In some people, these spontaneous oto-acoustic emissions can be experienced as troublesome tinnitus.
"One hypothesis was that the participants in our group could hear oto-acoustic emissions at low frequencies. That's why we tested whether they had them," says Drexl.
But… the answer was no.
Sounds that cannot be measured
"Then there are people who hear something that cannot be measured objectively.
We believe people in this category have a form of low-frequency tinnitus," Drexl said.
Tinnitus or ringing in the ears is when you hear a sound in the ear or in the head, which is not caused by an external sound source.
Many people experience tinnitus, either permanently or for shorter periods. These individuals first experience the sounds in their ears as a sound coming from outside.
But as the sound persists, even when they move to other places, they gradually become aware that the source of the sound is not external.
Drexl says that based on what is known about hearing and the tests they conducted on study participants, the best explanation is twofold.
A few people who hear the hum actually have particularly good low-frequency hearing. However, for most people, it may be a form of tinnitus, meaning a sound that originates from inside the auditory system.
"Based on our results, although we haven't ruled out cases of physical external sound sources, we suggest that subjective tinnitus in the low-frequency range is often the cause of hearing pulsations of low-frequency sound perceptions," he said.
Better understanding of the entire auditory system
Markus Drexl became interested in the hum phenomenon because he studies low-frequency sounds.
"What we know about the hearing system is mainly based on how we capture and process sound with higher frequencies. We know less about how the auditory system handles and processes low-frequency sound, or infrasound," he said.
Drexl says that over the past decade there has been a growing concern about noise from technical sources in the low-frequency range (between about 20 and 250 Hz) and the infrasound range (below 20 Hz).
"If we want to conduct a thorough assessment of low-frequency sounds and infrasound, we first need a better understanding of how sensory systems process low-frequency sound and infrasound," he said.
More?
Your wish is my demand.
Read the full scientific paper on which the article above is based: titled "On the potential sources of a low-frequency sound percept that only a few people can perceive," it was published March 27, 2026 in PLOS One.
Saturday, June 20, 2026
AirPods/AirPods Pro — One Hack to Identify Them All
Ever stick your AirPods or AirPods Pro in the wrong ear(s)?
I have — many times.
I'm betting most other people have too.
Sometimes I don't realize it till I start running and one or both of the erroneously situated devices fall out.
It's almost impossible to distinguish Left from Right just looking at them: that's because the identifying L and R capital letters are less than 2 mm high and rendered in a light grey that's barely visible against the shiny white body.
No más.
Take a red Sharpie (ultra fine or fine point) and make a little red dot on the bottom of the Right AirPod (watch the boj World Premiere Video©®™ up top to see this hack in action).
R is for Red/Right
From now on just glance at your AirPods and Bob's your uncle.
Red and Rover
This is the only daily comic strip I read and that's been the case for years.
It hits my sweet spot.
Back in the day as a boy I read every comic strip in the Milwaukee Journal every day with close attention: there was a full page of them, two side-by-side columns as best I recall, around 20-30 titles.
"L'il Abner" is the one I recall most vividly; "Mark Trail" and "Blondie" were right up there.
Brian Bassett started "Red and Rover" in 2000 and plans to end it in 2028 when he's 70, two years from now.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group (HORG)
From the website:
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The Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group classified occlupanids by the shape of their oral groove.
A sampling of standardized oral groove morphologies are presented here, in hopes of leading the enthusiastic occlupanidologist towards a positive ID of their specimen.
Note that some taxonomic families contain more than shape of oral groove, such as the wide diversity of the Archignathidae.
Friday, June 19, 2026
Post-it Notes Lie-Flat Hack
Res ipsa loquitur.
Latin's not so great?
No worries: Remove notes from the side rather than the bottom.
Poem 48 — J.H. Prynne
When the heart stops, its business concluded
there’s not much to do, however deluded;
immortal longings, like belongings,
abandon their fate at the turnstile’s gate.
How to Procrastinate When You Don't Feel Like Running
Alas, I've NEVER felt like running since I started 50 years ago: it's boring.
No runner's high has ever permeated my pea brain and I doubt one ever will.
I've developed a few strategies which work nicely to delay getting off my fat lazy butt and opening the door and getting moving.
Here are a few, in no particular order:
• Decide that you need to untwist your already tied and tightened shoelaces: this is an excellet delaying tactic, as oftimes you first have to unlace your shoes and then relace them without retwisting them. This tactic doesn't work with fancy puffy semi-flat 3D laces because they are hard to twist unintentionally.
• Take off a shoe after you're all laced up and ready with freshly untwisted laces because you feel a tiny grain of sand-sized something or other inside one of your shoes.
• Locate your cat (if you are fortunate enough to have one) and sit or lie down next to it and pet it. Win-win.
• Check in a mirror to see if you need a haircut.
• Check the weather report on your phone/watch/computer: every second you linger inside it's getting hotter and more uncomfortable outside.
• Organize the stuff in your freezer.
• Make your bed.
• Check your spreadsheet to see if it's time to start binging-watching a a multi-episode series you've been looking forward to.
Thursday, June 18, 2026
BeyondTheMedspeak: Do not undergo elective jaw surgery — unless you are prepared for a lifetime of misery and regret
No, I am not speaking as a customer but, rather, as one who has over the years aided and abetted the performance of countless such surgeries.
Just as Lord Bismarck remarked, "A person should never see how his laws or his sausages are made," so with the performance of elective jaw surgery.
This is one of the more closely held secrets of modern medicine, one you will not read of anywhere else.
No matter.
I have been there and seen that, as it were, with my very own eyes, and winced and felt the pain–to–be of their hapless patient–victims.
Long story short: it's an inexact art governed more by time constraints and the surgeon's mood than dysfunctional anatomy.
The lower jaw's anatomy is extremely complex.
Much happens in a very confined space, culminating in the temporomandibular joint.
When something goes wrong in this confined space with little if any affordances, symptoms can be myriad.
Surgery to correct malocclusion (abnormal bite) is fraught with peril, namely that no one knows how the post–surgical jaw and related TMJ(s) will function — or even if they will function.
Elective jaw surgery to shorten the mandible (lower jawbone) for cosmetic rather than functional purposes is, in my opinion, tip–toeing right along the edge of malpractice.
I attended scores of such surgeries as the anesthesiologist.
Apart from the cost and postoperative misery — for starters, tremendous pain, and your jaw will be wired shut for weeks while the bone heals so you'll be dining through a straw — which are part–and–parcel of such work, the thing you will never know unless you are right there in the O.R. as part of the surgical team — or read bookofjoe — is that the surgeons proceed in an off–the–cuff and ad hoc manner.
For example, the O.R. cut–off time for elective dental surgery at UCLA was 4 p.m.
In practice, that meant the patient had to be out of the room and in the recovery room by that time.
That was so everyone could go home by 5 p.m.
Overtime is expensive.
The penalty for the surgeon who didn't comply was to have his O.R. time reduced.
Not a welcome outcome.
Now, it's not as if the surgeons didn't have plenty of time to do what they needed to do.
It's just that, having begun at 8 a.m. with all the time in the world, once they got going with their various bone saws and drills and other stainless–steel, high–priced carpenter's tools and toys and whatnot, time just flew.
At least it did for them.
Part of my job was to inform them at 3 p.m. that they needed to finish up so I could wake the patient up and get her/him to recovery by 4 p.m.
Frequently this would result in abandonment of some crucial part of the procedure or a shortcut to get done in time.
The patient would never know.
I remember when I moved to Virginia from LA and my new dentist looked at my severe crossbite and told me it was one of the worst he'd ever seen.
OK.
I mean, I'd heard that before and had never had any problems eating or whatever so it didn't seem to me that I had a problem worth thinking about.
Then he said I should have it corrected, which meant undergoing the kind of surgery I've just described above.
It was all I could do to keep a straight face while I listened patiently and then replied that I would give it serious thought.
For the next couple years he'd mention it each time I came in for my semi–annual cleaning but after a while I guess he came to realize that I probably wasn't gonna go for it.
I haven't heard a word — or had a problem — since.
Bottom line: if you're considering elective cosmetic jaw surgery, get not only a second but a third, fourth, and even fifth opinion.
Money very well spent.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Blast From The Past — Talking Heads Live in 1976
Wrote Kottke:
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In March 1976, Talking Heads played a show at The Kitchen in NYC; you can watch the entire show recorded from two angles in this video. The band had formed the year before and was more than a year away from recording and releasing their debut album.
It’s a great insight as to what these early Talking Heads shows were like, and with it also being in color, being good quality, and having two angles for most of the show, this is a must-watch.
The band played for about 90 minutes (2 sets plus an encore), working through tracks like Psycho Killer, Thank You For Sending Me An Angel, and Love → Building On Fire. (via Open Culture)
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50 years ago. Staggering.
This Is Up
This real-time graphic lets you check the status of over 100 major sites at once.
Free, the way we like it.
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Mechanical Pencil
From the website:
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Are you curious about why a clicky pen... clicks? How a Zippo lighter flips open? What lives inside a PEZ dispenser?"
You've come to the right place!
I've illustrated tear-downs and break-downs of everyday products that you may have taken for granted.
Take a look inside and see and understand how they work.
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