justin․searls․co

I joined Twitter in 2007 and my brain slowly morphed over the next 15 years from hopelessly verbose to nihilistically pithy. I've kicked the Twitter habit, but the takes keep flowing. That's why I post them here and format them as a social network of one. They're also cross-posted to my Mastodon account. You're welcome to bookmark any of these takes, though I'm not sure why you would.

By the way, the hearts and like counts are fake. They're just there to make you feel safe.


Every time I get asked to review a document, I'll leave several paragraphs of feedback about one of the first few sentences, exhaust myself, and then give up and close the window. #secret

I have a "private client" account at a regional bank, not because I want to talk to anyone, but because it gets you the lowest fees and best interest rates. The only "cost" is I have to screen a dozen phone calls and e-mails a year as they try to upsell me.

I think I’ve had 15 account managers in the last ten years. Most of the email they send me is them handing me off to the next one.

Man, Electron just can't cut it. Using Descript to edit a 15-minute video—I’m not even halfway done with about 100 stock videos embedded and my maxed-out M2 Ultra Mac Studio is chugging so badly that I can't resize shapes accurately (about 1.2 seconds of input lag per drag).

Anyone else noticing that the iPhone 15 pro is frustratingly slippery in an all-new way? Becky and I will leave it face down on a flat desk and after 10 or 15 minutes it’ll find a way to crash onto the floor.

It’s happened so many times I re-leveled the desk (was actually slanted the other way) and checked for seismic activity (none). What gives?

You just know that somebody in marketing at Volkswagen has spent the last week doing nothing but trying to figure out how to cut an ad that takes a victory lap for no longer being the car maker people most associate with Nazis.

Every time someone orders Chilean sea bass, I'm the guy at the table who reminds them that its actual name is Patagonian toothfish.

I'm super fun at parties. Inquire within.

Being childless and also petless means that I'm not sure how to best identify myself to others in terms of my life's biggest time and money sink.

"I'm a smarthome dad," maybe?

I subscribed to a paper newspaper after quitting social media last month, and the difference is remarkable. It feels amazing to finally have some fiber in my information diet.

I was really stressed out today and nothing I did made me feel any better until I said "at least I'm not Ilya Sutskever," and the tension in my shoulders immediately released.

I don’t do this often, but I’m ready to make an endorsement: Buttondown is good software. I’ve been publishing my Searls of Wisdom newsletter for 6 months now and it all just works. Plus, Justin Duke has been SUPER responsive to every question I’ve had.

If you’re thinking about decoupling how you keep in touch from social platforms, take a look. Referral link for $9 off: buttondown.email/refer/searls

Music services still recommend music by answering, "what do other people who listen to the stuff you listen to also listen to?" This Balkanizes our libraries, because it fails to cross cultural and regional boundaries.

Suppose two tracks, one in Japanese and one in English, are great for extremely similar reasons pertaining to how they actually sound. Spotify and Apple Music would would never recommend one for the other. It seems like high time that algorithms drew from analyses of music’s intrinsic qualities: sound, BPM, lyrical sentiment, etc.

TIL that Yelp now includes the health inspection reports of all the restaurants in my area, so I guess I’m never going out to eat again.