Kyle McCormick

[Ethan @ethanabuck]

Lego is boring.

Enter BYLT - real construction using real practices. From architect drawn blueprints to finished product... on a tiny scale.

Get your kit or order a la carte from the supply yard 👇

[Greg McKeown @GregoryMcKeown]

Life gets better when you make things simpler.

It sounds like common sense—yet most of us quietly do the opposite.

We overcomplicate tasks that don’t need to be hard, then wonder why they feel overwhelming.

When I notice that happening, I try to pause and step back.

Instead of pushing harder, I ask a different question:

How could this be simpler?

Look for:

- unnecessary steps.
- redundant processes.
- extra layers that crept in over time.

More often than not, there’s a simpler path to the same outcome.

If you’re facing a task that feels heavier than it should, try this:

1. Start with the end in mind. Be clear about what “done” actually looks like.

2. Examine the process you’re using now. Question every step.

3. Remove what doesn’t meaningfully contribute to the result.

The change doesn’t have to be dramatic. You don’t need a complete overhaul.

Sometimes removing one small step from a complex process is enough to create momentum—and relief.

Simplicity isn’t laziness.

It’s clarity in action.

[Kevin Chau @kchau]

I'm working on a new app that solves a pain point I've had for years: Loud Restaurants.

I've had this idea ever since going to Austin and eating at Canje - the food was delicious, but it was so disorientingly loud in there that I couldn't even have a conversation with my wife sitting across from me.

Wearing earplugs would mean I also have to yell just to talk. So I made Undertone (Well, Claude Fable made it, no shame in that)

Use your iPhone and AirPods Pro or Max (or any noise cancellation headphones of your choice), there's some audio processing to help with noise even more, but really just leverages the noise cancellation tech built into the devices.

No internet or wifi network required. It uses the local networking and discovery capability. Supports your entire dinner group.

That means you can have your own little chat bubble on an airplane, train, subway, or have a live real-time chat outside in nature.

It's waiting for testflight review now, and I would love your help testing it. This is for us people who hate LoudPlace(s) (this was the codename that Scott hated)

@scottbuscemi @ChadMoran @Kristennetten @DavidMoss

[Kyle McCormick @krmccormick]

Weather forecasts should include what the mosquito situation will be

[CooperBaggs 💰🍞 @edgaralandough]

22 things that look like discipline but are actually just good system design

1. laying out tomorrow's clothes tonight so the morning decision is already made

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

10 Concepts That Explain The Modern World:

- Parkinson’s Law
- Chesterton’s Fence
- Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)
- Law of Diminishing Returns
- Butterfly Effect
- Tacitus Razor
- Lindy Effect
- Murphy’s Law
- Dunning-Kruger Effect
- Occam’s Razor

What would you add to this?

[Kyle McCormick @krmccormick]

Mr. Hands (album) - Wikipedia https://t.co/oMr0flD2ap

[Shooter McGavin @ShooterMcGavin]

Underrated Actor:

James Rebhorn

- My Cousin Vinny
- Blank Check
- Scent Of A Woman
- Guarding Tess
- Independence Day
- Carlito’s Way
- The Game
- The Talented Mr Ripley
- Meet The Parents

Never the lead actor but his presence was always felt in a movie

[SMB Attorney @SMB_Attorney]

Really good post here. I’d like to see more of this content

[Josh Schafer @_JoshSchafer]

News you can use: If Chipotle isn't giving you enough meat just ask for more and say the CEO said it's fine.

[Give A Shit About Nature @giveashitnature]

When foxes decline, Lyme rates climb. And the data backs it up.

A 2012 paper in PNAS tracked Lyme rates against fox populations across the Northeast and Midwest.

Wisconsin saw an 80% decline in foxes from 1984 to 2009 and a 300% rise in Lyme.

Martha's Vineyard, which has almost no foxes, has Lyme rates five times higher than nearby Woods Hole, which has plenty of them.

If you want to help the foxes in your area:

1. Stop using rodenticide immediately. When foxes eat a rodent that's actively poisoned, the fox can die too. Rodenticide poisoning also kills owls and hawks.

2. Don't shoot or trap them. Kinda goes without saying.

3. Secure your trash, your chicken coops, and keep cats inside to avoid conflict.

Next time you see a fox, tell it thank you.

[The New Yorker @NewYorker]

For the most devoted fans, Disney has engineered an ecosystem of financial entanglement that goes far deeper than park tickets or merchandise, which keeps the magic—and the debt—perpetually compounding.

In 2023, Ashley, a freshman at Quinnipiac University, in Connecticut, had $15,000 in her bank account. Excited by her newfound freedom as a college student, she decided to start going on solo trips. Walt Disney World, in Orlando, Florida, seemed like an obvious choice. She went during her winter break. Then she returned, six times, in two years. Soon enough, her account balance had dwindled to just five dollars.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many adults who have accumulated Disney debt seem to be chasing a feeling from their childhoods. One woman, who has been to Disney World more than a hundred times, said that visiting the parks takes her back to a time when she had fewer worries: “It’s the nostalgic feeling of what brought you joy when you were little and you didn’t have the stressors of adult life.” Read more about the Disney adults putting themselves in debt for the pursuit of magic: https://t.co/xS6ZMMKC0P

[Katherine Argent @effthealgorithm]

Search is full of ads and wrong answers. Every other email is an ad. Prime Video charges you and shows ads. Paramount? Ads. Peacock? YouTube? Hulu? Ads followed by more ads. Netflix full of ads. Meta and X, every other thing is an ad. Pinterest is nothing but ads. AI is in everything. AI finishes sentences incorrectly and won’t stop. AI reads your email and search history to target you with more ads. Every time you open an app or visit a site there’s an update making it worse. In a hurry? First, click here to agree to terms you don’t have time to read and must accept. You need an account to do that. Change your temporary password. Enter your 2FA code. Check your email and enter that code. Now use a passkey. Your password is too simple to remember. Change it. No, not like that. Now log on. Enter your 2FA code. Check your email for a code… Welcome back! We’ve updated our terms of service and privacy policy (you have none). Subscribe to the site. Subscribe to Netflix. Subscribe to toilet paper. Subscribe to these groceries. Pay a membership fee for the right to subscribe then tip your driver who delivers the subscriptions your membership lets you subscribe to. Time to work? We’ve got to update your laptop and will slow down everything you do until you agree to update. But first, click here to agree. Update installed — your laptop’s broken now. It doesn’t matter, since your boss just replaced you with AI. Go to your phone to complain on social media. Wait, your phone needs an update so we can add more AI. Click here. Oh sorry, your phone can’t handle this update. Now it’s useless. Go get the newest phone. Here’s a text from a friend, an email, a voice mail they left three days ago but you didn’t see until now because of sync problems with the cloud. It’s their GoFundMe. Their MLM. Their Patreon. Never mind, you didn’t respond to their text within 9 minutes and now you’re no longer friends. They blocked you. Make new friends. Download this app to find people in your area. In your neighborhood. On your street. Two doors down from you. Do you know this person yet, we think you’d get along. You need an account to use this app. That username is taken. Enter a password. Not that one, you used it on another site. You need to be connected to WiFi to download the app. Allow the app to connect to other devices on your network. Allow the app to access your contacts, know your precise location, store your credit card details. Oops, sorry, we got hacked now all that info is available on the web. There’s a class action suit. You can join. It’ll take a decade to get your $3.73 share of the ten billion settlement. We’ll send it via PayPal or deposit it to your bank, just tell us those details. Oh no, another hack. That info is circulating now, too. Here’s a spam call, a spam email, a spam text. Why are you angry? Why are you talking about getting rid of your phone? Why don’t you like AI, it lets us make all of this easier? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? This is progress. You’ll be left behind. Do you want to be left behind? Do you???

[Give A Shit About Nature @giveashitnature]

Your birdbath is missing half its potential users. And it's because you're missing a rock.

Pollinators and smaller songbirds can't drink from a standard birdbath. The water is too deep, the edge is too slick, and they can't land safely.

Bees drown in them. Butterflies avoid them. Chickadees, finches, and warblers wait for a puddle instead.

A single large rock in the middle of the birdbath that breaks the water surface turns the whole thing into usable habitat.

Now bees can land on the dry top of the rock and drink from the edge. Butterflies can perch. Small birds have a safe resting spot.

It costs nothing. It takes thirty seconds. It doubles who uses the birdbath overnight.

The things dying of thirst in your yard right now are the ones your birdbath was never built to help.

[Robert Anderson @ProfRobAnderson]

Why do we write so many law review articles as law professors? It's because of the insatiable demand from practitioners. Lawyers want actionable insights, and law review articles are where you find them.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

The scariest finding in this paper: the subjects couldn't tell it was happening.

UPenn ran this study on 48 healthy adults. One group slept 8 hours. Another slept 6. Another slept 4. For 14 straight days. They tested cognitive performance every 2 hours from 7:30am to 11:30pm.

The 6-hour group's reaction times, working memory, and sustained attention deteriorated on a near-linear curve. By day 14 they were performing at the same level as someone who hadn't slept at all in 48 hours. The 4-hour group hit that threshold by day 6.

Here's the part that should unsettle everyone who thinks they "do fine" on 6 hours: the subjects' self-reported sleepiness flatlined after the first few days. Their brains kept getting worse. Their perception of how impaired they were stopped updating. The cognitive decline was invisible to the person experiencing it.

The researchers found a hard threshold. Any wakefulness beyond 15.84 hours in a day produces cumulative neurobiological cost. That cost compounds every single day you exceed it and does not reset with a weekend of sleeping in.

About 35% of American adults sleep less than 7 hours a night. 40% of those get 6 hours or less. In 1942 that number was 11%. We built an entire professional culture around a sleep schedule that this paper says is functionally equivalent to pulling consecutive all-nighters.

"I'm fine on 6 hours" is the most common response to sleep research. The first thing chronic sleep debt destroys is your ability to notice chronic sleep debt.

[Hamilton 🇺🇸 @Watchman_motto]

Something like this is how it was done for decades. You choose a color and just match everything in the bathroom, tub, tile. 1/2 way up the wall or greater. Small details change with the times but good tile work with even simple 4x4 tiles will forever look good and clean.

[Kyle McCormick @krmccormick]

@TheMafiaPoint Made

[CooperBaggs 💰🍞 @edgaralandough]

HOW TO ROMANTICIZE YOUR COMPLETELY ORDINARY LIFE (daily):

1. Name your morning coffee ritual. Call it something beautiful.

[Kyle McCormick @krmccormick]

The purpose of a system is what it does - Wikipedia https://t.co/yhOxELC2jo