Five for the Weekend [044]

What I’m reading

I just re-read Werner Herzog’s The Future of Truth. It’s a quick read or short listen on Audible (3h 39m), which made me question my version of the “truth” again.

Herzog is a genius producer and director of films that focus on human folly and our obsessions. In the current state of AI-generated fabrication all around us, the question of what is truth is critical, with vast societal implications.

An especially interesting question coming from a documentary filmmaker who is famous for making up his “truth”.

This feels amazing every time I use it

My Lie-Nielsen No. 5-1/2 jack plane brings me joy every time I use it.

Based on Stanley’s Bedrock pattern, which was discontinued decades ago, this is a spectacular example of machining and design enhanced by art. I look for ways to use it every time I’m in the shop. I really need to take a road trip to Warren, Maine, and try to convince Lie to be on the POD!

Who taught me to use it

Rob Cosman, whose review of this plane is what got me off my butt to buy it back in February. Rob is a maker who figured out he couldn’t support his family making world-class furniture (very few people can/will pay what it is really worth), so he started teaching his craft on YouTube and now has 360,000 lunatics like me following and learning from him.

What keeps me watching is not just the world-class joinery; it’s the philosophy of making and life. He also runs the Purple Heart Project, which puts combat-wounded veterans through week-long hand tool courses in Niagara Falls. Free, tools included.

A number to think about

23,951. That is how many pages Anthropic’s crawler pulled from the web for every one visitor it sent back, reported on Cloudflare Radar’s second-quarter report. OpenAI’s GPTBot was: 1,276 to one. Perplexity was 111. Google search was 4.9.

The bots are now more prolific than humans on the web.

Being human is becoming more valuable every day. I hope.

A question

What is the last thing you learned to do with your hands? I’ve started asking people that instead of what they do for a living.

Have an amazing weekend,

Ron

P.S. This week on Lead with Purpose: Stefan Pagels Christensen: A Child Star, an Addiction, and What It Taught Him About Leading [011].