Ben Nesvig's Blog, page 2

Videos I Can’t Stop Watching

About a year ago I started collecting my favorite videos in swipe files to give me ideas and inspiration for my own. The videos below are some of my favorites, many of which are by Casey Neistat who somehow produces daily video blogs that are more entertaining than most people’s videos.

The video below isn’t as clickbait-ish as the thumbnail suggests. It’s one of my favorite travel videos.

Another bachelor party video that’s just as great.

The editing of Watchtower of Turkey is insane.

Switching to Colemak: One Month Later

Exactly one month has passed since I impulsively switched my keyboard layout from QWERTY to Colemak in the hopes of faster and more efficient typing (dream big, Ben!).

Learning Colemak has been a battle that I entered on my own volition. Why did I do it? I didn’t have a good reason not to switch other than it wouldn’t be fun for a month. And I’m not 5 so I can’t use that as an excuse.I asked myself: In 5 years or even 1 year, will I be happy that I switched to Colemak? Definitely. (Note to sel...

What I’m Binge Watching This Weekend

I’ve made it no secret that I’m obsessed with the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I’ve literally seen it at least two dozen times. The music. The cinematography. The inspiration. The mouth-watering sushi. I love it all. And this is why I’m looking forward to binge watching Chef’s Table when it debuts on Netflix this Sunday. It comes from the same director, David Gelb, and looks just as amazing. The trailer and clips are below.

Can You Rewire Your Brain?

It took me 2 minutes to type that headline. Today, I’m switching to the Colemak keyboard layout. I do a lot of typing and the Colemak layout promises to be faster and more efficient–if I can rewire my brain and switch from the antiquated QWERTY.

This is my new keyboard.

Wish me luck.

Qwerty score

Colemak keyboard

The Time You Have In Jelly Beans

I like January 1st. It’s Tabula Rasa. A blank slate. The world is your oyster and you can start anew.But January 2nd through the rest of winter is a long miserable shiver-fest. Everyone scurries between their cars and indoors like they’re walking in fast-forward. Judging by the weeping sound I heard this morning when I turned the ignition, even my car hates the cold. It’s hard to stay positive in negative weather.

So as we’re getting into the meat of winter and gym attendance levels begin to d...

A Christmas Story

I don’t reread books very often, especially not in the same year. Yet, this week I’ve been pulled back into reading Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story (essays taken from the also great In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash).

This is the first time I can remember where I don’t know if the book or movie is better. They both compliment each other. While reading the book, I think of the movie. While watching the movie, I think of the book. Below is a condensed reading of the book from Jean Shepherd...

How To Get and Keep Someone’s Attention

I don’t like watching the nightlynews. While falling asleep, I like the image of portly, fluffy sheep leaping fences running through my mind instead of the local murders of the day.

Yet, in the last two weeks, I’ve listened to about 8 hours of someone talking about a murder that happened more than 10 years ago. I look forward to every Thursday so I can hear more about the murder case.

Why do I hate listening to local crime reports but am fascinated by a murder of more than 10 years ago?

The podc...

Take My Money

I’m a bit of an expert in picking stocks. As someone who is early to a lot of trends, like putting butter in my coffee, I’ve now seen several companies of which I’m a customer go on to be wildly successful on the stock market. The problem is that I never bought stock in any of them. Technically, I’m more of an expert in watching stocks rise while muttering, “I should buy. I should buy. I should have bought. I should have bought.”

GoPro is the latest example. A few years ago I bought the first...

Paradoxes of Life

“A madman is not someone who has lost his reason but someone who has lost everything but his reason”
– GK Chesterson

If you go through life expecting everything to make perfect sense, you’re going to lose your mind. Many things go against common sense, yet they still make sense. They’re paradoxes.

From the dictionary:

a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true

There are hidden things that rule life (lo...

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

After reading over 200 books in the last 3 years, this is something that’s stuck out as a theme across many books: you become what you think about. Your external world is often a reflection of your internal world, just as writing is the mirror of the mind.

For some people reading this, it’s obvious. For others it sounds like voodoo.

Here’s an amazing experiment you can try (stolen from one of my favorite books).

Find a piece of paper, a pen or pencil, a cup, a piece of string, and a ring or key....