Grab Bag: Big Ass Slop Grenades

1. Stop Doing What You Hate

Dan Shipper reposted one of my favorite rant clips from Gary V from ~2008.

I remember watching this video on repeat shortly after I made the big leap to abandon my PhD. Why? Because I realized that writing scientific papers and working in a lab doing someone else’s research was making me miserable.

2. Get a YubiKey

Security hacks and breaches are going to get nuts with AI (it’s already happening). And if you keep your passwords in a software vault, you’ll eventually get hacked too.

Hardware passkeys like YubiKey are cheap, secure, and effective. Add them to any bank accounts (traditional and crypto), primary emails (e.g., Gmail), and social media accounts (e.g., X/Twitter).

Do it now. Thank me later.

3. Big Ass Calendar

You know the parenting mantra. “The Days Are Long, But the Years Are Short.”

My friend Bryan is an amazing dad whom I DM all the time. We constantly push ourselves to make “Golden Memories” with our kids… because it’s the highlight reel that they’ll remember long after our short time is gone.

The Big Ass Calendar is a great way to keep this idea front and center.

We got ours this year, and it’s tacked up in our garage right next to where I park. I look at it every time I leave for work and again when I get out of my car back home.

Highly recommend.

4. Tokenomics is Warping Our Economics

Make this make sense.

• Engineer: Salary $10K-$20K/month.
• APPROVED: AI token budget of $1-5K/month.
• DENIED: SaaS app costing $20/month.

LOL. Not every AI $ spent on AI tokens is a guaranteed ROI.

5. Book: Simplify

I’m only one chapter in Simplify, and it’s an OUTSTANDING read… potentially better than Dan Sullivan’s best seller 10x Is Easier Than 2x.

It’s one of those “stop right now and start applying” reads. And it mirrors what I wrote in The New AI Superpowers: Focus and Followthrough (although the Simplify authors did a MUCH better job).

6. The New EQ: Are You a Slop Grenade?

I wrote about AI;DR, but Slop Grenade is even better.

Why is this important for emotional intelligence? A lot of people think they are being helpful by prompting Claude and shipping the raw output straight into company communication channels.

But in an age of overwhelm, the most EQ skill is LIMITING how much mental load you’re imposing on others.

So don’t hurl slop grenades for others to deal with. Get specific and concise. If they ask for more information, provide it.

7. Explore Your Backyard

A colleague posted that they are trying to be more active by walking outside, and they were thrilled to be reminded how beautiful the scenery is around their house.

We all have little treasures all around us (parks, walks, sunsets, etc).

Put down the screens. Go analog. Search.

Today I’m going to get a library card (FINALLY). It’s literally two blocks away from my office (and I drive past it every day). Not today… Today I explore some old books in my backyard.

Next Up: Jev

The AI world is on fire with this new primitive by Typesafe (named “Jev” after Jevon’s Paradox). I have been testing a lot, and I plan on sharing a few articles in the next week.