In Praise of Fishing Magazines

Over the last 10 or so years, most of my reading has shifted format. I find that I don’t hold paper in my hands in order to read the printed word very often at all anymore.

I do all of my work-related reading on my laptop, my large monitor, or on an iPad. I read for fun on the iPad, and I listen to books on Audible on my phone. I used to read physical newspapers, with all the associated folding trickery, sometimes for hours at a time. Now I read “newspaper” articles for a minute at a time on my phone when I wake up, and occasionally during the day when the alerts on my phone are sufficiently interesting. I subscribe to the New York Times but only the digital edition. I still read some of the things that arrive at my house by US Mail in the old school ways, though I recycle a lot more than I actually read. As I think about it, I read very little today in the formats and ways that I did just 10 years ago.

 

My one big exception is fishing magazines. I subscribe to a few fishing magazines and one boating magazine and I still get them delivered in paper form. I still pick them up in my hands, without any electronics involved, and read them that way. More than that, I keep them around for years. I often pick up old issues and read through them again.

 

When I first get a fishing magazine, I leaf through it slowly and take note of the article titles that are of interest to me. It won’t be all of them. The ones that catch my eye deal with the kinds of fishing that I do, and in the regions that I like to fish or hope to some day fish. Sometimes there are articles about techniques that interest me, such as kite fishing for sailfish, or trolling for tuna and wahoo, or articles about fishing rods and reels and tackle that I use or want to try. I might read these right away or remember them for later. I skip over other techniques that are less interesting for me such as fly-fishing in fresh water. I also may read the reviews of new boats and boating equipment, and I look over the ads for equipment ideas.

 

When I come back to one of my fishing or boating magazines, whether a week later or years later, I’m already familiar with it. I can leaf through it again and be reminded of the things that I noticed the first time. I might read an article about fishing halfway around the world, or one that caught my eye on drifting techniques or rigs for Striped Bass close to home. It doesn’t matter if the article is 3 years old, it can still inform my fishing.

 

Unlike news articles which are timely, and unlike most books which I generally read once from start to finish, these magazines are things I read small parts of over longer periods of time. The photos and headlines and ads fuel my fishing dreams.

 

My fishing and boating magazines are my favorite beach and deck reading and I keep favorite issues around for years. They really are the last big holdout in my old school reading of the printed word on paper.

 

Do you read much in dead-tree format? Leave a comment and let us all know.

 

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Working at Home During the Pandemic

This is the 5^th time I’ll be blogging on topics that are related to the pandemic. Given the profound impact it’s had on our lives, that probably shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. 

About 6 months before the pandemic really took hold in the US, and well before it had serious impact on how we work, I changed jobs. My new job involved about 75% work from home and about 25% travel. The company I work for has offices around the United States, some of which have large numbers of office workers, but my job wasn’t assigned to an office under normal circumstances. By March of 2020, as things were changing radically for many workers, I was very lucky in that I kept my job and could continue to work. More than that, the shift to 100% work from home for me was a fairly minor adjustment.

 

Those who have been working from home for years probably have many “pro tips” that make them successful in working from home. I’ve been learning along the way.

 

Space: Some things are obvious, like having a dedicated space that’s laid out well and ideally is separated from the distractions taking place around the house. I spend a lot of my day on camera, so my space has to be well-lit and tidy, too.

 

Time, part 1: Some things changed immediately. In the past I had a 1 hour commute each way, so I gained back 2 hours a day. Even if I spend one of those “found hours” on work, getting even more done, I still get back one hour a day for myself and that has been great. As the family cook, I often use that time to get dinner going while listening to audio books or podcasts, which is therapeutic for me. Other times I use 5 minutes of that hour to place an online food order and then watch television or play piano.

 

Time, part 2: Managing time became a little different. One of the first things I began to learn was exactly how long mundane things in my life take. If I have 3 minutes before my next meeting, do I have time to run to the kitchen, get a cup of coffee, and be back and on camera before my meeting? Yes, easily. I don’t even have to run. Within the first few weeks I learned how much time I needed to make and eat lunch, or visit the restroom, or grab a sport coat for the next call. As it turns out, a few minutes are all that are needed for lots of things when they are within the limited confines of your home.

 

Lunch: Since I’m not out and about, I don’t buy my lunch at restaurants or delis. I have to plan ahead a bit more and have food in the house, which has been good for several reasons; I can plan for healthier lunches, and I can save some money. But the best revelation about lunch didn’t occur to me until several months in to working-from-home. For the last 35+ years I chose my lunch in ways so as not to impact my breath. Now, though, if I choose to have leftovers from last night’s garlic-laden dinner, or if I want a bunch of raw onions on a sandwich, I won’t offend my boss or my clients in afternoon meetings. This is surprisingly freeing! Of course, I still need to be considerate of others in the house.

 

Dress Code: The usual joke is that while on camera professionals must dress the part with shirt and jacket but don’t necessarily need pants. I do, indeed, wear pants. But while in my last job my pants were usually part of a suit, my pants these days are often jeans, or the warm-up pants I used to wear to the gym while my top half is generally neat business casual. The thing I generally don’t wear is shoes!

 

Clothing budget: Related to the above, there was a big change to my spend on clothing. When I wore suits, there were dry cleaning bills and the occasional additions of dress shirts or ties, and at least once a year a new suit. That stuff added up! All of that past spend is now savings for me (which I’ll probably blow all at once on a piece of music gear or a fishing trip).

 

The pandemic has been a terrible chapter in our lives, with many of us suffering losses of loved ones or health impacts or economic impacts. I feel very lucky so far to be managing well and will remain committed to masking, washing, and social distancing. And getting vaccinated when I am able. I remain hopeful that the second half of 2021 will look better than the present or recent past has been, with chances to visit restaurants and theaters and gather together, but will continue to adjust my life in the meantime.

 

How are you managing? What are your tips and tricks? Leave a comment and let us all know.

 

 

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Winter by the Water

I’m lucky to have a small beach house that I use as much as possible from May to November as home base for fishing and beaching. From time to time I visit in the off season just to maintain the place. We have to chase small critters (racoons, squirrels, rodents, even bees) away from time to time and deal with seasonal stuff and small repairs.

 

I had a short but fun visit late this month to take care of a few things. I managed my schedule so that I drove or walked near the water often as I did my errands. The weather was mild, the skies were clear, and the water looked great – though I’m sure it was very cold.

 

At this time of year all of the boats are out of the water and either stored for the winter at marinas or up on the lawns and driveways of my neighbors. We “shrink wrap” our boats in plastic to keep them clean and dry until spring when we can tear the shrink wrap off and start preparing for a new season. These first two pictures in white shrink wrap are my boats, on the driveway and lawn, and the two in blue shrink wrap are neighbors’ boats. 

The area was really quiet for these two days. None of my immediate neighbors were around, though I did see plenty of people out for walks when I was out for walks and bike rides of my own. During the season I probably see hundreds of boats every day. This time as I looked out over the water, I saw only two or three boats the entire time. The birds and fish have the waters to themselves. My favorite marina and restaurant was closed too, though I did get a great lobster roll and chowder, and some smoked fish to take home, at one of my favorite local markets.

 

Here are a few photos of what the beach is like in the winter – a beautiful reminder of what brings me back every spring. 

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COVID-19 is the Common Enemy

Defeat the virus now, argue with each other later 

Let’s start off by seeing if we can agree that responding to COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the coronavirus, really shouldn’t be anything we argue about, and it certainly shouldn’t be a political issue. Everyone I know, of every political persuasion, believes that the death of innocent people is a tragedy. Everyone wants people to stay healthy. Everyone I know also wants the economy to do well for ourselves and our friends and family. Nobody wants pandemic death to devastate families, and nobody wants the pandemic to crush the economy and the livelihood of hard-working people. We all want to be back to (something close to) normal as soon as we can, able to gather together, able to go to a restaurant, a concert, a school. Can we agree that those are fair statements? 

 

Learn about COVID-19

The fight is against the coronavirus, not against each other. We’re still in the middle of this fight, and we still need to cooperate and to fight together against the virus rather than against each other.

 

There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that thanks to the amazing work of the scientific community, multiple highly effective vaccines are on their way. It has been inspiring to see how multiple teams worked incredibly fast in the interests of public health. Help is on the way. 

 

The bad news is that the coronavirus continues to spread very quickly right now, and that new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to rapidly rise. With more holiday season gatherings taking place in indoor settings, there is a serious risk that the massive spike continues through December and January. The death toll is already well more than a quarter million American lives, rivaling the death toll of our most devastating wars and we are far from done. More Americans have died from COVID-19 than died in World War I, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. Within a few weeks, the death toll of COVID-19 will surpass the death toll of World War II.

 

Now let’s get back to the part where we come together and fight effectively against the virus. If we can show some discipline now and for a few more months, we can limit the impacts.

 

With a good vaccine distribution plan and broad acceptance and willingness to be vaccinated, we can probably be in a much better place by mid 2021. We have to be realistic about the timeline, of course. It will probably take 5 or 6 months to get from where we are now to the point where we have achieved herd immunity through vaccines and natural immunity from those who have been infected and have recovered. So what do we do now?

 

I’m not suggesting shutdowns and giving up on the economy as part of fighting the coronavirus. We need a healthy economy, and the best thing for the economy is public confidence. People are showing that they are unlikely to spend and to hire in the middle of so much uncertainty. There’s a good case to be made that the best thing for public confidence is managing the impacts of the coronavirus now and defeating it in 2021 when the vaccines are broadly available.

 

I’m certainly not a public health expert, but I try to take the advice of those who are. There are plenty of well-credentialed researchers and public servants who have been studying viruses and advising governments on public health for decades, and they are broadly in agreement. Among the most visible of these are Dr. Deborah Birx, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, and Dr. Robert Redfield. They have been studying the spread and their advice is evolving as we learn.

 

Over these last 9 months, the experts have learned a lot. We understand the spread better now, and what measures help. Given the state of things today, we probably don’t have to “shut down everything” but instead we can be more surgical by restricting certain activities and certain business types and we can do it in the regions that we can see are most at risk by watching the trends in positive tests and hospitalizations. We can continue to look closely at effective practices, and yes, temporary restrictions if need be, for bars and restaurants while we try hard to keep schools open.

 

What we hear from the public health experts is that there are some straightforward approaches to limiting spread. Let’s all wear masks when outside our homes, practice social distancing, avoid crowds and family gatherings. When we have to be together, outdoors is better than indoors. When we have to be indoors, opening windows and improving ventilation can help. 

 

Again, everyone I know wants people to be healthy and wants the economy to do well, and nobody wants pandemic death to devastate families and crush the economy. The American people have always stepped up when times were tough. Let’s do it again. Let’s be strong and do the things within our power to get us through. The coronavirus is the enemy. All of us are on the same team and it is within our power to keep each other safe and to get through this together.

Links:

• https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters
• https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Birx
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Fauci
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Gottlieb
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_R._Redfield

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Halloween at Home

Since March, most of us have been at home a lot more than in the past. We are working from home, 'going to school' from home, even doing doctor's visits from home. We eat at home more often, not going to restaurants, and when we don't want to cook, we stay home and have food sent.

And now, we're looking at a Halloween at home. Some kids will have a much more limited Halloween trick or treating plan, visiting a few trusted houses as carefully as possible. Some may stay home and skip trick or treating entirely. Most young adults who might have gone out to a costume party for Halloween may instead stay home.

Okay, we're staying home more. But why would that mean we cannot have Halloween? Here's Dr. Deke's Halloween prescription...

1. Get a costume
2. Buy some candy
3. Have Halloween at home

I have dressed up for Halloween many times as an adult. When my kids were young, my wife stayed at home to hand out candy. She wore a costume. I dressed up as Darth Vader or Captain Kirk, or a pirate and took the kids out trick or treating. At many of the houses, the adults handing out candy were in costumes. 

If we work from home, attend school from home, see our doctor from home, do our grocery shopping from home, let's just have our Halloween at home. Dress up, get on some video calls with your friends and neighbors and show off your costumes while eating some of that candy. You can (safely, carefully) drop off a bag of candy at your neighbors house. They can do the same at your house. We can have a fun, if slightly different Halloween. We just have to allow ourselves to do it.

Who's in?

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Labor Day

2020 is an unusual year, but some things are familiar

Labor Day weekend in the US is about a week in the past as I write this. Labor Day isn’t really the end of summer, which officially comes a few weeks later, but it’s a clear turning point. Summer is ending soon and fall is starting to push in. Students are heading back to school (though in very unusual ways this year), and mornings and evenings are noticeably cooler.

At my beach house we can see the changes in the surrounding wildlife. Over Labor Day weekend I was in my yard doing some work on fishing tackle when I saw large birds swimming toward me down the waterway. In the summer, it would have been swans but now it was Canadian Geese. In fact, from that point on they seemed to be all around, including flying south in V formation overhead. 

Canadian Goose

I also started seeing Monarch Butterflies, a sure sign of fall. We see lots of migrating Monarchs at the beach and even over the water as the fall starts.

Monarch Butterfly

   

The fish are changing with the season, too. We can see this in the water where the species and size changes are noticeable, and in the tackle shop where the baits and rigs for fall fish start to show up. The pods of bunker are larger, and they will soon be chased by Striped Bass moving into the area. The bottom fishing is seeing more and bigger Black Sea Bass as the water gets a little colder and clearer.

Black Sea Bass

At the farm market, the size and mix of fruit and vegetables has started to change. There are fewer strawberries, but larger corn, and more apples. And when pumpkins show up it’s really clear that fall is coming.

The night sky is changing, too. We always see more stars at our beach house in the fall, as the humidity drops. We have been enjoying finding constellations and planets, assisted by smartphone apps, while sitting around the evening fire.

Over the Labor Day weekend I watched as neighbors put away some of their summer toys for the season, including wave runners and standup paddle boards, while leaving bigger fishing boats in for a few weeks longer. Some are even beginning to close up their summer houses but my plan will be to leave the “summer house” open all winter this year as a getaway. COVID-19 isn't done with us yet and the availability of a second home to stay locked away will provide a welcome change from time to time.

I'm always a little sad when Labor Day comes, but I'll look forward to a pleasant fall and I'll start counting the months until summer returns.

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Ideas, Creativity and Prior Art

Where do inventions come from? What’s at the root of innovation and creativity? Does it involve lightning bolts and divine inspiration? Do fully formed ideas pop into the heads of creative people? 

 

Probably, sometimes. My own experience has been less dramatic, usually involving incremental improvements and new ideas for tomorrow inspired by the things that have been successfully built for today. Thinking about this subject, a story from more than 50 years ago popped into my head.

 

When I was about 6 years old, my parents got me an erector set. Many people today might not be familiar with these, but they were once very popular. The set was a box full of little metal parts machined with holes the right size for a set of included bolts. Combined with the wheels and pullies and the nuts and washers, the erector set made it possible to build objects like buildings, windmills, and even vehicles like cars and helicopters.

 

I remember building simple shapes at first and, as a kid living close to New York City, I built little “skyscrapers.” The wheels, though, are what had me interested. I soon figured out how to build a basic car using axles and wheels attached to some basic shapes. With a few tries, the shapes started to get sportier and I soon had something like a racing car that really rolled smoothly. This was great! 

 

When I found out that it was possible to add a battery powered motor to the erector set, I was thrilled. I convinced my parents to let me send away to the company and buy the motor. I used some birthday money and they wrote the check and addressed the envelope. Several weeks later (we didn’t have Amazon Prime in 1969), my motor arrived. It was a small yellow motor that could fit in the palm of my hand. It had a 9V battery connector and the battery would drive a rotational drive shaft that could, when controlled with a 3-position switch, spin forward or reverse or that could be set in neutral, not spinning.

 

In my first attempt, I secured the motor to a car I had already built, put it on the floor, and was disappointed when the car didn’t drive away. I had done nothing to transfer energy from motor to car. As my 6-year-old self pondered this, I looked at a picture in the materials that came with the set and saw a motor connected to a windmill and immediately understood the idea. I needed to use the motor to turn another piece of hardware that could drive a belt (a rubber band) that could attach to another piece of hardware attached to the wheel. This was the concept being used on the windmill and I could translate the idea to a car. This was exciting! Within minutes I had a motorized car moving across the floor, having learned how to solve my challenge by studying a similar example and learning from it.

 

Echoes of my experience came up often over the years. I watched as good programmers studied the code of others, and adapted ideas originally used to solve one problem in order to solve a different one. Good musicians talked about their influences, having listened to the way a favorite guitar player or singer chose to play through the music and then integrating some of those choices into their own style.

 

The biggest example of all may be in the science disciplines. Science values prior art so much that a big part of the way that peer-reviewed journal papers are assessed is by looking at the quality and quantity of relevant references, as these are a sign that the existing body of knowledge has been considered in communicating something new.

 

There is a difference between on the one hand inspiration from prior art, and referencing the strong works of others, and on the other hand theft and plagiarism. Knowing the difference is very important, but failing to leverage and respect what went before is like intentionally leaving much of your toolkit at home every day.

 

There’s no one answer to the questions I asked at the top, of course, but in my experience the concept of prior art looms large in a very broad range of creative pursuits.

 

How do you think about creativity, innovation, and associated concepts? How have you created in your own life? Please leave a comment and let us know.

 

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