Advertisement Β· 728 Γ— 90

Posts by Robert Lin

Cover of Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

Cover of Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

I have defeated mindless YouTube scrolling by walking outside and listening to music! Also listened to the rerun of a Terry Gross interview with Jay McInerney today on Fresh Air and hearing an excerpt inspired me to borrow Bright Lights, Big City from the library.

13 hours ago 0 0 0 0
WSJ snapshot: "Trump Says U.S. to Blockade Strait After Talks Fail"

WSJ snapshot: "Trump Says U.S. to Blockade Strait After Talks Fail"

WSJ snapshot: "Trump Says U.S. to Blockade Strait After Talks Fail"

WSJ snapshot: "Trump Says U.S. to Blockade Strait After Talks Fail"

ηŽ‰ηŸ³δΏ±η„š

This is the Chinese idiom for what Trump is currently doing in the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly translated: *"If we can't get the oil, no one gets the oil."*

The Chinese saying basically means: "I'd rather see the entire world burn to the ground and reduced to ashes before I let my enemies win."

1 day ago 0 0 0 0

This is a great tip! Ty!!

1 day ago 0 0 0 0
Preview
#66 | Ten Thousand Small Decisions [2026-03] Eking out victory one small decision at a time

robertlin.substack.com/p/66-ten-tho...

Better late than never. Wrote my March dispatch today. March was unfortunately an incredibly unproductive month for me-- I fell back into bad habits (specifically: mindlessly scrolling YouTube for hours). Six wks later, I finally emerged from my cloud of funk.

2 days ago 2 0 2 0

Hung out with friends tonight who are moving away from Cincinnati next week. 😭😭😭 I'm super-sad they're leaving but am also excited for them as they start their new adventures! Bittersweet for sure, but such is life. In the end, all we have are memories. Cherish!!

3 days ago 1 0 0 0

Finished reading "My Sister, the Serial Killer" by Oyinkan Braithwaite today. I found the characters annoying at the beginning but stuck with it because I have a book club meeting tomorrow. By the book's end, I actually appreciated it! I am incredibly bad with finishing books unless I'm in a club!

4 days ago 0 0 0 0

Recently I felt myself wasting time watching YouTube. IME, when I'm wasting time on YT it means something else in my life is off. It's bc since March for various reasons, I've fallen off of my walking routine at the gym. This was fatal for me. I'm getting back to walking at the gym everyday now.

5 days ago 0 0 0 0

One trick I have learned is to have YouTube playing in the background strictly for ambient noise. For whatever reason, this environmental low level noise helps me concentrate and keep busy. It's one reason I've continued to actually not buy YouTube premium. For background noise. Simulate ambience.

6 days ago 0 0 0 0
Advertisement
Preview
Build an MCP server - Model Context Protocol Get started building your own server to use in Claude for Desktop and other clients.

modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/develop...

Better late than never. Wrote and deployed my first MCP server today locally! Hype's real! It's essentially just a wrapper around our company API but the ability to interact with our API in a "fuzzy" way now β€”via natural language in LLMs!β€” is a game changer!!

1 week ago 3 0 0 0
Preview
How Much Do You Need to be Upper-Middle Class? WSJ Reporter Explains New research shows America’s upper-middle class is growing, while the country’s core middle class is shrinking. WSJ’s Rachel Louise Ensign explains the differences between the two groups.

www.wsj.com/video/series...

The upper-middle class has tripled in size over the past 50 years! ~10% to ~30% of the population now. I have seen this first-hand. People I know who came from humble backgrounds are increasingly climbing into the upper-middle class. (I'm a millennial.) Capitalism works!

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

The question isn't about doing things. Anyone can just do things. It's about doing the *right* things. It's not about doing a dozen things a day. It's about doing two absolutely critical things that need to be done today. Or even just one. Keeping busy can feel satisfying. But it's a red herring.

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

The first step to a clean mind is a clean room. Am spending more time this weekend cleaning!! I have kept so much junk around that when I actually do need something I have trouble actually finding the important thing. πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ That is the irony of hoarding: the clutter has a price and costs.

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

Love Marie Kondo! Only keep things that bring you joy!! ❀️

1 week ago 1 0 1 0
John Weld Peck federal building in downtown Cincinnati

John Weld Peck federal building in downtown Cincinnati

It's cool to me how there is such a large federal presence inside Cincinnati! In 1950, Cincy's population peaked at ~504k and is today ~300k. Last year I renewed my passport online and it went remarkably smoothly! I was even able to take+submit my passport photos via my phone! Our government works!πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ

1 week ago 0 0 0 0
This 30 Year Old Show Wrote the Perfect Space Battle
This 30 Year Old Show Wrote the Perfect Space Battle YouTube video by Spacedock

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE7l...

I never watched Babylon 5 but this breakdown was magnificent. A truly masterful episode. Space battles are always chaos to me and I have no idea what's going on. This video outlining how the writers wrote this space battle outside Proxima III is a masterclass.

1 week ago 0 0 0 0
Here is my Claude buddy cat called Tremor!

Here is my Claude buddy cat called Tremor!

Just installed Claude buddy on my desktop. I got a cat called Tremor! I've also turned on full voice dictation and screenshots sharing with Claude on desktop. It is amazing!!

1 week ago 0 0 0 0
Morgan Freeman on Black History Month
Morgan Freeman on Black History Month YouTube video by rickey2b4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geix...

Morgan Freeman on BHM-2009

Wallace: "How do we get rid of racism?"

Freeman: "Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a White man. And I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a Black man. I know you as Mike Wallace and you know me as Morgan Freeman."

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

πŸ’― this! Life is amazing right now! It has literally never been a better time to be alive than right now. By every appreciable metric life is SO much better for the average human now around the world than even just 50 years ago. We are living in an absolutely golden era right now. Everyone enjoy it!!

2 weeks ago 1 0 0 0
Advertisement
This is the America πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²#america #american #unitedstates #usarmy #usnavy #usaf
This is the America πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²#america #american #unitedstates #usarmy #usnavy #usaf YouTube video by ANDROID APPS 0.2

youtube.com/shorts/Lkbfk...

America #1!! πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0
Jared Isaacman Reveals New NASA Directive
Jared Isaacman Reveals New NASA Directive YouTube video by The Launch Pad

youtu.be/LK-cFaVmIaE?...

Love this!! America is going back to the Moon!! πŸŒŽπŸš€πŸŒ‘πŸŒ“πŸŒ’

2 weeks ago 1 0 0 0
Preview
The skyscrapers that NIMBYs and zoning couldn't stop : Planet Money LIVE SHOW TOUR INFO HERE. New stories, live tapings, special guests, book signings and more.Β What would you build on a piece of land when all the normal rules go out the window?On today’s show, how th...

www.npr.org/2026/03/27/n...

@planetmoney.bsky.social did a great piece on the SenΜ“Γ‘αΈ΅w development going up in Vancouver right now. Because it is on reservation land, they got to bypass all the NIMBY regulations and build a gigantic mega-complex that will give their people generational wealth!!

2 weeks ago 1 0 0 0

I fixed this! It turns out my firmware was locked. I ultimately had to install Tahoe by holding command-option-r while booting. This then presented a padlock screen which asked for my firmware password. After I unlocked the computer's firmware, I was able to install Tahoe successfully!

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0
Why Great Thinking Needs Distraction – Terence Tao
Why Great Thinking Needs Distraction – Terence Tao YouTube video by Dwarkesh Clips

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrj2...

Why Great Thinking Needs Distraction – Terence Tao

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Started watching Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix last night. Very intriguing show.

2 weeks ago 1 0 0 0

I was talking with a colleague over lunch at the office today and it made me realize that as someone who doesn't have kids I take much fewer vacation days! In the absence of children, I have definitely struggled to create a vacation schedule for myself. This is going to be one of my 2026 priorities!

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Watched Project Hail Mary w/ the crew tonight. Good movie! Recommend!

My favorite part in the movie is Ryan Gosling's character of why he joined the mission. We may think we're unable to do the thing but we'll never know until we're pushed into doing it. Even when you don't believe, others believe.

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0
macOS Tahoe installation failed screen

macOS Tahoe installation failed screen

Recently bought an old 2019 MBP with Big Sur on it and have been trying to upgrade it to Tahoe but Software Update keeps failing. πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ Am considering installing from USB drive next. Anyone have any other recommendations?

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 1
Musical program for Legally Blonde

Musical program for Legally Blonde

Had a great time at the Legally Blonde musical last nite at The Covedale in Price Hill! A 79 year-old establishment here in Cincy!

AI may be wreaking havoc in great swathes of the white collar job market right now but I think live performing arts will be insulated!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covedal...

3 weeks ago 1 0 0 0
Advertisement
Gen Z men with college degrees now have the same unemployment rate as non-gradsβ€”a sign that the higher education payoff is dead

Gen Z men with college degrees now have the same unemployment rate as non-gradsβ€”a sign that the higher education payoff is dead

fortune.com/article/gen-...

Gen Z men with college degrees now have the same unemployment rate as non-gradsβ€”a sign that the higher education payoff is dead - FORTUNE

March 7, 2026

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 0
Sharon Woods reopened yesterday!

Sharon Woods reopened yesterday!

Sharon Woods reopened yesterday! This is a wonderful park in Cincinnati. It's been closed for a year while they drained the lake and fixed a bunch of stuff. Walked around the lake today and it was glorious. Weather was gorgeous too. Spring has arrived!!

www.greatparks.org/about/newsro...

3 weeks ago 2 0 0 0