Charles Magnuson

A tiny baby hummingbird sits in a small, cup-shaped nest perched on a slender branch of a broad-leafed tree. The chick, barely larger than the nest itself, faces slightly upward and to the right, its long, thin beak pointed skyward. Its body is covered in soft, downy grey-brown feathers that have not yet fully developed. The nest is constructed from plant fibers, spider silk, and small bits of lichen or bark, giving it a mottled tan and white appearance with a slightly fuzzy texture. It straddles the branch securely, anchored between several glossy, dark green oval leaves. Some of the leaves show small dark spots or minor blemishes. Behind the nest and foliage, a textured stucco wall — likely the exterior of a building — fills the background in muted grey tones. The lighting is soft and slightly cool, suggesting shade or overcast conditions, with gentle contrast that highlights the delicate details of the bird and its nest.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I have a baby hummingbird outside my window! Looks to be 1-2 weeks old. One more reason to keep my feeders freshly filled.

Never wonder why your Wi-Fi is bad: https://whyfi.network/

Littlebird is the incredible service I thought Rewind/Limitless would be. They never got there, but Littlebird has. https://littlebird.ai/

Habits are sure hard to break, huh? Over a short lifetime of seeing other people’s systems, I’ve learned to become comfortable with what works for each person. Only problems need fixing. Otherwise, it’s fine to remain the same! 🙂

A printed notepad slip titled "FOOD REMINDER" in large, bold white text on a vivid orange-red header banner. A subtitle reads "Take this slip to your desk." Below the header, a lighter orange band displays the location: "Floor 29 – Stairway Refrigerator" in bold orange text. The body of the slip, set against a white background, contains three labeled fields for handwritten input: "Your Name," "Item Stored," and "Date Stored," each with a horizontal line for writing. The Date Stored field includes a placeholder example reading "e.g. Monday June 2." Below the fields, a section headed "Dispose By — check the day you stored it:" presents five day boxes arranged in a row: MON, TUE, WED, THU, and FRI. Each box contains a small "date" placeholder line at the bottom. The FRI box is visually distinct — it has an orange border and includes the word "deadline" in small orange text beneath the day label, signaling that Friday is the final acceptable day to retrieve food. At the bottom of the slip, two informational callouts appear side by side. The left callout, labeled "Food Safety" with a circled-i icon, states that leftover food is generally not safe after five days and advises when in doubt to throw it out. The right callout, labeled "Stored on Friday?" with a house icon, instructs the reader to take their food home that same day rather than leaving it over the weekend. A final rounded rectangle at the very bottom, with a soft orange border and light orange fill, displays a bell icon alongside the prompt: "Set a reminder on your phone or calendar — So you remember to retrieve your food on time."

People are using the fridge at work to dispose of leftover food more often than they eat it. I used Claude to design a custom notepad so that these small-bellied people at least have a reminder at their desk.

By this time next year, the United States' descent into fascism will be complete.

The people who do Samsung product presentations sound like they are reading off a piece of paper as someone holds a gun to their head.

Do not do business with Planet Orange. They are a disaster. Giving them a one-star rating is too generous. #bayarea

Why is it impossible for anyone to provide decent home services? Almost every single one receives a one-star rating. About 10-25% of them simply don't show up for scheduled appointments. Feels like no one cares.

The image is a screenshot from a lightning tracking application with a prominent yellow theme. At the top, a bright yellow banner displays the app's title, "My Lightning Tracker," with two circular icons on either side: a gear icon on the left and a navigation arrow on the right, both set against a yellow background. On the upper left, a time and location are indicated as "08:30" with an umbrella icon beside it, suggesting possible weather conditions. Adjacent is a date display, "2/17 Tue," and the signal strength and battery level are shown on the top right. Below, there are three section tabs: "Latest," "Hotspots," and "Radar," highlighted with yellow, indicating the selected "Latest" tab. The middle of the image features a satellite map with a view of a highway intersection labeled "CANADA RD" and "I280." The terrain is a mix of green forested areas and lighter green, open spaces. A building complex is visible near the highway. Three small red dots are scattered on the map, with one dot marked by a large yellow circle containing a black lightning bolt symbol, indicating a recent lightning strike. The dots are approximately 2.8 miles away from Woodside, CA, as shown in the details below the map. The bottom of the image has a black panel with the information, "Woodside, CA (08:26), 37.46, -122.29 (2.8 miles away),"

Fairly certain a lightning bolt just struck the electric substation on Cañada Road. All the lights in the Roosevelt neighborhood just flickered. #bayarea

A thick open book is placed on a black scanner mat on a carpeted floor. Behind it, a vertical scanner device stands upright, ready to scan the pages. Cables are visible around the setup, and a person is reflected in a mirrored closet door in the background.

I wasn't making progress on a difficult book called The Discipline of Organizing, so I scanned every page, merged them into a PDF, ran OCR, explained to Claude why I originally began reading the book, and then had Claude compose a comprehensive report on every chapter. The result is incredible.

Ha, that's funny that you tried the work around for LeaderKey before the actual app! Yeah, I haven't been able to implement LeaderKey in my workflow either. I've used quick launchers like Raycast for so long that it may forever be my go-to for navigating my computer.

I love Leisure Water. Drinking a can after a run or ride makes me feel great. Gatorade and other athletic recovery drinks have never made me feel different, but after a can of Leisure water I feel calm and relaxed. https://leisureproject.co/

Let's talk about the 2026 F1 liveries YouTube video by Race Day Café

I’m loving Race Day Café on YouTube. #F1 youtu.be/2EXwKrr3p5c?...

To address your menu bar woes, have you given Ice a try? icemenubar.app Bartender stopped working for me and I landed on Ice as a great replacement. It's much more responsive than Bartender, but also slightly less feature rich. Your blog post also made me think about github.com/mikker/Leade...

Searching for Birds An interactive story about the birds that capture our curiosity, told through data, visuals and illustrations

Visualizations exploring how people use Google to search for birds searchingforbirds.visualcinnamon.com

A screenshot of the Omnifocus application on a Mac. The application displays an empty inbox with "no items" indicated. The sidebar shows various categories like Projects, Tags, Forecast (42 items), Flagged (34 items), Review (49 items), and Groceries. The main area of the application states "No Items Selected." The overall appearance is dark mode on a purple background.

Started the week with over 150 tasks in my inbox. Ended with zero, the result of AI productivity therapy and some hard work. I've got a long way to go until I'm back on top of the whole system.

Discovered Stargazing Buddy, a website with a bunch of astronomy tools. Just in time for the new moon next week. https://stargazingbuddy.com/

Created my first iPhone app called NoteSnap. It lets me create printable tasks with QR codes that point to the task in OmniFocus. I place my to-dos in the location where they need to get done, then scan the QR code with my camera to mark it as complete.

"But he might’ve been hanged is one of the greatest arguments against capital punishment, which invokes an irreparable penalty on the basis of human judgments that are fallible and so often faulty." August Vollmer (Considered to be the father of American policing)

Copy on Select - Chrome Web Store Select some text and it will be instantly copied to the clipboard! Paste it with one click!

I copy-paste hundreds of times per day. The Chrome extension Copy on Select is saving my fingers from so much pretzeling to hit the right keys. It only works in the browser, but that's better than nothing. chromewebstore.google.com/detail/copy-...

Realized tonight that there are MCP servers to interact with Omnifocus. A whole new level of productivity has just been unlocked. There's no way I'm going to be able to fall asleep after this. 🤯

After having enough trouble with Firefox, I've decided to give Helium a try. https://helium.computer/. It's the fastest browser I've ever used and I appreciate the support for Chrome extensions. It's missing vertical tabs, but that's a Chrome problem.

If I received $1 every time my Sonos speakers did not work correctly, I'd have hundreds of dollars in my pocket. I am never buying a Sonos product again. It feels like they strive to make their speakers as unreliable as possible.

The image features a minimalist design with a teal background. A thin, white contrail is seen diagonally crossing the image from the top center towards the bottom right, suggesting an airplane flying across a clear sky. In the top right corner, the word "kineton" is displayed in lowercase letters next to two interlocking circle outlines, representing a logo. Below, the text "Oak repeats" is prominently centered in lowercase letters, with "February 1 2026 — Strava" underneath in smaller text. Further down, a line separates the header from the detailed metrics: "Time 30:30 · Distance 4.7 km · Pace 6:30 /km · Elev. Gain 17 m · Avg. Speed 9.2 km/h." In the bottom right corner, a small icon of a running figure is present, indicating activity-related content. The overall tone conveys a sense of tranquility and focus, with a modern and organized aesthetic.

The image is a digital interface that combines elements of a fitness tracking application with a striking visual background. In the foreground, there is text that reads, "ROUVY - Lake Minnewanka to Banff Village | Canada," indicating a cycling route. The date "January 30, 2026," and the word "Strava" appear below, suggesting connection to a fitness tracking app. The background features a captivating visual of a vibrant, oversized sun setting or rising. The sun, positioned slightly to the right of the center, is depicted as a white circle with a bright yellow glow. Surrounding the sun is an orange sky transitioning to darker tones, evoking a tranquil and warm atmosphere. Silhouetted against the sun are the dark, slender shapes of palm leaves, creating a dynamic and tropical scene. On the right side of the image, there is a small white icon of a cyclist, reinforcing the cycling theme. Beneath this, the word "kineton" is written vertically with two interlocking circles above it, possibly representing a brand or concept related to energy or motion. At the bottom, statistics are displayed in white text: "Time 19:49," "Distance 10.3 km," and "Elev. Gain 75 m." These specifics provide insight into the cycling session, showing the time, distance, and elevation gain. The overall composition and color palette exude an adventurous yet serene mood, merging the thrill of outdoor cycling with the beauty of a sunset

Cycling activity summary displayed over a background of palm trees against a blue sky. The text shows details for a ride titled "ROUVY - Flamingo | Everglades | Florida" dated February 3, 2026. The ride's duration is 30 minutes and 35 seconds, covering a distance of 14.4 km with an elevation gain of 5 meters. The average speed is 28.2 km/h, the maximum speed is 33.1 km/h, and the average power is 125 watts. A bicycle icon is also present.

A night scene with long exposure light trails from moving vehicles, creating swirling patterns on a road. The image features overlaid text from a Strava activity titled "Oak repeats," dated February 6, 2026. Statistics shown include a distance of 3.4 km, a pace of 6:17 per km, and a total time of 21:38. Icons for running and the Kineton logo are present.

I'm digging Kineton. The numbers on my #Strava activities are boring without photos. I like how Kineton lets me jazz things up. kineton.app Mythic Maps is another fun one: mythicmaps.ai

Canceled my Amazon Prime membership tonight, which I think I might have opened back in 2005. Feels good to be done with Amazon. Moved all my healthcare purchases over to iHerb. Terrible name, but the service is great.

Overhead view of a kitchen stove with a large pot covered by a shiny lid, next to a smaller pan. The stove is part of a modern kitchen setup with dark cabinets, a white countertop, and a visible sink. The date and time are displayed at the bottom right.

I’ve got a Wyze camera perched over my stovetop so I can keep an eye on what’s cooking when I’m upstairs.

Holy Now - Wake Up https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TMu-Jng_7ew&si=_GosvqVrIgCx_wgG #music

The Atlassian Williams F1 team is now thinking with Claude YouTube video by Claude

Williams F1 now has Anthropic as a sponsor. I’m impressed youtu.be/xpmag2Gvi0g?...

Strava January Totals summary showing 11 days of activity, 11 hours, 173.6 miles, and 8,089 feet of elevation gain.

A bar graph depicts exercise hours per month for 2026, with each bar representing one month from February to January. January shows the highest at 11 hours, marked in orange, while April and October have the lowest. The "Strava" logo is in the top right corner.

Bar chart showing top sports with cycling at 95% represented by a large orange bar and running at 5% represented by a small brown bar. The chart is labeled "Top Sports" with the Strava logo in the top right corner.

The year is off to a good start. #Strava