Writing on Aaron Massicotte

Mindful Messaging

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:46:51 +0200

Our decisions compound over time, and choosing the systems we use to communicate is a direct expression of whether we preserve control over our data or gradually give it away. And control, once given away, is not only used to watch: whoever can read your messages can also decide which of them get through

The case for Signal

Cooking Tips

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 23:35:22 +0200

Order spices online

Great tastes often are the result of optimal spice usage. Buy a cheap coffee grinder and grind whole spices yourself. But also remember that fresh herbs and spices only really stay that way for about 6 months. So you need labeled reusable containers and a website online you can order them from. A protip is to skip any website selling mixes or combinations of spices. Only buy from a website that sells the whole thing in its purest form. You can always combine them yourself later, but you can’t uncombine them! You will be blown away with the freshness, and save a lot of money in the process by not needing to buy the containers these things often come in. You can also buy small quantities to try new things out

Better Schooling

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 21:09:52 +0100

Of course education can solve so much in the journey of creating a brighter future, but it’s no surprise that how we’re doing it now is terrible. I’m not going to talk about how public schooling is inadequate, because frankly I think it is obvious. I’m sure teachers or faculty can explain it better than me. What I want to show are a set of ideas which I believe have the power to change the world

Opinionated Habits

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 21:09:46 +0100

Why I don't use a phone case or screen protector anymore

I halted phone protection in January 2025. Why?

A case tempts neglect; a bare phone warrants respect
Extra casing undermines the phone’s slim design
Screens still crack with a screen protector and hard corners overpower cases
Without a case, high-end phones like the Xperia 5V show their premium finishes and crisp edges
Devices aren’t designed to be encased—imagine casing your favorite kitchenware
I never dropped my phone, so the case was just fear; mindful handling spares extra gear

We Must Reject Weakness

While the text below focuses on online content consumption, the principles they illustrate apply broadly to many areas of life—whether it’s relationships, career decisions, or personal growth

Dreams for the Future

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 21:09:38 +0100

I dream of living in a world where the average person is involved with political decisions and is calmly and persistently fighting for a better future
- That corporations stop being so powerful, but politicians and voters prioritize the best of the people and fight for it
- No more billionaires. Properly paid healthcare and education workers. Free education. You know, the stuff that should be automatic
- Governments should be in competition to provide the best country for the people. National pride would mean a fight to offer the best government service
I believe it is possible for humans as a whole to have the choice to not really need to work anymore. Maybe 15 hours a week or something. Because there is already sufficient automation technology to create abundance in most of the things we need in order to thrive
Through the propagation of respectful and fair democratic processes there can be an end to war and poverty, but it requires humans to stay very strong and vigilant
That a better education system can be created to make learning fun, competitive, and effective
That possession of drugs should not be criminalized, but instead properly understood with effective rehab measures. People shouldn’t need to be dependent on the street if they have a drug problem. They should be able to access their substances in a controlled way. People should also be able to experiment with psychoactive substances and be properly informed of their risks and best usages instead of risking going down a slippery slope
That public transportation can be seen as a primary means of transportation, and we can move off from the inefficient car-centric poorly-planned urban mess we’ve created. We should have trains, trams, buses, and metros all over the place, and not need to own a vehicle at all. Like in Japan, for example. There’s no valid excuse why we can’t have this, other than corporate greed-motivated lobbying of automotive manufacturers and wrongly places stigma around public transportation
That there is a version of the internet which is not riddled with bots, propaganda, and advertisements, but instead is non-profit and decentralized. I know this is supposed to be a dream, but it’s technically already happening. It’s wonderful and I can’t wait for the future to happen!

Personal Digital Archive

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 00:10:08 +0200

A well formatted digital archive is like having an external brain of information

The End-goal

What makes the perfect system? It must be

Easy to find things regardless of when they were created. Easy to put things where they go without thinking about it
Be easy to copy and move around
Not have any form of vendor lock-in. Not OS specific
100% free
Be easy to sort by date created or date modified
Organize all types of media – pictures, music, documents, recordings, spreadsheets, anything

The Solution

After 20 years of working on the perfect solution, I believe finally that it doesn’t exist. There will always be trade-offs and personal preferences. That being said, I believe I have the Marie Kondo equivalent for digital organization

Notes

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 23:22:14 +0200

The End-goal

What makes the perfect system? It must be

Easy to find things by searching, tags, or by date modified
Not locked to a particular vendor
Free
Be able to contain tables, images, hyperlinks, and a decent set of typography elements
Be editable in raw plaintext
Be accessible from anywhere
Be easy to back up
Be easy to roll back to a previous state
Make sense even in 75 years from today

The Solution

Many note-taking apps which are free and maybe also open-source use markdown organized into sub folders. This hits many of the above criteria, and allows you to choose to use helpful software or simply do things the old-fashioned way. Regardless, markdown provides a simple set of options so that your notes can have headings, subheadings, italic, bold, tables, links, pictures, without being too complex. Although it came about in 2004, the format has become ubiquitous. It can be readable even in plaintext, and is so simple it could easily be converted if for some reason that was necessary in the future

How Tos

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 21:24:10 +0200

Change Diet

So often the topic of diet comes up. My advice, which for some reason seems to not be a common practice, is to avoid the big-bang conversion. Don’t try to do it all in one shot. If you want to become vegetarian, for example you should then remove 1 type of meat, the one you eat the least already, and whenever you would normally eat that meat, you should try to cook a new meal. After 2 weeks, do this with the next meat. Over time you will be cooking many new meals and one day you will say “wow, I guess I’m actually vegetarian!”

About Me

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 18:38:01 +0200

Abstract High Level

Priorities

Health/Fitness
Family
Enjoying Life via. Hobbies
Personal Growth

Values

Privacy
Trust
Reliability
Consistency

Writings about me

Dreams for the Future

Top Quality Products

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 17:26:12 +0200

Products I’ve Been Using

ThruNite Flashlights

ThruNite has some very high quality flashlights and head lamps. They may not handle every use case or be best-in-class for everything, but in terms of durability, functionality, branding, and price, I’m blown away. The packaging comes with replacements, the products are modular and can be customized a little bit, and they have a great range of lighting modes which range from “Firefly” where the light is just dim enough to see in the dark but can stay on for >1 month, all the way to crazy brightness >2000 lumens that needs to cycle down because the flashlight will overheat if that setting is maintained for too long. They keep products up to date, and recharge with USB-C. They also come with warranty for 2-year free replacement and lifetime limited maintenance where cost of parts and freight is on the consumer, but you can still get free repairs on it

Website Philosophy

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 19:35:22 +0200

Introduction

Computing has come a very long way over the recent decades, but one thing which astounds me is how incredibly inefficient things have ended up. Because performance is so high and storage so cheap, software has gotten bloated with dead code that never gets used, or worse resources that are wasted. I think the best examples are when modern software takes longer to load with hardware 100X more powerful than what existed maybe 2 decades prior

Cool Links

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 19:17:30 +0200

News

The Brutalist Report

Brutalist Report is my favorite place to get news from. There are no images, and the website is brutalist which means it loads insanely quick. Looks great on mobile too! The index includes a collection of headlines from several different sources, and it constantly updated. I learn everything I need to right from here! It’s not perfect though, some of the websites link to a paywall