141–150 of 229 posts
A basic principle of ancient Chinese Feng Shui is that you should not sit with your back to a space. In other words, you need to have your back against a wall, not your face facing a wall. I believe there is a reason for this. When there is a space behind you, human instinct forces you to pay a subconscious attention on that space (we are very alert to danger from behind), making it harder to concentrate on what is i…
Disagree. Misplaced context
Will there be a follow-up when that Ikea tissue-paper lamp catches fire and burns his flat down? I don't know how those things are legal, like building a computer case out of recycled newspaper clippings.
Those where everywhere in the late 80s, complete with 80W incandescent light bulbs. I'm not suggestion that it can't catch fire, but even if it did wouldn't the paper would burn so fast that not enough heat is generated to ignite anything else?
The tiny halogen lamps weren't that way, and there were reports of "torchiere" lamps causing fires, or at least smoke, when peoples draperies dangled into them, resulting in a ban IIRC.
Wow this guy has the 606 Vitsoe Universal shelving [1] and USM Haller desk [2] A dream setup. [1] https://www.vitsoe.com/us/606 [2] https://us.usm.com/collections/tables-desks
How is this shelving any better than what you can buy from say IKEA? I've got wooden IKEA shelves in my shed and they take serious abuse of big heavy tools, lawn mowers, car batteries, paint cans etc being non-carefully put/clattered away and they're holding up 100% after years. I can't imagine any normal shelves needing to be "well made" to support a few magazines and a toy model Porsche? Or is this just a "because…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is this shelving any better than what you can buy from say IKEA? I've got wooden IKEA shelves in my shed and they take serious abuse of big heavy tools, lawn mowers, car batteries, paint cans etc being non-carefully put/clattered away and they're holding up 100% after years. I can't imagine any normal shelves needing to be "well made" to support a few magazines and a toy model Porsche? Or is this just a "because…
This is a philosophical question that goes back millennia. It just comes down to what sparks joy for you, and how much do you value that. I have an Eames lounger. It was absurdly expensive and doesn’t even have a recline lever. But, it sparks joy. I like how it looks, I find it comfortable. When I was a student I went to a furniture store with a friend and I sat in this chair, not knowing who Eames was or the price t…
Anyway, back to my folding chair, Vision Pro, and Mac Studio 512GB. ;)
Wow this guy has the 606 Vitsoe Universal shelving [1] and USM Haller desk [2] A dream setup. [1] https://www.vitsoe.com/us/606 [2] https://us.usm.com/collections/tables-desks
2,000$ and the desk description has "laminate" in it?
Much above that and you might as well get custom-made stuff.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Prices are on the linked page, or in a full price list PDF it links to. (Though the fetishisation of this shelving seems weird. Maybe as I grew up in the UK, but I associate it with every single public and office building. Every library, every office, every school. It's not what I'd choose for home.) https://www.vitsoe.com/us/606/components
It's great when you actually do want the flexibility. Not that you need anything ridiculously expensive, though. In a garage or workshop it's great because you can just put the brackets where you want and store long stuff like wood or pipes etc. But if you're just putting up shelves that you're never going to move it's less appealing. That said, I have used it in my study because I don't care how it looks and it's ve…
Nice article to show status signalling vanity and taste-based elitism. Adding a drop of "playing lego with kids" to show humane side was clever.
Yeah, I love this part too: https://arslan.io/2025/12/26/books-i-read-in-2025/ > If I’m reading a book, once the kids are asleep, I have 3–4 hours each evening, and I also have free time on the weekends. So it’s possible to read a lot of books as a father of two kids. I could probably read even more if I stopped spending time on other things, like writing for my blog, learning piano, or doing industrial design. I tho…
You have one monitor yes, but what about second monitor?
When you have two monitors, is your head always turned to one side? That always hurts my neck, so I wind up with the second monitor relegated to the side, where I never actually look at it.
The ultra wide above was mainly dedicated to various chat programs (teams, telegram, iMessage, etc).
The laptop's screen to the left was my mail screen (both home and work).
To the right was a 4k on its side, for documentation reference or output work.
And above the laptop was a "scratch" monitor for whatever was needed (often a music player, etc).
You quickly get used to glancing at what you need and moving on; if something needs more attention it's easy to bring it front and center or turn your chair.
Power fluctuations took out the ultrawides and one of the 4ks so now I just have one supermegaultrawide with a 4k above it (still laptop for mail, "above" for chat, and main for main things).
It's not mentioned in the article but one thing I constantly struggle with when laying out my office is facing the desk toward the wall (like he originally had it) vs. facing toward the room (the "digital" side of his desk now). I don't like facing the wall but I find when I face the room the monitor totally blocks my view and it kind of looks like ass from the other side. This guy did way better cable management tha…
The "classic" answer is an L-shaped desk, or a desk with credenza.
E.g., https://www.borofkasfurniture.com/desk-2/bbgavioffice2-p207/... or https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-9731/Office-Desks/Ind...