Yesterday, we bought two Knoll Sapper monitor arms. Most arms on the market use gas springs to counterbalance the display weight. The Sapper separates vertical motion, which works against gravity, from horizontal motion. Vertically, it uses a screw on the main column and the arm is held by friction. Horizontal motion requires no special mechanism. Gravity exerts no force in that plane, and friction is enough to resist small disturbances.

It’s so simple and so well thought out that I’m surprised it’s not the most popular arm. Its look is the expression of its function and not a gram of material is wasted.

SwissMicros makes beautiful calculators. Will definitely get one when DM42n is back in stock.

There are no options left to buy a non-integrated bike that looks good. I would expect Standert to produce some, but they also switched to running everything through a headset. So I went ahead and bought a previous-generation Aethos. It’s the cheapest (9r) frame they produce. I don’t think there’s a big difference between them, aside from it weighing 100 g more. It comes with some aluminum wheels and Shimano Di2.

I’ve changed the stock wheels for Roval Alpinist CL II wheels. When you look at the modern wheels, they have even more gimmicks than modern bike frames. Most of them use proprietary components, so good luck finding freehubs, bearings, spokes, whatever in a few years.

Roval Alpinists are as standard as they can be. They use DT Swiss spokes. They use DT Swiss 350 hubs. These hubs are bulletproof and require no tools for service.

The wheels are feather-light. I’m not sure yet how that translates to ride quality — if it does at all — but they look great on the bike. The 33 mm rims give it a tidy, balanced look that fits the frame’s lines well.

P.S. You know what this bike reminds me of?

Replaced my old IKEA desk lamp with Artemide Tolomeo.

It’s a simple design. Some screws are visible, and you can tighten them when needed. My version is aluminum, so there’s no chance of paint chipping. You can use any bulb up to 70W. The lamp and its mount are sold separately, giving you plenty of options—you can even turn it into a reading lamp with a floor stand. Artemide sells all the spare parts, so you can fix it if anything breaks.

The philosophy of Artemide is that the product lasts for generations. Starting from the design, the quality of materials and manufacturing, our lamps are made to last over time and designed to be repaired if any component is damaged by accidental events during use.

This lamp is the definition of good design.

McMaster is a U.S. supply company with more than 700,000 products, from nails to air pumps. It might be the best example I’ve seen of how to present information to an audience.

It’d be interesting to go over the details here.

Their catalog is excellent. Each entry has both an image and text, making it easy to understand what’s inside. It strikes the perfect balance between being granular and general.

It gets even better when you click a link. Each category has an image and a short description—no fluff, just clear, concise information.

Then come the filters. Each filter has a small image, so I don’t have to waste time deciphering what OD or ID mean.

Different options are presented in a dense table, but it’s easy to navigate.

This is what most websites should aim for. People don’t need excessive white space, pop-ups, or email sign-up prompts. They need a functional website where they can quickly find and order what they need.

Eiermann Desk

Last year I was looking for a new desk. My main requirement was that it should be lower than 70 cm. Most desks today are 75 cm high, which is too tall for most people. I also wanted to avoid the Silicon Valley vibe that is so ubiquitous in modern workspaces.

Eventually, I found the table I loved — the Eiermann 1. The original table frame was designed in 1953, either for Eiermann’s own office or for his students; history differs on this point. The crossbar, made in one piece, is placed diagonally between the sides. This reduced construction achieves the perfect balance between material and stability. The tabletop lies flat on the frame. Less is not possible.

It’s been almost a year and it still brings me joy every time I sit at it.

I finally bought the Feynman Lectures on Physics, something I wanted to do for a very long time. Ever since reading You're Surely Joking Mr. Feynman. After watching some of his interviews on YouTube and going through a few chapters online, I realized there's something special about how Feynman explains things. He doesn't just teach formulas — he teaches understanding. Once you grasp that, you realize what true understanding is. Here are a few quotes from the introduction to the New Millennium edition:

It was like going to church. The lectures were a transformational experience, the experience of a lifetime, probably the most important thing I got from Caltech. I was a biology major but Feynman’s lectures stand out as a high point in my undergraduate experience … though I must admit I couldn’t do the homework at the time and I hardly turned any of it in. I was among the least promising of students in this course, and I never missed a lecture. … I remember and can still feel Feynman’s joy of discovery. … His lectures had an … emotional impact that was probably lost in the printed Lectures.

The book is beautiful. I don't choose books solely on looks, but when there are different options, it's better to go for the one you like. I’ve noticed that this works for anything — if I like something that’s part of an activity, I’m more likely to engage with it. So, in that sense, it is rational to choose a book by its cover. One sad thing is the lettering from the original edition has been lost in the New Millennium version:

Almost all other popular physics books look very average. Compare another popular textbook with the austere design of Feynman’s lectures:

My plan is to work through all three volumes over the winter and solve all the exercises from the companion workbook. I will buy a refresher for math once I hit a wall. There are a few books I have in mind: Spivak’s Calculus and The Princeton Companion to Applied Mathematics. Both are as beautifully designed as Feynman’s lectures.