Hey – Jamie here.
I did something brave last week.
I've also written up the story of when my website got taken over by Russian hackers. It was bizarre, infuriating, and promptly got turned into a stage production.
As for this edition's article, please enjoy the first in a series of pieces on memory. In this evidence-based article, I share my AI-assisted worfklow for upgrading the power of the oldest memory trick in the book.
Table of Contents
- Doing Something Brave
- Articles & Guides
- Stories & Reflections
- Favourite Finds
Doing Something Brave
Last December, I made the secret choice to finally take up singing. I’ve wanted to learn how to sing since I was a teen, but we didn’t have the money for lessons; once I got working, I kept putting it off because I felt I needed to prioritise more practical things.
Well, after 12 weeks of beginners singing lessons, I found new wells of courage and pulled off a solo performance in front of the friends and family of my fellow singers.
The singing lessons were part of a group course. When we signed up, we'd assumed we'd be singing as an ensemble. A few weeks in, our teacher dropped the news that we’d actually be working on solo performances and a group song. There was a collective gulp.
Come showtime, everyone did themselves proud. None of us forgot our words, we sung on-time, with heart, and with soul. Though, you should have seen us in January. We were… rough. My big realisation was that I had no idea how to sing in key. This became a sore point for most of the course. I felt like I was in the (excellent) film Whiplash, except, instead of ‘Not my tempo’, I was being flogged with ‘Not my key’.
I'm not being fair. Our teacher was much kinder than the fellow in Whiplash. She had a gift for making us feel more bold and less worried about making fools of ourselves. With lots of coaching, chicken exercises, and alien communication, we were able to find the fun, play, and silliness that helped us chill.
‘That was your best performance’ was the metaphorical gold star I received at the end of the concert. My ears, brain, lungs, and vocal cords finally figured out how to work together, and I dialled into the emotional heart of my chosen song a few days before the concert by reminiscing about a chance encounter from my own life.
‘Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)’ by Green Day was the song I picked.
The song is a tribute to loving and losing, to the improbable magic that brings two lives together, and the wistful ache of then being pulled apart. In just under three minutes, the song delivers a eulogy to the good times while tuning into the gentle sadness and frustration that all good things must come to an end.
Japanese has the perfect idiom for this feeling, mono no aware. The idiom focuses on the appreciation of impermanence while softly cradling the fact that this is an inescapable reality of life. Spring is the epitome of this, especially when the blossoms are in full swing for only a few days or weeks.
So with that, if you’re in the northern hemisphere, welcome to spring. We made it through the dark and cold winter. All we have is this moment, and you’ll never be this young again, so go do something brave.
Feel free to reply to this message. You can also share your questions, requests, and favourite finds here.
Jamie | @JamoeMills
🌸 From a blossoming London
Find a better way to solve problems that matter.
P.S. If you happened to visit my website when it got taken over by hackers and made use of the services that were offered therein, I'd love to hear how that went. Did you find love?
Articles & Guides
The Oldest Memory Trick: Acronyms and Acrostics
At a glance
- Based on the reader question: Do you have any advice for how to remember the names of the players in my sports team?
- Acronyms and acrostics are coat hooks for memory: they compress long lists into one word or sentence, making them easier to store and retrieve.
- You can use AI as a drafting partner: first ask for any existing mnemonics, then have it generate and refine acronyms and acrostics tailored to your own lists.
- Good mnemonics work because they chunk information, stand out as slightly odd, demand a bit of effort to build, and quietly preserve the order of the original list.
Introduction
In this piece, I’ll share how I teach my students to take advantage of AI to create their own mnemonics, that is, devices for remembering things. Specifically, I want to focus on acronyms and acrostics.
Together, they form the oldest memory trick in the book for creating and recalling long lists of information. While they are powerful, creating them is tedious; with the AI workflow I teach, you’ll be able to take advantage of their power without the tedium, and create enduring mnemonics that make new lists of information unforgettable.
You don’t need to use AI. For millennia, human brains have done the trick. If you want to carry on this long tradition, just read the first few parts of this piece. If you want to dabble in the best of both worlds, read on.
Stories & Reflections
Russian Hackers
October 2025
‘Is it supposed to do that?’.
No. No, it wasn’t.
After months of work and a couple of long years, I'd finally finished my new website.
I was buzzing. Wanting to take a victory lap, I sent a link to my buddy in New Zealand. It was the evening for him, so he shouldn’t be working and might be online.
He sent me a screenshot.
‘Warning: Dangerous site. Attackers might install software on your device. We recommend returning to safety.’
I thought I’d squished that bug. The last part of launching my website was creating the security certificate. The certificate tells your browser the site is safe. When it finds one, a little padlock appears next to the address bar and the page loads.
‘Don’t worry. You can ignore that. The SSL certificate must still be loading. Click proceed and the site will show up. I’d love to know what you think.’
‘Erm…’
My buddy sent me another screenshot. I nearly dropped my phone.
'Hot threesomes. Are you looking for fun in your zip code?'
‘That’s not my website!’
Favourite finds
Share your favourite finds here
Oscar Wilde (quote)
A quote I've been chewing on now that spring has returned:
'The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.'
Saturday Night Live: UK Edition (comedy)
The live sketch show has finally arrived on this side of the Atlantic, and the first episode was a joy. We have a long, strange comedy tradition in the UK, so it was satisfying to see a new crop of writers and performers holding their own. If you don’t have Sky One to watch it live on Saturday nights, their Instagram has bonus sketches and you can find clips on YouTube, like this one of Tina Fey's (Mean Girls) opening monologue from episode one.
Alcohol wipes (spring cleaning special)
I’ve been doing some spring cleaning, and these have become my favourite way to keep tech vaguely respectable. If your keyboard or mouse is feeling grimy, a quick swipe with a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe works wonders; most shops sell a pack of 100 for about £1. Be cautious with fingerprinted screens, though. Too much scrubbing, too often, can damage the coating.
‘The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen’ – Yuta Takahashi (short book)
A beautiful, tender, charming, and melancholy piece of fiction. The story is set in a small restaurant in a Japanese seaside town that serves ‘remembrance meals’ – dishes you can order and, if you’re lucky, share with someone who has died. It had me by page nine. By the final page, I felt as if something inside me had been lovingly sewn back together.
Who would you want to share a remembrance meal with?
