🎩 [ Monthly Mentor ] - July/August

VR on trains, corporates aren't why your rent is high, the memed history of the NL

The Monthly Mentor is an easy to skim bullet point list of things I enjoyed this month, usually a personal update and something to: read, watch, and buy.

This is the Monthly(ish) Mentor of July/August 2025.

Me working on a German train. The connection from Berlin to Amsterdam is a direct 6h train and with this headset on I got to code on 3 big monitors for hours without messing up my neck.

[ Personal ] - We intended to pack less travel and commitments into our 2025 summer than last years. We failed. All of it has been fun so far though. Italy with friends, 2ish weeks offline in Luxemburg, Berlin with Sandboxers. The only real bummers: the weather was too bad to do my skydive refresher jump, and I did indeed fail my HAM radio exam (by one question dammit). One thing I learned: my Quest VR headset with a Bobovr M3 holo strap and replaceable batteries is great for working on trains.

Rents in the US have actually not risen faster than incomes *as a whole*. Income/price mismatch is usually a local one because everyone wants to live in high-demand city. That tells you something about how to solve the problem

[ Read ] Corporations aren't the reason your rent is too high - Written in a US American context, but true of many western countries including my own Netherlands (link)

• [ Watch ] The Dutch iceberg level 1 - this in in Dutch (worth it with subtitles), and it is HILARIOUS yet very educational. Requires a certain appreciation of internet/meme culture (link)
  

• [ Buy ] Comply foam tips for your earbuds - I have the Bose QC Ultra buds, which have great noise cancelling, but I wanted more. Comply makes tips for many earbud types, the tips are those foamy squashable ones that really insulate the outside world (link)
  

• [ Favor ] Please hit me up with your favorite podcasts. I’m enjoying my regulars but someone recently recommended Hidden Forces and it made me realise there is a lot of great stuff out there I’m not aware of.
  

Enjoy your week friends!

~ Mentor

💡 Remember you can get free copies of my books here.