{"id":46750,"date":"2026-08-19T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46750"},"modified":"2026-08-14T09:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:46:17","slug":"whats-in-my-now-keith-kahn-harris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/whats-in-my-now-keith-kahn-harris\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s in my NOW? \u2014 Keith Kahn-Harris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I am a sociologist and writer based in London. Aside from my work at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (where I am a senior research fellow) and my teaching at Leo Baeck College (a rabbinic seminary), I am the author of 9 non-fiction books. My particular research specialisms are heavy metal music and culture and Jewish communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My latest book&nbsp;<em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/geni.us\/RGgOkr\">The Beautiful Death of Ozzy Osbourne: How Metal Teaches Us To Live<\/a><\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;was published by Harper North in June 2026. More info on the book and my work can be found at&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kahn-harris.org\/\">kahn-harris.org<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!fOFp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1b3188ce-5191-4571-a13f-3b1695e4daf6_3024x4032.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!fOFp!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1b3188ce-5191-4571-a13f-3b1695e4daf6_3024x4032.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"326\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/08\/wimb-kkh2-2-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46752\" width=\"690\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/08\/wimb-kkh2-2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/08\/wimb-kkh2-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/08\/wimb-kkh2-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/08\/wimb-kkh2-2.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4><strong>PHYSICAL<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wobkey.com\/products\/rainy75\">Wobkey Rainy 75 Mechanical keyboard<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;(with Gateron Oil Kings switches): It\u2019s no exaggeration to say that my discovery of mechanical keyboard culture over the last year has made my life much sweeter. It has also helped me as a writer. I never knew that typing could be a gorgeous, synaesthetic experience; a feat for the ears and the hands. Since I replaced the stock switches with Gateron Oil Kings, the Rainy 75 has felt almost scandalously good to type on.<\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tomsstudio.com\/products\/the-wren?variant=49660134261011\">Tom\u2019s Studio Wren pen<\/a><\/strong>: I have always been a stationery aficionado so, when my wife sung the praises of this pen, I didn\u2019t need much persuasion to get one for myself. As a fountain pen lover, the Wren has really surprised me &#8211; not only is it refillable, it has a smooth feel that I wouldn\u2019t normally associate with a fibre tip pen like this. Using the Wren with my MD Studio A6 notepaper is pure loveliness.<\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yeovalley.co.uk\/our-food?range=yogurt\">Plain yoghurt<\/a><\/strong>: I am on the weight loss drug Mounjaro\/Tirzepatide right now. I\u2019ve not only lost a lot of weight, the drug has also improved my general health and raised my energy levels. The side effect is some stomach bloating and discomfort. Plain yoghurt soothes and comforts. Some days it constitutes the bulk of my diet.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4><strong>DIGITAL<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/fedoraproject.org\/atomic-desktops\/cosmic\/\">Fedora Atomic Cosmic Linux<\/a><\/strong>: I installed this distribution on a spare laptop a few months ago and I have been really enjoying it. It\u2019s zippy, reliable and comes with auto-tiling, which makes organising the desktop a cinch. I still have to use my clunky windows 11 laptop for work but, every chance I get I switch over to an operating system that is a joy to use.<\/li><li>I switched over from Evernote to&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/obsidian.md\/\">Obsidian<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;a few months ago. I use it for note-taking, web clipping and as a personal knowledge base. The learning curve was a bit steep and the endless customisation options can be overwhelming. But it has allowed me to build a system that reflects my needs and working style. Plus everything is stored locally as markdown, rather than in a proprietary format as with Evernote.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4><strong>INVISIBLE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><strong>Early mornings<\/strong>: One of the unexpected benefits of Mounjaro\/Tirzepatide has been that I sleep well and wake early. I am often at my desk at 7am, rested and ready for the day. This has had a revolutionary impact on my life. Instead of waking late after a broken night\u2019s sleep, I start the day before many other people are even awake. The world is quieter then and there is space to think and to create.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/whatsinmynow.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Sign up here<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0to get\u00a0What\u2019s in my NOW?\u00a0a week early in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>issue #267<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2303],"tags":[1553],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46750"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46750"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46754,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46750\/revisions\/46754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}