April 17, 2019
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‘Big and tall’ could be bigger — and better
“Our civilization encourages a dude to be a bigger man, but doesn’t deign to dress him very well. The situation in apparel for what the industry calls “big and…”
April 7, 2019
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Review
The Light Brigade (Kameron Hurley, 2019)
A1 time travel novel. Loved it. -
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“Felicity Huffman leaves a federal courthouse on April 3. Gretchen Ertl / Reuters Sweet Christ, vindication! How long has it been? Years? No, decades. If hope is…”
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We Know Very Little About How Old Age And The Internet Intersect, And What We Do Know Is Troubling
“Older people play an outsized role in civic life. They also are more likely to be online targets for misinformation and hyperpartisan rhetoric. FORT WASHINGTON,…”
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I hate MVPs. So do your customers. Make it SLC instead.
“Tweet this Product teams have been repeating the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) mantra for a decade now, without re-evaluating whether it’s the right way to…”
April 6, 2019
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What Toronto Learned By Giving Streetcar Its Own Lane
“In crowded urban areas, cars aren’t the most efficient way to move people. That’s the lesson from Toronto’s one year King Street “pilot,” which prohibited…”
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Lil Nas X’s Havoc-Wreaking Meme Is a Hit. He’s as Surprised as You Are
“It took Montero Hill a few tries to perfect the art of going viral. “I was doing Facebook comedy videos, then I moved over to Instagram, and then I hopped on…”
March 30, 2019
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Review
The Raven Tower (Ann Leckie, 2019)
A rare fantasy novel for me but I loved it. There are many gods in the world and they influence far more than we know. Wonderful language, highly engaging.
March 9, 2019
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Review
Nine Perfect Strangers (Liane Moriarty, 2018)
An odd “murder in a remote location” mystery set in Australia. Enjoyable but not particularly memorable.
March 3, 2019
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“Editor’s Note 1 : I have no editor. Editor’s Note 2 : I would like to assure new subscribers to this blog that most my posts are not as long as this one. Or as…”
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A Journey Into the Animal Mind
“Getty / Life on White Ami d the human crush of Old Delhi, on the edge of a medieval bazaar, a red structure with cages on its roof rises three stories above the…”
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“Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images Transportation is now the biggest single source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, having recently passed electricity generation.…”
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Annoyed by Restaurant Playlists, a Master Musician Made His Own
“How Ryuichi Sakamoto assembled the soundtrack for Kajitsu, in Murray Hill, and what it says about the sounds we hear (or should) while we eat. The prolific…”
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Mark Hollis, Leader of ’80s Band Talk Talk, Is Dead
“Mark Hollis of Talk Talk in 1986. The success of the group’s first album, “It’s My Life,” gave Mr. Hollis and the rest of the band free rein to experiment. Mark…”
March 2, 2019
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When YouTube Red-Pills the Love of Your Life – MEL Magazine
“Sarah clearly remembers the moment she lost the love of her life to the “Red Pill.” She was sitting inside a dark closet next to the bedroom where she and her…”
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How to Stop Hating Your Least Favorite Food
“mikroman6 / Getty Cucumbers are my nemesis. I want to fight every food in the melon family and many melon-adjacent foods, but melons avoid my primary disdain…”
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The magical thinking of guys who love logic
“Ian Danskin, who makes videos under the moniker Innuendo Studios, has made a name for himself on the internet for his YouTube series on the techniques and…”
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The problem with Silicon Valley’s obsession with blitzscaling growth
“The pursuit of monopoly has led Silicon Valley astray. Look no further than the race between Lyft and Uber to dominate the online ride-hailing market. Both…”
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How Millennial Parents Are Reinventing the Cherished Family Photo Album
“rubberball / Getty On the top shelf of closets, in dusty basements, and tucked away in chests across the country sit shoeboxes and stacks of albums filled with…”
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When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online
“Shutterstock For several months, Cara has been working up the courage to approach her mom about what she saw on Instagram. Not long ago, the 11-year-old—who,…”
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Entertainment District Density Sets Up Tough Decisions for City | Urban Toronto
“It’s a story that has been repeated ad nauseum in Toronto over the past decade. Developable land is scarce. Demand for housing is high. Land value is…”
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Your Partner Is Probably Lying to You About All the Memes You Send – MEL Magazine
“Since the beginning of their relationship, Dan S., a senior at the University of Chicago, has lied to his girlfriend almost daily. For his internship, he…”
February 24, 2019
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How Criticisms of Roma Have Revealed American Biases
“Yalitza Aparicio in Roma (courtesy Netflix) The first time I watched Roma was in a movie theater with my parents. Unlike them, I wasn’t yet around in the 1970s…”
February 18, 2019
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The Sexualized Messages Dress Codes are Sending to Students
“Nashoba Regional MA Also, student dress that is obscene or offensive, and/or disruptive to the learning environment will not be permitted. Norwood High MA Since…”
February 17, 2019
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Review
Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation (Ken Liu (translator), Anthology, 2016)
SF anthologies are of course hit and miss but I liked a lot of this. The collection includes some commentary on the writers and stories which helps. Chinese SF is great because you get a double dose of oddness – the SF and the culture shock of non-western writing.
February 14, 2019
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Why it’s so hard to fix AI bias
“Why it’s so hard to fix AI bias We’ve come to understand how AI bias can impact people’s lives. Today we’re covering the mechanics of how it arises in the first…”
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Work-Life Balance
I feel individuals have a limited amount of energy to give in a day. That varies by person, by stage in life, your overall mood and mental health, plus how engaged you feel with the world in general. I don’t think there is anything wrong with needing more “downtime” than other people. And that is one aspect of “balance” that I feel gets overlooked. If you don’t have the downtime you need, it’s easy to burn out (at the extreme) or to become ineffective in what you do (more commonly). I love my job, but I’ve structured my life so I get an afternoon nap most days and I don’t want to give that up!
But in general, I think less about balance and more about variety.
Keeping your energy up and your mind engaged is more difficult if you only give yourself one or a few tasks. That’s my biggest concern with work (even work you love) coming to dominate your life. It doesn’t allow for cross-pollination of ideas and parts of your life feeding off the energy of the other parts. It’s a bit like how we’ve come to understand that biodiversity is important in nature and how cultural diversity is important in the workforce. If your mind is singularly focused on work tasks, I fear you are limiting yourself and lacking in personal diversity.
I think a lot about work, but I also spend a chunk of the day engaged in other interests: design, urban planning, European detective shows, my kids, the Raptors, the fallibility of the human mind, digital legacy, music, dumb memes, reducing extremism in all parts of society, dogs, Lego, napping, etc.
If people get joy and energy from singular focus, more power to them, but I’d urge giving thought to how downtime and diversity of thought and activity might benefit you in the long-run.
February 13, 2019
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The Green New Deal is a one-pager for America – Fruitful.zone – Medium
“It’s meant to spark a conversation, so let’s talk about it! Buster Benson Feb 12 Original full text of the document When I read the Green New Deal , a proposal…”
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“Trätoppen, a proposed building in Stockholm. Until recently, there were two basic ways of using wood in construction: chop down whole tree trunks for heavy…”
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Why America’s New Apartment Buildings All Look the Same
“These buildings are in almost every U.S. city. They range from three to seven stories tall and can stretch for blocks. They’re usually full of rental…”