Posts from November 2019

Been Down So Long It Looks Like Prestige TV to Me

This sinus infection I’ve had for what feels like forever has been miserable but I did catch up on some good TV to keep myself distracted. My loss can be your gain! Here are some recent shows I recommend for binging and I don’t think you need to have a fever to enjoy them.

  • The Bureau - French spy drama. I haven't been this addicted to a show since The Wire. Mathieu Kassovitz of Amélie fame in a completely different role here. RIYL: anxiety. (4 seasons streaming on Sundance.)
  • Name of the Rose - Middle Ages crime procedural set in a monastery! What's not to love? John Turturro is fantastic as man-ahead-of-his-time William of Baskerville. RIYL: logic. (8-episode miniseries streaming on Sundance.)
  • The Mandalorian - I was primed to not like the new Star Wars offering but a certain puppet character makes up for many flaws. RIYL: shooting. (Streaming on Disney+.)
  • Modern Love - This anthology love letter to New York has such stellar casting for each mini-movie. RIYL: feelings. (Streaming on Amazon Prime.)
  • Letterkenny - Hicks vs. skids in rural Canada. Had to look up so much hockey slang to sort myself out for this show, boys. RIYL: drinking and punching. (7 seasons streaming on Hulu.)
Florent Crivello Florent Crivello
"But everything that looks good doesn’t necessarily work well. In fact, those two traits are opposed more often than not: efficiency tends to look messy, and good looks tend to be inefficient."
I really enjoyed this essay about perceived efficiency and complexity. Especially with the Chesterton’s Fence kicker. Understanding an existing system before changing it is important.
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Clear Fall Scene
Wired Wired
image from Wired
This sure feels like an iconic photo that sums up the impeachment hearings in so many ways. Twitter people had fun with the Morrissey remix. And Alexandra Petri is a national treasure: Foolproof ways to be not guilty of crimes.
Home amnesty.org
image from Home
"Either we must submit to this pervasive surveillance machinery – where our data is easily weaponized to manipulate and influence us – or forego the benefits of the digital world. This can never be a legitimate choice."
Amnesty International the organization is wrestling with their use of Facebook in the wake of this report: We called out Facebook and Google but still need them. That's exactly the problem. They go on to say:
“We are trying to pull off the difficult balancing act of carrying out our duty to spread our human rights message while spending money with companies profiting from problematic surveillance. The reputational risk grows with every scandal. ”
I hope we see some progressive organizations start to distance themselves from Facebook. If they won’t, who will?
YouTube YouTube
image from YouTube
Take 25 minutes to watch this. He makes a fantastic, succinct argument for regulating social media to stop the reach of hate speech.
theregister.co.uk theregister.co.uk
image from theregister.co.uk
People are greedy. That's why we can't have nice things. Here’s more about why this is horrible from the EFF: Nonprofit Community Stands Together to Protect .ORG.
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Copper Maran Juvenile
Home Daily Mail
image from Home
Rod Stewart is waaaay into model trains. Thought you should know.
github.com github.com
If you're Mastodon-curious (and who isn't these days?) this is a great place to start. I especially enjoyed the answer to How do I establish my brand's presence on Mastodon? It would be so easy to veer into cynicism and absolutes with this question and the tone is weary but hopeful. I'm also social media weary but still hopeful about Mastodon. I really enjoy it and I think the folks who steer it are making good decisions.

Impeachment News

Impeachment, right? Since I've been in this timeline for quite a while now it's tough for me to remember that we are in a historic moment for our democracy that I should pay attention to. As with all things online, I'm trying to batch my attention instead of drip-feeding during all waking hours. And with the public impeachment hearings starting tomorrow, I thought I'd share two resources for batching that I've found helpful:

Impeachment.fyi is an afternoon newsletter with the news of the day. In the same spirit as WTFJHT, it's a great concise summary with just the right amount of shock.

For a higher level view of what impeachment means I really like Ezra Klein's podcast Impeachment, explained. I feel ike Ezra is earnestly trying to make sense of things and talking with experts to help him. I think I'm getting a better sense of the process following Ezra's process here.

The information intensity is only going to ramp up from here. You can't go wrong adding these.
UnderConsideration LLC UnderConsideration
image from UnderConsideration LLC
I love the Paris summer olympics logo and type design. I’m a pushover for deco inspired type. Even though I know it’s the Mini Cooper move of forming fonts it always strikes me as hopeful future. And compared with some of the goofy Olympic logos of the past, this one is playful and clever.

Recent Link Dump

It has been so long since I've linked anything that I just need to clear the backlog with an old fashioned link dump. Enjoy!
november disc golf