Links
This is an absolutely fantastic essay on how fragile the cultural works created on the web have become, through the lens of the late Clive James’s website: Internet Amnesia.
How much more vulnerable is all that creativity locked away in the big social platforms?
This post by Euan Semple, which is an expression of moral relativism (or adjacet to it, at least), feels both elementally true to me - but also a dangerous way to think about one of the things he mentions: Facebook.
It feels, at some level, that it lets the people in charge off the hook.
Thoughts?
Podcasting the great outdoors - one of the ways I try to disconnect from work over the weekend.
Whatever happened to Yahoo’s digital time capsule?
Marie Boran asks if everyone has forgotten about Yahoo’s digital time capsule?:
This was to be opened on the company’s 25th anniversary on March 2nd, 2020, but the webpage looks abandoned; according to the webpage countdown there is still a decade left until the capsule opens.
So much of 90s/00s digital culture is gone. Future historian will lament that we were so careless with the archive of the formative days of our digital culture.
The psychology behind Boris's war on the media
Nick Cohen on why Boris Johnson is so suspicious of the media:
I suspect there is a strong element of projection at play. It is because Johnson was a partisan columnist that he is an enemy of press freedom. He assumes all journalists are like him, and that they will twist, distort and censor accordingly.
Good insight that makes a lot of sense.
Rob Beschizza: Study: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety
Not a surprise. I nearly joked that it could prove to be the mental health equivalent of smoking - and then realised that was no joke.
Well, this reads like the opening of a horror novel: Inaccessible first-floor Wisbech property for sale for £100
Yes, please: A return to blogs (finally? sort of?)
If you haven’t been paying attention to just how massive the bushfire crisis is in Australia, this set of information and links will open your eyes.
And possibly your bowels.
Oooooh, Matron…
Operio collection by Dead Lotus Couture aims to put latex “in every wardrobe”.
Journalism's Facebook narrative
Dave Winer on journalism’s narrative around Facebook:
Saying online is dangerous is like saying the subway is dangerous. But if you live in New York, you probably want to take the subway. Driving is dangerous. Everything is. Life itself isn’t safe. It’s a mix. You have to learn to discern.
I did not know this:
Why Saying “Namaste” is Culturally Insensitive and NOT Just a Yoga Term.
Biorecycling plastics with enzymes
Carbios' new factory will use enzymes to biorecycle plastic:
In a matter of hours, the enzymes decompose the plastic into the material’s basic building blocks, called monomers, which can then be separated, purified, and used to make new plastic that’s identical to virgin material. Later this year, the company will begin construction on its first demonstration recycling plant.
This sort of innovation could change the whole debate about plastics. Exciting stuff, if it works.
The reason to study Latin
Report: Students Who Take Latin Have Better Chance Of Summoning Demon Later In Life::
“According to our data, children who studied Latin in grade school were far more likely to contact, summon, and then raise a damned soul from the underworld,” said classics department chair Emily Greenwood, adding that students who learned Latin tended to be more adept at chanting ancient incantations, opening up portals, and comprehending Demonic screams.
My old Latin master was also head of the school Christian Union. Makes you think… 🤔😂
Fascinating bit of tech nostalgia: This is How Film Cameras Added Dates to Your Photos:
This is one of the features of iOS13 I’m really looking forwards to having.
But I’m still waiting for iOS13.1…
Six Colors, Dan Moren: 13 Features of iOS 13: Video editing
This is utterly glorious film photography geekery: New Website Sets the Record Straight: There is No Such Thing as 120mm Film
Boing Boing, Rob Beschizza: Disney almost bought Twitter but backed off because “the nastiness is extraordinary”
🤷🏼♂️
The slow erosion of the democratic norm
Rachel Sylvester makes an important point in The Times:
Democracy is about persuasion rather than obliteration and there are rules underpinning political conflict that don’t apply in military combat. The prime minister seems to have forgotten that, far from being the nation’s commander-in-chief, he is only “first among equals” in the cabinet and depends for his power on the House of Commons. The scorched-earth approach being pursued by No 10 will make it almost impossible to unite the Tory party, let alone the country, when the skirmishes are over.
There is an autocratic streak in a lot of current politics that should concern anyone who values democracy.