Keeping this habit going even i'm missing it by a few days, hope to get a weekly schedule soon.
As always, all links on this newsletter can be found here.
History, Culture, and Religion
644: Random Acts of History - This American Life
Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page.
This is a transcript from a podcast called This American Life, do check it out, but, I included this mainly for the parts where it talks about Spielberg, more specifically, this one :
One of the kids asked Spielberg, have you ever made a movie about the Black Holocaust, about slavery? He said no. The kid inquired, well, why not? And Spielberg said, well, maybe I will. Three years later, he released Amistad, about a slave ship. In an email, Steven Spielberg confirmed that one of the reasons he decided to make that film was that student's question.
Which I thought was interesting
Hello Mac OS X Tiger | Fernando Bunn
The future is here!
I wasn't sure whether to put this in tech or history but, I went with history.
I fun walk down memory lane that talks about how to setup a dev environment on Mac OS X Tiger but, right at the end mentions some rumours about an Apple Phone, I wonder what thats about.
My biggest distraction from my work, family and friends – and yet I can’t pull away, even when my own research says I should
Something I definitely suffer from now, I spend far more time interact with 'devices' than with people directly/indirectly.
Is Old Music Killing New Music? - The Atlantic
Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking.
As a lover of old music who only discovers new music through Instagram it was cool to know that we are now the majority, not too many people actually like new music apparently.
Bring in the clones: Instagrammers are genetically replicating their pets
Cloning cats and dogs is expensive and controversial. But the humans behind petfluencer accounts say it’s worth it.
Why? Just, Why?
Tech, Science, and Math
Rewilding your attention. To find truly interesting ideas, step… | by Clive Thompson | UX Collective
Recently I read a terrific blog post by CJ Eller where he talks about the value of paying attention to offbeat things. Eller was joining an online conversation about how people get caught up in the…
On the theme of staying away from devices and the internet, this excellent post.
The Apes Have Fat Fingers - Bloomberg
Also Tesla warrants, non-deal roadshows, musical stock prices and Dogecoin at McDonald’s.
"NFT users tend to have multiple wallets, and so to circumvent the fees, Robinson believes some users may have simply been transferring their NFTs to a different one. But if they transferred those NFTs back into the original wallets, that original listing — and its old sale price — becomes viable and can be used by buyers. …"
Web3 and NFTs are still struggling with horrible ux patterns
This NFT on OpenSea Will Steal Your IP Address
The NFT shows how viewers of NFTs on marketplaces like OpenSea may unexpectedly expose their data.
Speaking about horrible ux patters, this new one was a surprise for sure.
Can You Really Get Rich in the World’s Only “Cash-Based” MMO?
Quinns delves into the bizarre world of Entropia Universe.Get two months free with Skillshare: https://skl.sh/peoplemakegames0820Support us on Patreon: https…
Play to earn predates Web3, don't blame Web3 for it.
Listen to this episode from Lex Fridman Podcast on Spotify. Yann LeCun is the Chief AI Scientist at Meta, professor at NYU, Turing Award winner, and one of the seminal researchers in the history of machine learning.
When Yann LeCun talks, it worth your time to lend a ear.
What Impossible Meant to Richard Feynman - Nautilus | Science Connected
What I learned when I challenged the legendary physicist.
A fascinating article on one of the most interesting men to have ever lived.
Why Joe Biden’s Free Covid Test Website Wasn’t a Dumpster Fire | WIRED
Plus: The rescue of healthcare.gov, a glimpse into an alternate universe, and more trouble in Russia.
The pandemic might be coming to an end in the US thanks to a well built website.
Reimagining Chess with AlphaZero | February 2022 | Communications of the ACM
AI is driving the next evolution of chess, giving players a glimpse into the game’s future.
I've recently fallen in love with chess all over again and this technical article on the new age engines that are absolutely amazing was interesting to read.
Hardy, Ramanujan and Taxi No. 1729 | Azimuth
In his book Ramanujan: Twelve Lectures on Subjects Suggested by His Life and Work, G. H. Hardy tells this famous story: He could remember the idiosyncracies of numbers in an almost uncanny way. It was Littlewood who said every positive integer was one of Ramanujan’s personal friends. I remember once going to see him when…
Fun article on the famous 1729 story and the friendship between 2 great mathematicians.
A Pair Of Dice Which Never Roll 7
Some friends of mine play the board game Settlers Of Catan. In this game, each player rolls two ordinary dice on their turn, and the number which comes up determines what resources people get for the turn. When a seven is rolled, something special happens: no resources are generated, and instead a robber moves on the board.
Do you love boardgames? Play Catan? You might find this worth your time to read, i'm trying to get back into probability so this was right up my alley.
Everything else
When is telling the truth a means of deception?
Speaking of math and stats, don't believe everything you read, find out how you are probably being misled.
RIP Meaningful Work (2010 - 2020) - What’s Next? | #168
Exploring post pandemic work futures
Have we just gone through a complete paradigm shift when it comes to work?
How I Attained Persistent Self-Love, or, I Demand Deep Okayness For Everyone
it is possible to feel better than you think
Something I might try to put into practice over the coming weeks, I do well on this in general to be honest.
Boris Johnson Is Running Out of Jokes - The Atlantic
Boris Johnson’s unseriousness may have finally caught up to him.
A country removing a PM for throwing a party?
Book
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Go Tell It on the Mountain book. Read 3,667 reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. Go Tell It On The Mountain, first published in 1953, …
This issue's recommended book is a semi-autobiographical one written by one of the finest orators America has ever produced.
Thank you for reading
That’s all I have for this week.
Do subscribe if interested and do reply with interesting stuff
Sainath