A space for mostly short form stuff and responses to things I see elsewhere.
Anti-Big Tech Journalism
Tech language does not work. That includes the 'Fediverse'. Campaigns isolated on decentralised networks do not work. By claiming platform 'purity' no one new is learning about these spaces. Build and they will come is not true. Humans are complex things and they need more than four walls to feel at home.
True for almost everyone, not just journalists.
The stories of Daniel Dennett
Interesting take on the roots of Dan Dennett’s ideas, which did indeed clarify some of them for me.
Substack vs. Indie – The Homebound Symphony
I can easily see why people would choose Substack in preference to what I do here — and indeed, if I had to make my living solely from writing I would almost certainly be using Substack myself. (Also, I would almost certainly be living below the poverty line.) But every Substack user needs to realize that (a) Substack writers are not truly independent, (b) Substack will almost certainly undergo enshittification, and, therefore, (c) anyone using the platform needs an unenshittifiable backup.
All you really need to know
Underrated reasons to be thankful IV
Nuggets galore.
The Tiny Potato at the Heart of One Tribe’s Fight Against Climate Change – Mother Jones
I don't know why they call it a potato. Tuber would be just as alliterative, and instructive to boot. Still, an interesting read.
Arithmetic is an underrated world-modeling technology
Fun and instructive.
Documentally: "New post. With some nude picks... https://open.…" - the Octodon
"There are also tools to show me where my online images have been used so I can invoice people who use them without permission. But it’s a pain and I wish Flickr could do that with a click of a button. It might happen."
That would be a game changer, and maybe even profitable for Flickr on a small percentage.
Note to the new EU Transport Commissioner
[M]ake it easier to book international tickets, and that will mean more customers – and that should improve rail firms’ bottom lines. It is just that defensive, national monopolist thinking, and a conservative mindset, is rather too prevalent in the rail sector just now.
Bring it on!
Can Starmer Save Britain? Why Labour’s Sweeping Victory May Not Reverse the Country's Decline
The cold reality is that Brexit has merely shown that the United Kingdom has no one to blame for its problems but itself.
Unmissable analysis from Fintan O’Toole in Foregin Affairs. The UK has a chance at reinvention, and it will not be easy, but it has to try.
Letters from an American
Just the facts ...
... not that the facts will change those whose minds care nothing for truth of any kind.
Sail Cargo Resurgence – Lucy Bellwood
Really great to see this little comic from Lucy Bellwood. A couple of panels to update some of the information would be the cherry on the cake.Is Ceiba operational yet? The website doesn't say, but I don't think so.
Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers
Such a great talk and slides from Maggie Appleton. And from my own experience, barefoot developing for myself alone, I think she is absolutely right in her forecast and in the things the future she imagines will need.
For Creators, Ad-Blocking Focuses On The Wrong Problem
Google ... is essentially telling people who used their service for decades that they may have believed that the goal of its service was to “find websites,” but Google thinks the actual goal of its website is to “find answers.” Those are two different things, and one ignores the deeply extractive nature of the other.
Who, currently, is still working on the problem of micropayments? Because, optimistic fool that I am, I still believe that whoever succeeds will not only make money, they will enjoy the undying adulation of many millions of people forever and a day.
Economics and the Environment - Five Books Expert Recommendations
The five chosen books are one thing, the interview with Dieter Helm something else again.
That’s what I would engrave on the front page of every manifesto for a political party for the coming election: ‘It’s the capital maintenance, stupid!’ As opposed to: ‘It’s the economy, stupid!’ That would be a good starter.
Faking William Morris, Generative Forgery, and the Erosion of Art History
Caveat emptor has never been more necessary.
Nancy by Olivia Jaimes for April 14, 2024 - GoComics
Incentives are (almost) everything.
IndieWebCamp Brighton 2024
Very interesting write-up, echoing many of my own feelings from IndieWeb camps. Sorry to have missed discussion of the evolutionary history of camels.
Accessibility notes from your headache-prone friend
TIL that ”the curb cut effect,” which I was familiar with, is “also known as the « i want subtitles on my favourite show because even though my ears are just fine, i like to eat crisps while watching » rule”.
My ears, by the way, are not fine.
Putin's genocidal myth, by Timothy Snyder
Not that it will make any difference ...
How green are Europe's railways? - Jon Worth
I am always impressed when people with really deep knowledge make it easy for me to understand what they are saying, and Jon Worth's railway analyses are a recent discovery in that realm.
A railway trip is green. But the railway sector as a whole in Europe – due to a combination of factors within the industry and political problems – is incapable of making a step change in terms of modal share. In the middle of a climate crisis that is not good enough.
He offers reasons why this is so and ways to fix it, but little hope.
Forget Technocrats – Let’s Get Some Realitycrats – Terence Eden’s Blog
Pretend, just for a moment, that you are anti-abortion. You believe that the ideal number of abortions in a country should be zero. Forget your ideological reasons - which countries have the lowest abortion rates? Well, it turns out to be the ones with high levels of sex education, easy access to contraceptives, excellent pre-natal care, and strong parental leave policies. And they all have legal access to abortion services.
If you truly want to reduce the number of abortions, there are a wide range of policies which actually work and don't involve demonising women and doctors.
Some clear thinking from Terence Eden, on many different things that have something in common: evidence-based policy
Lukas Rosenstock's Blog
About a party Lukas hosted, using an idea from a book by Nick Gray. A two-hour party geared so that people can meet and get to know one another, with a clear end time and deliberate ice-breakers. Sounds like fun.