Links
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The Hollow Core of Kevin Kelly’s “Thousand True Fans” Theory
A critique of the essay in light of 2022’s internet. (via Things Magazine)
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Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite · Chelseafication · LRB 22 September 2022
The social and property development of London in the 1960s and 1970s.
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The X of Generation X
W. David Marx: “…the loudest complaints about ‘cultural stasis’ tend to come from Gen X adults whose cultural interests have long been anchored in obscure and openly-artistic cultural forms.” (via Russell Davies)
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Marina Hyde interview: Guardian writer on the art of column writing
Fun interview. (vis Ben Terrett)
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Amid the mourning, we republicans should look and learn – but we must not be silenced | Clive Lewis | The Guardian
I’m not reading much about [waves hands] all this, but yes to all of this.
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I’m an expert in crowd behaviour – don’t be fooled that everyone queueing in London is mourning the Queen | Stephen Reicher | The Guardian
Good on the many motivations, and the chilling effect of the media’s simplistic reporting of them. (via @mik3yb)
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What Kind of Country Do We Want? | Marilynne Robinson | The New York Review of Books
“We are the richest country in history, therefore richer than the generations that built it, but we cannot bring ourselves even to make repairs.”
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Drunk Mel Gibson Arrest Diorama - YouTube
Very, very good video that you should watch. No, really. (via @genmon)
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Why Does a Librarian Own a Social Media Site That’s Been Around for Longer Than Facebook? - Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure
Interview with Jessamyn West about MetaFilter.
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Obsidian
I’ve been finding Simplenote a bit too simple recently, and this notes app looks very interesting. (via Technovia)
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Trillions – What is a trillion dollars? — Information is Beautiful
Nice comparison of many countries’ GDP, companies’ values, potential spending plans, potential savings, past events, personal wealth, etc.
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Ask me, I know
Archive of AskAllison from HotWired in 1995. Oh the backgrounds.
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Oliver Frey obituary | Eurogamer.net
Sorry to hear this. His art for Crash was a big part of my childhood. And I didn’t know he also created gay erotica! (via Things Magazine)
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Malcolm Gaskill · Like Oysters in Their Shells: The Death Trade · LRB 18 August 2022
Interesting review of a book about funerals, cremations, embalmers, grave diggers, etc.
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Cramming ‘Papers, Please’ Onto Phones | Development Logs by Lucas Pope
I’ve never played it but this was still an interesting read about converting a one-year-old desktop game to work on phones.
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On 25 Years Of Loving The Counting Crows
Just read this, linked from the earlier piece, which is quite good about favourite bands. Also, unexpectedly, it begins in Hereford. (via Griefbacon)
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The Fence, The Ideas Man
“on Lawson’s personal insistence, ‘all – all – work was to be done through an old version of Excel,’ Amia told me, ‘including reports, copywriting, personal note-taking and drafts; things that no sane person would do in Excel.’” (via @kaptinhansum)
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august and everything after - by Helena Fitzgerald
Lovely, lovely writing about this 1993 Counting Crows album which I have always been a bit embarrassed to love. (via MetaFilter)
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The day the music died? Welcome to Denmark Street and Tottenham Court Road’s new ‘digitally enabled streetscape’ | Architecture | The Guardian
Roman Moore on more dollops of massive-but-shallow private glitz replacing the unique, interesting and characterful bits of London.
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‘The council tenants weren’t going to be allowed back’: how Britain’s ‘ugliest building’ was gentrified | Architecture | The Guardian
Two weeks on, still a bit glum about this article about the redevelopment of Balfron a tower by Oliver Wainright.
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Making the world’s fastest website, and other mistakes - DEV Community
I enjoyed this detailed look into how to make Kroger’s website much faster. All the way through I was thinking, “How will you get the org to adopt your changes?” and inevitably… (via @simonw)
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Does Marie Kondo’s Method Really Work? - The Atlantic
Talking to a bunch of people who tried her method to get rid of belongings, and how things are a few years later. (via Ask MetaFilter)
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Mike Davis on death, organizing, politics, climate change - Los Angeles Times
What it says in the title. An interesting interview. (via FaveJet)
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Tom Blomfield: Monzo growth
How they got to 1 million users. Most interesting for the things that worked differently to expected, for better or worse.
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Adactio: Journal—Directory enquiries
Good quotes and thoughts on younger people having no understanding of folder structures etc. I love, and often think in, hierarchical structures like directories.
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We want to talk about Metafilter. (r/MetaFilterMeta)
Some jaded people discuss MetaFilter away from MetaFilter itself. A bit odd. Unsure if it’s good(ish) or bad.
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The Balletic Millennial Bedtimes of ‘Normal People’ | Lorrie Moore | The New York Review of Books
From 2020. I liked, about millennials, “They have no authentic counterculture…”. If all culture is easily accessible, can there be any counter? (I don’t know if this is right, but interesting.)
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Open Lecture at CIID: “Keeping up with the Kardashevians” – Petafloptimism
Matt Jones on stuff done at BERG and Google, and our anti-anti-utopian future. (Video plus slides & transcript.)
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The Online Photographer: My Second Article for NewYorker.com
It’s such a pleasure reading his excitement about this article, and the difference between his blog posts and a New Yorker article. Lovely article too.
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The Overedge Catalog: The Future of Research Organizations
“devoted to collecting the intriguing new types of organizations and institutions that lie at the intersection of the worlds of research and academia, non-profits, and tech startups.” (via Web Curios)