justing.net

Week Notes No. 42: Learning Currents

By Justin G. on 25FEB11TUE

I’ve decided to split up the Media et al into two posts. I’ve noticed that there are really two themes here: learning things and entertaining things. Separating them gives each more room to breathe. Tomorrow I’ll publish the fun stuff.

Most of this is about the events in Washington.

1. Articles & Newsletters
   • Thank you Wil, for this moment of resistance and respite.
   • So, it’s coup week:
     • Garbageday.email: delete the CDC, delete USAID, delete the Department of Education. It’s the takeover Twitter playbook.
       • Ryan adds more, via BlueSky: citizen → consumer → entrepreneur.
       • Today in tabs: maybe we just go insane instead.
     • Heather Cox Richardson. Just the facts, on Feb 3.
     • Kottke on events, on programming change, on of course it is
     • Jamelle Bouie on not going back.
     • Dan Hon on gov’t and technology.
     • Oldster recommends on how to make your voice heard.
     • A Google doc on some other things that we can do besides voting or protesting.
     • Advice to prioritize high quality information and to avoid the trap of engaging naively with lost causes. More advice, on fighting in fight clubs.
     • Possibly extinction burst explains the ratcheting racism and other abuses. It’s appealing, but I remain skeptical.
     • It’s a self-coup, obviously. All attention on the man behind the curtain, please.
     • Although, many people seem to think it’s just a tv show, and it would never impact their lives. There is no leopard eating your face.
   • I’m considering going back to print.
   • On having a donut. I cautiously agree. But a lot of the time I eat a donut and feel like garbage afterwards. So maybe something is wrong with me. Or donuts. More investigation is needed here. The mind may want a donut, but the body surely keeps the score. If we’re not careful, the mind is easily deceived and hijacked. All for want of a donut.
2. Words
   • mǣrþu: greatness, honour, glory, fame. I know it’s very likely coincidence, but it seems to align with Martha (from Dark), and I don’t believe that name has any of those connotations.
3. Quotes
   • “Shipping the org chart”.
4. Links
   • HN comment on the rationalists. I’m only glancingly interested in the so-called rationalist community, and even from this distance I get distinctly cultish and irrational vibes.
   • Indivisible.
   • The robots are coming, via xyzlabs newsletter, but I won’t link to it because these people don’t include links back to the source.
   • The ROBOTS ARE COMING, this is going to be a sucker punch. Just watch the video. Via Interconnected and Pixel Envy.
   • Maybe I’ve gotten behind the times on intellectual property rights. Enforcing ownership of something invisible seems difficult, unless you’ve got the lawyers. And who’s got all the lawyers?

Zen surf camel.

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