Web Miscellany: Compilation #95

Hello, friend! How are you? I am pooped. I started a new job this week, and it has been fantastic! But, I am exhausted. I had over a dozen video meet-and-greets (which, as an introvert, can be quite exhausting), lots of reading, and even a 5am meeting. I don’t even have the energy to consider plans for the weekend.

I hope that your the week ahead is good to you. Here are a few links from around the web. Feel free to share anything interesting you’ve stumbled upon in the comments.

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1. Food for thought: “Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.” – Dennis Leigh
2. From the archives: 4 Subtle Signs It’s Time To Quit Your Job. “Have you ever worked in a job with bad management, unfair compensation, no room for advancement, and a misalignment of values? Have you been in a position where you were constantly exhausted, actively job searching, and willing to take a major pay cut to escape? If so, what did it take for you to finally leave? If you’re currently in such a position, what are your plans to help improve your situation?”
3. Sewing mockup tool: “Have you ever wondered how to overlay an image of fabric onto a sewing pattern line drawing? Contrary to what you might think, you do not need an expensive program like Photoshop to do it. Today we will show you a quick and easy way to create a pattern mockup, using the free online photo editor Pixlr X.” From Deer & Doe Patterns. So fantastic!
4. Dune: With the industry abuzz about the long-awaited adaptation of Dune, did you know that the most ambitious sci-fi film never made originally starred Mick Jagger, Salvador Dali, and Orson Welles?
5. Amusing predictions: The future of flight (according to an artist from 1928) is both charming and, given modern knowledge, terrifying, and Telemedicine by radio waves was predicted in 1925.
6. The modern curriculum: “The basic foundation is student-centered, self-directed projects. In service of learning to solve interesting problems and how to lead as well as follow. And to support that, the “courses” are practical tools students can use on their projects.” Truly brilliant proposition from Seth Godin.
7. Luxury surveillance: This essay on surveillance technology compares, for example, fitness trackers with tracking devices worn by parolees and argues that those who buy ‘luxury tracking technologies’ automatically impose a greater level of surveillance on everyone else. “What does it say about our society’s adoption of technology that such different cognitive frames can be used to understand and obfuscate two faces of what is essentially one technology – that some eagerly adopt what others must suffer? … Part of the answer clearly has to do with power, privilege, and one’s perceptions of them. People who feel socially disempowered are often sensitive to (or at least aware of) the presence of imposed surveillance, whereas those who align with power either ignore or welcome it as a luxury.”
8. How friendships change: “Friendships are unique relationships because unlike family relationships, we choose to enter into them. And unlike other voluntary bonds, such as marriages and romantic relationships, they lack a formal structure. You wouldn’t go months without speaking with or seeing your significant other (hopefully), but you might go that long without contacting a friend.”
9. Against kids’ sports: “The devotion to professionalization is a symptom of class instability — and the ever-strengthening understanding that there’s no guarantee that the next generation will match, let alone exceed, your own class position. Everyone’s terrified of falling off the class ladder… And you know what would ultimately cost a lot less — in time, in money, in psychological burden — than all of these leagues and coaches and travel? Collectively re-knitting the social safety net and reforming college education.” For years, I’ve been perplexed by the amount of time, money, and pressure around kids’ sports, and this article read laid it out.
10. Dating Advice from the 50s: See for yourself. This would not fly today!