Full Stack Radio 131: Ryan Singer–How Basecamp Builds Software. Obviously the Basecamp crew have strong and sometimes unpopular opinions about how to build product, but in there are some of the most sound product ideas I’ve heard in a while.
The Knowledge Project 74: Jeff Hunter: Embracing Confusion. Yet another fantastic Farnam Street podcast episode. “CEO of Talentism, Jeff Hunter, teaches how to rewrite damaging narratives that hold us back, how to give and receive helpful feedback, and why confusion can be a good thing.”
watabou makes numerous brilliant games and generators. The latest is the beautiful winter trees
Andrei Kashcha makes fantastic visualizes of data. The latest is city roads
Lee Madgwick paints haunting architecture.
How to Make a Memex. I’ve been trying out Roam Research for about a week or so. It’s a brilliantly constructed tool. I’m not sure I’ve had the headspace yet to make proper use of it, but this article explains why you should.
The Other Environmental Crisis
Human interaction probably isn’t in danger of extinction, but it is quietly losing great swaths of its natural habitat. Technology is making real interaction less necessary at work, home, and everywhere in between, which must mean there’s simply less of it in the world than there was a decade ago.
This loss is due to environmental degradation, just of a new sort. The environments life happens in—workplaces, homes, public areas, airports, stores—are becoming less hospitable to the natural proliferation of eye contact, meaningful dialogue, and empathy than they once were.
So maybe we should be thinking about conservation efforts. We can’t opt out of automated technologies completely, but we can re-establish the board game night, the potluck dinner, the block party, the book club, and other environments where real interaction thrives naturally.
If you live to be 88…you have 11 opportunities to be great at something.