Tag: Sunday Paper

Sunday Paper

What is the American Dream?

I would argue that democracy in the US, if it can be said to still exist, is weakened by decades corruption. It has been eroded to a thin veneer with little substance because the substance of democracy is the people. And the majority of people of the US stopped caring decades ago. Any sense of civic responsibility, of active citizenship has been eroded by decades of apathy. The truth is, America traded that responsibility for something shiny, something convenient: The American Dream. - The substance of democracy is us. To keep it we need to work for it everyday by @Denny

One developer's well meaning effort to bridge two communities has led to condemnation from both.

Bluesky is on the verge of federating its AT Protocol, meaning that anyone will be able to set up a server and make their own social network using the open source software; each individual server will be able to communicate with the others, requiring a user to have just one account across all the different social networks on the protocol. But Mastodon uses a different protocol called ActivityPub, meaning that Bluesky and Mastodon users cannot natively interact.

Turns out, some Mastodon users like it that way. - Bluesky and Mastodon users are having a fight that could shape the next generation of social media

I believe there might be some resistance. I didn't get my bike for the daily commute. The reason was my bad knees. And really, how would they even enforce such a thing? Picture this: police officers on bikes, stopping folks out for a ride? It's hard to imagine.

Serious crashes involving those modes are so relatively rare, though — the National Transportation Safety Board recorded just 119 e-bike-involved fatalities between 2017 and 2021 vs. the 192,709 caused by drivers — that advocates say the legislation would do little more than increase already-steep barriers to human-scaled mobility posed by traffic violence, while undermining the climate, equity, and safety goals that low-speed modes can help communities reach. - Why Every E-Biker Should Be Worried About NJ's Proposed Micromobility Insurance Law

Sunday Paper - Sortition and Slowing Down

I have read some of Seth Godin's books and was1 an avid reader of his daily blog posts. The blog posts always contain bits of wisdom. In his post, As slow as possible, Seth reminds us that in a fast-paced world, embracing time's slow journey requires discipline.

Mastering exposure is key for better results in film photography, ensuring fidelity, colour control, and reducing post-processing work. In this 2022 post, How to Make Perfect Exposures on Film, Analog Cafe’s Dmitri offers a guide that covers tools, techniques, and the impact of various film types and dynamic ranges.

I think that career politicians (perhaps aided by late capitalism)2 have hijacked current forms of democracy and no longer work to represent the will of the people. A short video on sortition suggests an alternative to elections.

  1. Two pre-COVID pandemic surgeries and the pandemic itself disrupted my "normal" in so many ways. I am slowly returning to certain habits as part of a new normal. Reading and reflecting on Seth’s daily blog was part of my old normal. ↩
  2. The term late capitalism was first used by German economist Werner Sombart. ↩

Sunday Paper

I'm ready to revive this series and hope to maintain consistency.

In the past, I enjoyed sharing interesting web finds through my weekly Sunday Paper blog posts. Rather than scattering these links on social media, I would bundle them up with my pithy commentary for the Sunday Paper. My last Sunday Paper post was back in January 2020. Despite undergoing surgeries in 2018 and 2019, I kept this routine uninterrupted. However, the COVID-19 pandemic was a jolt, trapping me at home and inundating me with endless grim news updates of deaths. It's been a challenging journey, but I'm ready to revive this series and hope to maintain consistency.

Does gear matter?: Arun Venkatesan discusses the evolving significance of camera gear in his photography. He reflects on his journey through four stages of competence, from valuing gear highly to appreciating the creative potential within simpler setups.

Nearly 25,000 tech workers were laid off in the first weeks of 2024. Why is that?: In 2024, despite a rebounding economy, 25,000 tech workers were laid off, driven by a herd mentality, stock price concerns, and social contagion among tech companies. Why?