Lucas Cherkewski

Some links

Hit and Miss #23

Hello!

I hope you’re well. This week is my final push here in Ottawa before spending a few days in Waterloo for reading week, so I’ve got my head down in work. For you this week, I have a link roundup!

  1. I didn’t think it possible to write an entertaining article on paper jams (the thought never occurred to me to write one at all), but Joshua Rothman’s treatment of his cast of characters is truly wonderful.
  2. Jia Tolentino profiles a team of researchers at Columbia University and their project to improve the student environment on college campuses, with an eye to reducing sexual assault. What struck me about these researchers was their approach: they designed their studies with students (co-creating is perhaps the trendy term?) and their research seems stronger for it.
  3. I did not know of Dean Allen before reading Om Malik’s touching tribute. By the sounds of it, he wasn’t perfect, but he was perhaps perfectly imperfect. John Gruber, Jason Kottke, and Greg Storey each wrote about Dean, too, with worthwhile links to some of his colourful writing.
  4. Based on this interview, Jessica Bellamy should be celebrated as a design hero. Her commitment to enabling others politically through design is an inspiration.
  5. I recently revisited David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water”, and it remains as arresting as ever.
  6. While I never played Neopets, I’ve long heard it touted as a creative space where so many learned how to make websites. Nicole Carpenter dives into its history of inspiring girls—I love this.
  7. If you’re a freelancer or don’t have steady income and you need a way to visualize how much revenue you still need, consider whiteboard accounting.
  8. Do you need your heartstrings tugged? Read this story on how a Second World War veteran’s unit celebrated his 100th birthday.
  9. Denise Balkissoon tears down the cult of the mediocre man—“mediocrity hires” is a spot-on reversal of “diversity hires”.
  10. Frank Chimero published his latest talk, and it’s an ode to a simpler way of thinking about and working on websites. As always, recommended reading.

That’s all I’ve got for this week! All the best for the week ahead.

Lucas

Sent on February 11th, 2018.