A man, his trumpet, and you won’t guess what else
Hit and Miss #454
This week’s moment that made me chuckle: man sits on one of the Muskoka chairs along the Canal, trumpet in hand; inserts a mute, begins playing a tune; beside him sits a six-pack of Twisted Tea.
- The “world of abundance” created by local renewable energy (e.g., solar panels attached to your house) reminds me of Deb Chachra’s seminal piece “Resilience, Abundance, Decentralization”. (Also, the first link taught me that positioning solar panels for maximum sun exposure isn’t necessarily as personally efficient as you’d think—you then only have peak energy generation during certain hours!)
- Jason Koebler eloquently captured the simmering rage and distrust that now accompanies many digital reading experiences, as we’re forced to ask: “Is this text written by an LLM (AI)?”
- Terence Eden translates the civil service speak in the Government Digital Service’s guidance on security research enabled by AI and open-source code, positioning it as a direct response to the NHS’s shuttering of its open-source repositories.
- Steve Randy Waldman on how the “professional class” adopted a definition of prosperity that left its members ever striving, but not thriving. He offers this, among other ills, as justification for redefining the professional class as the “fiduciary class”, one with responsibilities toward others at its heart.
- Julia Evans wrote about moving away from Tailwinds (a utility-class CSS framework that nowadays requires a build step) in favour of straight-up CSS.
Okay, away from the tech / economics / etc links, let’s broaden the interests:
- Laura Olin offers some great links that—for the most part—will you feeling better than most of what you’ll read on the internet. The Linda Pastan poem at the end is worth opening for alone.
- Two posts with jazz recommendations this week: Winnie Lim with some favourites, mostly piano trios; Paul Wells with selections from Miles Davis and John Coltrane, other than the ones you definitely already know.
- ”sudo nano is a web magazine interested in writing and alternative digital futures. … It is hosted in Amsterdam on an old laptop, but it wouldn’t be right saying you are in that laptop right now, would it?” (The magazine’s definitely in its early days, but the site itself is a delight.)
- Ryan wrote an update post on his blog, eight years after his last. Returning to a personal blog after a time away automatically earns a spot in this newsletter!!
All the best for the week ahead!
Lucas