Lasciamo perdere per un attimo il discorso degli hipster, del ritorno all’analogico, del fatto che una volta qui fosse tutta campagna e Ms-Dos. Questo ragionamento sulle interfacce fisiche è fantastico (soprattutto per chi scrive, come me, anche se si parla di auto e di registratori di cassa).

Money quote: “Will we see a return to analog interfaces? I certainty hope so. While analog interfaces aren’t applicable to every situation, they do force designers to make permanent decisions. And because specific choices must be made for physical button placement, it’s harder to design an unusable analog interface. And design decisions must be final. Software interfaces can be quickly changed and deployed without the same process — and the world is filling up with nested, mystery-meat menus and confusing user flows.”

https://medium.com/@caseorganic/why-do-we-keep-building-cars-with-touchscreens-alt-the-hidden-lives-of-touchscreens-55faf92799bf

La USB Type-C purtroppo si sta trasformando in un grande casino

Money quote: “Devices are just as problematic too when it comes to support for “Alternate Modes” and non-USB protocols. These include DisplayPort, MHL, HDMI, Ethernet, and audio functionality provided over the connector, all of which rely on the connected devices and cables to support them. These are not a compulsory part of the specification, as the capabilities and needs clearly vary from device to device. A USB battery pack doesn’t need to support HDMI, for example.”

https://www.androidauthority.com/state-of-usb-type-c-870996/

La straordinaria storia della cannuccia: nasce come un commento sull'inutilità del suo divieto (dopo i sacchetti di plastica negli Usa vogliono fare fuori anche la cannucce per salvare l'ambiente) e diventa un'epica che spazia fra storia e antropologia. Davvero notevole.

Money quote: "To people living through the early 20th century, the straw was a creation of the new public-health regime. “Due to the ‘Yankee mania for sanitation,’ the American output of artificial straws has increased from 165 million in 1901 to 4 billion a year at present,” the Battle Creek Enquirer wrote in May 1924. “A manufacturer pointed out yesterday that, laid end to end, these straws would build an ant’s subway 16 times around the world at the equator.”"

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/disposable-america/563204/

Dall’ermeneutica medioevale a fino all’estetica postmoderna. Cos’è l’arte? Qual è il suo significato? Ce lo spiega lui, per fortuna.

Money quote: “What we imagine here is that meaning lies with beauty in the eye of the beholder. In other words, the meaning of an artwork is relative to whoever observes it.“

https://medium.com/@pauldefontreaulx/where-is-the-meaning-of-art-8b7eeec5b7ff

Parecchio in ritardo, ma eccone un altro che ha scoperto le gioie dell’iPad Pro 12,9 oltretutto. E i limiti. Ma a prescindere, è tenero perché si impegna nella recensione perfetta del bimborikko che vuole bloggare.

Money quote: “I bought a 90mm macro lens for this post. :)”

https://paulstamatiou.com/made-on-an-ipad-pro/

Se la domanda regge, il futuro è delle batterie agli ioni di litio. Ma solo fino a quando qualcuno non noterà che non c’è abbastanza litio per tutti.

Money quote: “The future of the battery is going to be driven by the car. Surging demand for lithium-ion batteries, boosted by uptake from automakers, has created efficiencies of scale that have sent prices plummeting. Last year alone, the price of battery packs fell 24 percent, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. These cost declines, in turn, are encouraging the continued expansion of battery power. Lithium-ion technology has begun popping up on electrical grids, scooters, ferries and airplanes—a proliferation that will only accelerate”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-13/how-batteries-went-from-primitive-power-to-global-domination

Buon compleanno! L’App Store compie 10 anni - il mio articolo per Macity

https://www.macitynet.it/app-store-compie-10-anni/

Attenzione, gli americani stanno per arrendersi. Già non riciclano, poi le cose per chi vuole farlo non sono per niente facili e insomma, basta, qui sta per finire anche questa spinta. E se loro non vogliono più fare la loro parte...

Money quote: "Yes, trash has become complicated, with products that used to come in cans now in combinations of cardboard and plastic. And then there’s the brain-draining complexity of yogurt tubs – one of the items, along with dirty take-out containers, that The New York Times said Americans are recycling incorrectly. I put on my reading glasses and studied a carton of Greek yogurt. I discovered all sorts of mysterious symbols, which may have something to do with the lack of GMOs or gluten.

There were explicit instructions not to put this product in your freezer, which I might have guessed to be the case, but not much help with the container disposal. A tiny, barely perceptible resin code was stamped on the bottom. It was a 5, I think, which means it’s polypropylene, and is accepted as recyclable in some communities and not others."

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-06-27/plastic-recycling-is-a-problem-consumers-can-t-solve

Il NYTimes continua a fare meraviglie con il suo approccio all'informazione online (ma servirà poi a qualcosa?) In ogni modo, la storia del corrispondente del Times che torna in Venezuela per vedere come vanno le cose dopo esserne stato sbattuto fuori anni fa. E come vanno le cose? Beh, insomma: medio? Direi forse peggio...

Money quote: "A New York Times correspondent returns to Venezuela"

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/27/world/americas/venezuela-money-how-to-survive.html

Da un lato capisco tutto, l'attrazione impropria da parte di uno studente, la mancanza di esperienza, il rischio che tutti corrono. Però il modo di risolvere non mi piace lo stesso.

Money quote: "His opening line was, “The thing is, I find you incredibly attractive. And I don’t know what else to do. Is there even a chance?”
Ethan was appealing, but no. Zero chance. We talked about whether he would stay in my class. He said his fondness wouldn’t become a discipline issue. And he turned out to be a great student. Still, I made a report to my boss. Just in case. Imagine if he failed my class. Filed a grade appeal. Told Student Affairs that I hit on him, or encouraged him. What a stain."

https://medium.com/@JessicaLexicus/can-you-swipe-right-on-your-professor-cc205d9159e7

Data visualization: storia della immigrazione negli Usa. Sarebbe bella una mappa così anche per l’Italia di recente

Ecco la fonte: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture-exploration/2018/07/graphic-united-states-immigration-origins-rings-tree-culture/

Lo sappiamo tutti che viviamo in un universo in scatola, no? È un po' come quelle prove dell'esistenza di Dio, che non provano nulla ma da un punto di vista logico ammazzano una generazione: se possiamo immaginarlo, allora non possiamo escludere che sia successo. Figuriamoci se possiamo farlo anche noi...

Money quote: "At the other end of the philosophical spectrum, I met with Don Page, a physicist and evangelical Christian at the University of Alberta in Canada, noted for his early collaboration with Stephen Hawking on the nature of black holes. To Page, the salient point is that God created the Universe ex nihilo – from absolutely nothing. The kind of cosmogenesis envisioned by Linde, in contrast, would require physicists to cook up their cosmos in a highly technical laboratory, using a far more powerful cousin of the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva. It would also require a seed particle called a ‘monopole’ (which is hypothesised to exist by some models of physics, but has yet to be found)."

https://aeon.co/ideas/the-idea-of-creating-a-new-universe-in-the-lab-is-no-joke

Alla fine, la creatività non ha bisogno di particolari oggetti, dice questo buon uomo, che uccide in un colpo solo milioni di acquirenti di Leica, Moleskine, iPad, MacBook, etc.

Money quote: "Do you know what my favorite tool is for drawing cartoons? It’s not the Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brush. Nor is it the Hunt 107 pen nib.

Heck, I have a diverse collection of fountain pens, brushes, nibs and quality inks. I also have an iPad Pro with the Procreate app, which makes it super easy to draw and color digital cartoons.

But every time, the tool that brings me the most pleasure is the lowly ballpoint pen. I’m not even particular about the brand, but lean toward a Bic, in black ink."

https://artplusmarketing.com/the-stunning-power-of-simplicity-for-your-creative-growth-2bd331ac3b09

Lei è furba, al di là di tutto, ma i temi che solleva sono interessanti. Questa idea che una donna possa emanciparsi emotivamente tramite la professione del sesso a pagamento rispetto al sesso romantico di coppia è astuta ma anche molto molto criticabile.

Money quote: “I have an every-Tuesday man who brings me gifts in the strip club where I still dance topless. Never jewelry or Gucci bags — things most strippers want so we can flip them for cash to pay rent and bills — but paintings with heavy frames and, on a different week, a large Ziploc full of matches”

https://medium.com/s/story/im-a-celibate-sex-worker-230f70425e12

Lettura per la domenica. La storia (poco nota) degli ebrei sfuggiti alle persecuzioni naziste (e all’Olocausto) rifugiandosi a Shanghai. Apre squarci sulle dinamiche assurde dell'epoca nazista.

Money quote: “In fact, until 1941 when the routes immigrants used to get to Shanghai were closed off by the war and the Germans decreed that Jews could no longer emigrate from the Reich, Jews in occupied Europe were not only allowed to leave, but were pressured to do so through a system of intimidation and force. Although they didn’t make it easy, the Nazi party, eager to implement their plan to rid Europe of its Jewish population—to make it judenrein or “cleansed” of Jews—did allow Jews to leave under certain conditions.”

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/shanghais-jewish-quarter-hongkou

Il punto centrale di questo articolo secondo me è parlare ai cinquantenni. A un ventenne non gliene frega niente. Invece, le cinque cose da fare per vivere di più attirano sempre le persone di mezza età, piene di rimpianti. Detto questo, e notata anche l’estrema banalità delle cinque cose in gioco, è fantastico il modo totalmente quantitativo con cui anche questa volta vengono declinate.

Da leggere nel contesto della considerazione che Linus con Radio Deejay sul tema della salute per chi invecchia ci ha costruito una carriera sopra, prendendo il pubblico di ragazzetti degli anni Ottanta e lentamente portandolo verso l’andropausa a suon di mezze maratone, diete low carb e concerti di Jovanotti. Stesso schema, differenti strumenti e forme retoriche.

Money quote: “They say there's no fountain of youth. But a comprehensive new Harvard University study is the latest report to break down exactly how much extra time you can get yourself on this planet if you follow a small number of positive life habits.

None of these habits will be a surprise, but the stunning part is how the Harvard researchers claim to be able to quantify exactly how much more time you'll likely live: specifically an extra 12.1 years for men, or an extra 14 years for the women.”

https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/these-5-habits-literally-add-years-to-your-life-according-to-a-new-harvard-study.html

Mueller ci sta mettendo troppo tempo a portare avanti la sua indagine? C’è già in questa suspance un intento persecutorio nei confronti di Trump? Andando a guardare i precedenti, non sembra proprio.

Ovviamente abbiamo sbagliato tutto nella vita. Perché, quando arriva il momento dei bilanci, sono le nostre inazioni, non le azioni, quelle che ci fanno stare male. È la differenza tra rimpianto è rimorso. È una gigantesca falla psicologica, un loop che ci divora tipo buco nero. Provare (a guardarsi dentro) per credere.

Money quote: “ According to psychologist Tom Gilovich, lead author on “The Ideal Road Not Taken,” published in the journal Emotion, our regrets that bother us the most involve failing to live up to our “ideal selves.” Basically, we’re not as bothered by the mistakes we’ve made or the things we ought to have done as we are bothered by never becoming the person we truly wanted to be. “

Poi, siccome ogni cosa deve essere materialmente fattibile nel mondo del neo pragmatismo e dell’auto aiuto, ecco la solita ricetta per vivere meglio etc etc.

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-avoid-a-life-of-regret-1826928609

Le scuole di scrittura creativa, quando sanno fare il loro mestiere, sono fantastiche. Anche perché si appoggiano sulla meccanicità della scrittura e sulla capacità degli esseri umani di ricostruire il senso, un qualunque senso, a posteriori.

Questo esercizio per creare descrizioni e metafore efficaci è semplicemente delizioso. Magari non vi cambia la vita, ma vi rende più consapevoli della tecnica, al di là dell’ispirazione.

Money quote: “You know what it is. It’s those denoscriptions that you read in other’s writing that make your jaw drop. The eloquently put and beautiful, but unorthodox, metaphors that almost shouldn’t work but do. It’s what makes the writer unique, giving you something you’ve never read before.“

https://medium.com/@carlymaedee/a-life-changing-exercise-to-make-you-a-better-writer-bf8b04932c8b