La tribù delle VSCO Girls. Qualsiasi cosa siano.

Money quote: "As much as adults are confused about and fascinated by VSCO girls, a new tribe of adolescent female—and we are—I think teenagers might be, too. I say this after conferring with a bunch of in-the-know young sources. I hereby present my findings."

https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/09/vsco-girls-explained-by-teens.html

Riassuntoni di libri: in questo caso The Inevitable di Kevin Kelly

Money quote: "We’re not totally doomed and robots won’t replace us – at least not in everything we do. In his book, The Inevitable, Kevin Kelly gives us a glimpse in the possible future. He showcases twelve technological forces he believes will shape our future. And though robots might not enslave us, massive tracking and total surveillance are here to stay."

https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/the-inevitable/

Riassuntoni di libri: in questo caso Atomic Habits di James Clear

Money quote: "Our habits shape our identity. Atomic Habits by James Clear offers a step-by-step plan for building better habits for a lifetime. The backbone of the manual is composed of a four-step model which includes: cue, craving, response, and reward. The book is full of practical advice, stories from famous leaders and worldly recognized athletes. A must-have for everyone looking for a way to change his life and direct it towards greatness."

https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/atomic-habits/

Domenica. È il momento di Mostly Weekly. La trovate qui e ovviamente potete abbonarvi, la mia newsletter è gratuita e aperta a tutti

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/197/

Siamo tutti strani, visti da vicino, qualcuno anche alla media distanza e (per fortuna relativamente pochi) anche alla lontana. Tuttavia, c'è persino poca saggezza in molto del pensiero che si rivolge a chi soffre, ai modi che vengono costruiti, alle strade che cerchiamo di pavimentare versouna vita che si possa vivere con pienezza. E non vi sbagliate, in misura più o meno variabile, soffriamo tutti.

Money quote: "The chief problem with many contemporary interventions is that they are one-dimensional. For example, psychotropic medications aim at making people feel calmer if they’re anxious, or more energised if they’re depressed. Cognitive therapies aspire to change so-called irrational thoughts (such as fear of flying or a sense of worthlessness) into rational, evidence-based thoughts. Behavioural therapies aim at reinforcing adaptive habits to replace maladaptive habits, and so on. However, the problem with these strategies is that they work on a limited basis. If one wishes to live more efficiently along clear and culturally approved lines, then one is notably helped by such techniques. If one wishes to live a comparatively regimented and low-risk life, these remedies are appropriate. However, if one is among the sizeable and perhaps growing population that seeks more dimensionality in life – more meaning, more vitality, more personal and interpersonal richness – then something more challenging might be called for."

https://aeon.co/essays/to-feel-the-awe-of-living-learn-to-live-with-terror-and-wonder

Un gioco di memoria per ingannare l'attesa dell'autobus.

https://easylang.online/games/

Vi sentite soli? La scienza spiega come fare. Anche la nonna e pure Tinder, se è per questo, però questa volta proviamo con la scienza, va.

Money quote: "“HEARTBREAK IS AN OPPORTUNITY.”"

https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/strategy-heartbreak-science

Un'intelligenza artificiale ci ha consigliato libri di fantascienza da leggere assolutamente - i consigli per gli acquisti di fantascienza che ho chiesto alla AI per Fumettologica. Tutto in presa diretta, senza correzioni.

https://fumettologica.it/2022/12/intelligenza-artificiale-libri-fantascienza/

Lo stress, soprattutto in vista delle vacanze di Natale, può essere una brutta bestia. Ma ci sono modi ed esercizi facili, anche consapevoli, per controllarlo. Tipo questa piccola rountine.

Money quote: "Not only can thought exercises help you ease stress, they also can help us to make our subconscious thoughts go in more productive, helpful directions over time, and eventually cut out those negative thinking patterns entirely. If you're wondering where to start, you're in the right place. We pulled together a list of the top six thought exercises that improve mental health, and we'll show you how to perform them."

https://www.cnet.com/health/mental/elevate-your-mental-health-with-these-6-easy-thought-exercises/

La soluzione di un informatico per restare in contatto con le persone a cui vuole bene: uno noscript

Money quote: "Some months ago, I built a small noscript to help me stay in touch with those who matter to me. The concept is fairly simple: I want to stay in touch with person p every t period of time. If t has passed, and you haven't talked to p, you get a reminder.

I've been using this noscript/system for the past 5 months, it has served me well. I've been keeping up with mentors, ex-managers, family, and friends - without much effort. Which is the goal. It's not that I don't like editing a bunch of markdown files every week - but I wanted something smoother."

https://duarteocarmo.com/blog/infrequent

"Avatar 2" è un film da vedere (e poi dimenticare) - la mia recensione per Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2022/12/avatar-2-recensione-film/

Arriva Freeform, l'app di Apple per il brainstorming: come funziona? - l'ho spiegato su Italian Tech

https://www.italian.tech/2022/12/15/news/lapp_per_il_brainstorming_di_apple_diventa_disponibile_per_tutti-379156840/

Una influenza nei cartoni animati e fumetti giapponesi, cioè anime e manga, è la seconda guerra mondiale, che ha segnato molti degli autori principali. Ma non è accaduto per caso: è l'animo dei giapponesi ad essere predisposto a metabolizzare le influenze usando la loro poetica.

Money quote: "Si può capire come possa essere attraente una storia d’invenzione confezionata su un quadro storico, se solo si tiene conto che la storia giapponese ha un gusto quasi fabulistico fino a oltre metà ’800, momento della sua apertura all’Occidente, che lascia indietro un mondo medievale tutto proprio: un teatrino fatto di fascinose geishe, samurai che all’improvviso si trovano a girovagare per il Giappone senza un padrone, sotto un ordinamento politico che si snoda attraverso le caste dello shogunato, fatto di signorotti arroccati in un mondo silenzioso di giardini chiusi e porte scorrevole che sa di antico ancora alle soglie del secolo scorso. Un mondo che viene sconvolto senza ritorno all’arrivo dal mare di misteriose Navi Nere."

http://storiaefuturo.eu/lombra-della-seconda-guerra-mondiale-nellanimazione-giapponese/

Gli effetti della gamification come strategia utilizzata dalle aziende per amplificare e potenziare l'effetto dell'engagement è che siamo diventati tutti ludopati (qualsiasi cosa voglia dire).

Money quote: "Take a moment to reflect on the feeling you get when you see a headline, factoid, or meme that is so perfect, that so neatly addresses some burning controversy or narrative, that you feel compelled to share it. If it seems too good to be true, maybe you’ll pull up Snopes and check it first. But you probably won’t. And even if you do, how much will it really help? Everyone else will spread it anyway. Whether you retweet it or just email it to a friend, the end effect on your network of like-minded contacts — on who believes what — will be the same."

https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/reality-is-just-a-game-now

È molto, molto peggio di quel che sembrava. Questo articolo clamoroso del New York Times mette in scena l'errore strettivo gigantesco di Putin, che adesso rischia moltissimo. Un errore che lo ha reso disperato, e le persone disperate sono molto pericolose.

Money quote: "Russian invasion plans, obtained by The New York Times, show that the military expected to sprint hundreds of miles across Ukraine and triumph within days. Officers were told to pack their dress uniforms and medals in anticipation of military parades in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

But instead of that resounding victory, with tens of thousands of his troops killed and parts of his army in shambles after nearly 10 months of war, Mr. Putin faces something else entirely: his nation’s greatest human and strategic calamity since the collapse of the Soviet Union."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/16/world/europe/russia-putin-war-failures-ukraine.html?unlocked_article_code=l-AiWQ3EeH8yEb3p_vE0hOPiJW02MO3FHEbcTryGd6ASUOkYqKfuF1wVtLSJ32S2WTgLcgBa07RgpH7zBaZxqN6v8n3pWykX7uqDvgIXU-k79ONqdK6Rv3PVvqCHoS_Up1oOW52WUSUHBa4WU95E05t-4WXGJ_ErqkGKATzapbMC3FVo7xbEt1pAoacAqm_T072IeEO1o3YyO-MLPZCTFSjqAm8yX4-wwUupDfxIgAhibMk1bZFnaN5cIU1rLoeWj8kLYe7L2KbO1xYNhfRmAVmXB2iWNA_8JGcwEX2m9Cjy-GSM330V3IiP7BNTF-qeiOymeEL-6aNvr_rj0Z_fOikC10-Q8Doqt9D5TgK63ZHr236qSEiXZHnW5nt-UGrGWg&smid=tel-nytimes

Siamo sei miliardi ma il nostro cervello non è fatto per percepire questi numeri. In rete, quello che pensiamo essere una intelligenza collettiva della folla in realtà è l'opera solitaria e nevrotica di pochi folli. Cioè, la maggior parte dei contenuti come i commenti ai libri sono scritti da persone che sono probabilmente clinicamente matte come cavalli.

Money quote: "I don't know how that author identified the most prolific reviewer at the time but I found one reviewer with 20.8k reviews since 2011. That's just under 3,000 reviews per year, which comes out to around 8 per day. This man has written an average of 8 reviews on Amazon per day, all of the ones I see about books, every day for seven years. I thought it might be some bot account writing fake reviews in exchange for money, but if it is then it's a really good bot because Grady Harp is a real person whose job matches that account's denoscription. And my skimming of some reviews looked like they were all relevant to the book, and he has the "verified purchase" tag on all of them, which also means he's probably actually reading them.

The only explanation for this behavior is that he is insane. I mean, normal people don't do that. We read maybe 20 books a year, tops, and we probably don't write reviews on Amazon for all of them. There has to be something wrong with this guy."

https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_internet_is_written/

Conferme empiriche di teorie assodate: miliardi e miliardi di galassie con miliardi e miliardi di soli in ognuna, con miliardi e miliardi di pianeti. Vuoi che non ce ne siano miliardi e miliardi come il nostro?

Money quote: "Solar power: Sulfur dioxide was a “mystery molecule” because, when researchers first looked at the Webb data, they saw something they didn’t expect, and it wasn’t until later that they were able to attribute the strangeness to sulfur dioxide.

This marks the first discovery of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of any exoplanet, and its presence suggests that the light from WASP-39b’s star is triggering chemical reactions in its atmosphere — the process is similar to the one that creates Earth’s ozone layer.

“This is the first time we see concrete evidence of photochemistry — chemical reactions initiated by energetic stellar light — on exoplanets,” said Shang-Min Tsai, a researcher working with the Webb data at the University of Oxford."

https://www.freethink.com/space/gas-giant-wasp-39b

C'è un buco nero per quanto riguarda l'industria editoriale: non c'è un accesso ampio e gratuito ai dati delle vendite. E questo crea una distorsione enorme nella percezione e nello studio del settore, che invece è rilevante e critico per la società. Il consumo di libri è fondamentale ma non può ridursi a una pratica commerciale analoga a quella della vendita dei latticini o delle guarnizioni per sanitari. O no?

Money quote: "The problem with book sales data may not, at first, be apparent. Every week, the New York Times of course releases its famous list of “bestselling” books, but this list does not include individual sales numbers. Moreover, select book sales figures are often reported to journalists—like the fact that Station Eleven has sold more than 1.5 million copies overall—and also shared through outlets like Publishers Weekly. However, the underlying source for all these sales figures is typically an exclusive subnoscription service called BookScan: the most granular, comprehensive, and influential book sales data in the industry (though it still has significant holes—more on that to come)."

https://www.publicbooks.org/where-is-all-the-book-data/

Siamo quasi alla fine dell'anno. Per tutti quelli che vogliono sostenere il canale ho preparato un omaggio: la cartolina di Mostly Happy New Year 2023!

Voi donate e io ve la spedisco per posta con il francobollo e tutto. Scritta a mano da me. Con gli auguri. Come si faceva una volta, insomma.

Trovate tutto qui:

https://antoniodini.com/cartolina/

Jack Ma è praticamente in esilio a Tokyo: sta fuggendo dalla Cina e dai lockdown.

Money quote: "Since his fallout with Chinese authorities, Ma has been spotted in various countries including Spain and the Netherlands. Spending less time in his home in China means the billionaire has avoided the tough Covid-19 quarantines imposed on anyone entering the country, as well as thorny political issues arising from his previous push to build influence in the country’s halls of power."

https://archive.ph/vNnhK#selection-1955.0-1959.321

Prima dei licenziamenti i segnali c'erano. Ma adesso, rileggendo cosa è successo e le varie tappe, si capisce meglio che siamo alla fine di un paradigma di internet dei contenuti social. O no?

Money quote: "Tech companies focused on creators are laying off workers, shelving products and curbing perks such as cash advances for online influencers. Funding for U.S. creator startups in the third quarter sank 53% from the year-ago period, the third straight quarter of annual decline."

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/the-buzz-over-creator-economy-dulls-to-a-quiet-roar