Briefs
Sunday, February 21st, 2016
Adamkhan.net
Thursday, January 21st, 2021
Dated but still interesting: The Guardian looks at the design of Japanese newspapers
https://www.theguardian.com/info/developer-blog/2012/sep/06/japanese-news-websites.
Tuesday, January 19th, 2021
Nice backgrounder at Stat News on the history of mRNA vaccines.
Friday, December 25th, 2020
The potential for warm relations between Israel and Morocco may be more than with the Gulf nations, this piece argues, as relations have been significant for some time.
Thursday, December 24th, 2020
The Basecamp fellows have released a new web development paradigm, Hotwire. I don’t quite get it, but with their pedigree and skill as the makers of Ruby on Rails, this could be big.
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020
This lengthy interview with Secretary-General Sayyid Nasrallah may be useful for insight into Hezbollah’s perspectives. There are some bizarre connections, such as the notion that Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 because of deep concern regarding Iran’s “liberation of Khorramshahr” in the Iran-Iraq War.
Monday, December 21st, 2020
High Output Management
Andrew S. Grove
In his careful, cogent and memorable take on effective management, Silicon Valley founding father Andy Grove places a surprising emphasis on meetings; he has the temerity to take issue with — or at least, refine — Peter Drucker’s admonition that they’re a waste of time. Grove’s issue: meetings are the very medium of management; his refinement: that there are actually two major types of meeting, routine and ad hoc, and it’s where there’s a profusion of the latter that something’s amiss.
This erstwhile CEO of Intel notes that while most management books are targeted either at the very top or the very bottom — at the CEO or at those who directly manage frontline workers — the majority of managers manage other managers, and it’s for them he mostly writes, the middle managers.
The book has the authority of someone eager to share lessons from his own extensive experience — indeed he seems to have always worked with one eye towards gaining such knowledge, in no small part because being able to convey what one knows ensures that one actually understands it; that is, managers should also write and teach.
Grove defines the aim of management as increasing the productivity of subordinates, which can be achieved in only two ways: by improving their skills and by improving their motivation. Skills are improved by training, which the manager should undertake himself, considering it not busywork but an opportunity to solidify his own understanding and role-model corporate behavior. Motivation meanwhile is improved best via one-on-one performance reviews. These measures for corporate success are bracingly clear and specific — both the reasoning behind them and how to undertake them.
A refugee from Nazi Europe, Grove may be a legend yet the book is suffused with a democratic humility, a great American sense that success can be approached by all as an engineering problem. A book among books.
PS — A high testament: I actually remembered all these points without reopening High Output Management. I don’t think that’s ever happened before.
Wednesday, December 16th, 2020
The architect would surely be pleased that there is once again a Frank Lloyd Wright hotel in Japan — though he’d probably say: Just the one? (Actually it’s not by Wright but Arata Endo, who seems a tasteful and disciplined disciple.)
The first lab-grown chicken meat will be served at a Singapore restaurant this weekend!
Good old Speccie:
For Britain, there are many lessons to be learned from the IDF, a democratic military machine that relies heavily on technology to engage enemies on various fronts and in diverse contexts.
This from “Britain is right to pursue closer military ties to Israel” by Jake Wallis Simons. I had not known that the source of Israel’s tip-off regarding Syria’s North Korean nuclear reactor was a British spy.
Definitely not of general interest, Global state in SSR with Vue and Node.js at sum.cumo.
Israel intercepts a cruise missile in a test of its 3-tier missile defence system.
Tuesday, December 15th, 2020
Ross Douthat in his typical perfect way essays on American childbearing in the really nice magazine Plough.
Monday, December 14th, 2020
Israel to boost its alternative meat industry.. How wonderful is that. If it happens.
Dave Rupert does a nice job (April 2018) listing the pitfalls of card UIs. I’m beginning to think though that for Rupert, a long list of drawbacks is throat-clearing for “I’m going ahead with this.”
Friday, December 11th, 2020
Well all this looks like too much fun: trailers for upcoming Marvel TV shows. It is indeed the best of times, the worst of times.
I’ve been surprised and disappointed by just how many people are hesitant to take up the COVID-19 vaccines now coming online. In this concerned Nautilus article “How to Build Trust in Covid-19 Vaccines”, the authors take on the issue with sober good sense, eg:
Mandatory vaccination policies should be avoided because they could backfire. More acceptable would be tying vaccination status to travel or access to public places.
Thursday, December 10th, 2020
Monday, November 30th, 2020
The URL city-journal.org/white-fragility suggests that this piece by Coleman Hughes is the house stance on the insanity; good.
What a perfect, impassioned argument by Scottish, sorry, British broadcaster Neil Oliver in praise of keeping Britain. For him it is, correctly, not a confused affair of the dismal science but a clear celebration of the happy heart.
Saturday, November 28th, 2020
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries
So much of Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup seems such conventional wisdom now that evaluating its merits is hard.
Entrepreneurship is about management. A startup is an institution designed primarily for learning; learning is accomplished by experimentation with the product and observing customers interact with these experiments; what is learned may then temper the vision for the product. Repeatedly iterated, this is the way through the eye of the startup needle, Reis argues, replete with numerous vivid examples, such as the Village Laundry Service in India learning what its customers mistrust and what they’re willing to pay more for.
The book refers back to and sits well alongside Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm and Steve Blank’s The Four Steps to the Epiphany, both of which I picked up next.
Friday, November 27th, 2020
Thursday, November 26th, 2020
Weekly became daily quickly.
ASK
It falls to Andrew Cunningham to take up the magisterial task of the Ars Technica review of macOS Big Sur.
3D model of Fallingwater by sighty for sale, including a portion of Bear Run, which interestingly gets cuts off even before the bridge that obviously crosses it, making this a model not of the house but of a model of it.
Boy, there are other models too. Here’s an interactive Fallingwater by archimore. It has the interior, even the raised rocks around the fireplace! (Though missing the grand swinging water heater.) The non-Wright dining-table chairs that Mrs Kaufman brought. The portrait of Edgar on the wall! Yet no walkway up to the Guesthouse, and no Guesthouse.
And another Fallingwater by Myles Zhang which does have the Gueshouse and ramp, even the steps into the swimming pool. And a very long stretch of Bear Run. It does have the round red water holer, but no furniture.
Would be good to merge these magnificent efforts to make a more detailed, canonical model.
Monday, November 23rd, 2020
Sunday, November 22nd, 2020
A close-to-the-ground view of the current pandemic response in Southern California. Mentions of food insecurity, and there’s color in the comments.
Saturday, November 21st, 2020
Mohammad Ali watches Rocky II with Roger Ebert in 1979.
George Carlin on Time in 1978. Embarrassingly I’d only ever seen him older. In interviews he says he set out to be Danny Kaye; I think that’s noticeable here.
Thursday, November 19th, 2020
Hard on drugs, easy on Iran, nice.
Wednesday, November 18th, 2020
“Indie developers need protection from monopolistic and anti-competitive practices from larger players in the market through strong government regulation, not a discount on their first $1m in sales.” “Apple’s 15% Deflection Tactic” by John Luxford.
The 2020 US election is apparently not yet over. “It is indeed a very foul mess,” states Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor now Trump legal team member, whom people speak of respectfully in the comments. “It is farther and wider and deeper than we ever thought but we are going to go after it and I am going to expose every one of them.” [Update 2020 Nov 23: So much for that! “Trump Legal Team Distances Itself From Sidney Powell After Unproven Claims” in The Daily Wire.]
Tuesday, November 17th, 2020
How browsers work by Tali Garsiel.
Sunday, November 15th, 2020
“How to Get Your First Customers So Your Company Doesn’t Die” by Matt Munson, a startup founder coach and investor. Some nice nuggets here, such as hiring salespeople in pairs so that you can compare them and be sure any issues are with individuals rather than the system.
Wow, after 5 years Yehuda Halevi St. is reopening, complete with underground light rail station. Will I still love you? Even more?
Two more Frank Lloyd Wright films planned by the maker of the new Unity Temple film, the one with the voice.
Saturday, November 14th, 2020
James Lileks is still at it, marvellously, and my bad to have drifted away. Here he is mulling his thoughts at the supermarket and driving home. Plus a wonderful pic. And a great gif. And a second feature that is more epic than the post itself. What an artisan, what an artist.
Friday, November 13th, 2020
Amusing comments at Marginal Revolution on Matthew Yglesias’s migration to Substack.
Thursday, November 12th, 2020
A series of great photos around London’s Tube from a book by Luke Abgaimoni in Londonist.
Wednesday, November 11th, 2020
Head of Learning and Developer Advocate at NuxtJS Debbie O’Brien writes up their dogfooding experience using Nuxt to make the Nuxt web site.
Tuesday, November 10th, 2020
There’s a big difference between nothing and almost nothing, when it’s multiplied by the area under the sun.
Paul Graham, General & Surprising
Sunday, November 8th, 2020
Hokey religions don’t seem to hold much sway in the Outer Rim. MaryAnn Johanson the FlickFilosopher loves The Mandalorian. Yes indeed, Star Wars lives!
Seeming US President-elect Joe Biden “has said openly for a long time that “he will go back to the nuclear agreement,” warns Israel’s Settlements Minister and long-time soothsayer Tzachi Hanegbi. “I see that as something that will lead to a confrontation between Israel and Iran.”
On NPM becoming part of Microsoft, by Bryant Jimin Son. I feel stalked in my work life by Microsoft, which I strive to avoid ever since their horrible behavior re IE6. First Skype, then Atom, now NPM. Fortunately, there are alternatives.
Robert Kagan puts recent US history into perspective, talking to the rather platitudinous Walther Russell Mead. Some choice cut:
Russia and China are always going to be fundamentally at odds. It would be a very strange universe in which they are not. If I really believe that if you’re a Russian and you wake up sweating bullets at 3:00 in the morning, what you’re sweating about is the fact that China is going to take over Siberia in one way or another. China is a big, and by the way, the racist feelings on both sides are enormous. They both think the other one is a monkey and have always felt that way.
A pretty serious look into the move to Apple Silicon in Macs by Daniel Eran Dilger in Apple Insider.
Germany To Put Right-Wing Party Under Surveillance For Violating Constitution...
OLMERT: I hate everything Sheldon Adelson loved about Israel...
Futuristic sleeping pods for homeless installed...
RED ALERT: China Authorizes Coast Guard to Fire on Foreign Vessels...
Cops: Man who stole ambulance caught in JACK IN THE BOX drive-thru...
'Things have just started'...
New Religion Could Rise From Ashes of Q...
Shaman Admits: I Was Duped...
Dozens Face Criminal Complaints in Thailand, Accused of Insulting King...
DRUDGE APP IPHONE, IPAD...
HANK AARON DEAD AT 86...
ANDROID...
UPDATE: Guard in DC forced to sleep in garages, sparking outcry...
Record-breaking laser link could test Einstein's relativity theory...
WORLD SICK MAP...
Biden's Executive Order Unlevels Playing Field For Girls
Trump Senate Trial Offers Republican Party an Escape
Biden Is Manufacturing a Crisis at the Border
Congress Must Seize Moment Biden Has Given It to Fix Immigration
What's at Top of Biden's To-Do List? Opening the Borders
Let the Senate's Show Trial Begin
Biden Orders Cover-Up of Differences Between the Sexes
Biden's Immigration Plans Face a Warming Public Reception
Why Congress Gave Lloyd Austin a Pass
Inside the 36-Year Biden & McConnell Relationship
Dems Spell 'Unity' C-A-N-C-E-L
Trump's Twitter Ban Brings Peace
Biden Shows How Dems Changed in the Trump Era
Biden Won't Stop Antifa Until Portland Is Burned Down
The Conservative Path Forward in the Biden Era
Links for the intellectually curious, ranked by readers.
Raycast (YC W20) Is Hiring to Make Developers More Productive (Remote, UTC ± 3h)
Gandi – We Under DDoS
Tencent is acquiring a majority stake in Klei Entertainment
Show HN: Rysolv – Fix open source issues, get paid
Who Will Control the Software That Powers the Internet?
Programming Language Creator or Serial Killer?
New six-film series from Adam Curtis
One hull crack located in ISS, another one suspected
Brad Cox has died
Facebook shuts down the Socialist Workers Party in Britain
.NET GC Internals mini-series
PostgreSQL on ARM-Based AWS EC2 Instances
Access Control for GitHub Pages
Atomic resolution video of salt crystals forming in real time
Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
UK prime minister, chief rabbi blast Jewish wedding at London school
The IDF downs drone crossing in from Lebanon
Twitter suspends account linked to Khamenei
Trump hires counsel for his Senate impeachment trial
Six arrested in Bnei Brak teen anti-police rampage
Vaccinations to extend to youths of 16 to 18
ISIS strikes again in Iraq, 32 killed
Syrian media claim Israeli missile attack near Hama
Second day of downward covid curve
Will Biden correct nuclear deal omissions in revived talks with Iran?
Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
How Biden Can Update the Obama Doctrine on Iran
Behind the Israel-Arab Normalization Deals
The IDF Bedouin Unit: Protecting Israel's Border, Advancing the Community
Biden Pick for Secretary of State Backs Two-State Solution, but Doubts Prospects
Why I'm a Zionist
State Department Cuts Ties with Islamic Charity over Anti-Semitism
Israel: No Thaw in Relations until Turkey Ends Hamas Operations in Istanbul
Abbas Accused by Rival of Embezzling $2 Billion
Chevron to Help Build Israel-to-Egypt Pipeline
New Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Gilad Erdan: "The Mainstream of the Democratic Party Supports Israel"
Report: Israeli, Syrian Officials Discuss Removal of Iran and Its Militias from Syria
U.S. Not Close to Rejoining Iran Deal, Says Spy Chief Nominee
Blinken: Vitally Important to Engage with Israel, Gulf on Iran Nuclear Deal
U.S. Officials: Mauritania, Indonesia Were to Be Next to Normalize with Israel
Iran Targets Israel with Growing Number of Cyberattacks
Why did the world’s pandemic warning system fail when COVID hit?
Are COVID vaccination programmes working? Scientists seek first clues
Akito Arima (1930–2020)
Data helps an anti-rabies campaign go to the dogs
Chemists’ riff on melanin makes a rainbow
A material cracks barriers to asymmetrical toughness
Fast-spreading COVID variant can elude immune responses
‘Inspired choice’: Biden appoints sociologist Alondra Nelson to top science post
What new COVID variants mean for schools is not yet clear
Daily briefing: Why cats love catnip
Lifelong lessons from my unexpected encounter with a synchrotron
A deep-sea trench is a plastic dump — and a biodiversity hotspot
COVID research updates: COVID vaccines might lose potency against new viral variants
Survey of spiking in the mouse visual system reveals functional hierarchy
Trapped fractional charges at bulk defects in topological insulators
UN envoy calls for greater sense of urgency in Syrian peace efforts
Baghdad suicide blasts expose gaps in Iraq’s strained military
Venezuelan president sent letter to Khamenei accrediting US fugitive
Iran, pressured by power blackouts and pollution, targets Bitcoin
Another record daily high as UAE confirms 3,552 new cases of COVID-19, 10 deaths
Top Lebanese hospitals fight exhausting battle against virus
Agreement between Fatah and Hamas paves way for Palestine coalition
Morocco gets 2m AstraZeneca vaccine doses, first big shipment to Africa
UAE signs $23bn deal to buy F-35 jets, drones from US
Dispute between Aoun and Hariri escalates in Lebanon
A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson.
Not Transformative—Just Expensive
What Was Amazon Waiting For?
Train Wreck
The Matter of Impeachment
States Can Reject Critical Race Theory
Donald Trump turns to ethics lawyer Butch Bowers to defend him in impeachment trial
China grants detained Canadian national Michael Kovrig online consular access
Alexei Navalny’s supporters vow protests despite looming crackdown in Russia
Joe Biden makes first calls to Canada, Mexico amid strained US ties with North American neighbours
US president Joe Biden orders review of domestic violent extremism threat after Capitol insurgency
Sex abuse inquiry identifies 81 children and 37 adult victims of Jesuit priests in Spain
Coronavirus: new variant found in Britain might be more deadly than original, says Boris Johnson
Iran calls on Joe Biden to ‘unconditionally’ lift nuclear sanctions imposed by Donald Trump
Top US medical adviser Fauci says Trump’s coronavirus approach ‘very likely’ cost lives
United States Senate confirms retired general Lloyd Austin as first black chief of Pentagon
Brain candy for Happy Mutants
Markup Pro makes it simple to find and share what you want off the web
There was almost a Trump coup at DOJ, part of scheme to overthrow election
Cute dugong eating on the ocean floor [VIDEO]
South Carolina gentleman is backyard ninja [VIDEO]
Brazil has a new coronavirus variant, and it is present in about 50% of all new COVID cases in Manaus city
Senate impeachment trial of Trump to begin week of February 8, says Schumer
Great deal on solid ASUS 7.1 surround sound gaming headset
Relax with jellyfish, penguins, birds, and the open sea through the Monterey Bay Aquarium's live webcams and guided "MeditOceans"
This espresso press can turn out a brilliantly powerful brew in minutes and it's less than $50
International Space Station has "insignificant" crack in hull
Crocodile chomp sweater
Studying wine that was aged for a year on the space station
Dummy who attempted to euthanize dog with handgun almost euthanized a human
Excellent cheap puzzle book: The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations
Money is good, at more margins than you might have thought
RCTs and the minimum wage
Friday assorted links
How Rapidly ‘First Doses First’ Came to Britain
The Anti-Money Laundering Fraud
It is a marathon, not a sprint
The South Korean minimum wage hike
Scott Alexander’s Substack
That was then, this is now, now it’s now again
Thursday assorted links
Federal minimum wage of $15?
“But not all those elasticities are the same…”
Wednesday assorted links
We Will Get to Herd Immunity in 2021…One Way or Another
A “Garden of National Heroes”?
Where the design community meets.
Show DN: open source React Dashboard + Bootstrap 5
State of Design 2021
7 Inspiring Graphic Design Trends for 2021
Don't Let Those 15 COMMON JS MISTAKES Slow You Down
Webinar: Prototyping with Numbers for Designers
Angular, React, and Vue UI Kits You Should Know About
Form Design Ebook: A Comprehensive Guide On Why Form Design Is Critical To UX
5 Big UI/UX Case Study Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
140 Free Vector Covid Icons
Check how to Make Agile Development Methods Effective
Free Apple Devices Mockups for Fimga
Complete guide on how to create an app like Byjus
Top 10 Massage Websites That Will Inspire You
Which CRM is the Best Solution For Shopify Integration?
3 Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty with UX
Rumors and news on everything Apple since 1997
Apple donates Black Lives Matter mural from Portland store to nonprofit
Apple TV+ ranks low in streaming industry surveys despite market boom
Officers ping Apple Watch to track down kidnapped woman in Texas
Apple VR headset for $1,000 arrives in 2022, a year ahead of 'Apple Glass'
Data shows 62% of Apple TV+ subscribers are on a trial, most don't plan to renew
Apple shares hit all-time high in intraday trading, break closing price record
Roundup: best monitors for Apple's M1 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, MacBook Air
Apple picks up 'Lessons in Chemistry' drama starring Brie Larson
All the best cases and covers for the AirPods Pro
Review: Labodet offers a MagSafe wallet born out of high fashion
Developer files antitrust complaint after Apple rejects COVID game
Top 8 Apple deals to snap up now ahead of Valentine's Day
Opinions on corporate and brand identity work.
Announced: Brand New will Shift to Subscription Model
Spotted: New Logo for Blue Islands
Linked: Louis Vuitton Architecture
Noted: New Name and Logo for St. Louis City SC
Reviewed: Friday Likes 339: From Studio MPLS, Wade and Leta, and Unifikat Design Studio
Spotted: New Logo and Identity for Vitkus Clinic by Tandemo
Spotted: New Logo and Identity for Netgen by IDnaGroup
Noted: New Logo and Identity for Correos de México by Carl Forsell
Spotted: New Logo for Playtika
Spotted: New Logo and Identity for The 19th by Page 33 Studio
Linked: Objects may be Closer than they Ap-pear
Reviewed: New Logo and Identity for Lot61 by Smörgåsbord
Biting the hand that feeds IT
experiments in refactored perception
Nostalgia for Network Effects
Boilerplate Advice
2020 Ribbonfarm Extended Universe Annual Roundup
CEO Chris Best talks Substack with Eric Johnson of Recode. Email as a reading medium, I’m not drawn to it, but maybe because I still live with spam.