onfocus

This is another great post about changing digital habits, google edition. This is feeling more possible to me every day. I need to switch to Fathom Analytics here. Google Analytics is overkill for a personal website. And it wasn't mentioned in this post, but I still haven't found a good alternative to Google Maps on my phone. Apple Maps has been improving but it's still not as accurate in my experience.

Brent Simmons on his blog tech setup. I like his micro.blog idea but I have mixed feelings on syndicating out to services like Twitter and Facebook. a.) They are terrible for society and individuals. b.) I think you need to be ‘present’ and interacting for the social part of social media. Maybe you can do both, but: society.

Similarly: Always own your platform.

This is the first I’ve heard of Hawking’s no-boundary event theory. In this view time and matter exist due to the shape of the eternal universe, not because of an origin event like the big bang. Neat!

This is a fun font based on physical router templates that the national forest service uses to carve wooden signs. The great discussion at MetaFilter has some more context and also pointed to the similarly inspired Routed Gothic.

Have you ever opened Excel or Google Sheets just to add or average a few numbers? Me too! Postlight put together a wee application that can run in your phone browser for these situations. No logins or software updates required.

Wow, this is some awful antisocial behavior from a company (and marketing firm) that should know better. Can we have one or two ad-free spaces?

Nice to see a tech company prioritizing something other than growth at all costs. Good for Salesforce for acting when our governments are failing us.

How those annoying ad blocks at the bottom of every article you read online work. Chumbox is the perfect name for them. I think the more we learn about how these things prey on our psyche the more immune we become.

ps. Corn, maybe.

"...there exists a sphere of life that should remain outside public scrutiny, in which we can be sure that our words, actions, thoughts and feelings are not being indelibly recorded. This includes not only intimate spaces like the home, but also the many semi-private places where people gather and engage with one another in the common activities of daily life—the workplace, church, club or union hall. As these interactions move online, our privacy in this deeper sense withers away."

Maciej Cegłowski, owner and operator of old-school bookmarking service Pinboard (which I use to power posts like this) spoke to the Senate Banking Committee about online privacy. His thoughtful written statement is an excellent description of privacy in our current tech environment and has some ideas about how regulation could change things. I have no idea how this public statement came about, but I hope our leaders were listening. The gif here is by @thedansherman.

"Various directors tried to tackle the book..." They tried and failed? They tried and died.

So this is happening. With star power. But if there’s no Walken—I’m walkin’ (with)out (rhythm).

There are few satisfactions in life greater than finding a more efficient way to do something in vi. But if you’re me you can’t just read a vi book. You have to read tutorials like this over and over until a new shortcut for moving, cutting, or pasting text just sticks. This is a good tutorial for ambient skill acquisition.

"'Electability' is a way to get voters to carry out a contrary agenda—not their own—while convincing them they’re being 'responsible.'"

I think this article is getting at a central problem with Democratic thinking right now. I agree that it’s impossible to know other people’s minds and trying to read minds (or public opinion) hurts my own ability to reason.