Welcome to 5 Quick Things that I saw since last month that I thought were interesting enough to share with you. None of them are particularly timely so feel free to just enjoy 🙂

>Number One<

Better Living Through Communication

Not to be old on the internet, but we did used to have better conversations on the internet. In this article it explores how and what types of places we need to build to have better conversations online. It’s not a problem with people but, to me, the systems that have been built do not generally support people having conversations at all, to be quite honest. Conversations and real human interaction don’t inherently make companies money and will therefore always place 2nd (and let’s be honest, it’s more like 20th) to things that generate cash. Also this article reminded me that the first big hit book about internet bubbles came out 13 years ago and is more terrifyingly bent towards being right now than ever.

>Number Two<

The Violence of Politics

Stay with me here because I know Trump being shot at feels like it happened about 20 years ago but this essay about how we all need to enact being shocked that people who preach political violence get that violence done on them is just another reminder that we need to deal with these acts very differently. I think it’s honestly very silly that politicians had to feign being shocked that someone would shoot at a guy who tried to get his vice president killed, but maybe that’s just me.

>Number Three<

Caste “Woke”ness

Here’s a topic people outside of India don’t talk about enough. Caste is a very interesting system and it probably doesn’t function the way you think it does. Rohan Davis does an amazing job breaking down the history, function, and social issues surrounding caste. People, especially in America, may not feel this is relevant to them but Seattle just passed a law prohibiting caste based discrimination last year and also over 1.4 billion people live under this system so maybe it’s kind of a big deal.

>Number Four<

Get in the Damn Machine

If you’ve ever had a deeper than passing interest in either animation or specifically the issues and production of anime then I really can’t recommend something better than this Google Doc which tells you have the hambagu is made. Most of this were things I had already known from years of being interested in anime and its behind the scenes but things have also progressed into worse positions than I remember. You can pair this pretty comfortably with Lextorias’ video about why US animation is so far behind (about halfway through it touches on how and why the Japanese industry is so prolific)

>Number Five<

Crafty Patterns

If you like being blasted in the face with things that have aged weirdly, I recently saw someone link this 20 year old New Yorker article about home pages. I basically very quickly went through every emotion on the planet about how the internet has been changed and continues to changes. I made my first website in 1997 and I still have my own today (not just this one either!) and I couldn’t imagine that would make me a relic of the past or that websites would become such a skill than an entire industry exists around them to fabricate professional looking ones. I’m not even sure there is a future for the home page/personal website going forward. I think a few years ago I might have argued it was simply social media but the wheels on that bus are falling off too…

That’s all for this month and hopefully I’ll see you back again next month with some more exciting and cool things!