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<

Language Matters

This isn’t a really mind blowing take the language and how we use it can effect the types of arguments and understandings we’re able to have but it’s always a very good reminder to make sure that we do not use language other people have co-opted or simply capitulate to using incorrect and imprecise language. If two people don’t have an agreed definition of a specific term you’ll find yourself accidentally making concessions on things due to opaque definitions.

>Number Two<

The Holidays Remind Me Hobby Lobby Exist

I don’t think there can be enough writing and bell ringing about how we need “unprofitable” jobs in order to keep this world working. That the world is run by people who are doing things out of passion and that humans will do work (and hard work! awful work!) as long as they are able because they want to and the way to facilitate that is to pay them and take care of them in all other ways because they’re people.

>Number Three<

Just Be Conscious

It’s possible that I’ve previously posted a Technology Connections video here, he’s been posting videos for several years so it wouldn’t be all that surprising but even if I have this one is absolutely worth a watch. I worry about people using AI as a “search” and I worry about people only being able to discover what a company has deemed available to them but most of all I worry that people are not making any active choices about what they see or what they experience not because it’s completely gate kept from them (but companies would love to do that I’m sure) but because they’re simply allowing their search skills, their thinking, and their lives to be dictated by algorithms without even the most mild push back. My spoiler for this video is that less than 3% of people accessed his video via their Subscriptions tab on Youtube, instead letting YouTube serve them this video via the home page/the algo/random videos on the side bar. Since I never go to the YouTube homepage this absolutely floored me personally. I make very intentional choices about what I see on the internet and giving them up seemed too strange to parse. Suddenly all these people missing videos posted by creators they follow comes into focus.

>Number Four<

Scannable Syriac and Arabic Text

This is a little story/snippet of a thing happening that’s not quite so grandiose as most of the things I linked but I find it super interesting. The internet and computer technology were obviously designed almost exclusively around Latin text/characters and therefore unfortunately most of the architecture of modern technology is built around that as well so it’s good to see OCR getting updated and archives.org giving more support for these languages is just good.

>Number Five<

Towards A Definition of Urban Planning

Just a little piece musing the purpose of middle age. I consider myself middle age for the past few years because I can feel myself slowing down (just a bit so far) and my priorities have seriously shifted as well. I feel a little called out when the author says:

[W]hile writing might be compatible with getting older, the cadence of writing that is required to keep up with the internet, with the relentless churn of content creation, might not be. Writing every day is one thing. Trying to hit publish every day, or even every week, is not the way.

It’s good to read things like this and remind myself that there’s a lot of this race to go and I need to learn how to pace myself to get the finish line.

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