Weekly Thing #49 / Apr 14, 2018
** Weekly Thing
Weekly Newsletter from Jamie Thingelstad
49 | Apr 14, 2018 | Permalink (|ARCHIVE|)
Those of us in Northern climates have grown sick of winter, and it feels like we must have done something wrong to have this exceptionally cold April. To add insult to injury we are being treated to, what one hopes will be, a final barrage of several or more inches of snow. ❄️ Uncle already!
I was surprised by how many people were tuned into Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony this week. ⚖️ I didn’t listen to it myself, but I was happy to see many regular people asking questions about Facebook and privacy. I’m not on the bandwagon for regulation. I think people just need to really know what is happening with their data. When it is made clear, the reaction is nearly always a gasp. 🙀
** Photo 📷
Tammy and I went to see The Decemberists (http://www.decemberists.com) playing at the Palace Theatre (http://palacestpaul.com) last weekend.
Apr 7, 2018 at 9:26 PM 17 7th Pl W, Saint Paul, MN
** Links 📌
** Business
Highlights from CodeDay 2018 Minneapolis & Toronto at SPS Commerce | SPS Commerce (https://www.spscommerce.com/blog/codeday-minneapolis-sps-commerce-spsa/) www.spscommerce.com
We have hosted CodeDay two years now at SPS, and this year we expanded to Toronto. Check out the video, this is a great way for us to give back to the communities we are in. 🙌
** Software
Stream | API for Scalable News Feeds & Activity Streams (https://getstream.io/) getstream.io
Interesting service to be the back end of activity streams for various products. I don’t know that I’ve seen a product put code snippets right on their front page! They know who their audience is.
The best text editor for macOS – The Sweet Setup (https://thesweetsetup.com/apps/best-text-editor-macos/) thesweetsetup.com
I’m sticking with Sublime Text (https://www.sublimetext.com/) as my editor of choice but it is interesting to read about Atom (https://atom.io/) and it’s model for extensibility. I agree with this writeup about BBEdit (https://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/) . It is historically great, but if you don’t know it I don’t think I would be investing in learning it due to the lack of extensibility. ⌨️
** Social Media
Instagram Looks Like Facebook’s Best Hope - Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-04-10/instagram-looks-like-facebook-s-best-hope) www.bloomberg.com
Remember, Instagram == Facebook.
Most Instagram users are unaware of all this. The service is widely seen as an escape from Facebook, so Instagram has to tread carefully to protect the app’s reputation.
If your concern with Facebook is privacy, Instagram isn’t a place to solve that. If your issue with Facebook is something else than maybe it’s fine. I’d recommend using something like micro.blog to publish your own photos.
Farewell Social Media | James Shelley (https://jamesshelley.com/2018/04/10/farewell-social-media/) jamesshelley.com
Thoughtful writing on opting out of social media entirely.
I’m out. There are many things I hope to do while I am alive… trying to convince somebody’s advertising algorithm to pay attention to me is not one of those things. Multiply this conviction by the sense that spending time on social media is a suboptimal use of time that comes at the expense of things I truly care about and leaving seems evermore desirable. Just one life to live: I refuse to be a collateral pawn in someone else’s attention war.
🤔
** Indieweb
Wavelength for Micro.blog | Manton Reece (http://www.manton.org/2018/04/wavelength-for-micro-blog.html) www.manton.org
I really like what Manton Reece is doing around micro.blog, and now pulling in a native podcasting capability opens up another avenue for people to express themselves independent of big tech platforms. 🎧
** Music
Johnny Cash: American Recordings Album Review | Pitchfork (https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/johnny-cash-american-recordings/) pitchfork.com
I so distinctly remember getting this CD when I was in college and being instantly transfixed by it. 🎶
Cash is listening. He thinks Rubin wears clothes that “would have done a wino proud,” but he likes his individualism, and he knows that his own back is against the wall. So he goes to the hills above the Sunset Strip. He sits down in Rubin’s living room and plays songs that mean something to him, just him and his guitar, and Rubin rolls the tape. In three days, they’ve got north of 30 songs. Cowboy songs, folk songs, and old songs figure heavily. You know, songs about God, murder, trains, and everything else that makes America.
I loved reading the back story on this. I think the amazing thing about the Cash / Rubin collaboration is it cemented Johnny Cash concretely in multiple generations. How many artists ever do that? Not many.
The Decemberists - Full concert (4/7/18 at Palace Theatre in Saint Paul, MN) - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Jz3tMddw4) www.youtube.com
I really like The Decemberists (http://www.decemberists.com) , and the show we saw last weekend was recorded in full and is on YouTube. Not sure how long this will be up there, but it was a stellar show. 🎶
** Tech
Amazon spent nearly $23 billion on R&D last year - Recode (https://www.recode.net/2018/4/9/17204004/amazon-research-development-rd) www.recode.net
Amazon spent 2x as much as Apple in R&D? They spent nearly 2x more than all of the other companies. Wow. 😲
JS - Blog - GraphQL Best Practices (https://jsjaspreet.com/blog/graphql-best-practices) jsjaspreet.com
Highlights on things to watch out for when using GraphQL.
For me personally, the thing that astounds me about GraphQL isn’t just the awesome technical solutions it enables, but also the organizational impact of a more decoupled environment where teams can develop independently of one another and focus more on upholding public contracts rather than knowing too much about internal implementations.
Thank you for making 10 years of GitHub possible (https://github.com/ten) github.com
This is a fun reflection on the first 10 years of GitHub.
For 10 years, you’ve shared, tinkered, and built on GitHub from all around the world. Before we head into the next decade, we’ve collected some of our favorite moments and milestones—just a few of the ways you’ve pushed software forward.
The impact that GitHub has had on open-source, and coding practices in general is amazing. There are many services that exist today that would not if git (https://git-scm.com) and GitHub were not created. Let’s hope that GitHub stays in good hands.
Database Flow (https://databaseflow.com/) databaseflow.com
Interesting to see this providing GraphQL endpoints to databases.
Database Flow is an open source self-hosted SQL client, GraphQL server, and charting application that works with your database. Visualize schemas, query plans, charts, and results. You can run Database Flow locally for your own use, or install to a shared server for the whole team.
Cool.
Troubleshooting kernel crashes under pressure (http://rachelbythebay.com/w/2018/04/08/estats/) rachelbythebay.com
This is a fun read if you are curious to know what it feels like to be debugging a production problem on a major web property in the heat of the moment. This would have been a tricky one to track down. 🐛🔍
** Productivity
Productivity - Sam Altman (https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity) blog.samaltman.com
I love the direct, to the point, writing in this. I also like that Altman’s advice is very pragmatic and not just on doing stuff, but also looking at sleep and nutrition.
** Security
Don’t Give Away Historic Details About Yourself — Krebs on Security (https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/04/dont-give-away-historic-details-about-yourself/) krebsonsecurity.com
🔒 Interesting that bad actors are using silly social games to collect information on people that can then be combined with compromised passwords to answer security questions! Personally I always fill these security questions with random words, generated by 1Password (https://1password.com) and stored there. I use words since you sometimes have to speak these over the phone. Never share the same answers, and they are random.
** Games
The Nintendo Switch’s Parental Controls Are Amazing (https://kotaku.com/the-nintendo-switchs-parental-controls-are-amazing-1824301547) kotaku.com
I hadn’t dug into the Switch Parental Controls but this article caught my eye so I did. Using a completely separate app that a parent installs on their smartphone to manage the switch is a very good idea, and enables a bunch of additional use cases. 👏
** Coffee
Back to Basics: Coffee Brewing Methods & Gear — Tools and Toys (http://toolsandtoys.net/guides/back-to-basics-coffee-brewing-methods-and-gear/) toolsandtoys.net
☕️ Very nice overview of coffee fundamentals.
I thought I’d put together a “back to basics” guide on coffee brewing. We’ve certainly covered this topic in a number of ways, so think of this guide as a compilation/remix of all that information.
I would agree with everything in here. It doesn’t address the next level topics on espresso, but this is a good starter for doing coffee well.
** Promotion 🎁
https://creativecommons.org
Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org) helps you legally share your knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world — unlocking the full potential of the internet to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity. I have been a supporter of Creative Commons for years. Larry Lessig, the founder of Creative Commons, has done the world a great thing by creating a legal structure to help authors and creators encourage remix culture. In addition to donating, you should consider making your content under a Creative Commons license. Donate to Creative Commons today! (https://creativecommons.org/donate/)
** App 📱
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id479943969?at=1001lxyE&ct=thingelstad_com** TETRIS® Premium (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id479943969?at=1001lxyE&ct=thingelstad_com)
by Electronic Arts
Rediscover the world-famous Tetris® game you know and love, with all-new features and boundless ways to play. Take a quick break and enjoy endless action that’s free of ads and interruptions. Keep your lines clear and keep your cool as things heat up in this puzzle game that’s easy to pick up, but difficult to master. Don’t miss out on one of the best-selling mobile games of all time – this is Tetris®, updated and reimagined!
I decided to introduce our kids to Tetris. It’s been years since I played, and I’ve generally found the versions of Tetris from the big game studioes to be pretty bad. The copyright enforcement regime of The Tetris Company (http://tetris.com) keeps all non-licensed versions out. So, I was a little surprised to find this one to be okay. Marathon mode works well, and the one-touch controls are fine. Recommended.
$1.99 4/5 stars
** Status 🎈
Thursday @ 11:07 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2018/04/12/first-game-of.html)
First game of Tetris in years. Not bad! 🤗
Wednesday @ 8:02 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2018/04/11/not-entirely-sure.html)
Not entirely sure what friending on Nintendo Switch does, but if you do that sort of thing, I’m at SW-3175-6148-7804.
Saturday @ 9:29 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2018/04/07/the-decemberists-at.html)
The Decemberists at the Palace Theater.
Saturday @ 8:04 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2018/04/07/i-was-really.html)
I was really happy that India Palace (https://www.indiapalace.org) made Lachha Paratha (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratha) for us tonight (not on the menu). I had this in India a few weeks ago and loved it. 👏🏻
Saturday @ 7:44 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2018/04/07/this-graph-is.html)
This graph is in Why We Sleep (https://rwbook.club/book/why-we-sleep/) and is super interesting. Only just getting started on this read and already learning a lot.
Saturday @ 7:37 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2018/04/07/the-ice-is.html)
The ice is coming off of Cannon Lake! ☀️
** Thanks 🎬
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