Weekly Thing #90 / Jan 26, 2019
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Weekly Thing
Join over 1,000 subscribers to the Weekly Thing by Jamie Thingelstad! Each Saturday morning, you will get my thoughts on technology, leadership, productivity, culture, privacy, and anything else interesting. I add commentary combining my decades of experience leading teams and building technology. I also include my personal writing, what I’m currently into, and a photograph of the week. There is even a fortune at the end! 🥠 A friend once described the Weekly Thing as a “direct feed from Jamie’s brain.” 🧠 There are no ads, your email will never be shared, your privacy will be protected, and it is free. Subscribe now and positively impact your journey with knowledge, insight, and perspective! Here is what others have to say. 🙌 “I’m a better person and leader because of the Weekly Thing!” — Jenny “I look forward to reading what you are digging.” — David “I don’t find the interesting links you share anywhere else!” — Andy “It’s a perfect start to every Saturday!” — Phil
Weekly Newsletter from Jamie Thingelstad
Issue #90 / Jan 26, 2019
Hello from the Bold, and Frozen, North! ❄️ We are looking at several days with the thermometer never getting into positive numbers. 🥶 There should be plenty of opportunities to curate some fun links by the fire. 🔥
My Blog Posts ✍️
Using API Credentials in Shortcuts (https://www.thingelstad.com/2019/using-api-credentials-in-shortcuts)
Powerful method to store secrets like API tokens and passwords for Shortcuts.
Featured Links 🏅
Deep links to opt-out of data sharing by 40+ companies – SimpleOptOut.com (http://simpleoptout.com/) simpleoptout.com
What a great resource to quickly get to the controls for privacy improvements at a number of big companies. 👍
Jessie Frazelle’s Blog: For the Love of Pipes (https://blog.jessfraz.com/post/for-the-love-of-pipes/) blog.jessfraz.com
When you see technical people hammering away on a Unix prompt and wonder “Why don’t they do that with a fancy graphical thing? It’s 2019 after all.” this explainer is a good answer to why.
My Weekly Photo 📷
Spiraling Stainless Steel.
Spiraling Stainless Steel. Jan 25, 2019 at 2:56 PM SPS Tower, Minneapolis MN
Notable Links 📌
reMarkable | The paper tablet (https://remarkable.com/) remarkable.com
This is an interesting product. It’s a single purpose tool, which makes me wonder if it could ever really make it, but it is focused squarely on the note taking space. It could work, but the cost is high.
The U.S. Department of Defense on How to Detect ‘Agile BS’ - The New Stack (https://thenewstack.io/the-u-s-department-of-defense-on-how-to-detect-agile-bs/) thenewstack.io
Sort of a funny read from the Department of Defense helping it’s buyers not get duped by shenanigans around agile.
The Board’s document says its goal is to help program executives and acquisition professionals to spot projects “that are simply waterfall or spiral development in agile clothing.” One attempted hybrid of Waterfall and Agile development has been dubbed “water-Scrum-fall,” but the document warns against imposters trying to claim this is agile development, using the sardonic moniker “agile-scrum-fall”.
🤣
Online privacy Recode podcast interview with McSweeney’s and EFF - Recode (https://www.recode.net/2019/1/22/18192271/mcsweeneys-eff-electronic-frontier-foundation-claire-boyle-cindy-cohn-decode-podcast-trust-privacy) www.recode.net
This is a good interview with the director of the EFF and hits on a lot of the great content in the new book they published with McSweeney’s. I just ordered a copy myself. There are some great “awakening” stories here about privacy practices online.
Trouble hiring senior engineers? It’s probably you - Hiring Engineers (https://hiringengineersbook.com/post/trouble-hiring/) hiringengineersbook.com
A number of good things to consider in your recruiting for technology professionals in general, not just senior engineers.
Leaders, doing what you’re good at hurts your team. - Signal v. Noise (https://m.signalvnoise.com/leaders-doing-what-youre-good-at-hurts-your-team-30fd5c272186/) m.signalvnoise.com
I like this advice.
Pause. Don’t be so busy. Take stock. Why are you doing those things? Because you like doing them? Because you’re good at them? Or because it’s the best way to move the team forward?
This would be a good thing to include in your regular reflections.
Marie Kondo, Fast Fashion, and the Thrift-Store Boom - CityLab (https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/01/tidying-up-with-marie-kondo-netflix-where-to-donate/580396/) www.citylab.com
We’ve watched a few episodes of Tidying Up, it’s a fun diversion. I will admit it is also inspirational to go through that closet you’ve been ignoring.
Another weird thing has been happening, says Susan, who works the front desk: People have been thanking their objects before giving them away. She rolls her eyes.
It’s pretty amazing that could be driving a surge in donations.
Talking sense about acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, and neologisms - without bullshit (https://withoutbullshit.com/blog/abbreviations-and-acronyms-never-speak-of-this-again) withoutbullshit.com
The technology industry has to be one of the most severely acronym’d industries out there.
Abbreviations, initialisms, acronyms, and neologisms are jargon. You want to keep the density of jargon in your writing low to make it as readable as possible. Writing full of unfamiliar jargon is a struggle to parse, and perpetuates the curse of knowledge.
It would do us well to use less of them.
Introducing the Redesigned Twilio Status Page - Twilio (https://www.twilio.com/blog/introducing-redesigned-twilio-status-page) www.twilio.com
Nice work on their status page and accurately reflecting the dependencies they have on external network providers.
I Mentored Mark Zuckerberg. But I Can’t Stay Silent | Time (http://time.com/5505441/mark-zuckerberg-mentor-facebook-downfall/) time.com
A pretty comprehensive critique of many things that Facebook does. This is from an early investor, Roger McNamee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_McNamee) who has been critical of Facebook for a while. Reading the article through all of Time’s advertisements is a challenge.
Give Back 🎁
https://archive.org
Internet Archive (https://archive.org) is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. I have been a supporter of the Internet Archive for many years and I think their mission is fabulous! The web is a major part of our culture and it the content that we put on it is sadly ephemeral. The Internet Archive is working hard to capture that information and keep it for history. Donate to Internet Archive today! (https://archive.org/donate/)
Yet More Links 🍞
- The Tech Revolt — The California Sunday Magazine (https://story.californiasunday.com/tech-revolt) story.californiasunday.com Nice stories of individuals in the tech industry focusing on ethical work.
- Cloud Native Computing Foundation Announces CoreDNS Graduation - Cloud Native Computing Foundation (https://www.cncf.io/announcement/2019/01/24/coredns-graduation/) www.cncf.io Cool to see another project “graduate” the CNCF.
- Windows, Kubernetes & Azure.pdf - Google Drive (https://drive.google.com/file/d/13fXWIt5Yl7VZTkplc0fL2VcAtYnFvGka/view) drive.google.com Interesting slides with some pretty bad instances of Azure problems.
- The books I read in 2018 - Signal v. Noise (https://m.signalvnoise.com/the-books-i-read-in-2018/) m.signalvnoise.com I like reading peoples reading lists. It’s good inspiration for my own reading.
- Techstars New Health Care Partner: Announcing UnitedHealthcare Accelerator Powered by Techstars - Techstars (https://www.techstars.com/content/accelerators/techstars-new-health-care-partner-announcing-unitedhealthcare-accelerator-powered-techstars/) www.techstars.com Target did an effort like this with Techstars and it lasted one cycle and was then shut down. Hopefully this one will have more longevity.
Microposts 🎈
Wednesday @ 7:44 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/23/ordered-end-of.html)
Ordered End of Trust (https://store.mcsweeneys.net/products/mcsweeney-s-issue-54-the-end-of-trust) , McSweeney’s Issue 54 done in collaboration with the EFF (https://www.eff.org) ! 💜
Tuesday @ 11:15 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/22/just-signed-up.html)
Just signed up for a 4th site on @Blot (https://micro.blog/Blot) . This one will be to finally get a decent site for my Book Club.
Monday @ 9:41 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/21/tammy-and-i.html)
Tammy and I had an amazing dinner at Popol Vuh (https://popolvuhmpls.com/popol-vuh/) last night. Guacamole, Jicama Salad, Costilla, and Carne Asada. Everything was delicious and so flavorful! The drinks were amazing as well!
Monday @ 9:34 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/21/updating-firmware-ftw.html)
Updating firmware FTW! This time the Joule Sous Vide (https://www.chefsteps.com/joule) .
Monday @ 9:31 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/21/tammys-sisters-and.html)
Tammy’s sisters and my brother-in-laws escaped Breakout - Operation: Casino (https://breakoutgames.com/minneapolis/rooms/#roomCasino) in 45 minutes! 🙌💪🔓
Friday @ 10:54 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/18/ive-used-an.html)
I’ve used an Airport Express (Gen 1) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort_Express) with an auto-switching amp to get AirPlay audio. The Airport Express is discontinued now. Sonos Amp (https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/amp.html) does what I want, but is 3 times the cost. Recommendations on better solutions?
Friday @ 8:56 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/18/quiet-friday-night.html)
Quiet Friday night putting together tomorrows issue of the Weekly Thing (https://weekly.thingelstad.com) . 👨💻
Friday @ 7:17 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/18/closed-on-the.html)
Closed on the sale of our old house. Now done with the moving stuff. Time to get settled into the new house. 🙌
Friday @ 7:15 PM (https://micro.thingelstad.com/2019/01/18/got-a-nd.html)
Got a 2nd HomePod and am trying out a stereo pair. They sound incredibly good for the size.
Fortune 🥠
You’ve made it all the way to the end! 👏 Here is your fortune for this week.
You will soon forget this.
Thank you for subscribing to the Weekly Thing (https://weekly.thingelstad.com/) !
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