[A Pleasurable Headache] carbon per kilobyte
The last few weeks have been marred by chaotic periods at the day job, jumbled sleep patterns and every other obstacle you can think of for being productive. I'm seeing it as good prep for when the baby arrives. Onto the links? Absolutely.
Links
Telegram: The Social Network Where Conspiracies Meet
https://www.logically.ai/articles/telegram-where-conspiracies-meet
The first of two pieces on Telegram that I read in the last fortnight. This piece at Logically talks about the influx of anti-vaxxers and the far-right recently.
How Telegram Became the Anti-Facebook
https://www.wired.com/story/how-telegram-became-anti-facebook/
This Wired piece, on the other hand, is much more in depth. It goes into the influx of new users, as well as the origins of the company itself and the intrigue surrounding the somehwat cultish sounding figure at the top, Pavel Durov.
Assessing the State of U.K. COVID Conspiracy Telegram
https://www.logically.ai/articles/the-state-of-uk-anti-covid-vax-conspiracy-telegram
Then there's this second piece from Logically that breaks down the many disparate nodes of conspiracy minded Telegram groups (both national and local) fuelling Covid conspiracies in the UK.
Like billionaire-controlled media, The Guardian misinforms its readers on the UK’s role in world
Mark Curtis on The Guardian, a paper often heralded as a bastion of the liberal and the left here in Britain. Curtis' piece analyses some of its recent foreign policy content, showing that Britain's more nefarious activities and practices are often left out of the picture.
Ada Palmer and the Weird Hand of Progress
https://www.wired.com/story/ada-palmer-sci-fi-future-weird-hand-progress/
A fantastic profile by Wired of sci-fi author Ada Palmer.
What It’s Like to Attend the Brits as a Non-Celeb
https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgd4ka/brit-awards-2022-guests-tickets-experience
Joel Golby is a national treasure.
Project Sustainable Cloud
http://www.projectsustainable.cloud/
This week's link on simpler, slower ways of using the web and considering the tech that powers the tools we use.
In Argentina, cheap government-issued netbooks sparked a musical renaissance
https://restofworld.org/2021/argentina-netbooks-music/
In the mid 2010s the Argentinian government gave out a bunch of cheap, basic netbooks to students. This had a profound impact on those receiving the tech, empowering them to make their own music by giving them the tools and means to do so.
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Right, I'm off to assemble a Billy bookcase blindfolded in five minutes or less. See you in two!