[a pleasurable headache] don't create systems that obfuscate waste
A pocket-sized edition this week.
Links
Universal Soldier? The Emersonian Combat Experience of Terrence Malick’s ‘The Thin Red Line’
https://cinephiliabeyond.org/the-thin-red-line/
An old link, but a great one. Cinephilia & Beyond do a deep dive (collecting interviews and other paraphenaia) about Malick’s masterpiece The Thin Red Line, one of my all time favourite movies.
Extremely Hardcore
https://www.theverge.com/23551060/elon-musk-twitter-takeover-layoffs-workplace-salute-emoji
Twitter is a mess right now. Here’s the inside scoop - an endless parade of bad decisions by a man who is not very smart.
“Word quickly spread that a significant number of employees were going to say no to being “extremely hardcore.” After weeks of trying to get rid of as many employees as possible, Musk and his advisers were suddenly in the awkward position of needing to convince a subset of them to stay. They met with small groups of senior engineers to hear their concerns. But to many, Musk’s handling of the initial layoffs, coupled with the lack of details about what staying for Twitter 2.0 would entail, had soured them for good. As one once-loyal engineer put it, “Fuck Elon Musk.”
Follow this up with the very recent ban on third party applications using the Twitter API to access the service and the site is effectively done for many people. Tweetbot was perhaps one of the very few things left making the site bearable. Now it’s gone.
Genuine Risk, Winning Colors, and Regret at the Kentucky Derby
https://www.gawker.com/culture/genuine-risk-winning-colors-regret-at-the-kentucky-derby
Jamie Loftus is an American institution.
“My dad, the former dog racing ticket-taker, texts c’mon Jame, you went all the way to the Derby and you’re not gonna bet on a horse? I’m about to tell him no, I’m bad at math and it makes me nervous, but looking at the last $12 I pulled from the ATM that morning, I figure he’s right. “There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism!” I hear a coworker from 100 years ago chirp across another dimension, not realizing her gums were bleeding from lack of dental insurance while she said it. She might have been me, I’m not sure.”
permacomputing/principles
https://permacomputing.net/Principles/
I’ve spoken many times about sustainable tech in this newsletter, so it was cool to find this website that speaks to many of the things I constantly harp on about to anyone who will listen.
“Create low-power systems that strengthens the biosphere and use the wide-area network sparingly. Minimize the use of artificial energy, fossil fuels and mineral resources. Don’t create systems that obfuscate waste.”
Some Ideas for How to Save Short Fiction!
https://buttondown.email/charliejane/archive/some-ideas-for-how-to-save-short-fiction/
Charlie Jane Anders speak briefly about Amazon’s recent decision to end it’s subscription programme for magazines, including many short fiction publications. The rest of the newsletter raises some ideas for how to save such publications moving forward.
The newsletter also links to this newsletter from Andrew Liptak on the challenges of running a short genre fiction magazine.
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Right, I’m off to pull myself from the depths of exhaustion and burnout. See you in two!