The Weekly Review: Vol VII Issue 9
Hi friends!
Things are slowly starting to reopen around here and I like some of the changes that are happening. An especially poignant example is how teachers are now having to be remote-first. As schools slowly expand what’s happening within their walls, teachers are finding themselves having some kids in class, while others are still at home.
My son’s grade 6 teacher said it well:
I still have to put stuff online, so I’m going to act like everyone is still at home. I’m not doing everything twice!
That’s remote-first! Of course, he’ll be speaking to the kids in the classroom and doing activities with them. But all communication and materials will be available and accessed with the digital tools that everyone has embraced over the past 7–8 weeks.
This struck me as a great change. It makes sense for both teachers and students, and by extension, parents.
Working in on iPad
As I mentioned in the previous issue, I’ve returned to using an iPad after a period of about five years. I don’t have any kind of a full-fledged review for you, but I do have a collection of thoughts that have come to mind in my usage.
The keyboard I went inexpensive on this purchase, grabbing the base model of the new iPad. That means the Magic Keyboard was not an option. Instead, I purchased a Smart Keyboard and a Pencil.
While most people in my circles are raving about the Magic Keybaord, I’ll say I like the cheaper option. When I first took it out of the box, I was not so sure. But apart from its tendency to not sit totally flat, it’s been enjoyable. I find typing on it far better than typing on my MacBook’s butterfly keys (thought not quite as good as typing on my external keyboard).
The Pencil I have no idea when to use this — I’m not sure I needed one. I purchased a notes app that can make use of the Pencil, but I haven’t once found myself wanting to get it out.
The ability to focus I love the friction of OS. Yes, I can do more now on an iPad with multiple apps than previously. But while the OS has expanded its capabilities here, it still feels so much more focused. When I’m in an app, there aren’t quite so many things ready to take my attention
Overall, there is a lot to like about working on the iPad. The improvements to the operating system, the inclusion of Files, and the third party applications truly allow one to do most of the things you need to on a desktop.
What to reach for? After several weeks, I’m a little unsure how to fit the iPad into my workflow. I like working on it to write, largely due to the constraints of the OS. But after the first week, I found myself most often reaching to grab my MacBook to do work. That was unexpected.
I’m not 100% sure why this is the case, but it does have to do with some things being harder to do on the iPad. For instance, working with my Git set-up is something I haven’t even considered trying to do on the iPad yet. So it may be related to the fact I haven’t fully looked into how to do all the things that are a normal part of my workday.
I realized also that Roam Research plays a part in this. As I slowly adopt it for more things, this adds to the desire to work on the MacBook as Roam does not (yet) play super will with iPadOS. I hope that changes, as the prime activities I want to use Roam for benefit from a distraction-free environment.
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Items of note
The economics of 24/7 lo-fi hip-hop Youtube livestreams
Since I spent a lot of time enjoying Chilled Cow in 2019, this article was of interest. Cherie Hue notes that these types of channels are immensely popular, but what about the economics?
Today, I’d like to focus on an angle that has not been explored in depth yet: how, if at all, do the artists, labels and curators in this scene sustain themselves financially? And how are they approaching their future growth and evolution, as the lo-fi hip-hop economy becomes ever more saturated and commoditized?
It’s a fascinating exploration, and a good reminder that the internet has enabled massive change in swift fashion. Things that worked 20 years ago sure don’t today; that’s not a surprising statement. But what about 2 years ago? Web economics operate on compressed timelines.
I feel old reading stuff like this!
The Weirdly Enduring Appeal of Weird Al Yankovic
Sticking to the theme of music, I loved this overview of the life and times of Weird Al.
As his name suggested, Weird Al’s comedy operated right at the hot spot of my childhood agonies: weirdness versus normalcy, insider versus outsider. What a Weird Al parody did was enact a tiny revolution. It took the whole glamorous architecture of American mainstream cool — Michael Jackson’s otherworldly moves, Madonna’s sexual taboos — and extracted all of the coolness. Into that void, Weird Al inserted the least cool person in the world: himself. And by proxy, all the rest of us weirdos, along with our uncool lives.
I wasn’t a huge fan myself, but my childhood best friend sure was. We listened to a lot of those albums in the 80’s, and quite enjoyed UHF (especially Conan the Librarian and Stanley Spadowski, masterfully portrayed by Michael Richards (aka Kramer from Seinfeld)).
But you don’t have to be a fan of his music to appreciate Weird Al’s influence and longevity.
A short history of bi-directional links
Maggie Appleton does a nice job digging into the topic of links that work in two directions. The post is inspired by all the hubbub about Roam Research, but she only mentions it at the top. The rest of the article dives nicely into the history of this concept:
So the idea went into hiberation, and didn’t resurface until personal computing began blooming in the early sixties. Ted Nelson took inspiration from Vannevar’s ideas and coined the term hypertext to describe his vision for a sprawling network of interlinking text. Nelson planned to implement these hypertextual dreams in his perpetually-imminent Project Xanadu. The Xanadu system imagined that every sentence, block, and page would be part of a vast bi-directionally linked network…
She refers to the idea of the digital garden, a publicly shared collection of one’s half finished thoughts and notes. I’m not sure I’d call it that — why not just call it a blog? Posts/articles do not need to be perfect, nor do they need to reflect your final stance on a topic.
I’ll have more to say on that another day.
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Quote of the week
For infovores, text, in contrast to photos or videos or music, is the medium of choice from a velocity standpoint. There is deep satisfaction in quickly decoding the textual information, the scan rate is self-governed on the part of the reader, unlike other mediums which unfold at their own pace (this is especially the case with video, which infovores hate for its low scannability).
Eugene Wei, Invisible asymptotes
This quote came to mind earlier in the week. I was enjoying the tone and aesthetic of Drew Coffman’s recent forays into video (or rather, vlogging), but was struck how I enjoy them less than reading Drew’s blog posts. Text is by far my preferred medium. No matter how good the quality of the audio or video someone creates.
I’ve been working my way through Nat Eliason’s course on Roam Research, and mostly hating it. Not the content, but just having to sit there and watch a video. Even at 1.5 speed, it’s far longer than reading the same content. I recognize this is a matter of preference and learning styles.
The popularity of Youtubers and podcasts is proof that there are millions of people who love those mediums. I’m simply not one of them.
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Currently
Watching. After the Mandalorian, the kids all expressed interest in all the Star Wars movies. This was a bit of surprise as they’ve never shown interest in the past, and they all considered the newest three episodes “just ok”. However, they’ve enjoyed them more than any of us expected. Even despite the older technology.
On that topic, I was struck by how dated The Phantom Menace looks now. In comparison, we just started A New Hope this week and it feels timeless, and a marvel considered how much earlier it was created and what technologies were available. While the kids have enjoyed themselves, I found episodes I through III even worse than I remembered.
Now that I’ve worked myself up, I need to finish this section off with something more positive. We recently finished the newest adaptation of Little Women. I wasn’t sure what I’d think as I’m a big fan of the first film (with Winona Ryder and Christian Bale). But this version was, I dare say, almost as good. Saoirse Ronan is a force on the screen. Highly recommended.
Eugene Wei well sums up how this version uses time in a fascinating fashion (see his comments at the end of the newsletter).
Listening: Brahms. Sometimes I need to get back to the classics, and there’s no composer I enjoy more. This 3-disc album includes lovely renditions of all my favourite symphony’s of his.
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Waiting in line at a local organic food store, my wife suddenly became the recipient of an older gentleman’s many theories of why world events were happening as they were. “Don’t drink the water!” He explained everything from the cause of COVID-19 to the inner workings of the Canadian government, with the state of our city’s water thrown in. She listened politely before carrying on with her day.
As our days slowly start to resemble a shape we are more familiar with, I pray you experience peace and unity in your communities. Let’s be nice to each other, even with — especially with — those whose opinions differ far from our own.