Summer is here, kind of
Personal web, djing, thrillers, and stories learned
Summer is Here (Kind of)
Highlights of the last 2 months
- I played several shows, including my first festival and a set for the Music Day
- I biked for 45km around Rennes with a friend
- I spent time with my girlfriend, including visiting Dinard
- I spend some quality time with friends
- I made progress on my new website
- I read a lot
What I liked consuming the last 2 months
Let's dive now into what I consumed the last 2 months and especially liked
Articles
In terms of articles, I read a lot of articles on the topic of the Internet, which is one of my favorite topics currently.
How do you accidentally run for President of Iceland? - Anna Andersen
How switching to the digital endorsement process went wrong in Iceland.
The hikikomori in Asia who withdraw from society: A life within four walls. - CNN
The Hikikomori were only known in Asian countries but have spread around the world in the last few years. As loneliness gets worse, this is an important topic for our generation and CNN did a great article on the specific topic of hikikomori.
"It's not clear how many hikikomori there are worldwide, but more than 1.5 million are estimated to live in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea." - CNN.
Own Your Web - Matthias Ott
If like me you want to learn more about the web outside social media and want to take part in it, I highly recommend this newsletter to start with. If you want to chat more about this topic, feel free to respond to this email, that is one of my favorite topics right now!
"Whether you want to get started with your own personal website or level up as a designer, developer, or independent creator working with the ever-changing material of the Web, this little email is for you."- Matthias Ott.
Tiny number of 'supersharers' spread the vast majority of fake news - Kai Kupferschmidt
Fake news is such a huge problem online and studies found that it starts from just a small number of people. With elections in France right now, and some coming up in other countries like the UK and the US, studying this problem is extremely important.
"Less than 1% of Twitter users posted 80% of misinformation about the 2020 U.S. presidential election"
The aesthetic of productivity - Atlas
As someone who sometimes consumes too much content around productivity, I fell for this a lot. 10 Notion templates to supercharge your productivity, 6 am productive morning routine, …
Boring is good - Cory Dransfeldt
A great companion for the previous article is this one. Looking for boring products is sometimes what you need. In terms of products, I now look for the product that will do 80% of what I need, because in the past, I was always checking the latest new shiny tool to find the missing 20%.
La complexité de la simplicité - Ploum
My friend Marius made me discover the writing of Ploum and I spent a day reading everything he wrote on this blog. Lots of interesting topics written about!
With the 2 previous articles, you focus on the simplicity that is sometimes missing, the trend of overengineering products even if it becomes detrimental. I would add another article to the list, the file-over-app philosophy by Steph Ango from Obsidian. It is more complex than just going for the simplest tools, it's about listing your needs and focusing on the tool that answers them.
Chapitre 5 : le plaisir coupable de l'exploration - Ploum
As someone who describes himself as a full-time curious, the topic of exploration is important to me. The article is on something I fell for, discovering lots of interesting content, but not taking the time to consume it, and create things from it. This newsletter is an experiment I am doing to fight that.
"L'addiction à cette constante nouveauté, couplée avec l'ubiquité d'une connexion mobile permanente, a rapidement fait disparaitre la moindre minute de vide, d'ennui, de rien. Depuis les toilettes à la récupération après un jogging dans le parc ou la file d'attente au supermarché, chaque minute qui était auparavant « intellectuellement gaspillée » peut désormais être remplie d'une quelconque nouveauté aléatoire. Ou, tout au moins, d'une quête de ce genre de nouveautés. […]
Malheureusement, les idées ne naissent que dans le terreau du rien, du vide, de l'ennui." - Ploum
Curiosity is a Choice - Joan Westenberg
To continue on the topic of curiosity and exploration, a post from the great blog of Joan Westenberg.
"Curiosity is a choice. It's a choice to listen more than we speak. To crave understanding more than victory. To get OK with the discomfort of not having all the answers. […]
Social media, in its current form, isn't designed for curiosity. It's designed for engagement, which quite often means reinforcing what we already believe." - Joan Westenberg.
An App Can Be A Home-cooked Meal - Robin Sloan
Building an app doesn't always mean creating the next Snapchat. You can just build an app to solve a personal need in your daily life.
Influencer scholarships in Indonesia spark concerns about use of student aid - SCMP
What if your scholarship was based on the number of TikTok followers you have?
Paying tribute to the web with View Source - DHH
Most people start building on the web by checking the source code of a website they like. That's an important aspect of the openness of the web in my opinion.
Own Your Scroll - Uncountable Thoughts
I have been owning more and more my scroll. If you want to do the same, the blog post could be a start.
The IndieWeb's next stage? - Tracy Durnell
I am so excited about the future of the IndieWeb, and Tracy Durnell shares a bit about what it could be about.
From FOMO to JOMO: The Joy of Missing out - Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Saying no when you are used to saying yes to everything to not miss something. If you have been there, this article is for you.
Building a sustainable website for Dodonut using Astro JS - Bejamas
I am currently rebuilding my personal website with Astro so this article was nice to read some technical experience and learnings.
Books
I read a lot the past few times so here are some of my favorite ones! You can find the others on my Goodreads.
The Miracle of Mindfulness - Thich Nhat Hanh
As I spend more time meditating and learning about it, I have wanted to learn about it from monks instead of the latest self-help book author. That's why I started reading Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, author, and more, and plan to read more from him in the future.
Rêver - Frank Thiliez
A thriller from Frank Thiliez, on the topic of dreams, say no more!
Before she Disappeared - Lisa Gardner
If you read previous issues of this newsletter, you know I love Lisa Gardner's books!
When I found a new series from her, I had to start reading and it didn't disappoint. You follow someone who dedicates her life to helping solve missing people when the police have stopped making progress.
L'affaire Alaska Sanders and le Livre des Baltimore - Joel Dicker
In addition to Lisa Gardner, I also love Joel Dicker's writing so I read the tomes 2 and 3 of the Marcus Goldman series, which started with the famous The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. I recommend both, you won't be disappointed if you like his writing.
Innocent - Harlan Coben
I liked this book so watched the Netflix adaptation which I also recommend if you like thrillers.
Trois - Valérie Perrin
Videos
Do Bad Reviews Kill Companies - MKBHD
La MEGA Vie de Kim Dotcom - Sylvqin
I Am A Mosaic of Everyone I've Ever Loved
I love discovering random channels. I find this video very beautiful yet quite simple (simple in a good way).
The Seven Phases of Madness
A short movie on the emotions you feel when you bike a long distance. I love the funny side of it.
Changing Gen Alpha's Relationship With Smartphones - Jules Terpak
Currently reading Jonathan Haidt's book The Anxious Generation so wanted to hear him first talk on this important topic. Very interesting conversation with the talented Jules Terpak.
The Weird, Terrible Smartphones They Only Have in North Korea
Comment la NASA Code Sans Bug
Why The Ocean Looks So Fake on Google Maps
The Hunt for Europe's Most Wanted Criminal - Fern
Felix Radu - Ma Mère
A love song to someone's mom.
Stealing $1 Billion: The Woman Who Almost Got Away - Johnny Harris
What Happened to Sam Kolder? - Sam Kolder
Sam Kolder has been someone I was following very closely years ago so it's cool to learn about how he changed as he grew. (It is always a masterpiece when he is shooting and editing something)
HOT ONES: Pierre Niney n'a Peur de Rien - Studio Bagel
Sublimez le Code de Votre SaaS avec Perfectionist - Julien Le Coupanec
I didn't know about this cool tool, useful for any web developer. Thanks for sharing. You should check his Youtube channel.
The World's Most Mysterious Underground City - Yes Theory
eBay Leur a Fait Vivre un Enfer - Sylvqin
Lettre d'amour à Minecraft - EGO
Another one from the same creator on the topic of Minecraft.
Movies
Fiasco
In Her Name (Au Nom de Ma Fille)
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Innocent
After reading the book, I watched the Netflix adaptation which is quite good. There are always more details in a book, but the series does a great job of telling the book's storyline.
On se revoit à Paris | Decathlon
Music
Odymel - Hot Stuff
Stargazing - Myles Smith
Other
Phone Wall
A Chinese campaign on the topic of smartphones creating disconnection between people (including children).
A Meditation Companion Concept Designed to Give You Headspace - Pascal Grangier
As someone using Headspace for meditation, I found this meditation companion concept interesting, bringing some physicality to an app by creating a meditation device for practice.
"This explores the place of digital in our world. It aims to question our reliance on centralized smartphones and encourages a shift towards a more hands-on, physical approach." - Pascal Grangier.
Below the Surface - The Archaeological Finds of the North / Southline
Here are all the things found while working on the North/South metro line of Amsterdam, displayed on a website.
The Time I Built an ROV to Solve Missing Person Cases - Suanto
My friend Julien shared this with me and some friends. The story of how 2 brothers helped solve 2 missing person cases by building an ROV.
End of the Internet
There is an end to the Internet, and it is right there!
What I'm up to the next 2 months
- I am spending time with my family
- I am doubling down on job applications
- I am traveling a bit for some quality time with close ones
- I am starting a new 10k running program to improve my PR
- I am celebrating the first year of my DJ collective and finishing the season before a 2-month break
- Focusing on making again meditation a habit
And that's it for this July 2024 issue of Full-Time Curious. If you enjoyed reading this bimonthly issue, you can like this newsletter by clicking the heart below, subscribe or respond to this email so we can chat.
Thanks for reading and see you in 2 months!
Alexandre
Full-Time Curious