Hi, and thanks for joining me here again!

This newsletter is half like my version of Kottke's Media Diet pieces (which are quite interesting in themselves) and half me showing you articles that I find very interesting. Let's see what we have this month…

How Google Engineers Took Down Internet Explorer

This piece was big in the tech news circuit in early May: A Conspiracy To Kill IE6. It reads something like a report of a bank robbery or similar heist, at least to a software engineer. Plenty of intrigue went into this cloak & dagger scheme, and they ultimately got away with it!

Do We Really Want Affordable Housing?
CityLab writes some very interesting articles about what make cities function well. This one, Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment, continues that trend. The TL;DR is that when housing is a good investment (outpacing interest rates) then it tends to become unaffordable. Furthermore, they argue, policies have tended to prioritize the "Good Investment" side over affordability, despite what we may think.

Park Your Desk In This Spot
On a lighthearted note, A Rogue Coder Turned a Parking Spot into a Coworking Space and People Loved It - VICE. I really like this idea, and some other related efforts, like turning a parking space into a tiny park. There seems to be some consensus that if we want to have cities that are future-proof, they need to prioritize pedestrians more. These cheeky folks are using the existing car infrastructure to highlight alternate possibilities for public space.

Getting To The Bottom Of Trashy Links
Extremely high quality journalism here: This gut doctor begs every American to throw out this vegetable now - Vox. You may have seen the links at the bottom of many websites with provocative images and titles similar to this one… Click through to read more about why these exist and whatnot. In case you just want the answer without reading much more: It's corn!

Which Other Countries Don't Let Felons Vote?
I've been a supporter of the ACLU for a couple years now, and this piece is a great example of the type of work I appreciate: The Racist Roots of Denying Incarcerated People Their Right to Vote - American Civil Liberties Union. In short, the idea of denying felons and incarcerated people the right to vote is a descendant of Jim Crow laws meant to give states a way to deny African-American people their vote in the post-civil-war South. Fun fact: The USA is the only country that revokes voting for life!

Maybe These Tools Will Help You
The Best Free Apps and Software You're Not Already Using - Gizmodo
I forget what I was looking for when I landed here, but there's some good apps that may help your various workflows on your phone and computer.

Launching Garments Faster Than Ever
Finally, something different: How The Milwaukee Bucks And A Former Wedding DJ Won The T-Shirt Cannon Arms Race - Deadspin. Despite the silly headline, this actually has some interesting facts, like how NBA games spend more money to keep fans entertained during pauses in play than other sports. Also, there's a massive T-Shirt Cannon.

Phew! I almost broke a sweat writing up all those links. I really hope at least one of them is interesting to you, and as usual, I'd love to hear back about which thing(s) you liked. You can reply here or tweet to me: @alexweberis.