WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.376 The Weekly Thing, issue 60. Jun 30, twenty eighteen. Published June 30, twenty eighteen. By Jamie Thingelstad. In this issue: Formula 1 averages, Legend of Nintendo, a16z crypto, Atul Gawande health care, REST versus GraphQL, Intel integration, machine learning. 00:00:17.976 --> 00:00:29.421 I don't have a lot to update on this week, and there are no features or changes to the Weekly Thing for me to share and have a meta update around. Have a great weekend and enjoy the links below! 00:00:30.821 --> 00:00:32.719 Now, the Featured Links section. 00:00:33.319 --> 00:00:38.134 Link one. In Formula 1, you have to be amazing just to be average, The Verge. 00:00:38.634 --> 00:00:42.414 Some nice pictures and behind the scenes look into Formula 1. 00:00:43.314 --> 00:00:47.930 Link two. How Silicon Valley is responding to the immigration crisis, Recode. 00:00:48.430 --> 00:01:15.777 I am often very critical of Facebook, but this is an example of something that would definitely not happen without Facebook. This fundraiser started by trying to raise 1,500 dollars for RAICES to fund legal support for families separated at the border. Within 2 days they had raised 1 million dollars and are now over 20 million dollars! I bypassed Facebook, but appreciated them highlighting this organization and donated myself. 00:01:16.677 --> 00:01:19.311 Link three. The Legend of Nintendo, Bloomberg. 00:01:19.811 --> 00:01:33.299 An in-depth background on Nintendo. I find Nintendo a very interesting company with such a rich history. I’m happy that the Switch is experiencing strong growth. Nintendo, for me, captures the essence of fun in games. 00:01:34.699 --> 00:01:36.547 That's the end of Featured Links. 00:01:37.947 --> 00:01:39.861 Now, the My Weekly Photo section. 00:01:40.461 --> 00:01:54.498 When you walk around Lake Harriet in South Minneapolis there is this tree on the south end of the lake that has a fairy house built in the bottom of it. It's such an awesome idea and it adds a little bit of magic to your walk. 00:01:54.998 --> 00:02:05.346 Fairy house in the base of a tree. June 24, twenty eighteen at 8:03 PM Lake Harriet, 4869–4899 W Lake Harriet Pkwy, Minneapolis MN. 00:02:06.746 --> 00:02:08.803 That's the end of My Weekly Photo. 00:02:10.203 --> 00:02:12.051 Now, the Notable Links section. 00:02:12.651 --> 00:02:16.467 Link one. Click ‘Delete’ to Save Your Soul, The New York Times. 00:02:16.967 --> 00:02:27.918 Review of Jaron Lanier's new book Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. The book itself does not get a glowing review, but it comes with a punch at the end. 00:02:28.418 --> 00:02:44.891 Quote. Only at the very end does Lanier venture into new territory. His argument, however, is a profound one. He worries that our reliance on big tech companies is ruining our capacity for spirituality, by turning us into robotic extensions of their machines. End quote. 00:02:45.391 --> 00:02:49.902 If you are less versed in the debate about social media the book may be more novel. 00:02:50.802 --> 00:02:55.643 Link two. Watch Apple CEO Tim Cook Speak at Fortune’s CEO Initiative, YouTube. 00:02:56.143 --> 00:03:04.471 I turn into more of a Tim Cook fanboy every time I watch an interview with him. Very eloquent, direct answers to the topics discussed. 00:03:05.371 --> 00:03:08.294 Link three. Paul McCartney Carpool Karaoke, YouTube. 00:03:08.794 --> 00:03:12.519 Make your day, just watch the absolute genuine Paul McCartney. 00:03:13.419 --> 00:03:16.875 Link four. Introducing a16z crypto, a16zcrypto. 00:03:17.375 --> 00:03:20.655 Andreessen Horowitz launches a new crypto focused fund. 00:03:21.155 --> 00:03:31.463 Quote. Today we are announcing the launch of a16z crypto, a 300 million dollars venture fund that will invest in crypto companies and protocols. End quote. 00:03:32.363 --> 00:03:37.152 Link five. How Atul Gawande landed the most extraordinary job in health care. 00:03:37.652 --> 00:03:52.098 I've read a number of Atul Gawande's books and he has always impressed me as an incredibly talented and smart person. He also seems to have an infinite amount of energy. Him joining this very well funded healthcare venture is very interesting. 00:03:52.998 --> 00:03:55.446 Link six. Fear of missing out, Wikipedia. 00:03:55.946 --> 00:04:03.530 This is the thing that keeps people from disengaging with social media. It’s good to name it, understand it, so you can manage it. 00:04:04.430 --> 00:04:08.126 Link seven. REST versus GraphQL: A Critical Review, Good API. 00:04:08.626 --> 00:04:13.584 An argument for using GraphQL for API development, and that it’s easier than REST. 00:04:14.084 --> 00:04:29.154 Quote. Here is the idea: If you have never heard about the REST architectural style constraints and their implication on the properties of the resulting distributed system and you do not want to (or can’t) educate yourself, use GraphQL. End quote. 00:04:30.054 --> 00:04:34.694 Link eight. Intel and the Danger of Integration, Stratechery by Ben Thompson. 00:04:35.194 --> 00:04:42.794 Keen observations on the very difficult spot that Intel is in. For the first time ever they are following others in fabrication. 00:04:43.694 --> 00:04:47.708 Link nine. The Sweet Setup Guide to Cutting the Cord, The Sweet Setup. 00:04:48.208 --> 00:05:10.144 Thorough guide to various options for getting rid of cable TV (or satellite TV). I cut the cord in two thousand nine. The options now are great. I've long had an Apple TV attached to each TV we have. I've recently gotten the HDHomeRun referenced here and am using it with Plex on my Synology NAS. We also have Netflix, Hulu and HBO Now subscriptions. 00:05:11.044 --> 00:05:14.836 Link ten. Ways to think about machine learning, Benedict Evans. 00:05:15.336 --> 00:05:22.825 A grounded, reality-based view of the potential of machine learning and how we should be thinking about it in solutions. 00:05:23.325 --> 00:05:41.582 Quote. So, this is a good grounding way to think about ML today - it’s a step change in what we can do with computers, and that will be part of many different products for many different companies. Eventually, pretty much everything will have ML somewhere inside and no-one will care. End quote. 00:05:42.082 --> 00:05:44.146 I like the pragmatic views in this. 00:05:45.046 --> 00:05:47.926 Link eleven. Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance. 00:05:48.426 --> 00:05:56.838 The CEO of littlebits, an immigrant and refuge, taking a position on the despicable separation of children from their parents at the border. 00:05:57.338 --> 00:06:12.740 Quote. History will judge us if we sit still and allow this to happen. Our kids will not forgive us if we don’t stand up for them. Our conscience will not rest if we allow something so basically human to appear partisan. We must speak out. End quote. 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:17.023 It’s good to see tech companies taking positions on important matters. 00:06:17.923 --> 00:06:21.536 Link twelve. Why do I procrastinate, And How to Stop Right Away. 00:06:22.036 --> 00:06:34.769 Interesting set of questions to categorize why you might not be working on something. I plugged in my perennial favorite "Clean the garage" and got back that "Lack of value" is why I’m not getting it done. 00:06:35.669 --> 00:06:39.221 Link thirteen. To-Do: Find a Better To-Do List, Doodle Blog. 00:06:39.721 --> 00:06:56.096 Tips for managing your to do list more efficiently. I do the "If/Then" on my lists. I'll have something like "Take multivitamin, if at home" for example. The "Have-Done" concept is easily done in a tool like OmniFocus. I’m less into ideas like the "1-3-5 list". 00:06:56.996 --> 00:07:02.156 Link fourteen. A Supervised Approach To The Interpretation Of Imperative To-Do Lists. 00:07:02.656 --> 00:07:16.734 Interesting machine analysis of "to do" lists. It surprises me that more research hasn't been done in this area, but understandably there is not a lot of data to pull out. To Do's are very short, so understanding intent could be hard. 00:07:17.234 --> 00:07:52.119 Quote. To-do lists are a popular medium for personal information management. As to-do tasks are increasingly tracked in electronic form with mobile and desk- top organizers, so does the potential for software support for the corresponding tasks by means of intelligent agents. While there has been work in the area of personal assistants for to-do tasks, no work has focused on classifying user intention and information extraction as we do. We show that our methods per- form well across two corpora that span sub-domains, one of which we released. End quote. 00:07:52.619 --> 00:08:03.581 This approach would also benefit from tuning over time. People tend to develop "shorthands" that they use in their To Do's and a system could learn those and tune to each person over time. 00:08:04.481 --> 00:08:07.884 Link fifteen. Smarter, Not Harder: How to Succeed at Work. 00:08:08.384 --> 00:08:14.527 Get focus in what you do. I love the 96 blocks a day idea, and choosing what you do with these. 00:08:15.427 --> 00:08:18.619 Link sixteen. Service Mesh and Cookpad, Envoy Proxy. 00:08:19.119 --> 00:08:33.133 I like that this article is written from more of an "average" company perspective. Service mesh is a powerful and useful capability, but it is less interesting to me how giant tech companies use it. I want to know how average companies use it. 00:08:34.033 --> 00:08:39.886 Link seventeen. We’ve Come a Long Way in 30 Years (But You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet!), Wolfram Blog. 00:08:40.386 --> 00:08:50.904 Mathematica has been around for 30 years -- wow! When I read Wolfram's thoughts on Mathematica I always feel like he is onto something much bigger than I can comprehend. 00:08:51.804 --> 00:08:57.685 Link eighteen. An Invisible Rating System At Your Favorite Chain Restaurant Is Costing Your Server. 00:08:58.185 --> 00:09:14.884 This is a great example of the unintended consequences of more technology in the workplace, and making uninformed decisions with the technology. People who understand how rating systems work, and the things that influence them, would never suggest you evaluate a servers performance on it. 00:09:16.284 --> 00:09:18.180 That's the end of Notable Links. 00:09:19.580 --> 00:09:21.138 Now, the Give Back section. 00:09:21.738 --> 00:09:59.756 Minnestar is the technology community for Minnesota. If you are passionate about technology you need to go to Minnebar and Minnedemo. Did you know that Minnebar is the largest BarCamp in North America and one of the largest in the world? Its also been going on for over 10 years? Minnedemo is the best place to hear about innovative tech and fun projects in the Twin Cities area. I am on the Minnestar board and I focus on Minnestar as one of the driving forces improving and expanding the technology community in the area. Minnestar is a 501c3 non-profit. Become a Community Supporter today! 00:10:01.156 --> 00:10:02.644 That's the end of Give Back. 00:10:04.044 --> 00:10:04.956 Now, more links. 00:10:05.556 --> 00:10:14.888 First, A one size fits all database doesn't fit anyone - All Things Distributed www.allthingsdistributed.com Overview of the various database offerings of AWS. 00:10:15.388 --> 00:10:28.852 Second, macOS Mojave: Back to the Mac - Six Colors sixcolors.com Fantastic overview of both big and small new things in macOS Mojave. I wasn't very intrigued by the news on Mojave, but these improvements look solid. 00:10:29.352 --> 00:10:38.576 Third, molten: modern API framework moltenframework.com molten is a minimal, extensible, fast and productive framework for building HTTP APIs with Python. 00:10:39.076 --> 00:10:47.418 Fourth, America’s Millennials Are Waking Up to a Grim Financial Future - Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com I wish these graphs looked better. 00:10:47.918 --> 00:10:57.962 Fifth, how To Fall Asleep And Why We Need More: Shots - Health News: NPR www.npr.org I read the book, but this article captures some of the key points in snippet form. 00:10:58.462 --> 00:11:10.151 Sixth, Self-Hosted Developer Bliss - Home - Bruno Antunes blog.nootch.net Great collection of various tools for running your own infrastructure. I hadn't heard of dokku but it looks great. 00:11:10.651 --> 00:11:18.866 Seventh, young people still love Twitter — as screenshots on Instagram - The Verge www.theverge.com The social web of meaninglessness. 00:11:20.266 --> 00:11:21.827 That's the end of More Links. 00:11:23.227 --> 00:11:24.864 Now, the Microposts section. 00:11:25.464 --> 00:11:27.168 Thursday @ 7:32 PM. 00:11:27.668 --> 00:11:29.804 First clematis flower of the year. 00:11:30.704 --> 00:11:32.305 Tuesday @ 9:15 PM. 00:11:32.805 --> 00:11:46.956 I contributed to RAICES Bond Fund to help reunite immigrant children separated from their families after listening to this podcast on responding to the immigration crisis. They’ve raised over 20 million dollars and still going. 00:11:47.856 --> 00:11:49.423 Monday @ 9:39 PM. 00:11:49.923 --> 00:11:55.366 Introducing Mazie to the 1980’s by watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Classic. 00:11:56.266 --> 00:11:57.898 Monday @ 8:38 PM. 00:11:58.398 --> 00:12:03.873 We had a fun time beating The Search for Atlantis at Escape Frenzy! Another escape room down! 00:12:04.773 --> 00:12:06.377 Sunday @ 9:56 PM. 00:12:06.877 --> 00:12:16.119 We dropped Tyler off for his first overnight camp. Just two nights. Experienced some nervousness and anxiety as we sent him off, but Tyler seemed okay. 00:12:17.019 --> 00:12:18.651 Sunday @ 9:35 PM. 00:12:19.151 --> 00:12:20.994 Tyler scoring a run this weekend. 00:12:21.894 --> 00:12:23.526 Sunday @ 9:34 PM. 00:12:24.026 --> 00:12:26.173 Urban fishing on Lake Harriet tonight. 00:12:27.073 --> 00:12:28.849 Saturday @ 6:13 PM. 00:12:29.349 --> 00:12:39.225 Took my Canon 5D Mark II with the 70-200 f/2.8L to Tyler’s baseball game today. Good reminder of how far iPhone photography has to go. 00:12:40.625 --> 00:12:42.322 That's the end of Microposts. 00:12:43.722 --> 00:12:45.115 Now, the Fortune section. 00:12:45.715 --> 00:12:47.268 Here is your fortune for this week. 00:12:47.768 --> 00:12:49.033 Don't blow your own trumpet. 00:12:49.533 --> 00:12:51.940 Thank you for subscribing to the Weekly Thing! 00:12:53.340 --> 00:12:59.842 That brings us to the end of the Weekly Thing, issue 60. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.