- Is Trump Actually Still in Control? It's funny to me that Trump is too dangerous to be on Twitter, but apparently not too dangerous to be the president of the United States of America. That guy has nuclear launch codes. #
- Twitter, Facebook, etc, have finally removed Trump from their platform. This newsletter opens with a great discussion of this topic.
I am tired of letting these companies try to convince us that their violent and racist users with hundreds of thousands of followers creating content shared millions of times are somehow not indicative of what these websites fundamentally are. Trump is a not unique outlier on Facebook and Twitter, he is Facebook and Twitter.
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- Who Did J.K. Rowling Become? An interesting look at Rowling, and her transformation into an angry online twitter TERF. #
- The Friend by Matthew Teague. This story is being turned into a movie now. A hard read, about cancer and friendship. #
- No Crying at the Dinner Table. Oh man: this short film is good. #
- The Not So Hidden Israeli Politics of 'The Last of Us Part II'. The sequel to Last of Us is far more muddled than the original, but I still love it. There is a lot of criticism directed at the game, and it's interesting to read people's thoughts about where it fails. I didn't pick up on these parallels to the conflict in Israel, but it certainly feels like a viable take on things. #
- The "Collection or the Best of Everything". A history of Tap Phong, one of the most iconic stores in Toronto. #
- Until we get the Vanity Fair oral history of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping boondoggle we all have this video to tide us over. Whenever i'm feeling down, I just watch this clip. #
- Voting Trump Out Is Not Enough. The Democratic party really needs to figure out what its deal even is. Maybe you can win as not-quite Republicans against Trump during a pandemic, but i'm not sure how far that will get you in the long run. They also need to undo all the advantages the Republican Party has at the moment. #
- Activists Turn Facial Recognition Tools Against the Police. From the article, this project by French artist Paolo Cirio is quite cool. #
- Facebook leaks show Mark Zuckerberg defending his decisions to angry employees. Facebook's employees seem so spineless and useless. It shouldn't take anyone till this moment to realize the site is kind of garbage and is destroying the world. And it's not like there isn't a shortage of high paying jobs for tech workers in San Fran. #
- Leaked Messages Show Far-Right Group's Plans for Portland Violence. That this sort of discussion (and action) isn't treated as some form of domestic terrorism (which it certainly would be if it was Muslims organizing like this) really tells you a lot about what the American state values (or does not). #
- We have 5 Years of Demi Adejuyigbe’s ‘September 21’ Videos. Some joy in 2020. #
- Where the Amish Go on Vacation. Some fantastic candid photography. Comment
- The Great Fire is Vanity Fair’s September 2020, guest-edited by Ta-Nehisi Coates. There is "an interview with Breonna Taylor's mother":https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/breonna-taylor that is well worth a read. We have an article on police "unions". A lot of articles about the current state of garbage that is America right now. #
- Inside the elite border patrol unit Trump sent to Portland. My friend Shey made joke about how America has exported democracy to itself. To quote the Simpson's, "it's funny cuz it's true." From the article, 'Bortac agents are among “the most violent and racist in all law enforcement”'. That's a high bar to cross. #
- YouTube : 8:46. Dave Chappelle did a live stand up special to take about George Floyd's death. Is it comedy? Probably not. It's amazing, though. #
- YouTube: How Can We Win? This video is so much fire in under 7 minutes. So good. I get annoyed when people feel like they need decry rioting and looting in the same breath they offer their support for the protest. “Starbuck’s gonna be OK, don’t worry,” I think. It feels like we are treating a dead body like a broken a window. Kimberly Jones asks you to step back and ask how we even got to this point in the first place. #
- The Unicorns Fell Into a Ditch. This article is too good, too quotable. bq. Third-party delivery platforms [or basically anything coming out of the VC backed Sillicon Valley tech scene], as they’ve been built, just seem like the wrong model, but instead of testing, failing, and evolving, they’ve been subsidized into market dominance. Read about pizza arbitrage and other good stuff. #
- Solving the "The Miracle Sudoku". This is really quite incredible. Kind of a joy to watch him slowly realize the problem has a real solution, and that it's within his grasp. #
- Unreal Engine 5 Revealed! This demo is unreal. #
- America's Racial Contract Is Showing. Sharp writing from Adam Serwer about how America's response to the pandemic has shifted and how it ties back to it's deep problems with racism. #