C’è un’ipotesi che potrebbe spiegare la natura dell’universo. Ed è sorprendente.

Money quote: “The cosmological razor idea has one further startling implication. It suggests that the fundamental law of the Universe is not quantum mechanics, or general relativity or even the laws of mathematics. It is the law of natural selection discovered by Darwin and Wallace. As the philosopher Daniel Dennett insisted, it is ‘The single best idea anyone has ever had.’ It might also be the simplest idea that any universe has ever had.”

https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-simplicity-so-unreasonably-effective-at-scientific-explanation

Sto rimettendo a posto un po' di cose sparpagliate qua e là tra e ho ripescato questa storia sulla riparazione della mia Tivoli Model One. Il problema di sintonia in realtà si risolve facendo su e giù con la manopola per tre minuti. Però qui c'è di più, molto di più.

https://antoniodini.com/riparazione-tivoli-model-one-1/

Ripensare la coda lunga, parecchi anni dopo

Money quote: ““The Long Tail” was Anderson’s catchy name for a set of observations about the economics of internet markets — observations that are as resonant as ever in today’s “passion economy,” in which anyone can try their hand at turning their specialized interests into sources of income. In his article and book, building on the work of academics like Erik Brynjolfsson, Jeffrey Hu, Michael Smith, and Anita Elberse, Anderson observed that brick-and-mortar stores were constrained by limited shelf space, and therefore aimed to carry only the most popular products. In sharp contrast, online platforms like Amazon and Netflix had infinite shelf space. The tech journalist’s thesis: This radical shift would have far-reaching effects, from the media and entertainment industries that were his main focus, to the markets for everything from crafts to kitchen appliances.”

https://marker.medium.com/the-failed-promise-of-the-long-tail-6ba8a3afb9b1

Pensare come un detective, spiegato bene

Money quote: “When I first started as a police officer, none of my fellow detectives, police academy teachers or criminal investigation department bosses were seemingly able, nor interested, in telling me in practical terms how to think like a detective. Instead, they talked about attitude, talent and experience. Most of all, they liked talking about old cases they’d solved. They never spoke about the cases they failed to solve or the next challenge. The most crucial tool of any successful investigator – namely, sharp reasoning skills – was also never mentioned. We were all very keen on formulating mental profiles of offenders. Yet, strangely, the idea of profiling the effective detective was almost taboo. It’s as if the ability to think like an expert detective was taken for granted.”

https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-solve-problems-by-thinking-like-a-detective

Un camionista americano spiega l'apocalisse della logistica che sta per travolgerci tutti.

Money quote: "So when the coastal ports started getting clogged up last spring due to the impacts of COVID on business everywhere, drivers started refusing to show up. Congestion got so bad that instead of being able to do three loads a day, they could only do one. They took a 2/3 pay cut and most of these drivers were working 12 hours a day or more. While carriers were charging increased pandemic shipping rates, none of those rate increases went to the driver wages. Many drivers simply quit. However, while the pickup rate for containers severely decreased, they were still being offloaded from the boats. And it’s only gotten worse."

https://medium.com/@ryan79z28/im-a-twenty-year-truck-driver-i-will-tell-you-why-america-s-shipping-crisis-will-not-end-bbe0ebac6a91

Lo sapevate che J.R.R. Tolkien disprezzava profondamente Walt Disney? Tutta colpa dei nani di Biancaneve

Money quote: “Consider the context here: Tolkien’s book The Hobbit was first released in the U.K. in September of 1937, just a couple of months before Snow White hit theaters in the U.S. Both works highlighted a gaggle of dwarves as major supporting characters, but they could hardly have been more different. Disney’s dwarfs were jolly, goofy miners (hey, Dopey), rooted in the stories of the Brothers Grimm; Tolkien’s dwarves were a grim, mythical race (although not wholly without whimsy), born from Nordic myth. “Isn’t it interesting that Tolkien and Disney, almost concurrently, came up with dwarves that are not evil?” notes Lambert. “I researched, is there any possibility that there was a connection? And there’s not.””

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/tolkien-cs-lewis-disney-snow-white-narnia-hobbit-dwarves

È veramente uno dei migliori computer che abbia mai usato: ne ho scritto anche un elogio su Macity: il mio nuovo MacBook Air M1 (sì, l'ho comprato un anno dopo la sua uscita) è una bomba e ha un'autonomia che non finisce più. Fenomenale.

https://www.macitynet.it/elogio-di-apple-macbook-air-m1/

Non ce l'ho, non l'ho usato, non l'ho neanche toccato. Ma secondo me l'iPad mini con porta Usb-C e penna di seconda generazione è una delle cose migliori mai fatte da Apple. Non sono il solo a pensarlo

Money quote: "The new iPad mini looks like what you’d think the Kindle would look like were it designed in 2021. Sure, it’s not e-ink. But it’s basically the perfect size for a book. Perhaps that’s what I love about the device so much. It’s basically the ideal reading machine. Be it a book, the web, Matter, or even — shudder — email."

https://500ish.com/the-wonderful-ipad-mini-once-again-pops-up-its-sporadic-head-7cf65ce81f30

Sono un "freelancer" ma non ho mai scritto un contratto da freelance. Magari questo è buono e ha senso. Non lo so. Ci date un occhio voi?

Money quote: "Writing a bulletproof freelance contract doesn't have to be difficult. Get the easy to customize template, written in plain language."

https://plainfreelancecontract.com/

Praticamente vivo dentro il mio computer. Che è un MacBook Air. Ogni tanto riguardo la pubblicità di quando l'hanno presentato per ricordarmi quanto è ancora bello questo computer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ywa_EynjC8

La cosa notevole di questo articolo di M.G. Siegler su Facebook è che l'ha scritto prima dell'annuncio del cambio di nome

Money quote: "Facebook is not dying as a business, but they’ve died as a brand. The company needs to move on to ‘what’s next’ as quickly as possible to distance themselves from the social network. This is nothing new, of course — I wrote this over six years ago. They’ve more or less been trying to do this for years. But even in creating an umbrella company, they called it ‘Facebook’, which was dumb. It was the exact opposite of what they should have done. Because, again, Facebook, the brand, is over."

https://500ish.com/facebook-is-too-big-fail-eb8c143a9afc

Su Medium ogni tanto si trovano questi articoli di lotta di classe che sono deliziosi. In particolare, il matrimonio di Ivy Getty a San Francisco come esempio della ricchezza da oligarchi che alligna negli Usa (e poi parlano dei russi)

Money quote: "Ivy Getty’s San Francisco wedding was far from a marvel. It was an odious display of wealth and an example of the social (and cognitive) dissonance the 1% possess."

https://thebolditalic.com/ivy-gettys-san-francisco-wedding-is-why-we-need-a-wealth-tax-f94a68eeaacc

Una cosa folle che circola nella civiltà occidentale sono gli NDA, gli accordi di non divulgazione. Nel settore tech sono particolarmente micidiali. Qui ne potete vedere per bene uno e capirne i perché e i percome.

Money quote: "Digging through a box of files the other day, I discovered an old NDA that I'd signed. The company has long since dissolved, and the NDA expired a few years ago - so I reckon I'm in the clear to talk about this."

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/07/nda-expired-lets-spill-the-beans-on-a-weird-startup/

Perché prendersi una laurea in una prestigiosa e costosa università quando si può fare tutto online, un pezzetto alla volta?

Money quote: "As universities are switching to 100% remote teaching in the coming semester, many undergraduate students should strongly consider getting a “DIY” CS degree: take the same courses you would at your own school, but on any one of the online Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms, like Coursera or edX."

https://www.pashabitz.com/posts/undergrad-altenative/

Attention Economy

Essere innovativi non vuol dire avere successo, ma provarci. Questo ci prova con le tasche dei pantaloni

Money quote: "TL;DR

The clothing industry rarely creates dramatically new patterns. It is more lucrative to make small, easy-to-manufacture changes that always use the same basic pattern.

There is therefore lots of room to innovate clothing that is more appropriate for contemporary problems, because basic clothing patterns haven’t changed in decades.

I made some trousers with unusual pockets, and I think they’re good."

https://sambleckley.com/writing/pockets.html

Ehi, Mostly Weekly è online! Se vi abbonate vi arriva più comodamente per email, sennò la leggete qua

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/144/

C'è stato un solo Cary Grant. Perché? Chi era o meglio cosa c'era di così unico in quest'uomo?

Money quote: "Over the course of his long career, Grant fixed standards of what it meant to be “debonair” and “a man about town” — everything he did, on screen and off, seemed inflected with panache and grace. Or, as my professor from undergrad used to sum him up: “The man knew how to wear clothes.” Indeed he fucking did."

https://medium.com/the-hairpin/scandals-of-classic-hollywood-cary-grants-intimate-bromance-e00033754c49

Lo Straniero di Albert Camus e la difficoltà di tradurlo in inglese.

Money quote: "First impressions matter, and, for forty-two years, the way that American readers were introduced to Meursault was through the detached formality of his statement: “Mother died today.” There is little warmth, little bond or closeness or love in “Mother,” which is a static, archetypal term, not the sort of thing we use for a living, breathing being with whom we have close relations. To do so would be like calling the family dog “Dog” or a husband “Husband.” The word forces us to see Meursault as distant from the woman who bore him."

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/lost-in-translation-what-the-first-line-of-the-stranger-should-be

Quando la creative non-fiction diventa fantascienza: cronache dalla pancia del videogioco online (e poi c'è gente che si chiede perché esiste Twitch)

Money quote: "In theory, anything can happen in EVE Online, but some things are considered impossible. Well, last month, one of the “impossible” things happened: The destruction of the game’s first-ever Keepstar battlestation, which was kept in a wormhole. Of course, it took 11 months of meticulous planning.

Ever since the massive Keepstars, the largest structures that can be created by EVE players, were put into the game in 2016, they have lost the sense of perceived invulnerability that they once enjoyed. Over the two years, more than 30 of the extremely expensive structures have been destroyed. But the first-ever Keepstar endured, thanks to its location: Deep in the heart of a wormhole, the most inhospitable space that EVE Online has to offer."

https://kotaku.com/the-year-long-undercover-plot-to-blow-up-eve-onlines-m-1831574442

Ogni tanto torna fuori, anche perché la gente continua a commentare la recensione che la (ora ex) moglie di Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie, ha scritto di un libro che raccontava la storia di Amazon, polverizzandolo

Money quote: "One of the biggest challenges in non-fiction writing is the risk that a truthfully balanced narration of the facts will be boring, and this presents an author with some difficult choices. It may be that another telling of the Amazon story—for example, that people at Amazon have no secret agenda they’ve been able to keep hidden for 19 years, really do believe in the mission they keep repeating, and are working hard and of their own free will to realize it —would strike readers as less exciting than the version offered here. I sympathize with this challenge. But when an author plans to market a book as non-fiction, he is obliged to find a suspenseful story arc that doesn’t rely on mischaracterizing or avoiding important parts of the truth. I am grateful this is the era of the Internet, when characters in non-fiction can step out of books, as Jonathan Leblang and Rick Dalzell have done, and speak for themselves. Ideally, authors are careful to ensure people know whether what they are reading is history or an entertaining fictionalization. Hollywood often uses a more honest label: “a story based on true events.” If authors won’t admit they’ve crossed this important line, their characters can do it for them."

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2I0T26SV0ELPP/