Engaged Reading Time - Issue #78
Hello. I'm back. The last few months have been hard. Let us never discuss them again.
We're still going to stay pretty much COVID-19 free here. Where we do touch on it, it'll be thinking forwards, not about the current moment.
We all need to stop doomscrolling for a while.
Just a reminder, this is my irregular "interesting and rather arbitrary things to read" newsletter. If you're here for my deep and compelling thoughts on journalism (*cough*) you might want to hit "unsubscribe" and head over here instead.
Feel free.
Still here?
Great!
Let's get on with some random interesting reading!
Building the James Bond iPod
The Case of the Top Secret iPod
This is a fascinating story of a very special, and quite genuinely unique iPod built by the Department of Energy in the US, with assistance from Apple. Only a handful of Apple staff ever knew. And even they didn't know what it was for…
Paging Drs Dunning and Kruger…
Real experts know what they don’t know and we should value it
The ignorant pundit is absolutely certain; the true expert understands their own limits and how to ask the right questions. Or, to quote Yeats: "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."
Read Twitter through the lens of this article - and it will open your eyes.
Why the hordes are heading for the sea
Why is everyone rushing to the beach? Blue Mind
Blue mind sounds a bit like a condition acquired by someone who has spent far, far too long on PornHub, but it's actually much more lovely than that suggests…
This does, though, imply a more complex explanation for some of the worrying scenes we've seen on our beaches in recent months than just "substitute holidays".
Ultimate Play The Game
Advertisers, gamers aren't who you think they are
I am honestly baffled by the political and media response to gaming. It's a huge industry, with as much economic and social clout as Hollywood (and Bollywood and…). And yet, discussion of it still seems to be regarded as a niche issue.
When does this change?
(If you get the Ultimate… reference above, you're old. But then, so am I. 😉)
File under "nope"
Panasonic’s new home cubicle is a disheartening glimpse at our work-from-home future
Nope. Nope. Nope. nopenopenope.
Oh, and nope.
Could the pandemic birth a green revolution?
A green recovery is our best hope of staving off the climate crisis
The author on this one feels familiar. Can't quite place the name. Hmm. 🤔😇
Something to watch
This is beautiful and bizarre. It sounds like something that should open a particular style of movie. Lots more of it here. Found via Kottke.
