I seemed to read very little this past weekend and a bit. At least, little that really caught my interest. Listened to lots though while cooking, walking, driving and DIYing. 

Listen 

Why Quitting Is Usually Worth It, Freakonomics Radio

A mildly interesting listen with no specific take aways, but I’m into hearing people talk more honestly about what they see as their failures vs benefits when it comes to quitting and making mistakes. History is written by the winners however (as in, we don’t get popular podcasts made by quitters that never achieved anything else after quitting), and good old survivorship bias. Listening to two successful white men talk about their quitting and failures being good things that others can learn anything from. Hummm. It got me thinking though. 

When Do You Become an Adult? No Stupid Questions

I’ve thought about this question a lot since having kids. It’s scary and daft to think that a few single days in their not too distant future will see them turn 16, 18 and 21, and how on each of those days they will ‘become’ adults, or men, or responsible or whatever is expected. A great bit of history in this podcast though about Romans, and their considering adulthood starting at 15 for men, came with an idea that I think is actually quite nice:

What’s interesting, though, is that they still didn’t trust these 15-year-olds completely, so they would place them under temporary guardianship of adults who were known as “curators,” and the curators would validate any formal action that the 15-year-old took until they reach the age of 25. So, it’s kind this, like, balance between you’re an adult at 15, but you’re a supervised adult for 10 years.   

Love that idea. Rather than a day that adulthood happens, there’s a day that it starts, and 10 years of being supported and ‘curated’ into being a proper adult. Also good in this episode is just hearing more people talk about how you never really feel like an adult, at any age. The big secret that kids don’t realise. That adulthood is a myth, and have to learn how to pretend to be grown up. 

Microplastics: How Worried Should You Be? Science Vs

Bit of a scary one (in that, the science in this does seem in many ways to be very real and compelling), but also maybe not too scary (in that, stories of us eating a credit card size piece of plastic are way way off in their quantities). More encouragement to eat fresh food and keep away from plastic wrapped and ultra processed stuff. 

Alison Coward – Workshop Culture, Andy Polaine 

This one was a slight rollercoaster for me as along with being a ‘design principles sceptic’ I’m also a bit of a workshop sceptic. This conversion has a lot in it though to assuage those feelings though, and has me wanting to read Alison’s book, or more daydreamingly ideally, attend a workshop that she runs. One day maybe. 

Can I microdose veganism? Search Engine 

I can’t quite tell if this is actually part of a very subtle campaign to encourage more people to go vegan, as it’s not at all preachy, and the host, PJ, doesn’t force anything, but the way some of the facts are put across here reminds me of reading Eating Animals. Just facts, that on their own, and on your own, are so clearly crazy and heinous.  

Listen/Watch 

(Things I mostly listen to and only glance at when clearly needed to see a reference)

The Batsh*t Software Aphex Twin Used

I’ve nibbled away at this video for a while but recently finished it. A brilliant exploration into the properly crazy and admirably creative and tenacious ways that Apex Twin / Richard James made his music. Brilliant and tenacious too is this the research and work that went into this video. 

Watch

The hunt for the anonymous cartoonist who transformed pop culture

Mattt makes really fantastic essays about lesser (popularly) known illustrators and comic book artists that I’ve really been enjoying this past year. This one is a stand out for me. It’s about Carl Barks, the effective original illustrator of Donald Duck comics and the creator and illustrator of Scrooge McDuck. It’s a stand out video for three reasons for. 1. It shines light on the sad then happy story behind many fans that loved his work, but who never knew his name due to Walt Disney keeping him secret for years. 2. My kids became those similar fans without us realising, as they noticed the quality of his work work in Scrooge comics / Picsou Magazine. They just can’t abide any Scrooge illustration that aren’t by Carl and stopped reading the magazine once they’d read all his original stories. And 3. It’s a slightly happier version of the story in the next link about an amazing illustrator and artist that sadly didn’t live to witness such a beloved discovery of their work.  

Cabel Sasser, Panic – XOXO Festival (2024)

The story of amazing art, an amazing artist that was nearly forgotten, and all inspired by a McDonalds restaurant. This link has been popping up in every feed and link source I’ve need over the past few days and for good reason. Cable has long been a distant hero of mine, with the way he thinks and works and the awesome things he’s been infield in, and this video just continues the elevation of him being an absolute mensch. Inspiring stuff, to the very end (watch it all). 

VFX Artists Expose Ai Scams

This is actually quite qn educational and enlightening video to watch, even if you feel you can already spot AI image and video scams already. Exposes and raises the scary reality of what’s already happening and what’s likely to come. One sad detail about this video however is the AG1 sponsorship in the middle :( A shameful shame in its own right, and just really sad to see it being elevated in the middle of such a good scam education video. I understand why, but it’s still very sad. A good video on the AG1 shill    

How Plywood Is Made In Factories? (Mega Factories Video)

Pretty self explanatory. Watched this one with the kids in an attempt to try and get them to watch more than gaming videos when they have YouTube time. They loved it. The whole ‘how stuff us made’ rabbit hole is great. Systems thinking education by stealth! 

Use / Buy

WhatFont – Identify web fonts- Browser extension

I’ve used a version of this for ages. At least 12 years, I think. Brendan found it and shared, and I fondly think of him each time I use it! :) I feel like there should be a word for those sort of things, that always make you think of someone. Had a chat with chatGPT about it and got some ideas, but mostly it looks like maybe there’s not proper word. Anyway, the extension is just an occasional one, but nice to always have it to hand (and great for me being lazy and not being bothered to inspect element. 

Busy Status Bar is a productivity multi-tool device with an LED pixel screen

Via Lawrence. Love this. I had the nubbin of a similar idea in 2013! A bike light taped above my desk as an ‘I’m busy, please don’t interrupt’ indicator. Had similar ideas about how this could be controlled via computer statuses, or made to time out, but love the idea of adding the level of functionality Busy Bar have. Love too that they actually saw their idea through! Ideas are cheap. Doing is where it’s at. Well done to them. 

Read

Unpacking the art and science of wayfinding

While I’m in the process of researching signage and way finding (though more on the quantifiable effectiveness and unconscious user experience side of it) I was pleased to stumble across this post in the slowly re-emerging Design Week relaunch (which is nice to see, knowing the integrity of Rob, one of the new editors behind it). Had to buy the book also. Looks lovely, with illustrations by Tiffany Beucher that are right up my street. 

What is quishing? Like phishing but with fake QR codes

I knew of the activity, but this term is new to me. I’ve always thought how innovative and hard working criminals are sometimes. Makes me wonder how fine the line was for them doing well in life and making good money in legitimate capitalist business, and falling on the other side of life and channeling their entrepreneurialism into crime. That train of thought reminds me of a local theft of 800 meters of copper cable that had only been laid a few weeks before. Dead of night. Multiple people with trucks, chains, trailers and battery powered angle grinders. They open the inspection hatches in the pavement, cut the cable at one end, pull it out at the other and drag it up the road into a field where they cut it too lengths that they can take away on a trailer. I used a scrap metal service myself recently and got £30 for old iron AGA parts. A few ton or copper would give you tens of thousands of pounds (although you need to prove your identity so not sure who their buyer would have been). Anyway. Hard work, clever planning, good understanding of markets. And with quishing. Astute understanding of fake URLs, websites, payment gateways, and human behaviour when paying for parking or some other small fee task that people will have their guards down for. I bet their UI and UX is even better than most legitimate carpark payment services. If only all innovative risk takers channeled their efforts into positive things. 

“I write books for a reason! I have a face for radio!”

This one caught my eye. Secondly, out of interest in someone else’s body dysmorphia, as she looks lovely. Reminds me of a few friends in fact. Faces I’m always happy to see. Firstly though, it caught on a thought thread that’s been twanging in my mind a lot: That a few historically dominant technologies have given an advantage to some particular neurotypes / neurological abilities. While those with experienced / perceived disabilities in those neurological areas are excluded, and at times, quite considerably disadvantaged. Specifically, I’m thinking about the technology of writing (and reading) and the ability in some people to do these things quickly and effortlessly. Hyperlexics I like to think of them. The last few hundred years have been stacked in favour of those neurotypes. What’s been happening over the last 15 years specifically however, feels like a slight shift in power, that the readers and writers are struggling with. At the same time, we’re seeing a greater empowerment of other neurological abilities, and some physiological ones too. I don’t mean in any way to belittle this persons frustration with this random musing. I mean only that it got me thinking again about systems that work for some people for a long time and then cause unfamiliar and unfair feeling issues when the paradigm shifts. I’ve bitten off more than I can chew in expanding on this train of thought in what is suppose to be a short link description so I’ll leave it here for now. One to return to. Not even sure this makes sense to anyone else reading… 

A fake quote

I read this attributed to someone but I can’t find it confirmed anywhere at all. I won’t continue the miss attribution then, but I do like the sentiment so I’m sharing that still.

A way of doing something original is by trying something so painstaking that nobody else has ever bothered with it.

Who do you think maybe said it?