Ok, so turns out both gaming and being online are not relaxing AT ALL
Howdy [subscriber:firstname | default:yall],
This is the Wolfpaw Weekly. Don’t remember signing up or don’t want this anymore? It’s easy to unsubscribe.
Hey yall, how’s your week going? I have been ramping up for several new work projects, as well as some personal coding projects that I want to get into the world. I don’t think that I shared that I have a theme in the WordPress repository now. I do! It is called Velox, and it is the theme that my personal site uses. I’ve already got some updates ready to roll out hopefully today, and a few new features that I want to make time to include.
I’ve been doing a bit of research on Digital Gardens, which are kind of like personal wikis that people create. I’ve been wanting to share my notes online for others to use, as well as give one source of info for myself when I need to see what I’ve been working on. Of course, this means that I’ve got a new project in mind, which is making a WordPress plugin for myself and others to use. I’ll share here if it goes anywhere.
If all goes well, myself and the rest of my household will be getting our vaccinations this weekend! I’ve got the vaccination anthem queued up to jam to on the way to my appointment.
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I’ll try to keep this in mind after I get my vaccination.
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I Am Not At All Relaxed by Animal Crossing – Cecilia D’Anastasio, Wired
I got Animal Crossing when it came out last year and tried to enjoy it. Instead, my husband played 95% of the time, and we never “completed” the game. I’ve got enough time based projects and habits that I struggle to keep up with. The joy of building up an island economy doesn’t generally compare to the guilt of capitalism.
The Revolution in Classic Tetris – Jacob Sweet, The New Yorker
I have to wonder what it’s like to be a gamer who has been refining skills on one game for years and years, then having people who weren’t alive when you started playing coming up and completely displacing you.
Neopets is reckoning with black market pet trading – Nicole Carpenter, Polygon
Neopets is still alive! Is it well? That’s debatable. Like everything else, people find ways to take even things like virtual pets and turning it into a status symbol that can destroy finances and senses of safety and well-being online.
Carpenter also wrote a followup, Inside the Neopets ‘black market’, which is worth a read as well.
YouTube tests hiding dislike counts on videos – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch
The only people who would be upset about hiding dislike counts by default are people who use dislike counts for brigading harassment.
Au revoir, mon AMPmour? – Ethan Marcotte
Ok, so Google AMP is not going away, but it’s not the only thing that can get you into coveted Google News slots soon? But instead you can use proprietary Web Vitals to try to get Google to love your site? That’s ok, since Google thinks that the future of the web is email anyway.
When the Mob Comes – Lyz Lenz with Talia Lavin
A great discussion about why online harassment has real-world consequences and is different from professional criticism. The interview ends with actionable tips that you can take to start removing your info from places that somehow it is legally allowed to be collected online and shared with anyone who wants to pay.
Lenz also discussed this topic on this week’s There Are No Girls on the Internet if you prefer to listen instead.
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tag urself, I’m “slight damage to buildings“
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Unboxing the hidden politics of SimCity
Sure, you can build the perfect city in SimCity, but would anyone actually want to live there? Maybe perfect isn’t the word that should be used to describe humanity-crushing optimization.
The Year Without a Summer Season
Not that we’d ever have to worry about enough smoke covering the sky that it affects weather patterns, nope.
Ziryab: The World’s First Rock Star • Puppet History
Love to learn and be entertained with this show. Who knew that becoming a famous musician and doing sponcon has roots of more than a thousand years old?
Can’t Get You Out of My Head (2021) – Part 1: Bloodshed on Wolf Mountain
This is part one of the latest Adam Curtis documentary that half of the newsletters and podcasts that I consume have been talking about. I’m pretty sure that I’ve never seen one of his documentaries before, but I can see why it captured everyone’s attention.
The Breath of the Wild Speedrun that lets you Mount Sidon
They know that this is clickbait. You also mount Teba in this speedrun! Where my bird fans at? Why can I not mount Kass?!?!
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I was thinking of the Bojack Horseman series finale the other day, especially the ending of the show that includes this beautiful song.
Why Is the Fertility Rate Falling? with Dr. Shanna Swan – Factually! with Adam Conover
I’ve heard of society and cultural reasons for why we are having fewer children overall. I had no idea how much phthalates are probably contributing to this too, and not just amongst humans! Good thing it’s not literally in every facet of our lives and — oh no…
Episode 59 – Pimento Cheese w Hyperlink – Commune College
take something with a storied history and you’ll be able to dig deeply enough to find racism, white supremacy, and links to slavery. I don’t buy much cheese myself, but I’ll make sure that I avoid palmetto pimento cheese.
Yahoo! Answers And The Legacy We Leave Behind Online – The Content Mines
If you haven’t heard yet, Yahoo Answers is closing in May. Ryan and Luke talk about their theories of content online, and how much it matters to preserve certain parts of online culture.
Remember to share the stuff that you liked this week. See yall in a week and stay safe! 💝
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