I hope that you’ve been angry all week. Now let’s chill a bit before the weekend
Howdy [subscriber:firstname | default:yall],
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I’m doing a 366 Day Challenge, and am 157 days in! You can follow along on my PixelFed account.
Happy Pride Month! Defund the cops! Abolish ICE!
Good enough for an intro, right? I’m still experiencing headaches and neckaches, probably from all of the stress of the above, though it started prior to the most recent wave of protests. Thankfully it’s been a bit better with a bit of medication and finally being able to stretch my neck.
If you work in front of a computer all day like I do, take care of your body! Put your phone down right now, do a few deskercises, then return to your email.
And now, this week’s listening, reading, and watching suggestions.
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We’ve been watching more of Westworld, and have made it to season three. I really enjoy hearing covers included in the show as background instrumental music for scenes. Some of my favorites have been the many Radiohead covers, especially Exit Music (For a Film) and Motion Picture Soundtrack. The instrumental Paint it Black is a recurring motif, and Heart Shaped Box and Back to Black are good ones as well.
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There’s a lot to be said about how protests, whether violent or not, affect politics and political outcomes. Heck, all protests are formed from some form of violence or another.
There’s one thing that the past week has made clear to me however: we were right to be suspicious of law enforcement. My hope is that more people who might not otherwise have held that view will see our reasoning, but my worry is that we will double down into our already divided sides.
I’ve basically tried to avoid Twitter since last week because it’s always been terrible, but is even more so now. I still saw plenty of articles about the past week of protesting, and here are a few of the ones that interested me the most, starting with a list of links on where to donate money to.
Here’s how you can donate to support the fight for justice right now – Barbara Krasnoff, The Verge
Caught on camera, police explode in rage and violence across the US – T.C. Sottek, The Verge
How Violent Protests Change Politics – Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker
There isn’t a simple story about looting – Terry Nguyen, Vox
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“If you see something, say something” was always a bullshit phrase. Those with good relationships with authority have never needed a reminder to report “suspicious” people.
The Dallas Police Department asked people to send videos of protestors, with the intent to out, arrest, and prosecute them. Instead they got flooded by K-Pop Stans with music videos and dances. Turns out their hive-mind can be put to good!
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Lawsuit over online book lending could bankrupt Internet Archive – Timothy B. Lee, ars Technica
I can see The Internet Archive stretching the definition of Fair Use pretty far here. I’m interested to see how this lawsuit plays out, though my bet is on an out of court settlement so that we don’t get to see what copyright law in the age of the internet is really capable of.
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New Sims 4 patch adds ladders but also a bug where Sims pee fire – Jon Porter, The Verge
Human Centipedes formed by ladder glitching and firefighters that apparently are so bad at their jobs that they can pee fire. Sounds like Sims to me. HT to Chris Wiegman for this article.
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Naughty Dog has a lot of money and puts a lot of effort into their accessibility tools for their games. And that’s great! But it’s not an excuse not to do so on a smaller team too. As we say in the web design world, you need to include accessibility in the discussion as early as possible, and not just relegate it to an, “if we get to it and have budget” afterthought.
According to game designer Matthew Gallant, one of the reasons the team was able to include so many features is that it was part of the design process from the beginning. “We absolutely had to plan these features early in production,” he says. “It was absolutely critical.”
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Been rewatching Ducktales and watching Community and Westworld. Tim wanted me to talk about how Ducktales and Community cross-over, and it’s true, they do. Thanks Tim! 😘
That’s it for this week. Everyone stay safe and healthy out there 💝
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