Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another: 

• Config 2024 – In Defense Of An Old Pixel – Figma – YouTube. “I couldn’t decide who this was for: Mitch, who will respect the sheer volume of work that went into this talk or Hugh, who loves typography. It’s a fantastic homage to pixel-based fonts, with a crowdsourced font editor built in. Marcin Wichary is a wonder, and I love that Figma let him work on this talk. To be fair, that’s absolutely on brand for Figma CEO, Dylan Field. An absolute nostalgic pleasure.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• Coldplay – Fix You (Glastonbury 2024) – BBC Music – YouTube. “Glastonbury is the only festival that’s really on my bucket list. Over the years, Orbital played One Perfect Sunrise in their swansong set, and dozens of other greats took the stage. In the UK, the BBC have always made sure that EDM and techno have a seat at the table. This year was no exception: Fatboy Slim reprising his role as bassist for The Housemartins, Banksy‘s dinghy of inflatable immigrants crowdsurfing, and more. But the moment that broke me was when Coldplay brought out Michael J. Fox to play guitar during ‘Fix You’. The grace and character Fox has shown since publicly announcing his Parkinsons disease at 29 is incredible. It reminds me of The Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie‘s use of a cancer diagnosis to bring a country together and shine a light on the mistreatment of First Nations, and Terry Fox‘s legendary cross-country run against cancer. It’s wonderful to see someone who’s touched so many, and by all accounts is just an excellent human, be celebrated by so many people. Sorry, there’s something in my eye.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• The Growing Evidence That Americans Are Less Divided Than You May Think – Time. “I recently spent time in the US (Denver and San Diego). I met lots of different people – not just at the conferences I attended, but in taxis, sitting at a burger bar at the airport, hotels, and shops and restaurants. I would bet a decent amount of money that some of those people were Trump voters, with whom I have some serious political disagreements. But everyone I met was kind, every interaction was positive, no matter where I would have pegged my interlocutor on the political spectrum. Most people, it turns out, are generally pretty good when you talk to them. There’s far more in common than not. There’s growing evidence that, in fact, the US is not nearly the divided society that politicians and media would have you believe.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• What Does A World Without Airbnb Look Like? – BBC. “Many cities, including Montreal, New York, Santa Monica, have restricted Airbnb and other short term rentals. Barcelona will ban them completely in 2028. It might even make things better for travelers?” (Hugh for Mitch). 
• 20 Breathtaking Astronomy Photos Capture The Best Of Space – Mashable. “What kind of crazy messed up world do we live in where I can look through these images and not be impressed? Why? Because I have become so co-opted by special effects, AI and computer photo manipulation that even the astounding beauty of nature now seems mundane (been there done that). With that, take a look at these photos… step away… remind yourself that this is nature and not special effects… this is real… this is ‘out there’ and then take another look. It is, simply, breathtaking… we are just the third rock from the sun and all of the heaviness of our world (from politics and war to climate and AI) is just that – human created (and human solvable). Our own ability to even capture this kind of reality should speak volumes to what we’re both capable of and to what we should aspire to. The universe is amazing… and we’re a speck of dust in the timeline… solve for that.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Philosophy In The Matrix – Emory Scholar Blogs – Kunyun Ni. “I’m not one to watch a film or TV series multiple times (there are only a few books that I have re-read). My reasoning is fairly simple: Why consume anything twice in a world where I’m never going to get to everything once? With that, I’ve found myself thinking more and more about the movie, The Matrix (and the subsequent films). Last week, we had Montreal ComicCon (it was such an amazing event!) and – for some reason – I had it in my head that I would pick up some of The Matrix action figures that McFarlane Toys released several year back. I didn’t come across any, but managed to get this Movie Maniacs mini-statue collectible that they released. It came with two stickers – hands (one holding the infamous red pill and the other holding the blue pill). As we delve deeper in to AI (and as it commercializes) I find myself returning to The Matrix franchise and thinking about a world where we’re ok with robots creating more robots – and what their needs might become (if we’re not smart)… that coupled with the idea that we’re living in a simulation… and the I came across this post. I also stuck those stickers on my laptop as a reminder.” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

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