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:
- How a Massive Bomb Came Together in Beirut’s Port – The New York Times. “I try to avoid posting links that are paywalled behind a limited number of views, but I’m making an exception, because this is one of the most extraordinarily well-designed pieces of reporting in a decade. It details, in painstaking, frame-by-frame detail, how Beirut exploded. Knowing that a reader will spend half their time looking at the stages of the devastation, the article is the toolset. From annotated frames of high-speed footage, to zooming into buildings, this is extraordinary. Find a way to view it (or dare I say, subscribe).” (Alistair for Hugh).
- A principles-based approach – LTSE – Long Term Stock Exchange. “The funny thing about finance is that much of it is detached from reality. For example, we tax capital gains (money made from investment) less than earned income (money made from doing actual work and making actual things). Reversing that would fundamentally alter how companies deployed their capital. There are a few basic levers by which we can steer the ship of free-market capitalism, albeit with Titanic slowness. Last time I talked with Eric Ries—the author of The Lean Startup, which spawned a book of my own and thousands of other startup initiatives—at any real length, he was trying to fix capitalism. But you can’t eat an elephant all at once, so he was tackling the short-term mindset of stock markets. Flash trades and arbitrage based on algorithms, rather than whether a company creates actual value, has made fewer and fewer people richer and richer producing less and less actual products or services. So he’s founded the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), an exchange designed to attract a certain kind of company. Here’s how they’re different.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- The Allure of QAnon – Deep Background with Noah Feldman. “Adrian Hon, tech think and alternative reality game (ARG) designer, talks to Noah Feldman about QAnon and the way it functions similarly to ARGs.” (Hugh for Alistair).
- Pete Townshend and Paul Holdengräber – Who Is He? – The New York Public Library. “Paul Holdengräber asks Pete Townshend (of The Who): Who are you? PS Mitch is a big The Who fan.” (Hugh for Mitch).
- Stream Like a CEO – Matt Mullenweg. “OK, this whole work from home/remote work/virtual office is going to last a little longer than anybody had hoped/thought. We’re all tired of crappy Zoom calls. Let’s make them better. This isn’t for the faint of heart (or the cheap of wallet), but this would be the right way to make you look great, sound great, and get a studio-quality output from your home space. I’m currently working on the audio part (because it will improve my podcast as well), and will then move towards the video/camera part. Shout-out to Harley Finkelstein from Shopify, who not only has a great set-up, but pointed me to this great set-up.” (Mitch for Alistair).
- The Joy of Watching Old, Damaged Things Get Restored: Why the World is Captivated by Restoration Videos – Open Culture. “I. Can’t. Stop. Watching. These. Videos. First off, the production on some of them is off the charts. If you’re like me, and shows like American Pickers always piqued your interest, this is for you. If you have kids, this is for you. You will be mesmerized… nay… hypnotized by how these master craftspeople bring back objects from our history in such an educational and fun way to watch. Down the rabbit hole you will go…” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends ;):