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:
- The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth – Cato Institute. “The other day, I asked Twitter how many people really understood the way an election works. How do we know it’s secure, and that the results are trustworthy? We’re in a crisis of truth, spurred on by the fact that anyone can transmit to everyone for free—something the framers of various constitutions failed to admit, often with deadly or catastrophic consequences. In this Cato Institute podcast, the Brookings Institute‘s Jonathan Rauch argues that we need to build back respect for how we create new knowledge.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- An Oral History of How Stupid, Sexy Flanders Got Such A Stupid, Sexy Ass – Mel Magazine. “Setting a new moral low for our links with this one. I guess it’s a meta-link. The Internet has been a goldmine for oral histories of even the most minute things. Exhibit A: I didn’t know Ned Flanders was fit—and I mean shredded—underneath that do-good generic The Simpsons clothing. It’s a thing. Here’s everything you never knew you needed to know about that thing, including references to articles listing every time The Flanders was hunky in the show’s thirty-three seasons and 706 episodes.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- The Power of Solutions Journalism – Your Undivided Attention. “We live in perilous times, and (I guess?) the most worrisome for me is the sense that things are falling apart, and the center will not hold. We don’t seem to even want to agree on facts, or the rules of the game. And if we can’t agree on anything, well, it sure will be hard to solve climate change or whatever you like. It’s never occurred to me that a fundamental approach to journalism — ‘if it bleeds it leads’, investigations of everything wrong with Facebook or elections or anti-vaxxers etc — may be a big part of the problem. The solution, it turns out, might be solutions journalism, that is framing stories not as ‘here is a problem that sucks,’ but rather, ‘here is how this other city solved this problem, and it’s working.'” (Hugh for Alistair).
- Duet: David Byrne and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson – Public Theater NY. “Talking Heads‘ David Byrne and The Roots‘ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson talk music.” (Hugh for Mitch).
- I’m a life coach, you’re a life coach: the rise of an unregulated industry – The Guardian. “Have you heard the saying: ’Trust but verify’? It’s so easy to fall into the social trappings of someone’s website and LinkedIn profile. I have a background in journalism and often struggle when trying to sort the wheat from the chaff, when it comes to a person’s ‘real’ credentials. Many ‘bestselling authors’ have paid to get that title or claim the title because at a moment in time they managed to get their book to rank in a minor sub-category on Amazon for a blink. How do you know that your life coach isn’t actually someone who could really use a life coach of their own? Is it time to regulate advice givers? How do we value experience over opinion? How dangerous might it be to work with someone who is actually giving out harmful recommendations?” (Mitch for Alistair).
- Dune Foresaw—and Influenced—Half a Century of Global Conflict – Wired. “I have the famed science fiction novel, Dune, sitting right over here on a shelf. When the movie was announced, I thought that it might be the driver to get me to (finally) read it. It hasn’t happened yet. I’m actually intimidated by this book. I even bought a comic book series based on Dune, and that pushed me further away from reading it. Reading this article is getting me closer. And, once again, we’re at that moment in time when a book first published in 1965 spelled it all out for us…” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
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