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 (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) 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:
- You Are Boring – The Magazine. "Scott Simpson absolutely skewered me with this piece from The Magazine. Five paragraphs of insults, and then some thoughts on how to change for the better. Awesome." (Alistair for Hugh).
- This Story Just Won’t Write – The New Yorker. "I didn’t know Time and Newsweek started out as a digest of the news ‘to present the week’s news succinctly to ‘busy men’ who were too involved in their important endeavors to spend time wading through a lot of newspapers.’ Later, as we wanted ever-shorter news, it urged readers to ‘make time for Time.’ In this fascinating account of his years there, Calvin Trillin gives us a rare glimpse into how newsrooms changed as we moved from broadsheet to tweet." (Alistair for Mitch).
- Money-Laundering Banks Still Get a Pass From U.S. – Bloomberg. "There seem to be many things wrong with the way the world works these days (ever was it so). The sickness of our time seems to be the influence the financial sector has on policy and law-making. It’s a vicious cycle: financial sector gets more powerful/wealthier; becomes more influential in policy/law-making; influences policy/law to make financial sector more powerful/wealthier. You can see this in the response to the financial crisis of 2007/8–>now, and more blatantly in US government response to *actual* convictions of large-scale, illegal money-laundering done by big banks. ‘Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.’" (Hugh for Alistair).
- What Is the Business of Literature? – The Virginia Quarterly Review. "My good friend and fellow-traveller in the world of book/publishing start-ups, Richard Nash, has written a tour de force diagnosis and prognosis of the business of literature. If you care about books, writing and reading, you should read it." (Hugh for Mitch).
- Brilliant new Twitter account proves mathematical theorems in 140 characters or less – The Next Web. "What (still) gets me excited about all of this digital-ness is when someone takes something that has broken well beyond The Tipping Point (like, say, Twitter) and does something with it that not only raises an eyebrow, but gives you a glimpse into the creative spirit that is the full blown glory of the human condition. In this instance, someone much smarter than me is using Twitter to prove certain math challenges in 140 characters (or less). Make no mistake about it, this also illuminates how bad my math actually is." (Mitch for Alistair).
- What are some of the smartest things you’ve seen people do to promote a book? – Reddit. "I’m a massive fan of Reddit. Years ago, Julien Smith told me about it and I have been hooked ever since. I don’t even think I am registered user. Just a total voyeur. Alexis Ohanian is the co-founder and he’s about to release his first book, Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed. Ohanian and I share the same publisher and editor. As I get prepped to launch my second book, CTRL ALT Delete, on May 21st, I’m going through the stress of figuring out with my publisher, agent and the team here at Twist Image, how to best market this book for success. Ohanian (whose book comes out in October) turned to the Reddit community to see what the community was impressed with when it comes to book launches. Take a read…" (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.