Links of interest for December 1, 2022
A little bit web development. A little bit Stuff that's grinding my gears.
One long list of notable books by writers from across Africa. And one essay about why you should make it your 2023 resolution to touch grass and maybe some people.
- Web Development Advent Calendars for 2022
- 2022 was the year of me mentally tapping out of web development. I mean, I still get paid to do it, but I couldn't tell you much about what the new hotness is. I'll be reading these calendars all month long.
- Color Formats in CSS
- One of the things I'm behind on? CSS colors. There's been some movement here with support for the LCH color format and the
color()function landing in browsers. LCH stands for Lightness, Chroma, Hue and attempts to replicate human perception of color, while thecolor()function adds support for non-sRGB color spaces. - Sam Bankman-Fried Blames ‘Huge Management Failures’ for FTX Collapse
- In this interview, Bankman-Fried comes across as someone who overestimates his charm and thinks if he can sell this image of himself as everyone's naïve, but lovable grandson who stumbled his way into billions, then maybe he can stay out of jail. He should listen to his lawyers and stop doing interviews.
- What is effective altruism? 7 facts about FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s favorite charitable giving strategy — and one big question
- Speaking of Bankman-Fried, this piece takes a look at the latest rich boy philanthropic philosophy. Just tax them for fuck's sake. Earning to give leaves us with a few obscenely rich dudes. Taxation and redistribution benefits everyone. Government-led foreign aid can make this work internationally.
- Why America’s Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave
- If you need a more thorough explanation of the potential upcoming railroad strike and what each side is asking for, this piece from New York magazine has you covered. A summary: railroad company shareholders are demanding higher returns and labor is the easiest cost to manage.
- Left-Wing Voices Are Silenced on Twitter as Far-Right Trolls Advise Elon Musk
- As should have been expected by anyone familiar with the right-wing double-speak of “free speech,” Phony Stark is purging left-wing voices from Twitter.
- 100 Notable African Books of 2022
- I'm adding several to my "Books to Read Before I Die, Maybe (Hey Can Y'all Just Not Publish Anything For A While So I Can Catch Up?)" list. It includes Wahala, by Nikki May, one of my 2022 reads. Wahala is quite fun if you're into the Four Female Friends and A Conundrum genre of fiction.
- The Loneliness Epidemic
A society of isolated people is a radically unhealthy society. An isolated society is also a more volatile, extreme, and violent society.
Yes. Tangentially related: I think isolation is a big reason why red-leaning districts vote the way they do. Republican voters are geographically isolated — by some mix of choice and circumstance — from people in general, but particularly from people who are not white, middle-to-upper class, and Christian. They're voting against abstractions and sterotypes instead of thinking about how it might afect Mohammed, who runs the corner bodega; Marisol, your friend since middle school; or your co- worker Rebecca who introduced you to noodle kugel and hamantaschen. All of that said, I'm still not leaving the house, so don't ask me.