Link dump 3
Things I have been reading recently.
If you’re not family, she’s not Mom
That kind of over-familiarity — assuming that we’re so close we can both call her Mom — is all over the place in banner ads, email subject lines, and app notifications this time of year. It’s annoying and gross at best, and deeply upsetting and triggering to some people at worst. And many of the people doing it know exactly what they’re doing.
The failure of Figma Sites to engage with concepts that are decades old really makes me feel like we are at an inflection point for what it means to do UX design. If tools like this take off, the nature of the job will shift irrevocably from making a website to making website-shaped outputs; something that looks good enough at first glance for out stakeholders who will not need to use it themselves.
Redesigning the housing market and alternative models
Is housing really best left to market alone? Turns out there are many models for financing housing. Urban designer Andy Fergus shares his research into alternative housing models, from for-profit to non-profit.
Co-ops and resistance in Rojava
Despite these challenges, the co-op movement in Rojava continues to grow. The region is home to women-led agricultural projects, worker-run bakeries, and community-based energy initiatives. The women’s economy committee, which operates under the broader women’s organisation Kongra Star, has been instrumental in developing these economic models.
Watching Christians Celebrate Killing
It’s worth wondering if anyone in this group of people who run American foreign policy have reflected on what counts as victory. Other than a vague need to “send a message” there is no indication that anyone in the chat ever wondered if killing people with airstrikes actually accomplishes anything. Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Israel have been bombing the Houthis for a decade now without meaningful effect. The Houthis have been bombing ships in the Red Sea and launching missiles at Israel itself, trying to force Israel to change its actions in Gaza, also with no effect. Same for Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks. Zooming out, the last several decades have seen a seemingly endless cycle of countries launching airstrikes against each other and non-state groups, killing lots of people but almost never actually changing how the targets act.
What Do US Vehicle Regulators Have Against Tiny Cars?
The rigidity of NHTSA categorizations for four-wheeled vehicles — car, LSV, or nothing — leaves little space for many minicars that are popular abroad. Outside the US, most minicars can exceed the 25-mph LSV maximum, and they typically lack the airbags and other costly safety equipment required to meet federal crash standards. (A rare exception, the Smart ForTwo, left the US market in 2019.) In 2008, NHTSA rejected a petition to create a new category of “medium speed vehicles” traveling at up to 35 mph, which would have accommodated many of the quadricycles popular in Europe.
While Democracy Burns, Democrats Prioritize… Demolishing Section 230?
Durbin’s fundamental mischaracterization of Section 230 as mere “legal immunity for big tech” betrays either willful ignorance or calculated misdirection. Section 230 is, at its core, a shield for speech – your speech, my speech, everyone’s speech. It protects individuals and small websites far more than it protects Silicon Valley giants. It’s what keeps you safe when you forward an email or share a post. It’s what enables sites for people to review doctors or mechanics or employers. It’s what makes it possible for Wikipedia to exist. It’s what enables the very digital discourse we need to maintain democracy.
Chopstick Sleeves as Emissaries of Japanese Typography and Culture
Despite the fact that single-use chopsticks are temporal by design, Mr. Kitagawa nonetheless succeeded in amassing over 800 chopstick sleeves from the 1970s through the 2000s. (The bulk of his collection is now housed at the Archive thanks to his granddaughter Taiyo’s donation.) What were once disposable have become unintentional repositories of information; of entwined histories of people, places, and Japanese culture.
Maybe it seems too parochial to suggest that the “government efficiency” effort is simply cover for defunding Elon Musk’s regulatory police, steering more contracts his way, depriving rivals of the same treatment he gets, and building oligarchy in America. Maybe Musk is a real efficiency expert who wants to bring his style of business cuts to government as a public service. Maybe he’s truly concerned about burdens being left to his children and grandchildren. Maybe he will nobly share in the sacrifice. Color me unconvinced. And let me submit as evidence a litany of items that DOGE is likely to leave mostly untouched in its drive for austerity.
Reflections on the Disrupt Land Forces campaign: Melbourne September 2024
As Robert Fisk, the well-known but now deceased fearless English war correspondent said, “Follow the weapons. If you do not cut the weapons off, wars will never end.” We know our efforts are miniscule but we also know our brothers and sisters in those countries and communities who are the victims of war and conflict take strength from our actions, and sense our solidarity. It gives hope, it proves the effectiveness of citizen-based protest – the power of standing firm and raising the voice of dissent. Truth-telling and for the Quaker contingent – living out our Peace Testimony. We are compelled to act, to bear witness, to be the best we can be and never give up.
Understanding and wielding power in local government
I founded a civic school called Maximum New York, and the idea is our existing systems for training people on how the government works either don’t exist or they get you further away from the truth than closer to it. So for example, if you get a political science degree, almost everyone who graduates with that degree cannot tell you what a statute is. They can’t define it with confidence. That’s terrifying.