I tried Tesla FSD
So, let’s get this out of the way first: I drive a Tesla Model 3. Yes, I know. And yes, even though I bought it a few years ago, there was plenty of evidence of the CEO’s bad behavior and of poor conditions in the factories. And I
NotableLinks
Making version noir
This is completely lovely: a responsive, noir-inspired personal homepage in the form of a comic. I'm inspired. #Indieweb [Link]
NotableLinks
The Thing That's Coming
An interesting opinion piece about the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the aftermath thereof, and how it all relates to the election. "But even if we had performed adequate maintenance, the bridge was probably doomed. Dali is the size and mass of a skyscraper (far larger than
NotableLinks
The US aims to 'crack the code' on scaling up geothermal energy production
This hadn't really been on my radar: "Just one type of next generation geothermal — called superhot rock energy, where deep drilling reaches temperatures 400 degrees Celsius (752 degrees Fahrenheit) or hotter — is abundant enough to theoretically fulfill the world’s power requirements. In fact, just 1 percent
Updates for ShareOpenly
I made some updates to ShareOpenly this weekend: * The design now puts the shortlist of social networks you’re most likely to share to at the top. * Firefish and Misskey are now supported. * There are now instructions for adding “share to” ShareOpenly links to your site. I also added “share
NotableLinks
Here's the column Meta doesn't want you to see
"On Thursday I reported that Meta had blocked all links to the Kansas Reflector from approximately 8am to 4pm, citing cybersecurity concerns after the nonprofit published a column critical of Facebook’s climate change ad policy. By late afternoon, all links were once again able to be posted on
72
It’s my mother’s birthday. She would be 72 today. The week we lost her, I wrote this piece, which I re-read today. In it, our friend Anita Hurrell remembered her like this: One time you drove us in the van to the seaside and we ate sandwiches with
NotableLinks
Why we invented a new metric for measuring readership
"One particular piece of the journalism model that is broken? How news organizations measure their readership." Pageviews are not a million miles away from hits - which is how we measured success in 2003. This is much-needed innovation from The 19th. Alexandra Smith, who wrote this piece and
NotableLinks
A ProPublica Lawsuit Over Military Court Access Moves Forward
From my colleagues: "ProPublica has “plausibly alleged that the issued guidelines are clearly inconsistent with Congress’ mandate.” This is most apparent, the judge said, in the allegation that the Navy denies the public access to all records in cases that end in acquittals." ProPublica continues to do great
My Edinburgh
A friend asked me to recommend some places to visit in Edinburgh — not the big stuff (Arthur’s Seat, for example), but the small haunts and little delights that I used to love. I lived there for a long time, and think back on the city with a lot of
Replicators
I’d love to read about the early days of the Star Trek replicator. It’s a sometimes-useful macguffin in the context of Star Trek: The Next Generation and later shows: a device that can recreate virtually any object on command, from food to electronics. By the time ST:TNG
Nonfiction
Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family, by Jordan Mechner
Just fabulous. Maybe it's because his family history is not a world of different from mine, or maybe it's because his journey and interests feels intertwined with my own, but I wept openly as I read the final third of this. It's beautiful and