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It’s amazing to me that we’re looking to guidance from the survivors of the Nazis, so soon after as well.

NY Book Review looks a few books from the past, and I’m just gobsmacked by the horrors that we’re seeing in “first world” countries of late. I just can’t process it.

Liberal democracy has enjoyed much better days. Vladimir Putin has entrenched authoritarian rule and is firmly in charge of a resurgent Russia. In global influence, China may have surpassed the United States, and Chinese president Xi Jinping is now empowered to remain in office indefinitely. In light of recent turns toward authoritarianism in Turkey, Poland, Hungary, and the Philippines, there is widespread talk of a “democratic recession.” In the United States, President Donald Trump may not be sufficiently committed to constitutional principles of democratic government.

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n. pl. hous·es (hou′zĭz, -sĭz)

1. A place to store all one’s unfinished projects.

More from the “I don’t want to do it, so I’ll ruin it for those that do” camp.

“Aquamation,” a greener form of body disposal, is gaining acceptance in America. But some powerful groups are fighting to stop it.

… When their aquamation legalization bill came to the floor of the state House of Representatives, however, it was derailed by a gruesome speech by a lawmaker who also happened to be a casket-maker.

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I love removing unnecessary things from the data centre… old hardware, bad configurations and so forth, but today’s was pretty good. It was a patch that … just shouldn’t have been.

At one end, an F5. The DB9 failover port to be exact.

Then a Cisco “blue console cable”, two intermediary infrastructure patch panels…

And then at the other end, the ethernet port of an APC PDU.

Wonders will truly never cease.

Get this into your earballs and eyeholes, it’s a lot of fun. The full list of movies is spectacular.

via kottke

Japan is one of the countries highest on my list for places to visit, and next year I hope to spend some time there - until then I’ll just have to console myself with marvelling at these beautiful photos of Mount Fuji at Dawn

These photos of Japan’s Mount Fuji capture the majesty and quiet beauty of the iconic sight. Shot by Japanese photographer Takashi Nakazawa, these monochromatic scenes capture the quiet, clear hours around the mountain before the sun is fully risen.

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Illustrator John Atkinson has been working hard lately to help you save a lot of time. Thanks to his latest creation you can now read ultra-condensed classic books!

John Atkinson’s blog is a true cavalcade of hilarity!

More and more I realise I missed out on the spectactularly wonderful influence of Mister Rogers growing up. Then again, I’m still happy I grew up in the 80’s, before the TV was truly infested with TellyTubbies and Woogie Poogies or whatever shite they’re spraying over the airwaves these days.

Maxwell King, the former director of the Fred Rogers Center and author of the forthcoming book The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers, shared an excerpt of the book with The Atlantic about how much attention Rogers paid to how children would hear the language on the show. For instance, he changed the lyrics on Friday’s installment of the “Tomorrow” song he sang at the end of each show to reflect that the show didn’t air on Saturdays.

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Another wonderful summary of a few recent posts and thoughts by Jason Kottke

Another way to put this is that all the people who bought those News of the World-style magazines from the grocery checkout — UFO sightings! Elvis lives! NASA faked the Moon landing! new treatment lets you live 200 years! etc.! — were able to find each other, organize, and mobilize because of the internet. And then they decided to elect one of themselves President.

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I’m glad I’m not the only one, this article by Dominik Wagner on Swift puts it better than I’ve ever been able to articulate to myself.

Swift actively distracts me in that endeavor by making me answer questions I really don’t want to answer right now. Yes, stuff might be less correct in the meantime, but heck that is what I want during the design phase. Find my concept, sweet spot, iterate, pivot quickly.

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