#highlight
Finland's Media Literacy
Examples of good news stories about information warfare are rare. Here's a story about Finland's quick and comprehensive response to Russian information warfare and interference in western elections. The Finns introduced programs for schools, businesses, government workers and more to address the problem.
Screen Protectors
There were a couple of articles this week about people behind screens undertaking pain-staking work to protect vulnerable children. Firstly, there's this article from The Verge about poorly treated contractors reviewing imagery depicting violence and child abuse for large platforms like Google and Facebook. Secondly, there's this investigation by Bellingcat that takes a collection of anonymised images from Europol and finds the precise location and date range in which they were taken through increasingly complex methods. Tying it all together, I just finished Tinfoil Butterfly this week. From the synopsis:
The Great Regression
— The Great Regression, Jon Bonné in Taste Cooking
What We Don't Know About Sylvia Plath
— What We Don't Know About Sylvia Plath, Emily Van Duyne in Lit Hub
Adam Driver On Marriage Story
— Adam Driver Has Put Everything He's Got On Screen, Kyle Buchanan in New York Times
Calm Technology
— Calm Technology, Amber Case in Designing Calm Technology
Work Ethic
— Learning About Work Ethic From My High School Driving Instructor, James Somers in The Atlantic
The prison inside prison
— The Prison Inside Prison, Michael Baranjas in The Texas Observer
Untranslatable Words
— Why We Love Untranslatable Words, David Shariatmadari in Lit Hub
A New Nuclear Era Is Coming
— A New Nuclear Era Is Coming, Uri Friedman in The Atlantic
Il Formaggio e i Virmi
— The Cheese and the Worms Wikipedia
Contrecoup Injury
— Coup contrecoup injury Wikipedia
Reading Difficult Books
I've always just ploughed (or slogged) through particularly long and challenging books in one go, the same as I would for anything. I'd love to have a better "active reading" strategy though, and one that I actually stick to. "Steelmanning" an argument sounds like a great tool for that. — A Note On Reading Difficult Books by Brad DeLong
Exploring the World of Paradise Lost
— The Sound and the Story: Exploring the World of Paradise Lost, Philip Pullman in The Public Domain Review
Why Scientists Fall for Precariously Balanced Rocks
— Why Scientists Fall for Precariously Balanced Rocks in Atlas Obscura
What I Learned in Avalanche School
— What I Learned in Avalanche School, Heidi Julavits in The New York Times
This is not the apocalypse you were looking for
— This is not the apocalypse you were looking for, Laurie Penny in WIRED
This Is Not the Senate the Framers Imagined
— This Is Not the Senate the Framers Imagined, Jane Chong in The Atlantic
Harry and Meghan's Big Funding Source Is Private. Sort of
— Harry and Meghan's Big Funding Source Is Private. Sort of, Benjamin Mueller in The New York Times
How Iran Covered Up the Downing of an Airliner
— How Iran Covered Up the Downing of an Airliner, Farnaz Fassihi in The New York Times
Rise of the Blur
— Rise of the Blur, Dushko Petrovich in n+1
How to Make Writing a Lot Easier
— How to Make Writing a Lot Easier, Drew Magary in Forge
Digital Tools I Wish Existed
— Digital Tools I Wish Existed by Jonathan Borichevskiy
Google Maps Hacks
— Google Maps Hacks, Simon Weckert
Stuck in Central China on Coronavirus Lockdown
— Stuck in Central China on Coronavirus Lockdown, Lavender Au in The New York Review of Books
The Only Safe Election Is a Low-Tech Election
— The Only Safe Election Is a Low-Tech Election, Kevin Roose in The New York Times
The mystery of the lost Roman herb
— The mystery of the lost Roman herb, Zaria Gorvett in BBC Future
Emma Willard's Maps of Time
— Emma Willard&'s Maps of Time, Susan Schulten in The Public Domain Review
Dawn or Dusk?
— Dawn or Dusk?, hoakley in The Eclectic Light Company
Computer Files Are Going Extinct
— Computer Files Are Going Extinct, Simon Pitt in OneZero