So! It has been a while since I last wrote anything here. Not for any one particular reason. But I’d like to be doing more writing, and as I figure out what that looks like (here or otherwise), I’m going to experiment with a format I see a lot in newsletters (and the occasional blog). It’s going to be a bit of mostly stream of consciousness and some sections with and about the various media I’m keeping up with. I read A LOT of newsletters (okay, I probably ignore more than I actually read, but cut me some slack). Please let me know what you think. I’ve been kicking around the idea of a newsletter along these lines, and if it starts to feel like that format is more appropriate I may switch over. There’s something more…intimate, I guess, about the newsletter form that lends itself to this kind of thing. I think it has to do with the opt-in nature of newsletters. Sure, you may opt-in to reading my blog through an RSS reader or somesuch, but you haven’t entrusted me with your e-mail. That’s a pretty big deal!
Newsletter roundup
Things that I found interesting or noteworthy in the numerous newsletters I follow.
From Damien over at Technoccult, an interesting midrashic interpretation of Adam as intrinsically intersex and/or non-binary based on the use of a singular “they” to describe Adam and Eve at their inception. He doesn’t go into too much detail so I did a little digging and found this article from Lillith that goes into a bit more detail.
From Rabbi Rosen and Tzedek Chicago, a piece about the use of “anti-Semitism” charges as a way to suppress Palestinian solidarity and criticism of Israel more generally. While I agree 100% that this tactic is oppressive and dangerous, I feel like the article is a little too dismissive of anti-Semitic sentiment on the Left. It exists, and not just in the conflation of Jews and Israel (see Chicago’s Dyke March BS from last year), or the “Jews as Globalist money-hoarders” mentioned in the article. One of the provisions in the bill under discussion defines applying a double standard to Israel as a form of anti-Semitism. Now, I’m not a lawyer or a policy-maker, so I defer to the experts here who are saying that’s too broad and will only be used to attack and suppress Palestinians and other critics of Israel. But that double standard is real, and maybe this is just the bubble I live in, but I see it coming mostly from the Left. That double-standard may not be a good legal test, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s rooted in anti-Semitism.
Open Tabs
I tend to leave tabs open. A lot of tabs. Here’s what’s currently sitting in a tab that I think might be interesting to other people. Yes, I’m hoping this will help me actually read (and close!) them.
- Many Roads, One Destination – A collection of technology roadmaps for Mycroft, a Free and Open Source smart home device that’s working on version 2 of their hardware. I backed mark 2 on IndieGoGo and have been idly following them since. I think they do a good job of balancing product offering and privacy, including offering the option to revoke your data from their machine learning models.
- The Automation Charade – Astra Taylor on who benefits from popular narratives around automation.
- Critical Algorithm Studies, A Reading List – From the Social Media Collective, what appears to be a very thorough reading list.
- Cultural Brokerage and Creative Performance in Multicultural Teams – an interesting paper looking at a few specific mechanisms at play on more diverse teams that “enhanced creative performance.”
- Bossy Chicago – A collection of women-owned businesses in Chicago.
- Empowering Entry-Level Developers with Mercedes Bernard – An interesting sounding episode from the Tech Done Right podcast.
And that’s pretty much what it’ll look like. Got thoughts on this pilot episode of Out of Context? Let me know in the comment please. It’s cold out there, and we know it’ll get colder. Hold your loved ones (and heated blankets) close.
A Stranger's Sojourn 