A Break May Do Me Good

BlueSky's Down!

Yesterday or the day before, BlueSky had a bit of an outage. For a few hours, I had no access to either the app or the website. Now, what was my bored brain gonna do.

Well, it got a lot less angry for a few hours. And I sat down and banged out some design studio homework I'd been putting off. And I didn't really miss anything, not news, at least. It was a good two hours.

Since joining in 18 months ago, BlueSky has been a breath of fresh air, a throw-back to early Twitter. But, it's not a perfect analog. Obviously we live in a different time and the "discourse" is a heckuva lot different. The two-minute-hate is never-ending. Maybe 20% of what I see and consume is uplifting or educational. I wish it were otherwise, though I'm the one to blame as I've followed who I've followed.

So, I'm again faced with the realization that my life might be better - a lot better! - if I just walked away from social media of all kinds. (I only really do BlueSky, Facebook, Reddit, and LinkedIn.) The devil on one shoulder says that's sticking my head in the sand. Or is it the angel?

This Week's Links

KUOW Measuring goodwill: Why UW researchers are watching Little Free Pantries

The Stranger How Fear Becomes Policy : The Illusion of Safety Has Outpaced the Reality of Neglect

The New Yorker A Lo-Fi Rebellion Against A.I. : As slick, machine-generated visuals become ubiquitous, artists and designers are embracing a style of handmade imperfection.

It's Nice That How Bayeux Tapestry inscriptions and folklore brought handcrafted warmth to the Hastings Castle branding

Rest of World The Filipino virtual assistants behind LinkedIn’s “thought leadership” content mill : For $7 an hour, virtual assistants use AI tools to write LinkedIn posts and comments on behalf of Western executives.

The Wikipedia Wabbithole

America's Army | Body Heat | Jared Polis | Scum of the Earth (book) | Comstock Act of 1873

Cover Song of the Week

Until next week... gassho.