Notes

A storyline from the first 5 episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which seems quite relevant a half-century later, as summarized on Wikipedia:

Lady Elaine’s changes to the geography of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe worry King Friday, who begins to impose new rules and restrictions in Make-Believe, and builds a wall.

Meanwhile, King Friday worries about an invasion of people who want to change the Neighborhood of Make-Believe and drafts her (Lady Aberlin) as a border guard.

Because of the new rules and restrictions in Make-Believe, Cornflake S. Pecially refuses to visit the castle. Chef Brockett delivers a cake to King Friday, who is suspicious of more changes, cuts the cake into many pieces to inspect it.

At the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, King Friday still wants to protect his province, so he sends Handyman Negri to install punch clocks at both ends of it.

Betty Aberlin takes some helium balloons to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Tagging them with a message of peace, she floats them above the castle. When King Friday reads the message, he ceases his efforts to stop change. The wall is taken down.

Complex workflows are part of the fitness function for software platforms. If just anyone could set one up, you’d have to actually create something to get the “I’m a real programmer” dopamine rush.

https://mobile.twitter.com/tomcritchlow/status/1349831787514523650

Sugar and tea and rum.

The Wellerman TikTok that’s gone viral is great, but I like this fork even better.

This is the best summary of how the “republic of landowners” legacy has skewed US democratic representation.

This reflection on the Dutch pandemic from @bencoates1 mirrors my perspective well. Especially in disappointment that the press who held Pete Hoekstra to task now seems lenient domestically.

Google has unionized, Pakistan is using a vaccine from China, Russian hackers could still be anywhere, the UK won’t extradite to the US over human rights concerns, POTUS has allies in a blatant coup, and COVID-19 is now more infectious.

2021 was supposed to be boring.