Frosted Echoes

The first user of the beta Posts+ feature on Tumblr received death threats.

“I felt like the sacrificial lamb, because they didn’t announce Post+ beforehand and only gave it to a few people, which landed me in the crosshairs of a very pissed-off user base when I’m just trying to pay off medical bills by giving people the option to pay for content,” Kaijuno told TechCrunch. “I knew there’d be some backlash because users hate any sort of change to Tumblr, but I thought that the brunt of the backlash would be at the staff, and that the beta testers would be spared from most of it.”

Testing beta software always comes with risks. This is often made clear in some form of beta testing agreement. To state the obvious, it isn’t usually the case that the risk comes in the form of a rabid community of users threatening your life. Tumblr has a notoriously committed community that can be very critical of any change to their beloved platform. While users can be hostile towards those who make changes to their favorite software, I’ve never seen this sort of vitriol directed at beta testers who are trying out the changes.¹

I can’t believe we are still in the situation where you have to prove you have a cable provider to watch things online.

I don’t care what you do, as a parent, you are never totally prepared for that moment when your child initiates a conversation with you about the Melvins.

Finished reading: Siege And Storm by Leigh Bardugo 📚. I enjoyed this much more than the first book in the trilogy, which I didn’t finish but was totally engrossed in the on-screen adaptation. The depth of the second book bodes well for the next season of the Netflix series.

Tumblr removing post types and substituting simple content blocks is a good move. It enables greater posting flexibility.

I really like not having access to site metrics on M.b. but it can be nice to know when someone is reading your blog posts. It was gratifying to see a blog post I wrote discussed in this weekly newsletter.

“Comments are suppposed to be nice and supportive, or just like, a question.”

~ My 9-yr. old, coming into contact with nasty comments on his favorite YouTubers, for the first time.

Finished reading: Stardust by Neil Gaiman 📚. I had trouble wrapping my head around the concept of an adult fairy tale, but that does perfectly describe the book. Not a particularly long read, but definitely a fun one.

“On the wall above his desk, there’s a framed ticket from a Grateful Dead concert. On the other side of the room, there’s blotter paper signed by the 1960s counterculture icon Ken Kesey. Lined up on the bookshelf are copies of half-century-old academic literature on LSD.”

A UNC researcher, operating under a huge grant from DARPA, wants to remove hallucinations from psychedelics, in order to create a new class of antidepressants. This could get interesting.

”‘Lucas makes movies that are intentionally designed to have holes in them that need to be filled later,’ the producer Brian Volk-Weiss says in the oral history. He’s right except for one thing: Do they need to be filled in? Many a mediocre Star Wars product has arisen from trying to define every entry in the galactic glossary. The original films work precisely because of the holes.“

Spencer Kornhaber writes for the Atlantic about how the Mandolorian brings back the Star Wars universe that feels real. One of the biggest faults of the prequels, the premise of which doomed them from the start, was how they were conceived to fill those mysterious holes that appeared in the original trilogy. Even the Disney sequel films suffered from this inclination to reveal all. As much as I wanted to see the enigmatic Knights of Ren that were hinted at in The Force Awakens, I couldn’t help but be disappointed when they actually appeared on screen. Those who have a hand in creating Star Wars properties need to know that the audience should be afforded some allowance to use their imaginations.

Good move by Twitter to add Revue newsletter signup buttons to Twitter user profiles. I wondered how they were going to integrate the newsletter service, and this should boost subscriptions.

Newsletters get tricky.

Is Netflix the only company within the high-flying FAANG stock portfolio not under antitrust scrutiny?

I appreciate Eddy Cue’s honesty regarding Apple Music lossless encoding. Very few people will be able to notice a difference.

“If you have ever engaged in one of the typical shame fights on social media, then think about how you felt when it was over (or even if you only read such a shame fight). There is no inner peace. There can be burning anger and a nattering inner voice of opposition that lingers for days. In terms of shame, it doesn’t matter if you are right. Shame loves the categories of right and wrong. It only matters that your opponent disagreed and that you shamed them. Shame is like the game of global thermonuclear war: the only option is not to play.”

~ via Shame in the Public Arena - Glory to God for All Things

Listening to the spaceship engine sounds from the Dark Noises app at night makes me feel like I’m praying in my quarters aboard the Starship Enterprise.

Adding this movie to my Netflix queue was an easy call.

A new Netflix movie called Skater Girl chronicles the journey of an Indian teenage girl who discovers a life-changing passion for skateboarding. It’s also the story of Asha Gond.

I’ve longed for pages like this on Apple Music, where you can see the output of a record label. Trusting the curation of a particular label has been one of the best ways to find new music since forever.

As the kids say, “it me.”

📚When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanathi: The story of Kalanathi’s promising life as a neurosurgeon disappearing with his diagnosis of stage IV lung cancer is tragic. However, Kalanathi’s musings on medical care, relationships and life make this an inspiring read.

At this point, none of the money from the $16 billion “Save Our Stages” relief fund has been distributed. I was happy our senator was supporting that bill and I would love to see the venues get payments.