Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another: 

• Our Office Avatar Part 1 – Harper Reed. “Harper Reed continues to be one of my favorite things on the Internet. A hacker’s hacker, he loves to mess with things. In this case, feeding data from sensors and security cameras to a wise-cracking AI chatbot. The results are predictably hilarious and well documented.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• AI Makes Any Sound A Synth Preset Instantly – Longest Solo Ever – YouTube. “Electronic music comes from two sources: Sampling (playing back a recorded sound, often with modifications that change its pitch or speed) or synthesizer (creating soundwaves, then modifying them mathematically). And, until now, never the twain shall meet. I found this video fascinating and figured a musichead like you would too. It reverse-engineers the modifications needed to synthesize a sample.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• Effie Passero – ‘Billie Jean’ (Cover) – Mondays Dark – YouTube. “Piano torch song version of Michael Jackson‘s ‘Billie Jean’.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Canadian School Boards Sue Social Media Giants For Over $4 Billion In Damages – Reuters. “New twist on the ongoing worry about kids, smartphones, social media, and the damage we’ve maybe done to a generation. A bunch of school boards in Ontario are suing Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok for making platforms that are ‘negligently designed for compulsive use, have rewired the way children think, behave and learn.’ There is growing evidence (another link for another week) about the massive impact on the mental health of teens from smartphone and social media use. And while $4 billion is a drop in the bucket (Facebook alone reported profits of $14 billion in the last quarter of 2023), this might be part of a new move to force change in how society deals with kids/teens and technology.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• Daniel Kahneman: The Thought Leader interview – Strategy + Business. “We lost one of the great thought leaders last week. Daniel Khaneman was the Nobel Prize-winning economist who tackled everything from the psychology of judgment and decision-making to his work in creating the field of behavioral economics. And, having lived 90 years, he was able to assume the titles of author and psychologist – along with being one of the brightest economists our world has ever seen. Most will recognize him as the author of bestselling book, Thinking, Fast And Slow (2011), but his list of accolades and awards are plentiful. This is an interview with the also-brilliant, Michael Schrage (MIT Media Lab’s e-Markets Initiative and author of Serious Play – How the World’s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate). In a world where everyone wants to known as a thought leader, Kahneman walked the talked. Read on for his fascinating perspectives on human decision making, cognitive biases, prospect theory, risk, emotion, decision analysis and so much more. He will be missed.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Dungeons & Dragons All Started In This Tiny Wisconsin Town – Atlas Obscura. “Whoa wow… major Nerd Alert on this one. I don’t know if you spent any Saturday nights (and then a whole Sunday) being a Dungeon Master for the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons… but I sure did (and, it didn’t stop at D&D for my interest in these games). And… yes… truly nerdy (even though games like D&D have become popularized in the current culture of ComicCon and more – including the movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves starring Chris Pine!). Now, after 50 years of the game that always held marketshare and some kind of interest in an audience, it’s leaning more into a more popular place in culture. Who created the game and where is it come from? We can thank Gary Gygax and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for this one. Now the city celebrates Gary (and all things D&D) with Gary Con – an event to celebrate the game’s founder who passed awayin 2008. This is a great read and brings up a lot of nostalgia for me. It was also an opportunity to reflect on how D&D help mature my problem-solving, collaboration and personal growth skills as a teenager… which is something I had not associated with the game until this read. Roll ‘em!” (Mitch for Hugh). 

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

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