Articles

Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #666

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:

Africa by Toto to play ‘for all eternity’ in Namib desert – Guardian News – YouTube. “Because of course it is. I don’t know about ‘eternity’’ – As any Burner will tell you, solar cells get pretty weak when they’re buried in drifting sand. But Max Siedentopf — who’s German and Namibian — decided to loop Toto‘s classic forever. I find the thought of some alien visitor or post-apocalyptic tribe stumbling across this, blowing the dust from its solar cells, and hearing the track start very entertaining.” (Alistair for Hugh and video is below).
The Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel – Idle Words. “Maciej Cegłowski is one of my favorite writers on the Internet. He’s spoken at Strata before, and has serious technical chops, but what draws me to him is the sheer variety of things he writes about. As someone whose ADHD leaks into his blogging, I understand Maciej’s scattershot subject matter at a profound level. Here’s a classic from 2007, describing the transcontinental vacuum tube few people know about that supplies NYC with Mission-grade Bay Area burritos. In an era of AI-generated plausible bullshit, it’s nice to see a human at the top of their bullshit game too.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Louis DeJoy’s Surprising Second Act – Time. “I’m not sure exactly what I love about this story, or maybe I do: Trump appointee many thought was sent to destroy the postal service, saves it instead. Nice arc.” (Hugh for Alistair).
‘The Big Lebowski’ Turns 25: “People Didn’t Get It,” Jeff Bridges Recalls – The Hollywood Reporter. “The Dude’s movie is 25 years old.” (Hugh for Mitch).
Pausing AI Developments Isn’t Enough. We Need to Shut it All Down – Time. “In celebration of this being the 666th time that we have shared links with one another (and published them into the world), I thought I would spin some content that is either devil-ish, evil or… about the end. This week, I’ve spoken (and written) ad nauseam about why we should not stop/pause the development of AI (you can read/listen to my tirade right here: Fear Of An AI Planet), so let’s read about someone who believes the exact opposite of me… someone that wants to kill AI (maybe before it kills us?)…” (Mitch for Alistair).
Twitter is dying – TechCrunch. “Let’s continue down the road with all things evil and ‘on the nose’ with the weekly theme for #666. Is Twitter dead/dying? I (don’t think) I will be paying to keep my verification (and I don’t see the immediate value of Twitter Blue). I have not had a great experience with Twitter over the years (this is a ‘market of one’ statement)… I don’t blame the platform/community, as much as where I chose to spend my time with my content choices. Still, it’s hard to believe that any of these recent moves are going to make Twitter better. With that, these types of headlines are created to grab attention, and often are not reflective of what is actually happening. Still, everything at Twitter feels quite ‘weird’ these days…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.