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: 

• Bendito Machine – Animatic – YouTube. “My partner used to be a VJ. When she needs to entertain people, she has a reel of weird videos, and five of them are this series called Bendito Machine. They’re two-dimensional, weirdly troubling, and sort of tell a story. The story tends to change depending on what’s playing; she put on Zamfir’s pan flutes once, and it fundamentally altered what the video was about. This is the first one; it’s up to you whether you watch the rest, but they’re trippy.” (Alistair for Hugh and video below).
• Who’s Afraid of Lorne Michaels? – Longreads. “This is not a story about comedy. ‘More interesting to consider is what the thing says, and whether what it says is true. More interesting still is what it costs, and whether this cost is worthwhile.’ And there is a lot to consider when one person controls so much of an industry, and finds himself a writer in title but a benefactor of the talent meatgrinder atop which sits the writers’ strike. This long piece pulls no punches (‘Perhaps there is an inverse correlation between rent prices and SNL’s quality’). But it’s a great look at what we allow for the sake of the status quo.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• How America Got Mean – The Atlantic. “(It’s becoming difficult to navigate these links, with more and more content behind paywalls, but I think you can read an article or two for free from The Atlantic. Or it should be accessible in Apple News if you use that? Anyway.) It’s no big news that the USA is getting more and more polarized, but there are other deeply worrying stats to consider: ‘More than half of all Americans say that no one knows them well. The percentage of high-school students who report ‘persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness’ shot up from 26 percent in 2009 to 44 percent in 2021.’ There are many etceteras to list, including growing suicide rates, annecdotal evidence of increasingly eggregious rudeness towards employees in service businesses as well. Blue-suit conservative David Brooks has a theory that the US used to teach civil morality in our schools and other institutions, but that since the 70s or so they have stopped doing that. I’m not sure I buy this theory, but there’s something to the erosion of civic engagement and sense of duty that makes me very nervous (in the USA… but Canada as well).” (Hugh for Alistair).
• My Generation – Harper’s Magazine. “(Ditto above about free access to articles!) Related to the above, here’s Justin E. H. Smith talking about the disconnect between the moral sensibilities of Gen X vs. more recent generations, and ‘our’ difficulty understanding the very different approach coming after us. Note: if you cannot access the article, here’s a link to a very good podcast convo with the author.”   (Hugh for Mitch).  
• Meta to drop ‘Facebook News’ tab in some European countries – Reuters. “As Canada continues to deal with terrible fallout of the Online News Act (Bill C-18), the other shoe is starting to drop. For those who are not up to speed on why Facebook is no longer allowing users to post links to news sites (and why news sites are no longer allowed to post on Facebook)… and why Google may no longer index news websites in Canada, I’d recommend you listen in to my podcast where I discuss everything in detail with Michael Geist: SPOS #895 – Michael Geist On Google And Meta Blocking News Links And The Future Of Media. With that, I have been screaming that this isn’t just a ‘Canada issue,’ and here we go. In fact, the few who actually like Bill C-18 will often to point to Australia as an example of how this insanely idiotic law has worked. I am willing to bet that as soon as the contracts that were established in Australia come due, Facebook will also leave that market. Yes, I am still in duress over this entire carnival of crazy.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Outpost News: Britain’s smallest radio station – Monocle. “While we’re on the topic of media… here’s a charming little documentary about a small (and remote) local radio station. Take a look at how great media can be, and how powerful it is for community building. I’ve often wondered what the world would be like if all news outlets were, simply, a small business… run for the people in the community to everyone’s benefit… one that doesn’t need the power or the mass advertising that ultimately created more Barons than true value…” (Mitch for Hugh and video below).

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

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