Kwinz0rz

“... yet what those elections really meant for my father was a chance to fight his sense of invisibility. My father understood, long before I did, that in the minds of the bourgeoisie — people like the publisher who would turn down my book a few years later — our existence didn’t count and wasn’t real.

My father had felt abandoned by the political left since the 1980s, when it began adopting the language and thinking of the free market. Across Europe, left-wing parties no longer spoke of social class, injustice and poverty, of suffering, pain and exhaustion. They talked about modernization, growth and harmony in diversity, about communication, social dialogue and calming tensions.

This is beautiful and should be read by more people. I’m very happy to see that tech in Silicon Valley has a heart. Yes, Stewart Butterfield is a white man, and by now, pretty wealthy. But I think it’s important that from his place of privilege and power, he’s using his influence for this purpose and making sure his company understands why Monday is not just a normal day off. 

Sidenote: My company didn’t have today off. 

““Tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day​ and the SF office will be closed in observance. Nationwide it is still, frustratingly, not an uncontroversial holiday. Only about a third of private businesses make it a paid holiday while several states mix the observance of Dr. King’s birthday with that of the confederate general Robert E. Lee.

We are not, as a company (and I am not, as an individual) going to get into the habit of editorializing about the significance of different holidays or make recommendations on how to observe them. However, I will take​ this opportunity to encourage taking a bit of time for reflection. Dr. King was unquestionably an important figure and his legacy is worthy of recognition and celebration. He is also part of an historical movement that has included people such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X. It has also included thousands of other less well-known activists and champions, and millions of individual people across many decades and many generations. This movement continues to this very day in Ferguson and Cleveland and Baltimore and Chicago and all across the country.

These are people who have been beaten, and burned, and raped, and shot, and hanged because they stood up for their own ​basic​ dignity. Not people asking to take something from someone else. Not people threatening harm. People asking for an equal right to vote, to have freedom from violence, access to education and housing, and the right to make a living.

Think about that. Think about how profoundly shameful it is that there even ever had to be a ‘civil rights movement’. There aren’t two ways to look at that. It may make you sad or disgusted or furious, but there is no question on which side justice resides. Dr. King accomplished much individually, but it is fitting to think not only of him, but also of the millions of others, and of the movement which still goes on.

Despite the fact there have been areas of progress great and small, it is still, shamefully, far from finished. And it is on all of us to see it through. There is only us, the people. And if we truly value solidarity at this company it is a good time to recognize, and remember, and recommit to standing with the people who lost their livelihoods, their limbs, and even their lives, merely asking for something as simple and basic and obvious as equal rights and equal protections under the law.” 

— Stewart Butterfield, 2016″

“Product management is the art of knowing what to build.

Some activities require more brain power than others

The 3 different types of mental resources (below) require different mental load. Visual requires more than motor, and cognitive requires the most mental load of all.

Motor (least effort): pressing buttons, moving the mouse, etc.

Visual: see things and take them in

Cognitive (most effort): thinking, remembering, making decisions

A good experience is the result of reducing mental resources—especially cognitive load.

“For example, in 1961, Bobby Lewis’s Tossin’ and Turnin’ spent 7 weeks at #1. For all intents and purposes, Bobby Lewis was the Beyonce of 1961. Yet, have you heard of it? Do you know who Bobby Lewis is?

Meanwhile, Etta James’ debut album dropped the same year, with At Lastpeaking on Billboard at #68.

...His music, for countless reasons, didn’t persevere in the same way as Etta James’. One hypothesis: Tossin’ and Turnin’s success had more to do than just the song...perhaps Bobby Lewis was a huge personality. Great looks. Amazing dancer. When we examine pop hits, popularity is so much more than song quality.

But future generations don’t remember Bobby Lewis’s dancing and good looks. Spotify only catalogues his music. And unfortunately, that quality didn’t endure in the same way as At Last.”

SO. TRUE. 

“When there is a surplus of women, or a perceived surplus of women, the whole mating system tends to shift towards short-term dating. Marriages become unstable. Divorces increase. Men don’t have to commit, so they pursue a short-term mating strategy. Men are making that shift, and women are forced to go along with it in order to mate at all.”

“When basic needs are met, it’s easier to be creative; when you know you have a safety net, you are more willing to take risks.”

“While the power of Black girl freedom has always been among us via Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj is willing to do the dirty work of sharing and recruiting.... 

That word is “just.” 

“For years, Apple fans (like me!) sneered at Android. "Look at this gross-looking OS those search engine eggheads have put together," we said. Where Android stole from iOS, it was merely derivative; where it was wholly original, it was just appalling. "Why doesn't Google just leave the design to Apple and do what it does best: all that crazy search and machine learning shit no one else wants to do?" we asked ourselves.