Updates from our accidental network
Updates from our accidental network
Postlight recently sent out its 21st podcast, and that totally arbitrary number made me wonder, what are our guests up to right now? So I figured I’d check in.
Anil Dash (podcast) is writing about urban planning, standards, and race:
In the middle of the last century, troops returning from World War II had been impressed by the efficiency and military utility of the advanced highways criss-crossing Germany. Perhaps no one was more impressed than Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would spearhead the creation of a similar national highway system in the United States, which would be named in his honor after his passing.
Khoi Vinh (podcast) has watched a lot of movies:
At this rate, I’ll have watched at least one hundred and fifty before 2016 is out. Even I’m a little shocked at the number. I honestly had no quantitative expectations when I first started this experiment of ratcheting back my television viewing in favor of movies.
And he insists that Jack Reacher gets better over repeated viewings.
Virginia Heffernan (podcast) is considering whether movie theaters can make a comeback:
But Lowe believes that theaters can compete — that, in fact, there’s nothing like the majesty of a big screen. “Seeing a movie in the theater is absolutely the best way to see it,” he said recently. This doesn’t mean he wants to bring back the single-screen gilded movie palaces of yore; that ship seems to have sailed. Lowe is talking substantial modernization of theaters. “The experience of going to the movies has just started to get innovative. We’ve got digital film being distributed now. We have theaters upgrading the environment — great seating, they deliver food.”
Quicker updates: Gina Trapani (podcast) is working at Postlight and wrote this week about the work happening with Black Girls CODE, and, well, who knows what Jon Lax (podcast) is doing inside of Facebook but it probably involves Individual Contributors. Natalie Podrazik (podcast) is busy building things for iOS. Dean Hachamovitch (podcast) lives an international life of mystery, or at least national. And Rex Sorgatz (podcast), we know, is working on a book, but also recently gave us a guide to the real-life counterparts to Silicon Valley characters:
Belson reminds us that a mercenary business style is a prerequisite of the Silicon Valley Evil Genius, but also reveals another requirement: having your own personal . Larry Ellison, Marc Benioff, and Steve Jobs were all devotees of eastern philosophy — and a faith in alternative medicine even hastened Jobs’ death.
Kellan McCrea (podcast) is talking technology and Camille Fournier (podcast) is writing on her blog about the whys and wherefores of technology leadership:
This is where going home comes in. Go home! And stop emailing people at all hours of the night and all hours of the weekend! Forcing yourself to disengage is essential for your mental health, believe me. Burnout is a real problem in the American workforce these days, and almost everyone I know who has worked sustained excess hours has experienced it to some degree. It’s terrible for individuals, terrible for their families, and terrible for teams. But this isn’t just about preventing your own burnout, it’s about preventing your team’s burnout. When you work later than everyone else, when you send those emails at all hours, even if you don’t expect your team to respond to those emails or work those hours, they see you doing it, and think it’s important. And that overwork makes them less effective, especially at the detailed knowledge work that engineers need to perform.
Which is very good advice that I personally should do better to follow.
We appreciate all our guests and have many guests yet to meet. See you tomorrow! See you tomorrow!