Stella by Starlight

This past weekend I was hunting through what has become a rather long wish list in my digital loan app from the library. I came across Stella by Starlight by Sharon M Draper and spent a few days reading.

Why Are Babies so Dumb if Humans are so Smart?

“During their investigation, Kidd and Piantadosi realized something important that strengthened their theory. It turns out that another variable has an even higher correlation with intelligence than brain size—time to maturity, or weaning time. In other words, the time it takes to shepherd newborns through absolute helplessness to a point of relative self-sufficiency predicts primate intelligence more strongly than the best measure that has previously been proposed, namely, head circumference. Orangutans have smarter babies than baboons and they wean them longer. Baboon babies, in turn, are weaned longer, and are smarter, than lemur babies.”

I found this fascinating. Science and the way the world works are mind blowing.

And their eyes glazed over

“My students investigate the questions raised in this essay during the seminars I give on writing and researching robotics and technology. As my students’ fingers move unconsciously across desktops, miming the texting or typing they desperately want to be doing, we talk about how technology has consumed us. The students write papers on internet addiction, the consequences of smartphone use, the internet of things, the dark side of Fitbits. And yet they actively demonstrate everything we discuss. One of my students acknowledged that she can’t avoid surfing the web if she uses her laptop in class, yet she doesn’t opt for paper and pencil.”

This essay was interesting to me. I didn't love everything about it, but the glimpses I get into life with devices as a young person intrigue me. As I age I'm more and more grateful to be away from devices. I spend long hours reading and thinking. I now draw with pen and paper more than on my iPad, and I journal with pen and paper as well. My todo lists have even gone low tech as of late. There is something comforting about it all to me. But I still love the internet and my iPad to be able to read things like this article. Balance, as usual, is the key but it can be very hard.

Wizard of Earthsea

I spent the past week reading a chapter or two a night before bed from Ursula Le Guin's Wizard of Earthsea. I spotted this book at our local Powells and didn't think I wanted to read it, but then happened on it again in the digital library app and decided to give it a try.

Urban Watercolor Sketching

Over the past 10 months I've been getting back into drawing and now, painting. It's been great for me, a way to do something that is completely away from the screen. And over that time I've picked up various books on both drawing and painting but none of them appealed once I started reading, so I never finished them. But this past week I sped through Urban Watercolor Sketching by Felix Scheinberger. I really enjoyed this book.

The web is not print and other stories

“No, the web is not print. However it shouldn’t be defined by being not print. Nor should we allow assumptions about what is and isn’t possible stop us experimenting. Unless we find the edges, unless we ask why we can’t do things, unless we come up with ways to try and make it work, the native tools won’t get better.”

I've really enjoyed Rachel's work on CSS Grid and I agree with her that we aren't doing enough to push the boundaries on the web. The edges of the web are different and maybe we've become too complacent with that we're doing that's easy.

40 things I learned in my last job

“Ownership is tricky and I don’t know quite what makes it work, but I suspect it’s the most important thing; when people own something they give it all they’ve got. When they don’t, they behave unpredictably (i.e. shit on it).”

This is a really great list, super great and recommend reading it all. If you make for the web you'll find some things to think about, remember, and nod your head to.

Berlin, Book One

I've been on a hold list to get a copy of Berlin, Book One by Jason Lutes for quite some time. For some reason whenever I'm on a long hold for a library book I assume that it will be good.