Shortlisted: This week’s best links, #100
The best talk I’ve ever seen, why Jeb! is failing, the Choose Your Own Adventure approach to a career, and more.
Quote of the week: “What’s the difference between you and your great great great-grandfather? What makes you different? I think the answer is this: What you take for granted.”
—The author David Mitchell, in an interview with The Atlantic
Arts and Culture
Truth And Reconciliation — Bryan Stevenson in Conversation with Khalil G. Muhammad (Top pick)
MoMA / YouTube / 102 mins
A brilliant and stirring discussion about race and history in America. I’ve never heard our past framed this way and connected to the present this powerfully. One of the best talks I’ve ever attended, and worth every minute. Watch this.
Take A Tour Of Technicolor Cities Around The World
Taylor Glascock / Wired / 2 mins
Gorgeous photos, and interesting to see how the photographer’s distinctive style makes cities as far-flung as Florence, Paris, and Hong Kong feel of a kind.
Politics and World Affairs
What Changed While Jeb Was Gone
Ben Smith / BuzzFeed / 4 mins
Sharp observations on how changes in the media landscape help explain Jeb’s failure to catch on.
Greenland Is Melting Away
Coral Davenport, Josh Haner, Larry Buchanan, and Derek Watkins / The New York Times / 8 mins
Immersive videos and graphics add context and urgency to this story about scientists working to capture data “on the front lines of climate change.”
Portraits Of Ellis Island Immigrants
Public Domain Review / 2 mins
Striking.
World Leaders With Man Buns
Sad And Useless / 1 min
And now for some lighter fare. (Lookin’ good, Putin.)
Business and Economics
Jack Dorsey’s Jargon-Free Firing Memo, Edited To Remove The Jargon
Gideon Lichfield / Quartz / 3 mins
When Dorsey notified Twitter staff of big layoffs, he wrote, “Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I’m going to give it to you straight.” Of course, he didn’t. Here’s what “straight” would have looked like.
Choose Your Own Adventure In Silicon Valley
Rachel Garb / Medium / 13 mins
A fascinating look into the circumstances and key choices one Silicon Valley vet made over the course of her career.
One Day At Panda Express
Eater / 11 mins
An inside look at what it takes to run a fast-food restaurant. Lots of fascinating details, including everything from the workers’ lives to the history of Orange Chicken to the total revenue brought in.
Science and Technology
Tailor Brands
A site that uses an algorithm to provide logo options. It’s not going to replace a real graphic designer, but the options I got when I played around with it were actually decent. Another example of how starting a business is getting cheaper and easier.
First Click: What Comes After The Smartphone?
Thomas Ricker / The Verge / 1 min
I’d never thought about this question. This short piece (with a link to a longer podcast) clearly frames why the Internet of Things is the next big thing.
Did you like this? Sign up here to receive Shortlisted in your inbox each Sunday, and click below to recommend this to other Medium readers.
