2023-01-01
🟩Introduction
Happy New Year’s greetings to my loyal readers, and a warm welcome to newcomers as well. I’m excited to usher in 2023 with a new edition of Crow’s Curios.
My curated collection this week includes insightful commentary on when moving fast on climate action is a bath thing, a warm and uplifting podcast I’ve discovered, as well as some writing of my own. I’m allowed to be a bit self indulgent, as this is my own blog after all.
I hope together we’ll be able to explore 2023 together, discovering new writers, artists, makers and more along the way!
-crow
🟩Article of the Week: Maybe the Tech Startup Model Doesn’t Apply to Solving Climate Change…
It’s bad enough that Silicon Valley-type startups recklessly hack the attention of teenagers for profit, as Meta has done. It’s another thing for them to start messing around with our planet’s atmosphere.
Move Fast and Break the Planet
by George Dillard
I came across this article by George Dillard (@worldhistory@historians.social), and it immediately resonated with me. Inaction on climate change is not only bad just because the planet is warming, but also because it’ll drive individual actors to try and take drastic action.
Even if the best of intentions is assumed, embarking on unregulated geoengineering seems like a recipe for planetary disaster. Having a tech startup messing with the atmosphere reminds of the time that US Congress almost decided to import Hippos to Louisiana and farm them as a food source.
Luckily that disaster was averted, but unless society can be moved to take meaningful climate action, I worry that a rogue actor might release the equivalent of a “climate hippo” and cause irreparable damage.
So on that note, let’s turn instead to a slightly more hopeful tale about unintended consequences…
🟩Short Story of the Week: Wherein A Flying Head Saves the Day?
The Flying Head at the Edge of Night
by Yukimi Ogawa for IZ Digital
I was scrolling in my feed, when the above image came into view (courtesy of @IZDigital@mastodon.online). Of course I had to pause and see where there was a disembodied head soaring over the mountains.
This short story by Yukimi Ogawa has the exact level of weirdness I love in a great short story. Without spoiling too much, a flying head and headless body protagonist work together against a nefarious priest who claims to be protecting the local town.
Do yourself a favor and read this article. In fact, do yourself a favor and read the next article as well…
🟩Self Promotion of the Week: Niche Documentation
by crow
I wanted to share this piece by me about a new Toys R Us space within Macy’s that recently launched this week for two reasons:
1) Hopefully you’ll find the mashup of these two once mighty brands (and all the details that entails) interesting.
2) Overall I think documenting niche topics like these are important, as it’s easy to lose access to the past more quickly than we realize.
That’s my pitch. If that doesn’t pique your interest though, here’s something that will…
🟩Podcast of the Week: A Nice Warm Cup of Tea
While traveling this week, I was able to listen to the first two episodes of Tea and Sanctuary by Emma Newman (@emmanewman@mindly.social), and it was sanctuary indeed.
In this podcast series Emma discusses about her hobbies, interests, work, amongst other topics. But what really set this podcast apart for me was how warm and inviting Emma is. Her laugh is so genuine and infectious, that you can’t but help laugh along and feel her excitement as well.
In a world where there’s a lot of doom and gloom, this podcast was a welcome ray of light.
So in that spirit, let’s end on a hopeful note…
🟩Mastodon Post of the Week: Is there a “why”?
To close out the year, I thought this line from @f00fc7c8@kind.social was worth sharing:
I can struggle a lot with trying to find the “why” behind anything and everything. But maybe going into this year, we can be satisfied with doing things “just because”. It’s draining to constantly try and align everything we do to some greater purpose, and so let’s give ourselves permission to do things for no reason at all.
🟩Afterword
Another week, another collection of curios to discover and savor. So long dear readers, and see you next week!
-crow