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"I wanted it to kind of expand people's idea of what, say a drawing program could do or what a computer could add to that." A reflection on 30 years of Kid Pix, software tools as art, and the process as the joy of art, rather than the result.
posted by wesleyac at 7:37 PM PST - 15 comments

"I left in the middle of my junior year during the peak of on-campus recruiting, the process by which Harvard students compete for internships at a narrow list of companies. I say "narrow" to emphasize the fact that just three industries captured the attention of my peers: finance, big tech, and consulting (FTC). When you subtract out the students attending grad school or who don't immediately enter the workforce, nearly half choose one of these fields. Why? ... The average Harvard student would probably prefer to work on Google Maps over Kraft Mac & Cheese, but this doesn't explain why students have such narrow interests within FTC. Why are Google and Facebook so attractive to prospective engineers while Stripe and Nvidia are never brought up? Or why do aspiring consultants obsess over McKinsey, Bain, and BCG to the exclusion of more boutique firms with similar compensation structures?"
posted by geoff. at 6:40 PM PST - 70 comments

Robert S., on Reddit. [more inside]
posted by cotton dress sock at 5:13 PM PST - 29 comments

Animals Keep Evolving Into Crabs, Which Is Somewhat Disturbing: "groups of crustaceans have evolved into crabs in five completely different contexts, giving rise to a meme that the long arc of history truly bends toward the crab." [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 4:26 PM PST - 40 comments

What must we do to rebuild? Metafilter's favourite German bank has some thoughts about what global society might take to rebuild 'democratic capitalism' in the wake of Covid-19. For starters, a 5% tax on anyone who enjoys the privilege of working from home. [more inside]
posted by biffa at 3:28 PM PST - 58 comments

Slack surveyed 9000 "knowledge workers" over six countries about their experiences working remotely in 2020. Among the findings include a preference for a hybrid office-home model, an increase in work-life balance but a small decrease in "sense of belonging", with a significant discrepancy by gender and those with and without children.
posted by adrianhon at 1:05 PM PST - 39 comments

Dr Payoshni Mitra, an athletes' rights activist, who has worked on the cases of South Africa's champion mid-distance runner Caster Semenya and Indian sprinter Dutee Chand, believes it's the latter. She calls the environment in a women's sports team "a safer space compared to men's teams". That is possibly why women's teams are spaces where women who are not considered stereotypically feminine feel welcome. [more inside]
posted by smcg at 11:52 AM PST - 5 comments

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II sees the shining light of Kamala Harris as the light of a star, born long ago, taking many years to reach us, a sign that darkness cannot prevail, in his sermon last Sunday. [more inside]
posted by kristi at 9:41 AM PST - 48 comments