If you work with large files, Keka lets you compress them for storage with the smallest possible footprint. You can also encrypt and password-protect files in the process. To make handling very large files easier, Keka can split them into smaller chunks that merge back together during decompression.

Briskine is a TextExpander-like browser plugin (all major browsers supported) that lets you create canned responses and other text snippets via shortcuts. The tool has customisable variables that automatically insert, for example, the first name of the recipient into your text templates.

More small publishing projects like this please: “A weekly newsletter following my journey as I read one book from every country.” You get a short review of a book from a different country with each issue of the newsletter. Unfortunately, the project seems to be on hold after 70 (!) issues. I hope Tabatha revives it!

Strong geek alert: this extensive directory of 151 interactive visual experiments with elaborate explanations is a wonderful way to get bamboozled by pixels. “‘Optical illusion’ sounds derogative, as if exposing a malfunction of the visual system. Rather, I view these phenomena as highlighting particular good adaptations of our visual system to its experience with standard viewing situations, confronted with an atypical situation.”

Broken →

Mending & repair in a throwaway world

How do we move from our linear take-make-waste model to a more circular one? A part of the solution will have to be mending: repairing things to extend their longevity. This book celebrates “25 artists, curators, designers and makers who have rejected the allure of the fast, disposable and easy in favor of the patina of use, the stories of age and the longevity of care and repair. Accompanying these profiles, six in-depth essays explore the societal, cultural and environmental roles of mending in a throwaway world.”

Cobalt Red →

Investigating Congo’s cobalt mining

Cobalt is a key component of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and about 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, where many mines are controlled by brutal militias. The implications are clear: “Billions of people in the world cannot conduct their daily lives without participating in a human rights and environmental catastrophe in the Congo. Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves.”

I stumbled across this on ‘Cycling Twitter’ (which remains one of the few positive spaces on that platform). Reshma Saujani talks about a concept I hadn’t heard of before: ‘bike face’ – a derogatory term used by men to put down the first female cyclists. Saujani draws a comparison to how we use ‘imposter syndrome’, suggesting that it’s just another form of systemic oppression. “People ask me all the time: how do I overcome imposter syndrome? And honestly, I’m done answering that question. Because here’s the thing: imposter syndrome isn’t a syndrome at all – it’s a scheme.”

This piece introduced me to the term ‘intellectual humility’ and why I should be much more humble about my own views and more generous towards those of others. “People who are intellectually humble know that their beliefs, opinions, and viewpoints are fallible because they realize that the evidence on which their beliefs are based could be limited or flawed or that they may not have the expertise or ability to understand and evaluate the evidence. Intellectual humility involves understanding that we can’t fully trust our beliefs and opinions because we might be relying on faulty or incomplete information or are incapable of understanding the details.”

The ‘digital nomads’ movement really took off during the pandemic. Thousands of remote US workers escaped lockdowns to Latin America. The positive and negative consequences of this influx in foreigners are captured in this well-written piece for Rest of World. “Noel had graduated with a degree in accounting, but after Venezuela’s economic collapse, he’d been reduced to selling empanadas on the Medellín streets. Then, around 2017, the nomads started arriving; particularly those from the U.S., with their high-calorie diets, Doordash addictions, and extravagant tipping culture. Noel’s eyes lit up as he described them. ‘Los gringos,’ he said, ‘y sus propinas’ – ‘and their tips.’”