Ready to go out into the big wide world
Also: You should open this newsletter right now, I'll explain why (#525)
This is David, your human interface to the world wide web, and you're reading the Weekly Filet, the newsletter for curious minds who love when something makes them go «Huh, I never thought of it this way!». As every Friday, I have some recommendations for you, to make sense of what’s happening, and imagine what could be. It's great to have you.
1. «We have no bros and no oligarchs»
«The West as we knew it no longer exists,» EU President Ursula von der Leyen says in this remarkable interview. «We need another, new European Union that is ready to go out into the big wide world and to play a very active role in shaping this new world order that is coming.» She lays out how Europe must respond in this new world order of geopolitical instability and crumbling alliances. First and foremost by building upon its strengths and core values. «Europe is more than a union. Europe is our home.»
Ulrich Ladurner
2. Pico Iyer on the Pleasure and Profundity of Silence
If you need something to escape from all that's current for an hour, look no further. Time Sensitive is a podcast featuring «conversations with leading minds about their life and work through the lens of time». This conversation with travel writer Pico Iyer on the many layers of time makes everything slow down.
3. Lest We Forget the Horrors: An Unending Catalog of Trump’s Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes
We're approaching day 100 of Donald Trump's second term. Already? Only? Humour website McSweeney's has taken on the monumental, completely earnest challenge of documenting all cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes Trump and his gang are committing – «to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten.» Last updated on April 14, it features 158 entries – in normal times each worthy of its own scandal.
Emily Greenberg and Cliff Mayotte
4. Tell me what you want: why every piece of media needs a call to action
To be very clear: I want you to click this link and read this article. Rishad Patel stresses the importance of a clear call to action in communication. Whenever you write something and want whoever reads it to take some action, be explicit about what action you want them to take. You don't have to be a professional writer for this to be relevant to you. Think of the many times each day – at work and outside of it – you write someone to achieve something. The best and simplest advice from the article: «Write your call to action before you write the rest.»
Rishad Patel
Related, from Weekly Filet #481: Make better documents.
5. Are People Bad At Their Jobs....or Are The Jobs Just Bad?
«It’s always easier to blame the individual who made our life difficult, instead of the systems that don’t just foster but incentivize bad work.» An essay, clearly echoing David Graeber's «Bullshit Jobs», on the failed promises of the gig economy. «Just a few clicks, and some part of your life will be easier. In reality, the business model that creates both the cheapness and the ease makes the end product significantly worse.»
Anne Helen Petersen
What else?
Instant-gratification links that make you go wow! or aha! the moment you click.
- Spectacular drone video
- Shower thought: Every calendar entry should come with a button «Let's cancel it». If you click it, nobody will know. But if and when every participant has clicked it, the meeting is gone.
- Fun with data: If you want a good wine at a good price, pick one with an animal on the label, ideally a bird or a fish.
- Fun with numbers: Cover's Paradox.
- A beautiful farewell to Skype. Those sounds will forever live in my memory.
- Apparently, the cool kids have abandoned «YOLO» for «for the plot». As in: Buy a Weekly Filet membership – for the plot!
- «If you say you love freedom, but you don't believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn't freedom, it is privilege.» – Tim Walz
Books for curious minds
Some new ones as I read them, some older ones that continue to inform how I look at the world and myself. More on my digital bookshelf.
Why we — as individuals, teams, organizations, societies — make errors, and what they are good for. A history of human error that reads like an ode to being wrong. Buy it here.
A gem from the archive
Nathan Yau
The Weekly Filet archive offers more than 2500 hand-picked links since 2011, like this one. You can search by interests, explore collections, shuffle for a gem or check out my all-time favs.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. I wish you a nice weekend and hope to see you again next Friday!
— David