You are not entitled to their deaths
+ Putin, GPS, Hopepunk (#378)
As usual, to complement the main recommendations, I've included a couple of instant-gratification links at the end, to tickle and delight your curious mind the moment you click them.
In case you missed it last weekend — I sent out another special delivery, those issues that are guest curated by people who inspire me. If you don't want to go looking for it in your inbox, you can check it out right here.
1. You Are Not Entitled To Our Deaths: COVID, Abled Supremacy & Interdependence
«I don’t know how to convey the magnitude of disabled rage I feel about this pandemic and the stunningly self absorbed levels of abled entitlement.» We all struggle in this pandemic, but it cannot be stressed enough that we do not all struggle equally. This piece is full of wisdom and justified rage and I think you should read it. (One of the guiding questions I use for picking recommendations for the Weekly Filet is always: Does it foster empathy by making you see the world through others' eyes? This matches the requirement perfectly.)
2. How serious is Vladimir Putin about launching a major Ukraine offensive?
Need to catch up on what's happening with Russia and that potential invasion of Ukraine? There's no better way to do so than with this explainer by the Financial Times. A lot of Ifs remain, but it does a good job of explaining what's at stake and why the timing might be just right for Putin to decide to move forward.
Visual Storytelling Team
3. How GPS works
GPS is one of these things a child could very easily expose your shallow knowledge of. What is it? Well, that thing where some satellites tell your phone where you are. Yes, but really, what is it? And how does it work, exactly? This is a fantastic — I'm not exaggerating — explorable explainer that will leave you in awe, of the ingenuity of GPS, and of how one can make such a complex thing so tangible.
4. Hopepunk, Optimism, Purity, and Futures of Hard Work
I had never heard of hopepunk until this week. Apparently, it's a genre of fiction that is an antithesis to both utopia and dystopia. It tells stories of the good that happens when ordinary people do the right thing, not always, not everyone, but by and large. If that sounds interesting but also somewhat confusing, then this essay is for you. Made me want to start diving into hopepunk literature.
Beth Tabler
5. Are we witnessing the dawn of post-theory science?
An interesting question: What happens to science if it no longer needs hypotheses? When it can simply use computer power to brute-force insights from any given dataset.
Laura Spinney
What else?
- The edge of Earth’s atmosphere, visualised using a paper map and some coins.
- I'm sure you've heard of the Eisenhower Matrix for making decisions. I have used it incorrectly until recently. What about you?
- When grandpa tells the story of how he signed The Beatles.
- With great goals in football, you usually don't have to look twice to appreciate their beauty. This one is different. Such a stunner, and deservedly the winner of this year's Puskas Award.
- Are you hooked on Wordle yet? Meet its evil twin — designed to evade correct guesses for as long as possible.
- Since 2019, the gap between male and female life expectancy has widened.
- If the Weekly Filet is the antitdote to the firehose of social media, this is taking it to the extreme.
Thanks for reading. If you have questions, feedback, or just want to say Hi — feel free to simply reply to this email.
Have a nice weekend, I'll see you next Friday!
— David 👋
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