ONLINE/IRL: Articles for Saner Living, October 2020

A Runaway Truck Ramp for the endless scroll.

ONLINE/IRL=2x0.5 of a whole life. Each month I curate the articles that resonated and plucked me out of the whitewater data stream for better or worse.

ONLINE:

To apply AI for good, think form extraction - Jonathan Stray

This announcement post for the Deepform tool provides an easy-to-digest explanation of why it’s a really big deal that machine learning is solving the universal problem of doing anything useful quickly with info from PDF forms. This is how “big data” works!

Twitch DMCA Purge Deletes Thousands Of Streamers' Videos - Nathan Grayson

Obviously coming as a huge shock and an action with widespread impact and implications in the Twitch community, the wonton DMCA purge of VODs should serve as a reminder to always back up your past streams with local downloads - don’t count on Jeff Bezos’ company to save your data for you!

IRL:

Pope Francis calls for civil union laws for same-sex couples - Chico Harlan, Michelle Boorstein, Sarah Pulliam Bailey

As a lapsed Catholic, I’m very happy to see this statement from Papa Francis. I would love if the Church I was raised in would allow LGBTQ marriages, but any sort of step in a progressive direction with an institution this ancient is noteworthy.

Rest Better With Light Exercises - Kelly Dinardo

If you are reading this, you probably aren’t getting enough exercise during the pandemic. Start doing daily bodyweight exercises! I have been working this into my daily “quaroutine” since I read this, and it’s helped shake the rust off my sedentary ass.

BONUS CONTENT: Hammy of the Dream-Den

Here’s an alter I made of my GF’s cat as Lurrus from Magic: the Gathering.