You Should Read - July 8

Just One Thing

The Living New Deal catalogs more than 17,000 projects in the United States created as a result of The New Deal. Their map lets you look up projects by location, category (archeology, art, civic facilities, education and health, government, forestry, etc), or by agency responsible. For example, my junior high in rural Colorado - Smiley Junior High School - was built using New Deal funds from the Works Projects Administration.

Collected Ephemera

• Brick Fanatics Sets like Galaxy Explorer are pulling the rug out from the LEGO reseller market
  The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is never not relevant, whether applied to photographic art, LEGO sets, or Magic the Gathering cards.
• UX Collective Discoveries in design thinking and reasoning by means of sketching
  Drawing with a pencil and paper is one of my most valuable thinking tools.
• The American Prospect Woke Corporations? That Ain’t What the Numbers Show.
• San Francisco Chronicle Should California secede and become an independent nation? (paywalled)
  For a hot second, I was a member of the California National Party, a nascent progressive party with secession as its long term goal. But, as much as I view some of the fundamental structures of the Federal government as fundamentally and irretrievably broken, separating by choice simply isn't in the card. However, the potential for a stolen 2024 presidential election, coupled with a rogue SCOTUS and a Congress corrupted by gerrymandering may force states' hands in the matter. Governor Newsom should be preparing contingency plans now.
• Sparkbox Consistency vs Flexibility: The Myth of Creative Restraint in Design Systems
• VICE ‘Diablo Immortal’ Shows Self-Regulation Is a Failure in the Games Industry
• Giant Freakin Robot The Video Game Recession Is On The Way
• Popular Resistance American Gun Culture And Frontier Mythology
  I love Disneyland. It's my favorite vacation, no question. But Frontierland always strikes me as being creepy as hell. "Genocideland"
• Information Week What Star Wars Teaches Us About Technology

Enough Talk. Take Action.

Postcards to Voters is a good way for introverts like me to help make a difference outside my own solidly-Blue district. Spend a few minutes each day writing registered Democrats about their local elections and encouraging them to vote. There are many places where a small shift in voter turnout can make a big difference. And we need every win we can get.