Brian Sholis

* “The geographic circle of life has expanded, so friendship strategies that depend on constant proximity are no longer effective.”

A humane and mind-opening look at people's creativity, paired with a trenchant call for others—and the systems we all create—to recognize it and support them. “The failure to see disabled people as creative, collective forces worthy of our attention means that they’re left to make life work in a way that’s mostly invisible. Recognizing the... See more

- "Review drift happens whenever the context of review differs from the context of use. … If the context of review is typically short-term, then companies are incentivized to optimize for short-term satisfaction, even at the cost of long-term quality."

- "In charting what is relevant at a given moment, bringing new art and cultural developments to our readers’ attention, we aren’t just embracing topicality for topicality’s sake; we’re trying to stay unsettled."

* “You imagine that you are fighting against the mob, but actually you are becoming a part of it. Within the mob there is no justice and no argument and no reasoning, no space for inquiry or investigation. The only good move is not to play.”

- "“How do you pass the time?” suggests the basic model of existence, in which living a life is seen on the one hand as traversing an unspecified span of time—marked out in years—and on the other, as moving through the natural cycle of hours, from dawn to dusk. Time, then, is understood to be a medium one negotiates. And in this respect: how do I... See more

* “Shared experiences — especially novel, challenging, and unfamiliar ones — are the best way to foster tight bonds. Host a retreat. Travel with friends. Rent a car, start driving, and see where you end up.”

A profile of David Mills, an engineer who coded the Network Time Protocol that runs much of the internet. His methods, his code, are slowly be replaced by other ways of measuring and coordinating time, and this story does a good job of framing the personalities of those involved, the trade-offs, etc.