This needs posting again, and again, and again, until people get it

Shaking the Habitual by The Knife

So good.

Reflections on social inclusion

The girl at Flying Coffee Bean at the station gives me a discount every time I buy a cup of coffee from her – for no other reason than that I tend to be friendly, and actually see her. Much as it is a happy little exchange, and I appreciate the gesture, it is somewhat sad that so seemingly little (why should I not be friendly, and why should I not see her?) means so much.

Are we afraid to relate to others on the same level?

Happy Easter

Swedish (well, Swedish/US/German/Romanian/English, by virtue of Annika & me, Cornelia from US and Berlin, Catarina, Andy, and assorted bilingual children, including mine) Easter celebrations at Annika’s, with kids. Very nice evening. We painted Easter eggs, talked lots, drank cava and mead, and had a lovely fish dish. All good. Blue-black night sky with an infinite number of stars.

Long night on snowy roads, DJing on Spotify on my phone

This was when my mind turned, last week, driving back from from Stoke. Clearly, different things float different boats. The responsibilities of life, and a bit of vanity or will to please others – not sure there is much difference – can distract. I am not sure which of those two is most distracting. But in essence, that ground is fallow.

The ground solidifies under your feet when you walk the right way, of that I am sure. That’s not fatalism; you make it that way. Courage may be terrifying (I never thought courage was lack of fear, rather the compulsion to do what has to be done no matter how frightening that is), but not doing what needs to be done is worse.

I wasn’t driving at the time, by the way. I don’t have a death wish. Quite the contrary.

When I Grow up – Fever Ray

Sheer beauty – Seven by Fever Ray

The Knife – A Tooth For An Eye – new video

I like!

The bottom half of the Internet

I have been thinking about ‘aggro’ engagement lately. I think the discourse around engagement, both academically and from the industry side, is very one-sided. It is not like it is not understood within the industry that this is an effective way to attract attention, engagement, and traffic. Neither is this isolated to digital media. It is obvious that The Sun, and other gutter-licking tabloids, use this phenomenon to their advantage – or rather, base their entire business on it.

I have some ideas around this that are a little off-piste, in terms of how the discourse usually goes. I think I will make them part of my presentation at the Inputs-Outputs conference.

Yes! Moose animation in the new Finnish passport! This brightens my day.