Assorted Reads (November 2024)

Hey folks, it's that time of month again! I hope you're all having a great weekend wherever you are in the world.

Let's jump right in!

Instead of Being Cynical, Try Becoming Skeptical

This read came from an issue of my favourite newsletter, Dense Discovery.

I hadn't considered the cultural association of "cynicism" with "intelligence" until reading this, and the impact that that association has on our lives, particularly if we're attempting to convey intelligence to others by trying to appear more cynical than we actually are.

The author of this piece makes a compelling argument that, instead of adopting cynicism, we should adopt skepticism in our lives.

The comparison that's made between the two, and how taking a more skeptical view can lead to more positive outcomes in our lives compared to cynicism, has given me a lot to consider.

After reading this, I've started paying closer attention to my interactions with others, and where cynicism vs. skepticism leaves me feeling at the end of the interaction.

The Anatomy of the Swipe

I went into this one expecting it might be a bit of a dry read (I'm reading it for work rather than for fun), but I have to admit, I'm a bit hooked on this one.

It's a surprisingly light, easy read on how money moves through the world via card-based transactions (i.e. credit or debit cards).

It's fascinating how many steps and players are involved in every step, and how much information is passing through all these steps within a matter of seconds when someone makes a purchase with a credit or debit card.

It's things like this that make technology feel like magic to me (in the sense of what it's able to allow us to do).

Which Programming Languages Use the Least Electricity?

This is an oldie, but a goodie.

While reading the introduction to "Building Green Software", this article was referenced, and I enjoyed getting a chance to re-read an overview of how a team of researchers attempted to compare - in a controlled, reproducible manner - the energy consumed, time to run, and memory used by various programming languages across a number of tasks.

Obviously it's not a perfect science, but it gives some interesting insights, especially if you're looking to learn a new programming language that is both accessible/easy-to-learn as well as having less of a footprint in terms of time, energy consumed, or memory used.