The Dice — 021

My friend and business partner, Brett Harned just touched down in Austin, Texas. Tomorrow morning he kicks off the 2024 Digital PM Summit with the keynote presentation. It will be ten years to the day that he presented the opening keynote at the same event in the same town in 2014. As part of his presentation, Brett will debut our new products and services that have been in development for a while. You can see everything on our newly updated website. It feels good to finally get these ideas and tools out into the world.

This week I will be making a special request to my subscribers as I start to consider the future of The Dice. Today would be a great time for you to join us if you haven’t already.

Ok already...let's go.

“At one point a woman named Cheryl sold classified ads for the Press and she’d yell at prostitutes on the streets, saying, “Don’t walk the street! Advertise in the Press!” Prostitutes would line up at the office to pay for ads with cash. “If they didn’t make it by the deadline, they’d be pissed”.” Who doesn’t like a good tell-all story about the life and death of an alternative newspaper? The Anchorage Press is Dead: Far From Its Roots feels like the complete backstory to any alt-press publication born in the pre-Internet 90s. It doesn't matter where you started your 20s, you're going to love this story because it could have happened anywhere.

Speaking of alt things, MetaFilter is trying to raise much needed funds to rebuild and evolve. Dust off your account and show some support.

“A famed explorer was sure the ice hid something profound. Ninety years later, scientists have put forth the strongest evidence yet that he was right.” This story caught my attention because the aforementioned ice is the Ruth Glacier on Mt. Denali. In 1937, Bradford Washburn suggested that beneath the ice was an incredibly deep gorge. “Deeper, perhaps, than any other gorge on the continent, and maybe even the planet.” This year some science guys used snow machines, mathematics, lasers, and sound to come to the conclusion that he was right. The gorge “from the summit of Moose’s Tooth to bedrock: about 8,085 feet. Hells Canyon, by comparison, plunges down 7,913 feet.” To help visualize this depth, check out this comparison between Hells Canyon and the Grand Canyon.

It should also be known that Moose’s Tooth is the best place to get beer and pizza when you’re visiting Anchorage. Prepare to wait in line if you go during the tourist season.

When I caught glimpses of the first screenshots from the game Disco Elysium I went on a tangent to find and look at more. The art direction was just the tip of the iceberg into what what became a Metacritic Must-Play title that has opened the doors for a whole new style of storytelling and gaming. Even if you’re not into gaming, I think you’ll all appreciate this documentary on how the game was made including the many influences that range from HBO’s The Wire to Estonian punk rock bands. Also interesting is the story about how the “Thought Cabinet” feature almost killed the game.

"On October 3, the British government announced that it was giving up sovereignty over a small tropical atoll in the Indian Ocean known as the Chagos Islands”…AKA a tiny dot in an incredibly vast body of water. Check that link and see how teeny tiny it is, you could crush it. Anyway, an indirect consequence of this handover and dissolution of the British Indian Ocean Territory could mean the removal of the .io domain from the Internet. The Disappearance of an Internet Domain provides a super interesting look into what happens to top-level domains when the related government ceases to exist. The article ends with sound advice: “Be careful when picking your top-level domain. Physical history is never as separate from our digital future as we like to think.”

Sadly, the last XOXO Festival was held back in August. Happily, videos from the talks are making their way online. I have not watched them all yet, but I stopped what I was doing to watch Erin Kissane’s story about her work, the COVID Tracking Project. Honestly, you should too because it’s insane to think about where we might be if she and others had not volunteered to pull together the resources and information to create the source of truth for COVID-related data because many levels of the government were not equipped to do so. Insanity! Erin is amazing and has continued to do more work including her most recent project on Fediverse governance. Erin is amazing people.

Somewhat related: After you have watched Erin’s video, make time to watch Cable Sasser’s story about an artist formerly unknown: Wes Cook. And watch it all the way till the end, dammit, or you will miss out.

Ending this week on a supportive note, chances are you and someone—scratch that—several people you know are drained emotionally, mentally, and physically. Our mental images of what life should be or what we want it to be are in constant conflict with every ever-evolving reality. Oliver Burkman might have a fix for this in his new book called Meditations for Mortals. From the author, “[The book] is about stepping into a more meaningful, productive, absorbing and energizing life – not later, but right here in the midst of the overwhelm, the distraction, and the anxiety-inducing news headlines.” As summarized in the Guardian's review, “we’d all be happier and more productive if we did what we could—and no more—while embracing our imperfections.” Sounds like the perfect title to start a book club. I can think of a few people in my life who don’t need this book right now.

Published in Tacoma, Washington with Duran Duran—Danse Macabre De Luxe playing in the background on repeat.