Welcome to this week's edition of our Friday Quality Linkage column. Please enjoy this week’s collection of interesting and entertaining links. Brew a fresh cup of coffee, find a comfortable place, and relax.
Illustration: Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Bloomberg Businessweek
Bitcoin is Ridiculous. Blockchain is Dangerous »
Last month, Paul "@ftrain" Ford wrote probably the best cryptocurrency explainer yet:
Bubbles are melancholy things—swirls of lies and optimism used to hide a million unrealized yearnings. Bitcoin will crash because of course it will. Bubbles burst. The real estate and athletics management people go home, and the believers remain, meeting up, planning new markets. It could take years, it could take a decade, but the blockchain freaks have a world in their heads, and they won’t rest until it’s real. That the rest of us live here, too, is the least of their concerns. Some of the things they’ll do will be magical, community-building, economically thrilling. Others may keep us up at night.
In typical Paul fashion, his writing in this piece is so good it almost makes me mad. I envy his way around a sentence.
(As an aside, I agree with his friend Maria from the article, who calls cryptocurrency "space jewels". That's a WAY better name for these things than anything else I've heard.)
Photo: Matt Antolioli
(Apologies in advance to Max if he thinks Giordano's sucks; I just like the photo and I think I actually ate there years ago.)
Max Temkin's Favorite Chicago Food, Bars, and Coffee »
In addition to his FAQ page that I recently linked to in one of my better Linkage columns, Max Temkin of Cards Against Humanity created a page listing his favorite restaurants, bars, and coffee places in Chicago (quote below slightly modified by me):
Chicago is one of the great food cities in the world. What makes food special here are disparate cultures and neighborhoods getting mashed together for a hundred years, plus local product from farms around the Midwest. Chicago is all about farmers markets, neighborhood food festivals, community gardens, street food, and urban agriculture. It's not uncommon for people to raise goats and chickens in their backyards.
I think there are other food guides that can point you to best-in-class fine dining, but I've tried to focus on memorable and authentic food experiences that often get overlooked by visitors. That means at some of these places you're going to wind up eating an amazing plate of food with plastic utensils while you're sitting on the curb.
This goes back to that same "old-school blogging" thing I've been harping about lately. And speaking of...
Blogging is Most Certainly Not Dead »
Jason Kottke:
A few weeks ago, I asked the readers of the Noticing newsletter to send in links to their blogs and newsletters (or to their favorite blogs and newsletters written by others). And boy, did they! I pared the submissions list down to a representative sample and sent it out as last week’s newsletter. Here’s a smaller excerpt of that list…you can find the whole thing here.
So much great stuff to check out here. I know what I'm doing this weekend.
Kanye West's Morning Pro-Tip »
Good tweet/advice by Yeezy:
when you first wake up don't hop right on the phone or the internet or even speak to anyone for even up to an hour if possible. Just be still and enjoy your own imagination. It's better than any movie.
Artwork: Romain Courtois
Direct links: "Lovers at Dusk" (left) and "Monster Cat Machine" (right)
Romain Courtois' Pixel Art »
I discovered Paris-based pixel artist and game designer Romain Courtois' Behance page via Sebastiaan de With, who says the artist's “moody pixelscapes” are “oddly engrossing.” I'd have to agree.
You can also follow his work on Tumblr and itch.io.
Pearl Jam: "Oceans" Live from MTV Unplugged »
I'm not sure how it happened, but I recently went on a YouTube rabbit hole of early-days Pearl Jam live performances. I'd totally forgotten how incredible these guys were. Eddie Vedder's stage presence alone would've been worth the price of admission.
Here's another example:
...and another:
One thing I noticed in watching all of these videos was how often Vedder would "hide" his long hair under his ballcap, only to have the hat fly off in a moment of headbanging to reveal those glorious curly locks. (I speak of them that way partly out of envy, although I sometimes have good hair days of my own. #notsohumblebrag)
Neat Stuff We Published This Week
- Guide: "Nonessential (But Still Cool) Coffee Gear"
- Not just any kettle: The Tias Kettle by Os Tableware
- Still the best gaming controller for iOS and Apple TV: SteelSeries Nimbus
- Perfect carry case for all your travel accessories: BUBM Double-Layer Travel Gear Organizer
- Fun project for your kids that you get to benefit from: LEGO Pencil Holder
- Turn text into action: Drafts 5 for iOS & Apple Watch
Got any suggestions for articles, videos, stories, photographs, and any other links you think we should be posting in our weekly Quality Linkage? Please do let us know on Twitter.