Weekly Review #156 - Trump protest, dumping time zones, and gun comedy
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Well, Trump won. Can't believe it's been only a week.
I've got more thoughts on this that I'll likely wrap up in a blog post, but the TLDR of it from my point of view is that A) he's not Hitler, and B) things aren't going to be that bad, IF we all do our political duty to keep it that way.
The question is what are the political things we as citizens can do? Nobody seems to have a good answer to that other than 'write your congressman', but I'm gathering resources to put a guide together. Send me any you know of.
One thing I've already done is attend an anti Trump rally in SF, which I was surprised to realize was my first protest ever! It's not something most Americans are used to doing - here's my thoughts:
Protesting is literally just an unauthorized parade with chants instead of songs - the only illegal part is that it's in the street. Anyone can participate - all you have to do is walk and chant!
Some good chants this time around "Move, Trump, get out the way, get out the way, Trump, get out the way" "Can't build a wall; hands too small" and "No, racist USA, no Trump, no KKK"
Paradoxically, protests take a lot of organization, in order to get a lot of people together, and to make sure it stays peaceful. Apparently Germans do it at the same time in the same route, which sounds pointless, but actually allows more people to get involved since the details are clear
In SF, we had half as many police stoically ringing our group and motorcycle cops going ahead to keep us off highways and the main roads. It felt like a terse honor guard, but given what I've heard of Portland and elsewhere, we had it good. They didn't even shoo us out of sitting in intersections.
I wonder what the ROI of a protest is. They're big and public - but surely a few hundred bucks in a FB ads campaign would have a greater level of awareness than a few hundred people physically in downtown? It only work if it makes the evening news, really...
Then again, nothing beats engagement like being there physically- although I felt like a walking chanting commodity, like my skills could be better leveraged elsewhere.
Tech
Pro-Trump CEO gets booted from Y Combinator over harassment concerns — techcrunch.com
Clickbait aside, he was a YC alum making abusive comments in their community forum. There's a difference between politics and harassment, which is something many Trump supporters are toeing the line of.
WHISK WIPER: Whisking Made Easy by Matthew Michel —Kickstarter — www.kickstarter.com
It's a device that makes cleaning whisks easy. What a delightfully specialized product! What other single use pain point solutions are waiting out there?
EllieGrid: The Pillbox With Brains & Beauty | Indiegogo — www.indiegogo.com
This pillbox tells you how many pills to take and when, so you don't forget. Perfect for the elderly, forgetful, or supplement crazy!
Lifehacks
Landmark Forum Review – Nick Gray — nickgray.net
My friend Nick Gray went to a Landmark Forum weekend and wrote up his notes. Sounds like Zen packed up in an expensive, tough love sell, tbh.
TLDR - your clothes should be your unique costume, but they shouldn't distract from you the person. Tricky line to balance
TLDR - since we made up time, shouldn't we make it easy on ourselves and keep to one time measurement? Why not have it be 5pm everywhere - it just means its sunrise or sunset depending on where you are in the world? Many timezones are political made-up gimmicks currently, so this doesn't sound as crazy as it sounds.
Fun
Jim Jefferies -- Gun Control (Part 1)
I saw this guy live this week, and he's most famous for this bit in which he single handedly demolishes every single argument against gun control except for "I like guns." Beautiful example of comedy cutting to the heart of the matter.