Just in time for Thanksgiving1, Cabel Sasser gave a talk at the 2024 XOXO Festival about the importance of appreciation for art and craftsmanship in this 20 minute talk. I’d say more, but trust me when I say the unfolding of this journey is worth it.
Hi, I’m Cabel. I was driving to Seattle and got hungry, so I stopped at a McDonalds in Centralia, WA. And when I went inside, I saw something incredible.
Here, let me tell you my story:
Here’s a newly launched archive of nearly lost Wes Cook work.
One of the complaints I’ve heard about the Apple Vision Pro is that there isn’t enough content made for the device. Apple has been quietly working on it and today debuts the first scripted film captured in Apple Immersive Video.
From Apple News:
Submerged: This immersive fiction thriller, available to Apple Vision Pro users around the world for free, invites viewers onto a WWII-era submarine and follows its crew as they wrestle to combat a harrowing attack. This adrenaline-pumping thrill ride showcases the unique storytelling experiences made possible by Apple Immersive Video.
Here is the behind the scenes documentary:
This week I read an article in the Atlantic this week about the growing perception that today’s elite university students lack of ability to read books to the end1.
Here’s an excellent follow-up / rebuttal by Carrie Santo-Thomas, a teacher interviewed for the piece.
I was not surprised by Horowitch’s hypothesis. She attributes undergrads’ lack of reading stamina to lowered expectations in high school literature curricula, specifically arguing that limiting full-length novels and replacing long-form content with excerpts and summaries has weakened readers’ constitutions. She, in turn, ascribes these instructional choices to the oppressive presence of standardized testing and the Common Core. And cell phones, always cell phones.
It is a perfectly reasonable assumption, but it’s wrong. This is not to say that there aren’t external factors affecting students’ reading stamina, but to line up such a simple series of dominoes to topple oversimplifies a complex challenge and places undue blame on the shoulders of discerning young readers and the public school teachers who work tirelessly to support them.
I tried signing up for a membership at the Lethbridge YMCA at the very last day of August to have my membership start in September. As I was about to sign up I learned that if I waited until September 1 I would get seven days free and not have to pay fees to reinstate my account. I also learned that the pool would be closed for the majority of the month making my membership that month basically worthless 2.
A month has passed, so after I skipped the bedtime routine with my kids I popped over to the Y today to sign up. The lady at the counter looked at me like I was crazy when I said I wanted the seven days free trial. I explained that I just called someone on the phone right before and they said I could get a prorated rate for October after the seven days are up. She responded that they don’t have a free trial for people that have already ever had a membership — they did have that exact promotion last month 3 but there wasn’t anything she could do for me. I was so irritated by the whole ordeal that I just thought I’ll do my swimming at the University, thank you very much, and I walked out of there.
When I arrived at the university I found their pool empty and undergoing maintenance that had no end date in sight 4. It’s looking more and more like a dryland training month for this swimmer. I wanted to exercise my body, instead all I got was an exercise in futility. At least I made it home in time to put the kids to bed.
Last year I took a leave of absence from my job teaching grade five. This year I quit outright. I was a little back and forth about the idea knowing that I was leaving a permanent contract but ultimately what sealed the deal was that my hours were fluctuating every year and over the past few years had been shrinking and were now down to half time. When I asked my principal if there was any hope for me at the school she gave the most telling answer possible. She said nothing. It was a kick in the face.
Will I land on my feet? I guess it doesn’t matter too much when before I was just crawling through the mud anyway. I’m enjoying the flexibility of subbing and although the paycheque is weak we are doing fine.
David Friedman recently created a daily word puzzle called Gisnep! I’ve been hooked on it ever since I discovered it last week. As a non-coder, he created it using a form of guess-and-check programming with ChatGPT and other AI large language models.
Years ago I was inspired by his 50 States in 10 Minutes game and made my own copycats.
The kids played the claw machine today in downtown Whitehorse, Yukon. When I saw Andrea getting her $5 changed into tokens, I thought it was a total waste of money. Andrea’s $5 gave them each five tries to capture a stuffy. By some fluke of nature, my daughter Nesslin actually succeeded on her third try.
The two of them used up the rest of the tokens and, of course, Ian had nothing. He begged and cried for just one more go but we were insistent that there was no way we were dropping more cash on this thing. The kind little old lady who was running the machine volunteered one last token for Ian. I just shook my head thinking we’re only delaying the inevitable. I gave him a pep-talk that if he doesn’t win, that he’s going to accept the loss and move on.
Quite a few people had gathered around watching as Ian went for it, then a Christmas miracle happened. The crowd cheered as he dropped the exact stuffy he had been going for the whole time. The lady who gave him the token gave him a big hug and I have to admit, I was wrong: that $5 was money well spent.
Despicable Me 4: “Talk about despicable.” — Zaki Hasan, San Francisco Chronicle
Doctor Jekyll: “You don’t call a movie Doctor Jekyll and expect that we won’t know what’s going in it.” — Mark Dujsik, Mark Reviews Movies
The Instigators: “Cannot live up to the Ocean’s movies of which Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are two of the 11. Perhaps they should not attempt heists without Brad Pitt or George Clooney.” — Fred Topel, United Press International
Harold and the Purple Crayon: “A film that pays lip service to the importance of creativity without ever displaying a demonstrable shred of it during its seemingly interminable run time.” — Peter Sobczynski, RogerEbert.com
Trap: “Trap is crap.” — David Poland, Hot Button
From Apple News:
Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2024 third quarter ended June 29, 2024. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $85.8 billion, up 5 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.40, up 11 percent year over year.
Quarterly revenue of $85.8 billion sets a new record for a third quarter reporting. The third quarter is traditionally Apple’s quietest time of year for earnings.
Throughout the call the executives hailed “Apple Intelligence” as an exciting headwind moving into future earnings reports.
| iPhone | $39,296 million | up 1% |
| Mac | $7,009 million | up 2% |
| iPad | $7,162 million | up 24% |
| Wearables, Home and Accessories | $8,097 million | down 2% |
| Services | $24,213 million | up 14% |
| Total Net Sales | $85,777 million | up 5% |
Here are the Six Color Charts.
From Apple Newsroom:
Today, Apple Maps on the web is available in public beta, allowing users around the world to access Maps directly from their browser.
Now, users can get driving and walking directions; find great places and useful information including photos, hours, ratings, and reviews; take actions like ordering food directly from the Maps place card; and browse curated Guides to discover places to eat, shop, and explore in cities around the world. Additional features, including Look Around, will be available in the coming months.
I think it’s worthy of saying “finally”!
Apple doesn’t hesitate taking the slow and steady approach when it comes to incremental improvements. If you’re still jaded by the less than stellar performance when Apple Maps premiered on iOS, it’s high time you start using the app. And starting now, if you’re wanting to share links to various locations or directions, you can do it on the web. It’s by far my favourite maps app.
(Previously: Apple’s New Map, Expansion #10 Canada)