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Newley’s Notes 129: My Ode to ‘Wild Wild Country;’ Amazing Satellite Images; on Work and Creativity

April 15, 2018 By Newley Leave a Comment

Edition 129 of my email newsletter went out last week.

If you’d like NN delivered to your inbox, simply enter your email address here. It’s free, it’s fun, it’s brief, and few people unsubscribe.


world map of circuits

Hi, friends. Welcome to the latest edition of Newley’s Notes.

An administrative note: I’m changing the NN format slightly to provide me with a little more flexibility in assembling these missives.

You’ll notice there are no longer separate sections for 1) for my WSJ stories, 2) my blog posts, and 3) “5 cool tech-ish reads this week.” Now it’s one simpler, single list. But fret not: All the same awesomesomess remains – and now with added emoji! 👏👏

Anyway, on to this week’s NN…

10 items worth your time this week:

🙏 1) By me at Newley.com: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh docu-series ‘Wild, Wild Country’ — Yes, It’s That Good [Newley.com] – My notes on this fantastic Netflix series, along with links I found for more reading on the cult, ranging from a two-part 1986 New Yorker piece to various books and a new interview the Oregonian investigative journalist featured in the shows. This is one of those rare documentaries that lingers with you for days or weeks after you’ve watched it.

🐊 2) Why Zuckerberg’s 14-Year Apology Tour Hasn’t Fixed Facebook. [Wired] – Zeynep Tufekci, an academic who studies social media, provides important context: The Facebook founder has been apologizing for years. The first graf:

IN 2003, one year before Facebook was founded, a website called Facemash began nonconsensually scraping pictures of students at Harvard from the school’s intranet and asking users to rate their hotness. Obviously, it caused an outcry. The website’s developer quickly proffered an apology. “I hope you understand, this is not how I meant for things to go, and I apologize for any harm done as a result of my neglect to consider how quickly the site would spread and its consequences thereafter,” wrote a young Mark Zuckerberg. “I definitely see how my intentions could be seen in the wrong light.”

📰 3) Related: The Death of the Newsfeed [Ben-Evans.com] – Noted venture capitalist and tech commentator Benedict Evans writes about how newsfeeds, like Facebook’s, go from being chronological (when there are few users), to algorithmic (when there are too many users to show every post from your friends), and what that means for user experience. Thought experiment: If WhatsApp and its groups feature existed when Facebook launched, would FB ever have achieved its massive global scale? I think not.

✍️ 4) Do Capybaras Dream of Google Docs? [NewYorker.com] – “Google Docs, at any given moment,” Katy Waldman writes, “might be one or both things: an unremarkable feature of office life and a theatre for the mysteries of creativity.” I’m not sure I completely grasp this piece, but I do love it.

🛰️ 5) Earth’s Wonders Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before [Medium/Nature.com] – A cool collection of satellite images showing cities and geographic features from “off angles.” Many are gorgeous.

🐕 6) Ancient Maya traded dogs for use in religious ceremonies, new study shows [Ars Technica] – Head scratcher of the week.

🇹🇭 7) The Surprising Reason that There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in America [Vice] TLDR: “gastrodiplomacy”! Thanks, Wendy!

👩‍💻 8) A 2-Year Stanford Study Shows the Astonishing Productivity Boost of Working From Home. [Inc.com] – But don’t miss the interesting caveat.

🎨 9) Does Having a Day Job Mean Making Better Art? [NY Times] – A thought-provoking look at work and creativity.

🎤 10) One glorious thing: Marvin Gaye (Acapella) I heard it through the Grapevine. [YouTube].

What’s new in your world? Hit me with your updates.

If you like this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If you received this from a (smart and cool) pal, you can sign up here.

👊 Fist bump from New Delhi,

Newley

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Filed Under: Newley's Notes

Cryptocurrency Mania Comes to the Premier League?

April 14, 2018 By Newley

File under: Life in 2018, cryptocurrency edition: My favorite Premier League team, Arsenal, now shows ads at its grounds for Cashbet Coin, which bills itself as the club's "official cryptocurrency partner.” I did a little digging. Apparently I … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: Sports, Tech Tagged With: arsenal, bitcoin

Newley’s Notes 128: China and 5G; Smartphones and our Eyes; Earthworm Jerky

April 8, 2018 By Newley Leave a Comment

Edition 128 of my email newsletter went out last week. If you’d like NN delivered to your inbox, simply enter your email address here. It’s free, it’s fun, it’s brief, and few people unsubscribe. Hi, friends. Welcome to the latest edition of … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: Newley's Notes

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh docu-series ‘Wild, Wild Country’ — Yes, It’s That Good

April 5, 2018 By Newley Leave a Comment

I really enjoyed the new Netflix docu-series "Wild Wild Country," which you may have heard about. It was released last month and has been garnering some positive reviews and tons of online buzz. It's the story, told over six, hour-long episodes, of … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: Movies Tagged With: documentaries, netflix

Newley’s Notes 127: Uber Quits SE Asia; Facebook Gets Unfriended; Smoldering T-Rexes

April 1, 2018 By Newley

Edition 127 of my email newsletter went out last week. If you’d like NN delivered to your inbox, simply enter your email address here. It’s free, it’s fun, it’s brief, and few people unsubscribe.   Hi, friends. Welcome to the latest edition … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: Newley's Notes

Newley’s Notes 126: Say Hi to Our Puppy, Ginger!; Facebook’s CA Problem; Toto’s ‘Africa’ FTW

April 1, 2018 By Newley

Edition 126 of my email newsletter went out a couple weeks back (I'm late it posting it here). If you’d like NN delivered to your inbox, simply enter your email address here. It’s free, it’s fun, it’s brief, and few people unsubscribe. Hi, … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: Newley's Notes

Alibaba Bets Another $2 Billion on Southeast Asia

March 21, 2018 By Newley

That's the headline of a story I wrote with my colleague Liza Liz, which ran on Monday. It begins: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Executive Chairman Jack Ma is doubling down on Southeast Asia, investing another $2 billion in e-commerce subsidiary Lazada … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: Journalism, Tech Tagged With: alibaba, lazada, southeast_asia

Introducing our Desi Dog, Ginger

March 18, 2018 By Newley Leave a Comment

TLDR: Say hello to the newest member of our family: the beautiful Ginger! The backstory: Last year, about six months after our beloved dog Ashley died, we found ourselves really missing having a pooch in our lives. But we weren’t quite ready to … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: India, Life Tagged With: ashley, dogs, ginger

The Emails and Texts That Show How Badly Instagram Wants me Back

March 15, 2018 By Newley

  Around February 15 – about month ago – I decided I would delete the Facebook and Instagram apps from my iPhone. I haven’t quit these services entirely, and at this point don’t immediately intend to (I can still view … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: instagram, social_media

NN125: Uber-Grab Deal; Alexa Gets Creepy; ‘Sopranos’ Prequel

March 13, 2018 By Newley Leave a Comment

Hi, friends. Welcome to the latest edition of Newley's Notes, in which I share the best of what I write and the best of what I read. If you like this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If you received this from a pal, you can sign up … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: Newley's Notes

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Hi. I’m Newley Purnell, a Wall Street Journal reporter based in New Delhi. I’ve been blogging here since 2002.

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  • Newley’s Notes 129: My Ode to ‘Wild Wild Country;’ Amazing Satellite Images; on Work and Creativity
  • Cryptocurrency Mania Comes to the Premier League?
  • Newley’s Notes 128: China and 5G; Smartphones and our Eyes; Earthworm Jerky
  • Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh docu-series ‘Wild, Wild Country’ — Yes, It’s That Good
  • Newley’s Notes 127: Uber Quits SE Asia; Facebook Gets Unfriended; Smoldering T-Rexes

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