Currently in my backyard…
My favorite part of social media during an Apple Event is those declaring definitively how dumb or terrible or perfect some feature they saw for all of a few seconds in a video and have never interacted with. #wwdchottakes
because the process could be completed in such a short time, the goal shifted from producing well-made and thorough documents to checking off a list that documents existed…
Thoughtfully written piece by my friend Joe.
Reading content within LinkedIn feels like doing something positive for your career, just as scrolling social media feels like reading the news.
This May marks my 6th year of work at The Weather Company. During that time I’ve learned a lot about weather bulletins including that the general public gets confused between watches and warnings. This is my favorite explanation I’ve found. Stay safe out there, everyone.
I asked Gemini to go out on the web and bring me back some UI inspiration for a design concept I’m working on. After a helpful back and forth clarifying, it told me it’d have results for me by end of day today—it was 10am when I made the request. I will be shocked if this is not a hallucination.
Interesting that both Glitch and Pocket are shutting down on the exact same day, July 8. I specifically bought a Kobo Reader because I could use a “read it later” service from an e-ink screen to give my eyes a break. Sad day for me.
Congrats to Crystal Palace on their FA Cup trophy! A lot of silverware history being written in English football this year.
At an in-person conference for the first time since 2019. Feels good so far. If you’re at UXPA 2025 Boston today, keep your eye out for me. I’d love to meet you.
In Massachusetts we have annual vehicle inspections. I used to call it “emissions testing” but there’s a safety assessment too. I brought my EV in for inspection today and the guy said “sorry, you failed emissions testing.” I responded “oh no, is my exhaust rusted out?”
No complaints about the end of this Houston Duke game. What resilience from Houston. Never quit. Belived in their tenacious defense.
I hope a lot people have had the opportunity to listen to at least some of Cory Booker’s speech today. He’s just set the record for longest speech in Congress (24hrs+, without bathroom breaks) and he’s a great storyteller. www.youtube.com/live/rCUK…
Thank you, Senator Cory Booker. Saving a country is complicated. We the people don’t expect Dems or anti-Trump factions to be able to solve this crisis in one fell swoop. What we would like you to do is something. Thanks for standing up.
Musk revolutionized rocket construction by building them like software: make, test, iterate. NASA can’t routinely blow up rockets. When SpaceX ships stop blowing up, humans ride in them.
The fundamental problem DOGE doesn’t understand with government is humans are always on the ship.
Can we stop calling Signal a “commercial texting app”? It’s a highly secure text app that’s made by a well-regarded non-profit solely dedicated to creating a free, secure platform that knows nothing about its users.
It should never be used by the American government for classified anything.
The Tesla Post Nobody Wanted Me to Write
Elon Musk, if you haven’t heard, has pissed off a lot of America. People are out in force protesting at Tesla dealerships. This makes sense, as the majority of Musk’s wealth is tied up in his 13% ownership of Tesla. If its stock tanks, it reduces his massive wealth (to a slightly less massive level).
That said, a lot of people are directing their anger toward Tesla owners. Some have vandalized privately owned Tesla vehicles and torched Supercharger stations. Others are calling on Tesla owners to sell their vehicles.
Selling a Tesla makes no sense and does nothing to slow down Musk’s path of destruction. Furthermore, unless you were already planning to trade in your car, this actually contradicts the very point of owning an EV in the first place. And if you were to trade your Tesla for a non-EV, it would be even worse.
Let’s remember: If you’re anti-Elon because of what he’s been doing to the government, you’re probably at least somewhat liberal and believe in the science of climate change. You understand that people need to make personal changes to reduce their carbon footprint. Trading in a perfectly good car for even an equally clean (or somewhat cleaner) vehicle is actually worse for the environment, since the majority of a new vehicle’s carbon footprint comes from its manufacturing.
Like it or not, Teslas are still the best electric vehicles available and the easiest to live with, especially considering the Supercharger network (which, while open to some non-Teslas, that is still limited to a subset of locations).
Some Tesla drivers are Elon super-fans, for sure—I’d guess a majority of Cybertruck owners are. But chances are, if you see someone in a Model Y—_last year’s best-selling car in the world_—they’re just as disturbed by Elon as you are. Harassing them is just friendly fire. It’s easy to sit behind your Twitter/X/Mastodon/Bluesky client and verbally assault Tesla owners. Instead, I’m asking you to be a little more productive–especially if you haven’t gone out of your way to replace your own oil-burning car with an EV.
Unless Elon is thrown out of Tesla (doubtful), my family has purchased its last Tesla. Which is a shame, because our Model Y is fantastic, and we don’t regret buying it for a minute. The new Model Y looks even better. It deserves to be the best-selling vehicle in the world (in 2024, since Tesla sales have rightfully fallen off a cliff). I wouldn’t tell someone to avoid buying a used Tesla, since they’re usually a great value—used EV prices still haven’t quite figured themselves out.
Going forward, we’re looking at EVs that are assembled in the U.S. and use the NACS (neé Tesla) charging connector. Right now, that means we’re leaning toward Rivian, though I’d prefer our next car be more of a car. I think the Model Y gets the trade-off right for a vehicle that’s 99% on-road but still performs well on loose, rocky, and rutted gravel mountain roads—as I verified on our rural Canadian road trip last summer. Maybe Lucid will get its act together and start making more affordable vehicles with a versatile hatch. Or maybe we’ll see a U.S.-assembled Polestar. Or perhaps Subaru—whose first electric attempt was *lacking*— will make an all-electric Forester, assembled in Indiana—which is really all we need.
So protest at Tesla dealerships, but leave Tesla drivers and their vehicles alone. Same team. We’re already embarrassed. Many of us simply aren’t independently wealthy enough to replace our cars. If you’re a former Tesla driver who has moved on, good on you. But I plan to hang on to mine for many years to come.
