Oversimplified

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Oversimplified: Volume 124

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Oversimplified: Volume 124

Rules for travel, a deep dive on dashboards, and anti-mimetic tactics

Conor Dewey
Jan 25, 2022
Share this post

Oversimplified: Volume 124

conor.substack.com

Hey there šŸ‘‹

I’ve got a lot to share this time around! Partially from skimping on last week’s issue, but mostly from finally cleaning out my Pocket backlog and the 100+ saved articles in there from the last year. Can you hear the sigh of relief? It’s a big one. Enjoy.

Oversimplified is a digest of the best links I stumble upon each week, and any new posts from me. If this is your first issue, welcome! You can subscribe with the big blue button below:


āœļø Quick Rules for Travel

As I mentioned in my annual review, I recently took the plunge and went full ā€œdigital nomadā€ mode. Since then I’ve been bouncing around from place to place, learning a lot about my preferences for travel. These preferences have started to inform a set of rules. This is the current set of them.

āœļø Towards Modern Data Apps

I’m fascinated by everything going on in the data space right now. Benn Stancil’s latest post on the entity layer got me thinking, so I wrote up some expanded thoughts on the topic. Basically, how will your data stack interact with your work apps in the next 5+ years?

šŸ“š Nintendogs: The Non-game That Barked Like a Game

Take a stroll down memory lane with this design breakdown of the hit game: ā€œThe first thing that arises whenever someone talks about Nintendogs is the claim that it is not a game. Such a vehement response is indicative of a larger trend in both the designer and gaming community. Unfortunately, it is a trend that has its roots in a fundamental misunderstanding of game design.ā€

šŸ“š On Dashboards

I went down a big ol’ rabbit hole on dashboards. What should they really do? What makes a good dashboard? What happens to them over time? Lots of questions and few agreed-upon answers. But plenty of good ideas. Here are some notable reads:

  • Data is for dashboards

  • Views on dashboards being answers, or not

  • Good dashboard, bad dashboard

  • The dashboard lifecycle

  • The utility of an unwatched dashboard

šŸ“š On Solitude

I’d love to try and do something like this more often: Go somewhere by yourself with no phone for several hours, or days if you can swing it. Just chill out, think to yourself, and occasionally journal. Sounds good to me.

šŸ“š Career Advice

I’d like to think that if a college student were to reach out to me for advice today, I would give them some tips largely similar to this post. Excellent stuff and applicable for just about anyone no matter where you are in your career.

šŸ“š Anti-Mimetic Tactics for a Counter-Cultural Life

This is a fun thought exercise: What are some things or ways of doing things that most people follow? What would happen if you did the opposite?

šŸ”— Scan of the Month: Game Boy Compendium

These breakdowns are straight-up fascinating, and even if you aren’t in the mood to dig deep on architectural design decisions, the visuals are awesome.

šŸ”— Snow in the Sahara

It snowed in the Sahara Desert last week for one of just a handful of times in recent years. These pictures are beautiful and a little bit eerie.


Food for Thought

ā€œAn old friend of mine, a journalist, once said that paradise on earth was to work all day alone in anticipation of an evening in interesting company.ā€ — Ian McEwan

Latest mini-experiment: Sharing a picture from my week instead of the usual abstract art and what-not. Anyways, I’m setting up shop in Miami for a little bit!

Until next time

As always, if you're enjoying Oversimplified, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend or two. If anything stood out, whether good or bad, I would love to hear about it. Reply to this email orĀ tweet at meĀ and let’s chat.

Until next time,

Conor

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