Oxyllects #4

See Oxyllects #2 for the backstory. Oxyllects do not have any goal—it is as random as a damp thought.

• It is like a first time trip to your dream city in the pre-Internet era. This is not about technology or art or food or the trek, or libraries. You never know where you find that technology park too. This is for everything life around us, in some way, where small is also big.

• Think of the people who care for you, and the ones you care for, and think of all of them while reading this post—will something in this post resonate with them? If yes, share it with them.

• Read it with zero expectations—it helps us stay calm and in the moment.

Among so many definitions, descriptions, arguments, and corollaries of what is design, this is the closest framing by Henrik Karlsson—

“When you design something, a useful definition of success is precisely that—the form fits the context. This is true of relationships, and essays, and careers: you want to find something that fits.”

• A glove is well-designed if it fits the hand nicely.

• A relationship is healthy if it fits the personalities and needs of the people involved (and the resonance between them).

• An essay is good if it fits a context made up of 1) the truth, 2) the intellectual needs of the writer, and 3) the reader's mind. The better the form fits that context—the truer, more insight-generating, and resonant it is—the better the essay.

I enjoyed this essay so much.

In New Zealand, the Dunedin Airport in the town of Momona has posted the following signage.

T i m e.

I saw an Instagram story where the author often asked their grandma to identify mushrooms for its specific variety. How fortunate they are, to have the elders to help them.

Well, now there are apps to help you scan and identify the mushroom varieties.

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“Love hotels are a unique and deeply ingrained part of Japanese culture,” says photographer François Prost. “These venues have a very ‘talkative’ quality visually—they’re expressive in their design, reflecting aspects of local culture, values, and even fantasies.”

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Enoughness is the absence of stories. (stories)

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“Two specific examples of impactful starting points that are good for both personal and planetary health are eating more whole, plant-based foods that feed your gut microbiome (and mental-emotional health); and aligning your daily routines to your biological circadian rhythms (eating and moving during the day when the sun is out, and rest and sleep when the sun sets).

Your mitochondria will love you back by giving you more energy, focus, stable moods, and a longer life.”—says Parneet Pal, in The House of Beautiful Business

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“Mixing people, activities, and opportunities not only supports the mobility of diverse users but also creates an active public realm for babies, toddlers, their caregivers, and everyone else.”—a simple tool for you to examine your neighborhood.

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We who admire him discover that the center and circumference of his library extends to the center and circumference of the world. His lesson to us is that in every studiolo lies an autobiography of the soul. (story)

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• Principles over metrics (link)

• Free the Chatbots (video, link)

• Deep vs broad context traps (link)

• Design is not hard (link)

• A toolkit for campaigning and social change (link)

”Whether you design a bridge, a chip, a car, a surgery, a judgment, a war, water, wool, or a farm, my message applies to everything that you will do when you are an adult.”

Here is the letter.

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Here is the story.

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I hope you enjoyed this story.

And if you love falling, get into The beauty of falling (an interview).