April 2022 - On the Move ✈️
This month, I decided to start taking advantage of the "live anywhere, work anywhere" philosophy of Loom to go mobile. Shortly after you read this, I'll be in Austin, Texas for at least a few weeks. I bought a one way ticket from San Francisco and haven't even decided where I'm going next.
But life's an adventure, right?
This month has been another one for the history books. Elon is actually buying Twitter (after a lot of people thought he was just meme-ing). Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues. My grandmother, the matriarch of my father's side of the family, ended up in the hospital again from a stroke.
Sometime life's adventure is more than we all asked for ("May you live in interesting times" is said to be an insult for a reason).
In any case, I hope this newsletter finds you well. Remember that, no matter how bad it can get sometimes, you still have your present health, your current family/friends, and the ability to live every day.
Life is impermanent. We should be thankful for every day we get.
--
Nathan ☕️
P.S. Loom is hiring for lots of positions btw. Hit me up by Twitter DMs or my site's contact page if you want to talk.
Articles/News
Elon Musk buys Twitter
Since I worked there for years (and since I still know lots of awesome and insanely talented people who still work there), I've been following the news about Twitter almost every single hour of every single day since Elon's purchase started developing.
Elon and Twitter may be like fire and water. He will need to change huge parts of Twitter in order to build what he wants, and there's no guarantee the result will continue to capture lightning in a bottle like it has all these years.
Interesting links in chronological order for those interested in reading more about this developing saga:
Elon offers to buy Twitter at $54.20 a share ($44 billion valuation)
Twitter's BoD enacts a "poison pill" to prevent hostile takeover
Tweet thread breakdown of contract between Elon and Twitter by a corporate lawyer
Dick Costolo, former CEO of Twitter, criticizes the above tweet
Books
"The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry
I started reading this book in 2021 but am working on finishing it this year. Focusing on the H1N1 "Spanish Flu" of 1918 (which didn't really originate from Spain at all), this book is almost scary in how closely it parallels the modern history we're experiencing right now.
Code
A11yphant
This website will give you a very quick and important understanding of accessibility ("a11y") and how to implement it in modern websites and web applications.
Crumsort, a Merge Sort-like Sorting Algorithm
This new sorting algorithm hit Reddit in the middle of the month. While I don't think any of us will be busting this out quickly in the middle of interviews any time soon, I do think it's really cool to poke through (even if you're not really into reading/writing C code).
Multi-threading in NodeJS with Worker Threads
It's a tale as old as time... JavaScript is single-threaded and has led to a lot of the unique aspects (like async / await syntax) in the language.
However, something some of you might not have seen yet is that NodeJS now supports worker threads. This innovation will allow isolated code contexts while still sharing processes and uses less memory than code splitting and running your separate script chunks in other instances.
Games
Azul (board game)
"This game is beautiful."
That's generally the first thing people say when I've introduced them to this amazing game. One part dominos, one part pattern matching, and one part tiles from Portugal, this game will bend your mind in style.
Music
"Something" by Julien Baker
Some of you know by now that I've been obsessed with listening to Julien Baker this month. Her music is heartfelt, raw, and feeds part of your soul. Her performance of her song "Something" is beautiful and you should listen to it before you get another second older.
Idris Elba DJ set from Amsterdam
I'm ashamed to admit that, before this month, I had no clue that Idris Elba could rip on creating a good DJ mix on top of being a great actor. I've learned my lesson.
This session from him is clean, filled with classic style, and fresh at the same time.
Desert Mix by Chris Luno
I also discovered Chris Luno's work this month, and this mix from him is excellent. It's really relaxing and great study/work music to get you in your groove.
Videos
The Original Founders of Tesla on "The Early Days"
Given all the craziness with Elon and Twitter, I remembered watching this interview with two of the founders of Tesla. It's absolutely worth a watch.