Recently

I skipped Recently last month. This one's even more of a grab-bag than usual!

The <video> element and browser abstractions

I was reading Iván Sánchez Ortega’s thoughts on maps4html (at the time of writing, his website is down, so that's an archive.org link). The post is about a theoretical HTML element that embeds a map on a webpage - something that Iván is skeptical of and I am as well. But this section really got me thinking:

The user experience for video back in the day, both for the user (“I have to download what and install it where?”) and the web developer (user agent sniffing plus an <object> inside an <embed> with a MJPG fallback in the form of a <img>) was quite abismal (sic). A <video> element back then made sense.

So let’s fast-forward ten years, and see what <video> has really brought us. For me, three things spring to mind:

1. Chunked video
2. DRM (in the form of EME).
3. Consistent UI, then inconsistent UI back again.

This is clear in hindsight but I had never really connected the pieces – the rise of standardized streaming video has also enabled DRM to be so commonplace. I can no longer take screenshots of Netflix, which was something that I used to love to do. There are good tools for downloading YouTube videos, but the same won't exist for Hulu or HBO Max, and once a TV show declines to renew its streaming license, it'll be inaccessible.

I think this is a really interesting point: the standardization of the element meant that video decoding and UI would be part of the browser rather than the application, which allowed for strong copy-protection to be standard, and shifted power away from users. It makes me think twice about standardizing more elements of the web.

Maps are what the maps4html project wants to standardize, but argument is basically the same for cryptocurrency boosters (those who remain). They argue that the web was missing a "payments primitive" and it should be implemented at a protocol level. I don't even agree with their goals (this current level of capitalist dystopia is enough, thank you very much, we don't need to financialize any more stuff, please), but I also don't feel great about the means of accomplishing those goals - embedding an opinionated currency and transaction system into standard technology.

Part of the same thought bubble: is the web as a low-level abstraction of basic HTML elements and raw JavaScript on which the developer brings their own higher-level abstractions (web frameworks, or previously, Flash?), more egalitarian or free than a web with higher-level abstractions that are dictated by browsers and operating systems?

Leverage

Historically, a key way to turn mediocre investments into good investments has been to apply leverage. That’s not a recommendation; that’s a historical analysis, and it comes with survivorship bias.

This blog post from Lyn Alden is a compelling and risqué unified theory of investing. She claims that real estate, stock, and bond investments are all pretty bad in the long run, and that taking leverage is actually a historically winning strategy because it shorts your fiat currency and amplifies your exposure to the other thing.

Within the context of the fiat currency system, it has been both quantifiably workable and socially acceptable to own real estate with 5-to-1 or even 10-to-1 leverage. People who are not professional investors will routinely put 20% down and borrow 80% of the value of a home, with various options to increase that to 10/90 in some cases, because we set up our financial system around this being a normal thing to do.

This is a good point that I never stop mentioning – mortgages are complicated and risky investments. Sometimes not as risky for the borrower but always risky).

BeOS & Haiku

I love the BeOS and Haiku icons and designs? They really are something. I've always had a love for the Mac OS 8 look, but BeOS is just beautiful: it has some of the strong colors of Windows, but used in a different way. And the icons…

From guidebookgallery.org. By the way: did you know about the image-rendering: pixelated CSS option?

And then look at the icons from Haiku, the successor to BeOS:

I'm not going to go as far as actually running these operating systems, but man, it all reminds me of a day when computers felt so much more focused and personal.

Bikes are electric now

I've been biking more recently, and getting ready for a small Labor Day bike trip through Long Island. Eventually, when I have time (ha!) I want to do some much longer trips. I've been spending a bit more time getting reacquainted with the state of bicycles. In my lifetime, there have been a bunch of big changes for high-end bikes:

• Disc brakes replaced V-brakes, even for some road bikes
• Tubeless tires replaced tires with tubes for most bikes
• Wheels got bigger and most mountain bikes are 29ers or above

I've mostly been on board with these things - the bigger wheels were obviously an upgrade from day one, especially.

The weird new thing is electronic shifting, which is apparently becoming the norm. It's a pretty odd turn, if you ask me: your bike as a little wireless electronic network in which the shifter on the handlebars connects to a motor in the derailleur.

It's nice to see though, from some 'bike influencers', a pushback and some people even going back to non-indexed shifters so they can use any kind of mech drivetrain.

I think that when I get a midlife-crisis bike, there's a decent chance it'll be electric, partly because it allows for fewer cables to route, which would make mounting bikepacking bags a little easier. But 'running out of power' in the middle of the woods, or just having 'firmware' installed on my bicycle creeps me out.

Running

The 5k season continues. So far this summer: 21:00, 21:01, 20:27, 21:26. My goal is sub-20, which should be achievable (I've run it before in previous seasons), but mostly the weather hasn't been cooperating. Last night's race (21:26) was in 83°F, 68% humidity. Shoutout to singlets for helping me survive the heat. I picked up a Bakline one and have been impressed. I see Tracksmith gear constantly, and it's good too, but I fear that some of these running brands are getting a 'fashion brand' markup.

It's hard to compete with DC and San Francisco as running cities. The DC region is the 'fittest' in the country there are great trails in Rock Creek Park and super wide sidewalks in some neighborhoods. San Francisco has spectacular hills and trails that can convince you that you're really in the wild. New York's sidewalks have far fewer cars parked on them than San Francisco's, but you always need to look where you're going. The sights are better, in my opinion: while SF's hills look cool in the distance, there's nothing like seeing the skyscrapers of Manhattan or running across the Brooklyn Bridge.

New York's running culture is great. There are tons of running clubs, and there are so many races to pick from. San Francisco had a free weekly 5k called Park Run (part of a global network of events), but it was cancelled in 2020. Brooklyn doesn't have a Park Run, but it has the Al Goldstein race series, which is about $15, competitive, and well-run.

I've competed 10.24% of Brooklyn so far on CityStrides: progress has stalled because I've been just running Prospect Park loops over and over again to get in shape for 5ks.

Listening

I started listening to brat but was disappointed. The biggest find of the last few months has been Jessie Mae Hemphill, who I embarrassingly discovered because her song 'Tell Me You Love Me' came on the rotation in a Chipotle.

Reading

Oh man, The World Beyond Your Head was such a read. It's hard to summarize. In hindsight, I'm not even sure what it was about the book that hooked me - there were a few loosely-connected topics, each of which was really compelling. It made me think a lot. Hell of a book.

Watching

Kinds of Kindness was great: I've now watched 29% of Yorgos Lanthimos films and love his style.