Weekend Reading — ⏲ The Modified Pomodoro Method

This is a tough one.

😷 How's your week going?

The weather was nice for part of this week, so I left the house and went for a walk around the neighborhood. Get the blood flowing, soak in some sun, do some creative thinking, that later on turned into a couple of emails and a Zoom call. Few people outside so it was easy to keep distance. And I felt so much better after each walk. Highlighy recommended.

☀️🕶

WFH

How to do effective video calls TL;DR “Get good audio, use gallery view, mute if not talking, and welcome the cat.”

Sleeping tips when staying indoors during isolation period For many people, the sudden change/loss of schedule can disrupt their regular sleep habits. This is a quick read on how to get back on track.

David Zhou “Zoom pro tip 3: make it a video background to have a convincing loop of you looking engaged”

Esther Choo I don't have kids, but I understand:

Tonight I was like, whew, that was rough but we made it through day one of kids being home from school.

Then realized it’s actually just the weekend, extended school closing has technically not even started and we are doomed.

Tools of the Trade

Layoffs are Coming 🚨 Unfortunately, the great move to work from home is not something that will spare the tech industry. Some people hold on to the idea that tech — especially startups — are immune because “software is eating the world”, but software is still a business, and business needs to make money. A global recession has a cascading effect, as everyone buys less, revenues shrink.

Most likely you get to keep your job, but I do like the idea of being prepared, just in case:

When layoffs happen, they hit quick. You probably won’t see it coming. You don’t want to be trying to get your resume in order while negotiating severance and figuring out COBRA! So in the next couple of weeks, get your resume all updated and ready to send at a moment’s notice. Put a recurring reminder in your calendar/todo app so you remember to do this regularly (quarterly, perhaps.)

Apropos, and we did see this happen in prior recessions. This is the software industry's reversion to the mean:

To put a fine point on it: if we hit a downturn, Java’s going to get you a job far faster than Rust. If you’ve got some of those more old-school technologies — Java, C/C++, .NET, etc. — in your background, but haven’t touched them in a while, it could be worth your while to brush back up.

Dr. Caroline Bartman ⏲ I've been practicing this technique for over a week, didn't know it had a name!

now that we are all working from home, may i recommend:
the MODIFIED POMODORO method.

1. work on work stuff for 25 minutes.
2. Read coronavirus updates on twitter and http://nytimes.com for two hours

repeat until you've finished approximately 25 minutes of work in 1 day

Freedom: Internet, App and Website Blocker On a more serious note, you can use an app like Freedom to block distracting (news, social media) sites. These are not normal times, do not expect you or your team to be productive. But also, take care of your mental health, and this may just be the app you need to lower your blood pressure and sleep better at night.

iPad Pro — How to correctly use a computer — Apple The iPad is getting a proper keyboard with touch pad! I want … I need this. This ad is so great, it starts looking a bit like Brazil, and pokes fun at computers — including Apple's own line of delicate and expensive to repair notebooks:

Treat your computer with respect.
It is not a toy.
Do not touch the screen.

Chetan Puttagunta “Enterprise software as disinfecting wipes.
A thread to add levity to your feed 😃:”

Lingua Scripta

Adam Klein 😭

New JS restrictions due to COVID-19:

• Arrays must have less than 10 items
• No importing node_modules. If you must, run in an iframe
• All CSS borders must be solid
• Avoid TCP handshakes
• Leave 2 empty lines between statements
• Use spaces, not tabs (unrelated to COVID-19)

Today in Business Models

David Dayen In general, it should come as no surprise, that this crisis will lead to even more wealth concentrating at the top:

For today's Unsanitized: I got my hands on a slide deck from Bain & Co that all but admits that private equity is poised to scoop up bushels of companies once the economy comes up for air https://prospect.org/coronavirus/unsanitized-private-equity-licks-its-chops/

Aneel I wonder how much of that growth is speculators:

If you'd invested in wrong zoom a month ago at the open on the premise that there's going to be more people who don't know they're on the wrong ticker over time than people who do AND that no amount of stories would reach the former and MORESO during covid-19... you'd be up +900%

FYI: ZM is the ticker symbol for Zoom, the video conferencing software we're all using, and their stock is up 2x since January. ZOOM is a different company, they're no longer in business, and so their stock is up 15x since January. Yes, that is the infinite logic of the stock market.

Locked Doors

Ransomware Gangs to Stop Attacking Health Orgs During Pandemic 🤯

Today, the Maze operators responded to my questions by posting a "Press Release" that also states that they will stop all "activity" against all kinds of medical organizations until the end of the pandemic.

None of the Above

Best of Nextdoor “Meanwhile, in Oakland...”

Anbara Salam 👇

As a public service in these stressful times I'd like to offer, as a palate cleanser, the most embarrassing moment of my life.

10ish years ago, my ex bf and I visited a spa in Germany. It's swimsuits in the pool but you have to be naked in the sauna.

Btw I speak no German.  1/

Ada Powers “I get it: you're on lockdown. You're trying to do a lot with a little. It's hard to find joy in the midst of fear, depression, and austerity.

That's why it's time to learn about totwaffles. (thread)”

mommysama 👇 This story is just bonkers:

I laughed at this but lemme tell y’all a story about how my family and I got scammed and almost stuck in Montego Bay last month (thread)

Humor And Animals “couldn't ask for a better training partner
(magnusthetherapydog IG)”

Nicola Coughlan Stay vigilant!

I know this time of self isolation is hard and scary for people but however bad you are feeling- please, please don’t consider starting your own podcast

Straight men under the age of 35 are particularly vulnerable to this and we all need to be vigilant of the dangers x

Marty O “Update: Not all sports are cancelled”

How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel 🔥

The hotel refused to refund the payment. I called and asked to extend from 3 nights to 10 nights. When they asked the reason, I replied that I just got back from Italy and am looking for a place to stay until the 14-day quarantine period is over. “I want to stay in one place and not move around,” I told them.

Nat Torkington “The subgenre of "WTF shopping substitutions" is my new favourite thing.”

jayne stigger: @ClareBarry I ordered a walnut loaf. Guess what I got?

A Cat In The Lonesome October This is the start to every movie about a post apocalyptic world!

A completely empty ferry terminal at night…

And the only object in the room is an artfully placed full page newspaper explaining what happened.

Because life is a video game.

Tara Hunt “I swoon. Much fashion. So safety. 👗😷🔥”

lenka: ladies and gents, the president of slovakia

Aisha Malik 👇 Civilization is all about social caring:

Anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture.
Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the

The Beekman Live Goat Cam A live nest cam looking at a pen with baaaby goats. Got this playing on a side window.