Newsletter: week of 2/17

Happy Friday, bud! Another week down and another tech startup laid to rest 🪦.

A quick question: Do you know anyone who is making something with or for technology? I am looking to chat with people like Michail of dispolens, a 3D printed lens that features the optics of a disposable camera, or Byron, who makes the TeraBiter Halo, a MagSafe solution for hard drives. If you know any makers, or are a maker, let's chat! Now, onto everything else.

Last Friday marked YouTube's 20th anniversary. What once started as a dating site has become the second-most visited website in the world, with an estimated 2.5 billion monthly users. Of all the anniversary coverage this milestone prompted, my favorite was this BBC piece that highlighted research done by the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. 

Source: University of Massachusetts at Amherst/ Yun Sun Park/ BBC

The team found that the median number of views for a YouTube video is just 41, that only 38% of videos were edited before being uploaded, and that the median length is only 64 seconds. While it's easy to think of YouTube as a major streaming service, this team uncovered that most people use it as a video repository, a place to store content rather than make money off of content. Which, hell yeah! Use up that free storage. My personal YouTube account has many unlisted videos that range from a 10th-grade English project to an ad I made to promote a basketball event I hosted in college. What do you have taking up server space at Google?

What I read this week:

I am really excited to share that I am currently reading an ARC (advance reader copy) of So Gay For You, a memoir by Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey, stars of The L Word. More important than those two wonderful queers, though, is the queer who edited it, my partner, Hannah!

This is a great piece by my former coworker Justine Calma that tells the story of America’s first generation of Silicon Valley factory workers who endured unsafe manufacturing conditions and never got answers about kids born with birth defects.

This story is a rollercoaster ride that features a brother claiming to be in charge of cybersecurity for a plastic surgeon who was targeted by hackers who posted patients' nudes online... twice.

What I watched this week:

Last weekend was the 50th anniversary of SNL. To celebrate this milestone, past and present cast members, as well as many celebrity guests, came together for one of the best episodes of SNL to date. There were reprises of famous sketches, many musical performances, and a sentimental song by Adam Sandler, all of which I have been watching and re-watching on YouTube this week.

What I listened to this week:

Nora Brown - Jenny Put The Kettle On
"southern Appalachian banjo and guitar playing"

Sierra Ferrell - Cupid (Sam Cooke cover)
a top 20 all-time favorite song of mine

Cynthia Erivo's powerhouse performance of 'Nothing Compares 2 U'
another week, another cover by Cynthia Erivo on repeat

Bon Iver - Everything Is Peaceful Love
featuring a John Wilson-esk NYC music video

Ok, that's all I got, but as always, I would love to see what you scrolled by. Feel free to drop some links in the comments. Have a safe and happy weekend, bud.
-Becca