August 2022
Hey all,
It's been almost two years since I started writing this newsletter. It's amazing how time flies.
When I decided to send that first email, we were still in peak-Covid isolation. I think that's what drew me to the idea of connecting with people in new ways — in fairy quick succession I started the NYC FinOps Meetup and launched this newsletter. Both are still going strong.
Sometimes people ask why I have a newsletter. It's no small feat — I spend several hours each month putting it together. And it's not a work/industry thing, nor is it monetized in any way. So what's the deal?
A few weeks ago, I published an article that provides a peek into my motivations for continuing to publish this newsletter. Needless to say, I continue to get a lot of value from creating this newsletter, and I don't plan to stop any time soon.
I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here, except to encourage you to start your own newsletter if that's something you've ever considered. I'd be curious to hear what benefit(s) it has for you.
-Dann
🔍 Ok, Google: Goodbye
It's not that I don't think Google should exist…I think Google is an important company that played an important role in shaping modern society. It provides valuable free services to anyone with an Internet connection.
BUT do I think Google should be the only option? Of course not. Sometimes I'd rather not give up my privacy in exchange for a free service. Which is why I've been trying to wean myself off Google for several years.
The hardest part is finding quality alternatives. I don't want to give up Google for another service that's worse. But slowly and surely, viable alternatives to my favorite Google services are popping up.
Several years ago, I replaced Google Chrome browser with Brave Browser (which is built on top of Chrome, but is more privacy-focused). Then, several months ago, I replaced Gmail with the anonymous email service Proton Mail.
These were both great steps, but but holy grail is to give up Google search.
Back in 2019, I tried switching to privacy-focused DuckDuckGo as my main engine, but I only lasted a couple of weeks before switching back to Google. Even with Google's flaws, it was still a better daily driver.
But last month, I stumbled upon this tweet by Zach Gage (creator of the game Knotwords, whom I waxed poetic about back in May). He mentioned his own journey to move away from Google, and name dropped a search engine I had never heard of before: Kagi.
I've been using Kagi all month on both my laptop and phone and I must report: I'm never going back to Google. Search results are high quality, relevant, spam/ad-free, and it's so fast. Holy smokes is it fast…
Paid, artisanal search engines are not for everyone, nor are they even for most people. But I'm happy that there's now a quality search engine available for those willing and able to trade dollars for service.
📲 TikTok…you don't stop
Speaking of search, maybe the whole topic will be moot in a decade or two. While I've been hunting for the perfect search engine, Gen-Z has apparently been going in a different direction. If you believe the source, around 40% of Gen Zers use TikTok as their primary search engine for most topics.
Adrienne Sheares (fellow elder millennial) hosted a mini-focus group with Gen Z to learn more about how this works in practice. The main takeaways:
TikTok shows relevant content faster than Google, perfectly tailored thanks to TikTok's personalization algorithm
Watching > Reading (for everything)
Misinformation isn't a concern, just steer clear of topics that are known to be filled with misinformation (health, news, etc)
Hm. I just need to sit with this a moment.
Hm.
🐑 Lamb chops
There's a new video game that's scratching every video-game itch I have. It's called Cult of the Lamb, and it's a mashup between rogue-like dungeon crawler and colony management simulator.
It's basically a combination of all my favorite games (many of which I've mentioned in this newsletter before): Binding of Isaac meets Hades meets Stardew Valley meets Forager.
I hear it's still a little buggy on Nintendo Switch, but I've been playing it on PS5 just fine, and I hear the PC version runs great. It's also available on Xbox. I think it's wonderful that it dropped on all platforms at the same time.
Excuse me while I return to indoctrinating new followers into my cult.
🍿 What to watch
As of the sending of this newsletter, I've seen 52 movies this year. Here's the best of the best from 2022 so far (in no particular order & links take you to trailers):
🌻 Some friend-ly advice
To wrap up this month's newsletter, here's a section written by my wife. Last time she was in the newsletter, she shared the plight of fur seals in Namibia. This time the topic hits a little closer to home:
Avi: I spend a lot of time thinking about friendships. Through my early adult life, I took pride in the fact I had a lot of friends, I nurtured relationships, and I kept fairly good tabs on people even as they floated in and out of close proximity. However, the pandemic changed all of that. Everything became isolated, insular, and cut off — and for the first time, I was unable to easily connect with the majority of my network. I still found myself thinking about friendships, but this time almost as an outsider looking in. I realized that many of my friendships were changing, but that in the midst of these "unprecedented times" it felt like there wasn't much I could do about it. So I did what any good student would do, and began to dive into some research.
In early 2021, I read the book Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, and while I liked how they worked together to repair their friendship (they notably attend therapy together to hash out issues in their relationship), the book definitely sticks to the perspective of one friendship. Recently though, I read this fantastic article in the Atlantic (It's your friends who break your heart), and I thought this did a great job of not only summing up why our friends are so important, and how modern life works to tear us all apart, but ultimately, how we can accept our friendship situations as they currently stand. I highly recommend giving it a read, it made me think about so many of my relationships in a new light.
End note
If you've enjoyed this, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.
I'll be sending out these emails once per month, and I'm happy you're along for the ride. I'm trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.
Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.
Thanks for reading. Until next time,
Dann
The Dann Chronicles: August 👙