You should read - Apr 15

Links collected over this past week, maybe fewer than usual. Taking a break from World War Three and Our Putsch, this time, at least. But those things are still out there.

Collected Ephemera

• How the Finnish survive without small talk (BBC)
  It's likely that my affinity for Finland and Finns is in no small part due to our shared distaste for small talk.
• Dell trials 4-day workweek in Netherlands as massive UK pilot starts (The Register)
• Tech leaders are delusional if they think Web3 will give power back to the people (Scott Galloway, CNN)
• The military wants ‘robot ships’ to replace sailors in battle (Washington Post, paywalled)
• Here’s How to Buy Citizenship in Another Country (Fodors)
• Minimum Viable Process (The Overlap)
• Mergers Ruin Everything (Matt Stoller)
• I Vow to Save Everyone? (Lion's Roar)
• The History of Star Wars Posters (Film School Rejects)

#@$% the Police

A friend shared the first two articles below which lead to a vigorous and enlightening discussion between us about the purpose of police, police reform, police unions, etc., etc. Hot topic for me, "even" in a suburban California town. We've had multiple police shootings in the surrounding area. More than 50% of some local government budgets are taken up by the police. In my own town, a single recent coordinated smash-and-grab robbery earlier this year resulted in a rush to add $5 million to the police budget. And in NYC, the knee-jerk response to the recent subway shooting was to add a flood of additional transit police—despite the existing 3,500 transit police failing to neither prevent or disrupt the attack nor apprehend the suspect at the scene.

For so many societal problems, "more police" is almost always the answer. But, "more police" is hardly ever the solution.

• Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police (New York Times, paywalled)
  A good history of the repeated and predictable failed attempts to reform police in America, along with a couple of positive examples of starting over from scratch.
• The Deep Roots—and New Offshoots—of ‘Abolish the Police’ (Politico)
  Excellent survey of the range of implied plans behind "Defund the Police"
• How Do the Police Actually Spend Their Time? (New York Times, paywalled)
• While Crime Fell, the Cost of Cops Soared (Bloomberg)
• California cities spent huge share of federal Covid relief funds on police (The Guardian)
• Buffalo, N.Y., police officers cleared of wrongdoing after shoving elderly man to ground at protest (CBC)