Manifold Garden, Twitter Shenanigans, and Weird Viruses - Dec 2022

Howdy world and Happy Holidays!

Here is your monthly dose of The Curious Connector, a quick list of what I'm exploring and enjoying.

An 'Impossible physics' video game🎮

Manifold Garden - My Nintendo Switch is a bit neglected, so I was pleasantly surprised when I tried out Manifold Garden recently and loved the puzzle game dynamics. It's like a delightful hybrid of the Portal video game and an M.C. Escher drawing. Words really don't do this game justice (how do you describe the fun disorientation of falling through infinite recursion?) but this article/interview does provide a nice overview and the game's website has a good trailer and more info.

10/10 would recommend 👍

Funny analysis of Twitter shenanigans I'm reading 🐤

The Max Read newsletter, specifically What does Elon Musk think Twitter is? and Two questions for Twitter's future. In recent months I've just skimmed headlines to stay socially-conversant on what is happening with/to Twitter, but Read's writing is great info-tainment and worth checking out for lines like:

• “the official voice of Twitter is now ‘Estonian phishing email.’ (when describing the bizarre internal messages Elon sent shortly after taking over Twitter)
• "Put another way, the rest of Twitter will go like the whole verification episode did: it’ll be stupid and annoying for a while, then chaotic, then pretty funny, and then, at the end of the process, basically the same as before, but slightly worse"

Business concept I'm recognizing more these days 💼

The Experience Economy - this is a concept we've been focusing on more at Emergent Software to articulate how/why our approach to technology services is distinct from more commoditized offerings. A classic example used to illustrate this concept is coffee (see image), and a spectrum from commodities, to experiences.

It has been one of those concepts that I see more and more because it is top of mind. For example, I've gone to a few Timberwolves games recently and been impressed with the experience that they orchestrate. From the basketball game itself, to the synced lights/music, to the various performers, to the phone-based food/bev ordering and in-seat delivery. There is a lot going on! (side note: Emergent has Timberwolves season tickets so shoot me a message if you want to check out a game - it's a great place for a conversation of software/data/cloud opportunities)

To dive deeper, check out this HBR webinar on The Experience Economy and let me know where you see this concept in your...experience 😏

Music I'm listening to 📯

Christmas Jazz - This Spotify playlist has been great for listening to at work, while driving, and just around the house for the holidays.

Viruses I'm surviving and learning more about 💰

Covid recently made its unwelcome way through my house and got me realizing that I still don't really understand viruses. And after some light internet exploration: it turns out viruses are weird, and much more pervasive than we typically think they are!

"Biologists estimate that 380 trillion viruses are living on and inside your body right now—10 times the number of bacteria. Some can cause illness, but many simply coexist with you."

This surprising stat came from the article Viruses Can Help Us As Well as Harm Us. And for a slightly cringy (lots of young YouTuber antics) video overview of why viruses are weird, check out this funny gem that I came across.

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Thanks for reading! Please comment/share to let me know what resonates with you. And if you need one last gift for the holidays, you can print out a few recent editions of this newsletter and gift wrap them 🎁😏

Tom 👋

Read/search the archive of The Curious Connector on Substack.