Speaking at

re:develop 2018. Actual speaking, out loud, in front of 150+ people, about Wu-Tang. Living the dream.

Not often you attend at developer conference and someone does a presentation on team management, drawing parallels to the Wu-Tang Clan… brilliant though! #redev18 pic.twitter.com/bbSx13ijeK

— (@YappyYapps) October 12, 2018

There were 8 other talks too; plenty of takeaways and food for thought, which I’ll try to return to at some point. Apparently there’ll be videos of the talks soonish, and there’s a bit of chat on #redev18 twitter that you can catch up with, but until then, trust me that it was a really enjoyable day.

I’d love to take my talk on the road, so if you’re seeing this and wondering “what can you learn about teamwork from the Wu-Tang Clan?” then say hello and/or tell your friendly local conference organisers that there’s a presentation which talks about literally that.

Listening to

99% Invisible 321: Double Standards. I’d never heard of blepharoplasty before. “Double eyelid surgery”.

In 2017 alone over 12,500 Asian Americans had double eyelid surgery, and given the racist history behind the procedure, it makes sense that some people in the U.S. are vocally critical about it … but it’s more complicated than that.

There’s a whole thing about plastic surgery in South Korea, and some history of Japan and the Meiji Restoration, as well as a detour to chat about anaplastology and portrait masks after the First World War. It’s a typical great 99PI episode.

Dad Bod Rap Pod 13: White Guilt / Rappers We Love to Hate. I’ve been dipping into this podcast occasionally, but I’m now fairly sure I’m a fan. This, and the Black Star episode, are the ones that have eventually won me over after not being too fussed to begin with, and they’re up to episode 40 I think now, so plenty to catch up on. The 3 hosts are pretty much my age, and came up listening to pretty much the same stuff I did, so the chat is uber relatable to me. If you’re after a podcast that sprinkles in all sorts of references from the 90’s / 2000’s hip hop world, this is it.