Monday Links - 2022-01-24

Melatonin Isn’t a Sleeping Pill. Here’s How to Use It: An interesting rundown of melatonin and it’s uses, with links to some interesting looking jet lag calculators. When I was traveling regularly to LA or Europe or India, I basically figured out similar patterns. It looks like the calculators take the precision up a notch. Curious if folks find they work well.
The Agony of Parents With Kids Under 5: A colleague sent me this as we were talking about how weird the current COVID moment is - lots of people are ready to move on and live normally and leave the unvaccinated to their own outcomes. The challenge is that not everyone can get the vaccine, and in that reality lies a real public health dilemma - even if the kids will likely be ok, isolation, care, and other stresses put parents in a tough spot.
Neil Cybart’s Thread on Twitter: Another colleague and I were discussing Peloton’s recent stock slide and the state of their business. Both of us are fans of the company and owners of the Bike. Even then, it’s hard to deny that the company has missed a few things along the way. As one glaring example: they’ve done nothing in the app to capitalize on their strong community. It’s literally a bolt on. The most significant community activity happens on Facebook, Instagram, and elsewhere. Another glaring item - they claim they are a digital app company first, not an equipment selling company but… their apps are underwhelming compared to the bike. Lots of interesting ideas on planning workouts, leaning into social competitiveness or reinforcement, etc just aren’t there without the big touchscreen (and even with the equipment, in some cases). I am still a fan, but I do worry if they’re in trouble. Neil Cybart’s thread lays out some business reasons to worry.
J Is for Jim Crow - Typography and Racial Stereotypes: An interesting post and links highlighting a concept of “stereo-typography” - brushed fonts as “Asian” as an example. Be sure to click through to the main story and see the background on the creation of Ruby, a font that gives a new name and a new tweak to a typeface with a complicated history.
Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’: A little town of 1,253 in Alabama has built a “police empire” by milking passersby to the tune of $610,000 in 2020 alone. “‘Brookside is a poster child for policing for profit,’ said Carla Crowder, the director of Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, a nonprofit devoted to justice and equity.”