The Tremendous 10 link roundup, #109

1. Future of Privacy Forum” Shedding Light on Smart City Privacy | “Cities and communities generate data through a vast and growing network of connected technologies that power new and innovative services ranging from apps that can help drivers find parking spots to sensors that can improve water quality. Such services improve individual lives and make cities more efficient. While smart city technologies can raise privacy issues, sophisticated data privacy programs can mitigate these concerns while preserving the benefits of cities that are cleaner, faster, safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.” (A new project by Tremendousness)
2. Organizing things | “The world is full of things. How you organize them depends on what you want to do.”
3. John Coltrane Draws a Picture Illustrating the Mathematics of Music | “Physicist and saxophonist Stephon Alexander has argued in his many public lectures and his book The Jazz of Physics that Albert Einstein and John Coltrane had quite a lot in common. Alexander in particular draws our attention to the so-called “Coltrane circle,” which resembles what any musician will recognize as the “Circle of Fifths,” but incorporates Coltrane’s own innovations.”
4. Why Are America’s Tax Forms Still So Horribly Designed? | “The U.S. was awarded 35th place in one recent ranking of tax processes around the world. But worse than the forms themselves is the user experience.”
5. How We Write Proposals in My Design Studio | “As the head of a newish design studio, I spend a fair amount of time writing proposals. And here’s how I like to do it. I do it like a conversation, and that’s how we start: with phone calls and emails to one or two key decision makers, followed by a research period of about two to three weeks.”
6. Decoding The Symbols Of 1970s Gangs–And Their Business Cards | “Deciphering the symbols on the the cards traded by Chicago gangs in the ’70s and ’80s reveals parts of Chicago’s urban history.”
7. Google Doodles Archive | “In 1998, before the company was even incorporated, the concept of the doodle was born when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. They placed a stick figure drawing behind the 2nd “o” in the word, Google, and the revised logo was intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were “out of office.”. While the first doodle was relatively simple, the idea of decorating the company logo to celebrate notable events was born.”
8. How to Be a Good Teacher | “…teaching is far from being something that we only need to learn if we’re contemplating a career in education. Considered properly, teaching – by which we mean, the vital business of getting an important idea from one mind into another – is one of the most crucial life skills that any of us ever require.”
9. Closing Communities: FFFFOUND! vs MLKSHK | “Next month, two seminal image-sharing communities, FFFFOUND! and MLKSHK, will close their doors within a week of each other.”
10. Millennials really like St Louis | “In addition to the country’s highest murder rate, the city boasts a vibrant start-up scene.”

Image: diagram by John Coltrane, link #3.