Issue 18: Stan Swamy, Afganistan, Modular Type Scale, this and that

CRUELTY: The tribal rights activist 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy is no more. As The Hindu mentioned, 'A death that was simply allowed to happen¹’. It is a stain in the Indian democracy², as noted by UN Human Rights Expert. Julio Ribeiro mentions it as Blood in their (Our) hands³ and even appeals to his readers to contact Swedish Academy to consider Stan Swamy for Nobel Peace Prize. The timeline of Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad is available here⁴.

CODE: Github’s Copilot is criticized⁵ for using Open-source licensed codes⁶ to train the AI system. While some people claim that it’s not illegal⁷, there is no clarity yet. One thing for sure is that Github never respected⁸ licenses while training their Copilot.

POLITICS: The US is withdrawing from Afganistan, and that means only one thing. They lost the war after spending billions, similar to what happened in Vietnam⁹. Listen¹⁰ (in Malayalam) to Stanly Johny,¹¹ International Affairs Editor of The Hindu, and author of The ISIS Caliphate¹², discuss the same.

DESIGN: Anish Sheela¹³ shared a Slide¹⁴, that was supposed to be made in 2013 as an internal doc for Google, which they claim is the first step to Google's Digital Wellbeing initiative¹⁵. Interesting read.

TYPE: I tried experimenting with the Modular Type Scale¹⁶ for a personal project. It was interesting to find good articles explaining the concept¹⁷. Also, I found this tool¹⁸ and this Figma extension¹⁹ helpful.

EXTRA READS: Every design is a system²⁰ and Attention as Tetris Blocks²¹ 

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/a-death-foretold-on-activist-stan-swamys-death/article35179643.ece

2. https://thewire.in/rights/stan-swamys-death-india-human-rights-record-un-expert

3. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/blood-on-their-hands-280307

4. https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/bhima-koregaon-elgar-parishad-timeline-events-151798

5. https://analyticsindiamag.com/why-are-people-criticising-github-copilot/

6. twitter.com/mitsuhiko/status/1410886329924194309

7. https://juliareda.eu/2021/07/github-copilot-is-not-infringing-your-copyright/

8. https://cybre.space/@tindall/106539167944483388

9. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/09/is-biden-haunted-by-vietnam-should-he-be/

10. https://www.thecue.in/cue-talk-time/2021/07/10/american-war-in-afghan-possibilities-of-taliban-return-stanly-johny-explains

11. https://twitter.com/johnstanly

12. https://www.amazon.in/ISIS-Caliphate-Syria-Doorsteps-India/dp/9387471551/

13. https://github.com/anishsheela

14. http://www.minimizedistraction.com/

15. https://wellbeing.google/

16. https://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/how-to-establish-a-modular-typographic-scale--webdesign-14927

17. https://medium.com/sketch-app-sources/exploring-responsive-type-scales-cf1da541be54

18. https://type-scale.com/

19. https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/741231992144144738/Font-Scale

20. https://uxdesign.cc/every-design-is-a-system-28bb9bf028b7

21. https://walkintheforest.com/Garden/Attention+as+Tetris+Blocks