Issue 23: The Silent Coup, Facebook Files, Schema Conf, this and that

BOOK TO-READ: Josy Joseph¹, one of the finest investigation journalists and author of the A Feast Of Vultures² — political non-fiction that talks about Indian business, government, and the muscle-money relation in Indian Politics, has come up with his next book, The Silent Coup³, that talks about political corruption, money laundering, and issues that are threats to democracy⁴. I got the book this morning, and that’s my only next-book-to-read / currently-reading for now!

BOOKS READ: Completed reading Vishnu M C’s Kaanthamalacharitham⁵. It’s a refreshing take⁶ on the fantasy-adventure genre, with a non-Wikipedia-model historical fiction narration. The first few chapters are not attractive (poorly written, to be fair), but later it gains attention, building tension and excitement for the reader. It’s a three-part series and the second part⁷ is also available. I read Neelachadayan⁸ by Akhil K, and that’s one of the finest short story collections in Malayalam I have read in recent times.

SOCIAL MEDIA: WSJ’s released a series of stories — Facebook Files⁹, that talks about the ‘known mental harm’ caused by Instagram on teenagers. The internal documents [PDF 1¹⁰] and [PDF 2¹¹] and other reports are examined and explained. Listen to WSJ The Journal¹² to know more.

EVENTS: Adobe Max 2021 is here¹³. And this time, it’s virtual and free. Also, Figma is coming with Schema Conference¹⁴; a single-day free event focused entirely on Design Systems.

KANNADA: Dunzo¹⁵ recently created a full-page¹⁶ advt that provides 101 to Kannada for non-Kannadigas in Bengaluru. Thoughtful and creative.

ADPLIST: ADPList¹⁷ introduced group mentoring events that anyone can register to, and topics are kidilam. Do check.

1. https://twitter.com/josyjosephkj

2. https://amzn.to/3uB1WDa

3. https://amzn.to/3im2aZZ

4. https://caravanmagazine.in/security/josy-joseph-on-narco-tests-and-the-bogus-industry-of-informants-in-the-indian-security-establishment

5. https://keralabookstore.com/book/kanthamalacharitham/17162/

6. https://www.mathrubhumi.com/books/book-reviews/kanthamala-charitham-novel-series-by-vishnu-mc-book-review-1.5848602

7. https://keralabookstore.com/book/%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%A8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%AE%E0%B4%B2%E0%B4%9A%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%82-%E0%B4%AD%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%97%E0%B4%82-2/17837/

8. https://keralabookstore.com/book/neelachadayan/15667/

9. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039

10. https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Instagram-Teen-Annotated-Research-Deck-1.pdf

11. https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Instagram-Teen-Annotated-Research-Deck-2.pdf

12. https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal/the-facebook-files-part-2-we-make-body-image-issues-worse/c2c4d7ba-f261-4343-8d18-d4de177cf973?mod=article_inline

13. https://max.adobe.com/asiapacific/

14. https://schema.figma.com/

15. https://www.dunzo.com/bangalore

16. https://www.afaqs.com/news/media/dunzo-creates-a-downloadable-kannada-starter-pack-after-print-ad-goes-live

17. https://adplist.org/