Weekly Download 15.20

Here’s a recap of news and notes from around the Web that caught my attention over the past week or so.

Gene Amdahl, Pioneer of Mainframe Computing, Dies at 92 pays tribute to the “father” of the IBM System/360 line of mainframes. My early career started in large mainframe environment, which was my first significant exposure to technology. In fact, the name of this blog “ZMAB15” represents my first username in the work environment, for a VM Machine running on an IBM System/360 mainframe.

Attention, Addiction, and Technology delves into what happens when we give technology too much importance and lose harmony and balance as a result.

“We have become so obsessed with technology — particularly in its digital form — we have forgotten the primacy of purpose, the importance of compassionate action taken with flesh and bone. Instead, we seem to seek only distraction from the challenges (and yes, the ugliness) of the real world, and to embrace instead a virtual world where we are queens and kings and constantly pleasured.”

I Don’t Own, I Uber provides one individual’s comparison of the costs of owning a car vs. using Uber as your primary transportation. My two millennial daughters interested in big city living intuitively understand the convenience of not owning a car. I, too, lived in Chicago for seven years before purchasing a car. I believe this shifting model is here to stay. What other large purchase items, which are frequently viewed as a right of passage, might be better to rent rather than own?

This article’s title speaks for itself: 7 Drawings to make you feel better.