# C'mon, Work With Me Here!

![Cowtown rodeo](../images/666f03f2d94e.png)*I traveled down to Salem
County, New Jersey earlier this month to attend the [Cowtown
Rodeo](http://www.cowtownrodeo.com/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here).
The rodeo takes place 10 minutes from where I grew up, and is a perfect
slice of Americana tucked away where you'd least expect it.*\
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Lots of personal news this month:\
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**First, we're hiring at 99U!** I'm looking for an Associate Editor /
Staff Writer, someone to be one of the main voices on the site as we
double down on serving the creative community. The position is in NYC,
requires at least two years of real editing and writing experience, and
will be really, really fun with lots of chances to write and spearhead
editorial projects. Know someone that would be a good fit? Maybe it's
you? [Apply here. Mention this newsletter, and receive half
off](http://99u.com/articles/51609/99u-is-hiring-a-staff-writer-associate-editor?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here). \
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**I've [relaunched my personal
website](http://seanblanda.com?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here).** I
moved my site from WordPress to Jekyll and learned a ton about the
terminal, github, and CSS along the way. But that's another post for
another day.\
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**Lastly, I'm speaking at Adobe Max in LA on October 6th**. If you're
attending, be sure to say hello! Also: currently taking LA recs. \
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—\
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Summer is almost over, so let these links be your yellow sun. \
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**This week, there's one essay that has haunted me (in a good a way):
[Design Machines by Travis
Gertz](https://louderthanten.com/articles/story/design-machines?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here)**.
Gertz takes a look at the design trajectory of the web and notices that
we've A/B tested ourselves into a monolithic and terribly boring design
style. We need more revolutionary steps and less evolutionary steps.
Some of my favorite site designs of late?
[Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here),
[The Great
Discontent](https://thegreatdiscontent.com/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here),
and Jason Fried has convinced me of the design [virtues of The Drudge
Report](https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1407-why-the-drudge-report-is-one-of-the-best-designed-sites-on-the-web?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here).
Yes, really.\
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*Related: [What is up with all the third-party requests on news
sites](http://blog.lmorchard.com/2015/07/22/the-verge-web-sucks/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here)?
As a result, Instapaper/Tumblr's Marco Arment [wonders about the ethics
of blocking
ads](http://www.marco.org/2015/08/11/ad-blocking-ethics?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here).
Part me of thinks it is deplorable to deny someone their living by using
an ad blocker. But the other part of me thinks it's a way of forcing
revenue models to innovate. Then again, what is more annoying? Sponsored
content or a banner? Is all this even "progress"? What is the meaning of
this whole online editorial charade? \*Stares off into distance\**\
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**Most people I know would agree: the U.S. should raise its minimum
wage**. But when one company raised its minimum salary to \$70,000,
things...[didn't go so
well](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/business/a-company-copes-with-backlash-against-the-raise-that-roared.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here).
Choice quote: "Two of Mr. Price’s most valued employees quit, spurred in
part by their view that it was unfair to double the pay of some new
hires while the longest-serving staff members got small or no raises."\
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**Scandinavian** **politics corner: [There is a right-wing movement
sweeping the
area](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/26/scandinavia-far-right-stolen-left-ground-welfare?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here)**.
It may be time to update our view of the region as a socialist utopia.
The main issue here? Immigration. The migrant crisis is so bad that some
people [are sneaking in through the Arctic
Circle](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/29/syrian-refugees-europe-arctic-circle-russia-norway?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here). \
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**Planning an event is like a good Harry Potter book:** They both
contain some dark art, an obscene attention to detail, and both are
enhanced with a British Accent. A good party planner [can pull more than
\$20,000 an
event](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/your-money/party-planners-take-it-from-good-to-great-and-free-the-host-to-make-merry.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here).
A mediocre-but-forced Harry Potter reference call pull no money
whatsoever.  \
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A man's father passes away too soon. The father leaves him a series of
letters to read at appropriate moments in his life. This one will make
you [wonder about your own
legacy](https://medium.com/life-tips/when-i-m-gone-f1611ceb759f?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here). \
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**Argentina lost its middle class in its late-90s crisis. Greece is in
the process of losing its middle class.** The American middle class is
getting squeezed (or it's just election season, I can't tell). On our
obsession with the middle class: "When does the overall system that
supports middle-class democracy eventually end? Just why is it that only
the existence of a large complacent middle class represents both the
health and validity of a society? [We seem to equate middle-class
existence with existence
itself](http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/douglas-coupland-greece-and-the-curse-of-leisure?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here)."\
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**Programmer Markus "Notch" Persson​ sold Minecraft to Microsoft for \$2
billion in 2014**. On Twitter, he's being painfully honest about life
after a financial windfall. Turns out: [Where ever you go, there you
are](https://twitter.com/notch?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here).\
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Before you freak out how about who is polling high this election season,
remember: It's not even election season. Do yourself a favor and turn
off the news and don't worry about it until 2016. How do I know? Patrick
Ruffini takes a look at who was winning the polls at this point in time
in 2004, 2008, and 2012. [There's a reason we never had a President
Lieberman](https://medium.com/@PatrickRuffini/who-do-polls-say-will-win-the-gop-nomination-check-back-in-november-5d0d6689ac63?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here). \
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*Related: So next time you see someone posting about politics on
Facebook remember. Look at your calendar. Is it 2015? DO NOT ENGAGE. I
REPEAT: [DO NOT
ENGAGE](http://www.clickhole.com/article/drastic-times-man-never-makes-political-posts-face-1137?utm_campaign=default&utm_medium=ShareTools&utm_source=facebook).*\
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***Official newsletter flag (for now): Seychelles***\
![The flag of Seychelles](../images/3b1544ef6335.png)\
Seychelles is a small island east of Africa. It's one of the most
instantly recognizable of the world's flags. The green represents the
earth, the yellow represents the sun, and the blue, the sky. The two
bands in the middle represent the people and the white band represents
social justice. When waving in the wind, [it looks like the colors are
leaping from the
pole](https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3079/3207883023_b959efb68c_z.jpg?zz=1&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cmon-work-with-me-here).
And for that, it's among my favorites.\
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You know that happy feeling when you walk outside on a nice day and you
feel compelled to look at the sun and just bask it all in? That's how I
feel about you, dear subscriber. I'm glad you made it until the end.
Enjoy the final weeks of summer!\
— Sean\