Links I’d share in private #30

Welcome to another edition of Links I’d share in private, a (bi-)weekly blog post about all the things and content I come across the Internet during my intense web binging, worthy of being shared to you all (instead of in all of my private group chats 🤣).

Montreal Spring!

Spring is in full bloom here in Montreal, and honestly? I can feel that energy just coursing through my veins! Between a fresh new haircut in April that gave me a serious confidence boost, a whole bunch of incredible theater shows that left me absolutely mesmerized, and constantly catching up with my friends – life has been beautifully chaotic.

But here I am again, facing my annual academic existential crisis. You know the drill – should I go back to school or not? This time though, there’s a twist: I found this program that’s entirely online in my field. It’s been gnawing at me for months now, that little voice in the back of my head asking “What if…?” Will I finally take the plunge and commit? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine at this point!

On a completely different note – how the hell are we already at the end of May?! Time is just flying by at warp speed, and I’m not sure if I love it or if it’s giving me mild anxiety. Next thing I know, my July vacation will be knocking at my door, and something tells me it’s going to sneak up on me faster than I think.

I’m already daydreaming about those lazy afternoons – me, a good book, the hot Montreal sun beating down while I’m lounging by the pool in my backyard. Pure. Bliss. Can’t freaking wait!

Now, to find the motivation to go outside on this gloomy rainy day, and pot in the ground all those plants I receive this morning from our wonderful borough…

Now on with the Links I’d share in private part!

Keywords: This week’s Links I’d share in private touches on various topics, including: Holocaust survivors and testimonies, Black Panther movement history, Cultural norms and “selling out”, Parenting & Personal Growth, Visual Arts & Photography, lots of Music Discovery, CSS techniques and methodologies, Accessibility (European Accessibility Act), CSS-based hacks, Home design inspiration, Video series recommendations (PBS Joyride)

Please feel free to follow me on my social medias’ presences to stay up-to-date with my writings and witty commentary on anything the world throws to our faces! See my sidebar for a link to all my social medias accounts.

TO READ

• This Is the Holocaust Story I Said I Wouldn’t Write: There are fewer than 200,000 Holocaust survivors left to tell their stories. Now more than ever, it’s important to keep their testimonies in mind with everything happening in the world. These voices, fading with time, remain our most powerful defense against historical revisionism.
• Why Are All the Smart People So Bad at History?: An important article about how most intellectual folks with public platforms often have glaring gaps in their knowledge of History, and how this shows in their opinions on everything in our societies. As someone who studied history at university, I feel this frustration deeply. The disconnect between intellectual status and historical literacy continues to shape public discourse in concerning ways.
• Happiness in parenthood
• Blogroll: parenthood, writing for personal growth: Reading these last two blog posts on parenthood is just cathartic! I’m not alone in feeling that the 0-5 years can be absolute hell, and it’s reassuring to see that other parents find it difficult too. The raw honesty of these writers cuts through the Instagram-perfect vision of parenting we’re often sold and offers something much more valuable—authenticity and solidarity in the struggle.
• Your email can make someone happy: I started sending my replies for blog posts by email to some of the bloggers that only have ‘reply by email’ on their blog, and…I like it. It creates an immediate sense of closeness with the writers I read, and if my comments can make someone smile…even better! There’s something beautifully human and intimate about this return to direct communication in our algorithm-driven world.
• I’ve been reevaluating my usage of my smartphone a lot in these last few months, and this article Smartphone Pervasiveness voiced it so well: “Or should that be invasiveness? Persuasiveness? It’s no longer a distraction, it’s an addiction, it’s everywhere, and its aggressive promotion and passive acceptance is driving me crazy.”
• That Coveted Window Spot: a little ode to the concept of having a favorite bookstore. Mine is Paragraph on McGill College, which has such an interesting selection of academic/non-fiction/history books from all the periods that I like to read about.
• Holocaust survivors: “The most difficult thing for me is to say: I love you”: a very sobering look into Holocaust survivors’ stories, the last surviving ones still alive to tell their story.
• RADICAL CHANGE ISN’T FREE: an article writing about the childrens’ lives as Black Panther’s children, as told in their words.
• The Age of the Double Sell-Out: Whether we like it or not, culture operates on norms, and changes in norms have consequences. The old norm was “don’t sell out.” The new norm is “do sell-out,” or maybe more charitably, “don’t judge people on selling out.”
• Everyone I know is worried about work: yup! everyone I know worries a lot about the work market, the recession that is here, and the state of the world.

TO SEE

• The World Press Photo contest has released its winners for 2025, and it’s simply amazing! Beautiful photos categorized by continent.

TO FOLLOW

• Joyride: wonderful video series by PBS to follow, where young folks ride bike across town with an older folk as a guest, revisiting parts of the city where they share their story. It’s wonderful to see the first episode, “A 95-Year-Old Returns to his Most Beloved Place”

TO HEAR

• Another boogie groovy playlist to listen on a sunday afternoon in your backyard

• Logic1000 album, Mother, an Australian electronic musician and DJ based in Berlin

• I’ve discovered thsi artist, Beach Bunny, on Bandcamp, and their latest album, Tunnel Vision, is such a fun rock beat to listen to

• This one is mesmerizing. Demilitarize, by Nazar, is such a mood. Ephereal, distant vibe to disconnect from reality, it’s perfect

• This jazzy smooth album by Sault, 10, is simply aerial and vibey

RECIPES

• Yummy Red Lentil Soup

DESIGN

• Italian house design have a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that is sooooo appealing and relaxing, namely the Sicilian and Amalfi coast. I need to go in vacation there!

• These Are the 10 Most Daring Kitchen Cabinet Colors I’ve Ever Seen: these beautiful colors schemes for kitchen redos are simply amazing!

• the RETRO-FUTURISTIC universe of ‘SEVERANCE’

• Rhymer’s Schemes: beautiful article showing off the design of a beautiful house with lots of history. Anne Spencer was many things – Harlem Renaissance poet, civil-rights activist, gardener. She was also a singular decorator, well versed in using salvage, busy wallpaper and even her own lyrical stanzas painted on cabinets to brighten the Virginia home her husband had built in 1903 for their family (and, often, friends). Now a museum, it stands as an ode to this remarkable woman’s work.
• STRANDLUMMER: I sooooooo want this bed sheets set! So pretty and colourful!

CYBERSECURITY & INFOSEC

• Fontleak: exfiltrating text using CSS and Ligatures: I love when I read about hack done by CSS!

WEB & TECH

• Mixing colors with CSS
• Free Icons 65,000+ (SVG) in Figma file, categorized by brand: FontAwesome, Apple, Material, Bootstrap, etc
• The case for Answer Optimization vs SEO, AIO, GEO, will you join me: interesting opinion piece that basically says: go answer your users questions where they are on the Web
• What It Means to Shift Left on Accessibility and How to Do It Right: Shifting left on accessibility means integrating inclusive design from the earliest project stages—not as an afterthought—saving time, reducing costs, and creating better experiences for all users. As a web developer & now project manager, I find this approach not only ethical but also economically sensible. Accessibility isn’t just a checkbox; it’s a strategy to reach more people with our work.
• The Dependables: now that I’ve “retired” as a web developer in my paying job, that is ONE thing I am so glad I don’t have to deal with anymore: the fucking dependencies in a web project 🫠
• A fluid CSS methodology
• The European Accessibility Act: what businesses and app developers need to know: a TL:DR; article on what’s coming up for the European Accessibility legislation, and how to prepare for it