court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026i didn’t know this was a thing i cared about so much but in the last couple weeks i have become passionate about this lolol 💀 “piano lessons are expensive” trust meee i know; it’s why i don’t take them anymore. but my friend, if you can’t afford lessons, you can’t afford a hand injury. 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026i took 12+ years of piano lessons including at college, did a (non-major) senior recital and all of that, and frankly my technique probably isn’t good enough play la campanella without regular lessons with a good teacher. and EVEN THEN tbh i’m not sure a good teacher would say i’m ready for it 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026i fear these redditers also need a teacher just to KEEP THEM HUMBLE😭😭 cus what dafuq do you mean you’re self taught playing la campanella and it’s “overrated in difficulty” hahahahaha 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026totally ok to dabble on a piano here and there on your own, maybe teach yourself the basic basics for any prolonged period, though, technique becomes a physical safety issue you’ve reallllly gotta get a teacher who can evaluate and correct your technique if you’re going to be a pianist 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026i watched some videos recently of a (presumably self-taught) keyboardist, and the technique was super alarming in that he is almost certainly going to develop tendonitis/carpal tunnel/a long term hand injury sooner rather than later 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026you do want to be able to trill two fingers while the wrist is busy getting a different finger to elsewhere “finger independence” (control) comes from having good technique in the wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, the fingers themselves, and to some extent pretty much everything from the hips up 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026you DO want to be able to make a note played with your ring finger sound the same as a note played with your pinky in tone and dynamic. you do want to be able to play a chord and accent any note in the chord with whichever finger 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026when really, i think “finger independence” is about evenness and control. no good teacher (nor hanon) has ever instructed students to play a note with the ring finger, say, without activating a single other muscle in the hand/arm/body. 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026side 1 believes in training your fingers so all are of equal strength and able to operate independently side 2 says no, that’s not a thing, all your movements should come from the wrist and arm, therefore hanon exercises are bad for technique 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026also, on reddit and elsewhere, i keep seeing a strange debate pop up about the legitimacy of “finger independence” and whether or not hanon was a quack. i think some youtube piano teachers have kicked off a debate in which both sides just fundamentally misunderstand what they’re talking about? 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026the main issue is that they’re calling stuff easy that is NOT easy to do with good technique. being able to read the notes and rhythms of a piece is a lot different than being able to play them well, and when people don’t *realize* they can’t play well and have a massive superiority complex i just😔 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026the piano subreddit makes me wish i never learned how to read😭😭 being a piano snob and also self-taught is actually insane (and i’m not being snobby with the self-teaching dig. i have no qualms with it in principle except that the physical injury risk if you stick with it is actually huge) 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026ooh, would love to hear what you’ve found affinity does better! 100 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026The only problem I have run into is that it doesn’t play well with the Adobe suite, so if I have a freelance client who wants to be able to edit something themselves in Illustrator, I have to pay for the Adobe subscription for a month or two and do it there But besides that, I have had zero issues 000 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Yes so Canva acquired their parent company and I believe it’s a free 3-in-1 app now I bought it outright a couple years ago and I love it. I’ve mostly used Affinity Designer and Publisher, which are the Illustrator/InDesign alternatives, but have heard great things about Affinity Photo as well 100 0
Reposted by court coxInternet Archive @archive.org · 08/09/2026Much of BET’s digital journalism is no longer available on the live web. Internet Archive has preserved more than 199,000 BET articles over the years. They can now be accessed through the Wayback Machine & a new pilot explorer: wayback-labs.sf.archive.org/bet-explorer/ 4689299 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 16/08/2026profound new experience today of telling someone in new jersey where i’m from and then hearing that they once went on a mission trip there (kentucky) 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 08/08/2026accidentally matched with a jaw surgeon who just moved to Philly on a dating app, and he’s like, “I would travel for you,” and I’m thinkin OH HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED (I will not be dating him — not only bc he lives in Philly but also bc “performs jaw surgeries” is a personal dealbreaker of mine) 120 0
Reposted by court coxThe Pudding @pudding.cool · 05/08/2026Over 30,000 people have mowed our digital lawn so far, but only 16% found the perfect path. How close will you get to the optimal solution? Go ahead, touch grass. pudding.cool/2026/06/mow/ #dataviz #datascience #data 45716 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 02/08/2026when someone is mean to me, I just remind myself that I once had a surgery in which my jaw was broken, a metal jaw breaker device was inserted, and then a key was turned every day for WEEKS to break my jaw more and more. and I did it with minimal pain meds bc 11-yr-old me was afraid of addiction. 🤗 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 28/07/2026I wrote an overview of one of my favorite interactive maps — the Nullschool Earth Map — for Bellingcat’s Online Investigation Toolkit. bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...bellingcat.gitbook.ioNullschool Earth Map | Bellingcat's Online Investigation ToolkitView current and historic wind, weather, ocean and pollution conditions on an interactive animated map. 011 0
Reposted by court coxAccessibility Awareness @a11yawareness.bsky.social · 25/07/2026If possible, use "direct labeling" in your data visualizations and charts. This means positioning the labels directly beside or adjacent to the data points. This is better than color coding your charts, as your information would likely be lost to someone who can’t see color. 061 0
Reposted by court coxThe Upshot @upshot.nytimes.com · 25/07/2026www.nytimes.com/interactive/...nytimes.comHow Trump Is Getting Richer in Office (Gift Article)See how President Trump and his family’s business empire has transformed from his first term. 1118 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 25/07/2026very cozy day writing a web scraping guide + making soup :’) cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027...cooking.nytimes.comSlow Cooker Creamy Tomato Lentil Soup 160 0
Reposted by court coxBen Werdmuller @werd.io · 25/07/2026"Data collectives and cooperatives, which let creators control the collection and distribution of their data, are emerging as preferred alternatives to big tech companies." werd.io/can-data-col...werd.ioCan data collectives help strengthen vulnerable cultures in the face of AI?"Data collectives and cooperatives, which let creators control the collection and distribution of their data, are emerging as preferred alternatives to big tech companies." 0127 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 25/07/2026obsessed with the social connectedness indicator map! social-connectedness.orgsocial-connectedness.orgSocial Connectedness IndexExplore and map Facebook's Social Connectedness Index — the relative likelihood of friendship between places. 000 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 23/07/2026a simple lil thing I increasingly like about myself is when I have a problem, I fix it 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 13/07/2026being the object of someone’s limerence is arguably worse than plain ol abject objectification 000 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 13/07/2026being from somewhere where no one gives a damn where you went to school unless you’re bantering about sports: the coastal elite obsession with college admissions always feels sooooo comically frivolous to me. up to a point, I do understand why it matters, but I just.. can’t.. take it seriously 😩 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 09/07/2026interactive biomass map + story is SO good!! a-hidden-infrastructure.spun.earth/story/a-hidd...a-hidden-infrastructure.spun.earthA hidden infrastructure — SPUNStep through the story: A hidden infrastructure — an interactive exploration of Earth’s underground fungal networks. 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 08/07/2026really sick of targeted glp-1 ads. i like my body, i’m not overweight, and it’s like these ads are TRYING to make me insecure. good lord it’s almost as bad as the “sell us your eggs” ads i get around every digital corner😩 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 08/07/2026google earth pro will no longer be available for new downloads after june 25, 2027 :( support.google.com/earth/thread...support.google.comUpdate on Google Earth Pro desktop app downloads - Google Earth Community 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 04/07/2026traditionally that’s easter but be the change you want to see in the world 000 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 04/07/2026So cool!! Thanks for sharing the process! Love that you’re using GIMP, too! I loveee space and graphics, so you’ve brought some joy to my day <3 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 02/07/2026plus the extreme heat + world cup while i’m hosting my grandma and cousin for their first time in nyc this weekend hahahahaha (this isn’t a complaint; i am so filled with with gratitude that they decided to visit) 010 0
Reposted by court coxB.J. Gunts @bjgunts.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Things I love about America, in no particular order: Baseball Drive thru restaurants Peanut butter Road trips HBO Football Mel Brooks Fried chicken Air conditioning Investigative journalism College sports 042 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 02/07/2026seeing my first ever broadway show tomorrow — and it’s hamilton on the weekend of america 250!?!?!? so excited so excited so excited 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 02/07/2026this is stunning — thank you for sharing. i’m not very knowledgeable about this. i would love to learn what goes into image processing/what that means in this context. 110 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 29/06/2026[necessary social media note: I’m not an editor; please do not pitch me your book or ask me for advice on getting into publishing] 010 0
court cox @mapcourt.bsky.social · 29/06/2026feeling much gratitude to work for a company (Penguin Random House) that lives out its values + prioritizes wellbeing <3 I had a rough experience with something, and the support and empathy I got from HR solidified for me that I love where I work. how rare and sweet it is to be able to say that 110 0
Reposted by court coxThe New York Times @nytimes.com · 20/06/2026The Trump administration’s decision this week to put Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of special education programs has sparked backlash from advocates for students with disabilities, who say the move will hurt children and that his views on autism make him unfit for the job.nyti.msDisability Groups Fear RFK Jr.’s New Special Education RoleAlienated by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claims about autism, advocates for disabled students are sounding the alarm about the Trump administration's shifting special education programs to his department. 3428283 0