Drawing Connections Slowly, Then All At Once
The Modern Web is optimized by and for algorithms, not people. I want to bring back old-school randomness once a week.
One of the most exciting things about the Internet is how it allows individuals the immense privilege of learning from other people’s enthusiasms — either directly, or via curation and recommendation. It’s what made personal websites exciting, it’s what fueled blogging, and it’s why old-school Twitter was riveting.
… as opposed to now.
In my own small effort to offset the curiosity-smothering effects of The Engagement Algorithms and The SEO Algorithms, I’ve been posting three daily reads over on Bluesky (@lschmeiser.bsky.social), with the motivation that hey, I thought these articles were informative and each of them is a facet in a larger story, and maybe you’d like to read them too.
It hit me that I’ve got this Substack I’m not publishing as much as I’d like, but maybe a newsletter is a good medium for providing a round-up. Email is an innately archival medium, what I’m doing might be even more useful when archived, why not try it?
So here we are. I’ll play with the format a bit — you can leave comments and suggestions — but here are the weekdaily reads, first shared on Bluesky, for the week of October 9-13, 2023.
Monday, October 9 — 3 reads for a business-casual week
“How Loro Piana Became Silicon Valley’s Favorite Flex,” New York Magazine
Money quote: “With the buzz comes a paradox: Thanks to the extra visibility, Loro Piana risks undermining the very value proposition that has endeared it to its deep-pocketed clientele: its quiet cachet.”
“The Row's Beige Ambition,” TheCut.com
Money quote: “It is crafted just so, cut just so. It is not original and doesn’t pretend to originality. It is chic in the excellent, unfaultably appropriate way that reminds you that true chic may be the apotheosis of boring.”
“Inflation Makes Us All Want to Dress Like the 1%,” Bloomberg via WaPo Gift Headline
Money quote: “It’s time to consider the pencil skirt and blazer as alternative economic indicators, alongside surging lipstick sales and longer hemlines.”
Tuesday, October 10 — 3 RIP-Twitter reads for Tuesday
“So Long, Twitter -- I'm Outta There,” Drezner’s World
Money quote: “At this point, however, even tweeting out my Substack links feels like it aids and abets a social media site that subtracts considerably from the human experience.”
“The Israel-Hamas War Is Drowning X in Disinformation,” Wired
Money quote: “The scale and speed at which disinformation was being seeded about the Israel-Hamas conflict is unprecedented—particularly on X.”
“How the attacks in Israel are changing Threads,” Platformer
Money quote: “Judging from the conversations on Bluesky and Threads this weekend, X’s lack of usability during the crisis sparked a fresh reckoning with a new set of former diehards.”
Wednesday, October 11 — 3 watery reads for Wednesday
“How a Yurok lawyer from Oregon led her tribe's fight over Klamath Basin's future, and past,” (High Country News)
Money quote: “An Indian attorney has a better understanding of why a tribe might want to litigate or negotiate.”
“‘No fish means no food’: how Yurok women are fighting for their tribe’s nutritional health,” The Guardian
Money quote: “Yurok women, traditionally their tribe’s food providers, bear the brunt of the food and health crisis while leading the fight for cultural preservation.”
“The largest dam removal in history stirs hopes of restoring California tribes’ way of life,” The Los Angeles Times
Money quote: “The mass fish kill of 2002 became a defining event for a generation of young Native activists — a moment that showed the river ecosystem was gravely ill.”
Bonus Link #1: On a related note: I've rafted the upper Klamath (shout-out to Satan's Gate!) & I get that removing the dam is going to affect whitewater prospects in Oregon and California, but a few thrills <<<<<< healthy rivers for all living creatures.
Bonus Link #2: A few years ago, we had the tremendous privilege of spending a morning on the river in a traditional dugout redwood canoe, courtesy of the Yurok nation and the tours they run. Truly, a remarkable experience, highly recommend when you're in Del Norte county.
Thursday, October 12 — 3 fraudacious reads for Thursday
“That’s What I Call Ponzinomics,” The Intelligencer
Money quote: “I asked one coder if crypto would ever be helpful for regular people. “Why is it that you think that is important?” he said to me, in total sincerity.”
“Michael Lewis Is Buying What Sam Bankman-Fried Is Selling,” The Atlantic Monthly
Money quote: “Many anecdotes appear designed to present Bankman-Fried as a special star-child, but I think make him sound like a prick.”
“Michael Lewis’ Front-Row Seat at the Sh*t Show,” Slate
Money quote: “Lewis had unparalleled access to Bankman-Fried, including during his companies’ dramatic downfall last year. The result ... is a dissonant hagiography of the world’s most boring second-tier villain.”
Friday, October 13 — 3 insider coverage reads for Friday
“The insider: how Michael Lewis got a backstage pass for the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried,” The Guardian
Money quote: “Lewis’s family sat at the very top of the Wasp aristocracy in New Orleans. “I was so inside,” he told me. “I was literally trained how to sit on a throne when I was 15 years old, because I was crowned the king of the carnival ball.”
“The Journalist and the Billionaire, “ Intelligencer
Money quote: “‘Thirty years ago,’ says Kelly, “there was a powerful room of magazine editors and network anchors, and that’s Walter. He is one of the emperors in that room. That room is destroyed.’”
“Martin Baron recounts leading The Washington Post during the Trump era,” Washington Post (gift link)
Money quote: “I also had grown weary of well-meaning but moralistic young journalists — and their forever enabling union — lecturing me on best management practices.”
Plus … Bonus Media Clip Every Journalist Should Have Committed to Heart, courtesy of The Paper:
Money quote: “The people we cover, we move in their world, but it is THEIR world. You can’t live like that.”
See you back here next week! — Lisa
Lisa this is perfect - just like twitter used to be. Thank you so much!