This week's Weekstarter comes from İzmir, where I'm in my second and final week for some work. It has all your usual updates, one of my favorite Soundgarden song, and more. https://ahmetasabanci.com/caring-too-much-weekstarter-49-2025/

I’m not the kind of person who likes having big takes about small things but the fact that only store left in the SAW where you can get books/mags/newspaper being at the international departure side definitely says something about Turkish people.

teachers are junkies. "teacher" is an oppressive class, like Albanian people or Millennial people.

Kaç zamandır Türkiye’de medya adına katıldığım en verimli ve keyifli etkinliklerden birisiydi. Panelist olarak bunun bir parçası olmak da ayrıca güzeldi. Devamı nasıl gelecek merakla bekliyorum.

After the last week's unexpected break Weekstarter is back again with the usual updates, recommendations and why we should be careful about focusing too much on hype and letting doom get away. https://ahmetasabanci.com/dont-take-the-black-mirror-pill-weekstarter-47-2025/

After the last week's unexpected break Weekstarter is back again with the usual updates, recommendations and why we should be careful about focusing too much on hype and letting doom get away. https://ahmetasabanci.com/dont-take-the-black-mirror-pill-weekstarter-47-2025/

Yani ülkedeki barınma ve konut sorunu öyle bir noktaya geldi ki sırf makul fiyatlı olduğu için en büyüğü 80 metrekare olan evlere bile bu seviyede bir talep var.

Radyonuzu açın! 30. yaşımızı, 11-14 Kasım tarihleri arasında müstesna konuklar, dostlarımız ve dinleyicilerimizle 4 gün, 4 sabah, 4 saat sürecek özel bir yayınla kutluyoruz. 🔗 apacikradyo.com.tr

This week started busier than expected so Weekstarter comes a little late with me talking about the balance between travel mode and hermit mode, giving you the latest updates from my side and more. https://ahmetasabanci.com/balance-between-travel-and-hermit-modes-weekstarter-45-2025/

The new Dirty Knobs album SCORCHER is out now: zacbentz.bandcamp.com/album/scorcher You can watch the video playlists in both horizontal and vertical formats on Youtube: H: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbuF... V: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi4q... Please leave a comment if you like what you hear. 1/4

I don’t know how to feel about this.

‘Most scammers have themselves been scammed. The tens of thousands of Chinese, Ethiopians, Ugandans, Filipinos, Pakistanis and others who carry out the grunt work have been tricked, kidnapped and enslaved.’ @alexclapp.bsky.social on the vast cybercrime economy. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

“The gap between the eager-beaver simpering of the pitches and the spiky prose of his newsletter is laughable. There’s so much space between “these guys rock” and “these chunderfucks” that I think Meta just built a data center there.” www.wired.com/story/ai-pr-...

This week starts with a conversation about how doing something so long can make you feel stuck, usual updates, links, and a Alfa Mist song. https://ahmetasabanci.com/afraid-of-getting-stuck-weekstarter-44-2025/

📬 Ekim 2018’de başlayan ve 352 sayıyı bulan @newslabturkey.bsky.social n okuyoruz| bülteninin bildiğiniz formattaki son sayısıyla karşınızdayım. Haftalık formattaki son sayıda da geride bıraktığımız yedi yıl ve değişimin arka planı üzerine biraz konuştum. open.substack.com/pub/newslabt...

Pro-opposition TV network Tele1 has been placed under state management following the arrest of its editor-in-chief in an espionage investigation. The channel’s broadcast was cut off while on air after trustees arrived. bianet.org/haber/truste...

Gazeteci Merdan Yanardağ yönetiminde 8 yıldır yayın yapan TELE1 kanalının yayını kayyım olarak atanan Yeni Şafak gazetesi yazarı İbrahim Paşalı tarafından durduruldu bianet.org/haber/tele-1...

For me, following US news is no different than watching a US remake of a TV series I’ve been watching for years. And it’s not just the Trump and Republicans part.

Labour in Turkey is becoming expensive and scarce. Mass production may have to become a thing of the past, replaced by a focus on branding, design, fast delivery and niche products

Umarım sağlık sorunları geri dönmez de bu sene doya doya izleriz.

📬 n okuyoruz| bültenimiz yayında! 📝 Bu haftanın odağında gazeteciliğin YZ karşısındaki konumu var. 📌 “Ne Okuduk” bölümünde Pentagon’un gazetecilerle kavgası, Spotify–Netflix ortaklığı, Politico’nun SMS deneyleri ve dahası var. 🤖 @ahmetasabanci.com hazırladı. www.newslabturkey.org/2025/10/20/g...

I have no idea what kind of a list my email address is ended up but last week it was subscribed to a pro-Trump mailing list and today someone tries to create an account on one of those “let’s gamble on everything” websites.

This week started with a discussion about why you should focus on inspiring things, a classic Gojira song, usual updates, quotes and a mini rant about bureaucracy.

This week started with a discussion about why you should focus on inspiring things, a classic Gojira song, usual updates, quotes and a mini rant about bureaucracy.

SWHFTT‼️‼️SUNDAY‼️‼️ 74. Cat Guardian!

Fun fact: there are 83 players on rosters that were born AFTER LeBron James made his NBA debut on Oct 29, 2003.

Botun iddiasına bir cevap verecek misin @agunzagun.com?

I’m available if you need a philosophy grad.

You might remember, I spent late August bank holiday in a junk yard. We were there to shoot a music video for my band which turned out total dad-core, and I love it.

Either someone wants to troll me or they’re buying random email lists from somewhere.

This week starts a bit late but has all the usual news from me, a really good song from Gorillaz, and tells you why you should embrace the weirdness of the world. https://ahmetasabanci.com/embrace-the-weird-weekstarter-42-2025/

📬 n okuyoruz| bültenimiz yayında Bu hafta @ahmetasabanci.com, influencer çağının siyaseti nasıl dönüştürdüğünü inceliyor. 💬 "Artık yalnızca popüler kültür değil, politik gündem de influencerların etkisi altında." 👉 Bülteni okumak için: www.newslabturkey.org/2025/10/13/i...

📬 Sosyal medya platformlarıyla birlikte hayatımıza giren influencerlar artık popüler kültürün en güçlü aktörlerinden birisi. Bu hafta @newslabturkey.bsky.social n okuyoruz| bültenin odağında da bu gücün özellikle siyaset dünyasını nasıl etkilediğini ve nasıl bir dönüşümü getirdiğini inceledim.

*People don't actually like truth all that much, even scientists and philosophers find truth kind of annoying *When your pet beautiful theory is slain by some ugly fact, you don't jump up and down exulting, "yay, triumph of Truth"

Incredible Thread.

When did I get old enough to someone gave me their seat in the public transport and call me “uncle”, and why didn’t anyone warn me about that?

Bu yazı dizisi, “kuyu tipi” olarak adlandırılan yeni cezaevi modelinin izini sürüyor. Yarınki ilk bölümde, AKP yöneticilerinden spor kulübü başkanlarına, Mehmet Ali Ağca’nın hücre arkadaşına kadar uzanan ihale zinciri var.

📢 16 Ekimde İstanbul’da gazeteciler ve sivil toplum için yarım günlük bir üretken yapay zeka atölyesi vereceğim. Detaylar ve başvuru formu: www.article19.org/tr/resour…

Interesting Obsidian theme roundup:

Since I don’t have time to run my own POSSE setup and Wordpress social notes still have some rough edges, I’m giving micro.blog a spin to see how it’ll work for me. (Image is just for test, not related to the post.)

Last week didn't start because of health problems so this week starts with a long backlog and some questions about productivity systems in a messy world.

📬 Yeni Bülten Yayında! Bu hafta @ahmetasabanci.com, sosyal medyanın televizyonlaşma evresine girişini ve internette sosyalleşmenin kendine nasıl yeni alanlar aradığını ele alıyor. 🎬💭 www.newslabturkey.org/2025/10/06/s...

“They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

I’m always looking out for an excuse to talk about HST but I wasn't prepared for this headline. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

Pro-tips from someone who lives in a country with stupid tariffs and taxes: - Always keep a “buy when you’re abroad” list - Make sure you travel with extra luggage space - Coordinate with your friends who travels abroad regularly

bakın bu bir dramdır

5.0 earthquake happened in Marmara region of Turkey about 30 minutes ago and there are zero posts about it on my Mastodon and Bluesky feeds. I think it definitely says something about how the “future of social internet” is going.

The same prompt with a state-of-the-art image model in 2021

📬 “Haberden kaçınma” konusu üzerine konuşulurken herkes insanların neden daha az haber tükettiği kısmına odaklanıyor ve sorunu haber tüketicisi tarafında çözmeye çalışıyor. Bu hafta n okuyoruz| bültende bunun neden yanlış bir yaklaşım olduğunu ve sorunun kaynağını nerede aramamız gerektiğini yazdım.

This is not the first time the far right has declared war on autism. I will be joining, on the side of autism, and you should too. open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...