“.. All signs point to this summer being the worst for teen employment since 1948, when the federal government started tracking the data, as rising inflation and higher fuel prices squeeze the small businesses and restaurants that typically hire them ..” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/economy/teen...

Speaking of photography, can I interest you in a starter pack of ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHERS? That's right, folks who shoot on FILM! HOT DAMN THESE IMAGES ARE GORGEOUS! Get on this! #BelieveInFilm go.bsky.app/2tD9vhT

Loads more comics starter packs in this thread! bsky.app/profile/greg...

Greg has the best starter packs!

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits Pluto TV this month and there's never been a better time to stream this underappreciated 2023 film.

Echomogging

recycling old blog posts rocketbomber.com/2019/05/24/1... 101 Days of Summer 102 if you include today (some of us are still at work) 15 weekends. Back in 2019 I was thinking a lot about the calendar for some reason. Maybe I'm mildly prescient & pre-2020 just wanted a firm understanding of time

My house is a bubble. My town is a bubble. You know something else that's a bubble? Navel-gazing conservative media elites.

I want to be so deep in my job that I can wear a silly hat when I talk to people about my work and they don't even mention it. Just a George R R Martin approach to life. I will wear consecutively dumber hats every time I go out. You've seen my shirts, you know I'll do it.

The real value of social media is being able to post something like "The ass is the father of the legs" and potentially have multiple members of congress see it

Having vigorous disagreements is not the only valuable kind of socializing, nor is it the only way to learn anything. Hope this helps.

KAGAN: “.. Any agreement resembling the JCPOA will be presented by opponents as proof that the entire enterprise was a costly exercise in political gamesmanship that ended where it began, or somewhere worse.” www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

I knew about this, of course. But seeing it all laid out on one page, in depth, everything interlinked is really eye opening. Every mainstream "controversy" is manufactured. Most of the time one company is responsible for both "sides" Who knows what actual people think nowadays?

"Once you know that (it) exists, it’s hard not to think about it every time you see a sudden flood of enthusiastic posts about a famous person’s new project or haircut or outfit or relationship or face." web.archive.org/web/20260515...

Your daily affirmation: It's better to be the mossy monstrosity who decorates their den with the bones of lost hikers than it is to be the lost hiker.

Twitter was, for a fleeting moment, a beacon on the hill that sat atop generations of America’s irrational faith in progress. All that came with that — rationality, debate, merit — was realized in a little social media platform. People are never going to let that idea go. They’ll do this instead.

Since we’re all doing BlueSky takes again on this, the Lord’s day: The issue is people got used to an algorithm doing all the work for them. BlueSky turned the clock all the way back to a time when the quality of your feed is entirely your own responsibility. It’s actually a great metaphor for AI.

People got so used to the algo doing it all for them that the cognitive ability to build community with intent atrophied and most don’t know how to build it back. Those that have the best BlueSky experience are those who actively curate their feed to be what they want it to be. That takes time.

Something we’ve learned the last few years is many people WANT the algo, even when they say they don’t. They would rather work hard to “train” the algo instead of just curating their own experience. They can’t admit that, though, because that’s admitting you don’t actually want to be in control.

Oh shit, are we on Bluesky Is An Echo Chamber And In Some Nebulous Way Worse Than Twitter Discourse? I thought we were on British Food Is Bad And Good British Food Made By People Who Aren't White Doesn't Count Discourse, I've got the days all wrong, I need to go change the decorations

If I were a political journalist looking to get good engagement I would simply introduce myself with ten bands

It’s honestly hilarious how many Serious Opinion Havers keep independently rediscovering the same discourse of “BlueSky sucks because I don’t know how to make friends”

There is this gap between the idea of making something and the reality of making something, and it is REALLY hard to cross that gap until you have experienced it, and until you do, it remains easy to be the guy who thinks that your cool idea is most the hard part.

This truth has mostly been a sometimes amusing annoyance, but the rollout of AI is making it a genuine problem, as people without any understanding of the work expect AI to work based on how they IMAGINE the work to be.

and this one

while I'm retweeting the hits:

Sometimes I think the “I come onto social media to get out of my bubble” is a white boy phenomenon like free-climbing or wing-suiting where white men have so little actual adrenaline risks in their day to day lives that they need to artificially construct it

re last repost anyone who says it's easier to "start from zero" with twitter I don't think has actually tried that (using twitter with a brand new acct and looking for community) recently. They're remembering 2013. or 2007. _or that whole six year period_, "starting" on twitter.

You know what, that's super fair - nothing about this place holds your hand. There's less of a culture of sharing Starter Packs, etc. than there was when the first few exoduses happened. But at the same time - the search functions work.

& thread (up, down, replies)

The NYT sees itself not as a defender of journalistic principles or a champion of democratic values, but rather a theater critic for political actors. There are no real-world consequences here, no pain or suffering for the common people who aren't in their social circles. It's just a parlor game

Tag yourself. I'm "Do not spin"

The beast must Feed (directly by hand because she's a Princess)

short(ish) interview with Stephen. a nice punctuation, a hopeful little note to end that part of the week on www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H3D...

America has its Men In Black, but this is England. We have politely stern chaps in navy suits waving RAF papers to advise those who’ve seen UFOs best keep mum. The Men In Black drive Cadillacs, the Chaps In Navy arrive in Rover P5s and are much more odd. – Sean York

Step 1. VC Investors & Elon get ready to cash out* their shares 2. IPO. 3. New company is so big** it's automatically a S&P 500. Maybe even a new dow component 4. Index funds AUTOMATICALLY buy it BECAUSE it's S&P 500/DJIA. *Your* IRA, because you have index funds www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHD8...

What If We Spent The Iran War Budget On Literally Anything Else? www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4DM...

I have (just) seen the new Stars War. I can no longer be spoiled. 👍 would/will watch again. I have (longer) thoughts but I'll save 'em for later.

Logging on:

mood

How your email finds me.

best trailcams

Good morning, Bluesky. Have you considered... cat?

is Meta just dying and they’re blaming layoffs on AI?

A New Way To Steal Your Retirement www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fVq...

as stephen colbert signs off for the last time let's all remember the one time the WHCD was worth a damn truly one of the all time greats