With the ReiserFS recently considered obsolete and slated for removal from the Linux kernel entirely, Fredrick R.
Category: Random
How social media algorithms ‘flatten’ our culture by making decisions for us
If you opened Facebook, Twitter or Instagram about a decade ago, you’d likely see posts from friends and family, in chronological order. Nowadays, users are hit with a barrage of content curated by an algorithm. Passionate about plants? Sports? Cats? Politics? That’s what you’re going to see.
How the meandering legal definition of ‘fair use’ cost us Napster but gave us Spotify
From DMCA takedowns to Content ID filters, record labels continue to crack down on online music sharing.
The hidden culprit driving America’s apocalypse of boarded-up storefronts
Read in app
A storefront for robots
Jennifer Dziura has two blogs: one for humans and one for robots. Originally on her personal site Get Bullish, Dziura shared career advice, discussed being a female business owner, and answered questions about dealing with difficult co-workers and racist family members.
Dr. Richard Moriarty, Creator of ‘Mr. Yuk,’ Has Died
Dr. Richard Moriarty, founder of the Pittsburgh Poison Center and creator of the familiar Mr. Yuk icon, died yesterday at the age of 83. His death comes a little more than a month after I wrote about a beer league hockey team in Pittsburgh called — with Moriarty’s blessing — the Mighty Yuks.
§Note-writing systems
Why note-taking apps don’t make us smarter
Today let’s step outside the news cycle and turn our attention toward a topic I’m deeply invested in but only rarely write about: productivity platforms. For decades now, software tools have promised to make working life easier.
Parisian Booksellers Have Lined the Seine for Centuries. Now, They’re Fighting to Stay
The booksellers whose rickety green stands dot the River Seine have been a Paris staple for hundreds of years. Through the censorship of kings and Nazi occupiers, through the Covid-19 pandemic and frequent protests, the bouquinistes have remained.
How do we fix the “Too Many Newsletters” problem?
“I subscribe to so many Substacks, and I read zero of them,” quipped Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley on one of his social accounts (I honestly can’t recall which one). This perfectly encapsulates the issue with the newsletter ecosystem.