“Good grief” – John Elledge

“But the thing about grief I never got before is that it’s not a straight line, or a curve, but a wave form. I sort of imagined, before all this, that it would be linear: things would be bad, but gradually they would get better; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. But those stages don’t happen one after another, but pile onto you at random; you can be triggered by anything or nothing at all, and the pain of everything you’ve lost and the hole it left behind can still hit you like the first time again. Sometimes, when you think you’ve turned a corner, you run straight into a wall”

https://jonn.substack.com/p/good-grief

“Starmer deserves a better class of critic” – Ian Dunt

“I’ve never wanted to love a politician. I evaluate them entirely negatively – not by wondering what wonderful things they will achieve, but by embracing all the terrible things they might prevent. I am prepared to accept all sorts of compromises with my own values as long as the government is better than the alternative. Voting is not an expression of my soul. It is not a demonstration of my identity. It is my attempt to secure marginal improvements on what came before, regardless of all the various disappointments it will necessarily entail.

If there is a central principle that this government is all about, it is about this chief distinction in politics – between those who want pragmatism and sobriety and those who want a great zero-sum battle in the sky”

https://iandunt.substack.com/p/starmer-deserves-a-better-class-of

“Issue 68 – Opportunity agenda” – Molly White

“If there’s one thing crypto fans won’t give up on, it’s trying to create their own countries, sovereign communities, seasteads, and other things of that nature. One such community is the rather uncreatively named libertarian paradise that will be “Liberland” — at least if they can convince the Croatian government to stop arresting its supposed “citizens” every time they try to visit the roughly 1700-acrem patch of floodlands next to the Danube that Liberlanders claim is a sovereign state. (Croatia apparently disagrees)”

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-68/

“You Can’t Make Friends With The Rockstars” – Ed Zitron

“To be clear, Zuckerberg started dressing differently in May, yet he’s still getting headlines about it in October. This has been a successful — and loathsome — PR campaign, one where the media has fallen for it hook, line and sinker, all while ignoring the environmental damage of Meta’s pursuit of generative AI and the fact that the company fucking sucks.

This is a problem of focus and accountability, and illustrative of a continual failure to catch a conman in the act”

https://www.wheresyoured.at/rockstars/

“Hawaii Makes the Shaka Its Official State Gesture” – Lowering the Bar

“Obviously, the meaning of symbols can change over time, maybe the best example being the swastika, which once was a symbol of “good fortune” and “friendship” but now … not so much. Certainly now the shaka seems to have only positive connotations. Even if there is a good chance it was invented by a bunch of kids making fun of an amputee. Just try not to think about that part”

https://www.loweringthebar.net/2024/10/hawaii-makes-shaka-its-official-gesture.html

“The Retreat To Muskworld” – Ed Neidermeyer

“This trajectory, from simulating future capability on public roads to creating a fantasy world for fantasy cars to show off fantasy capabilities, should worry Tesla’s supporters. We can already see Musk retreating into a misinformation-fueled fantasy world every day on Twitter, and the jarring divisiveness of the Cybertruck suggests that his runaway ego is already making Tesla’s products less palatable. If Musk’s retreat into a self-soothing fantasy bubble is also making his hype game less effective, and the 8% drop in Tesla’s stock price suggests that it is, his most important skill set is on the line”

https://niedermeyer.io/2024/10/11/the-retreat-to-muskworld/

“Where I’m At – October 2024” – Julian Simpson

“So then what of the next few months? Activity combats anxiety. Those four movie ideas I’ve been excited about? Pick one and write it, then another, and another. The TV show I was thinking of pitching? Sit down and write the pilot (we’re told no one buys TV specs any more, this, like all the “rules” of Hollywood, is nonsense). 

Keep talking to people. The execs are at their desks with their heads in their hands. Maybe they can’t buy right now, but they can still talk. Be the light, be the energy, be the person who isn’t opining the state of the industry but instead seems to have a ton of ideas and enthusiasm. That person is their first call when the money tap gets turned back on”

https://developmenthell.substack.com/p/where-im-at-october-2024

“Fit At 20: The Streets’ A Grand Don’t Come For Free Revisited” – Fergal Kinney (Quietus)

“None of this is to fault Skinner, who consistently namechecked his roots whilst booking artists like Kano, Donae’o and Tinchy Stryder for features and remixes instead of the big white house names his label preferred. (Skinner has also remained heavily involved in the production, management and release of non-white British hip hop artists throughout his career.) But what it does underline is that who did and who did not get to go overground during the early 00s was sharply political”

https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/anniversary/the-streets-a-grand-dont-come-for-free-review/