[a pleasurable headache] hot pink spartan
A short one this week as the week has slowly derailed through Flo bringing home another illness.
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The situation in Gaza is rapidly evolving. It almost feels moot sharing links about it here as whatever I post or link to will inevitably be out of date by the time it's read. The caveat to that is deeper reading, background, context, etc. To that end I thoroughly recommend taking advantage of the many books on the subject that Verso books are currently making free to everyone. Click here to see the offerings. If I could recommend just one it would be Ilan Pappe's book.
Growing Up on Halo
https://intothespine.com/2023/10/09/growing-up-on-halo/
A beautiful little piece on growing up with the seminal shooter franchise.
"Halo 3 is my favorite game; at the time it’s hard to tell if that’s just the thrill of having a new game, but in retrospect I can confirm it. Maybe it’s because Halo 3 is a game I stay up with that New Year’s Eve, from sunset to sunrise, playing with my brother and my dad: I don’t even feel tired. And, though my hot pink spartan is not doing nearly as well as Dad’s steel gray version, I feel invincible."
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How to fix the internet
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/17/1081194/how-to-fix-the-internet-online-discourse/
Katie Notopoulos on the aspects of the internet worth saving, the parts we need to let die, and the opportunity federation may afford us going forward.
"Federation and more competition among new apps and platforms provide a chance for different communities to create the kinds of privacy and moderation they want, rather than following top-down content moderation policies created at headquarters in San Francisco that are often explicitly mandated not to mess with engagement. Yoel Roth’s dream scenario would be that in a world of smaller social networks, trust and safety could be handled by third-party companies that specialize in it, so social networks wouldn’t have to create their own policies and moderation tactics from scratch each time."
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Could “News Sobriety” Save Your Mental Health?
https://www.insidehook.com/wellness/news-sobriety
Does refusing to read the news save our sanity? Is disengaging from the news cycle a privilege not open to everyone?
"What if you have relatives living in a war zone? What if your reproductive rights are in peril? What if you’re dealing with serious student debt? The list is infinite, obviously; the news provides updates on taxes, protests, weather patterns, elections, bike lanes and on and on. Keeping up with all of these things is maddening, and shouldn’t be the goal. But stiff-arming every potential update in favor of an imagined personal bliss also feels naive and unrealistic. (And yes, to echo some internet commentary, it comes across as a little “privileged,” too.) "
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You’re not lacking creativity, you’re overwhelmed
https://newsletter.thejorgemedina.com/p/youre-not-lacking-creativity-youre
A cavalcade of content has turned us into digital hoarders.
=== I’m off to wonder what it will take for the bloodshed and chaos to stop. See you in two.