Four Things - August 2025
1/ Michel Houellebecq. 2/ Privacy-forward tech stack. 3/ CABALO. 4/ 315%.
1 / Reading
I'd never read Michel Houellebecq before, but I ripped through all of his novels this month, except for Annihilation.
His earlier books are positively salacious.
But he is a gifted observer and writer of the pathologies of modernity: alienation, social atomization, materialism, commodified desire, nihilism &c.
2 / Building
I spent a Saturday evening enhancing my tech stack to be more open-source and privacy-forward:
AI — used Homebrew and Docker to install Ollama; I then downloaded Mistral's open-source models, which I now run locally via Open WebUI
It's great to have a private LLM that doesn't send my queries to corporate serversBackups — used Restic to back up all of my files to an SSD
Browser — used Homebrew to install LibreWolf; really like it
DNS sinkhole — set up a Pi-hole that blocks thousands of ads and tracking/telemetry requests daily
n.b. I don’t track whether you open/read this newsletter.
3 / Listening
Jody Wisternoff of Anjunadeep fame has a new project called CABALO, a collaboration with UK underground artist WEBB.
It's a much more energetic sound than one gets with Jody's chill, melodic mixes with James Grant—a sound more in tune with his legendary stage energy.
Here's a video of the two of them performing at Anjunadeep Explorations in Albania earlier this summer. I dig the first track.
Also discovered the Outlaw Ocean podcast, which I binged during several long car rides. A bit exuberant with superlatives, but it’s eye-opening reporting.
4 / Number
315%
The mean net worth of Americans aged 75+ grew 315% between 1983-2022 (from $382k to $1.6M in constant 2022 dollars).
The figure for those under 35 increased by only 114%.
Four decades of policies favoring asset owners over wage earners in action.
Source: Edward Wolff (NYU) paper for NBER, 'The Extraordinary Rise in the Wealth of Older American Households'.
Thanks for reading!
Hit reply! I read every response.
Let me know what you’re reading, building, or listening to.
Abrazos,
Mike