Back to school season, back to routines
dating fatigue, third place, teens mental health, and how to laundry money
✨ Highlights of the last 2 months
I explored cool nature spots around Rennes and checked out cool places in the city.
I visited Pornic with my girlfriend for a couple of days and enjoyed it a lot!
I enjoyed a few days of party time with friends on the Morbihan seaside in July.
I spent lots of time with my family and my friends between where I live and Rennes and Nantes.
I celebrated my DJ collective's first birthday in Nantes, having the chance to invite a big producer, TEOKAD.
I watched a lot of the Olympic Games!
I've been starting the day phone-free during the summer, while reducing my overall phone screen time, and it’s amazing. Feel free to email me to chat about this topic.
I saw my friend play in the main room of the 2nd best club in France 🤯
📚 What I liked consuming the last 2 months
Let’s dive now into what I consumed the last 2 months and especially liked
Articles
Love is worth believing in - Freya India
There is a lot of content going on about dating fatigue, dating apps earning less money, situationship, people thinking romance is dead, and an overall lassitude around online dating.
Freya India writes about this topic and how Gen Z (my generation) is lost trying to find love.
“We can stay connected, cool, but we also turned teenage love into swiping, sending nudes, and tracking Snapchat scores.”
“And whoops, looks like we accidentally taught young people that you find love by advertising yourself like a product, that love is hanging out with someone until they meet someone hotter or better at marketing themselves.”
On the topic of situationship,
“We’ve lowered them to the point where our most intimate relationships resemble roommates, people we watch Netflix with until we die or someone gets bored and decides to go watch Netflix with someone else.”
If you leave with one paragraph, take this one
“Fill your life with reminders of the good in the world. Don’t expect lifelong commitment to be easy, but don’t lose hope in loyalty, in kindness, in lasting love either.”
On giving up control -
As someone who can sometimes fall for the over-optimization of our daily lives, trying to create too many habits, I recognized myself in this article by .
“Individually, the steps towards de-optimizing my life seem inconsequential, but as someone who hinged daily fulfillment on optimizing every margin and maintaining every streak, the idea of not maximizing and tracking was inconceivable just a few months ago. My entire life was held together by these systems.”
“The irony in optimizing our lives is that the nature of optimization is rooted in a lack of self-trust.”
“What happens when we release the notion that it’s all in our control? Does our life descend into chaos as we fear?”
Back to the past: when the Olympic Games rewarded architecture, music and literature - Olympics Games
I was totally shocked when I learned these facts, and I am curious about what the Olympic Games would look like today if that were still the case.
The bizarre secrets I found investigating corrupt Winamp skins - Jordan Eldredge
When someone decided to investigate some old Winamp skins, he was not ready for what he found:
Encrypted files which he decrypted
A gift from a dad to his two and a half year old son
Someone’s email password
A secret biography of Chet Baker
A file called
worm.exewhich held quite the surprise…
[In French] Les petits plaisirs du shopping moderne - Ploum
— Écoutez, je veux juste acheter un frigo. Juste un frigo !
— Et bien ce sont des frigos. Les meilleurs…
— Non, un frigo qui fait du froid et rien d’autre. Sans aucune connexion, sans aucune puce électronique.
I love Ploum’s writing since my friend Marius shared it with me. He clearly describes my experience while trying to find an electric toothbrush a few months months ago, battling to find something that didn’t have 20 different modes, AI, and an application to bring Quantified Self to my teeth.
If you want to belong, find a third place - Vox
I have known about third place since discovering this term thanks to Patricia Mou a couple of years back, someone who is herself managing a third place, SF Commons in San Francisco. She is in fact going a step further by talking about fourth place.
“Third places can include more traditional settings like places of worship, community and recreation centers, parks, and social clubs, but also encompass bars, gyms, malls, makeshift clubhouses in neighborhoods, and even virtual settings like Nextdoor.”
On a personal level, I have been wondering what my third place could be. Right now, public libraries and coffee shops would be the winners for me. I will start looking for my third place when I move to Rennes. And you, what’s yours?
Liu had an epiphany. “Belonging isn’t some magical place that you can find in your next destination,” she recalled the friend saying. “It is where you feel most connected with the people around you, and that you have people who love you and that you love.”
“You don’t need to take on the herculean task of making new friends to be less lonely. You may just need a third place.”
How to live a good life / Aristotle - Ralph Ammer
This blogpost by Ralph Ammer is a cool to know more about Aristotle’s writing.
The hidden costs of AI friendships - Andout
To understand the topic and Friend, check out this article from The Verge.
I am quite scared about the rise of AI friendships that IMO will increase more loneliness, which is already quite high. For me, Friend.com is not a solution.
CrowdStruck - Edward Zitron
Let’s go back in time to the CrowdStrike accident that impacted so many people around the world for a day.
The Phones of Normal People - Lou Plummer
Table tennis: why the Lebrun brothers shout “Tcho!” every time they win a point - The Conversation
The death (again) of the internet as we know it - Noah Smith
Dutch digital detoxers unplug en masse. Will the world follow? - Positive News
Pick a tool and stick with it - Sebastien Dubois
Books
The Anxious Generation - Jonathan Haidt
An eye-opening book on the change in our childhood and screens are impacting really badly children mental health. The book includes studies, experiments and testimonials, but goes further by providing several changes that should be implemented to revert the Great Rewiring.
There are some disagreements online since the release of the book, including this one that you should read. Jonathan Haidt the author responds on his newsletter so it’s great to have different points of view.
Dark Wire - Joseph Cox
The US and various secret services wiretapped the phones of thousands of criminals, drug traffickers and more around the world. The book is such a great book because you have the point of view of various protagonists, criminals, secret services, lawyers, developers, … A must-read book in 2024.
If you prefer a podcast format, I suggest you the podcast episode by The Verge with the book author.The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu
The famous Chinese SF trilogy got an adaption on Netflix recently, and the reviews are mostly not good. Don’t stop there and read the 3 books! They are fantastic, really deep into hard science fiction, but the story makes it worth the sometimes difficult understanding.
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library - Michiko Aoyama
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is one book I will read again in my life. Like Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. This novel is all about self-discovery and the quiet power of books. A mysterious librarian help people navigate life’s challenges with the power of books.
This Perfect Day - Ira Levin
This Perfect Day is a great book set in a dystopian world where humanity is controlled by a supercomputer. No more individuality, no more emotion. As freedom and the entire system are questioned, life is about to change.
Sur les chemins noirs - Sylvain Tesson
Sur les chemins noirs narrates how, following an accident, a man decides to embark on a solitary walk across the forgotten trails of France, to reconnect with himself and nature. After a serious accident, he embarks on this solitary walk to reconnect with nature and himself.
I don’t know if I like or dislike this book. It made me want to walk across France and meet people. But at the same time, I had difficulties with the author writing style. I will probably watch the movie adaptation with Jean Dujardin to see if it improves my review. You should read it to have your own opinion.
Movies
The Count of Monte-Cristo
I can’t summarize in a few sentences why you should go watch this gorgeous movie, just go, you won’t regret the 3 hours!
Videos
[In French] How to launder money? - Micode
How do criminals launder money, and how are the techniques different based on the amount of money you have? It is eye-opening on the whole industry that exists around this aspect of criminality.
[In French] Creating (and destroying) the biggest gaming license in the West - The Great Review
Call of Duty is the license millions of people have played at least once in their lives. The Great Review goes back to the beginning, on the entire FPS industry, with its good, but also its bad. The way Call of Duty is organized was a surprise to me!
[In French] Surviving 170km in hell - Fatche
The content quality of the channel is incredible. I highly recommend that you check it out! This video is on the Ultra Trail of the Mont-Blanc (UTMB), an ultra-race in France. I also recommend this one on Léon Marchand, 4x gold medal winner on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
[In French] How this 28-year-old overcame his screen addiction w/ Julien Rousset from - Derrière la Bulle
Julien Rousset, writer of on Substack, explains his story which led him to create Screenbreak, with advice along the way to improve your screen time.
[In French] He turns his voicemails into hits (Fred Again..) - Klemo
A great video on the talented Fred again.. that made me want to listen again to the 3 Actual Life albums! This was the first video I watched from this creator.
The illness spread through TikTok. - Léo Duff
ADHD is becoming a trend on TikTok and impacting children and teens who are on the platform. Léo Duff explains what has been happening and why it’s dangerous.
Using this iPod for 30 days changed my life - Digging the Greats
I watched this series by a creator I didn’t know, and it was interesting because it makes us rethink how we consume media. I don’t have an iPod Classic, but I searched my drawer and found an old MP3. I installed an alternative operating system on it, Rockbox, with a custom theme, and have been listening to music with this old device a bit, finding old albums I had not listened to for years.
A cabinet for my mentors - Slow Woodshop
I am not into woodworking at all, but I love the storytelling and the passion of his craft from Slow Woodshop. This time, he narrates how he built a cabinet for his mentors, something you do normally if you go to a woodworking school.
[In French] The story of the world's biggest weapons dealer - Yvan Casta
The game that stole $130.000.000 - fern.
How a Turkish gaming scam impacted thousands of gamers that wanted to help farmers in their country while playing a game.
[In French] Has Strava ruined running? - Sami Terki
The weirdest hoax on the Internet - fern.
This is a great example of why you should not believe everything you read online, even if it’s written on well-known platforms like Wikipedia.
Exploring Europe’s most isolated village (dangerous & impossible journey) - Yes Theory
Yes Theory always makes me want to travel and meet new people, making me more positive about the world we live in.
[In French] The hacker who exposed 37 million cheating husbands - Micode
[In French] 24 hours inside a cabin (to make a sound) w/ Petit Biscuit - Amixem
I have wanted for a while to see what a music session/writing camp feels like. How does it work when you’re there. This video is my way of knowing the Behind the Scenes of these kinds of processes.
The downfall of modern podcasts - James Smith
Podcasts have been everywhere for years, but people are getting tired of certain types of podcast. James Smith is wondering why.
Congratulation, you have reached a Youtube checkpoint - Jak Piggott
Music
Le trésor - Jérome Rebotier
This song is such a beautiful one! The entire album is must-listen but this one is my favorite of all.
Odymel @ Dour Festival 2024
One of my favorite techno trance producers playing in his dream festival with his own friends in the crowd!
Thylacine - and 74 musicians live @ Vienne
Bringing electronic music with classical music is a win in this project by French artist Thylacine.
Coulou’s cafe trumpet meditation series
Youtube algorithms suggested my this guy and I now want to listen to more trumpet, and in addition to that, move to his beautiful appartment haha
Flavour Trip, a couple djing while cooking
House music and cooking mixed together, what a cool recipe!
Fred again.. - Rooftop live (Arun’s roof, London)
Pegassi @ Intercell Outdoor
Been loving the techno trance scene lately and Pegassi is another great DJ and producer I am loving in this scene.
Two Lanes - Live from Malaga, Spain 2024
I have been following these brothers for the past 6 years and I am not tired to listening to their music. A cool live in an ever cooler location!
Hugo Le Beller - Eclosion II
A beautiful instrumental track played at the guitar, in a dreamy location
Other
I switched back to Overcast for podcasts and the new version is excellent. Little features that improve the overall experience, clean player interface, various playlists, Smart Speed, automatic downloads, … Better than on Spotify where ‘Enshittification’ is sadly happening like on other big platforms.
A company named Cosmos made Public.work, a search engine for public domain content, including content from the New York Public Library, the MET and other sources.
2 Linux distributions are available to download from a road box, in Surrey, UK.
Hayden Wills, a UK graphic designer, made a collection of Studio Ghibli’s animated posters available on Behance.
When Regex meets poetry, meet RegEx Poetry Machine.
An improved map interface to highlight train roads in France.
👀 What I’m up to the next 2 months
I am running the 10k race in October, which I am currently preparing.
I am starting the DJ season, with 6 gigs between the end of September and the end of October (club, open air, bar, running race, it’s various!)
Meditation habit was not a success, so I am bringing it back for the next 2 months into my life.
I am going deeper on my goal of sharing more content that I like online, while keeping ownership of it by hosting it on my personal domain. I will hopefully share more in 2 months about my experiment. I am also continuing my other habits.
I am continuing to look for a job and move to Rennes.
And that’s it for this September 2024 issue of Full-Time Curious 😁 If you enjoyed reading this bimonthly issue, you can like this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below, subscribe or respond to this email so we can chat.
Thanks for reading and see you in 2 months!
Alexandre
Full-Time Curious