Escaping Flatland
Some remarks on being stuck, with digressions on David Hockney, developing style, and gardens
If something feels wrong, it is useful to articulate very precisely why that is
a week ago
If something feels wrong, it is useful to articulate very precisely why that is
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] A Few London Strolls
Ridgeline subscribers —
For the last ten days I’ve been walking around London. Mostly in a little...
a week ago
Ridgeline subscribers —
For the last ten days I’ve been walking around London. Mostly in a little corner of it in the northeast part of the city. But can you even call a part a “corner” when the city extends in every direction without stopping? Whatever you call it, I’ve been in...
Salish Wolf
#94 Jay St. Charles on Project Quiver
Jay St. Charles is a legendary bowyer based in Fall City, Washington. While
he was born into the...
a week ago
Jay St. Charles is a legendary bowyer based in Fall City, Washington. While
he was born into the world of archery and grew up in his father’s archery
shop, Jay eventually became a master bowyer, carving bows under the brand
of Pacific Yew Longbows. He lives on a small...
Naz Hamid • Journal
SF Zine Fest 2026
The antithesis of slop.
It's been a few years since I'd attended the SF Zine Fest. Friend Scott Boms...
a week ago
The antithesis of slop.
It's been a few years since I'd attended the SF Zine Fest. Friend Scott Boms had a table with his Matter Editions wares, and it's a 10-minute walk from home, so Jen and I had to go.
Held at The Hibernia, it was a treat to actually go into this historic...
Wuthering...
What I Read in August 2026 – what he hopes to gain from all this knowledge
Now and again, Geiser finds himself wondering what he really
wants to know, what he hopes to gain...
2 weeks ago
Now and again, Geiser finds himself wondering what he really
wants to know, what he hopes to gain from all this knowledge. (Man in the Holocene, Max Frisch, tr. Geoffrey
Skelton, p. 90)
An uncomfortable sentence there.
A reminder that I will return to non-Shakespeare plays...
The American Scholar
On Returning
The post On Returning appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 weeks ago
The post On Returning appeared first on The American Scholar.
Ploum.net
I Don’t Have a Smartphone…
I Don’t Have a Smartphone…
…or, at least, I wish I didn’t.
"I don’t have a smartphone," is what I...
2 weeks ago
I Don’t Have a Smartphone…
…or, at least, I wish I didn’t.
"I don’t have a smartphone," is what I tell people and professionals nowadays. This allows me to cut the crap about companies insisting that I install their app or restaurants wishing that I scan a QR code to access their...
Astral Codex Ten
Nicholas Decker In Hell
...
2 weeks ago
Anecdotal Evidence
'On the Plains of Poland'
On August 23, 1939, Hitler
and Stalin agreed to the secret non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact....
2 weeks ago
On August 23, 1939, Hitler
and Stalin agreed to the secret non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Germans
invaded Poland from the west nine days later, on September 1, 1939. On
September 17, the Soviet Union invaded from the east. The battle was over,
Poland subdued, by...
Ben Borgers
Every student is cheating with AI
17th Aug 2026
Wuthering...
What I Read in July 2026 – Some links found verbal form, others remained mere promises, mist, soft...
Soon I will put up a fall schedule for my plunge back into non-Shakespearian
plays, from say 1604 to...
14th Aug 2026
Soon I will put up a fall schedule for my plunge back into non-Shakespearian
plays, from say 1604 to 1614, an exciting stretch. Middleton, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher will
dominate.
SHAKESPEAREAN
The Adventures of Lady Egeria (1585), W. C. – Half
tedious, half confounding,...
Escaping Flatland
On having more interesting ideas, pt. 2
Cutlery designed by Salvador Dalí
11th Aug 2026
Cutlery designed by Salvador Dalí
The Elysian
Even Christopher Nolan prefers 70mm film
With all the technology in the world, sometimes the more beautiful thing is less of it.
4th Aug 2026
With all the technology in the world, sometimes the more beautiful thing is less of it.
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Oooohhh Summer, How Much Risk Is a Useful Amount of Risk?
Roden Readers —
There is sweat and then there is s-w-e-a-t and the out-of-doorsness in Japan is...
4th Aug 2026
Roden Readers —
There is sweat and then there is s-w-e-a-t and the out-of-doorsness in Japan is presently a natural machine that produces nothing but sweat and sweat and sweat and swelter. Dryness has been eradicated. Fire is impossible to start. Blowtorch any single thing and it...
The American Scholar
“A Bed for Your Voice to Sleep In”
The post “A Bed for Your Voice to Sleep In” appeared first on The American Scholar.
3rd Aug 2026
The post “A Bed for Your Voice to Sleep In” appeared first on The American Scholar.
Ploum.net
Un manifeste Offpunk
Un manifeste Offpunk
Ce texte est une traduction en français du Offpunk Manifesto rédigé par Arlon...
3rd Aug 2026
Un manifeste Offpunk
Ce texte est une traduction en français du Offpunk Manifesto rédigé par Arlon de Serra Grande et que j’ai co-signé
An Offpunk Manifesto (English version)
Versão em português
La révolution ne sera pas numérique
Alors que l’hyperconnexion apparait comme le...
Anecdotal Evidence
'All He'd Read and Learned'
Eccentricity in books is a
tricky quality. It can be charming and inspire lifelong devotion. Take...
1st Aug 2026
Eccentricity in books is a
tricky quality. It can be charming and inspire lifelong devotion. Take Robert
Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy, a book I discovered in my freshman
year. I redundantly keep three copies on the shelves nearest my desk. Tristram
Shandy is another...
the late review
obligatory one month without social media on my phone substack essay (contrarian edition)
it didn't change my life
27th Jul 2026
Wuthering...
What I Read in June 2026 – I don’t know, that’s all words, never wake, all words, there’s nothing...
Oh right, I can pretend I am writing something. Some notes on books I read in the distant...
22nd Jul 2026
Oh right, I can pretend I am writing something. Some notes on books I read in the distant past.
NOT SHAKESPEARE
The Dutch Courtesan (1604), John Marston – Discussed long ago.
Poems (1594-1612), George Chapman – A superb,
innovative poet, somehow an Ovidian and an...
This Space
"Sometimes God, sometimes nothing"
Once I imagined a novel in which everything seen throughout the day by a single person is reported...
18th Jul 2026
Once I imagined a novel in which everything seen throughout the day by a single person is reported in detail. I was a teenager in my first job and began by using company paper to describe the scrub on the slopes beside a motorway as seen from a car. I never got any further.
No...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Write Like a Human
Collaborative writing is rewarding.
In the past few months, I’ve been writing a lot. Not as much...
13th Jul 2026
Collaborative writing is rewarding.
In the past few months, I’ve been writing a lot. Not as much here, but for Aphera. Between our newsletter, blog, direct email feedback, and social media networks, I might spin up a draft and then bounce it off Ryan and Juan, or we volley it...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Kazunori Hamana in Apartamento
Ridgeline subscribers —
Man, it was fun talking with Kazunori Hamana back in January. He’s lived a...
12th Jul 2026
Ridgeline subscribers —
Man, it was fun talking with Kazunori Hamana back in January. He’s lived a bizarre life, seemingly one without a roadmap, though I suspect his laid-back, subtly-goatee’d vibes belie a cunning streak. He was welcoming and rough-edged in a disarming way. He...
Escaping Flatland
How can we rejuvenate the social fabric?
ask_another_guest
8th Jul 2026
The Elysian
Another step toward becoming reader-owned media
A bunch of business updates and a request for your feedback.
7th Jul 2026
A bunch of business updates and a request for your feedback.
The Perry Bible...
Big Fish
The post Big Fish appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
3rd Jul 2026
The post Big Fish appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
Anecdotal Evidence
'Leaves Must Be Green in Spring'
The Battle of Malvern Hill
was fought near Richmond, Va., the capital of the Confederacy, on July 1,...
1st Jul 2026
The Battle of Malvern Hill
was fought near Richmond, Va., the capital of the Confederacy, on July 1, 1862.
Not as well remembered as Antietam or Gettysburg, it was the last of the Seven
Days Battles in the Peninsula Campaign, and prompted Confederate General Daniel
H. Hill to...
The American Scholar
Medina de Rioseco
The post Medina de Rioseco appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Jul 2026
The post Medina de Rioseco appeared first on The American Scholar.
Astral Codex Ten
Chip Off The Old Block
...
1st Jul 2026
Naz Hamid • Journal
Fade to Blue
Redesigning as a method of interrogation.
Okay, okay, okay. I did it again.
Sometimes you design a...
24th Jun 2026
Redesigning as a method of interrogation.
Okay, okay, okay. I did it again.
Sometimes you design a thing, or redesign it, or evolve it, and you think you're there. But this unsettling feeling sinks in, and you think: “I’m not happy with this. What’s the problem?”
Friggin'...
ben-mini
Stealing is a Skill
I’m slowly developing my own list of advice: have a creative mindset, embrace radical transparency,...
24th Jun 2026
I’m slowly developing my own list of advice: have a creative mindset, embrace radical transparency, and write down what makes you happy. I’d like to add one more to the list: stealing is a skill!
Stealing is good for the soul. If done well, you will be able to build value at...
This Space
Reading, ignorance
The papacy, people say, counts in centuries, and perhaps never even thinks of counting, because its...
23rd Jun 2026
The papacy, people say, counts in centuries, and perhaps never even thinks of counting, because its goal is eternity.1
It has been a pleasure every few months to buy the latest volume in the new translation of À la recherche du temps perdu. I've now read the third, by Peter...
Wuthering...
What I Read in May 2026 – “These stories appeal to my sense of humor as well as my taste for formal...
NOT SHAKESPEARE
Poems and a Defence of Ryme (1592-1605), Samuel
Daniel – Author of the “Delia”...
4th Jun 2026
NOT SHAKESPEARE
Poems and a Defence of Ryme (1592-1605), Samuel
Daniel – Author of the “Delia” sequence of fifty sonnets, a genuine sequence, with
for example lines ending one poem and beginning the next. For some reason Thomas Campion, a writer of
the most beautiful songs,...
The Elysian
How will new countries attract (& keep) citizens?
What tomorrow's city builders are learning about equity, loyalty, and community.
2nd Jun 2026
What tomorrow's city builders are learning about equity, loyalty, and community.
Escaping Flatland
People are too big to fit inside our heads
Notes on relationships, conversation, Dostoevsky, and Bakhtin
2nd Jun 2026
Notes on relationships, conversation, Dostoevsky, and Bakhtin
Anecdotal Evidence
'To Mold Clay, Fashion Men From It'
Certain writers lay claim
to a piece of geography. Think of Cavafy’s Alexandria and William...
1st Jun 2026
Certain writers lay claim
to a piece of geography. Think of Cavafy’s Alexandria and William Kennedy’s Albany. Outsiders may visit but the deed is ironclad. When I hear something in
the news about the Caucasus, that often-contested band of mountains between the
Black Sea and the...
The American Scholar
Inside Man
A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite
The post Inside Man appeared first on The...
1st Jun 2026
A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite
The post Inside Man appeared first on The American Scholar.
Ploum.net
Qucocoma Philippe Samyn ?
Qucocoma Philippe Samyn ?
J’apprends avec tristesse le décès de l’architecte Philippe Samyn, un...
1st Jun 2026
Qucocoma Philippe Samyn ?
J’apprends avec tristesse le décès de l’architecte Philippe Samyn, un esprit incroyable aux idées fulgurantes avec qui j’ai eu de longues et passionnantes discussions.
Philippe Samyn - Wikipédia (fr.wikipedia.org)
Car l’architecture était pour lui une...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Walking the Brooklyn Bridge
Ridgeline subscribers —
Thanks for all the “Yo!“s last week. It looks like transmissions from...
1st Jun 2026
Ridgeline subscribers —
Thanks for all the “Yo!“s last week. It looks like transmissions from mailbot2k are getting through. (Let me know if you see any “rendering errors” in your email clients; I think we fixed the Proton Mail issues.) FYI, because the last issue of Roden ended...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Craft Is Not Culture
A time, a place, and humans.
Let’s take a moment to consider the font, Instrument Serif. Created by...
24th May 2026
A time, a place, and humans.
Let’s take a moment to consider the font, Instrument Serif. Created by the Portland-based design agency Instrument for their own use — along with Instrument Sans — they open-sourced it on GitHub, where it made its way to Google Fonts, in a generous...
This Space
Invasion of the Universe
I wonder how many of those of us who write exclusively on literature and read only novels, poetry,...
14th May 2026
I wonder how many of those of us who write exclusively on literature and read only novels, poetry, literary criticism and occasionally into related subjects, have an otherwise unaccountable curiosity with another beyond the literary horizon. Many, I imagine. I'm not talking about...
the late review
fear of breakdown
a psychopolitical theory
11th May 2026
Escaping Flatland
The world reveals itself to those who travel by foot
Nothing was as scary as we thought, and everything was weirder and more friendly.
6th May 2026
Nothing was as scary as we thought, and everything was weirder and more friendly.
Wuthering...
Thomas Heywood's early melodrama A Woman Killed by Kindness - I’ll say you wept, I’ll swear you made...
I have called Thomas Dekker and Henry Chettle hacks, but Thomas
Heywood was the greatest hack of the...
2nd May 2026
I have called Thomas Dekker and Henry Chettle hacks, but Thomas
Heywood was the greatest hack of the Age of Shakespeare, having “an entire hand
or at least the main finger” in “two hundred and twenty” (!) plays (Three
Elizabethan Domestic Tragedies, p. 38).
He is more like a...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] New Japan, NYC, Soderbergh Bonanza, Too Much Movement
Roden Readers —
Hello from Crazy Weather Town. Is it spring? Some days it feels like it might be,...
2nd May 2026
Roden Readers —
Hello from Crazy Weather Town. Is it spring? Some days it feels like it might be, for a few milliseconds. And then other days, no. No spring for you. The floor heating was on this morning and that felt good. Soon enough the sauna will be on over the entirety of...
Anecdotal Evidence
'Those Little Cracklings of Mirth and Folly'
Who is being described and
who is doing the describing:
“His prose is the model of
the middle style;...
1st May 2026
Who is being described and
who is doing the describing:
“His prose is the model of
the middle style; on grave subjects not formal, on light occasions not
grovelling; pure without scrupulosity, and exact without apparent elaboration;
always equable, and always easy, without...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Real Wood
AI makes particle board.
As a child, woodworking was part of my school’s curriculum. One of our...
20th Apr 2026
AI makes particle board.
As a child, woodworking was part of my school’s curriculum. One of our projects was making a simple sailboat, with the kind of shape and blockiness of those wood toys you see for little kids. From a solid block, we chiseled out the center cavity where the...
This Space
A fundamental deprivation: Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas
Perhaps all novels seek to converge on a single point.
The thought occurred to me as I read...
16th Apr 2026
Perhaps all novels seek to converge on a single point.
The thought occurred to me as I read Vila-Matas' Montevideo, translated by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott. A random thought, apparently, but also the kind of thought provoked by the passion of observation, anecdote and...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Walk and Talk — The Portuguese Costal Camino
Ridgeline subscribers —
We were lucky. Maybe the luckiest group walking the Portuguese costal...
14th Apr 2026
Ridgeline subscribers —
We were lucky. Maybe the luckiest group walking the Portuguese costal Camino. (Certainly the second luckiest.) All the things conspired in our favor: The weather, the food, the quality of the path (lots of great seaside boardwalk walking for miles and...
ben-mini
Nucleus Nouns
Consider the “nouns” the live inside an app of your choice:
You can spend hours building a list for...
10th Apr 2026
Consider the “nouns” the live inside an app of your choice:
You can spend hours building a list for just one app. But the more interesting exercise is weighting the nouns by impact in the app- considering which ones have the most “gravity” from the eyes of the user:
You quickly...
Wuthering...
The Tragedy of Hoffman by Henry Chettle - The first step to revenge
His father hanged by the neck until dead for the high crime
of piracy, Hoffman vows Revenge! on the...
7th Apr 2026
His father hanged by the neck until dead for the high crime
of piracy, Hoffman vows Revenge! on the duke who executed his father. By chance the duke’s son is shipwrecked exactly
where Hoffman is keeping Hoffman, Sr.’s corpse hanging on the wall of a cave,
so Hoffman tortures and...
Ben Borgers
Does coding with LLMs mean more microservices?
5th Apr 2026
Ploum.net
La première Madame Pipi de l’espace profond
La première Madame Pipi de l’espace profond
Outre la première victoire au Tour de France d’Eddy...
3rd Apr 2026
La première Madame Pipi de l’espace profond
Outre la première victoire au Tour de France d’Eddy Merckx, 1969 fut une année qui marqua trois événements très importants.
1. Le premier homme sur la Lune
Deux de ces événements ont encore aujourd’hui un impact quotidien dans votre...
The Elysian
It's obvious why we hate social media
We need better internet platforms. We're already building them.
1st Apr 2026
We need better internet platforms. We're already building them.
Escaping Flatland
Days are enormous
+ personal update and reading recommendations
1st Apr 2026
+ personal update and reading recommendations
Anecdotal Evidence
'Either Very Gravely Gay or Very Gaily Grave'
“Lend me—lend me some
disguise; / I will tell prodigious lies; / All who care for what I say /...
1st Apr 2026
“Lend me—lend me some
disguise; / I will tell prodigious lies; / All who care for what I say / Shall
be April Fools to-day!”
This sounds like our understanding
of April Fools’ Day as kids. Low-cost, nothing elaborate, just walk up behind a
guy and scream “Your pants are on...
The American Scholar
Most of Life
The post Most of Life appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Apr 2026
The post Most of Life appeared first on The American Scholar.
Astral Codex Ten
Meetups Everywhere Spring 2026: Times & Places
...
1st Apr 2026
Idle Words
New Martian Writing
If you've enjoyed my writing about space over the years, I invite you to subscribe to my new...
26th Mar 2026
If you've enjoyed my writing about space over the years, I invite you to subscribe to my new substack newsletter, titled 'Mars for the Rest of Us', where I've been posting weekly essays on topics around Mars exploration.
Here are two recent free posts:
Musk on Mars: a...
the late review
love's bad infinity
tristan und isolde - in theory and at the met
24th Mar 2026
tristan und isolde - in theory and at the met
Ploum.net
How I fought my smartphone addiction
How I fought my smartphone addiction
In a poignant Gemini post, Kevin Boone wrote about his anxiety...
13th Mar 2026
How I fought my smartphone addiction
In a poignant Gemini post, Kevin Boone wrote about his anxiety to go out of his house without his phone. (This is the Gemini protocol, totally unrelated to the Google chatbot.)
Phone anxiety (larsthebear.me)
Web version of the former
Around...
Josh Thompson
Continuos Glucose Monitors (part 2)
About a year ago, I wrote this post about continuous glucose monitors, that’s sorta ‘part 1’ of...
12th Mar 2026
About a year ago, I wrote this post about continuous glucose monitors, that’s sorta ‘part 1’ of these two parts.
Since then, and parallel to this most recent time with the sensor, I’ve encountered improvements to the ecosystem. The sensor technology is way better, as is the...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] The Shops Atop the Canal in Toyohashi
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from Toyohashi, a city between nowhere and somewhere else. A Tōkaidō...
12th Mar 2026
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from Toyohashi, a city between nowhere and somewhere else. A Tōkaidō city I’ve walked through on my two trips back and forth between Kyoto and Tokyo. A city with a space shuttle on top of a building and the letters USA strangely emblazoned below.
On...
Escaping Flatland
Some relationships deepen when you tell the truth and some end
I asked people to send me stories about situations where they had done what felt right to them, even...
11th Mar 2026
I asked people to send me stories about situations where they had done what felt right to them, even though they feared social pushback.
Naz Hamid • Journal
Baseline Loss
What the days look like now.
I buzzed my hair down today. I needed to baseline it. I still have a...
2nd Mar 2026
What the days look like now.
I buzzed my hair down today. I needed to baseline it. I still have a healthy amount of hair, but it’s going. I have a semblance of vanity, but I knew from my father’s own hair loss where mine would eventually head to (hahahaha).
I’m not vain enough to...
The Elysian
Cities should own their land—like Vienna and Amsterdam
Land autonomy beats governance autonomy every time.
2nd Mar 2026
Land autonomy beats governance autonomy every time.
The American Scholar
The Story of Mumbet
Who was the enslaved woman whose burial site at a Berkshires cemetery draws so much reverence and...
2nd Mar 2026
Who was the enslaved woman whose burial site at a Berkshires cemetery draws so much reverence and respect?
The post The Story of Mumbet appeared first on The American Scholar.
Astral Codex Ten
"All Lawful Use": Much More Than You Wanted To Know
...
1st Mar 2026
Anecdotal Evidence
'Give Thanks for All Things'
“It is the province of
poems to make some order in the world, but poets can’t afford to forget...
1st Mar 2026
“It is the province of
poems to make some order in the world, but poets can’t afford to forget that
there is a reality of things which survives all orders great and small. Things are.
The cow is there. No poetry can have any strength unless it continually bashes
itself against...
Wuthering...
What I Read in February 2026 – Mouek mouek mouek… Ma-a-a-a… Ma-aa-a… said Saha
I am almost on my way to London. Some Shakespearian and Not Shakespearian
activities are on the...
1st Mar 2026
I am almost on my way to London. Some Shakespearian and Not Shakespearian
activities are on the schedule.
My reading, before this trip, was again very British.
THE WAR OF THE POETS
Antonio and Mellida (1599?) &
Antonio's Revenge (1600?), John Marston – A remarkable
pair of...
ben-mini
The happiest I’ve ever been
It was around January 2020. I became the head coach of a youth basketball team.
I was a few months...
25th Feb 2026
It was around January 2020. I became the head coach of a youth basketball team.
I was a few months into my first job out of college, and I was feeling… empty. I couldn’t explain why, so I set out to fill the void. I built side projects, went drinking with coworkers, and got...
the late review
whatever it takes
on monomania
17th Feb 2026
Naz Hamid • Journal
Everybody Needs a Rock
A new homepage and site improvements.
Looking at the Colophon from it’s last update, I mentioned...
14th Feb 2026
A new homepage and site improvements.
Looking at the Colophon from it’s last update, I mentioned that a refresh had happened in February 2025. A year later, another refresh has landed
I wouldn’t normally write about a site update like this, but the goal of the new homepage design...
Ben Borgers
An underbaked GPT-Codex-5.3-Spark review
14th Feb 2026
The Elysian
Let Cities Build Utopia—new drop!
My deep dive on the future of cities is now available as a print pamphlet, digital pamphlet, and...
10th Feb 2026
My deep dive on the future of cities is now available as a print pamphlet, digital pamphlet, and audio essay.
Ploum.net
Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release
Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release
For the last four years, I’ve been developing Offpunk, a...
9th Feb 2026
Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release
For the last four years, I’ve been developing Offpunk, a command-line Web, Gemini, and Gopher browser that allows you to work offline. And I’ve just released version 3.0. It is probably not for everyone, but I use it every single day. I...
This Space
Left on the Shelf
My old and very good friend Mark Thwaite has taken over at the Left on the Shelf bookshop, so if...
7th Feb 2026
My old and very good friend Mark Thwaite has taken over at the Left on the Shelf bookshop, so if you're at all interested in any of the subjects listed in the poster below, please consider subscribing to his newsletter, checking out the listings on Abebooks, and the offers on...
Wuthering...
Kawabata's The Sound of the Mountain - He began to feel that there was some sort of special little...
Dolce Bellezza hosted her 19th Japanese Literature Challenge
last month. Once I have written...
7th Feb 2026
Dolce Bellezza hosted her 19th Japanese Literature Challenge
last month. Once I have written this
post it will be the 54th book in this year’s event. Amazing.
The book is Yasunari Kawabata’s The Sound of the Mountain
(1954, serialized 1949-54). The sound of
the mountain is a...
Escaping Flatland
Things that connect us to ourselves, and things that don't
+ recommendations
6th Feb 2026
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[ESSAYS] The Seventh Year of Running my Membership Program
Hello there. I’m Craig Mod. And we just entered Year Eight of my SPECIAL PROJECTS membership...
4th Feb 2026
Hello there. I’m Craig Mod. And we just entered Year Eight of my SPECIAL PROJECTS membership program. Time passes, things get done. Here we are with seven giant years under our belt. Seven of the biggest years of my life, by far. Much of it, thanks to this membership program....
Astral Codex Ten
Moltbook: After The First Weekend
...
2nd Feb 2026
The American Scholar
Mario Ayala
Research while driving
The post Mario Ayala appeared first on The American Scholar.
2nd Feb 2026
Research while driving
The post Mario Ayala appeared first on The American Scholar.
Anecdotal Evidence
'Try to Make Something New'
Almost the only thing I
ever write down so I don’t forget it is the grocery list. Sporadically I...
1st Feb 2026
Almost the only thing I
ever write down so I don’t forget it is the grocery list. Sporadically I kept a diary when younger but each time the essential tedium of recording quotidian
events defeated me. I discovered that most of my own life, the practical stuff
that consumes so...
This Space
The intimate outside
When this post from Max Cairnduff appeared I had been reading Heidegger's lectures on Hölderlin's...
31st Jan 2026
When this post from Max Cairnduff appeared I had been reading Heidegger's lectures on Hölderlin's poetry and books and essays studying Heidegger's lectures on Hölderlin's poetry in a bid, however incongruous, to articulate an experience unique to reading novels, so I was...
the late review
my enemy, the leitmotif
a missive
28th Jan 2026
The Perry Bible...
Artist
The post Artist appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
21st Jan 2026
The post Artist appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
Wuthering...
What I Read in December 2025 – We ain’t gonna eat that.
I am not so interested in writing a longer summary of my
year in reading, so I will put that...
12th Jan 2026
I am not so interested in writing a longer summary of my
year in reading, so I will put that here.
Finishing the massive The Story of the Stone and reading the
monstrous Finnegans Wake (here, continuing, ending) were solid
accomplishments in reading, if there are such things. ...
Naz Hamid • Journal
It’s Time
Gains without measurement.
The weight fell off. Literally and figuratively, the device that now...
10th Jan 2026
Gains without measurement.
The weight fell off. Literally and figuratively, the device that now occupies my wrist is simple. It’s much smaller, tells the time, and the date. It requires no battery and is powered by my own kinetic movement, like riding a bicycle.
For the past few...
Escaping Flatland
Being creative requires taking risks
When children learn to draw, they tend to make more and more interesting images for several years...
7th Jan 2026
When children learn to draw, they tend to make more and more interesting images for several years until around age five, when they learn to be boring.
Ploum.net
How Github monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem
How Github monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem
I teach a course called "Open Source...
5th Jan 2026
How Github monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem
I teach a course called "Open Source Strategies" at École Polytechnique de Louvain, part of the University of Louvain.
As part of my course, students are required to find an open source project of their choice and make a...
The Elysian
Writing Prompt: Design the future of the internet!
Participate in our next essay collection and print pamphlet.
2nd Jan 2026
Participate in our next essay collection and print pamphlet.
Anecdotal Evidence
'My Mind Was Not Free From Perturbation'
Dr. Johnson writes in his
diary on January 1, 1774: “This year has past with so little improvement,...
1st Jan 2026
Dr. Johnson writes in his
diary on January 1, 1774: “This year has past with so little improvement, that
I doubt whether I have not [rather] impaired than encreased my Learning.”
It’s customary, of course,
to make resolutions this time of year -- to lose weight or stop drinking...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Happy New Year With a Side of Fries
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from Denny’s. Happy new year. You can tell it’s January first, because...
1st Jan 2026
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from Denny’s. Happy new year. You can tell it’s January first, because I’m at Denny’s. I woke up and made a nice coffee and did some accounting (as one does) and went to my local shrine in Tokyo and bowbowclapclapbow’d and then I was off! Tramping...
ben-mini
Things to be Happy About & Perfect Software
Happy to share a new project: Things to be Happy About - things.ben-mini.com. It’s a daily blog...
27th Dec 2025
Happy to share a new project: Things to be Happy About - things.ben-mini.com. It’s a daily blog where I simply write five things to be happy about.
Back in college, I had a tiny whiteboard outside my dorm where I did the same exercise. I also brought it to my cabin as a camp...
Ben Borgers
Coding agents write 90% of my code now
18th Dec 2025
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] The Walk and Talk, Nagano Kiso-ji
Ridgeline subscribers —
I’ll die on my dumb hill, the one where I say: the best time to visit and...
17th Dec 2025
Ridgeline subscribers —
I’ll die on my dumb hill, the one where I say: the best time to visit and walk (most) of Japan is the end of November and the start of December. I think a lot of folks have a kind of North Eastern American mentality, where by the time December hits New...
the late review
the mirror-self
an obsession
12th Dec 2025
This Space
This Space of Writing ten years on
Today in 2015 my blog-collection This Space of Writing was published as a book. An ideal Christmas...
11th Dec 2025
Today in 2015 my blog-collection This Space of Writing was published as a book. An ideal Christmas gift. Not a happy memory to be honest; an editor would have made it a better book. However, I can't fault the cover design, and I was lucky to have Flowerville's permission to use...
The Elysian
The third annual Elysian print volume is here
One year of my work, printed for collectors.
9th Dec 2025
One year of my work, printed for collectors.
Josh Thompson
Demonstration Junction Repair on Downing in Denver
I was out and about by scooter a recent warm january saturday evening.
Earlier in the week a few...
9th Dec 2025
I was out and about by scooter a recent warm january saturday evening.
Earlier in the week a few companies had been operating drilling equipment in the area. I’m not sure what they were doing, but they were scattered all about the neighborhood.
The work was done, but traffic...
Wuthering...
Marlowe's restless Doctor Faustus - I’ll burn my books!
In Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus the great
scholar sells his soul to the devil in exchange...
8th Dec 2025
In Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus the great
scholar sells his soul to the devil in exchange for twenty-four years of power
and knowledge. After learning and doing
everything he wants he spends Acts III and IV playing an increasingly stupid
series of pranks on anyone and...
Steven Scrawls
Sunday Scrawl #2: Mimicry
Sunday Scrawl #2: Mimicry
The knock comes at 3:31 AM, the metal bunker door reverberating with
two...
7th Dec 2025
Sunday Scrawl #2: Mimicry
The knock comes at 3:31 AM, the metal bunker door reverberating with
two sharp raps, and I shake myself from slumber and check the
monitor.
Tammi’s face. But then, it’s always Tammi’s face. I unmute the
connection.
“The summer after graduation,” I say....
Ploum.net
Is Pixelfed sawing off the branch that the Fediverse is sitting on?
Is Pixelfed sawing off the branch that the Fediverse is sitting on?
In January 2025, I became aware...
4th Dec 2025
Is Pixelfed sawing off the branch that the Fediverse is sitting on?
In January 2025, I became aware that there was a real problem with Pixelfed, the "Instagram inspired Fediverse client". The problem is threatening the whole Fediverse. As Pixelfed received a lot of media...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Latent Co. is Forming
An homage to the Mac
Ryan Carver, Juan Pablo Zambrano, and I have formed Latent Co., a software...
2nd Dec 2025
An homage to the Mac
Ryan Carver, Juan Pablo Zambrano, and I have formed Latent Co., a software company. Driven by the creative tooling we’ve cut our teeth on and drawing on our product and imaging experience, we’re making a product for Mac.
Ryan and I go back a while: Typekit,...
Anecdotal Evidence
'But to Divert a Fierce Banditti'
The English poet William
Cowper (1731-1800) suffered his first attack of mental illness – today we...
1st Dec 2025
The English poet William
Cowper (1731-1800) suffered his first attack of mental illness – today we would
likely call it profound depression – at age thirty-two. Before then, while
studying law in the Temple, Cowper dined every Thursday with friends at the
Nonsense Club. He and a...
The American Scholar
Hold the Salt
Reconsidering an ancient city's bad reputation
The post Hold the Salt appeared first on The American...
1st Dec 2025
Reconsidering an ancient city's bad reputation
The post Hold the Salt appeared first on The American Scholar.
Steven Scrawls
Sunday Scrawl #1: Learning Not to Know
Sunday Scrawl #1: Learning
Not to Know
When my parents sat me down in the living room the night...
30th Nov 2025
Sunday Scrawl #1: Learning
Not to Know
When my parents sat me down in the living room the night before I was
supposed to leave for college, I thought they were going to tell me they
were getting a divorce. At the time, it was the most terrifying upheaval
I could imagine.
Instead,...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Blank Spaces, Radicalized Offlineness, Curious Protagonists
Roden Readers —
Ahh, it’s nice. The outside. The outside is nice. Finally, very nice. The best...
28th Nov 2025
Roden Readers —
Ahh, it’s nice. The outside. The outside is nice. Finally, very nice. The best season in Japan. The leaves, they change. Out yonder, Mt. Fuji performs foojalicousness on the horizon as I type these very words. Being a bit coy, hiding, peeking, hiding once again....
Ben Borgers
Don’t standardize your company’s coding agents yet
10th Nov 2025
ben-mini
Everything is a Spreadsheet
Revisiting an old 2020 Invest Like the Best podcast that interviews John Collision, co-founder of...
9th Nov 2025
Revisiting an old 2020 Invest Like the Best podcast that interviews John Collision, co-founder of Stripe. When asked about his thoughts on no-code:
I don’t think no-code is fully a panacea. Even when you’re doing no-code, you’re still reasoning about the relations between...
Wuthering...
History before Shakespeare - The Famous Victories of Henry V - he hath taken the great raze of...
The establishment in the 1570s of permanent theaters just
outside of the walls of London led to a...
8th Nov 2025
The establishment in the 1570s of permanent theaters just
outside of the walls of London led to a massive increase in the demand for new plays. Every available source of stories was looted. English history proved to be especially popular
or at least easy to adapt to the...
Naz Hamid • Journal
The Weeks
Percolating on design
At the end of every year I start to feel it. 2024 ended on a tumultuous note....
7th Nov 2025
Percolating on design
At the end of every year I start to feel it. 2024 ended on a tumultuous note. I dive into introspection, combing over the last year in search of pattern and meaning. I gathered what I found at the bottom of the ocean floor, coming up for air with the...
the late review
the gallery of maladies
on long covid, hypochondria, and the forums
6th Nov 2025
on long covid, hypochondria, and the forums
This Space
The crisis of narration and the future of the novel, part two
Byung-Chul Han says in The Crisis of Narration that modernity "is animated by a belief in progress"...
6th Nov 2025
Byung-Chul Han says in The Crisis of Narration that modernity "is animated by a belief in progress" and its narratives "radiate an aura because the future is a phenomenon of distance". This is evident in our reverence for the monuments of modernism, a reverence formed by wonder...
Escaping Flatland
A list of books and essays that I love
I’m purposefully not looking at my bookshelf to make sure I only pick books that I’ve thought about...
4th Nov 2025
I’m purposefully not looking at my bookshelf to make sure I only pick books that I’ve thought about so much that they immediately occur to me.
The Perry Bible...
The Message
The post The Message appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
3rd Nov 2025
The post The Message appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
The Elysian
The internet is dead—long live print media!
A retreat to the forest.
3rd Nov 2025
The American Scholar
Natale Adgnot
Country couture
The post Natale Adgnot appeared first on The American Scholar.
3rd Nov 2025
Country couture
The post Natale Adgnot appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Marginalian
How to Be a Lichen: Adaptive Strategies for the Vulnerabilities of Being Human from Nature’s Tiny...
The hero of the modern myth is the victim, the emblem of the modern self the pronoun. We seem to...
2nd Nov 2025
The hero of the modern myth is the victim, the emblem of the modern self the pronoun. We seem to have forgotten that we are survivors of innumerable spasms of space and time, creatures who never would have given up the gills for lungs if we attached identity to gillness. Not so...
Anecdotal Evidence
'In Those Old Marshes Yet the Rifles Lie'
“But before he could
install himself in his Oxford college, Britain declared war on the...
1st Nov 2025
“But before he could
install himself in his Oxford college, Britain declared war on the Central
Powers, and soon this quiet young poet and literary scholar found himself commissioned
in the Royal Sussex Regiment, where his shyness won him the nickname Bunny but
his bravery won...
Ploum.net
Quand éclatera la bulle IA…
Quand éclatera la bulle IA…
Comme le souligne Ed Zitron, toute la bulle actuelle est basée sur 7 ou...
1st Nov 2025
Quand éclatera la bulle IA…
Comme le souligne Ed Zitron, toute la bulle actuelle est basée sur 7 ou 8 entreprises qui s’échangent des promesses de s’échanger des milliards d’euros lorsque tous les habitants de la planète dépenseront en moyenne 100€ par mois pour utiliser ChatGPT....
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Full Days and the Long Walk
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from the other side of my ~220 kilometer walk through the Kiso...
27th Oct 2025
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from the other side of my ~220 kilometer walk through the Kiso Valley.
I sent a shorter version of this newsletter as the last issue of the (the entire walk is) Between Two Mountains pop-up newsletter. This version is quite expanded. The archives of...
Josh Thompson
Movies I went out of my way to watch
Introduction
I’ve long liked to accrue certain lists of things I like within certain categories. to...
22nd Oct 2025
Introduction
I’ve long liked to accrue certain lists of things I like within certain categories. to list appreciable books invites a similar list for movies and movie-like things.
It feels strange to list all of these movies like this, in some ways, especially the first two...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Million-Mile Tech
Durability is the ultimate feature.
I wrote in October last year that I wouldn’t upgrade my iPhone...
21st Oct 2025
Durability is the ultimate feature.
I wrote in October last year that I wouldn’t upgrade my iPhone 14 Pro. That’s also not quite true.
I did upgrade my phone — with a new battery and leather case. This isn’t what people typically think of when they say they upgraded their phone....
Ploum.net
La justesse au lieu de l’exactitude
La justesse au lieu de l’exactitude
Où je parle de hockey sous-marin, d’avions militaires et du...
14th Oct 2025
La justesse au lieu de l’exactitude
Où je parle de hockey sous-marin, d’avions militaires et du pourrissement des oranges punks.
L’arbitraire de l’arbitrage
C’est un fait historique peu connu, mais j’ai, brièvement, été arbitre sportif. J’ai en effet arbitré des matchs de...
Wuthering...
What I Read in September 2025 – A hand that taught what might be said in rhyme
My writing on Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great
plays has been hampered by an apparent...
7th Oct 2025
My writing on Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great
plays has been hampered by an apparent post-France short circuit in my ability
to write. So I will put up some easier
posts to remind myself how to write.
I had two major projects this month, one ongoing, one returned
to...
The Elysian
Hackathon: Let's build a profit-sharing platform for writers
Creatives and developers—join us this Friday!
1st Oct 2025
Creatives and developers—join us this Friday!
Escaping Flatland
How I read
Reading well is an endurance sport. I sometimes talk to people who want to become serious readers...
1st Oct 2025
Reading well is an endurance sport. I sometimes talk to people who want to become serious readers and so pick up Kafka’s The Trial or something like that—it is about as pleasant as running a marathon untrained.
Anecdotal Evidence
'Silence Where Hope Was'
I’m coming to suspect that
nothing is ever irretrievably lost to memory. The other night I dreamed...
1st Oct 2025
I’m coming to suspect that
nothing is ever irretrievably lost to memory. The other night I dreamed of a
schoolmate I hardly knew who died sixty years ago. His name was Randy Peck. He
had a twin sister named Mandy. Their names invited jokes, of course, as did
their Georgia accents...
The American Scholar
Leashed
The post Leashed appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Oct 2025
The post Leashed appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Marginalian
The Feather Detective: How Roxie Laybourne Pioneered Forensic Ornithology
You wouldn’t know it, looking at the tiny elderly woman in the white lab coat bent over a table in a...
1st Oct 2025
You wouldn’t know it, looking at the tiny elderly woman in the white lab coat bent over a table in a halogen-lit government office, you wouldn’t know she had spent her youth doing science with her whole body: extracting herself from a deadly mudflat with stubbornness and applied...
Josh Thompson
A Junction Efficiency Metric: Vehicles Per Square Meter Per Minute
still sorta drafty, but also its entirely possible the point is easily apprehended, and I’m way...
13th Sep 2025
still sorta drafty, but also its entirely possible the point is easily apprehended, and I’m way over-explaining
Introduction
Elsewhere, I’ve been referring to a ‘vehicles per square meter per minute’ calculation, when talking about junctions on mobility networks. The first place...
This Space
Reading, forgetting
When John Updike read À la recherche du temps perdu after having read Scott-Moncrieff's translation,...
10th Sep 2025
When John Updike read À la recherche du temps perdu after having read Scott-Moncrieff's translation, he was surprised to find Proust less Proustian, the epithet we associate with flowery prose blossoming over prodigious sentences proliferating clause within clause. While I cannot...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Have the Coffee
Carve space out for opportunity.
After speaking in Kuala Lumpur last week, people stayed to discuss...
9th Sep 2025
Carve space out for opportunity.
After speaking in Kuala Lumpur last week, people stayed to discuss the topics we’d covered, forming a small group.
Building community was a weighty topic during the event, with myself, host Shaza Hakim, and many attendees speaking to it. In this...
The Marginalian
On Looking: Poet Lia Purpura on the Art of Noticing
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands...
4th Sep 2025
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way,” William Blake wrote in his most spirited letter. “As a man is, so he sees.” Because how we look at the world shapes the world we see, every act of noticing is an act...
Escaping Flatland
Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself and bloom
When people talk about the value of paying attention and slowing down, they often make it sound...
4th Sep 2025
When people talk about the value of paying attention and slowing down, they often make it sound prudish and monk-like. But we shouldn’t forget how interesting and overpoweringly pleasurable sustained attention can be.
The Elysian
Every country ranked from best to worst
A report card for the whole world.
2nd Sep 2025
A report card for the whole world.
Wuthering...
Ralph Roister Doister, among the first regular English comedies - Then to our recorder with...
Ralph Roister Doister (written c. 1550, published 1567)
once had the distinction of being the first...
2nd Sep 2025
Ralph Roister Doister (written c. 1550, published 1567)
once had the distinction of being the first comedy in English. Please see this 1911 edition of the play
calling it “the first regular English comedy.”
I do not know what 19th century critics meant by “regular” but this...
Ploum.net
Une vie sans notifications
Une vie sans notifications
Переведено на русский Wandering Thinker
Avertissement : Cet article...
2nd Sep 2025
Une vie sans notifications
Переведено на русский Wandering Thinker
Avertissement : Cet article parle de mon expérience avec le Mudita Kompakt, mais, n’étant pas lié à cette firme, je ne répondrai à aucune question concernant cet appareil ni le Hisense A5. Tout ce que j’ai à dire...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] A new Popup Walk, Lots of Books
Roden Readers —
Ahoy from Crisptown, population: Everyone in Japan. The summer is done. Thank...
2nd Sep 2025
Roden Readers —
Ahoy from Crisptown, population: Everyone in Japan. The summer is done. Thank glorious gods be, the summer is done. (Mostly.) I can feel my brain starting to solidify again, returning to its natural state after three months of relentless broiled liquefaction.
In...
Anecdotal Evidence
At the Bookstore
I work hard to resist sentimental impulses and
indulgence in nostalgia. Ours is a sentimental age,...
1st Sep 2025
I work hard to resist sentimental impulses and
indulgence in nostalgia. Ours is a sentimental age, and at the same time an
angry, unforgiving age. One strain of sentimentality especially prevalent among
the aging is a rueful, self-pitying lament for what no longer exists....
The American Scholar
The Stolen Lines
The post The Stolen Lines appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Sep 2025
The post The Stolen Lines appeared first on The American Scholar.
This Space
Reading, detachment
In an in-between time in which nothing begins or ends, in which blank patience takes the place of...
28th Aug 2025
In an in-between time in which nothing begins or ends, in which blank patience takes the place of activity, I picked two books from my shelves stubbornly remote from utility, lacking the intimacy of possession, and a third in which I had never read a key section. The first was...
Ploum.net
Pas de médaille pour les résistants
Pas de médaille pour les résistants
Si vous voulez changer le monde, il faut entrer en résistance....
26th Aug 2025
Pas de médaille pour les résistants
Si vous voulez changer le monde, il faut entrer en résistance. Il faut accepter d’agir et de se taire. Il faut accepter de perdre du confort, des opportunités, des relations. Et il ne faut espérer aucune récompense, aucune reconnaissance.
Un...
Escaping Flatland
If you're facing a complicated decision, your first job isn't to find a solution, but to understand...
Some housekeeping:
18th Aug 2025
Josh Thompson
Taiwanese & Balinese Scooter Norms
Sometimes I’ve told people “I ride with Asian scooter norms.” or “I ride with Taiwanese and Balinese...
14th Aug 2025
Sometimes I’ve told people “I ride with Asian scooter norms.” or “I ride with Taiwanese and Balinese scooter norms”. Here’s what I mean by this statement.
a ‘norm’ is ‘something common, accepted, sometimes codified in law, but certainly accepted as ‘right’ or ‘acceptable’ or...
Wuthering...
What I Read in July 2025 - books are quiet and unobtrusive, and do not try to hustle the reader
In general, however, he [Louis XVI] preferred writing down his thoughts
instead of uttering them by...
8th Aug 2025
In general, however, he [Louis XVI] preferred writing down his thoughts
instead of uttering them by word of mouth; and he was fond of reading, for
books are quiet and unobtrusive, and do not try to hustle the reader. (Stefan
Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 1932, p. 77 of the 1933...
the late review
the perils of writing about oneself
some essays about writing essays pt 2
5th Aug 2025
some essays about writing essays pt 2
Naz Hamid • Journal
Different Think
I don't write about Apple. I had to this time.
It started with a magazine ad. A musician I admired...
5th Aug 2025
I don't write about Apple. I had to this time.
It started with a magazine ad. A musician I admired was pictured: Henry Rollins, looking as he does, in black, shorts, tattoos visible and holding a computer. An Apple Powerbook.
He appears with Terry Ellis from Imago Records,...
The Marginalian
Blink Twice to Quell a Quasar: Carl Sagan on Superstition
Growing up in Bulgaria, in a city teeming in stray dogs and cars, I was deeply distressed by the...
4th Aug 2025
Growing up in Bulgaria, in a city teeming in stray dogs and cars, I was deeply distressed by the sight of each dead animal in the streets between home and school — deaths I could not prevent and could not bear. To cope with the aching helplessness, I developed a private...
The Elysian
The TERRAFORM print pamphlet is now available—here's what we earned
Plus, join our literary salon discussion this week!
4th Aug 2025
Plus, join our literary salon discussion this week!
The American Scholar
“Dead Man’s Hand”
The post “Dead Man’s Hand” appeared first on The American Scholar.
4th Aug 2025
The post “Dead Man’s Hand” appeared first on The American Scholar.
Anecdotal Evidence
'A Book That Everybody Can Understand'
A partner at the Houston
law firm where my youngest son is working as an intern this summer has...
1st Aug 2025
A partner at the Houston
law firm where my youngest son is working as an intern this summer has loaned
him two nineteenth-century law books. Both were compiled by John G. Wells
(1821-80) and were bestsellers in their day, long before the practice of law
was fully...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Summer Heatray Days
Roden Readers —
Hello from the swelterdome, the Cape O‘ Temperature Oppression, a.k.a. the Kanto...
1st Aug 2025
Roden Readers —
Hello from the swelterdome, the Cape O‘ Temperature Oppression, a.k.a. the Kanto area of Japan in July / August. It is so spectacularly, consistently hot that it’s hard to overstate just how bananas this heat is, how all consumingly present and manic it feels....
Ploum.net
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 4)
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 4)
Previously in "20 years of Linux on the Deskop": After...
23rd Jul 2025
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 4)
Previously in "20 years of Linux on the Deskop": After contributing to the launch of Ubuntu as the "perfect Linux desktop", Ploum realises that Ubuntu is drifting away from both Debian and GNOME. In the meantime, mobile computing...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Beyond Curiosity
I'm not sure he meant it that way.
We were walking together in the shopping center. The central...
15th Jul 2025
I'm not sure he meant it that way.
We were walking together in the shopping center. The central escalators made you loop around on the floor on the short side to proceed to the next set. As we neared the ground floor, headed to the food court sub-level, my father posited a...
ben-mini
Claude is kicking ChatGPT’s butt (in one thing)
Back in high school, I remember receiving an email for a study guide from a friend. Instead of the...
15th Jul 2025
Back in high school, I remember receiving an email for a study guide from a friend. Instead of the PDF coming attached, it was a link to a site called Dropbox.
Upon opening the file, you create an account. From there you’re introduced to a feature stack that went well beyond any...
the late review
the dark frisson of knowledge
on the Wikipedian sublime
12th Jul 2025
on the Wikipedian sublime
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Overtourism in Japan, and How it Hurts Small Businesses
Ridgeline subscribers —
I’m Craig Mod and I’ve been buuuuuuurnt out this last month following my...
10th Jul 2025
Ridgeline subscribers —
I’m Craig Mod and I’ve been buuuuuuurnt out this last month following my epic Things Become Other Things mega book tour. Finally, I’m gingerly emerging from my recovery cave. (But reserve the right to retreat again.) Here’s a fresh dispatch — in praise of...
This Space
The way of arrival
Two intellectual memoirs dominated my reading over Spring, three if WG Sebald's Silent Catastrophes...
8th Jul 2025
Two intellectual memoirs dominated my reading over Spring, three if WG Sebald's Silent Catastrophes can be included given that its analysis of the careers of various Austrian writers illuminates Sebald's own literary trajectory.1 Peter Brown's Journeys of a Mind: A Life in...
Josh Thompson
Do Not Neglect The Needful Role of the Witness
Introduction
Elsewhere I’ve mentioned “the role of the witness”, been sitting on this as a draft (in...
7th Jul 2025
Introduction
Elsewhere I’ve mentioned “the role of the witness”, been sitting on this as a draft (in my head) for a long time.
I absolutely cannot move away from the phrasing:
Do not neglect the needful role of the Witness
I capitalize Witness, as this is a real “role”, and it’s...
Escaping Flatland
On agency
Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and...
7th Jul 2025
Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and responsibly
Wuthering...
What I Read in June 2025 - A life of agony was all for naught.
My summer plan was to read, short, easy books, and I almost
succeeded. I read short, difficult...
3rd Jul 2025
My summer plan was to read, short, easy books, and I almost
succeeded. I read short, difficult books
in French, and accidentally read several grim, sad, violent books, alongside some
playful nonsense.
FICTION
The Field of Life and Death (1935), Xiao Hong – For example. Ninety...
The Marginalian
Vision of the Womb and Vision of the Brain: H.D. on the Two Kinds of Seeing and the Key to Over-mind...
“One must be a seer, make oneself a seer,” Arthur Rimbaud wrote, “by a long, gigantic and rational...
2nd Jul 2025
“One must be a seer, make oneself a seer,” Arthur Rimbaud wrote, “by a long, gigantic and rational derangement of all the senses.” As more and more of our senses are being amputated by the blade of our image-centric culture, reducing the vast and delicate sensorium of human...
The Elysian
Maybe an exowomb is better than pregnancy
The Pod Generation’s near-future satire pits nature against technology. Which is the better curator?
2nd Jul 2025
The Pod Generation’s near-future satire pits nature against technology. Which is the better curator?
Anecdotal Evidence
'Superintending What He Cannot Regulate'
In my family we can’t get
away from the “Y” chromosome. Having children is known as “going to the...
1st Jul 2025
In my family we can’t get
away from the “Y” chromosome. Having children is known as “going to the Y.” I
have three sons, no daughters, and my brother, who died last summer, was my
sole sibling. My mother had five brothers, no sisters. My father, two brothers,
no sisters, etc....
The American Scholar
“The Fig Tree” by Ruth Stone
Poems read aloud, beautifully
The post “The Fig Tree” by Ruth Stone appeared first on The American...
1st Jul 2025
Poems read aloud, beautifully
The post “The Fig Tree” by Ruth Stone appeared first on The American Scholar.
ben-mini
Trust and Procedural Fetishism
I recently finished reading Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The book explains the...
14th Jun 2025
I recently finished reading Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The book explains the various missteps taken by the U.S. government that led us to where we are today: a bureaucratic sludge of policies and regulations that’s caused ambitious projects to go over budget...
This Space
On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej Balle
The premise of this multi-volume novel is simple: a modern-day French woman called Tara finds...
9th Jun 2025
The premise of this multi-volume novel is simple: a modern-day French woman called Tara finds herself stuck inside the eighteenth day of a November. The nineteenth never appears. On the 121st iteration of the same day she begins to write by describing the sounds made by her...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] A (Very) Short Walk With Rich Roll
Ridgeline subscribers —
For years, Kevin Kelly and I have been inviting (to no avail) Rich Roll on...
4th Jun 2025
Ridgeline subscribers —
For years, Kevin Kelly and I have been inviting (to no avail) Rich Roll on Walk and Talks. So it was with great delight that about a month ago, I (Craig Mod, author of this newsletter, Ridgeline; thanks for subscribing) flew out to LA to go on the Rich...
The Elysian
Creating a global safety net without nation-states
A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
3rd Jun 2025
A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
The American Scholar
Sticking With It
A sobering chronicle of our toxic times
The post Sticking With It appeared first on The American...
2nd Jun 2025
A sobering chronicle of our toxic times
The post Sticking With It appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Marginalian
The One Hundred Milliseconds Between the World and You: Oliver Sacks on Perception
“If the doors of perception were cleansed,” William Blake wrote, “everything would appear to man as...
2nd Jun 2025
“If the doors of perception were cleansed,” William Blake wrote, “everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” But we are finite creatures, in time and in space, and there is a limit to how much reality we can bear — evolution gave us consciousness so that we may sieve the...
Wuthering...
What I Read in May 2025 – “There’s the store that’s shaped like a duck,” Franca said.
First, my poor email subscribers missed some of the installments
of my newsletter about Anthony...
2nd Jun 2025
First, my poor email subscribers missed some of the installments
of my newsletter about Anthony Powell.
If this keeps happening I will have to think of something or even do
something. Here they are:
A skippable piece of throat-clearing about the roman
fleuve.
What I think...
Anecdotal Evidence
'The Things Which Make a Life of Ease'
R.L. Barth, our finest living
epigrammist (admittedly, not a vast job description), has sent me
his...
1st Jun 2025
R.L. Barth, our finest living
epigrammist (admittedly, not a vast job description), has sent me
his translation of a well-known epigram by Martial, the Roman master of the pithy
form. Bob found it among his papers and doesn’t remember making it. “[T]ranslating
something [Ben]...
This Space
A mighty contagious absence, part two
On submission and resistance to AI-generated literature
To great writers, finished works weigh...
26th May 2025
On submission and resistance to AI-generated literature
To great writers, finished works weigh lighter than those fragments on which they work throughout their lives. For only the more feeble and distracted take an inimitable pleasure in conclusions, feeling themselves...
Wuthering...
Anthony Powell's style and sensibility - Life is full of internal dramas, instantaneous and...
Nicholas Jenkins – I did not register his name at all for
the entire first novel, but I know it now...
22nd May 2025
Nicholas Jenkins – I did not register his name at all for
the entire first novel, but I know it now – goes to school, gets a job in
publishing, writes a novel, gets a girlfriend, gets a job as a script writer, splits
with the girlfriend, and writes another novel or two, none of...
Ben Borgers
The morning of graduation
21st May 2025
the late review
against the fleeing to europe industrial complex
a brief polemic
18th May 2025
Josh Thompson
Relational Antipatterns
Introduction
This list of relational anti-patterns started as a draft of a written list in a small...
12th May 2025
Introduction
This list of relational anti-patterns started as a draft of a written list in a small notebook I carry with me most of the time.
Eventually, I was jotting down notes for both this this particular list and the list on the piece on sadness and grief, and there is...
The Elysian
We’ve raised $50,000—now I’m writing a book!
My vision for the future of capitalism has been greenlit. Now let’s make it a reality.
5th May 2025
My vision for the future of capitalism has been greenlit. Now let’s make it a reality.
The American Scholar
Lorena Diosdado
Multifaceted Latinx identities
The post Lorena Diosdado appeared first on The American Scholar.
5th May 2025
Multifaceted Latinx identities
The post Lorena Diosdado appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Marginalian
States of Possession: Erich Neumann on Creativity, the Unconscious, and the Psychology of...
There are things in life that come over you sudden as a flash flood, total as an eclipse — the great...
2nd May 2025
There are things in life that come over you sudden as a flash flood, total as an eclipse — the great loves, the great creative passions, the great urges to conquer a mountain or a theorem. They can feel like an alien invasion, like the immense hand of some imperative has seized...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Hark, a Book Appears!
Roden Readers —
Howdy! From the sky! En route to NYC! I’m Craig Mod and this is Roden, a newsletter...
2nd May 2025
Roden Readers —
Howdy! From the sky! En route to NYC! I’m Craig Mod and this is Roden, a newsletter sent via magic tubes.
Since returning from Spain I’ve been in full-bore April Pod Mode, recording a dozen+ interviews and working on a bunch of essays for various publications in...
Naz Hamid • Journal
The Abstraction Gap
Bridging the design-development gap as AI rises.
There’s a frustrating gap in how development...
1st May 2025
Bridging the design-development gap as AI rises.
There’s a frustrating gap in how development projects present themselves. What looks straightforward on GitHub — ‘just run this command!’ — quickly spirals into an odyssey of sudo permissions, package managers, and missing...
Escaping Flatland
Drift
Right now it is April 18 and I am walking along the steep coast at the peninsula on the Northeastern...
1st May 2025
Right now it is April 18 and I am walking along the steep coast at the peninsula on the Northeastern corner of our island.
Anecdotal Evidence
'Poor Naked Wretches, Whereso’er You Are'
Aleksander Wat (1900-67)
was a Polish poet and one-time Communist hounded and imprisoned by Nazis...
1st May 2025
Aleksander Wat (1900-67)
was a Polish poet and one-time Communist hounded and imprisoned by Nazis and
Soviets alike. In 1964 while visiting California, he recorded lengthy
conversations with fellow poet and Pole Czesław Miłosz. The transcripts were
translated by Richard Lourie...
This Space
An anniversary appeal
On this day last year I began posting every day for 39 days to commemorate 39 years since I began...
23rd Apr 2025
On this day last year I began posting every day for 39 days to commemorate 39 years since I began reading books. I dug out a folder of book lists I'd kept since 1986, chose one book from each year that I'd not written about before and wrote what ever the book suggested to me....
Naz Hamid • Journal
Modus Operandi
My operating rules and way of living.
This is a m.o. (mo) page, or modus operandi page. It lists out...
14th Apr 2025
My operating rules and way of living.
This is a m.o. (mo) page, or modus operandi page. It lists out the way I approach my life and the rules I apply to it to thrive. This is a living document and will be added to as more comes to mind, or as I develop new ones.
It is mirrored at...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Talking While Walking the Camino Francés in Spain
Ridgeline subscribers —
Heeeeeeellllloooooooo to the many many many many new subscribers who came...
14th Apr 2025
Ridgeline subscribers —
Heeeeeeellllloooooooo to the many many many many new subscribers who came from the Tim Pod(s). Welcome.
I’m Craig, and this is Ridgeline (my newsletter focused on walking (Roden, the other newsletter is more general)), which is supposed to be a weekly...
Josh Thompson
Isometric Deadlift Holds (for Climbing!)
alternative titles: yielding isometric mid-thigh pin pulls, isometric deadlift 'holds' for fun and...
3rd Apr 2025
alternative titles: yielding isometric mid-thigh pin pulls, isometric deadlift 'holds' for fun and climbing
Introduction
A few months ago, I began some barefoot sprints up a hill at a local park, and discussed also adding heavy kettlebell swings.
My back started feeling great,...
the late review
bride and sister, be to your brother
sentimental incest in Die Walküre
3rd Apr 2025
sentimental incest in Die Walküre
Full Width 
Shortcuts 
Sign Up 
Log In 
Articles 
Reading List 