Bluesky’s Quest to Build Nontoxic Social Media. newyorker.com. Kyle Chayka writes an in-depth profile of Bluesky CEO Jay Graeber.
“I’m Not a ‘Gatsby’ Scholar. I’m a ‘Gatsby’ Weirdo.” Andrew Clark has listened to “The Great Gatsby,” read by Jake Gyllenhaal, more than 200 times since 2020. This is a lovely short essay about a lot more than one man’s obsession with a single book. nytimes.com
I think I’ll sign up for the Pro subscription for ChatGPT again. I’m intrigued by the new persistent memory feature.
The Week ChatGPT Truly Became an Assistant. parkerortolani.blog
A roomba that continuously says “polish polish” would get annoying quickly.
The Problem With Abe Lincoln's Face: The president's iconic beard was a product of the anxious new realities of the photographic age.
James Lundberg, writing at The Atlantic, describes how the new technology of photography changed people’s perceptions of themselves and their faces.
When Abraham Lincoln was running for President in 1860, a little girl wrote him a letter advising him to grow a beard to improve his appearance. And so he did.
“If you will let your whiskers grow,” she wrote, “you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin.”
I think this story is familiar to most Americans, taught in schools. What I did not realize until reading this article is that Lincoln’s looks were an issue because photography was new — it first came to the US 21 years earlier. Photo studios quickly swept the country and set off a fad for portraiture.
Those having their likeness taken for the first time did so with some combination of wonder and trepidation. Posing before the camera, early sitters said they felt drafts of air on their face or tingling in their cheeks. The process was orchestrated by a camera operator under a blanket–whom [Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing in The Atlantic in 1859] described as a chemical-wielding “skeleton shape, of about a man’s height, its head covered with a black veil.” The experience seemed to partake of the occult. And the results, often ghostly because of the long exposure times required, only strengthened such feelings.
These early sitters weren’t entirely wrong. There was no sorcery involved, but something was happening to them in front of the camera. Becoming an image, reckoning with an entirely new form of self-presentation, introduced an intense awareness not just of the self, but of the face.
Parallels to the later invention of television and smartphones are apparent.
RIP George Bell, 67, who stood 7'8" and was listed by Guinness as the tallest man in America. “I never had anyone else around who was 7-8 who I could talk to and who could help me learn how to handle it,” he said. “Fortunately for me, I’m a very patient person.” nytimes.com
A Rhode Island state legislator suggests getting around the Trump tariffs using a 1663 “royal charter” to declare the state a “free trade zone.” Sure, why not? abc6.com
Zuckerberg in the dock: The antitrust case against Meta is strong and the Trump White House seems inclined to pursue it aggressively. [pluralistic.net]
“You have only two choices if Trump comes after you: 1. If Domestic, fight. 2. If foreign, and he’s only threatening, tell him to pound sand and ignore him. If he does something, retaliate.” [ianwelsh.net]
Welsh is talking about strategy, not ethics. Obedience doesn’t work with Trump, who sees compliance as weakness and comes back for more.