The Breads Roundup. No 104
Internet Journalists, Food in Alaska and How to Read more
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Hello 2022 Class of the Sparky Polastri Dance Academy,
Had a crazy internet week last week. Some of y’all are here because I tweeted out some of my photography and it went viral on Twitter and then you signed up for the newsletter. It was more likes than I ever got or will ever get for the rest of my life. (Not that it matters because we shouldn’t tie up our value in those things!) This is that tweet though. Very random.
My life has completely changed. I am now very rich and have had many speaking engagements because of this. I now have a chauffeur and multiple 401ks. Michael Strahan is now my best friend. I am lying. Nothing has changed at all except for a few friends making fun of me for “being famous.” It was an interesting experience though. Anecdotally I noticed in the early stages that most of the replies were positive and fun loving and as it got bigger the comments got more toxic and more troll filled. Not necessarily directed at me, but just people wanting to fight with each other and being big old pieces of crap in general. But overall it was cool if not revealing of the human element of social media.
Also if you want to actually buy one of these as a prints I’m selling them! I’m working with a small local printer using super high quality paper and ink (and not actually really making much money from these cause I’m using the best materials I can so they look really good).
Anyways, here’s the linkies. Enjoy.
Five Journalists On Covering The Internet In Search Of Meaning, Not Viral Trends
Just Give Me A Synopsis:
See how the people who live their lives on the internet in order to write about it think about the internet. It's a toxic and beautiful place with tons of random corners and it is not just a segment of our culture like maybe it was 15 years ago – now it is literally just the culture.
And A Quote From The Article Please:
But really, algorithms are designed to exacerbate humans’ most base, shittiest impulses, the impulses that like to look at “pretty” people—our version of pretty is obviously this very historicized and contextualized version of what we think of as desirable. We want to see pretty people doing fancy, rich things. We want to see fights, we want to see drama, we want to see gross, horrible things and really horrible takes and really cringey things and just the most extreme version of everything.
And Tell Me Why I should Care:
These are the people most in touch with how the internet works, it's good to learn from the experts and see how they think about this place that is both so illuminating and so toxic. They also just have a lot of really good tips and hacks for how to manage internet use responsibly while still getting the most out of it. On top of everything it's important to keep in perspective that there is a life outside of the life online.
In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything
Just Give Me A Synopsis:
A report from a person who lives in the middle of nowhere Alaska on how she survives through a combination of modern and old school sustenance measures. Amazon Prime and Caribou hunting mentioned in the same article? Sign me up!
And A Quote From The Article Please:
Bettles is part of a vast array of rural Alaska communities, most of them Alaska Native, that remain disconnected from America’s road-based supply chain. Many industries, including fishing, timber, and oil, also require people to live in remote work or fish camps. Provisioning, or seasonal pantry stocking with shelf-stable dry goods, is a deeply embedded part of the state’s food culture. When you move to a rural place like Bettles, it fundamentally changes the way you think about how to procure food and how to create a community in which to share it.
And Tell Me Why I should Care:
Many of us are so used to lives of convenience thanks to technology, that we don't often devote any brain space to the idea that there are still some parts of the world that don't operate the same way we do. That goes for far flung parts of the globe (like this article about Alaska) or places that are probably closer to home than we realize. So, while much of how they eat in Alaska is alien to us, it's not so different in a lot of ways in that it's all about connecting with and helping others.
How To Fall Back In Love With Reading
Just Give Me A Synopsis:
This article has some very solid advice on how to be better about reading books. We still read a lot nowadays, but it happens to often be repetitive, reductive crap in very small doses off of our smartphones. Probably unsurprisingly though, reading books, any books, makes a huge difference for us mentally and we should do it more. And while this article does teach you how to learn to read good, it unfortunately does not teach you how to learn to do other things good too.
And A Quote From The Article Please:
In fact, numerous studies seem to suggest that when it comes to the psychological benefits of reading, just doing it might matter as much or more than the content. Researchers have found that people who spend a few hours per week reading books live longer than those who don’t read, or who read only articles in periodicals; the sustained act of cognition that books demand seems to be the deciding factor. Other research finds a vast array of social-cognitive benefits that come with reading, particularly reading fiction, aiding the brain’s development in understanding others and imagining the world.
And Tell Me Why I should Care:
Reading books is a huge step for us to reclaim a lot of what we've lost in the attention economy. This article talks a lot about the importance of "sustained attention" something many of us have hopelessly lost the ability to perform (myself included) in the modern age. Just a lit bit of discipline in settling down to read book can have a huge impact on our mental health and brain elasticity. And while I'm ashamed to say I read on a kindle, I will say that it really helps me in terms of curbing screen addiction, cause in some ways it is still a screen, so I think it is able to fool my dumb brain into thinking I'm getting the dopamine inducing screen time my phone is used to providing. I also rent library books on my kindle, so I don't pay for anything, nor do I give Amazon money, so it's a win win. Anyways, follow this article if you want to live (a life of better reading)!
Other Interesting Things You May Or May Not Care About
The Quest To Find $181 Million In Bitcoin Buried In A Dump
We've all heard about this dumbo who threw out his hard-drive with a bunch of Bitcoin on it and is desperately trying to search for it. Well he hasn't even been able to search for it yet because the city won't give him access to the dump. This article is full of all the details of his proposal, which include AI sorting machines, robot dogs, venture funding and philanthropic endeavors. My money is on the fact that there is no chance this drive isn't damaged beyond functionality and that they'll find it and it will be useless. If the Cohen brothers don't have a script in the works for this then I frankly don't even know what they're doing with their lives.Incognito Mode Isn’t As Incognito As You Might Think
As you might expect nothing is ever really as private as we think it is, whether it is that conversation with your significant other that your neighbors can hear because the walls in your apartment that you pay too much money for are like crepe paper or because you don't exactly know what private browsing is and how it works. "Private browsing is great for low-stakes searches that you don’t want showing up in your browsing or search history" claims the article. Aka watching them pinos. But it’s also great to know what is actually happening versus what you think is happening when you open a private browsing tab.Pritzker Prize Winning Architect Francis Kéré On What The West Still Gets Wrong About Africa
Great interview with the most recent winner of architecture's highest prize. A lot of insights in a short interview about how the West typically views Africa vs what the reality there really is. This dude also just seems mad cool.Chess Robot Grabs And Breaks Finger Of Seven-Year-Old Opponent
The battle with our robot overlords has taken one step further forward into the realm of violence in non-contact sports. I bet that little prodigy will think twice before he tries to throw out a weak-ass Sicilian Defense ever again. The definition of you reach I teach. But this article is hilarious in the nuances of the story and the PR quotes are solid gold.The Bizarre Bird That’s Breaking the Tree of Life
Evolution is a crazy thing that was only realized about 150 years ago and we're still figuring out a lot of things when it comes to one species turning into a new species over time. This bird in South America, the Hoatzin, looks like a beauty pageant chicken and apparently smells like manure cause it digests its food like a cow, has scientists baffled and that is leading to completely new ways of looking at evolutionary trees.
Let’s Just Looks At Art Because Reading Sucks
Jake Sheiner’s Intimate Acrylic Illustrations Depict Suburban Isolation
Photographer Captures The Joyful Personalities Of Playful Pups
Lists Are What The Internet Was Made For!
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“This is how I win. It’s by reading The Breads.” - Howard Ratner
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