Schizophyllum Commune

Some days I’m productive. Some days I get lost in research. Some days I spend way to much time trying to decide if I’m an INTP like I always thought or if I’m an Ni-Ti INFJ instead, which would make sense given my predilection to symbolic thinking and getting overwhelmed under a sea of intuition. None of it really matters, except not knowing bothers me greatly. I’ve mostly made my piece with not knowing my exact IQ, but personality….

Perhaps this is a case of “if you can’t understand the world, try understanding yourself instead.” Or, it’s just me avoiding doing the work.

 

 

» If you are concerned with truth and are at all into fairies, conspiracy theories involving aliens, or hallucinogens of any flavor, run—do not walk—and read Owen Cyclops’ observations on demons. I’m not kidding.

» Hello, this is me trying to psyche myself up again, but: How to Make Money Online Starting Today

» On Woke Capital

So, people always bend the knee. People often take the path of least resistance. Corporate PR is used for both purposes, to show Power that the corporation recognizes its authority. It’s no coincidence that WokeCapital’s bio has read “Speaking Power to Truth, one tweet at a time”. That’s all that’s going on there, really. And recognizing that Power lies on the Left, and not on the Right, corporations take advantage of this asymmetry. You can never go wrong by signaling too far left, but you can afford to piss off righties, who have near zero cultural, political, or legal power. Just note how they go after Trump, who is ostensibly CEO of the country, when he rocks the boat!

» The retro-future is now: Bitcoin has been transmitted via HAM radio

» Cambridge Analytica Used Fashion Tastes to Identify Right-Wing Voters

“It’s all about learning who your supporter base is,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst of the NPD Group and the author of “Why Customers Do What They Do,” in an interview during the 2016 campaign. “How do they live? What are their trigger points? What words resonate with them? It’s worth its weight in gold, in the political arena just like the consumer arena. We call it demographic profiling, because voter profiling sounds like a dirty word, but that’s what it is.”

Fashion profiling is another facet of this approach, using data analysis to identify the way brands are perceived — and it should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Assessing value systems, and goals and priorities, via the clothes people wear has been a part of professional life for years. The “dress for the job you want” adage is an expression of fashion profiling. Calling someone a “Gucci person” or a “Celine person” is fashion profiling; opting for Levi’s over Rag & Bone makes a statement about associations and history and opens one up to fashion profiling — albeit in a manner that generally leaves much unsaid. Cambridge Analytica preyed on that human reality via algorithm, using data from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission.

» I haven’t listened to this podcast so I cannot endorse, but I’m intrigued: The Mysterious 1965 Death of Dorothy Kilgallen

» How to Break 5 Soul-Sucking Technology Habits

» Italian Vanity Fair looks to be doing some interesting things. I’m taking notes.

“We don’t have to close ourselves to our golden tower,” he said. “In Italy, we are living an era of populism and I can see the suffering of big newspapers because they are closing themselves into a very niche and snobbish explanation of reality.” He views the “simplification of complexity” as the opposite of that populist movement. “Philosophy can be very pop.”

Marchetti describes his strategy for Vanity Fair Italia as an “opera in three acts.” The first priority is online content, where he wants to publish exclusive songs, videos and content that will hopefully be newsworthy. “The goal is to become the center of the conversation in our country,” he said.

Next comes Wednesday’s print issue, which he has redesigned with creative director Massimo Pitis to have a more collectible, independent magazine aesthetic. It’s an approach he said he’s learned from fashion brands like Gucci: just because something is intended for wide audiences doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have the sophistication of a niche product. And the third act represents his ambitions for events.

» Crispin Glover asks a bunch of questions.

» I have a soft spot for Marc Jacobs because we share gut-ailment experiences, and sometimes you just need to read some good fashion writing.

 

Enjoy the YouTube recs now because I’m giving it up for Lent this year….