Links
A regularly updated collection of things I find worth reading, watching, or listening to. Subscribe via RSS.
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Research by Aruna Ranganathan and Xingqi Maggie Ye shows that AI doesn’t reduce one’s workload, but increases it. The summary:
One of the promises of AI is that it can reduce workloads so employees can focus more on higher-value and more engaging tasks. But according to new research, AI tools don’t reduce work, they consistently intensify it: In the study, employees worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day, often without being asked to do so. That may sound like a win, but it’s not quite so simple. These changes can be unsustainable, leading to workload creep, cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making. The productivity surge enjoyed at the beginning can give way to lower quality work, turnover, and other problems. To correct for this, companies need to adopt an “AI practice”, or a set of norms and standards around AI use that can include intentional pauses, sequencing work, and adding more human grounding.
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Phantom Obligation
№ 125Terry Godier on why RSS readers (still) look like email clients, and why that means the design has guilt built-in.
He asks Brent Simmons, the designer of the first RSS reader, NetNewsWire, who says:
The part I don’t understand and can’t explain is why RSS readers are still mostly following this UI. But every new RSS reader ought to consider not being yet another three-paned-aggregator. There are surely millions of users who might prefer a river of news or other paradigms. Why not have some fun and do something new, or at least different?
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The Winterkeeper
№ 124A lifetime spent protecting Yellowstone National Park. Steven Fuller is a winter caretaker of the park, and has lived there for the past fifty years, hunkering down in a remote mountain cabin, and raising his children there, too—a most idyllic upbringing.
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Edith Bowman interviews Jonny Greenwood about his score for One Battle After Another, the latest film by Paul Thomas Anderson that’s just plain fantastic. They have collaborated on many films now (There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread, Licorice Pizza, Inherent Vice, The Master), and hearing Greenwood explain in detail how he went about creating this latest is a treat.
Apparently, prompted by the fact that one of the musical cues needed to go on for 22 minutes, he built and programmed a mechanical ghost drumband; I’d love to see it in action. Greenwood always speaks with such respect about the musicians he’s worked with, and is so humble about his own musical genius. Always a joy to listen to.
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I’m a fan of Matt Willey’s work. I found him through INQUE, the large-format annual literary publication he designs, and followed his work since. Here he is speaking at Typographics 2025 about designing TV titles for, among other things, Killing Eve. (He also designed the titles for Landscapers, a great show I had entirely forgotten about.)
Cheers to Charlie for sharing.
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Ten Writing Prompts
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Three Six Five by Lucy Ives. Over on The Paris Review, via Iris, ten writing prompts by Lucy Ives, from her forthcoming book Three Six Five. The Distraction Diary is one I will try and implement as of this week.
If you work at a computer, keep a running account of what you are thinking at moments when, instead of continuing a task, you have a tendency to turn to “frivolous” or “unnecessary” pursuits, such as digging through social media, stalking esoteric DJs, or trawling eBay. Note your thoughts and impulses at these moments. Consider allowing the note-taking to replace the activity you had thought to turn toward. Remain aimless, if possible. Observe, describe; write things you didn’t mean to write and think things you didn’t mean to think.
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Produced by a clothing brand (apologies), this video follows Matt Somerville, a bee conservationist. For the last fourteen years, Matt has created log hives in winter, placing them throughout the landscape in summer to provide shelter for wild honey bees. They’re beautiful structures—sculptures of sorts—and I very much appreciate the work. Judging by this short documentary, creating just a single log hive is no easy feat, and the man has created thousands.
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Henry Desroches makes the case for building and maintaining your own, personal website, rather than publishing one a few of the monolithic platforms of the web.
Monolithic platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Medium, and Substack draw a ton of creators and educators because of the promise of monetization and large audiences, but they’ve shown time and time again how the lack of ownership creates a problem. When those platforms fail, when they change their rules, when they demand creators move or create a particular way to maintain their access to those audiences, they pit creators or their audiences against the loss of the other.
I care deeply about (independent) online publishing, though I need to improve my own presence and make proper use of Webmentions and POSSE. However, Henry’s essay resonated, and I think will provide a great place to start, or a great reason why to start, for many.
Whatever you do, don’t use Substack.
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Mr. Scorsese
№ 118I’ve been rewatching Scorsese films these past two weeks (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Departed, Casino), so I was excited to learn about the new limited documentary series Rebecca Miller made on the director, called Mr. Scorsese.
I appreciated the documentary, learning more about Scorsese’s older, brilliant work, and getting an inside look at films like Goodfellas, Taxi Driver and Gangs of New York. The man’s a great storyteller, and at five episodes, I think it could’ve been a little longer still!
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Photo by Neil Leifer for Sports Illustrated. The Thrilla in Manila, the fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier that took place in 1975, nearly killed them both. In this glorious (paywalled) piece of sports writing, Vann R. Newkirk II recounts the event, its lead-up, and its consequences. Incredible writing, putting you right in that scorching arena.