2025-10-16

Coolest Neighborhoods in the World

39 Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World in 2025 #world #travel #neighborhoods

Good list!

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2025-10-15

Janteloven

What is Janteloven? The Law of Jante in Scandinavian Society #scandinavia #danish #culture

TIL.

Janteloven’s social code dictates emphasis on collective accomplishments and well-being, and disdains focus on individual achievements. It is an underlying Scandinavian philosophy principle that applies across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Understanding Janteloven is paramount to understanding both the history and modern-day cultures of these countries.

• Rule 1: Do not think you are anything special.
• Rule 2: Do not think you are as good as we are.
• Rule 3: Do not think you are smarter than we are.
• Rule 4: Do not imagine yourself better than we are.
• Rule 5: Do not think you know more than we do.
• Rule 6: Do not think you are more important than we are.
• Rule 7: Do not think you are good at anything.
• Rule 8: Do not laugh at us.
• Rule 9: Do not think anyone cares about you.
• Rule 10: Do not think you can teach us anything.

But, in a capitalist society, those with the means of production also get the credit for success. Though all Scandinavian countries have a socialist welfare model, their economic model is capitalism and increased global trade only underscores the fact. The result is that the Scandinavian countries encourage a system in which individuals strive to be financially and socially successful, while also eschewing the self-promotion that often accompanies this kind of success.

Found this (strangely) via: On DHH’s “As I Remember London”

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2025-10-13

The Bay Area is cursed

The Bay Area is cursed - by Sasha Chapin #sf #tech #valley

The Bay Area has a curse. It is the curse of Aboutness. Social life here is not regarded as something people do naturally, an organic element of being. It has to be About something. In New York, it’s an important component of the human repertoire to dress up nicely, gather, drink and eat, be part of the throng. In the Bay, most gatherings have the sweaty air of Purpose. Discussions are held to uncover new information, not because it is good to be around each other. Conversations feel like podcasts and the hosts are not funny. Someone recently said to me: “I’m tired of drinking in living rooms with overly smart people.”

People are dreaming up the future here, who have never fully experienced their own bodies or emotions. They talk philosophically about how to reshape society, but don’t know what society feels like. They’ve never been able to rely on peers, or receive care informally. San Francisco is an avoidant city, and Berkeley is an anxious colony. The most awkward people I’ve ever met write widely read posts about the secrets of charisma and attraction. Psychology is one topic haunting the city here, because so many have a rough go of it. But the main topic is, of course, AI. A friend’s group house had “days since AI mentioned” as a counter written on the whiteboard, I never saw the number rise above 2.

Why are young people getting married again?

Why are young people getting married again? | Dazed #marriage #genz

To clarify, Shannon is not saying that marriage is inherently right-wing, but that it is perceived as conservative and traditional because of its long patriarchal history. In her book, Marriage, A History, Stephanie Coontz quotes historian Margaret Hunt, who states that marriage was “the main means of transferring property, occupational status, personal contacts, money, tools, livestock and women across generations, and kin groups.” To this day, it is men who benefit from marriage, as Clementine Ford highlights in her article: “Marriage is an inherently misogynistic institution – so why do women agree to it?”, as reports show that married men live longer than married women, are generally happier and healthier and see their economic prospects improve.

Our parents’ behaviour often makes us roll our eyes in annoyance, but their hold over our lives is far-reaching. It can feel wrong to defy their expectations, not just because they are our parents but because, as Michel Foucault argues, the family is now a site of key sovereign power (as we no longer rely on the monarchy or religion as heavily as we used to). As a result, the family serves as a disciplinary apparatus that actively (and effectively) enforces social norms and self-discipline.

26-year-old Gillian feels coerced into marriage, not through pressures from her family but because of Labour’s new dehumanising and classist immigration policies. “I never really thought about marriage until the White Paper this past May upped the salary minimum for a work visa from £29K to £41K. I came here on a student visa, met my lovely boyfriend, got a full-time job, and was on a steady work visa. Suddenly, I was ineligible to renew, and one of the only routes to staying is a spouse visa.” She continues: “It puts an insane amount of pressure on our lives… Neither of us really believes in marriage, but the legal privilege of being married has become something of a defining factor in preserving my life.”

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2025-10-12

Helga Paris on Feminism and Equality

Helga Paris: Women at Work - The 'Unforeseen Beauty' of East German Factory Workers In 1984 - Flashbak #photography #feminism

“From the very beginning, a different self­ image prevailed in the field of photography. In the west, the new artistic fields such as photography and video were often utilised by women from a feminist perspective. This was different in the GDR. Here, equality prevailed. Women in the garment business worked just as hard as their male colleagues. Feminism sees men as enemies – it’s an ideology. We women in the GDR had nothing against men; on the contrary, we had equal rights. We demanded equal rights when necessary, and we got them. Did that happen in the west? Probably not. That’s embarrassing”

– Helga Paris

Daniel Kahneman chooses assisted suicide

"It's time to go": Nobel Prize winner opted for suicide in Switzerland | blue News #death

I wish more people in the future have the same options as Kahneman had.

Although Daniel Kahneman neither suffered from dementia nor required dialysis, he said he noticed an "increase in mental lapses and a decline in his kidney function".

His decision seems to have been based less on his famous scientific thinking and more on a very personal feeling. He wanted to retain his autonomy until the end and to shape his own end.

Kahneman knew that many would see his decision as premature. But that was exactly what he intended, he wrote: If you wait until a life is "obviously no longer worth living", it is already too late.

Therefore, his move was inevitably premature. He had spoken about it with some people close to him, and even though they initially resisted, they had finally accepted his decision.

Lessons from Japan's Hikikomori

What do Japan’s hikikomori reveal about our lonely world? | Psyche Ideas #isolation #loneliness

In this new period of virtualisation, precarious labour and vanishing communities, hikikomori reveal the underlying logic of our changing societies: participation counts only when it is tied to productivity. They are not simply outliers who have cut themselves off from the world, revealing the extremes of isolation. Instead, they show us the values that many of us share in our age of overwork and loneliness. That’s how Japan’s hikikomori, once dismissed as anomalies, now appear as mirrors reflecting the estrangements felt by countless others – regardless of whether they have a job.

Coffee Prices

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Coffee Drinker in 2025

I recently felt the sticker shock of a 250g bag of coffee beans here in Berlin. At one hip coffee shop, they were selling between 15€ to 20€.

I also realised one of the reasons I was paying far less for coffee in India was because I was paying for locally grown beans. I am yet to encounter any coffee shop in Berlin selling beans from India.

Roasted coffee prices at the grocery store are up 22% in the past year, more than any other item tracked by the government. Prices at some coffee shops are going up too. $10 latte, anyone?

Lots of things are more expensive, but coffee isn’t like cereal or chicken. The daily fix is all that’s keeping millions from a throbbing headache and foul mood. So while people may wince at the price, they’re buying it anyway–and reserving the right to rant. 

The price increases are due to bad weather in the world’s coffee-growing regions and the Trump Administration’s tariffs.

Lawmakers in September introduced bipartisan legislation that would exempt coffee products from tariffs, invoking historical outrage over the price of another beverage staple. “Americans started a revolution over a tax on tea,” said Ro Khanna (D., Calif.). “If you drink coffee every morning, how can you not be mad about that?”

Coffee drinkers exemplify a paradox at the heart of the U.S. economy. Consumers feel pessimistic, worried about the job market and inflation. Though they may trade down in some ways—including by making coffee at home—they continue to spend more overall, keeping the economy chugging. 

Americans spent $12.7 billion on packaged coffee in the past year, up from $12 billion a year earlier, according to NielsenIQ.

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2025-10-07

Anthropic Popup in NYC

Yup

From: How to make $183 billion disappear

Indefinite Backpack Travel

Indefinite Backpack Travel – Jeremy Maluf #travel #onebag

I love the term. Some good recommendations for one bag travel.

Deutschland vs Berlin

From: #430: Oct. 7 events, drones, döner saved, pudding with fork

Also true since at least the 1970s: The rest of Germany hating on Berlin. In a new survey conducted by Tagesspiegel and the Free University, Berlin ranked lowest in terms of likeability of any of the 16 Bundesländer or federal states (along with Bremen and Hamburg, we’re a city and a state). Hamburg came on top. What do Germans hate about Berlin? “Too multicultural, too dirty, too criminal, too full,” according to some comments by the 1,600 people surveyed. Other (stereotypical) criticisms the yokels out there brought up about us Berliners: “Loudmouths, hipsters, especially woke, direct, loud, argumentative.” Can’t really argue there.

The Job Market is Hell

The Job Market Is Hell - The Atlantic #jobs #ai #recruitment

“Young people are using ChatGPT to write their applications; HR is using AI to read them; no one is getting hired”.

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2025-10-06

The death of the corporate job

The death of the corporate job. - by Alex McCann

She's not alone. I keep meeting people who describe their jobs using words they'd never use in normal conversation. They attend meetings about meetings. They create PowerPoints that no one reads, which get shared in emails no one opens, which generate tasks that don't need doing.

But what’s weird is that everyone knows it. When you get people alone, after work, maybe after they've had time to decompress, they'll admit it. Their job is basically elaborate performance art. They're professional email forwards. They're human middleware between systems that could probably talk directly to each other.

What's emerging is something very interesting. People are building parallel systems of actual value while maintaining their corporate personas.

I know developers who do their "official" job in the morning and build their own products in the afternoon. Marketers who run their agencies from their corporate desks. Consultants who've automated their actual deliverables and spend most of their time on side projects.

They're using the corporate infrastructure, the steady salary, the laptop, the stability, as a platform for building something real. The corporate role hasn't died; it's become a funding mechanism for actual work.

The most honest person I've met recently was a VP at a tech company who told me: "I manage a team of twelve people who create documents for other teams who create documents for senior leadership who don't read documents. I make £150k a year. It's completely absurd, and I'm riding it as long as I can while building something real on the side."

From Part 3: The Death of the Corporate Worker: Part 3 - The Rise of Blue Collar Work.

Our generation of knowledge workers is navigating unprecedented career volatility. We're experiencing automation and AI disrupting roles faster than previous generations. Trained for linear progression in an era demanding constant pivots. Promised that good degrees guaranteed good careers, only to graduate into the gig economy and endless restructures.

I see it everywhere. Friends in finance watching algorithms do analysis they spent years learning. Consultants seeing AI produce better decks in minutes. Developers realising that coding might not be the safe bet they thought.

Work is splitting into two surviving categories: practical and personal. If your job involves fixing physical things or genuine human connection, you're probably safe. Everything else, the vast middle of knowledge work, is vulnerable.

Some of my friends are diving deeper into specialisation, betting they can stay ahead of the machines. Others pivot to coaching, therapy, anything requiring emotional intelligence. A few even consider trades, though starting plumbing at 30 with student loans isn't realistic.

Most are just stuck. Watching. Waiting. Adding vague buzzwords to their LinkedIn profiles. Every gathering eventually turns to the same topic, who's been laid off, who's pivoting, who's still pretending everything's fine.

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2025-10-05

The Buchstaben Museum

The Buchstabenmuseum Berlin is closing | Hacker News #typography #museum

I had a chance to visit this museum just days before it closed down. Here is the instagram post with some pics: Buchstaben Museum Pics | Instagram

Hamlet is a GenZ story

Hamlet Is the Gen Z Story We Need Right Now - by Ted Gioia #genz #shakespeare

It’s a familiar story these days. You might even be living inside it. Or, if not, you know somebody who is.

A young man returns from college, but he doesn’t have a job. So he moves back home. But here his life is aimless, and he falls into a deep depression.

Even though he is back home, it doesn’t feel that way. He’s disconnected from friends, and his loneliness grows more intense. His relationship with his girlfriend falls apart. He knows he needs to get his act together—but how?

It’s not all his fault. His family is a mess, and he lives in a broken household. His mother is a head case. His absent father is too demanding.

And the whole social and political situation is fractured. Our sad young man feels like one more victim of the pervasive dysfunction.

It’s the classic Gen Z dilemma. Almost half of them move back home after college nowadays. The odds are stacked against them at every turn.

But the story I’ve just told isn’t about Gen Z. It’s Shakespeare’s Hamlet—and it was written more than 400 years ago.

If you were an existentialist or absurdist or beatnik, you recognized Hamlet as one of your own. He was lost in a meaningless world—but so were the other survivors of World War and economic collapse and the Holocaust. So were all the other sad young men, caught in a losing war against conformists.

And now today we recognize a completely different Hamlet:

• He’s the college graduate who can’t pay off all those student loans.
• He’s the over-educated and under-employed worker who can’t get a job because of AI.
• He’s the incel who can’t forge a relationship.
• He’s the unhappy child of a broken home, struggling with depression.
• He’s the scroll-and-swipe phone addict who retreats from the world, but at a devastating psychological cost.
• He’s the person posting cries for help on social media—but nobody listens.

Go read Hamlet’s soliloquy again—that anguished “To be or not be….” filled with what we call (nowadays) suicidal ideation—and it fits all these gloomily familiar personality types.

Maybe that’s why pop culture is rediscovering Hamlet right now. Taylor Swift’s new album even leads off with a Hamlet track—“The Fate of Ophelia.” She must have encountered these same personality profiles, and fears the consequences.

Robohiking

I am Robohiker! — testing the exoskeleton that promises to take hikers further, faster #augmented #hiking

I’m in north Wales to test the Hypershell — billed as the world’s first outdoor exoskeleton and promising to take hikers further, faster and with less effort. It has been developed by a Shanghai start-up that launched in 2021, aiming to propel technologies used in manufacturing and medical rehabilitation into the leisure market. Sales of the first model began in January this year, but I’m using an updated version, the flagship X Ultra, unveiled in early September.

In a hotel in Caernarfon where coach-tour pensioners bimble about the foyer, a Hypershell staffer clips me into what appears to be a climbing harness from a Mission Impossible movie. There’s a padded titanium alloy waistband with a slimline lithium battery, electric motors at each hip, and carbon-fibre calipers which curve to straps buckled just above the knees. It’s discreet(ish), sleek in matt black, and, at 1.8kg, relatively light.

The idea is similar to what e-bikes do for cyclists — offering assistance rather than taking over completely. The Hypershell senses which leg you’re beginning to move and engages the corresponding motor. And like e-biking it has different power settings — Eco and Hyper — plus a Fitness mode that actually increases resistance, making it harder to walk, for those in training. Control is via buttons on the motors (a confusing series of short and long presses) or, more intuitively, via an app or an Apple Watch.

The ai Boom

The ai Boom - Marginal REVOLUTION #ai #domains

The tiny country of Anguilla (pop 15,000) has an official country top-level domain code for the internet of .ai. Domain name registrations have surged from 48,000 in 2018 to 870,000 in the year to date and that source of revenue alone now accounts for nearly 50% of state revenues.

David Foster Wallace quote

From: Where to Start in Reading David Foster Wallace

Welcome to the world of reality — there is no audience. No one to applaud, to admire. No one to see you. Do you understand? Here is the truth — actual heroism receives no ovation, entertains no one. No one queues up to see it. No one is interested…. True heroism is minutes, hours, weeks, year upon year of the quiet, precise, judicious exercise of probity and care — with no one there to see or cheer. This is the world.

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2025-10-04

A Primer of Raw Denim

All About Raw Denim - Heddels Blowout Podcast #jeans

Nowadays, the only piece of bottomwear I have are raw denims. I rotate between two of them from time to time.

This is a great short podcast that gives an overview of the entire process of making raw denim. Although I have read about raw denim before, it was nice to have an overview in one place that I could point to.

They also have an extremely detailed 7-episode breakdown of denim earlier in their podcast epis

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