Assorted links - May 2026
Some link titles have been slightly modified for style.
Arts and entertainment
Are.na: Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute (CARI)
Learn about various categories of consumer aesthetics from 1970s to present.
Bye Spotify, hello MP3s
Minimal bought 16 secondhand CDs and ripped those albums as MP3s for their VLC-powered phone.
Stuff My Dog Loves
Viggo gets a bunch of animated pixel art!
Indie web and online life
Dear Internet: Read a little deeper, it won't hurt you, I promise
Marty gets cautious about news headlines on the Internet world. That is why media literacy is important!
Don't give up your voice to AI
Mark observes how a Redditor's writing style has turned into slop. He recommends a writing e-book by William Zinsser and advises to write something human-made:
Whatever you do, keep your own voice, even if it is unvarnished. It’s part of who you are, and we appreciate it.
Navigating virtual erasure
As Imperfect said grimly:
Losing a connection with an anchor of a space hurts. So does lacking joy from no longer being able to converse, create, nor make memories with them. What hurts the most is not knowing whether they are well or even alive anymore in the real world. In some cases, you are left wondering if they survived the fall.
Well, that reminds me of someone who used to be active in Gaia Online. I already missed roleplaying in the forums and writing private messages with them...
Performative blogging
Joel rambles about blogging and clout:
Basically, people that pretend to do or engage in a certain activity and post about it online. All with the hopes of getting engagement and make themselves known or internet famous, although sometimes they genuinely want to form connections with people but end up looking like attention-seekers anyway.
The Boring Internet
Terry Godier created a visual essay about Internet protocols and how they survived the commercialized yet enshittified Web.
Slices of life
When does collecting become overconsumption?
Absurd Pirate explains the difference between hobbyist and consumerist collections.