a volleyball with a hand print on it ALT: a volleyball with a hand print on it

I hope you keep this lil guy around, Wilson-style

Do we need a NoFap for podcasts? Parasocial friendships are not getting the job done anymore.

I was one of the kids who grew up on por-... podcasts, and now I'm a lonely man. Coincidence? #selfhelp #masculinity #addiction

open.substack.com/pub/kitnouss...

there are plenty of italian-descended Danielas who couldn't tell you where Milan is. They don't worry about whether they have a right to it. Why do people raise their standards so much when an adult picks her own name? I say go for it.

Chinese readers when I translate the meaning of my Christian name into Chinese characters: "hmm, a bit macho, a bit too 'red'"

Chinese readers when they see the characters for 'soup nanny': oh that's Tom Cruise! so handsome!

We Will Soon Speak of Microtraumas Little cuts will also make the jump from the body to the mind

I wrote about blaming your parents for your woes and the days of wacky 19th C shrinks:
open.substack.com/pub/kitnouss...
#trauma

I don't know if any western apps do this, but on WeChat short vids there is a heart button (visible to your followers) and a like button (only visible to you). In the early days, we wanted everyone to see our likes. Now we want the option.

I like this Yiddish expression you say after something good so you don't jinx it. It's like when we were kids and we said we wanted to sit in the front seat: "called it, locked it, no black magic"

The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine | CNN Business If the CEO of a soda company declared that soda-making technology is getting so good it’s going to ruin the global economy, you’d be forgiven for thinking that person is either lying or fully detached...

"noting that in the 1980s and 90s, computer adoption gave the world all kinds of tools that reshaped the labor market. But labor productivity grew just 2% to 3%."

I'm shocked that the introduction of e-mail and spreadsheets only had a single-digit effect.

edition.cnn.com/2025/05/30/b...

He also remarked on the logistical feat of designing a study protocol deemed acceptable by its feline participants.

“I really commend this group of scientists for being successful in engaging 30 cats in doing this stuff,” “Most cats want nothing to do with your research.”

They herded cats! NYT

The Shifty Promise of Tiny Experiments Self-help cannot be good philosophy and good business at the same time.

I reviewed a self-help book called Tiny Experiments. Thanks for the inspiration @ashleyafrawley.bsky.social @oliverburkeman.com
open.substack.com/pub/kitnouss...

Got this creepy ad from twitch to try and entice me back. It's a totally fabricated conversation where all my friends are wondering where I am during non-descript 'fire' moment.

Twitch themselves should know from my real chat logs that I have no friends there.

What would Karl Marx say about Factorio? Robinson Crusoe and Games that feel like work YouTube video by Kitticism

Made a lil vid about Marx and the Factory game genre #gaming #addiction
youtu.be/u9aSxfsL6SY

This much cool should be illegal

people used to have the TV two inches above the floor, huh?

What asymptote are we approaching for verifications and captchas online? Eventually, I think we will spend 50% of our time posting and 50% of our time logging in.

Video games are weird. To be in the Steam top 100 is a huge accomplishment, and yet many of those games I've never played and never even heard of. It takes hundreds of thousands of players to make a game a hit, but you can write a best seller book on a few thousand sales.

wonder if this guy is alive

Moby Dick 4: Tokyo Shift

Data is not a fish that you cook, and insights are not gems that you mine. We need more numeracy and literacy to understand when the 'data storytellers' are telling tall tales.

Data are not any more objective than words, and data analysts need to stop dining out on the cred of pure mathematics

open.substack.com/pub/kitnouss...

What is your view on the place of critics with respect to art?

People getting murked by early railway accidents (and later getting quasi-hysterical 'railway spine' injuries) are where we get our modern definition of the 'accident' to begin with. There have always been misfortunes and calamities, but after trains we had a new kind that needed a language.

Love how thick and juicy the gem coins are in this game.

With your permission, I am emboldened.

I would add that If dog-earing a book, underlining, marginalia help you get more out of a book: do it, don't hesitate.

First, draw two ovals...

Mazes don't hit like they used to

a robot with the words `` number 5 is alive '' written on it . ALT: a robot with the words `` number 5 is alive '' written on it .

Johnny Five was worth more

stay squeaky, my friends

I refute it thusly 🪨

One problem with self-help and advice columns, and I'm only paraphrasing (I think) @oliverburkeman.com here, is that you have to use the wisdom you already have to discern between the stars in the galaxy of new media. Self-persuasion and rationalization have a lot of room to do the curating.