We found this discussion on the difference between the gymnasium of serendipities and the human- or increasingly algorithmically-jured recommendations that are designed to maximise engagement and prolong our stay in any of several walled-gardens from Kottke guest contributor Patrick Tanguay to be a particularly resonant one and worth considering in full.
Not that programming and curation is not a skill and many enterprises and endeavours have failed for lack of an organiser to marshal interest, one ought to hold prompts and suggestions in a healthy contempt and be a touch wistful over our limited palette (sort of the apposite of FOMO) and suspicious of the customised world of news, entertainment and advertising presented to us, unique and inscrutable and tedious.
this week’s popular posts
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Via Miss Cellania , we are directed to the rather compelling 1961 biblical epic (overshadowed by others in the genre) directed by Richard ... -
spitzmaus mummy in a coffin and other treasures : Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum’s guest curators, Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf siss-b... -
Via Kottke , we are directed to rediscovered audio sampler from the Hood Internet ( previously ) while producing year instalments of pop... -
The unusual triplicate name of the wine region of Montefiascone in Lazio (Latium) originated in a possibly apocryphal legend from the twelf... -
The first glass jar of the cocoa hazelnut spread by the confectionary manufacturer Ferrero left the factory in Alba on this day in 1964 and... -
knock, knock, knock—who’s there : the authorship debate between William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson over the joke format charlotte braun :... -
the cloud under the seas : the fleet of secret submarine cable repair ships sarbox : US Supreme Court appears skeptical about charging... -
Having previously looked at the linguistic phenomenon of boomerang terms , we were intrigued by this post on Japanese borrowings and r... -
Having a distinct and confused memory of the redacted Ewoks on the reverse of Kenner’s action figure packaging teased ahead of the relea... -
Proclaimed on this day in 1994 and officially adopted and flown for the first time a week later by president F W de Klerk (Nelson Mandel...