What is this?
A Sunday post?
No roast today
Ratatouille
Time and space
No waiting ’till Monday
A Little More Distinct
I’ve recently gone through another round of unfollowing things in my RSS reader. Mostly Substacks, if I’m being honest. The platform, with its publishing cadence and content mill culture is starting to generate a kind of shared voice. Not just in how people write, but in what they write about. There’s a narrowing happening. I had over 100 newsletters in the feed, and what I don’t need is to read five slightly different versions of the same essay in the space of ten days. It’s not that the writing’s bad, it’s just starting to blur together.
What I’m gravitating towards instead is work that feels more distinct. People who are off doing their own thing, often on personal blogs or standalone websites, self hosted newsletters. Work that doesn’t feel shaped by an algorithm or a platform’s publishing incentives. Projects that are self-directed, weird in good ways, maybe a bit harder to place. What’s appealing is that these creators aren’t trying to be like anyone else.
I suppose, in a way, I’m looking for other people doing things differently—not to copy, but because I find it energising. I’m interested in people working outside of the same loops everyone is inside of.
And it’s probably no coincidence that all this coincides with the end of my 301 format on Permanently Moved. There’s a mental background process running now, almost constantly: What’s next? What do I want to make? What shape could a new project take, now that I’ve got eight years of experience behind me?
Not just another podcast, but something that’s distinct. Something that sounds like me, yes, but also doesn’t repeat what I’ve already done. What subjects am I drawn to now? What style fits the way I’m thinking now? What kind of voice do I want to speak in?
It’s not a crisis. But it is a shift. And it’s asking for a different kind of attention, both from me and perhaps, the audience.
On The Blog:
Tiny Awards 2025
It’s a great honour to be on the jury for this year’s Tiny Awards. Nominations are now open!
Substack Should Have an Editoral Marketplace
I’ve thought for a long time that there are some really good writers that I read on Substack who, if they worked with a good editor could become excellent ones.
All this got me thinking this morning about something I missed in my long ‘Alms Race’ blog post on the creator economy I wrote a few years ago.
For writers serious about honing their craft and elevating their work, it just seems obvious to me that Substack should facilitate some kind of editorial market.
Permanently Moved
GPT Job Losses: Slowly, Then Suddenly
AI boosters on LinkedIn will have you belive AI will be taking everyone’s job tomorrow, but the anti-AI voices however still say never.
Full Show Notes: https://thejaymo.net/2025/06/07/2513-gpt-job-losses-slowly-then-suddenly/
Experience.Computer: https://experience.computer/
Worldrunning.guide: https://worldrunning.guide/
Subscriber Zine support the show! https://startselectreset.com/Permanently moved is a personal podcast 301 seconds in length, written and recorded by @thejaymo
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Photo 365
The Ministry Of My Own Labour
- Edited several chapters of SLOP MACHINES, added a new chapter
- Wrote my podcast and then drafted another
- Big slide deck for a project pitch at work.
- Paid my mid year taxes 💀
Terminal Access
Really recommend this essay/talk Cogs in the Crypto Machine by @naomiii, talking to crypto bros about Marx at ETH Ierland earlier in the year:
Alienation in crypto
It’s easy blaming the VCs, but that’s letting ourselves off the hook. I believe there’s largely three kinds of alineation in crypto. Of course, that’s on top of the usual alienation we suffer in modernity ^^
Alienation from our values
Remember when this industry stood for something that wasn’t trying to rug the others faster than they can rug me? When the main goal wasn’t to grow the fastest, to raise the most money, or to hit untenable numbers of users within a week of launch?
Belive it or not, I’m old enough to remember when the crypto industry had values too!
Dipping the Stacks
The Country’s Gone Country. What Gives? – The New York Times
American pop culture typically goes country when the White House goes Republican. But there’s a wrinkle this time around — a veritable renaissance has come for country music over the last decade, as Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and queer artists have staked a legitimate claim to the genre. In fact, they’re still collectively pushing to be included in a genre that wants their rhythm but not their blues.
If High Schoolers Are Getting Smarter, Why Are College Students So Dumb?
It’s all about attention span! And attention span is all about the phones.
The Games Industry is Deprofessionalizing
We’re entering the Choose Your Own Adventure era of the games industry, where the stability of the corporate ladder fades away. But in its place, there’s reason to hope that more flexible arrangements will start to emerge and become viable.
The Emerging Fourth Branch of Christendom
While Evangelicalism emerged out of Protestantism, it has diverged significantly. It often bears more in common with the Anabaptist tradition, characterized by a radical individualism, than with the historical streams of Presbyterianism, Anglicanism, or even Lutheranism. This fourth branch has developed specific traits that distinguish it from the historical Protestant heritage.
The Visual World of ‘Samurai Jack’
He wanted to treat background paintings like classic movies treat landscapes — which wasn’t done on American television. But Samurai Jack did it. And Wills’ painting techniques (which we covered in a recent issue) made it possible.
Reading
I finished reading New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton. Wow. What a book. In a sense this book is one long prayer. Here’s a wild line: Many poets are not poets for the same reason that many religious men are not saints: they never succeed in being themselves. There are so many bangers in this book I made nearly 200 highlights. Since last year, it is still very strange to read a book like this and know what the author is talking about. Not as metaphor but as experience. The last 1/5 of the book, ‘the after’ was extremely valuable.
Back to reading Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation by Mark J.P. Wolf. its such a dense book! A little difficult to follow before bed. But i persevere.
Music
Yvette Young – Outta Sight Outta Mind
New single from Midwest Emo Queen Yvette Young! its 🔥 really contemporary. so much going on. The whole track is anchored by the guitar line which holds it all together.
Remember Kids:
We must try to accept ourselves, whether individually or collectively, not only as perfectly good or perfectly bad, but in our mysterious, unaccountable mixture of good and evil. We have to stand by the modicum of good that is in us without exaggerating it. We have to defend our real rights, because unless we respect our own rights we will certainly not respect the rights of others. But at the same time we have to recognize that we have willfully or otherwise trespassed on the rights of others. We must be able to admit this not only as the result of self-examination, but when it is pointed out unexpectedly, and perhaps not too gently, by somebody else.
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
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