The Dice — 042

I can’t say that I’m a fan of December. It used to feel like a big payoff but now I just want to get through it unscathed. This time of year just keeps getting more difficult to sit through.

I was in a group conversation this week and we got to talking about how difficult this time of year is for people. Especially in the silence when you don't have work or family to distract you or to remind you of what you don’t have. 

So, call your friends. Check in on everybody. And if you’re the one in that silence, take this idea from a punk rocker—Make things and give them to people (see below).

Here’s this weeks 1d6.

I haven’t cracked open my copy of Enshitification yet, but I have a theory that FOMO contributed to it. Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck states the problem clearly, “The problem with FOMO is that it prevents you from actually experiencing what’s happening.” For some folks it does that and a bag of chips, by creating a building sense of obsession that is hard to shake. Hi.

While doing research for Reboot System I learned that many philosophies contain a key element: striving for simplicity through reduction. And not just of material things, but expectations and desires that can be fueled by FOMO. So as much as I dislike acronyms, I've got another one for you: YAMA.

You’re Always Missing Out “recognizes that missing out is a fundamental part of the human condition. Rather than fighting this reality or trying to optimize around it, YAMA suggests simply accepting that we’re finite creatures in an infinite world. What’s most liberating about YAMA is its honesty about the human condition. We have limited time, attention, and capacity for experience. No amount of productivity hacking or careful planning will change that.”

If you want the tactical side of this—how to actually practice distinguishing between what you can't control and what you won't engage—Protocol 6 in Reboot System walks through it.

In response to the escalating activity of Trump’s SS cosplay teams, 404 Media are making a zine on “the surveillance tactics used by ICE, and the ways people are resisting this technology.”

The group of four founders discussed the zine and getting into print on their podcast. “In an age where so much of what we do is moderated by algorithms and increasingly where everything is so automated, so AI focused, we wanted to create something that was like really tangible and and really human. Sort of as an experiment, but also because we thought it would be cool." The zine will contain a collection of new and republished stories and will be distributed at a few events. It is also available to purchase. Given the mission and purpose of this work, I’m surprised there isn’t an option to buy the zine in packs or a PDF version so people can make black and white copies and distribute them en masse.

Ernie Smith was tapped to design the zine and shared how he used the new Affinity app running on Linux to do the work. Adding to the complexity of the setup, they chose to go to print using Risograph. “At one point while I was trying to make a PDF, Affinity promised me that the file I would be exporting was going to be 17 exabytes in size, which my SSD was definitely not large enough for.” Yikes.

Related:  The internet didn’t kill counterculture—you just won’t find it on Instagram

Speaking of shitty Internet, LinkedIn certainly isn’t helping as it continues to circle the drain. I think we’re all sick and tired of scrolling through so many hot takes cut and pasted with pullquotes from the latest report. Hippie CEO, Jason Thompson shared his thoughts on what and why this is happening.

“I’m writing this to share how quality research gets turned into data theater, and why we, as analysts, need to resist the temptation to do the same. This happens because browsing a summary feels like reading a report. Finding a statistic feels like understanding the research. And citing McKinsey feels like doing your homework. None of those things are true.”

Thompson breaks this down through the activity that rose up after McKinsey published their report on the future of the workplace and AI. He also wrote a framework for “Better Data Hygiene” which is solid, but as long as the algorithms are in place and people refuse to slow down and read things, I doubt it will do much good.

Sigh. Maybe it’s time to start a commune.

Get the Eject Disk zine for free.

Most of us are stuck. Stuck in jobs that are grinding us down. Stuck searching for work that won't come. Stuck between desperately wanting change and being terrified of what that change might cost. Eject Disk is a call to action to name these feelings and do something about them. And now I want you to have your own copy.

No strings. No drip campaigns. Just grab it, read it, and feel it.

I can’t think of a better signal of resistance to all of today’s bullshit than Flea—you know, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers—writing and performing jazz, and jazz dancing. This was not on my bingo card for 2025 but so glad it’s here.

About his upcoming album Flea says, “I don’t care about the act of politics. I think there is a much more transcendent place above it where there’s discourse to be had that can actually help humanity, and actually help us all to live harmoniously and productively in a way that’s healthy for the world. There’s a place where we meet, and it’s love.”

Thanks to Chris Glass, I came across the recently released single titled A Plea that is wonderful to watch and wonderfully motivational and inspirational. Check out these lyrics: “Make something beautiful. I don’t care if it’s a little scrap of squiggly crayon on a paper. Make something beautiful and see somebody. Give it to somebody. I’m not being corny this shit is real. Live for peace. Live for love.”

The music might be called jazz, but all I hear is punk. And I love it.

Translator is a new magazine of journalism and reportage from around the world translated into the English language that includes bits of context surrounding each piece. Think liner notes. 

It’s Nice That has an interview with the magazines creative director Jeremy Leslie (of MagCulture fame) and a look through pages of the first issue. “Every element of each page, even the glossaries beside articles are well placed and fitting of each page’s design ecosystem. An example of this is the striking page on Sri Lankan film Bambaru Avith (The Wasps Are Here) where informative meets aesthetic, strengthening immersion by its breaking down of the Sinhala language. Design is utilised to inform, accommodating readership with translator notes to create a diversity of thought—not only outside of the English language but cultures outside our own personal spheres of thought.” 

Marginalia is nothing new, but I love that this idea of additional context running throughout each story. Also be sure to take a look at the cover dominated by the publication logo as a clever device for displaying the table of contents.

Issue #2 is out now and there’s still time to grab the first. And there is a weekly newsletter to add to the experience.

One event I look forward to around this time of year is NiemanLab’s Predictions for Journalism. “Each year, we ask some of the smartest people in digital media what they think is coming in the year ahead. Here's what they told us.” It seems to get bigger and bigger each year and in 2025 they kicked it up a notch with the design and card interface. There is a lot to digest here but there are so many ideas and observations worth digging into, even if you aren’t working in journalism.

For instance: The future of news is happening where no one is looking by Garry Pierre-Pierre. “The people keeping their communities informed aren’t reporters. They’re the pastor who delivers immigration updates before the sermon. The barber who streams local politics on Facebook Live. The neighbor who translates every school notice and distributes it through five different group chats. The teacher who explains American bureaucracy to families who arrived last week. The WhatsApp moderator running a rumor-control operation that outperforms the mayor’s office. None of these people will keynote a journalism conference. But if journalism is about helping people understand their world, they are quietly doing the job. And that’s my prediction for 2026: the news industry will finally realize that these informal community information networks are not peripheral to local news—they are the most functional version of it.”

Bookmark this and make a point to return often. There are a lot of good ideas in there.

Published in Tacoma, Washington with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation playing in the background.