Today's links

• The capitalism of fools: Trump's mirror-world New Deal.
• Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
• Object permanence: IBM's fabric design; Nixon Cthulu; Surveillance capitalism is capitalism, with surveillance; Dismaland ad; Outdoor ed vs TB; Mathematicians' fave chalk.
• Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
• Recent appearances: Where I've been.
• Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
• Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
• Colophon: All the rest.

The capitalism of fools (permalink)

As Trump rails against free trade, demands public ownership stakes in corporations that receive government funds, and (selectively) enforces antitrust law, some (stupid) people are wondering, "Is Trump a communist?"

In The American Prospect, David Dayen writes about the strange case of Trump's policies, which fly in the face of right wing economic orthodoxy and have the superficial trappings of a leftist economic program:

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-08-28-judge-actually-existing-trump-economy/

The problem isn't that tariffs are always bad, nor is it that demanding state ownership stakes in structurally important companies that depend on public funds is bad policy. The problem is that Trump's version of these policies sucks, because everything Trump touches dies, and because he governs solely on vibes, half-remembered wisdom imparted by the last person who spoke to him, and the dying phantoms of old memories as they vanish beneath a thick bark of amyloid plaque.

Take Trump's demand for a 10% stake in Intel (a course of action endorsed by no less than Bernie Sanders). Intel is a company in trouble, whose financialization has left it dependent on other companies (notably TMSC) to make its most advanced chips. The company has hollowed itself out, jettisoning both manufacturing capacity and cash reserves, pissing away the funds thus freed up on stock buybacks and dividends.

Handing Trump a 10% "golden share" does nothing to improve Intel's serious structural problems. And if you take Trump at his word and accept that securing US access to advanced chips is a national security priority, Trump's Intel plan does nothing to advance that access. But it gets worse: Trump also says denying China access to these chips is a national security priority, but he greenlit Nvidia's plan to sell its top-of-the-range silicon to China in exchange for a gaudy statuette and a 15% export tax.

It's possible to pursue chip manufacturing as a matter of national industrial policy, and it's even possible to achieve this goal by taking ownership stakes in key firms – because it's often easier to demand corporate change via a board seat than it is to win the court battles needed to successfully invoke the Defense Production Act. The problem is that Trumpland is uninterested in making any of that happen. They just want a smash and grab and some red meat for the base: "Look, we made Intel squeal!"

Then there's the Trump tariffs. Writing in Vox EU, Lausanne prof of international business Richard Baldwin writes about the long and checkered history of using tariffs to incubate and nurture domestic production:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/08/trumpian-tariffs-rerun-the-failed-strategy-of-import-substitution-industrialization.html

The theory of tariffs goes like this: if we make imports more expensive by imposing a tax on them (tariffs are taxes that are paid by consumers, after all), then domestic manufacturers will build factories and start manufacturing the foreign goods we've just raised prices on. This is called "import substitution," and it really has worked, but only in a few cases.

What do those cases have in common? They were part of a comprehensive program of "export discipline, state-directed credit, and careful government–business coordination":

https://academic.oup.com/book/10201

In other words, tariffs only work to reshore production where there is a lot of careful planning, diligent data-collection, and review. Governments have to provide credit to key firms to get them capitalized, provide incentives, and smack nonperformers around. Basically, this is the stuff that Biden did for renewables with the energy sector, and – to a lesser extent – for silicon with the CHIPS Act.

Trump's not doing any of that. He's just winging it. There's zero follow-through. It's all about appearances, soundbites, and the libidinal satisfaction of watching corporate titans bend the knee to your cult leader.

This is also how Trump approaches antitrust. When it comes to corporate power, both Trump and Biden's antitrust enforcers are able to strike terror into the hearts of corporate behemoths. The difference is that the Biden administration prioritized monopolists based on how harmful they were to the American people and the American economy, whereas Trump's trustbusters target companies based on whether Trump is mad at them:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/12/the-enemy-of-your-enemy/#is-your-enemy

What's more, any company willing to hand a million or two to a top Trump enforcer can just walk away from the charges:

https://prospect.org/power/2025-08-19-doj-insider-blows-whistle-pay-to-play-antitrust-corruption/

In her 2023 book Doppelganger, Naomi Klein introduces the idea of a right-wing "mirror world" that offers a conspiratorial, unhinged version of actual problems that leftists wrestle with:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/05/not-that-naomi/#if-the-naomi-be-klein-youre-doing-just-fine

For example, the antivax movement claims that pharma companies operate on the basis of unchecked greed, without regard to the harm their defective products cause to everyday people. When they talk about this, they sound an awful like leftists who are angry that the Sacklers killed a million Americans with their opiods and then walked away with billions of dollars:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/05/third-party-nonconsensual-releases/#au-recherche-du-pedos-perdue

Then there are the conspiracy theories about voting machines. Progressives have been sounding the alarm about the security defects in voting machine since the Bush v Gore years, but that doesn't mean that Venezuelan hackers stole the 2020 election for Biden:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/11/seeing-things/#ess

When anti-15-minute-city weirdos warn that automated license-plate cameras are a gift to tyrants both petty and gross, they are repeating a warning that leftists have sounded since the Patriot Act:

https://locusmag.com/2023/05/commentary-cory-doctorow-the-swivel-eyed-loons-have-a-point/

The mirror-world is a world where real problems (the rampant sexual abuse of children by powerful people and authortiy figures) are met with fake solutions (shooting up pizza parlors and transferring Ghislaine Maxwell to a country-club prison):

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czd049y2qymo

Most of the people stuck in the mirror world are poor and powerless, because desperation makes you an easy mark for grifters peddling conspiracy theories. But Trump's policies on corporate power are what happens in the mirror world inhabited by the rich and powerful.

Trump is risking the economic future of every person in America (except a few cronies), but that's not the only risk here. There's also the risk that reasonable people will come to view industrial policy, government stakes in publicly supported companies, and antitrust as reckless showboating, a tactic exclusively belonging to right wing nutjobs and would-be dictators.

Sociologists have a name for this: they call it "schismogenesis," when a group defines itself in opposition to its rivals. Schismogenesis is progressives insisting that voting machines and pharma companies are trustworthy and that James Comey is a resistance hero:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/18/schizmogenesis/

After we get rid of Trump, America will be in tatters. We're going to need big, muscular state action to revive the nation and rebuild its economy. We can't afford to let Trump poison the well for the very idea of state intervention in corporate activity.

Hey look at this (permalink)

• Thinking Ahead to the Full Military Takeover of Cities https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/thinking-ahead-to-the-full-military

• Framework is working on a giant haptic touchpad, Trackpoint nub, and eGPU for its laptops https://www.theverge.com/news/766161/framework-egpu-haptic-touchpad-trackpoint-nub

• National says "fuck you" on the right to repair https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2025/08/national-says-fuck-you-on-right-to.html?m=1

• Tax the Rich. They’ll Stay https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/zohran-mamdani-tax-rich-new-york-city-1235414327/

• Welcome to the Free Online Tax Preparation Feedback Survey https://irsresearch.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ewDJ6DeBj3ockGa

Object permanence (permalink)

#20yrsago Cops have to pay $41k for stopping man from videoing them https://web.archive.org/web/20050905015507/http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/05D0847P.pdf

#20yrsago Commercial music in podcasts: the end of free expression? https://memex.craphound.com/2005/08/26/commercial-music-in-podcasts-the-end-of-free-expression/

#10yrsago North Dakota cops can now use lobbyist-approved taser/pepper-spray drones https://www.thedailybeast.com/first-state-legalizes-taser-drones-for-cops-thanks-to-a-lobbyist/

#10yrsago Illinois mayor appoints failed censor to town library board https://ncac.org/news/blog/mayor-appoints-would-be-censor-to-library-board

#10yrsago IBM’s lost, glorious fabric design https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/users/mepelman/visits/qtxg/87597377/

#10yrsago Former mayor of SLC suing NSA for warrantless Olympic surveillance https://www.techdirt.com/2015/08/26/prominent-salt-lake-city-residents-sue-nsa-over-mass-warrantless-surveillance-during-2002-olympics/

#10yrsago Health’s unkillable urban legend: “You must drink 8 glasses of water/day” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/upshot/no-you-do-not-have-to-drink-8-glasses-of-water-a-day.html?_r=0

#10yrsago Austin Grossman’s CROOKED: the awful, cthulhoid truth about Richard Nixon https://memex.craphound.com/2015/08/26/austin-grossmans-crooked-the-awful-cthulhoid-truth-about-richard-nixon/

#10yrsago After Katrina, FBI prioritized cellphone surveillance https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/aug/27/stingray-katrina/

#10yrsago Germany’s spy agency gave the NSA the private data of German citizens in exchange for Xkeyscore access https://www.zeit.de/digital/datenschutz/2015-08/xkeyscore-nsa-domestic-intelligence-agency

#10yrsago Elaborate spear-phishing attempt against global Iranian and free speech activists, including an EFF staffer https://citizenlab.ca/2015/08/iran_two_factor_phishing/

#10yrsago Commercial for Banksy’s Dismaland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2NG-MgHqEk

#5yrsago Outdoor education beat TB in 1907 https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/27/cult-chalk/#tb

#5yrsago Hagoromo, mathematicians' cult chalk https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/27/cult-chalk/#hagoromo

#5yrsago Principles for platform regulation https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/27/cult-chalk/#eff-eu

#5yrsago It's blursday https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/26/destroy-surveillance-capitalism/#blursday

#5yrsago Surveillance Capitalism is just capitalism, plus surveillance https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/26/destroy-surveillance-capitalism/#surveillance-monopolism

Upcoming appearances (permalink)

• Ithaca: AD White keynote (Cornell), Sep 12
  https://deanoffaculty.cornell.edu/events/keynote-cory-doctorow-professor-at-large/

• DC: Enshittification at Politics and Prose, Oct 8
  https://politics-prose.com/cory-doctorow-10825

• New Orleans: DeepSouthCon63, Oct 10-12
  http://www.contraflowscifi.org/

• Chicago: Enshittification with Kara Swisher (Chicago Humanities), Oct 15
  https://www.oldtownschool.org/concerts/2025/10-15-2025-kara-swisher-and-cory-doctorow-on-enshittification/

• San Francisco: Enshittification at Public Works (The Booksmith), Oct 20
  https://app.gopassage.com/events/doctorow25

• Miami: Enshittification at Books & Books, Nov 5
  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-1504647263469

Recent appearances (permalink)

• Divesting from Amazon’s Audible and the Fight for Digital Rights (Libro.fm)
  https://pocketcasts.com/podcasts/9349e8d0-a87f-013a-d8af-0acc26574db2/00e6cbcf-7f27-4589-a11e-93e4ab59c04b

• The Utopias Podcast
  https://www.buzzsprout.com/2272465/episodes/17650124

• Tariffs vs IP Law (Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFABFe-5-uQ

Latest books (permalink)

• "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels).

• "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (the-bezzle.org).

• "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org).

• "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245).

• "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com.

• "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com

Upcoming books (permalink)

• "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025

• "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025
  https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/

• "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2026

• "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026

• "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2026

• "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources:

Currently writing:

• "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. (1090 words yesterday, 45491 words total).

• A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING

This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.

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"When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla

READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.

ISSN: 3066-764X

Deloitte Australia wrote a major report for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) about the legal basis for AI-based automated welfare system penalties. DEWR paid Deloitte AUD$439,000. [report, PDF; tender]

But Deloitte cited a pile of references that don’t … exist.

The academics Deloitte cited are not happy. Professor Lisa Burton Crawford said: [AFR]

It was not always clear to me how the research that I have published evidences the propositions for which I was cited. It is concerning to see research attributed to me in this way.

A lot of the references were clearly chatbot fakes — titles and details that were the right shape, but just didn’t exist. Dr Chris Rudge said:

AI use is a strong hypothesis based on the nature of the references, there is not much other explanation. You can hardly type out incorrect titles accidentally.

Deloitte “stands by our work and the findings in the report” and “the content of each article referenced is accurate.” Though Deloitte would not answer if it had used AI.

Deloitte gave the Australian Financial Review a list of corrected references. These new references turned out not to support the claims they were used for. [AFR]

This is what you see when the chatbot abuser gets busted, then tries to do corrections by asking the chatbot. Now, you might think that was stupidly incompetent.

The DEWR “continues to investigate these claims and has sought urgent advice from Deloitte on these matters”.

• Video version

The Trump administration is throwing various hobbies enjoyed by Americans into chaos and is harming small businesses domestically and abroad with its ever-changing tariff structure that is turning the United States into a hermit kingdom. It has made buying and selling things on eBay particularly annoying, and is making it harder and more expensive to, for example, buy vintage film cameras, retro video games, or vintage clothes from Japan, where many of the top eBay sellers are based. 

“Trying to figure out what the future of this hobby is going to look like for those of us in the USA (other than insanely expensive),” a post on r/analogcommunity, the most popular film photography subreddit, reads. “All of my lenses and my camera body came from Japan, they would have been prohibitively expensive [now], paying an extra $80 per item. I feel like entry level to this hobby is going to get hit especially hard.” Another meme posted to the community under the title “Shopping on eBay be like this now” reads “The age of the Canon Mint++ is over. The time of the Argus C3 has come,” referring to a common way that Japanese eBay sellers list Japanese-made Canon cameras. The Argus C3 was a budget mass-produced, American-made camera that was not popular in Japan, and so most of the people selling them are in the United States. Some people like them, but it has been nicknamed “the brick” because it “could serve as a deadly weapon in a street fight.” It remains very inexpensive to this day.

The photography hobby is a microcosm of what anyone who wants to buy anything from another country is currently experiencing. The de-minimis exemption, which allowed people to buy things internationally without paying tariffs if the items cost less than $800, made it very easy and less expensive to get into hobbies like film photography, retro video games, and vintage fashion, to name a few. The Trump administration is ending that exemption Friday and it will quickly become a financial and/or logistical mess for anyone who wants to buy or sell anything from another country. Communities and companies focused on electronics, board games, action figures, skincare, flashlights, sex toys, watches, and general ecommerce are also freaking out, stopping service to the United States, or telling U.S. customers to expect higher prices, higher fees, longer shipping times, more paperwork, more headache, and unpredictable delays. 

In recent days, national mail carriers in the European Union (including DHL, which is widely used internationally), Australia, India, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and, crucially, Japan, have started restricting many shipments to the United States. Some of the few remaining ways to send shipments internationally to the United States is through UPS and FedEx, which have warned customers that the end of de-minimis means more paperwork, higher shipping prices (both have increased their international processing fees), and also means that either the shipper or the receiver will have to pay tariffs on whatever is being sent, which of course adds both costs and processing time. This is on top of the fact that FedEx and UPS are often more expensive services in the first place.

Ever wished your phone skin could do more than just cover your phone?? Dbrand has the answer with its Circuit Board lineup – skins and cases that not only look like they were pulled out of a sci-fi lab but also literally glow in the dark. Yep, your phone just got an after-hours personality.

This isn’t just a slapped-on pattern either. Dbrand teamed up with the internet’s favorite tech YouTube channel, Linus Tech Tips, to bring the idea to life. Instead of printing the designs with your run-of-the-mill methods, they went the extra mile with UV printing, giving the skins a texture and look that’s eerily close to real circuit boards. To make things even cooler, actual circuit board engineers lent their expertise to ensure the lines, traces, and little details look authentic enough to fool your inner techie.

There are three different variants of the Circuit Board skins to pick from: Glow-in-the-Dark Circuit Board – the star of the show, ready to light up your nightstand like a nerdy nightlight; Dark Circuit – a sleek, blacked-out version that screams stealth mode; and Short Circuit – a bold orange-and-white combo that feels like your phone just had a stylish power surge.

Now, before you ask: no, the skins don’t exactly replicate the circuitry inside your iPhone or Pixel. But if accuracy is your thing, Dbrand already has you covered with its X-Ray collection, which is literally based on X-ray scans of actual devices.

Beyond the sci-fi vibes, the Circuit Board skins do what skins do best: add a layer of scratch protection without turning your tech device into a brick. No, they won’t save your screen if gravity decides to ruin your day, but they’ll keep the back of your phone looking sharp.

And Dbrand didn’t stop at phones. The Circuit Board series is available for a jaw-dropping 741 devices – we’re talking laptops, tablets, and even gaming consoles. Prices vary depending on what device you have, but no matter your gadget of choice, chances are Dbrand’s got you covered.

If you’ve ever wanted your tech to glow like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie, head to dbrand.com to purchase.

Photography courtesy of Dbrand.

When a couple discovered Ray Kappe’s 1973 modernist structure, neglected for three decades, they recognized something beyond mere architectural potential. The house had grown into its landscape, trees and structure finding unity over time. This natural integration spoke directly to OWIU Design’s sensibility – one that emerged from years of movement between Singapore, various Asian cities, and their adopted Los Angeles home.

Glass Ridge House is a renovation that unfolds through a series of thoughtful interventions that honor both Eastern philosophy and California’s relationship with landscape. The reimagined pool flows seamlessly into the hillside views, while a koi pond wraps around the entry, punctuated by a minimalist Japanese rock garden. Every window frames either water, trees, or hills, making the existing nature as integral to the interior experience as any piece of furniture or lighting fixture.

The tea bar represents another careful balance of tradition and innovation. Framed by textured marble, it features custom ceramic tiles by Japanese artist Tomonari Hashimoto, whose work incorporates rice and millet into iridescent glazed surfaces. This dedicated space acknowledges tea’s ceremonial importance while maintaining separation from the kitchen’s more utilitarian functions – a spatial hierarchy that reflects cultural priorities.

An important highlight is their collaboration with Kuboki Tatami, a family workshop operating from Fukushima Prefecture since 1740. Rather than treating tatami as a museum piece, OWIU integrates this traditional craft into a contemporary setting, with the sunken living room utilizing the lining to provide both warmth and flexible seating. This is further extended to the bedroom where a custom black tatami treatment lines their bed frame.

View more information on Glass Ridge House on OWIU’s website.

Photography by Pablo Veiga.

This is the first edition of my new monthly newsletter, M31, that was sent out on Wednesday, August 27 — you can subscribe here.

Hi, I’m Jean Snow, and I’d like to welcome you to the first edition of my monthly M31 newsletter, in which I plan on sharing the latest updates in regards to all of my events and initiatives I currently run in Shanghai. This will include my bi-monthly PauseTalk talk series, the PechaKucha Night series I organize with George Lobo, my FOTO5 photo club, and the Shanghai Design Pins group — and whatever else I end up cooking up.

What’s M31? It’s a name I used decades ago as my sort of publishing imprint/company label for the activities I was doing while I lived in Tokyo, and I’ve decided to revive it. It’s simply inspired by my birthday of May 31.

All of the activities mentioned above have dedicated groups in WeChat, where you’ll get the latest updates, and so please contact me to be added to any of them.

PauseTalk

PauseTalk is a talk event I’ve been running for what is coming up on 20 years now, first in Tokyo, and now in Shanghai. It’s an event open to everyone, where I, as the MC, moderate a discussion that is based on who shows up, but generally touches on the idea of being creatives in the city. The next one, Vol. 98, will be held on Thursday, August 28, at Bananafish Books (7 Hongbaoshi Road). We start at 19:30, there is no entry charge, and you are free to bring drinks and snacks — I usually bring a bottle of wine. The “official” moderated session usually lasts around 90 minutes to 2 hours, and some tend to stay to chat more. Right now I’m looking at holding Vol. 100 in December, to mark the end of the year and celebrate the milestone.

You’ll find archives of past events on the PauseTalk website, which includes recaps for each session.

PechaKucha Night

I’ve been involved with the PechaKucha organization since 2009, and for years worked closely with founders Astrid Klein and Mark Astrid on running the worldwide organization, as well as producing the Tokyo series, and special one-off editions. Since 2023, I’ve been organizing the series in Shanghai with George Lobo, starting with Vol. 30. We currently produce events mostly on a bi-monthly basis, with extra volumes here and there. Although not yet announced publicly, our next event, Vol. 46, will be held on September 11. You can always check our Shanghai page on the official PechaKucha website to see the listings for the latest events.

FOTO5

FOTO5 is a photo club I launched earlier this year, with the idea of sharing 5 photos on a particular theme each week. The reason to start it was that I felt like I was no longer being creative with photography anymore, and so wanted to give myself some sort of weekly goal — and I figured it would be even more fun to create a community around it, to see what others would share on the theme. We’ve done 20+ themes so far, and the example you see here is taken from a presentation I did about FOTO5 at a recent PechaKucha Night (the FOTO5 I did for the theme “movement”).

If you’re interested in participating, contact me so I can add you to the group on WeChat.

Shanghai Design Pins 

Shanghai Design Pins is a group I also created on WeChat earlier this year as a place to share design-related spots (and events) in Shanghai. The idea is for everyone to share spots (or pins) they uncover, and so it makes for a growing collection of city highlights that I began sharing on this page on my personal website (although I haven’t updated it in a while). Now that I have this newsletter, I’ll start sharing a few recent spots each month here as well.

Shanghai Design Pins  is a group on WeChat — contact me to be added.

One More Thing

I’ll use this section in each newsletter to share something I’m particularly interested at the moment, or that I happily experienced recently. For this edition, I’d like to highlight some shots taken with the mood.camera app, which I’ve been experimenting with — it replicates old film stocks, but in a way where there’s no post-processing of shots, so you first decide the stock, and then snap away.

The following photos were taking during a random walk at night with my dog, and I really like the warmth.

And that’s it for this month, and the inaugural edition of this newsletter. It may evolve over time, as I come up with things I think would be interesting to share in this format — but it should continue to be focused on the activities and initiatives that I’m currently doing in Shanghai, where I live. For more on me, you can alway have a look at personal website — I’ve been blogging since 1998 — or for lighter stuff (and lots of movie reviews) you can follow me on Bluesky.