Link Log 20
2026-06-14
The image is a Spanish translation a friend did of a Walt Whitman poem.
Article from NYRB on a library that's been getting audited yearly for the last 800 years or something. It's funny how writing is the single oldest way to preserve time; it's older than photos by a long shot, and I'd say we were writing way ahead of drawing or painting. Yet in spite of that, it's still bound to language: a mystical set of symbols meant to put specific images into our head. Of course we were writing before we were painting, man. How could we not?
Great article from Compact on Clavicular, Bryan Johnson, and the perils that come with trying to transcend death. The big sin guys like that fall for is vainglory, through and through. No one likes a boastful asshole, especially if they flaunt wealth and these grand aspirations while forgetting that we're all just trying to survive the day. It's so easy to get caught up in all this cultural criticism and forget to just look outside your window every once in a while. Life is a beautiful thing, and there is no need to shorten it or prolong it. We all have a set amount of time here, and it's up to us to bear with each day as it comes, regardless of what's fair or not. God has good things planned for us, so there's no need to squirm so much.
Short essay on Ezra Pound's use of free verse. For centuries, iambic pentameter was seen as the pinnacle of poetry in the English language. With the rise of modernism in the late 19th and early 20th century, there came a greater exploration of form that accelerated in large part due to advancements made in audio technology. Once music became a more widespread medium, it became easier for people to harness a deeper sense of lyricism in English, and that's evident in the rising popularity of free verse. People were no longer bound to specific performance rituals, and the greater freedom found in recording audio gave way to more freedom in poetic expression. But honestly, I think we're just going back to realizing that iambic pentameter was king all along.
Bros, how the fuck did I miss the 22-point Palantir Manifesto that came out like two months ago? This one absolutely requires an IOKTIKN post, which as of posting today I am currently working on right now. It's turning into a bit of a monster.
A beautiful comic about sex by Owen Cyclops. I'm glad there's someone else out there who gets it. To get weird and vulnerable myself, I had Owen's problem with casual sex, but instead of finishing early, I couldn't finish at all, and got the same kind of flack from my partners. Man can't win either way, I guess. I have no idea how women perceive me or what they say when I'm not around, and quite frankly, I don't want to know. My little heart couldn't handle it.
Saint Pepsi re-releases the classic vaporwave album for vinyl: Hit Vibes. Can't wait when Saint Pepsi gets clowned on by the kids as "Dad Music." That's gonna be so fun. The p4k write-up was generous, and while it's sad that Saint Pepsi could only go for one banger year, there's a beautiful irony to his Reaganesque rise and demise; what was supposed to be almost satirical of the glamour of the 80s became shut down by a now more mature, suitable for advertising Pepsi Co. Whatever, man, the music's still pretty good.
An old RFC informational doc on "netiquette," released in 1995. As a young guy born in 1998, this was an absolute trip to read. My favorite quote:
Wait overnight to send emotional responses to messages. If you have really strong feelings about a subject, indicate it via FLAME ON/OFF enclosures. For example:
FLAME ON: This type of argument is not worth the bandwidth it takes to send it. It's illogical and poorly reasoned. The rest of the world agrees with me.
FLAME OFF
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