Here's what we've got for you in our Weekly Top 5:
* Long COVID camaraderie (Men's Health)
* Breeding terrorists on Telegram @ProPublica / Frontline
* 737 Max coverup (Wired)
* Petrusich profiles Dacus (The New Yorker)
* The Irish pub as export (Smithsonian Magazine)
Learn why our editors have recommended these pieces and find out which story our audience loved most.
@craftykraken@mstdn.gamesI'm re-building my "read it later" collection, and I'd love to hear some of the sources you find yourself constantly returning to and/or engaging with.
Any #longreads? #shortreads? #blogs?
What are your favourite #RSS feeds my friends!
"‘We’ve only seen one heart attack in this population since we’ve been working with them in the last 12 years.’"
Ben Daitz for Aeon: https://longreads.com/2025/02/03/hearts-and-brains/
"The wind gusts reached 100 miles per hour and the smoke was thick and rancid. Sarvis watched electric cars explode and garbage bins tip over, fill with flames, and blow down the streets like missiles." @jbienkahn for @RollingStone
“Cruise ships are not responsible for acts of God. In fact, as the passengers were about to learn, they are not responsible for much of anything.”
Bridget Read for @nymag [threads.net]:
https://www.curbed.com/article/norwegian-cruise-ship-dawn-passengers-left-behind.html
A great article discussing how local action can make an impact on broader regional and global climate. And simultaneously a story about how the news and media ecosystem impacted how we think about climate change. #climatechange #longreads https://kolektiva.social/@504DR/113100135955416496
Our 10 most popular Longreads stories of the year explore a range of subjects, including our fascination with natural disaster, a near-death experience on the water, the essential work of a librarian, and more.
Browse and bookmark our top essays of 2024: https://longreads.com/2024/12/16/top-10-most-popular-originals/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
#Longreads #Essay #Writing #Reading
“‘Data told us that our users don’t want to work that hard,’ she said. ‘Half of them don’t even change the channel.’”
For 404 Media, Jason Koebler writes about one company's strategy for creating AI-generated films: https://www.404media.co/i-went-to-the-premiere-of-tcls-first-commercially-streaming-ai-movies
A former Boston Globe & Reuters reporter who is now homeless gives a gutting, beautifully written, and clear-eyed firsthand account of what it's like to be homeless in America right now.
This is the best article you'll read today, easily. The ending is chilling.
#LongReads #Journalism #News #AmWriting #Housing #Homelessness
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a62875397/homelessness-in-america/?src=longreads
"This is part of your rejection, this fear that it could be you. You deny that reality because it is too horrific to contemplate, therefore you must deny us."
A thoughtful Esquire feature by Patrick Fealey on being #unhoused: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a62875397/homelessness-in-america
"As a teacher and former coach, Manny knows El Paso's young students and athletes need examples of what's possible, and the Bowie 49ers are proof."
An #ESPN story by Roberto José Andrade Franco about a South El Paso #baseball team that won Texas' first high school baseball tournament in 1949: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42092911/texas-first-high-school-baseball-champions-bowie-high-school-segundo-barrio-el-paso-bowie-49ers
It would be hard to overstate the antipathy among many Atari ST users for the IBM PC and its clones. They saw the PC as an inferior, ugly machine.
The IGS animation I attached below (probably made by Steve Turnbull circa 1990-91) is a good example of this feeling.
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2024/10/24/instant-graphics-and-sound-part-6-legacy/
(2/x)
ICYMI — Part 6 of my in-depth history of "Instant Graphics and Sound" is here!
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2024/10/24/instant-graphics-and-sound-part-6-legacy/
The IGS community reached its artistic zenith in late 1991.
But the Atari ST platform was hemorrhaging users, and IG creator Larry Mears found himself tempted by the dark side: porting his protocol to the IBM PC.
(1/x)
A pyramid piece by Steve Turnbull, called "XNET_LST.IG", is a trippy tour-de-force — the most amazing IGS animation ever created, in my opinion. Full of details, it showcases every trick Turnbull had learned over the last two years.
Read more and see the animations:
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2024/10/24/instant-graphics-and-sound-part-6-legacy/
At the end of 1991, the "Instant Graphics and Sound" community had reached its artistic zenith.
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2024/10/24/instant-graphics-and-sound-part-6-legacy/
But the Atari ST platform was hemorrhaging users, and IG creator Larry Mears found himself tempted by the dark side: porting his protocol to the IBM PC.
Don't miss Part 6 of my in-depth history of IGS.
IT'S HERE!
My in-depth history of "Instant Graphics and Sound" — the little-known text protocol for bringing vector art and music to BBSes — has reached the sad (almost) final chapter: "Legacy".
It begins with a look at two psychedelic pieces from fall 1991 that I consider the artistic pinnacle for IGS.
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2024/10/24/instant-graphics-and-sound-part-6-legacy/
BOOSTS APPRECIATED!
Have you explored the #longreads story of "Instant Graphics and Sound" for the Atari ST?
https://breakintochat.com/blog/category/instant-graphics-and-sound/
Discover a niche community that made cool — but forgotten — art, animation, and games for Atari ST bulletin boards using a plain-text protocol that predated RIPscrip.
Five parts have been published. Part 6 is under construction.
"And so a small group of companies has emerged to turn everything from an old Porsche 911 to a vintage VW bus into something you can plug in overnight."
For GQ, Rosecrans Baldwin writes about the #SanFrancisco #startup electrifying classic and vintage #cars: https://www.gq.com/story/your-first-electric-car-could-be-a-vintage-ford-bronco
From full-blown graphical user interfaces, to strategy and dice games, the point-and-click features of "Instant Graphics and Sound" made some radically different experiences possible on a humble Atari ST bulletin board system.
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2024/09/13/instant-graphics-and-sound-part-5-point-and-click/
This is part 5 of my #longreads series on IGS. Boosts appreciated!
I hope you’ll enjoy reading about this little known protocol and the people who made it and used it.
I’ve spent years researching it, fascinated by the idea that my beloved Atari ST had something like RIPscrip, but better in many ways, years earlier … but I didn’t know it back in the day.
Four parts of the series have been posted so far.
#RetroComputing #LongReads #atari #atarist #dev #gamedev #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #computers #textmode #textart #history #bbs #bbsing #igs
