My Game of Thrones mild take – the show just hasn’t been the same (or as good) since they went “off book,” and tried to squeeze more and more plot into fewer episodes. It’s been so uneven, and at times nonsensical over the last few seasons it’s like a different show.

đź“– Read: How to avoid the corporate takeover of podcasting ( ) by an author

“To me, these are the two ways of avoiding the takeover:

  1. Innovate on features and discoverability
  2. Find ways to help podcast producers know more about their listeners

Marco Arment took a nice step on point 1 with his clip feature that he added to the Overcast podcast app. Other innovations might be to support more distributed directories to assist in podcast discovery (OPML inclusion, anyone?).

Progress on point 2 might be difficult (requiring collaboration, between podcast app makers and other groups of people), but it might be better to band together to create new standards/processes/protocols than to be “picked off” one by one.”

an author ( )

I’m not sure I agree with item 2… I don’t really want podcast producers to know anything about me, and wonder why they need to know anything about me. I’m going to guess it’s mainly to sell ads? If there’s another reason you’re thinking of, please do let me know!

It would – to me –  feel like the slippery slope to the same sort of “data collection/analytics” that led to the tracking and profiling nightmare we are seeing push back against on the web. Effectively swapping one concern (walled gardens) for another (privacy).

I have no problem with podcasters earning revenue, but I do wonder if audience targetting is the way to go. Podcasts have survived and grown thus far with the current model – otherwise we wouldn’t be seeing these predatory encroachments.

But perhaps I’m not thinking about the problem openly enough, and with the lessons of the last few years, something could be built? ?

đź“– Read: Mean world syndrome - Wikipedia ( )

“Mean world syndrome is a term coined by George Gerbner to describe a phenomenon whereby violence-related content of mass media makes viewers believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is. Mean world syndrome is one of the main conclusions of cultivation theory. Gerbner, a pioneer researcher on the effects of television on society, argued that people who watch television tended to think of the world as an intimidating and unforgiving place. A direct correlation between the amount of television one watches and the amount of fear one harbors about the world has been proven, although the direction of causality remains debatable in that persons fearful of the world may be more likely to retreat from it and in turn spend more time with indoor, solitary activities such as television watching.”

The “Silent Assassin/Suit Only” (SASO) run through Whittleton Creek, in Hitman 2, has been the most frustrating in the game yet. I’ve tried my own strategy, and following the guide below, but there always seems to be something that goes wrong in each attempt.

With the recent change in ownership, I’ve been wondering if Flickr could become a viable alternative to Instagram for photo sharing (again)? I have a nostalgic view of Flickr, even though I haven’t used it in years. I closed my account, but I’d like to see them do well, and could be convinced to sign up.

As much as I’d love for people to be using their own site/domain, many (most?) don’t want that hassle – so a good service app will be their go-to.

As an aside, I need to get back in the habit of posting photos on this site. I haven’t really been taking pictures with the intent to share over the last couple of months, but one or two have ended up on social media regardless.