A change of pace

This is going to be a short one. After speaking to some friends, and looking at everything I have on my plate, as well as what I actually want to do, I’ve decided to switch some things up. It’s healthy to question the state of things at regular intervals, it’s all too easy just going about with whatever it is you’re doing.

I’m going to switch things up with this letter.

First, it’s going to go from publishing weekly, to monthly. It’ll still be an essay, but I don’t think the linkage section will feel relevant as it typically consists of current events. Such things might end up on the site instead, as posts of sorts, I’m not sure just yet.

Second, I’ll do more experiments, and publish them in whatever fits. Most of the time, it’ll be pages and posts on the Bored Horse site, but it could be other things, too. I’d like to open source the source code to the site, so that other users can use it, and I’ve got some tools that I’m considering building. On top of that, there’s a project that Bored Horse is sponsoring that I’m looking forward to, and I’ve got a mind to release my simple table-top role-playing game system at some point. In short, there are ideas, and I’m going to start just putting them out there, in the vein of the weird web.

As for the letter, the change of pace will give me more time to work on my essays. I hope this will show in the coming months.

I’d like to thank you all for tagging along on this journey. The Bored Horse is an experiment, and I’d like to keep it as such. That means shaking it up once and a while. Hopefully for the better.

Linkage

💾 Fascinating piece on the floppy disc music scene.

🤐 It’s been widely reported that Instagram plays down and sometimes hides content that’s pro-Palestinian. For more on Meta’s behavior, see this piece by The Markup with hands-on tests and results. And don’t forget a second think that you own either the narrative or the content on your Meta account. If you want that, you’ll need to start a blog or something.

🤦 Sony is at it again. This time they’ll delete your digital copies of anime purchased from Funanimation, as it folds into Crunchyroll. It’s another reminder not to trust Sony, and to remember that digital purchases really is renting for an undisclosed period of time.

🗂️ Jim Nielsen loves files too (see #62).

🤖 The headline is absurd, as is OpenAIs idea of fair use: OpenAI claims the Times cheated to get ChatGPT to regurgitate articles.

🫥 Opting out: word, word, word.

🐴 My weekly essay break didn’t just lead to the aforementioned conclusion, it also produced a few posts on the site: Opt-out is always wrong, AI is killing the blog, and my flash fiction story My name is Ronald by the way.

Got something I should read? Send it to me, either by replying to this letter, hitting up tdh.me on Bluesky, or any of the other means that appeal to you. Thanks!

Currently

📚 I’m back reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, with Turn Coat.

🎵 Guns n’ Roses has released av few singles the past few months, so I’ve been catching up on them. Good stuff.

📺 One Day on Netflix was pretty good. Watched it in three goes, which is fast for yours truly.

🎮 I’m deep in the Skyrim trap at the moment, having gone through various collections and Wabbajack modlists. I’m currently giving Nolvus a go, if you’re interested, and it looks bloody great, at least.

The next issue will arrive at the end of the month, after which you can expect them monthly. Thanks for reading.

— Thord D. Hedengren ⚡