621: Restaurant subscriptions, how oil gets made, and clown standup
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Community Week in NYC next week is a new take on a tried and true formula - this time for events that cater to ‘community’. That’s a wide focus, but generally one I resonate with, so we’ll see which of these I make it our to.
Technology
Poke is a text first smart assistant that integrates with all your apps to have all your personal context. I remember when text UI apps were all the rage a decade ago, but now with LLMs they might actually be useful. But again, what does Poke have that the LLMs that run it do not? An iMessage wrapper? Still not defensible…
Mealpal is Classpass for restaurant food - pay by the month and get discounts at many restaurants. Sure, if you eat out enough I imagine it will pay for itself? But restaurant food every day, eurgh.
Ideologies
How and oil refinery works was a fascinating read, like the fact that they have filters at different stages of the smokestacks to capture the burning gases at different layers of evaporation, which in turn create different consumer products.
WIRED’s Tech Support series where a topical expert answers questions from the internet is great and cover a wide gamut of topics. I’ve been binging them recently - here’s an Iranian expert on the current war, for instance.
Memes
Radiohead made not only a movie to accompany their Kid A album, but an entire custom building in which to show it in, and its touring the world this year.
Jack Tucker is a standup comedian who went to the Harvard for clowns (Gaulier), and the result is comedy that transcends either art form.
I can’t remember the last time I laughed so often at a comedy special! More from the delivery and the props and sound cues and the ‘WTF is gonna happen next!” than the jokes themselves, but the result is the same.
It’s not for everyone, so start with his Baha Men joke and see if you like it - I found it on Instagram and was immediately hooked, watched his whole special, and never looked back.