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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 1h

Bit late to this this year, but the 2025 Mr Global male beauty contest was once again a thing of beauty. Approach Thursday with the same degree of unbridled glee displayed by Mr Nigeria (and do check out the gallery, there are some OUTFITS in here): griseldagimpel.tumblr.com/post/7970625...

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Reposted by Matt Muir

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 20h

Should add really that if you're a smol newsletter bean who would dearly love to NOT be on Substack, then I will happily roll (and manage) a Ghost install for you for cost + a small maintenance fee.

I'll talk you through setting up your own mailgun and stripe. Do that and you keep ALL your revenue.

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 20h

Okay, Ghost V6 integrated with Tinybird for analytics is pretty damn filthy.

Been running @theupfront.media on Ghost for a while as part of our "No Nazi platforms" stack. Very happy with it (and with our Germany-based email hosting instead of Google Business)

The technology you use is a choice.

In many instances, the choice of platform or technology that a publisher makes can no longer be seen as neutral. Nowhere is that more clear than in journalism in the 2020s.

We are proud that The Up Front and all of our supporting digital infrastructure (like our email servers, data storage and collaboration tools) are either self-hosted and managed, or use trusted third parties who have policies that align with our values.

We reject platforms and technologies where our use would represent tacit support for — or tolerance of — the views of their owners or major funders where we disagree fundamentally with those views and the impact they have on the world.

We’re very selective in the socials we operate: we’re on Bluesky as our network of choice and use its atproto as our commenting system, curating a community of thoughtful feedback on our work and elevating other voices. We also have a LinkedIn page, because we understand its importance for our industry audience.

Perhaps more importantly, we don’t use toxic socials like Instagram, Facebook, Threads or X, which drive really unproductive behaviour in media outlets, journalists, readers and companies.

We choose our technical backend and partners carefully, selecting independent European vendors rather than US-based Big Tech, for ethical reasons, for data privacy, and because we care about supporting the good parts of the digital sector in the same way we know our subscribers care about supporting the good parts of the media sector.

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 20h

New 'how modernity works' explainer just dropped

Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 20h

Believing misinformation is a “win” for some people, even when proven false

“Winning” means prioritizing independence from outside influence over being right.

arstechnica.com

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 23h

they need editors; my most middle-aged complaint is the differential quality of stuff on R4 based on whether it's intended as radio (has editors) vs as podcasts (seems not to have editors)

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 23h

NOT YOU ADAM x

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 23h

Ha! Or at the very least make transcripts mandatory, I simply don't have the time for the ums and ahs and the backslapping (not all podcasts, of course...)

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 23h

dear god let the medium die

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 1d

Buy the Eye

Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 1d

Trump’s Gaza Triumph

The new Private Eye is out now.

A photo of the front cover of issue 1660 of Private Eye magazine with the caption "on shelves now." The front cover headline reads “Trump’s Gaza Triumph” and features a photo of Donald Trump with multiple speech bubbles saying “You’ve got to hand it to me,” “What, all of it?”, “The only people making a bomb from now on will be my family,” “Anyone want a peace of the action?”, “In God we Trump!” and “Halo to the Chief!” A banner at the bottom reads “Late news: World apologises ‘He’s not a naughty boy, he’s the Messiah.’”

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 1d

I mean, I don't think the speaker here cares either way as long as he can somehowake bank, and I don't think the future he is envisaging is 'milk and honey' so much as 'pass the numbing salve and wait for death'

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 1d

Really look forward to being able to spend my post-job UBI on, er, Candy Crush and indulgences

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 1d

It's bleakly fascinating, right? Always good to know what the amoral moneybastards are thinking...

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 1d

This is an interesting (horrifying) recent talk from some atrocious hedge funder that touches on the below in terms of his suggestion to invest in 'opiates of the masses': www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/this-t...

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 1d

Riddley Walker, either as blueprint or cautionary tale (delete per your preference)

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Reposted by Matt Muir

Kat Arney @katarney.bsky.social · 2d

"News-flavoured content" is such a good way of putting this

Boo!-per Lund @cooperlund.online · 2d

I've been blaming memes for this, and I think it fits. A lot of the angriest people out there aren't actually consuming news, they're consuming news-flavored content, and the content is a funhouse mirror version of reality that they're mistaking for being real.

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 2d

ooh, will have a read, ta x

Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 2d

@thejaymo.net @jayowens.bsky.social If you've not yet read it, I think you'll both find this (terrible) essay of (grim) interest a16z.substack.com/p/prediction...

Prediction: the Successor to Postmodernism

The defining reframe of the AI generation

a16z.substack.com

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Reposted by Matt Muir

jaythechou.bsky.social @jaythechou.bsky.social · 3d

I Photoshop Paddington into a movie, TV show, or pop culture until I forget: Day 1673

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 4d

Happy Saturday! It's actually quite nice out, so whatever you do DON'T click this link and get stuck into the best and most interesting bits and pieces from the past week on the web! Web Curios! webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-10...

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Reposted by Matt Muir

Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 5d

Friday! Lunchtime! Words written by a man so fatigued he has just realised that he is actually crying with tired as he types this! REAP THE FRUITS OF MY POINTLESS MASOCHISM AND CLICK MY LINKS! Web Curios! Share, enjoy, please let me sleep now! webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-10...

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 5d

I DO IT ALL FOR YOU (I don't, it's an almost entirely self-indulgent exercise, but I really appreciate the note x)

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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 5d

Friday! Lunchtime! Words written by a man so fatigued he has just realised that he is actually crying with tired as he types this! REAP THE FRUITS OF MY POINTLESS MASOCHISM AND CLICK MY LINKS! Web Curios! Share, enjoy, please let me sleep now! webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-10...