JD Shadel
@jdshadel.com
💌 Join the only lifestyle newsletter on the internet ;-) www.esckey.co
Chief Editorial Officer at new media outlet ESC KEY .CO — also the only employee
Work in Condé Nast Traveler (ex-Future of Travel columnist), WaPo, Them, BBC, Vice, more
They/etc
Chief Editorial Officer at new media outlet ESC KEY .CO — also the only employee
Work in Condé Nast Traveler (ex-Future of Travel columnist), WaPo, Them, BBC, Vice, more
They/etc
Pinned
JD Shadel
@jdshadel.com
· May 19
Do you believe in hope after “AI” hype? Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna make the case
In this extended briefing, “TL;DR” = “Totally Legit; Def. Read” because we review “The AI Con,” the spicy new book ready to rattle the broligarchy. Plus, the authors answer ESC KEY .CO’s questions abo...
www.esckey.co
“If they couldn’t be bothered to write this, why should we be bothered to read it?” ‼️
In their cathartic, broligarchy-rattling new book, “The AI Con,” @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social are handing out needles so you, too, can burst the hype bubble.
www.esckey.co/do-you-belie...
In their cathartic, broligarchy-rattling new book, “The AI Con,” @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social are handing out needles so you, too, can burst the hype bubble.
www.esckey.co/do-you-belie...
when i die i hope the headline begins "LONGTIME NONBINARY BISEXUAL...."
November 21, 2025 at 6:21 PM
when i die i hope the headline begins "LONGTIME NONBINARY BISEXUAL...."
Reposted by JD Shadel
Stop the fashion slop: Fake “AI” campaigns destroy creative work -
“The real motivation seems crystal clear: avoiding paying humans.” | JD Shadel for anxiety.eco
www.anxiety.eco/p/stop-the-a...
“The real motivation seems crystal clear: avoiding paying humans.” | JD Shadel for anxiety.eco
www.anxiety.eco/p/stop-the-a...
Stop the fashion slop: Fake “AI” campaigns destroy creative work. Greenwashing makes it worse.
No, replacing creatives with “AI” generated slop is not a climate solution. It obviously does not “increase diversity.” But that’s exactly what brands from Benetton to Levi’s are claiming. The real mo...
www.anxiety.eco
November 15, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Stop the fashion slop: Fake “AI” campaigns destroy creative work -
“The real motivation seems crystal clear: avoiding paying humans.” | JD Shadel for anxiety.eco
www.anxiety.eco/p/stop-the-a...
“The real motivation seems crystal clear: avoiding paying humans.” | JD Shadel for anxiety.eco
www.anxiety.eco/p/stop-the-a...
software is so sloppy now it’s sad
software should work and be boring — not make up fake news about me
software should work and be boring — not make up fake news about me
Microsoft’s AI-powered copy and paste can now use on-device AI
Microsoft’s AI-powered copy and paste can now use on-device AI
Advanced Paste is getting more advanced.
buff.ly
November 20, 2025 at 9:52 PM
software is so sloppy now it’s sad
software should work and be boring — not make up fake news about me
software should work and be boring — not make up fake news about me
I have so many mean, subjective thoughts and yet I am also an angelic cute lil baby creature anyway yeah is it the weekend yet??
November 20, 2025 at 9:36 PM
I have so many mean, subjective thoughts and yet I am also an angelic cute lil baby creature anyway yeah is it the weekend yet??
Reposted by JD Shadel
finding out recently that almost all the words in the dictionary are not IP and are in fact open source/public domain was an absolute game changer for me as a writer
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
finding out recently that almost all the words in the dictionary are not IP and are in fact open source/public domain was an absolute game changer for me as a writer
nothing makes me hornier than well written alt text
November 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
nothing makes me hornier than well written alt text
Writing is easier the more you do it
Writing is easier the more you do it
I TELL MYSELF LIES!
I AM WEEPING INTO MY KEYBOARD BECAUSE THIS IS NOT EASY AND I DO IT ALL THE TIME!
While failing to write what I’m supposed to write, the construction team down the street has added a floor to a condo
Writing is easier the more you do it
I TELL MYSELF LIES!
I AM WEEPING INTO MY KEYBOARD BECAUSE THIS IS NOT EASY AND I DO IT ALL THE TIME!
While failing to write what I’m supposed to write, the construction team down the street has added a floor to a condo
November 20, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Writing is easier the more you do it
Writing is easier the more you do it
I TELL MYSELF LIES!
I AM WEEPING INTO MY KEYBOARD BECAUSE THIS IS NOT EASY AND I DO IT ALL THE TIME!
While failing to write what I’m supposed to write, the construction team down the street has added a floor to a condo
Writing is easier the more you do it
I TELL MYSELF LIES!
I AM WEEPING INTO MY KEYBOARD BECAUSE THIS IS NOT EASY AND I DO IT ALL THE TIME!
While failing to write what I’m supposed to write, the construction team down the street has added a floor to a condo
Liv Simpliciano, Fashion Revolution’s head of policy and research, tells anxiety.eco: “At COP, frontline activists are literally on their knees pleading for what should be the most basic point of consensus: the right to a livable future.”
www.anxiety.eco/p/feeling-co...
www.anxiety.eco/p/feeling-co...
Feeling COP fatigue from all the climate inaction? Activists tell us how clear the solutions are.
As COP30 wraps up in Brazil, it’s starting to feel like déjà vu: Indigenous communities and activists underscore the urgency of the moment we’re in, while world leaders fail to act. This week, anxie...
www.anxiety.eco
November 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Liv Simpliciano, Fashion Revolution’s head of policy and research, tells anxiety.eco: “At COP, frontline activists are literally on their knees pleading for what should be the most basic point of consensus: the right to a livable future.”
www.anxiety.eco/p/feeling-co...
www.anxiety.eco/p/feeling-co...
idk about you but i'm honestly having a lot of fun making myself unhirable on LinkedIn dot com
November 20, 2025 at 4:13 PM
idk about you but i'm honestly having a lot of fun making myself unhirable on LinkedIn dot com
This is some of the most important reporting work of my career. Really proud to share.
November 20, 2025 at 1:27 PM
This is some of the most important reporting work of my career. Really proud to share.
Reposted by JD Shadel
Increasingly, tech's theory of change looks something like this:
-AI will let us do outputs faster
-With the freed up time, we will finally be able to Do Strategy
Which is only a conclusion you can come to if you don't understand how LLMs work, how software gets made, and how people work together.
-AI will let us do outputs faster
-With the freed up time, we will finally be able to Do Strategy
Which is only a conclusion you can come to if you don't understand how LLMs work, how software gets made, and how people work together.
Designers are always inventing new titles. Web designer, UI designer, UX designer, UX/UI designer, Product designer, UX/AI designer (???)
These are all the same!
As long as your work is mediated entirely by Figma and Jira, you are just a production artist. Here's how to get out of that racket.
These are all the same!
As long as your work is mediated entirely by Figma and Jira, you are just a production artist. Here's how to get out of that racket.
Without UX governance, your app turns to "sludge"
Break out of the feature delivery mindset and attend to the architecture and maintenance of the product.
productpicnic.beehiiv.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Increasingly, tech's theory of change looks something like this:
-AI will let us do outputs faster
-With the freed up time, we will finally be able to Do Strategy
Which is only a conclusion you can come to if you don't understand how LLMs work, how software gets made, and how people work together.
-AI will let us do outputs faster
-With the freed up time, we will finally be able to Do Strategy
Which is only a conclusion you can come to if you don't understand how LLMs work, how software gets made, and how people work together.
… HOW DID IT END UP LIKE THIS?? www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Neanderthals and early humans ‘likely to have kissed’, say scientists
Study from University of Oxford looks into evolutionary origins of kissing and its role in relations between species
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:18 AM
… HOW DID IT END UP LIKE THIS?? www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Reposted by JD Shadel
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
![Excerpt from a BBC article: ""We usually work, 10, 11 or 12 hours a day," says a 49-year-old woman from Jiangxi unwilling to give her name. "On Sundays we work around three hours less."
She is in an alleyway, where a dozen people are huddled around a row of bulletin boards.
They are reading the job ads on the board, while examining the stitching on a pair of chinos draped over it.
This is Shein's supply chain. The factories are contracted to make clothes on order - some small, some big. If the chinos are a hit, orders will ramp up and so must production. Factories then hire temporary workers to meet the demand their permanent staff cannot fulfil.
The migrant worker from Jiangxi is looking for a short-term contract - and the chinos are an option.
"We earn so little. The cost of living is now so high," she says, adding that she hopes to make enough to send back to her two children who are living with their grandparents.
"We get paid per piece," she explains. "It depends how difficult the item is. Something simple like a t-shirt is one-two yuan [less than a dollar] per piece and I can make around a dozen in an hour.""](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreiber7g4o5pujmzmjjzsp5dkz7blfexburuwjispfpv6dki7akjb7a@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 12:07 AM
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
Reposted by JD Shadel
1) this from @marisakabas.bsky.social is good as always
2) as she lays out, part of the problem is there is an entire class of journalist and of publication that is obsessed…OBSESSED with access. if access can be taken away then you need to pull punches
www.thehandbasket.co/p/moral-rot-...
2) as she lays out, part of the problem is there is an entire class of journalist and of publication that is obsessed…OBSESSED with access. if access can be taken away then you need to pull punches
www.thehandbasket.co/p/moral-rot-...
Moral rot in elite journalism is killing the whole field
The Nuzzi/RFK Jr. mess and the revelation of Esptein's journo pals lay bare a profound moral absence at the heart of our free press.
www.thehandbasket.co
November 18, 2025 at 11:04 PM
1) this from @marisakabas.bsky.social is good as always
2) as she lays out, part of the problem is there is an entire class of journalist and of publication that is obsessed…OBSESSED with access. if access can be taken away then you need to pull punches
www.thehandbasket.co/p/moral-rot-...
2) as she lays out, part of the problem is there is an entire class of journalist and of publication that is obsessed…OBSESSED with access. if access can be taken away then you need to pull punches
www.thehandbasket.co/p/moral-rot-...
autocorrect always makes "coworking space" "cowering space" and it's not wrong
November 19, 2025 at 5:53 PM
autocorrect always makes "coworking space" "cowering space" and it's not wrong
Reposted by JD Shadel
I don't like to start mess but I DO LOVE to finish it.
November 19, 2025 at 3:19 PM
I don't like to start mess but I DO LOVE to finish it.
"Will they stick with it?" IDK WILL WE BUILD A FUNCTIONAL NATIONAL RAIL NETWORK THAT RUNS AT SPEEDS THAT MAKE IT AN ACTUAL ALTERNATIVE 🥺
Airports are in chaos as the holiday travel season approaches—and the railroad is looking pretty good by comparison, @kait.bsky.social writes.
America Is Taking the Train
Airport chaos is leading people to ride the Amtrak. Will they stick with it?
bit.ly
November 18, 2025 at 6:16 PM
"Will they stick with it?" IDK WILL WE BUILD A FUNCTIONAL NATIONAL RAIL NETWORK THAT RUNS AT SPEEDS THAT MAKE IT AN ACTUAL ALTERNATIVE 🥺
You won't believe what happened when this non-binary bisexual stopped wearing their Apple Watch. www.esckey.co/this-non-bin...
This non-binary bisexual stopped wearing their Apple Watch. You won't believe what happened.
I first began using an Apple Watch to track my sleep. My watch told me I wasn't sleeping enough. It also alerted me that my heart rate was elevated when I would run to catch a train. Then I stopped we...
www.esckey.co
November 18, 2025 at 5:58 PM
You won't believe what happened when this non-binary bisexual stopped wearing their Apple Watch. www.esckey.co/this-non-bin...
Reposted by JD Shadel
I have been WAITING for a journalist to write this story.
I specialize in manuscripts produced in England between 1300 and 1500. If this had occurred in the midst of writing my dissertation or first book, it would have exploded my career.
I specialize in manuscripts produced in England between 1300 and 1500. If this had occurred in the midst of writing my dissertation or first book, it would have exploded my career.
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I have been WAITING for a journalist to write this story.
I specialize in manuscripts produced in England between 1300 and 1500. If this had occurred in the midst of writing my dissertation or first book, it would have exploded my career.
I specialize in manuscripts produced in England between 1300 and 1500. If this had occurred in the midst of writing my dissertation or first book, it would have exploded my career.
The best advice for freelance journalists today is to be born rich. The second best advice is to marry well. This is not shade.
This week's long-form essay has been a long time in the making, as I go deep into the sad state of freelance journalism over on ESC KEY .CO:
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
This week's long-form essay has been a long time in the making, as I go deep into the sad state of freelance journalism over on ESC KEY .CO:
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
RIP freelance journalism: Candid advice to the young writers the world needs to read
Every year, freelance journalism pays less. A typical gig today pays 80% less than the same assignment in 2001. It is no longer a sustainable career. It is, more often, a side-hustle, or the domain of...
www.esckey.co
November 18, 2025 at 1:39 PM
The best advice for freelance journalists today is to be born rich. The second best advice is to marry well. This is not shade.
This week's long-form essay has been a long time in the making, as I go deep into the sad state of freelance journalism over on ESC KEY .CO:
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
This week's long-form essay has been a long time in the making, as I go deep into the sad state of freelance journalism over on ESC KEY .CO:
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
Reposted by JD Shadel
Online's been so sad and boring lately OH MY GOD
November 18, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Online's been so sad and boring lately OH MY GOD
Reposted by JD Shadel
"But for people who have a drive to be working writers, they will succeed in large part based on their metabolism for change, for evolution, for reinvention." - @jdshadel.com
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
RIP freelance journalism: Candid advice to the young writers the world needs to read
Every year, freelance journalism pays less. A typical gig today pays 80% less than the same assignment in 2001. It is no longer a sustainable career. It is, more often, a side-hustle, or the domain of...
www.esckey.co
November 17, 2025 at 1:50 AM
"But for people who have a drive to be working writers, they will succeed in large part based on their metabolism for change, for evolution, for reinvention." - @jdshadel.com
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
Reposted by JD Shadel
I feel ike this is a law of physics: things don't get easier.
But we're at a point in time where we have to show up anyway to do the things we yap on about, and do what we believe in, despire...
"we have an opportunity to build a different kind of writing career"
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
But we're at a point in time where we have to show up anyway to do the things we yap on about, and do what we believe in, despire...
"we have an opportunity to build a different kind of writing career"
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
November 17, 2025 at 1:44 AM
I feel ike this is a law of physics: things don't get easier.
But we're at a point in time where we have to show up anyway to do the things we yap on about, and do what we believe in, despire...
"we have an opportunity to build a different kind of writing career"
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
But we're at a point in time where we have to show up anyway to do the things we yap on about, and do what we believe in, despire...
"we have an opportunity to build a different kind of writing career"
www.esckey.co/the-death-of...
Reposted by JD Shadel
Can we please stop using the phrase "the advent of LLMs"? They are not something that arrived on the scene of their own accord and the religious connotations are also extremely icky.
November 17, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Can we please stop using the phrase "the advent of LLMs"? They are not something that arrived on the scene of their own accord and the religious connotations are also extremely icky.
You’re mildly dyslexic despite having previously worked as a copyeditor (imagine that). You spend four hours reading and rereading a newsletter before you mail it. You make one edit in the 60 seconds before sending. That edit is actually the insertion of the typo. 💀
November 16, 2025 at 10:35 PM
You’re mildly dyslexic despite having previously worked as a copyeditor (imagine that). You spend four hours reading and rereading a newsletter before you mail it. You make one edit in the 60 seconds before sending. That edit is actually the insertion of the typo. 💀