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Angelmamii7 in LimeranceBurnt toast about burnt toast HEADPHONE USERS BEWARE–

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Moss’ Email

​​Hi Never Post!

My name is Moss (she/her) and I am trans.

Your recent segment on before and after pics got me thinking about the particular variety of before and afters that are shared online in the trans community. I think that this became a lot more visible to me after being witness to the early chaos of unconstrained trans horniness and wild openness in the early formation of Bluesky last year, which is a whole fascinating bit of platform ecosystem history, especially seeing how much Bluesky has leveled out into something much more "presentable" and twitter-like now that it's operating at scale—but I digress.

On sites like Twitter and Bluesky (and surely elsewhere...) there is an established trend of trans beings (queer beings) sharing before and after pictures of themselves. These are occasioned by trans holidays, like Transgender Day of Visibility, by personal events like transition anniversaries, and by quote chains of such pics (not to mention special occasions of steps taken towards transition). I think it's important to mention these not only as a queer phenomenon, but as something that illuminates how before and afters work for everyone in a variety of situations (as is the case with many things related to transness—it's not [only] about being trans: it's about living more freely). The trans case highlights a few aspects that I want to explore here:

1) The pics, by virtue of being in a trans discourse, would seem to point to something deeper about how life is structured—an identity, a gender—rather than merely an aspect of life—weight, appearance, dwelling, &c.—not of course that identity and gender are not merely aspects of life nor that what seem to be mere aspects are not structuring, but thinking about the weight these are given culturally. What does it mean to see one photo and then another and think, and be encouraged to think by the poster, to see the second as more in line with their gender, as "more woman," "more animal," "more thing," "more man," "more..."? But perhaps above all "MORE THEMSELF." I think we can reasonably be quite ambivalent about this: as your segment points out, the after of the before and after is actually a changing state, and that perhaps it's harmful to over-fix (and that it might fix norms that should be taken as fluid and contextual), but, on the other hand, the fixing function of the before and after photo may be precisely the point for the trans poster—a trans performance to reinforce self. We might further ask, what is visible and what is invisible about transition—does the before and after pic over-reinforce the visible (and how does it then interact with the endless discourse of "passing")? There is also of course a great potential for rupture with norms with queer people—the after often completely rejects standard norms (but then is it rejection or creation...? and so on and so on and so on).

2) The before pic is possibly quite contentious for trans beings, when it is understood to be a pre-transition pic (and not say, both before and after being after the start of transition). This is because there are a ton of frameworks for understanding what one was before transition, and—rightfully—everyone has a different approach: Shall I define myself in opposition to my past? Shall I cut the past off and build myself in the now? Should my transition be understood as an attempt to work with my past, to heal my past, and to continue what is good from it? Is transition not at all a dividing line between me and my past—is it simply an event in a continuous life? Is transition not an event but a conti

Georgia chats with Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter Hilke Schellmann about the job market, and the increasing prevalence of Artificial Intelligence in hiring. Mike talks with comedian, writer and podcast host Jamie Loftus about her show Sixteenth Minute (of Fame), and the curse of becoming an Internet Main Character. Also! Every YouTube video the team watched in the last two weeks.

Show Notes:

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Intro Links
Google Cut Back AI Overviews in Search Even Before Its ‘Pizza Glue’ Fiasco –  WIREDIkea is hiring UK workers for its new store in Roblox – EurogamerHow 7 Brands Are Engaging Gen Zers with Roblox Experiences – ObsessarNebula Strikes Deal With Spotify to Stream Video Content (EXCLUSIVE) – VarietySpotify demonetises all tracks under 1,000 streams – MusictechSpotify Announces New Price Increases for Premium Plans – Yahoo TechSpotify raising prices by up to $3 as frustrated subs beg it to “just do music” – Ars TechnicaA New Lawsuit Accuses Spotify of Cheating Songwriters Out of Royalties – TimeWe'll Miss You: Pioneering instant messaging program ICQ is finally shutting down after nearly 30 years – PC GamerInternet Sleuths Finally Find Origin of 'The Backrooms' Creepypasta Image – 404 MediaBackrooms Research Doc–
Why Is It (Hiring) Like This? with Hilke Schellmann
Find Hilke:
hilkeschellmann.comThe Algorithm: How AI Can Hijack Your Career and Steal Your FutureOther Sources:
OpenAI GPT Sorts Resume Names With Racial Bias, Test Shows – BloombergAI Bias In Recruitment: Ethical Implications And Transparency – ForbesAI in Hiring and Evaluating Workers: What Americans Think – PewAI hiring tools may be filtering out the best job applicants – BBC–
Main Characters, with Jamie Loftus
Find Jamie:
Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)jamieloftus.xyzInstagramTwitter–
Never Post’s producers are Audrey Evans, Georgia Hampton and The Mysterious Dr. Firstname Lastname. Our senior producer is Hans Buetow. Our executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer. The show’s host is Mike Rugnetta. 
Others were more economical than I, but I
had my red marble. I had action
figures weighing down the drapes
on tiny threads. That twisted, and got smaller.
One door led
to a more economical room
Perhaps a more economical view. The girl
across the hall was the same girl

Except, “Persuasion” by Joyelle McSweeney

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Georgia digs deep into the enshittification of dating apps, and pays dearly as a result. Mike talks to Aftermath co-founder Luke Plunkett about recent, massive changes to Google’s Page Rank algorithm, and the risk of reconfiguring entire industries to pander to search traffic. And also: An AI Voice Clone of Mike is set to *maximum chaos*. 

Show Notes:

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Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voice mailDrop us a voice memo via airtableOr email us at theneverpost at gmail dot comSee what interstitials we need submissions for–
Intro Links
Belle Delphine earned over $90K selling jars of her bathwater in 2019. PayPal only released her money this week – Katie Notopulous, Business InsiderSlack has been using data from your chats to train its machine learning models – Will Shanklin, EngadgetIt’s the End of Google Search As We Know It – Lauren Goode, WIREDUber and Lyft agree to deal with state lawmakers on minimum pay rates for drivers – Max Nesterak, Minnesota ReformerIGN Entertainment acquires Eurogamer, GI, VG247, Rock Paper Shotgun and more –  Christopher Dring, gameindustry.bizIGN buys Eurogamer, VG247, and Rock Paper Shotgun – layoffs have already started – Game Central, Metro.co.ukNever Post at XOXO 2024 12 Best Podcasts of 2024 (So Far) – Lauren Passell, Lifehacker Mike on Blocked Party–
Dating Apps (derogatory)
Dating Apps: The Uncertainty of Marketised Lovehttps://www.tiktok.com/@officialbrept/video/7028325781537393925?_t=8lrDLmaKbTa&_r=1https://www.tiktok.com/@hannahgraser/video/7117094997484309806?_r=1&_t=8ly4uYqQrPDhttps://www.tiktok.com/@harmonythread/video/7262952885158235435?_t=8lwOVY3O0LP&_r=1https://www.tiktok.com/@hannahgraser/video/7125991346489314603?_t=8lwOSDK1l3H&_r=1https://www.tiktok.com/@jordanzhang13/video/7036251495951535366?_t=8m88ojNTm3y&_r=1–
Google Scruples
Find Luke at Aftermath.siteGoogle Kneecaps Loads Of Very Big Websites After SEO ChangeWorkers At The Gamurs Group Of Video Game Websites Describe It As ‘Hell’The Perfect Webpage: How the internet reshaped itself around Google’s search algorithms –
Never Post’s producers are Audrey Evans, Georgia Hampton and The Mysterious Dr. Firstname Lastname. Our senior producer is Hans Buetow. Our executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer. The show’s host is Mike Rugnetta. 
Foot, how you press
 me to keep that
 old contact alive
the repeated daily sentiment
 of pace so
 grim, always that
untrusting silence

untitled, by JH Prynne, from The White Stones

Never Post is a production of Charts & Leisure


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The second and final installment of our two part collab with Slate’s ICYMI! Mike talks with mis- and disinformation researcher Joan Donovan about the line between gossip and conspiracy; then ICYMI’s Candice and Rachelle join us to talk about what it feels like swimming in the wide open sea of monocultural event discourse. Also: C-SPAN’s earliest internet memories!

Special thanks to Candice, Rachelle, Se’era, Daisy and the whole ICYMI team! Please listen to them on slate.com and wherever you get your podcasts.

Become a Never Post member at https://www.neverpo.st/
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Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voice mailDrop us a voice memo via airtableOr email us at theneverpost at gmail dot comSee what interstitials we need submissions for–
Everyone is a Journalish
Find Joan at her websiteand at publicinterestinter.net–
Never Post’s producers are Audrey Evans, Georgia Hampton and The Mysterious Dr. Firstname Lastname. Our senior producer is Hans Buetow. Our executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer. The show’s host is Mike Rugnetta. 
vertigo of too many nuances
don’t drown in their rapidity
choose the nuances you love
and settle down with them

Excerpt of #45 - butter colored slacks and rubber rum balls by Wayne Koestenbaum

Never Post is a production of Charts & Leisure


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This week, we got TWO episodes coming at you - one today and one on Saturday. Both are a collaboration with the incredible team at the Slate Podcast ICYMI.
In today's episode, the first of our collaboration, Mike guests on ICYMI, where they break down one of 2024’s biggest internet stories and ask: what's the recipe for a rare monocultural event?
It's been more than a month since Kate Middleton announced she'd started preventative chemotherapy treatments following a cancer diagnosis. Which means it's also been just over a month since conspiracy theories about the princess ran rampant across the internet. As an increasingly algorithmic internet silos us further into our own little content niches, all-consuming events like Kate Middleton's disappearance are fewer and far between. So what does it take, in 2024, to capture the internet's attention and create these rare monocultural moments?
ICYMI is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton.
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To get ahold of the Never Post team:
- Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voice mail- Drop us a voice memo via airtable- Or email us at theneverpost at gmail dot com- See what interstitials we need submissions for
Never Post's producers are Audrey Evans, Georgia Hampton and The Mysterious Dr. Firstname Lastname. Our senior producer is Hans Buetow. Our executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer. The show's host is Mike Rugnetta.
Never Post is a production of Charts & Leisure


★ Support this podcast ★

Senior producer Hans Buetow investigates the transit vacuum that’ll be left when Uber and Lyft leave the Twin Cities; Mike looks at how the car has become a default setting for vertical, short form video. Also: PLANES, TRAINS… BIKES

Become a member at https://www.neverpo.st/
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Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voice mailDrop us a voice memo via airtableOr email us at theneverpost at gmail dot com–
Intro Links
The House just voted on a potential TikTok ban (again). Now what? – CNNBiden signs a bill that could ban TikTok — after the 2024 election – NBC NewsSteve Mnuchin seeks AI partner to rebuild TikTok’s algorithm in takeover bid: sources – NY PostGoogle blocks California news in response to bill that would force tech giant to pay – NPRWhen Facebook bans the news – Matt PearceNvidia drops 10% as investors see risk in Big Tech shares – FTSuper Micro And Nvidia Stock Woes Could Mean Trouble For Generative AI – ForbesAuthorJMac TweetMike on The Eurowhat PodcastIf You Love Podcasts, Dump Spotify – Alex Sujong Laughlin, Defector–
Twin Cities Transit Vacuum
Minnesota Reformer Uber ArchivesMax Nesterak is on Twitter –
The American Car 
Garlic Naan And Butter Chicken Fountain?! – TiktokDavid After Dentist – YouTubeTaco Reacts – TiktokThe American Room – Paul Ford, MediumIt is NOT My day – Tiktokforget a rage room, ima just rent out my car so y’all can scream in it – Evelyn, TiktokShanin Blake – TiktokDear single parents ~ when I was 18 I got pregnant with my daughter and her dad went to prison right after she was born, so I was on my own. – Shanin Blake, InstagramThis is our home her name is Nancy 🚐 – Shanin Blake, InstagramGood morning! I love living in a mom van!!! – Shanin Blake, Instagram–
Never Post’s producers are Audrey Evans, Georgia Hampton and The Mysterious Dr. Firstname Lastname. Our senior producer is Hans Buetow. Our executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer. The show’s host is Mike Rugnetta. 
To understand what was going on it is perhaps necessary to have participated in the freeway experience, which is the only secular communion Los Angeles has. Mere driving on the freeway is in no way the same as participating in it. Anyone can “drive” on the freeway, and many people with no vocation for it do, hesitating here and resisting there, losing the rhythm of the lane change, thinking about where they came from and where they are going. Actual participants think only about where they are. Actual participation requires a total surrender, a concentration so intense as to seem a kind of narcosis, a rapture-of-the-freeway. The mind goes clean. The rhythm takes over. A distortion of time occurs, the same distortion that characterizes the instant before an accident.

Except from The Bureaucrats, by Joan Didion

Never Post is a production of Charts & Leisure


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