Torture test passed, Substacking Dad, newsletter gentrification

The last couple of days I’ve taken longer hikes in the middle of the day’s heat as a bit of a torture test to see if my body could handle it like it used to in those good ole pre-Lyme days.

To my somewhat surprise, it did just fine other than my knees being a bit sorer than usual from not being used to that pace.

I’m cautiously encouraged by this. It’s my goal to get back to being able to hike around ten miles in a day. That’s where the best, secret places are to enjoy!

I’ve found protein has a big impact on how far I can go. In the past it didn’t matter but post-Lyme it makes all the difference for some reason. My internal battery has changed — it runs out faster if I don’t store up some energy (protein!) in advance before a long hike.

It’s change I can live with as long as I remember to chow down a bit before doing anything physically rigorous.¹

I’ve been working on setting up a Substack newsletter for my dad. He’s retired but his financial analyst mind is as sharp as ever and he has that itch to keep sharing his knowledge so I’m going to help him scratch it.

Through a brilliant computer program friend of his, he’s built several sophisticated computer models that track the economy, markets, etc. It’s deep shit — enough so that the Federal Reserve tried to hire him at one point (he choose to stay independent).²

While I have issues with Substack, it’s perfect for folks like my Dad who are not computer experts. It’s simple and easy to use with everything baked in.

When it goes live I’ll shout it out here for those of you who might be interested. It’s gonna be an interesting ride.

Speaking of Substack, my issue is how they are gentrifying the newsletter industry. Newsletters are all starting to look the same… and read the same.

It’s almost robotic — as if writers are churning stuff out by following some sort of Substack formula and forced writing by schedule (“oh it’s Tuesday I gotta shove something out so my readers don’t forget me!”).

By the time I’ve read several newsletters in the e-mail they’ve all bled together as if written by the same voice with no stand-out or personality. And with the same graphics, styles, etc. it’s even harder to stick out like a sore thumb.

So it’s gotten boring.

I wonder if it’s a catch-22 when they all have the same look and feel does it make them think and write the same via some sort of “path to success” conformity?

Don’t get me wrong - there’s quite a few excellent newsletters and writers I subscribe to there but these days it’s the exception rather than the rule. ³

BTW I’ve noticed those who blog (esp. for a good while) are the better newsletter writers. Probably because they’re treating them like blogs!