75 Comments

This Dobrenko guy seems cool…unwell, but clearly trying his best. If for nothing else but pity, I’m definitely gonna subscribe to his Both Are True thing and probably pay for it too the guy clearly needs a W

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I am 75 and autistic. I have too much to learn in a world that always knows . I was labeled lazy by the Wise Rabbis of Chelm. They taught me lazy or retarded. At Protestant School they said I was a lazy genius, the rabbi said I was retarded. Them's the breaks. I chose to be a lazy genius and ended up marrying an American philosopher. That to me is comedy. L'Chaim I too, was named Alex after Alexander the Great

I am autistic. When I read Mark Twain's The American Claimant I understood it as the greatest comedy ever written. It was only later I understood it was a translation of Yiddish not Russian.

Have you ever read Mark Twain's Letter to his friend Petyr Illich Tchaikovsky supporting the revolution?

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Twain experienced the American Civil War and promoted The Russian Civil War. Twain wrote about war and he wrote about baseball and he wrote rather well.

He was Socratic and and he wrote so we could laugh through the pain.

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I spent three years living with the Dene. I traded the fresh bread I baked for dry meat. Dry meat doesn't decay. They brought naval beef with them as they sailed the seven seas. The word salary comes from the word salt. This isn't news its ancient history. Salt slows decay. No water ends decay.

Might I suggest Mordechai Richler's Solomon Gursky was Here.

What is a superfood? Genetics mean seal liver is superfood for Innuit and toxic for Semites. I love chick peas, and fresh pita with olive oil or and toasted sesame. Matzo is the same five years after manufacture and manna from heaven had a very short shelf life. You can take matzo on a trip but leave the manna at home. Manna is what keeps MacDonald's in business.

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i NEVER REMOVE COMMENTS. cOMMENTS ARE MEAT AND POTATOES. i LOVE sWIFT. hE WROTE ABOUT iRELAND BEFORE THEY HAD POTATOES A CENTURY LATER iRELAND again HAD NO POTATOES AND THERE WAS AN ECONOMIC GENOCIDE.

sWIFT SAID NEVER DEBATE UNLESS YOU CAN PASSIONATELY DEBATE BOTH SIDES.

PLease ignore the caps I can't type and watch the monitor.

Swift was a friend of Voltaire and the world's greatest debater. He was also a great philosopher. He created great parables.

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You read my mind, Mr D - wait, can I call you Mr D?

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Holy sh*t that’s my name at the bottom! Thank you for tagging me as a good user of Notes! To all the readers I see asking for tips, the secret is to just be your weird self

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Congrats on the mench, mate. Must be doing something right!

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🤷🏼‍♂️ it must be the memes

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They’re great memes :)))

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I rarely git an Honorable Mention for anything. So U mind if I share this with my Mama?? But truly: Thank U 4 the Rec. Substack has been a gamechanger for the Black Pulp Fiction stile of writing I like to do.

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I really mean it: Substack is the best place for writers and creators right now! Such a blast for eager readers and minds that want focused and meaningful work. Thanks friends for making this community a true home 🩵☝🏻

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Aug 25, 2023Liked by Hamish McKenzie

Notes is dope. If the "global town square" idea is falling apart, happy to be in this neighborhood :)

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NO ONE does notes like Alex, he is the king. I dare anyone to read his last ten notes without audibly laughing. Sometimes I just read them in awe, like, "how the eff does he think of this shit it's so original and incredible." And the answer is: because he's Alex.

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Aug 25, 2023Liked by Hamish McKenzie

Notes has opened me up to finding new creators for sure!

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Folks, folks: dog pics.

I'm not saying this will get you subscribers, but I am saying I want to see them. Post pics of your furbaby on Notes, and tag me to get this party started.

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Also, Alex is very good at Notes. Listen to him.

But mostly, dog pics.

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Can concur: Sari’s notes are wonderful. Thanks for sharing, Hamish + Alex!

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Thank you for sharing. I joined Substack but still battle to find my voice, in particular, what to say. So I read because I love reading. I found great insights on Substack. The writing is cerebral, honest and informed. I love that. So, I will keep on reading in the meantime until I find my voice.

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I love substack. I love getting expert info that you can't get elsewhere because of the establishment media bias. Twitter only works for people that are already famous; and what good is a 3 or 4 sentence 'tweet'? It's not enough to know what they're really saying unless you already know -so why bother?Substack has real, well written content, and I can learn from and actually engage with expert scientists, for example, even though I'm a nobody.

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Alex is for sure one of my fav people in all of Substack and this is really great, rich stuff. I need to get better at Notes, but one issue is that it's hard to be discovered and discover unlike other social media. Would be great to have an "explore" feed, or an algorithm that allowed more organic discoverability.

But this is a great overview on finding your voice and using it to build your platform.

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I love Alex's account. As someone who isn't that funny (I'm like "funny randomly at dinner"), I think the best advice here is sharing other people's work and jumping into conversations. Being a "reply guy" works here.

Sadly if I sent Notes like I text my friends then my readers would snooze.

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I know, right? Basically a ton-load of "Lol", "ok" and "on my way"

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A note composed of emojis. How hard would that be, I wonder ?

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it requires the careful curation of the right emoji in the correct order..it reminds me of the story of the artist Tracy Emin who exhibited her unmade bed at the Tate Modern Gallery..."she is exhibiting her bed at the Tate because she is an artist, your bed is not on exhibit because you are not"

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Sounds a tad par for the course. For some reason, not too long ago, I hung out with some off - off - off - way off Broadway actors. My advice ? " Respect the writers, most of 'em know what the hell they're doing ". 😉🤔

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I heard someone once say that if you go far enough off off off off broadway you will eventually end up smack bang in the broadest part of broadway

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That old saying about life imitating ART - On many occasions it has become VERY true. Almost EERILY so.

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Thanks for the shoutout, Hamish!

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Alex, in addition to using these opportunities to post and comment as a way of announcing yourself to world (here I am, how much do you love me?) what I love most about your observations--and they're all right on the money--is how you can "amplify other peoples' writing." You can! And it's a chance to be altruistic beyond strutting your stuff. You do that. I do that. We all do that. It's what makes us part of a community. I'm new to this world, but I am finding gracious, kind people out there and loving it. Nice to "meet" you, Alex!

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One of the biggest reasons that AD is so popular on notes is that he is authentic and spontaneous. There are a few like this and it’s refreshing to read them.

The majority, however, seem to be all about self-promotion restacking their latest and/or not-so-greatest articles ad nauseum. Not much imagination used there.

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