November 2025

Hey all,

I’ve got a favor to ask. As part of moving this newsletter from Substack to Ghost, I’m re-designing The Dann Chronicles website. As I’ve been working on the design and copy of the site, I’ve realized why I think people read this newsletter. But I don’t really know the actual reasons why people stick around.

I put together this brief eight-question reader survey. Nearly all the questions are optional and you can complete it totally anonymously. It’s mostly designed to let me know a little bit more about why you read this newsletter.

PS. If all goes well, the next newsletter will be sent through Ghost and not Substack. My biggest fear is an impact on deliverability rates (i.e., your email provider throwing me in spam rather than your inbox), but that’s a risk I need to take. If you notice any issues with your inbox, please let me know.

But if all goes well, this transition will be completely seamless for you. Once the new site launches, you’ll have to check out the website. There are a ton of fun little surprises I’m building into the custom theme.

-Dann

🎨 Reclaiming the ‘net

I recently learned that I’m part of an internet movement that’s growing in popularity: the IndieWeb. That’s right, blogs are back in vogue, baby.

The IndieWeb is a “community of independent and personal websites” based on a number of principles that can be boiled down to:

1. Own your domain and use it as your primary online identity
2. Publish on your own site first, optionally syndicate elsewhere
3. Own your content instead of storing it on third-party platforms

I purchased my first domain (iamdann.com) in 2010 and have been creating content and having fun online ever since. This practice changed the entire trajectory of my life and career. I proselytize this IndieWeb practice to anyone who will listen.

But I only just realized how large and robust this community actually is (and how it’s growing). There are a number of websites that curate websites like mine: ooh.directory, Blogroll Club, Ye Old Blogroll, Personalsit.es. And do you remember StumbleUpon? The premium search engine Kagi created its own version dedicated to Small Web.

In many ways, this movement is a pushback against traditional social media, where major corporations own and monetize your content. Buying your own domain and building your own site has a bit of a learning curve, but it is reclaiming the internet for the individual. It’s a move in the right direction, in my opinion.

I think the main reason I appreciate this movement so much is because it makes the internet more fun. Every person who creates their own website has the opportunity to be creative and build or share something unique. And that’s what the internet is for.

📉 Gen Z trials and tribulations

People often joke about how Millennials had it hard: a childhood of the booming ‘90s followed by the one-two punch of 9/11 and the Great Recession. But that pales in comparison to the one-two punch currently facing Gen Z: COVID and AI.

That’s weighed heavily on my mind since watching this recent 60 Minutes segment with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei:

Anderson Cooper: You’ve said AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white collar jobs and spike unemployment to 10 to 20% in the next one to five years.

Dario Amodei: Well, if we look at entry-level consultants, lawyers, uh, financial professionals, you know, many of kind of the white collar service industries, a lot of what they do, you know, AI models are already quite good at and without intervention. It’s hard to imagine that there won’t be some significant job impact there. And my worry is that it’ll be broad and it’ll be faster than what we’ve seen with previous technology.

As if trying to build early-career skills wasn’t hard enough in a remote-first job culture, we now have AI poised to autonomously complete these tasks that would otherwise have gone to recent graduates.

It’s no wonder “influencer” is a common Gen Z aspiration: not only is the income potential extremely high, but the path is clearly laid out and (seemingly) achievable. White collar jobs, by contrast, are more amorphous and harder to break into.

We’re nearing the crisis that we’ve been warned about. I don’t enter the conversation offering any solutions, but I feel the need to ring the warning bell all the same.

💪 Onwards and upwards

Back in February, I mentioned the Helimix shaker bottle, and its twisting design that’s surprisingly great at mixing shakes without any sort of weird wire ball bouncing around inside. For those of us who regularly drink protein shakes, it’s one of those quality-of-life improvements that actually makes a small yet meaningful difference.

I wasn’t the only one to notice the quality of this design. Helimix was just acquired by Yeti for $38M. The Helimix store will officially shut down on November 27th.

Until that date, you can purchase a shaker bottle for 40% off using code ITSBEENREAL. This is a fantastic deal, in my opinion, and who knows how long it’ll take for Yeti to build this design into products of its own. I definitely grabbed myself a backup shaker.

Speaking of protein, I’ve been obsessed with David Bars recently. Have you seen the macros on them? There’s 28 grams of protein in a single 150-calorie bar with zero sugar. My favorite flavor is probably Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk, but you can’t go wrong with a variety pack. Just saying.

🧬 To life!

Bryan Johnson, the millionaire spending his fortune to slow the speed of his aging, elicits strong emotions in people. I, myself, am by no means a cult-like follower of his. But after reading his book Don’t Die and following some of his advice myself, I definitely believe he has valuable knowledge to share and that he’s misunderstood.

That misunderstanding was abundantly clear in the Jubilee video Bryan Johnson vs 20 Skeptics. I’m not typically a fan of this genre of video, but I thought this one contained some decent debate and conversation.

I think this video explored most of the common arguments against Johnson and gave him a chance to either debunk or reframe much of that hate.

As I, myself, near 40, I’m realizing just how valuable it is to have good health. Johnson’s methods themselves aren’t meant to be replicated, but I do believe that there’s a lot of good advice to come out of his activities. And with humanity on the precipice of AI superintelligence, I think striving to live instead of striving to die is solid advice all around.

🛍️ A hole in your pocket

Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales have evolved in recent years. They’ve gone from a one-day event (Friday in-store and Monday online) to a full week or two of discounts.

It’s easy to get tempted by the lure of a “good deal,” but here are my tips to take advantage of the sales without getting taken advantage of yourself:

1. Only purchase items you were planning to purchase anyway—don’t buy items on sale just because it’s a good deal
2. Add items to your Amazon Wish List throughout the year, then check that list during sales events to see which items have dropped in price
3. Use a tool like Camelcamelcamel to view price history to see how much of a deal you’re actually getting
4. And of course: don’t buy anything you can’t afford

Best of luck with any and all of your seasonal shopping!

End note

If you’ve enjoyed this, I’d love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.

I send these newsletters once per month, and I’m happy you’re along for the ride. I’m trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading. Until next time,
Dann