All the Things One Doesn’t Say Out Loud. De mortuis nihil nisi bonum
“Her mother blackmailed her, her husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini stole from her, and shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis was violent and abandoned her for Jackie Kennedy… …In writing a new biography, … Continue reading
And now for not beautiful things, like Covid-19
Last week my mind was the scene of a landslide of memories and emotions. It’s taken me a while to collect my thoughts. My email began flooding on Wednesday. Messages … Continue reading
The mood music for this post is Sabor a Mi, late 60’s.
And then one day, suddenly, it makes sense. It all makes sense. I’m reading Pete Walker’s Complex Trauma (CPTSD) book. It’s the text I hoped I would one day find. … Continue reading
Phenomenal performance, writing, photography – everything.
I don’t think I remember what my mind was before the things that happened that ruined my mind. It’s particularly fascinating for me to see someone exposed in this way, … Continue reading
A Hanging, our Mazaversary and Various Other Versaries
The Hanging: It looks right. It was March 2015 when we arrived at number 42. Many corners have been turned since, but now it looks as if the big ones … Continue reading
As I Walk Through the Valley of the Shadows of Hungry Ghosts
Or is it goats? Worry not, this isn’t a depressing post! I’m actually feeling very well. But this is a haphazard post which basically goes nowhere, so be warned. I’ve been … Continue reading
If the grass is greener on one’s own side – does one stop watering?
So confusing! I opened an upstairs window this week to this image. People here let their grass go brown in summer. I went looking around and it seems everyone does … Continue reading
This map shows what white Europeans associate with race
“… Each country on the map is coloured according to the average score of test takers from that country. Redder countries show higher average bias, bluer countries show lower average … Continue reading
Denialism: what drives people to reject the truth by Keith Kahn-Harris
“In recent years, the term has been used to describe a number of fields of “scholarship”, whose scholars engage in audacious projects to hold back, against seemingly insurmountable odds, the … Continue reading
The Magnificent Hannah Gadsby Monologue
” … because I still have shame. You learn from the part of the story you focus on. I need to tell my story properly. Because the closet, for me, … Continue reading
An Evening with Patrick Melrose or why the worse thing that ever happened to me was that I wasn’t an orphan.
Saturday evening in Mazamet. June 9th. The weather is mild. There’s a street party in the centre of town. From the garden we can hear music in the distance. For … Continue reading
Chris Hayes: What ‘Law and Order’ Means to Trump – The New York Times
“… In this view, crime is not defined by a specific offense. Crime is defined by who commits it. If a young black man grabs a white woman by the … Continue reading
Titles are boring
This was the last Christmas of my 30’s. Then the last New Years of my 30’s. Then the last January 4th of my 30’s. Today it’s the last January 17th … Continue reading
How the oligarchy wins: lessons from ancient Greece | Ganesh Sitaramanan | Opinion | The Guardian
“To understand that, we can turn to an instant classic from a few years ago, Jeffrey Winters’ Oligarchy. Winters argues that the key to oligarchy is that a set of … Continue reading
It’s an alpha male thing: what dominant chimpanzees and Donald Trump have in common | via The Guardian
“Chimpanzee politics can be intricate, but they always obey the rules of social dominance. Because chimps and humans evolved from a common ancestor going back 5-7m years, we humans know … Continue reading
How the aristocracy preserved their power | Chris Bryant
“Historically, the British aristocracy’s defining feature was not a noble aspiration to serve the common weal but a desperate desire for self-advancement. They stole land under the pretence of piety … Continue reading
Why Are Americans So Afraid? | Class Warfare Blog
“I was reading an article over at AlterNet with the title above. The subtitle is “Facts Take a Backseat to Deeply Ingrained Fears.” That article takes a fact-based approach in … Continue reading
Of what we feel – and don’t feel.
After posting that little excerpt from The End of Eddy I ended up reading the English version yesterday. Excellent, although the translation isn’t quite as stylish as the French original; … Continue reading
Update: Ten Types of Human by Dexter Dias
Absolutely worth the time! The title may be off-putting because it’s gimmicky- but the contents of the book are not. He uses the Ten Types format as an outline to … Continue reading
Must See: Betting On Zero
“From ‘Darfur Now’ writer/director Ted Braun comes a riveting docu-thriller following controversial hedge fund titan Bill Ackman as he puts a billion dollars on the line in his crusade … Continue reading
The science of inequality: why people prefer unequal societies | Inequality | The Guardian
“… For example, studies of income and happiness have revealed that, once a basic level of wealth is achieved, relative wealth is more important for overall happiness. Similarly, a vast … Continue reading
Does Revenge Serve an Evolutionary Purpose? – Scientific American
“Why all the celebration after the killing of Osama bin Laden? A psychologist who studies evolution and human behavior explains the complex desire for vengeance” Source: Does Revenge Serve an … Continue reading
Heuristics & Biases (borrowed from GSU)
I love graphs and tables 😀 This one is amusing. The more I look through comments on newspapers and blogs, the more I notice the extent to which people rely … Continue reading
The Last Shaman by James Freeman
This documentary is now on Netflix. Interesting concept. James suffers from acute depression. He’s tired. He’s tried all sorts of treatments but nothing has really worked. He decides to “give … Continue reading
Little- thinking
When I was little I sometimes wished an aeroplane would crash. This was generally to get rid of a single person- which makes it terribly inefficient methodologically. Wishing for choking would’ve … Continue reading
Stufen
I remember being 10 and sitting in the back seat of the car (a town car), my parents were up front, and I asked them why they thought they should … Continue reading
Why we are willing to pay for mega expensive things
by Paul Harrison Director, Centre for Employee and Consumer Wellbeing; Senior lecturer, Deakin Business School- The Conversation Australia “It may not seem logical or good value for money, but there are … Continue reading
What Trump Exposed About the G.O.P. – The New York Times
Best analysis yet. By a mile! By MARK SCHMITT NOV. 11, 2016 The election of 2016 is the culmination of this ideological era, but ironically reveals its hollowness. The … Continue reading
What Do Trump and Marx Have in Common? – The New York Times
HAMBURG, Germany — “We have a word in German, “Wutbürger,” which means “angry citizen” — though like many German compound words, its meaning can never quite be captured in a … Continue reading
The Mask You Live In – Coalition of the Brave. The harm patriarchy inflicts on… men.
Video post. Source: The Mask You Live In – Coalition of the Brave
A Lesson From ‘Brexit’: On Immigration, Feelings Trump Facts – The New York Times
“Many citizens, particularly those who have suffered under the economic pressures of globalization, express their anxiety over these changes by focusing on another form of change: foreigners in their midst. … Continue reading
Outstanding documentary – The Dishonesty Project (The Matrix Experiment)
(Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies: Feature Film It’s human nature to lie; we all do it! From scandalous headlines to little white lies, (Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies … Continue reading
A Tildeb Moment: The dangers of interpretation bias
As I said a few days ago, this blogging thing is fascinating. Yesterday Tildeb was pointing out in one of his comments the dangers of interpretation bias. That is, when an … Continue reading
Are the Best Things in Life Free? – The New York Times
Turning Points asked Yao Chen, Karl Lagerfeld, Andreja Pejic, Yanis Varoufakis, Richard Hell and others why people are so rarely satisfied with life’s necessities. Continue reading: Are the Best Things … Continue reading
Please do detest me; and don’t hesitate to offend me.
Just because I think I wouldn’t be half the person I am had I not been as truculent as I was born to be. The other day someone from … Continue reading
An interesting point in life: donotgiveadamnism
Fabulous, really. I’m only just now realizing how much of life is reflective (in the reactive rather than thoughtful sense.) I can’t quantify it precisely, but it seems to me … Continue reading
Existentialist Nights. Do you ever ask yourself why?
Some nights I wonder. Everything has always had to be so bombastic. I don’t think I’ll ever be cured of that. It’s become a part of me- that rush. A … Continue reading
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