Sunday Review #165 (18Aug2024)


📖 What I’m Reading:

Robbins v. Lower Merion School District – Wikipedia

  • Why webcams have tape on them now.

The Rise of Neotoddlerism – Gurwinder

  • Many broad brushes but much good analysis. Juvenile protests abound across the world on both political extremes, and they represent a growing issue—”the grim irony is that, by believing the world is worse than it actually is, neotoddlers make the world worse.”

China Is Done With Global Carmakers: “Thanks For Coming” – Michael Dunne

  • China has historically imported tons of cars, including American cars. It was a status symbol for the Chinese and a boon for automakers. Now China produces most vehicles in-house. And they are approaching 50% electric.

☝️ Word of the Week:

tendentious (adj) tin-DIN-shuhs

Having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or purpose.

From Latin tendere (to extend outward, stretch, spread out, direct, aim).

“At their worst, the postwar social problem films were tendentious, preachy, and puffed up with their own virtuous motives.”

💬 Quote of the Week:

“There is perhaps no more reliable indicator of a society’s ripeness for a mass movement than the prevalence of unrelieved boredom. In almost all the descriptions of the periods preceding the rise of mass movements there is reference to vast ennui; and in their earliest stages mass movements are more likely to find sympathizers and support among the bored than among the exploited and oppressed.”

-Eric Hoffer

ps: Disney is evil, Exh. 16676935420 (X)

pps: TikTok is evil, Exh. 1823433913068610027 (X)

ppps: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is a wild band. Last year they made a metal concept album about an environmental apocalypse. It was called “PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation.” Which is awesome, of course. This year they made a groovy, feel-good album that sounds like Steve Miller Band or the Doobie Brothers or something. Here’s a good track. (YouTube) (Spotify)

Thomas Tassin

Read more from Thomas Tassin

📖 What I’m Reading: Inside America’s Death Chambers – Elizabeth Bruenig Best piece on the death penalty I’ve ever read. Elagabalus – Wikipedia “Elagabalus developed a posthumous reputation for extreme eccentricity, decadence, zealotry, and sexual promiscuity. … Elagabalus ‘abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury’ … ‘Elagabalus was not a tyrant, but he was an incompetent, probably the least able emperor Rome had ever had.’” A Consensus Statement on Potential Negative...

📖 What I’m Reading: Simon-Ehrlich Wager – Wikipedia Fun example of an academic putting money where his mouth is. Over the decades, life gets better in terms of resources. But it gets worse in terms of equality and ennui. You Can’t Put a Price on Mental Freedom – Nick Maggiulli Stock picking bad. Phone bad. WWEconomics: Kayfabe and the Trade War – Kyla Scanlon All the world’s a stage. “The show will continue because the incentives align: politicians get attention, corporations get deals, and...

📖 What I’m Reading: Mike White’s 15-Year Journey For “The White Lotus” – Trung Phan Mike White is Ed Schneebly from School of Rock. He wrote Season 1 of White Lotus in 14 days. And True Detective helped pave the way. The Grand Encyclopedia of Eponymous Laws – Roger’s Bacon “Gibson’s Law: For every PhD there is an equal and opposite PhD.” “Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” “The Lindy Effect: The future life expectancy of a...