September 10, 2020
Moral Grandstanding
How common is moral grandstanding? There is ample empirical evidence to show that people really are often motivated to use moral talk to impress others. Social scientists have found that we tend to judge ourselves as superior to others in a host of areas: intelligence, friendliness and ambition, for example....[more inside]
Watch out, Brian David Gilbert, someone's coming for you
Kirby Sucks: A Mathematical & Ethical Proof (yt) by Michal Miexriir. Also see the earlier The Lie Man: A Garfield Conspiracy Exposé (yt)
The gentrification of sharecropping
The NYT publishes a romantic story about a couple escaping to the countryside to start a farm. (alternative link) The excellent Dr. Sarah Taber explains how, by treating it as a design & style story instead of a farming one, they inadvertedly exposed the whole thing as just hipster sharecropping – as shitty and exploitative as it was in the Jim Crow era – and how this is a recurring problem in the "sustainability" movement. As another mefite remarked: Everything “disruptive” is just “how do we undo a century of progress on labor rights.”
metafolklore, or folklore about folklore...
"The story of “Our Goodman” leaves us with as many questions as answers. It certainly seems as if the wife is having an affair; yet the husband IS very drunk, or tired, or sometimes blind…is it possible he’s imagining the whole thing? His reactions, too, can be taken in two ways: does “mustache on a cabbage head I’ve never seen before” mean he’s really fooled, or does it mean he understands what’s going on and is making sardonic comments?" A very deep well-researched dive into the backstory and breadth of versions of the widespread folk song Our Goodman. From the American Folklife Center, at the Library of Congress' blog Folklife Today.
THAT is a noble cause.
The cast of the Princess Bride will reunite virtually this Sunday for a script reading and Q&A session to raise funds for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Donors (of any amount) get to watch the livestream, submit questions for the cast, and help flip Wisconsin, leaving Prince Trumperdinck wallowing in freakish misery forever.
GARDEN OF ASSOCIATIVE THOUGHT SLURRY
WELCOME TO DREAM WIKI
FOR A DREAM WIKI IT'S NOT REALLY ABOUT
DREAMS JUST YET... OR EVER.
AND IT'S PROBABLY NOT A WIKI, EITHER.
TO NAVIGATE THESE CURRENTS AND
CORRIDORS YOU NEED TO BE SOMEWHAT FALSE
YOURSELF, IF THERE IS SUCH A THING.
IT'S ABOUT NOT PLAYING YOUR HAND UNTIL
IT'S BENEFICIOUS. IT'S ABOUT PRETENDING
NOT TO NOTICE SO THAT YOU CAN BE WHERE
YOU HAVE TO BE FOR THE NEXT STEP.
FOR A DREAM WIKI IT'S NOT REALLY ABOUT
DREAMS JUST YET... OR EVER.
AND IT'S PROBABLY NOT A WIKI, EITHER.
TO NAVIGATE THESE CURRENTS AND
CORRIDORS YOU NEED TO BE SOMEWHAT FALSE
YOURSELF, IF THERE IS SUCH A THING.
IT'S ABOUT NOT PLAYING YOUR HAND UNTIL
IT'S BENEFICIOUS. IT'S ABOUT PRETENDING
NOT TO NOTICE SO THAT YOU CAN BE WHERE
YOU HAVE TO BE FOR THE NEXT STEP.
We refer to this topic as systemic racism
At a time when COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting BIPOC populations, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is independently trying to grapple with well-documented lower funding rates for African American/Black scientists. On that topic, they have found that the choice of topic is a key driver of theses disparities. This is similar to work showing that minority scientists often pick more innovative topics, with little reward. What is one topic that AA/B scientists choose: minority health disparities. [more inside]
"But for today, for today, let’s just not."
Emma Peel, Bond girl, Mrs. Danvers, Lady Olenna Tyrell, etc.
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE (20 July 1938 – 10 September 2020)
The Theatre, Film, Television actress has died of cancer. [more inside]
(I don't think they're getting pizza)
There is screaming and babbling and someone is leaning really close and singing into their microphone and someone else keeps saying, "Who wants to see a diamond? Who wants to see a diamond? Who wants to see a diamond? Who wants to see a diamond?"#ZoomOftheFlies [twitter thread; threadreader] [more inside]
One of the Greatest Recording Experiences I’ve Ever Had
Bruce Springsteen will release Letter to You, a new rock album recorded live in his New Jersey home studio with the E Street Band, on October 23rd. [Rolling Stone]
Deadspin is dead. Long live Defector.
Today, (most of) the former staff of Deadspin launched Defector. As recounted previously on the blue, Deadspin imploded last fall after en masse resignations sparked by the site's new owners' (herb) mandate to "stick to sports." Now, most of the site's former employees have regrouped as the blogger-owned-and-operated Defector. The site will operate on a paid basis but is, for the moment, free to read. EIC Tom Ley explains how we got here. You can already read why your team sucks.
The Health Insurance Plot
The Health Insurance Plot is a cousin to the Marriage Plot, which refers to a story that concludes in a marriage. All of Jane Austen’s novels, for example, end with weddings. At the time, marriage was essentially permanent and offered Austenian heroines domestic and financial security—a kind of happy ending. The characters embroiled in a Health Insurance Plot may have a specific ailment amplifying the stakes of needing insurance, but they are rarely the primary plot. These characters are usually millennial women, struggling with life things: love, sex, the gig “economy,” racism, having a body, making art. These novels aren’t stories about women with diseases. They’re stories about women who—much like their Austenian predecessors—are seeking security.
A Bit More
Tom Warren wishes all tech products were designed like the Breville Die-Case 2-Slice Smart Toaster(TM), with dedicated buttons for “A Quick Look” and “A Bit More”. Related: John Siracusa reviews toasters.
Do not approach or touch any object as it may explode and kill you
Why 'The Broomway' is the most dangerous path in Britain, taken from The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane (previously).
"I'd had dreams about motherhood before."
"Once, I dreamed that I had a son named Sheldon, and my grief tore a hole in the fabric of the world." "Sarah's Child" by trans author Susan Jane Bigelow, published in 2014 at Strange Horizons, is a short story about a trans woman who starts dreaming about an alternate life. Audio version available; here's another podcast version from Glittership.
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