On the Our Opinions Are Correct podcast: Science Fiction Explains Our Messed Up Economy. Economist Noah Smith discusses how different theories of economics show up in science fiction, and how economics is itself an exercise in speculative worldbuilding. Also, the economic theory of “rational actors” pervades classic midcentury space opera, and everybody’s obsessed with game theory. And discussion of the most influential science fiction writer of the past century: Ayn Rand.
Interview with Carol Downer and Francie Hornstein, who helped women get safer abortions in the 1960s before the procedure became legal in the US.
Sunday, July 14, 2019
The abortion underground: Downer and Hornstein helped women provide a safer alternative to brutal back-alley butchers to end unwanted pregnancies. Downer herself suffered a traumatic back-alley abortion in 1963, which inspired her to help other women.
Father tricks his toddler daughters into stopping crying by telling them to take turns. I thought it was cute but the comments are harsh on Dad.
Excellent comic. Something to think about before you sleep … if you can sleep after this.
I’m finally remembering to bring grocery bags when shopping. Thus is the number of F-bombs dropped in the supermarket parking lot reduced.
Tennessee’s Republican governor signed a proclamation into law honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, a confederate general and founder of the Ku Klux Klan. Fun fact about Forrest: In addition to being a traitor and a terrorist, Forrest also massacred hundreds of American soldiers after they had already surrendered to him.
Trump says progressive congresswomen should ‘go back’ and fix the places they ‘originally came from.' The latest racist garbage from our garbage president.
Life goal. Via
📺 We got 10 minutes into the second episode of “Stranger Things” and we’re done with it. Teenage mall culture of the 80s holds no interest; I was too old for that back then. Also, everyone seems to have become nincompoops and mediocre sitcom characters, particularly Sheriff Hopper.
The new season of Bosch was outstanding, though. The TV gods taketh away and giveth.
We visited the desert last month, but mercifully missed this.
At least it’s not “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
Computer password inventor Fernando Corbato dies at 93. His epitaph includes a mix of at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, a punctuation mark, and a number, and his body will have to be moved every 90 days.
Jeffrey Epstein's arrest is leading to "I told you so" from supporters of #pizzagate, Qanon and other conspiracy theorists.
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Every crazy fake conspiracy theory in the world has a counterpart that’s true. #pizzagate is nuts but Epstein and pedophile priests are real. Anti-vaxxers are nuts but the tobacco industry, crash diets and climate deniers are real. How the Epstein Case Explains the Rise of Conspiracy Theorists
Surveillance cameras show that bystanders will intervene to help in cases of emergency, debunking the so-called "bystander effect" that's been common wisdom in the social sciences for 50 years.
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Surveillance Cameras Debunk the Bystander Effect. Richard Florida writing at The Atlantic: It’s one of the most enduring urban myths of all: If you get in trouble, don’t count on anyone nearby to help. Research dating back to the late 1960s documents how the great majority of people who witness crimes or violent behavior refuse to intervene. Psychologists dubbed this non-response as the “bystander effect”—a phenomenon which has been replicated in scores of subsequent psychological studies.
The Pinboard social bookmarking service turns 10 and creator Maciej Ceglowski celebrates with his usual dry, delightful wit
Saturday, July 13, 2019
I Can’t Stop Winning! Now that a decade has passed, I thought I would have some Yoda-like business wisdom to impart, but I don’t. It feels just like last year. The journey of 10,000 steps begins with 9,999 steps! My grandpa sometimes said “you have to help your fate along,” and I always liked this worldview very much, for the way it bolted a work ethic onto fatalism.
Kid comes to a video con in costume as an influencer apology video
gail.com FAQ: Gail.com gets a lot of traffic from people who meant to go to gmail.com but made a typo. She’s got a good attitude about it.
Three reasons the American Revolution was a mistake: “Slavery would’ve been abolished earlier, American Indians would’ve faced rampant persecution but not the outright ethnic cleansing Andrew Jackson and other American leaders perpetrated, and America would have a parliamentary system of government that makes policymaking easier and lessens the risk of democratic collapse.”
Trailer for the upcoming new season of “Veronica Mars." Yes, that’s right – new “Veronica Mars.” I’m in! 📺