The David Foster Wallace Disease
Partly, I’m writing about Wallace’s high-powered self-hatred machine because it’s a way of making his disappearance from the earth seem like an inevitability—a curse he was born with. Although there’s some validity to the view that he’s a kind of martyr, he was really just an animal in an environment, with unfortunate inputs that produced unfortunate outputs.
(via Metafilter)
Atlantic cod study renews debate over grey seal cull
The failure of the cod to rebound even without an active fishery has only bolstered that theory. Yet, all official research seemed to disprove it, with field studies pointing to other unexplained causes of cod mortality, and the limited influence of seals.
But now, a study has found that grey seals — top predators that can weigh as much as a bear — do in fact eat a lot of cod, and are largely responsible for the fish’s decline. The finding, published in the journal Fisheries Research, is sure to stoke the controversy over a proposed government cull of a quarter million grey seals for the benefit of cod.
Keep in mind, though: these were the good old days. This was a time when politicians were merely indifferent to science, not actively hostile to it.
(post draft from five years ago? blah)
Rethinking the Big Russian Revolution
What would Zygar like people to conclude after their fifteen-month journey, through Russia’s hundred-year-ago history?
All he will say is that: “Everything that happened to us, in the 20th century, and is happening now is a consequence of the events of 1917.”
This Is Not an Interview with Poppy
What do you think people will think of social media in the future?
People aren’t going to think in the future. We will become one knowing consciousness.What drove you to YouTube as a medium for your work?
I like YouTube because it is owned by Google. Google is the biggest which means it is the best.
completely taking the piss.
To create software, you need programmers. Unfortunately. They are expensive, lazy, and almost impossible to control. The software they create either works or doesn’t, but you still have to pay them, every month. Of course, it’s always better to pay less. However, sometimes they may figure out they are being underpaid and quit. How do you prevent that? Unfortunately, we can’t use violence any more, but there are some other mechanisms. Let me share.
A Skeptic’s Guide To The Mekons
If the Mekons were what you claim they are, in other words, everyone would already know and acknowledge it. That they don’t is proof you’re wrong.
The irony here is that this line of reasoning is precisely what has always obsessed the Mekons, the very thing that a lot and maybe most of their best work is about: Does it matter what you say if no one really cares about it?
How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind
i am usually loath to comment on specifics of American politics. As a Canadian, i am conscious that i have no standing in the affairs of another country. Mostly though, i wish for a Canada where those affairs don’t matter to us. More than enough politics that directly affect me and my neighbours, on the federal, provincial and municipal levels, to worry about.
Nonetheless, this article is remarkable to me because i think David Wong has the US situation exactly right.
The level of despair that brings people to support a complete, thorough and utter tool like Donald Drumpf is staggering. This despair is certainly not unique to the USA. (Brexit is a similar situation in some ways…)
What are the differences between rural America and rural Newfoundland, really? Lots of things, i guess, but one comes to mind: in Newfoundland, the desperate were still mobile enough to emigrate; mostly to Alberta, but right now Alberta is stagnant. In the long term, climate change may make the petroleum industry obsolete, and a resource-based economy untenable overall, while manufacturing in Canada has been just as dead as in America.
What irrationality awaits us if things get worse?
MOVIE REVIEW: Christine is an arresting biopic about a reporter’s on-air suicide
Indeed, seeing both movies is a richer experience than seeing either one alone. One says nobody should make a Christine Chubbuck movie. The other defiantly says, “We’re gonna make it after all.”
Life-Hacks of the Poor and Aimless
[…] obsessive ritualization of self-care comes at the expense of collective engagement, collapsing every social problem into a personal quest for the good life. “Wellness,” they declare, “has become an ideology.”
What Chinese corner cutting reveals about modernity
If what you’re making represents a world utterly out of reach to you, why bother to do it well?
via reddit
