In retrospect, the Lorax is the most disastrous children's book to have ever been written. The beloved book depicts economies of scale as destructive and environmental advocacy as failing to achieve any of your goals except being smug and correct in the end when industry burns itself out.

It’s useful for people of my generation to be reminded that this wasn’t that long ago. Ruby Bridges isn’t just still alive—she’s only 71, not ancient!

Also in here: DHS responded to the faith-led protest yesterday, calling participants “violent rioters” and “imbecilic morons” who need to “get a job.”

Asked about the statement, one UMC pastor who participated in the protest told me: "This is our job." religionnews.com/2025/11/15/a...

Adam Scott meets the Chicago Pope

'Four cones wins, but in order to get a cone you have to build a civilization. Which is where the spirit cards come in'

A lot of education discourse is at root an inability to decide whether the purpose of our education system is to 1) teach material and measure learning 2) reward students who work hard 3) separate the smart kids (destined for smart guy jobs) from the dumb kids (destined to serve the smart guys)

The new (Canadian) Anglican liturgies for the blessing of a gender transition/name change explicitly link it to the taking on of new names in the Bible, as part of the sanctifying of new covenants, in a way that's really beautiful and moving.

Racial Resentment Among White Americans by Birth Year and Demographics This figure presents the same four-panel layout (education, gender, geography, religion) but for White Americans from birth years 1940 to 2000. Education panel: A pronounced divide shows non-college Whites with substantially higher resentment across all cohorts, increasing sharply for older birth years. College-educated Whites rise more modestly but remain distinctly lower, especially among younger cohorts. Gender panel: Male and female trendlines rise together, with women slightly higher in mid-century cohorts. Younger cohorts of both genders start lower and climb with age. Geography panel: Regional lines separate clearly: the South is highest in resentment, followed by the Midwest. The West and Northeast show lower levels, with the Northeast consistently at the bottom. All regions slope upward toward older cohorts. Religion panel: Protestants show the highest resentment, peaking among mid-century cohorts. Catholics sit in the middle. Non-affiliated Whites show the lowest resentment, especially among younger respondents, with a small rise among mid-century generations. The figure notes CES 2024 data with GAM-smoothed trendlines.

Those claiming Dems should retreat on racial justice aren't hard-headed realists, they're pushing against the electoral tide rather than leaning into it. The story of Gen Z isn't about racist backlash or red-pilled young men. It's the most racially progressive generation in American history. 🧵

I do not want to “Do my own research.” I want to pay trained accredited experts to do the research, trained accredited experts to report on findings, and trained accredited experts to make policy based on them.

I am busy af with my own job, I don’t need to do eight zillion more.

narrative of hosting an admin party for everyone to sit together with snacks, be merry, pay bills and make doctors appointments and manage life

props to WSJ for once on a useful notion, ADMIN PARTY for everybody

Not having fully grappled with the gravity of using a firearm is so common and shows up in so many ways.

They aren't props. They're a measure of last resort. And if you're going to have one, you need to have really, truly done a lot of soul searching about using it meaning ending someone else.

I mean I think the thing we learned 100 years ago that we are relearning now is that a lot of ownership interests under capitalism are not about the functioning of markets! On all levels of ownership!

I like Marcus Aurelius because his meditations are mostly “I just wanna read a fkn book but I’m the stupid emperor of the stupid empire and if I don’t do my IX to V everyone and everything in the world will know I neglected my responsibilities 😤

Paul Krugman only reads blogs and that is why he, unlike everyone else who has been in punditry for decades, has never lost his mind

Cover page of brief of Rosenblum and Donahue in Slaughter

It was such a privilege to work with @nwdonahue.bsky.social and the fantastic lawyers at Patterson Belknap on this amicus brief for the Slaughter case, about whether Trump can fire the commissioners of the FTC.

The brief recovers crucial history the Court and most lawyers have missed. 1/3

the astonishing thing about this wave of denialism is that we have more or less decidedly hit the point where clean energy is the *cheaper* option by some distance

Northern lights and Rocky Mountains

From Jasper, Alberta

Jesus having the term “in-app purchases” explained to him and just wordlessly filling a sock with nickels

From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."

What a terrible day to know how to read

4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...

Car Size

xkcd.com/3167/

Makes me think we need an reinforcement learning book where this is the cover.

a concept i talk about a lot with the guy i'm seeing is "fast thinking", which is like low-grade, shallow, and easily disposable pop intellectualism. key hallmarks include focusing on discourse over substance, not being able to separate similar form from different content, and "annoying = evil"

I highly recommend seeing saturn through a telescope, even a dinky one, if you get the chance. It makes space feel like something that really exists more than seeing it in a book or on a screen ever can.

I'm like if a "long-abandoned blog where the most recent entry is an years-old apology for the lack of updates and a promise to post more" was a person.

The thing is I'm self employed and I would still think twice about defending my employer in public on social media

4-panel comic. (1) PERSON 1: Some people like to be the big spoon. (2) PERSON 1: Some people like to be the little spoon. (3) [two sets of spoons that don’t lay flat against each other, one arranged with the little one on top of the big one, the other with the big spoon on top of the little spoon] PERSON 1: And some brave truth-tellers point out that the metaphor makes no sense because different-sized spoons don’t nest right *either* way. You nest *same*-sized spoons. (4) PERSON: ...And apparently *we* sleep on the couch. PERSON 2 off-screen: Why are you *still* going on about the spoon thing? PERSON 1: Because I’m *right!*

Big and Little Spoons

xkcd.com/3166/

Been thinking about this post since July.

Gonna start pronouncing "Ontario" the same way.

If you want neighborhoods to be full of kids, you have a narrow window to get young couples into homes. People have kids living with them for ~20 years, but downsize after ~40 years, so by default half of homes will have kids. If you delay purchases by 10 years it's only 1/3.

"Mechanical sympathy" seems like a (pre-existing) term that fits well.