"For whatever reason, I felt compelled to go looking for the origins of the fancy toast trend. How does such a thing get started? What determines how far it goes? I wanted to know." —John Gravois "A Toast Story." Pacific Standard. January 13, 2014. I remember going to a bar once, and everyone was wearing … Continue reading When Toast Was “The Tip of the Hipster Spear”
Category: articles
Public Opinion Polls, Media & Market Manipulation
"Behind the scenes, a small group of people had a secret—and billions of dollars were at stake. Hedge funds aiming to win big from trades that day had hired YouGov and at least five other polling companies, including Farage's favorite pollster. Their services, on the day and in the days leading up to the vote, … Continue reading Public Opinion Polls, Media & Market Manipulation
Forty-Five Things I Learned in the Gulag
"30. I discovered that the world should be divided not into good and bad people but into cowards and non-cowards. Ninety-five percent of cowards are capable of the vilest things, lethal things, at the mildest threat... 44. I understood that moving from the condition of a prisoner to the condition of a free man is … Continue reading Forty-Five Things I Learned in the Gulag
Belief vs. Doubt
"Franzen thinks that there’s no way for a writer to do good work — to write something that can be called “consuming and extraordinarily moving” — without putting a fence around yourself so that you can control the input you encounter. So that you could have a thought that isn’t subject to pushback all the … Continue reading Belief vs. Doubt
After Atlas, Malthus Shrugged
"In 2014 I was visiting a university in Alaska, and happened to sit in on a lecture by the Norwegian policy expert Willy Ostreng about the new geopolitics of the Arctic. After talking about climate change in the Arctic and the increased accessibility to oil and gas, he embarked on a detailed elucidation of the … Continue reading After Atlas, Malthus Shrugged
Slow Suicide and the Abandonment of the World
"I wish, rather, to explore the reasons why so many people choose to commit slow suicide by immersing themselves in the herd mentality and following a way of life that leads to inauthenticity and despair; why so many people so easily and early give up their dreams of a life of freedom for a proverbial … Continue reading Slow Suicide and the Abandonment of the World
Politics as Cult
"...members of "totalistic" cults—those that consider their ideology the one true path—share four key characteristics. They 1) espouse an all-encompassing belief system; 2) exhibit excessive devotion to the leader; 3) avoid criticism of the group and its leader; and 4) feel disdain for non-members." —Tom Jacobs. "A Cult Expert Finds Familiar Patterns of Behavior in … Continue reading Politics as Cult
It is the Worry That Made the Work Good
"To write good software you must simultaneously keep two opposing ideas in your head. You need the young hacker's naive faith in his abilities, and at the same time the veteran's skepticism. You have to be able to think how hard can it be? with one half of your brain while thinking it will never … Continue reading It is the Worry That Made the Work Good
Trashing: The Dark Side of Sisterhood
"This attack is accomplished by making you feel that your very existence is inimical to the Movement and that nothing can change this short of ceasing to exist. These feelings are reinforced when you are isolated from your friends as they become convinced that their association with-you is similarly inimical to the Movement and to … Continue reading Trashing: The Dark Side of Sisterhood
Viv Albertine on Dating Again in Her 50s
"I had to retrain my eyes and brain to find older men attractive when I started dating again in my fifties. The last time I was single the men I was looking at were in their thirties and I still had that youthful image fixed in my head. It was depressing at first, choosing from … Continue reading Viv Albertine on Dating Again in Her 50s
Black Skinhead
"The skinhead subculture was originally tied to working-class youths in London, England in the 1960s. Considered the first wave, this iteration of the movement was an offshoot of another youth subculture called mod. Skinheads were categorized as such because of their close-cropped or bald heads, but their fashion was inspired by mod as well as … Continue reading Black Skinhead
Climate Change: Are We Fucked?
"Yes, of course, we’re fucked. (Though it’s important to specify the “we” in this formulation, because the global poor, the disenfranchised, the young, and the yet-to-be-born are certifiably far more fucked than such affluent, white, middle-aged Americans as Vollmann and myself.) But here’s the thing: with climate change as with so much else, all fuckedness … Continue reading Climate Change: Are We Fucked?
Suicide Contagion
"Consider Marilyn Monroe, whose August 1962 suicide saw a 12 percent increase in suicides over the next 12 months; indeed a study published in February in PLoS One found that the August 2014 suicide of Robin Williams touched off a 9.85 percent increase in suicides by the following December, resulting in an "excess" of 1,841 … Continue reading Suicide Contagion
Explaining the ‘Mystery’ of Numbers Stations
"Numbers stations have been in existence since World War I. Over the years they have attracted sporadic interest from journalists, video game designers, and filmmakers. Despite this attention, there are few explanations of what these signals actually are. Too often, they are described as “spooky,” “creepy,” or “mysterious,” and the discussion stops there. It may … Continue reading Explaining the ‘Mystery’ of Numbers Stations
cafebedouin.org 