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The Telomere Tradeoff
Bret Weinstein is a fun one to watch. He gained some notoriety for his role in the public meltdown of Washington state’s Evergreen State College in 2017, and I was a college student myself when I discovered him via this fortuitous catastrophe. He has courted more and nastier controversy since then, but frankly most of…
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Wallace’s Keyhole
“My whole life I’ve been a fraud,” is the opening line of David Foster Wallace’s best short story. He elaborates: “Pretty much all I’ve ever done all the time is try to create a certain impression of me in other people.” The story is excellent, and I highly recommend reading it yourself, but it can…
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Book Review: The Hundred-Year Marathon
[This was my entry in the 2022 Astral Codex Ten book review contest, with a few small edits. It didn’t make the cut to get published on ACX, but I think it’s worth sharing anyway.] Intro How much longer can the U.S. expect to remain unchallenged in its leadership of the world? A question seldom…
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u̶̧̝̗͔͓̳̰̬͆̀͐̃͛̈̂̓͠ʍ̴̱͓̩̰̳̭̲͓͔͗͂͆͂̐̎͗̀̋̐ọ̸͇̠̻͓̉̎̓̔͌͊p̶̡̡̛͇̠̯͈͓̼̙̆̅̏̒̌̐̐͝ͅ-̡̧̗̫̗͓͙̗̈́̓͊̿̂̾̆͜͠͞ͅǝ̣̹͉̭̺͎̰͇͐̾͌́͘̚͝͠p͕̗͓͙͓̲͕͒͋̃̃̾͜͞ᴉ̴̢̟̰̟̭̳͙͋̏͌̕͘͠s̶̢͔̻̞̫̦͐̏̾̑̊̌̕͘͟d̘̠͓͉͖͒̈́̑͗̍̓̄̚͞∩̶͙̪͓̯͇̙̫́͊̓̈́̍ p̵̨͈̪̗̹̜̰̺̉̓͑͂̚̕ͅǝ̴̺̰̻̮̘̼̳̖́̐̀́̚͢͟ų̣̘͕̯̼͉̩̺͔̓͆̍͋̔ɹ̠̠̘͎͔̞̱̰͓̑̿̃̕͞n̨̮̭̺̘͇͓̋͑͗̑͠͞┴̶̱͚̘̳̤͇̼͉̔͑̀̈́́͋̓̕ p̷̡̻̫͉̠̪̿̀̂̓̿̊̐l̵͍͎̘̱̟͔̙̀͛͂̚͝͡ɹ̸̢̨̛̦̺̦͙̝̪̦̃̾̂͗̋̎̎͘̕ǫ̬̼̰̳̪͖̅̐̀͘͘̚M̨̥͎͕͍̞͈̩͊͑͊̊̾͛̚ ǝ̴̞͓͖̠̝̱̞̄̈̉̓͛̿̚ͅɥ̢̣̯̦͈͕̃̿͗́̅̍̈́̈́͜͟͞┴̛̭̞̠̹̯̭͚̰̘̄́̽͂̑͝
Here are some photos I took of empty playgrounds during the COVID-19 lockdown in St. Louis. The upside-down thing was a result of my phone glitching out and getting stuck in the wrong orientation, but it enhances the weirdcore effect in a way that pleasantly surprised me. Please enjoy these photos, accompanied by the public-domain…
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Road to Revature
I know I’m not alone among my generation in feeling like I’ve suffered from a failure to launch. This may be cold comfort, knowing that many of my peers have faced the same obstacles to setting up a stable life after college, but it’s worth remembering when I feel crushed by the weight of my…