Some big news: I'm writing a book about urban hiking and how it can change our lives for the better! It comes out in 2028 and I can't wait to share it with you all. Also, I might be visiting your city for field research a lot sooner. (More on that front in the comments below.)

We are having our futures decided by freaks. These techno-oligarchs are so profoundly stunted they can’t engage in the most basic acts of being human. It’d be sad if they weren’t actively working to destroy everything that makes being human great for all the rest of us.

I think the fact that Marissa Mayer would voluntarily disclose this to a reporter is a pretty good demonstration of how deeply the culture of Silicon Valley has diverged from the rest of humanity

You can also go to a public library and have a conversation with a librarian that might help you expand your taste and worldview instead of merely affirming it. They’ll even let you check out the books for free.

The Devils is playing to sold out crowds all over right now btw

As someone who saw The Devils far too young on the BBC in the 1990s, the hype around this re-release is genuinely blowing my mind. Selling out cinemas everywhere. Huge lobby standees. It’s utterly crazy in the best way

What makes The Devils awesome is that it’s all of these things. Why split hairs over what singular genre it should be reduced to?

This is actually a condescending view of working-class people. I grew up in a working-class immigrant family and we ate at Red Lobster and The Cheesecake Factory for "fancy nights out." But even we understood that the White House should not look like the inside of a Red Lobster. Working-class people are not culturally illiterate just because their experiences are shaped by their limited means.

I think it fits very well that the insanity Father Barre brought to the table. It’s anachronistic stylization that actually works well in my opinion.

Another standard thing any normal person does when staying at a friend’s house is not pay them any money

The best Airbnb hosts are the ones who understand that they are in the hospitality business, and the worst are the ones who think they're in the real estate business.

The problem is that too many Airbnb hosts either abused this wiggle room and asked guests to do an unreasonable amount of turnover chores, or they charged rental prices that went beyond what a space with required chores should cost. You can only squeeze your customers to a point.

if you follow this world closely this explanation makes enough sense. but it's gonna be a tough sell and piss off a lot of normal people to hear some version of 'we tried to warn you but also we just kept building it too...what did you expect us to do...stop?'

While the decline of free or next-to-free third spaces is a big problem, this whole "we can't afford to spend time with friends anymore" discourse is so bizarre and divorced from reality. Like, how much are you guys spending on food, drinks, and entertainment?!?

I met some of my closest post-college friends in the Boston area by inviting them on free walks in parks and woods together. At most, we got coffee beforehand or a beer afterward. Early friendship (or early dating) does not require spending hundreds of dollars on activities.

THE DEVILS is a horrifying and electrifying movie about the relationship between wealth, state power, and religion. But it also has Oliver Reed winning a sword fight with a crocodile. Good movies contain multitudes.

Even as someone who believes that wealth inequality is the defining challenge of our time, I don't buy this. There are *plenty* of ways to gather for free or next to nothing, in public or at each other's homes. At a certain point, declining to do this IS a mental health problem.

"business schools don’t just reflect our economic system — they actively manufacture its priorities and normalize its harms, training the future leaders who will design and defend the structures driving our overlapping global crises." nytimes.com/2026/10/18/opini…

It actually is that good. With caveats, everyone should know what they're getting into. It's made to disturb you and it does. If that's not something you can do, then don't. But man, it's outstanding.