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- A timely article about the thoroughly debased state of public/political discourse in the US today. In a democracy (which depends on the participation of an informed citizenry who debate and compromise on the issues affecting us all) where the national conversation is an endless round of siloed name calling and vilification we really can't hope to get much done until we learn how to properly listen to each other. And I fully realize that that kind of sentiment is likely to be met on all sides with: "Eff that! What THEY believe is so utterly reprehensible to me that I have no desire to lower myself by even honoring their points with a discussion." Been there, felt that. But this article does a really good job of illustrating both the necessity and the release to be found in doing so. Make no mistake, there are utterly disgusting and indefensible points of view that do not merit being heard out in a good-faith public debate, and those kinds of views seem to be gaining traction and the patina of respectability at an alarming rate. But most of what THEY say is indeed a matter of region and upbringing and race and class and faith and are valid and need to be reckoned with if we want to have an actual democracy and we are doing a piss-poor job of training ourselves to properly encounter them. With that I heartily recommend What Teaching Ethics in Appalachia Taught Me About Bridging America’s Partisan Divide.
“People don’t change their minds, they just change their opinion about the other side,” says Ravi Iyer, a social psychologist who, with Jonathan Haidt and Matt Motyl, founded Civil Politics, a nonprofit aimed at bridging moral divisions. “The evidence is imperfect,” Iyer says, “but all of the imperfect evidence is telling a similar story.”
That story is known as the contact hypothesis—a well-supported theory in social psychology that contact between members of different groups is likely to reduce mutual prejudice. After the course ends, Gaby tells me that her high school classmates and neighbors would say terrible things about immigrants—“If you’re here ‘illegally,’ you should die,” but would moderate their positions when they spoke directly to her or her father. “People are so disconnected from their words,” she said. “When you challenge them, at least a little fear breaks down.”
- For no reason in particular I found myself reading Hunter S. Thompson's 1994 obituary of Richard Nixon. It is funny and sad and disgusted and vulgar and honest. Thompson respected Nixon as an enemy and loathed him to his core as a man and a scourge on American democracy. I wasn't alive during Watergate and its aftermath but I've studied enough US history to know that this country has never ever been an Eden. For all we have going for us (and it's a lot) violence, subjugation, and greed have always been part of our DNA. Still, it seems that in the hellish dozen or so years that saw the assassination of JFK/MLK/RFK, the Vietnam War, & Watergate, the country really and truly lost something that it has never regained. This eulogy (which doesn't so much eulogize as condemn) is a howl of that pang of loss. As such, 25 years later, it's only more sad that it's so relevant.
"Let there be no mistake in the history books about that. Richard Nixon was an evil man -- evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency. Nobody trusted him -- except maybe the Stalinist Chinese, and honest historians will remember him mainly as a rat who kept scrambling to get back on the ship…"
"…He has poisoned our water forever. Nixon will be remembered as a classic case of a smart man shitting in his own nest. But he also shit in our nests, and that was the crime that history will burn on his memory like a brand. By disgracing and degrading the Presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream."
- Humans of New York did a multi-part feature of Tanqueray, a fashion designer and former stripper during the 60s and 70s in Times Square. People are now clamoring for her to be given a book deal and a TV show. Check this out to see why. The woman really lived and had a fantastic eye and ear for detail in a NYC of a different era. Listen to other people's stories, they're everything we have.
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- Wendover Productions is one of my favorite YouTube channels. If you 8-12 minute documentary videos that deep dive into municipal & global transportation, geography's effects on politics, or the economies of the airline industry this is the channel for you. Thoughtful, well-made, and just the right length. Here's a great one on Why Public Transportation Sucks In The US. It's a spot-on analysis of why American street car/bus/train networks pale in comparison to those of Europe and how that hurts us economically. As quoted in the video: "Access to transportation is the single most important factor in an individual’s ability to escape poverty.”
- I've watched the video for this Gordon Ramsay Scrambled Eggs recipe many times over the last 3 years. I finally made them this week. 10/10 would recommend. I mean, they're scrambled eggs. I've made them a million times before, I think mine have generally been better than most people's, but there's no argument: this video kicked them into the upper echelons of what's possible with such a basic item. It's the creme fraiche (sour cream if, like me, your corner grocery store isn't quite dedicated to gourmet inventory) which gives a hugely elevating creamy texture and the chives which add that pop. Also, no whisking before they hit the pot..which I definitely had not been heeding before. I went the extra mile and added some chevre to mine, but I'm just that awesome...
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- I recently got to fulfill a decades long dream to perform on the Caroline’s stage for HBO. Admittedly, in the dream I was actually doing standup for my own HBO taping in front of a real audience, rather than working as a background actor on a Last Week Tonight sketch, but you know what?? I’ll take it. Great working with such an awesome cast and crew! And don't think I'm above listing HBO as a credit now...You can check out some screengrabs on my IG but you need a way to watch HBO if you want to see the sketch itself. I def recommend the whole episode (in which John Oliver gives a fantastic breakdown of the upcoming census and how the GOP has tried to sabotage and limit it).
- I recently had a Facebook reminder of one of the most weird/fun comedy events that I ever put on. We're just past the 6 year anniversary of the show I organized that was devoted to celebrating the 20th anniversary of the debut of Stefan Urquelle on Family Matters. Yes, I booked a room, hired performers, made posters, and bought prizes and costumes for a show in a comic book shop that was devoted entirely to celebrating a single episode of a sitcom that had aired 20 years prior. Did I Do That?? 20 years of Stefan Urquelle was a total blast and a personal favorite of all the live shows I've produced. It was also an unmitigated financial disaster that had an audience of maybe 9 people, but everybody who came had fun and I regret nothing. Here's me in full Steve Urkel costume along with fellow Boston Comic Sam Ike as we discuss the greatest mystery of Family Matters: what happened to Judy Winslow???
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- Naked Mole Rats primarily feed on large tubers (which are many times bigger than a mole rat itself). A single tuber can provide an entire mole rat colony with months worth of food as they eat it from the inside but leave the outside intact, allowing the tuber to regenerate.
- An Oreo is exactly 29% cream.
- There are more hydrogen atoms in a teaspoon of water than there are teaspoons of water in the sea.
- The wingspan of a 747 is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
- And finally, this one's a bit obvious but I never thought of it this way before and now I feel weird: Your skeleton is wet.
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