The Power of Culture

We Can’t Help Describing Trump as Powerful Because We Describe All Men as Powerful The above is a really well-written piece of cultural criticism (if the title triggers you, try treading the article anyway). What is power? As the article notes, “Now, Trump lacks any of the “masculine virtues” androphilia supposedly values—a warrior physique, military experience, good strategic judgment, vigor, stamina—but that’s the...

Phone Mic Surveillance by Google?

So yesterday my son played me a video of a guy who modded a roomba to play audio files whenever it bumped into things. That was on his phone, on his account. My phone was nearby. Today, my phone shows me roomba ads. I’ve gone through every app on my phone, and only Google has microphone permissions. Nothing I’ve done except watch a video on someone else’s phone would give Google any indication I’m...

Criminal Justice and Deterrence

It’s Official: Child Molesters in Alabama Will Now Be Chemically Castrated In our current system I have a philosophical issue with any irreversible punishment. Our criminal-justice meat grinder has a terrible track record of errors, and little interest in correcting them. It is shot through with bias, both against minorities in general and against the poor (who at this point are getting up to half the population in...

Orange Juice Packaging

You know those half gallons of orange juice in the grocery store? 1/2 gallon = 64 ounces. About five years ago they all suddenly became 59 ounces. Well, I just noticed that they have all suddenly become 52 ounces. Of course, the price is the same. So in effect that is an 18.75% price increase over five years ago, and an 11.9% increase over earlier this year. Maybe most people don’t notice, but I certainly do. I’m...