The myth of Musk has become increasingly tattered over recent years. He’s no MoTU, not a world-spanning genius uniquely able to bend technology to his will. As the Twitter debacle has made obvious, he’s no more than an ordinarily clever guy who parlayed a family apartheid fortune and some good timing into early Silicon Valley …
The Kids Are All Right–MIT Science Writers Edition
Got some stuff I’ve been meaning to share from the students in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing–the joint in which I do much of my teaching. As part of the core curriculum in that masters program, there’s a one-semester class on making science documentaries that I teach. There are a couple of reasons why …
The Kids Are All Right–MIT Science Writers EditionPost + Comments (59)
Hitler Gained Total Power Through Democratic Procedures–And Trump Is Using The Same Playbook
The story is old and familiar. Hitler led the Nazi party in the last Weimar Reichstag. In the autumn 1932 elections, his share of the vote declined, but the Nazis remained the largest political force in the body. So when the last center-right to right-wing coalition fell, President Hindenberg named Hitler as the new Chancellor–the …
I’m Fucking Done
It’s time to break this rogue court. With apologies to the lawyers in the Jackaltariat, there’s nothing left to save in the current court. Its majority, in place barring radical legislative change I don’t see coming anytime soon, is a corrupt, wholly owned, claque of elite religious fanatics. Or perhaps, more accurately, a coalition of …
In Which Reconstruction Ends For The Second Time
This wasn’t unexpected, but it’s still a gut-punch: The US Supreme Court on Thursday banned the consideration of race in college admissions, overruling nearly half a century of precedents and deprivingmany universities of a tool they say is essential for keeping their campuses diverse. Elements of the until-today model of holistic admissions have a very …
In Which Reconstruction Ends For The Second TimePost + Comments (349)
No, Virginia (North Carolina, Actually) State Legislatures Ain’t All That
Not altogether surprisingly, but still a pleasant alternative to my most grim forebodings, the Corrupt Supreme Court™ managed not to overturn centuries of precedent, practice, and the ordinary functioning of federal democracy and convincingly ruled in favor of at least the possibility of free and fair elections. That meant they ruled against the GOP authoritarian …
No, Virginia (North Carolina, Actually) State Legislatures Ain’t All ThatPost + Comments (141)
Get Your Popcorn Ready
N.B.: I know this was discussed in the thread below–but I’d written this just as WaterGirl was posting her piece, and I went for a bike ride rather than bigfooting her, and I’m damned if I’m going to let a perfectly good Hogarth engraving go to waste. Enjoy! Amidst the grotesque and existential threats to …