Western Individualism May Have Roots In The Medieval Church's Obsession With Incest https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/11/07/777276474/western-individualism-may-have-roots-in-the-medieval-churchs-obsession-with-ince?ft=nprml&f=1007

California Dreamin’ [Today, Explained]. A new California law limits how early school can start in the state. https://art19.com/shows/today-explained/episodes/46c54d86-819a-4bf0-a008-f4814470776c

Nothing is impossible if you’re delusional.

— The Alex Nevil (@TheAlexNevil) September 12, 2019

Michael Lind on what a smarter Trumpism would sound like. The Ezra Klein Show https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2019/11/7/20953412/trump-michael-lind-china-class-war

Jenna Karvunidis invented the gender reveal party, but now she has regrets. Decoder Ring https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2019/11/gender-reveal-parties-babies-origin

Via https://reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/dt5a7d/oldest_cat/

Via https://fakescience.org/post/188837921635/herbivore-dinosaurs

Orangutan has a gift for physical comedy

The best magic trick I’ve seen so far from gifs

About a dozen photos I took around La Mesa in 2009 and one in 2011. Some good, some not.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwagner/albums/72157605486477218/with/4999768020/’

Coffee machine in my hotel lobby. Made a pretty good cup.

Vending machine at San Francisco Airport sells puffy jackets. Brilliant!

18 photos of smiling Victorians, including one smiling dog. https://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/18-photos-of-victorians-smiling?fbclid=IwAR22FcNvF8iN7KC6Z_3QbC5_aniCPJ1_9DrBWKezQq85a5GRYOX59rKg3o8

Disinformation & The Murder Of Seth Rich: Journalist Michael Issikoff describes how Fox News, the Republicans, the Trump campaign, Russians, WikiLeaks, Sean Hannity, Steve Bannon, Newt Gingrich, Roger Stone, and other bad guys promoted the lie that Seth Rich was murdered by the Clintons. [Fresh Air] https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749450421/disinformation-the-murder-of-seth-rich

The Dinosaur Explosion: Since the 1990s there has been a massive unprecedented increase in the number of dinosaur discoveries. [Science Vs] https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/o2hw89

Man up: Masculinity in American history: Beards became fashionable for men in the 19th Century – elaborate, coiffured whiskers – as more and more men took desk jobs and the country feared feminization. https://www.backstoryradio.org/shows/man-up/

Remembering Toni Morrison: Fresh Air interviews from 1987, 1992 and 2015. https://www.npr.org/2019/08/09/749780681/remembering-toni-morrison

Journalist Masha Green fled Russia, returned for 20 years, and then fled again. She has “dedicated her career to writing and reporting about Russian society from both within and outside her native country.”

“Masha joined Tyler [Cowen] in New York City to answer his many questions about Russia: why was Soviet mathematics so good? What was it like meeting with Putin? Why are Russian friendships so intense? Are Russian women as strong as the stereotype suggests — and why do they all have the same few names? Is Russia more hostile to LGBT rights than other autocracies? Why did Garry Kasparov fail to make a dent in Russian politics? What did The Americans get right that Chernobyl missed? And what’s a good place to eat Russian food in Manhattan?”

[Conversations With Tyler] https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/masha-gessen-tyler-cowen-russia-journalism-939b1b6cf6e9

Visiting dead relatives on Google Street View. [Jessie Schiewe] https://www.okwhatever.org/topics/things/dead-relative-google-street-view People find solace seeing dead loved ones returned to life by Google Street View. The resurrection is even more bittersweet because the photos show the deceased mowing the lawn and doing other quotidian everyday activities

America's other 'special relationship' remains worth preserving. [Kevin D. Williamson] https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/08/america-israel-special-relationship-worth-preserving/ There’s no case to be made that America benefits by destroying Israel.

Is Philanthropy Good? Billionaire philanthropists promote private profits and political agendas over public good. [Maria Bustillos] https://popula.com/2019/08/16/what-money-wants/

Are there any other angry Canadians or is Alanis Morissette it?

— de la soulless (@delasoulless) August 17, 2019

https://twitter.com/jake_vig/status/1162925656814116864?s=21

she asked me to brush her hair but now she's mad that the toothpaste won't come out

— dirt bike mike (@02dirtbikemike) July 27, 2019

https://twitter.com/mrranderson78/status/1162498376547651585?s=21

New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino writes about how social media shapes identity, public discourse and political engagement, particularly for millennials like herself. She talks about growing up in a Houston megachurch, her devastating year in the Peace Corps, and how religion led her to MDMA. Her new book of essays is “Trick Mirror.” Also: Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the use of the word “they” as a gender-neutral pronoun. [Fresh Air] https://www.npr.org/2019/08/06/748722625/jia-tolentino-on-feminism-ecstasy-the-internet