Andreas Wannerstedt is the instagram 3d Bees and bombs.

I love this diagram of land use in the US.

This, pretty much. Quit doin' dumb stuff to posture “anti-techie.”

The gripe: Talking with a friend who is very logical and pretty well off, and open-minded across the political spectrum, and he’s like “Paul Ryan, you have to hook me. If you don’t, I’ve gotta think conservatism and the Republican party are dead.” He’s annoyed by silly lefty posturing out on the west coast, open to free-ish market ideas, thinks the Jane Kims and Kshama Sawants of the world (far-lefty SF/Seattle politicians) are kind of a mess. Like, who can the Republicans get if they can’t get him?

Paul Ryan and his party, of course, are dead to me forever for their immeasurable cowardice over the past two years, and their single-minded focus on tax cuts for rich people. However, I want to be open-minded. So here’s my similar gauntlet. Modern conservatives: you’ve got three inroads by which you can hook me, and they are Russ Roberts, Tyler Cowen, and the Economist. I read/listen to all three, and they are as “economically conservative” as you please. They’re also actually smart! For the most part!

So here’s the rant: Russ and Tyler, every time you (and your guests) go off about “political correctness” ruining the ability of students to express thoughts on college campuses, you get 1% closer to losing me forever too. I… like, ok, my college experience isn’t necessarily the same as everyone’s, but… look, “political correctness” wasn’t a problem! Similarly, shrugging off Women’s Studies and half the Humanities is ignorant. Assuming that post-structuralism and deconstructionism and whatever will lead people to just view the world in terms of simplistic narratives… like, can’t you offer them the same courtesy that you should afford any debate opponent? You’re probably taking a simplistic view of them if you think they just take a simplistic view of you!

More generally: quit playing this “conservatism is under attack” game. It really makes me lose respect for you.

Gripe 2:
Youtubers/podcasters Brady Haran and CGP Grey totally nail the “attention, distraction, something or another” problem in this week’s Hello Internet podcast. I mean, not that they have a great answer to this, but just that I really feel Grey a lot here.
- the ipads blasting ads in you at airports are *super gross*, and yes they’re a logical continuation of TVs in bars, but they’re still bad. (also TVs in bars are bad, unless you’re explicitly a TV bar, like a sports bar. The default should be no TVs in bars.)
- reading a book has felt harder over the years, and that scares me.
- inexact quote: “it’s not that I’m a better person if I’m walking a dog and not listening to anything, it’s that I’m a worse person if I can only walk a dog if I’m listening to something.”
- I share Grey’s sense that this is vaguely harmful, as well as Brady’s questions of “hmm, so wait, where exactly is the problem?”
- inexact quote: “I’ve changed my mind on many things like this over the years, like ‘am I wrong or is it the kids?’, so… I don’t know, is this actually a problem?” “Yeah, no, I agree, it is a problem!”