Linkfest 2018-08-28
Men’s wages since 1979, broken down by wage percentile (10th is the poorest, 95th is the richest)
Population Immiseration in America
I've got a draft on wages over time in the wings now, but Peter Turchin has some great graphs in this article.
Museum Visitor Falls Into Giant Hole That Looks Like a Cartoonish Painting on the Floor
I think a previous linkfest included an article on Anish Kapoor and his legal battles regarding Vantablack. I'm not surprised someone fell in this thing, it really was an accident waiting to happen.
Land expropriation: learning from the Chinese
South Africa is pondering expropriating land from Boer farmers. There are lots of different angles on this subject, this one uses China as a foil.
The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyberattack in History
A cyberattack on Maersk that reads like a thriller novel. Things like this make you appreciate the Butlerian Jihad.
Wrapping up H.P.'s summer series on Tolkien, an extended reflection on Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories", which contains a great many ideas that I have seen reflected in the work of many authors I like, such as Neil Gaiman or Tim Powers.
(Almost) Everyone Hates Urbanization
Kevin Drum throws cold water on the dreams of urbanists. Everyone is too wedded to the status quo and their own self-interests to really do anything that would make a big impact. Harsh, but largely true.
I must have really different priors than John Nerst, because I just assume everyone has hidden motives, even ones hidden from their own introspection. I am honestly not that interested in motives at all. I'm more interested in behavior, by their fruits you shall know them.
Not enough attention is current paid to the first Vatican Council, which has a lot to do with where the Catholic Church finds itself today. The office of the Papacy gained much prestige and power in the nineteenth century.
Tradition is Smarter Than You Are
T. Greer links Chesteron's Fence with James C. Scott and Joseph Henrich. This reminds me of something Aquinas once said, that man is barely an intellect at all, so weak are our powers of reason.
The Trouble with the View from Above
An introduction to James C. Scott.
Federal Survey Wildly Overestimates Number of School Shootings
GIGO from the Department of Education.
The Trump Tax Cuts Were Supposed to Depress Housing Prices. They Haven’t.
I expected this too.
Rudyard Kipling Does Scifi: The Secret of the Machines
This is my favorite stanza of Kipling's "The Secret of the Machines":
Progress and Polytheism: Could an Ethical West Exist Without Christianity?
An exercise in counterfactual history: what would the West be without Christianity?
Comments ()