@mastergastronome.bsky.social
Gastronomy | Continental Philosophy | Heterodox Macroeconomics | NBA Basketball | Apples | Path of Exile
www.dinebetter.com
www.dinebetter.com
"The same kinds of people who say “if voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal” don’t seem to apply that argument to firearms, after all...the ease with which one can get a gun in the US should tell you that privately packing heat is already priced into America’s system of government. "
Don't Buy a Gun
Confrontational but nonviolent protest is more effective than the solipsistic comfort of an assault rifle.
www.liberalcurrents.com
January 28, 2026 at 6:22 PM
"The same kinds of people who say “if voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal” don’t seem to apply that argument to firearms, after all...the ease with which one can get a gun in the US should tell you that privately packing heat is already priced into America’s system of government. "
"To those of you living in imperial centers: We understand that your analysis of Iran is mediated by geopolitics. But do not try to derive a political program for populations inside Iran that, in practice, translates into support for the Iranian state."
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
Iran’s Three-Body Problem | Iman Ganji and Bahar Noorizadeh
The ongoing uprising is rooted in the political economy of structural adjustment, which forms the unstable medium through which revolt becomes contagious.
www.nplusonemag.com
January 21, 2026 at 7:51 PM
"To those of you living in imperial centers: We understand that your analysis of Iran is mediated by geopolitics. But do not try to derive a political program for populations inside Iran that, in practice, translates into support for the Iranian state."
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
"Sorry nativism, but contrary to your claim to being universal, there is a deep seated human need for experience and adventure that your unseasoned dork ideology just can’t satisfy."
We Need to Get Off the Defensive About Immigration
Free movement is a fantastic thing, and we should say it.
www.liberalcurrents.com
January 7, 2026 at 6:12 PM
"Sorry nativism, but contrary to your claim to being universal, there is a deep seated human need for experience and adventure that your unseasoned dork ideology just can’t satisfy."
"But the ethical core of socialism remains inspiring because, in sharp contrast to fascism, it makes far greater demands of us. Socialists want a world where, even if everyone won't be happy, ordinary human misery will replace unnecessary suffering."
Why Fascists Always Come for the Socialists First
Contrary to right-wing myths that the "Nazis were socialist," fascists despise socialism and want to destroy it. Here's why the left poses such a threat to them.
www.currentaffairs.org
January 7, 2026 at 1:24 PM
"But the ethical core of socialism remains inspiring because, in sharp contrast to fascism, it makes far greater demands of us. Socialists want a world where, even if everyone won't be happy, ordinary human misery will replace unnecessary suffering."
Reposted
The most unsubtle, heavy-handed claims made by pomo academic types have turned out to all be true. Gender is a relation of domination that requires constant, affirming witness. Capitalism will require extractive colonial relations. There’s no subtlety. Every day is like a 101 seminar at Oberlin.
January 6, 2026 at 1:27 PM
The most unsubtle, heavy-handed claims made by pomo academic types have turned out to all be true. Gender is a relation of domination that requires constant, affirming witness. Capitalism will require extractive colonial relations. There’s no subtlety. Every day is like a 101 seminar at Oberlin.
"So, is the modern nation-state really a Chinese model of administration, adopted to channel and control democratic impulses derived largely from the influence of Native American societies...that ultimately came to be justified by a social contract theory derived from Africa?"
There Never Was a West
David Graeber There Never Was a West Or, Democracy Emerges From the Spaces In Between 2007 From the collection “Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy,...
theanarchistlibrary.org
December 29, 2025 at 1:35 PM
"So, is the modern nation-state really a Chinese model of administration, adopted to channel and control democratic impulses derived largely from the influence of Native American societies...that ultimately came to be justified by a social contract theory derived from Africa?"
"Lending money where it’s needed is what the modern form of finance, for the most part, does not do. What modern finance does, for the most part, is gamble. It speculates on the movements of prices and makes bets on their direction."
John Lanchester · For Every Winner a Loser: What is finance for?
In our society the classic three ways of making a fortune still apply: inherit it, marry it, or steal it. But for an...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 27, 2025 at 5:09 PM
"Lending money where it’s needed is what the modern form of finance, for the most part, does not do. What modern finance does, for the most part, is gamble. It speculates on the movements of prices and makes bets on their direction."
"Who is a restaurant for? The obvious answer is their customers—but I’m not so sure that’s always the case... As diners, we keep making the mistake of assuming that restaurants are for everyone."
Le Cheval d'Or, and being the right audience for a restaurant
A meal at the Parisian culinary darling
adaptedfrom.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:38 PM
"Who is a restaurant for? The obvious answer is their customers—but I’m not so sure that’s always the case... As diners, we keep making the mistake of assuming that restaurants are for everyone."
Reposted
"...freedom as well as survival may well depend upon our success or failure to persuade the other part of the world to recognize facts as they are and to come to terms with the factuality of the world as it is." - Hannah Arendt, who died 50 years ago today
December 4, 2025 at 10:58 AM
"...freedom as well as survival may well depend upon our success or failure to persuade the other part of the world to recognize facts as they are and to come to terms with the factuality of the world as it is." - Hannah Arendt, who died 50 years ago today
Reposted
Why there never was a Vibecession in one chart.
It’s always been about the prices of essentials.
It’s always been about the prices of essentials.
November 26, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Why there never was a Vibecession in one chart.
It’s always been about the prices of essentials.
It’s always been about the prices of essentials.
Reposted
Before women, the workplace was perfect. It was full of trees. There was no need to labor with your hands. You didn’t have to wear pants, or any form of clothes. Every kind of animal was there.
Hmm I may be thinking of something else women supposedly ruined www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Hmm I may be thinking of something else women supposedly ruined www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Women Keep Ruining the Workplace!!
Before they arrived, of course, everything was perfect.
www.theatlantic.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Before women, the workplace was perfect. It was full of trees. There was no need to labor with your hands. You didn’t have to wear pants, or any form of clothes. Every kind of animal was there.
Hmm I may be thinking of something else women supposedly ruined www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Hmm I may be thinking of something else women supposedly ruined www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
"...inflation is a further tax on hoarded currency, a tax which no poor person or household receiving a living wage really feels.
Households feel Affordability crises, a drop in their wage-income relative to other prices, which is not inflation. Relative price adjustments are never inflation."
Households feel Affordability crises, a drop in their wage-income relative to other prices, which is not inflation. Relative price adjustments are never inflation."
Tax is Not for “Cooling Off Inflation”
Why We Really Should Burn the Scorepoints — and Be Funny About It or They'll Kill You
bijou.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM
"...inflation is a further tax on hoarded currency, a tax which no poor person or household receiving a living wage really feels.
Households feel Affordability crises, a drop in their wage-income relative to other prices, which is not inflation. Relative price adjustments are never inflation."
Households feel Affordability crises, a drop in their wage-income relative to other prices, which is not inflation. Relative price adjustments are never inflation."
Reposted
Hi, I’m a website, product, or service you’ve relied on for years without incident. Great news: I’ve now been revamped with a mandatory AI component that makes me unusable.
November 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Hi, I’m a website, product, or service you’ve relied on for years without incident. Great news: I’ve now been revamped with a mandatory AI component that makes me unusable.
Reposted
HOW VOTERS PICK A CANDIDATE:
-they observe the social environment (largely through media)
-they decide what role they want to play in that environment (respected? savvy? oppositional?)
-they pick the candidate they think fulfills that role
-they reverse-engineer an explanation for their pick
-they observe the social environment (largely through media)
-they decide what role they want to play in that environment (respected? savvy? oppositional?)
-they pick the candidate they think fulfills that role
-they reverse-engineer an explanation for their pick
October 29, 2025 at 3:56 PM
HOW VOTERS PICK A CANDIDATE:
-they observe the social environment (largely through media)
-they decide what role they want to play in that environment (respected? savvy? oppositional?)
-they pick the candidate they think fulfills that role
-they reverse-engineer an explanation for their pick
-they observe the social environment (largely through media)
-they decide what role they want to play in that environment (respected? savvy? oppositional?)
-they pick the candidate they think fulfills that role
-they reverse-engineer an explanation for their pick
"What is rarely acknowledged is that the psychological and historical appeal of meritocracy is inversely proportional to its tenability. It is in fact hard to imagine a much more utopian idea that has even been posited than meritocracy."
The Utopianism of the Meritocrats
Trumpism has long been characterized by a desperate retreat from the dangers of thinking, making a heavy reliance on cliches a requirement. One of those cliches endlessly parroted by the administratio...
www.liberalcurrents.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:39 PM
"What is rarely acknowledged is that the psychological and historical appeal of meritocracy is inversely proportional to its tenability. It is in fact hard to imagine a much more utopian idea that has even been posited than meritocracy."
Reposted
Billionaire transhumanists who seek immortality want to defeat death, but this also means they want to defeat birth & rebirth
That attempt to break cycles of renewal and decay isn’t a celebration of life. It’s an attempt to make life more like death, stable & endless rather than fleeting & precious
That attempt to break cycles of renewal and decay isn’t a celebration of life. It’s an attempt to make life more like death, stable & endless rather than fleeting & precious
October 27, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Billionaire transhumanists who seek immortality want to defeat death, but this also means they want to defeat birth & rebirth
That attempt to break cycles of renewal and decay isn’t a celebration of life. It’s an attempt to make life more like death, stable & endless rather than fleeting & precious
That attempt to break cycles of renewal and decay isn’t a celebration of life. It’s an attempt to make life more like death, stable & endless rather than fleeting & precious
We must mock the fascists!
"the massive protests took on a tone of jubilant contempt, with Trump and his various lackeys derided on signs and in effigies, with jokes that ranged from the high-minded to the vulgar."
"the massive protests took on a tone of jubilant contempt, with Trump and his various lackeys derided on signs and in effigies, with jokes that ranged from the high-minded to the vulgar."
The massive No Kings protests may mark a new American political posture | Moira Donegan
The violence Republicans seemed to want did not materialize. Instead the event showcased liberal-democratic consensus
www.theguardian.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:33 PM
We must mock the fascists!
"the massive protests took on a tone of jubilant contempt, with Trump and his various lackeys derided on signs and in effigies, with jokes that ranged from the high-minded to the vulgar."
"the massive protests took on a tone of jubilant contempt, with Trump and his various lackeys derided on signs and in effigies, with jokes that ranged from the high-minded to the vulgar."
"No one can deny the power and size of the AI coalition, an ensemble of Silicon Valley investors, lobbyists, and bought-off politicians; hucksters, carnival barkers, and gravy train chasers; and bosses gleeful at the opportunity to downsize and deskill."
Large Language Muddle | The Editors
The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...
www.nplusonemag.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:00 PM
"No one can deny the power and size of the AI coalition, an ensemble of Silicon Valley investors, lobbyists, and bought-off politicians; hucksters, carnival barkers, and gravy train chasers; and bosses gleeful at the opportunity to downsize and deskill."
Reposted
yearly reminder to people insisting that we view Christopher Columbus as "a man of his time" that *the people responsible for the Spanish Inquisition* thought Columbus was out of pocket
Christopher Columbus was dragged back to Spain in chains by a crusading knight, convicted of tyranny and immeasurable cruelty, pardoned by Isabella but banned from returning to Hispaniola.
Fuck Columbus.
Fuck Columbus.
October 13, 2025 at 4:38 PM
yearly reminder to people insisting that we view Christopher Columbus as "a man of his time" that *the people responsible for the Spanish Inquisition* thought Columbus was out of pocket
Reposted
🚨NEW PAPER🚨
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
🚨NEW PAPER🚨
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted
“Supercharging searing civil tensions over jarring high-profile events drives attention, jolts low-propensity voters out of their information ruts, and compels them to really take sides.” Yep, @gregsargent.bsky.social.
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule
He wants to supercharge searing civil tensions to get low-information voters to embrace their inner authoritarian. Exactly two Democrats appear to fully grasp this.
newrepublic.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:21 PM
“Supercharging searing civil tensions over jarring high-profile events drives attention, jolts low-propensity voters out of their information ruts, and compels them to really take sides.” Yep, @gregsargent.bsky.social.
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
"Why not fine the companies for endangering kids or create new rules they have to follow? Why not introduce competition into a monopolized market space? Why not put consumer safety standards on the algorithms, the software, the devices themselves?"
now is not the time to ban phones
why Jonathan Haidt sucks
howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:23 PM
"Why not fine the companies for endangering kids or create new rules they have to follow? Why not introduce competition into a monopolized market space? Why not put consumer safety standards on the algorithms, the software, the devices themselves?"
Reposted
"hand-to-hand combat with antifa every night"
October 6, 2025 at 7:45 PM
"hand-to-hand combat with antifa every night"
"Alphabet, Google, Amazon and Meta together will spend nearly $400 billion on capital expenditures in 2025 alone. At the same time, the AI industry has a combined revenue that is little more than the revenue of the smart-watch industry (Zitron 2025)."
The AI Bubble and the U.S. Economy: How Long Do “Hallucinations” Last?
This paper argues that (i) we have reached “peak GenAI” in terms of current Large Language Models (LLMs); scaling (building more data centers and using more chips) will not take us further to the goal...
www.ineteconomics.org
October 2, 2025 at 2:25 PM
"Alphabet, Google, Amazon and Meta together will spend nearly $400 billion on capital expenditures in 2025 alone. At the same time, the AI industry has a combined revenue that is little more than the revenue of the smart-watch industry (Zitron 2025)."