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eight things tagged “articles

Note 0006

This really sad article (cached) on how the author lost an older loved one to the unbelievable racket that’s Amway contains the most hopeful passages I’ve read about the current times. Emphasis and exorcism mine:

It’s hard to leave a delusion behind. In the run-up to the 2024 elections, I noticed the ways in which ****p’s political followers likewise struggled to abandon him. Some prominent ****p supporters may see him as a means to wealth or power. Others find meaning and community—or even vindication—in accepting the lies he tells. Maybe, eventually, when they see what his second administration delivers, some voters will peel away.

That’s what happened with Amway. The company is still a multibillion-dollar, global enterprise, though its domestic profile is now so much smaller that it has a page on its own website answering the question: “Does Amway still exist?” In the end, more people left than stayed. Those who came to their senses or were unable to sustain the delusion eventually quit. But things can get bleak in the middle.

This too shall pass. Let’s hope that we are all strong in what we choose to build after it does1. But it’s going to suck for a while, and for the most vulnerable amongst us. Thoughts and prayers.

  1. If, indeed, we’re permitted to do anything.↩︎

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Megan Garber for The Atlantic This week, as the allegations against Tyson were gaining attention in the American media, Bloomberg published a report about the men of Wall Street and how they have decided to address the revealed abuses of #MeToo. “No more dinners with female colleagues” is one sol…

Efficient Languages

Ross Pomeroy for RealClearScience, “What’s the Most Efficient Language?” [. . .] travel the world and record at least a dozen speakers of every language reading those passages aloud at their normal cadence. Count the overall number of syllables used for each passage and measure the time it took s…

Happy Popper

I slipped in a final question: Why in his autobiography did Popper say that he is the happiest philosopher he knows? “Most philosophers are really deeply depressed,” he replied, “because they can’t produce anything worthwhile.” Looking pleased with himself, Popper glanced over at Mrs. Mew, who wor…

“Calcium-Carbonate Concretions”

Michael LaPointe writing for The Atlantic on The Pearl of Lao Tzu But elsewhere in the Miner letter, the curator terms the specimen a “pearlaceous growth,” and stresses that it ought not to be classified as a precious pearl. The gems we commonly know as pearls are formed within the organic tissue…