History repeats itself, because no one was listening the first time. Yet it is not just history, and the non-fiction books which document it, that should serve as a warning to all of humanity about where we are headed. There is plenty to be learned from classic literature and fiction novels as well, about who we are and where we are headed. And although most fiction is meant to entertain us, there is plenty of literature out there that allegorically shames us for where we have been, or warns us about where we are headed. My personal favorite example of this Read More

Feminists and social justice warriors hate online anonymity. In the recent months, there has been a deluge of articles arguing that the internet is rife with harassment because people can hide behind online handles, and only total digital monitoring can make women feel safe online. Likewise, many in the manosphere have said the only way to root out fakes and posers positioning themselves as internet alphas is for men to write under their real names. Imagine that, men and social justice warriors in agreement. Too bad they're both wrong. In the early days of the internet, before AOL brought vast unwashed Read More

The following is a compilation of two brief book reviews. Made To Stick This book attempts to deconstruct why some ideas tend to stick (i.e. become viral) by giving you examples of sticky ideas and why they were effective. Tips include: Mysteries are powerful, Cialdini says, because they create a need for closure. [...] Curiosity, he says, happens when we feel a gap in our knowledge. Loewenstein argues that gaps cause pain. When we want to know something but don't, it's like having an itch that we need to scratch. To take away the pain, we need to fill the knowledge gap. We sit patiently Read More

Performing some mundane but necessary chores about the house the other day, I first put on some tunes. Standard practice with me and I am sure, many others. Every now and then, a song that I have heard 557,000 times comes across in an entirely new way. So it was this day, when Joan Jett and the Blackheart's “I Hate Myself for Loving You” came on. A song that I have always liked, but until now, never fully understood. Joan Jett may very well be a feminist icon as her Wikipedia page states, but this song is some serious red pill Read More

The individual man retains his position as an occasional formative force in history. He is the cause of countless effects, as well as the effect of sundry causes; he shapes his era, as much as it shapes him. There are great men all around us, with the potential to influence contemporary events in profound ways. Yet without the appropriate conditions precedent to act as the kindling, the fires of change would sputter and fizzle into smoky impotence. Mohammad Bouazizi was born in the obscure Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid in 1984, and was one of six children. Like many of his Read More