Stetson > Recent Status Updates

Unclear why the Fantastic Mr. Fox waited three days before trying to tunnel to farmers' properties other then that it adds drama.

Opens with the typical sociobiological counter-critique of the standard social science model. This argument is decidedly more correct than the SSSM but still incomplete. Will be interesting the extent to which DHT/gene-culture co-evolution is embraced by Wade in this book. His current approach appears hyper-adaptionist, which is liable to overlook the importance of random variation and other population-level events.

so much Petrarch

Second essay contrasts Pelagian (free will) vs Augustinian (original sin) moral philosophies concerning culpability.

opens with an anecdote about doing LSD with boyfriend. The book is constructed episodically.

absurdly comedic thus far, though not sure it appeals to kids entirely except the knock knock jokes

Marx is quite interested in rock music as an arts culture of substance, which was true wrt how tastemakers thought at the time, but now seems obviously silly. The dreaded pop-timism that followed was just a natural continuation.

I didn't remember the bizarre introduction of an astronaut & space station story line.

Marx's thesis is very similar to Douthat's 2020 book, The Decadent Society.

Economic analysis is a bit superficial. Positions 90s as pivotal turning point for our deeply and closely divided politics today.

Lots ekphrasis as Zillow p*rn in the book's latter half. The POV character's motivations are a bit opaque despite regular (vague & unconvincing) meta-commentary on them.

The characterization of the different modes of the civil rights movement is remarkably clear-eyed and analytically sharp.