A Che Guevara t-shirt. The center of t-shirt is a box.Inside the box one half is light blue and the other is orange. Superimposed on the middle of the box is a picture of Che with a cigar, wearing a beret.
The bottom of the box, in large all-caps is one word
REVOLUTION
My idea; take the half of Che’s face on the orange block and replace it with BJG’s. So the face on t-shirt is half Che and half BJG. Added benefit is this new face offend any copyright laws.
On the back of the t-shirt towards the top, in the middle, the small TFC logo.
Megan McArdle's conversation with Russ Roberts about the Oedipus Trap (referenced in Kat's article) was one of the very best Econ Talks (econtalk.org/megan-mcardle-on-the-oedipus-trap/). I heard it just after I'd wrapped up listening to Emily Hanford's excellent reading wars series (also mentioned) for the second time and could not stop thinking about how perfectly it demonstrated the theory.
I had to link to the Emily Hanford series because it is essential content for anyone with a kid in or nearing elementary school: https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/. (I listened with my 9 year old, who overheard part of an episode and then was hooked.) It was pretty amazing because it was a public radio piece but subtly pinned part of the blame for bad reading pedagogy on Democratic party groupthink. Republicans and conservative Christians were pushing for phonics education for decades, and Democrats and teachers unions were against it seemingly just because the "bad people" were for it.
For parents and educators who enjoyed Sold a Story, or are interested in learning about evidence-based teaching methods (and the education industry's resistance to them), might want to check out this Substack by another education reporter: https://hollykorbey.substack.com/. So far she's looked into math and discipline techniques in school. An emerging theme seems to be that high quality research typically supports parents' and teachers' intuition about what works, but these evidence-based techniques are *not* popular in actual schools for some reason. (She doesn't go there, but I partly blame progressive ideology.)
I wasn't aware of the (failed) reading technique until recently. My mom was a reading teacher for a number of years and taught phonics so I wasn't even aware there was an alternative.
Any one who has taught anything to other people successfully knows you have to break things down to the most basic level (phonics) and start there. It's maddening that it took to long for someone, anyone to push back on this type of teaching because there is no way the teachers were getting good results.
One severe complication in this discussion of "evidence-based teaching methods" is the fact that the evidence, the "science" of it is based on increasing test scores within groups of involuntary subjects born within 10 months of each other. While we all want our kids to learn in the most effective ways, I just don't think that's the most constructive (or healthy) way to design an education (also, there's the saying, which I agree with, that studying how kids learn in school is like studying how killer whales learn at Sea World).
I do think it's apparent that phonics is an effective (if not the most effective) way to teach reading (I used it to teach my own son and scores of students), but the arguments in the "reading wars" are all confined to the very limited, unnatural, and usually authoritarian environment of school, itself, which forces kids to learn the things and at the pace that are most convenient for the school.
I think, very much like the idea of homeschooling, it transcends "right" and "left," "conservative" and "progressive," but it is, ultimately, an argument for school choice because different developing humans best learn different things in different ways at different ages. Some kids respond well to the structure of school and other, equally intelligent, curious kids are made to hate school and learning in general because of school's inherent inflexibility and authoritarian environments.
It's fine and necessary to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of different teaching techniques, but if we do so without the goal of increasing student agency or embracing the wide variety of paths kids can successfully take on their educational journeys, I'm afraid we're going to maintain schools as places of misery and avoidance for far too many smart, curious kids.
The afternoon after I listened to that episode, I called my biodad for the first time in maybe 10 years and then scheduled a trip to visit him. I'm glad I did bcs he has been in steady mental decline since. The concept of "mistakes no one can live with" hit hard.
BJG - whatever stance she has on anything is lost for one simple reason: the bitch doesn't listen. Like, she doesn't even try to listen. You can see it in her facial expressions, which she can't control, apparently - screwed up face, raised eyebrows, waiting to pounce with a confusing retort and some hot button vocab. Does she also go down rabbit holes even Cujo wouldn't dare - and that no one can follow? Yep? Are her points absurd if not derragatory? Sure! Does she connect things that have no connection (the DANES!) - absolutely.
But none of that matters because she doesn't actually listen to a fucking thing anyone is saying. I have no idea how the hell she got where she is with the lack of that particular skill. It's communication 101, for Christ's sake. I don't know much about Robby, but that guy must be frantically looking for other work.
I am sure this can be interpreted racially, but I have never really heard her before now, and after listening, I really couldn't follow what she was saying. She had a very rapid non-linear way if of speaking that just lost me after a few seconds.
Probabaly what happens when you're waiting to speak instead of listening to what the other person says first - her shit is all over the place because she isn't responding thoughtfully, she's reacting irrationally.
It is pretty funny when Rising has a guest on that Bri clearly diasgrees with and you can hear her frantically typing on a laptop while the guest is talking. You would think the producers would find a way to mute that sound because it is incredibly distracting.
The most shocking part of Kat's piece was this quote:
> If that sounds unobjectionable, consider that the founder of one such rankings system, the Global Disinformation Index, has said her algorithm flags not just untruths but “adversarial narratives,” which is to say, stories that are accurate but politically inexpedient. “Something can be factually accurate but still extremely harmful,” she has intoned
It's so on the nose that I almost couldn't believe that someone would say that out loud. So I decided to check it. It is an absolutely accurate quote and perfectly in context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-q1l5QA2Fs&t=967s. (With apologies to Kat; I just have a habit nowadays of checking anything that makes me say "holy crap".)
Thanks for the mention of the two Nina Paley films. I enthusiastically recommend both. When my daughter was an undergrad her Hinduism class watched Sita Sings the Blues.
Nina will draw sketches for $150 but you can only give her, at most, two words for the prompt:
She is completely deranged. And so incurious. I’ve always disagreed with her on a lot but always respected her because I thought she approached most issues in good-ish faith.
Kinda think I’m just a big fucking idiot for ever believing that.
I think the best caste scenario is she's just dumb. It seems to be some level of intentionally obtuse- but she shows that she obviously didn't understand the point being made.
She's not dumb. She's a skilled lawyer prosecuting her opponents with whatever charges she can make stick. Whether she understands or not is irrelevant; it's a game to sway the audience.
I mostly feel bad for Robby. He's a good journalist trying to do honest work, and he's been cast as the clueless blonde on a left-wing version of Hannity and Colmes.
"The people who create our culture and lead our national conversations are suspicious at best and contemptuous at worst of ordinary people, who become distrustful in turn as they intuit, not incorrectly, that the folks in charge are not above trying to control their behavior."
The succintness of Kat's writing is unrivaled. An absolute joy to read. What a baller.
Ass-kicking, LA-style therapy, NY-style therapy, Ayhuasca, or maybe an "Intercommunications: The Basics" retreat...I mean what are we talking about here?
Probably don’t deserve the credit for telling them about it, but I wrote my first email to the Fif boyz the other night while I was high off my ass putting off writing a blog for work to tell them about Brie Brie Joy bringing up Moynihan’s horrible racisming. So I’m gonna give MYSELF the credit. ❤️
Happy to help!
We want merch! We want merch! We want merch!
I have an idea for something that would be very much in line with WWII era propaganda posters featuring the boys
I gave all my bootleg merch to other people. I like to think it still gets worn on occasion.
Niche limited edition 5th merch t-shirt.
A Che Guevara t-shirt. The center of t-shirt is a box.Inside the box one half is light blue and the other is orange. Superimposed on the middle of the box is a picture of Che with a cigar, wearing a beret.
The bottom of the box, in large all-caps is one word
REVOLUTION
My idea; take the half of Che’s face on the orange block and replace it with BJG’s. So the face on t-shirt is half Che and half BJG. Added benefit is this new face offend any copyright laws.
On the back of the t-shirt towards the top, in the middle, the small TFC logo.
Megan McArdle's conversation with Russ Roberts about the Oedipus Trap (referenced in Kat's article) was one of the very best Econ Talks (econtalk.org/megan-mcardle-on-the-oedipus-trap/). I heard it just after I'd wrapped up listening to Emily Hanford's excellent reading wars series (also mentioned) for the second time and could not stop thinking about how perfectly it demonstrated the theory.
I had to link to the Emily Hanford series because it is essential content for anyone with a kid in or nearing elementary school: https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/. (I listened with my 9 year old, who overheard part of an episode and then was hooked.) It was pretty amazing because it was a public radio piece but subtly pinned part of the blame for bad reading pedagogy on Democratic party groupthink. Republicans and conservative Christians were pushing for phonics education for decades, and Democrats and teachers unions were against it seemingly just because the "bad people" were for it.
For parents and educators who enjoyed Sold a Story, or are interested in learning about evidence-based teaching methods (and the education industry's resistance to them), might want to check out this Substack by another education reporter: https://hollykorbey.substack.com/. So far she's looked into math and discipline techniques in school. An emerging theme seems to be that high quality research typically supports parents' and teachers' intuition about what works, but these evidence-based techniques are *not* popular in actual schools for some reason. (She doesn't go there, but I partly blame progressive ideology.)
I wasn't aware of the (failed) reading technique until recently. My mom was a reading teacher for a number of years and taught phonics so I wasn't even aware there was an alternative.
Any one who has taught anything to other people successfully knows you have to break things down to the most basic level (phonics) and start there. It's maddening that it took to long for someone, anyone to push back on this type of teaching because there is no way the teachers were getting good results.
Weirdly I remember that was one of Pat Robertson's main platforms when he was running for president.
Emily is a hero and her team did fantastic work. This is the kind of production that makes the case for public radio.
Well said. It was a terrific podcast!
One severe complication in this discussion of "evidence-based teaching methods" is the fact that the evidence, the "science" of it is based on increasing test scores within groups of involuntary subjects born within 10 months of each other. While we all want our kids to learn in the most effective ways, I just don't think that's the most constructive (or healthy) way to design an education (also, there's the saying, which I agree with, that studying how kids learn in school is like studying how killer whales learn at Sea World).
I do think it's apparent that phonics is an effective (if not the most effective) way to teach reading (I used it to teach my own son and scores of students), but the arguments in the "reading wars" are all confined to the very limited, unnatural, and usually authoritarian environment of school, itself, which forces kids to learn the things and at the pace that are most convenient for the school.
I think, very much like the idea of homeschooling, it transcends "right" and "left," "conservative" and "progressive," but it is, ultimately, an argument for school choice because different developing humans best learn different things in different ways at different ages. Some kids respond well to the structure of school and other, equally intelligent, curious kids are made to hate school and learning in general because of school's inherent inflexibility and authoritarian environments.
It's fine and necessary to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of different teaching techniques, but if we do so without the goal of increasing student agency or embracing the wide variety of paths kids can successfully take on their educational journeys, I'm afraid we're going to maintain schools as places of misery and avoidance for far too many smart, curious kids.
The afternoon after I listened to that episode, I called my biodad for the first time in maybe 10 years and then scheduled a trip to visit him. I'm glad I did bcs he has been in steady mental decline since. The concept of "mistakes no one can live with" hit hard.
BJG - whatever stance she has on anything is lost for one simple reason: the bitch doesn't listen. Like, she doesn't even try to listen. You can see it in her facial expressions, which she can't control, apparently - screwed up face, raised eyebrows, waiting to pounce with a confusing retort and some hot button vocab. Does she also go down rabbit holes even Cujo wouldn't dare - and that no one can follow? Yep? Are her points absurd if not derragatory? Sure! Does she connect things that have no connection (the DANES!) - absolutely.
But none of that matters because she doesn't actually listen to a fucking thing anyone is saying. I have no idea how the hell she got where she is with the lack of that particular skill. It's communication 101, for Christ's sake. I don't know much about Robby, but that guy must be frantically looking for other work.
I am sure this can be interpreted racially, but I have never really heard her before now, and after listening, I really couldn't follow what she was saying. She had a very rapid non-linear way if of speaking that just lost me after a few seconds.
Probabaly what happens when you're waiting to speak instead of listening to what the other person says first - her shit is all over the place because she isn't responding thoughtfully, she's reacting irrationally.
It is pretty funny when Rising has a guest on that Bri clearly diasgrees with and you can hear her frantically typing on a laptop while the guest is talking. You would think the producers would find a way to mute that sound because it is incredibly distracting.
Here's a gem with Greg Lukianoff:
https://youtu.be/JNJelrupXUo?si=Cwciu4vR0EYe2Irm
Hallmarks of not listening - I bet really watching her we could find many.
Would LOVE if y’all interviewed Nina Paley (and her co-podcast host Corinna Cohn). Would be an excellent conversation.
The most shocking part of Kat's piece was this quote:
> If that sounds unobjectionable, consider that the founder of one such rankings system, the Global Disinformation Index, has said her algorithm flags not just untruths but “adversarial narratives,” which is to say, stories that are accurate but politically inexpedient. “Something can be factually accurate but still extremely harmful,” she has intoned
It's so on the nose that I almost couldn't believe that someone would say that out loud. So I decided to check it. It is an absolutely accurate quote and perfectly in context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-q1l5QA2Fs&t=967s. (With apologies to Kat; I just have a habit nowadays of checking anything that makes me say "holy crap".)
Matt, how exactly do you expect me to get anything done this weekend with all that good shit to look at?! Well done, and long live snek!
Matt, you may have corrected yourself but I'm afraid we can't let the opportunity pass. 🐍 🥾
But what about the mothers who love the Fifth Column? I mean, not me. But I’m sure there are dozens of them.
Mother fifthers?
Dozens of us!
Thanks for the mention of the two Nina Paley films. I enthusiastically recommend both. When my daughter was an undergrad her Hinduism class watched Sita Sings the Blues.
Nina will draw sketches for $150 but you can only give her, at most, two words for the prompt:
https://blog.ninapaley.com/category/100-drawings/
I had her draw one for my wife's business but I haven't gotten around to updating her website so I won't post that link.
Oops. Just looked further. She's not doing any drawings because she's focused on another project. Still, the collection is fun to look at.
The BrieBrie clip is making my eyes bleed. I think I need a double combo shot of Malört and absinthe, possibly laced with laudanum. Or maybe arsenic.
She is completely deranged. And so incurious. I’ve always disagreed with her on a lot but always respected her because I thought she approached most issues in good-ish faith.
Kinda think I’m just a big fucking idiot for ever believing that.
I think we just gave her the benefit of the doubt. And then she blew the lid off that after Oct 7
I know. It hurts. And I like Soave but he needs to just run over her. He is so tentative and she is a monster.
I think the best caste scenario is she's just dumb. It seems to be some level of intentionally obtuse- but she shows that she obviously didn't understand the point being made.
She's not dumb. She's a skilled lawyer prosecuting her opponents with whatever charges she can make stick. Whether she understands or not is irrelevant; it's a game to sway the audience.
I mostly feel bad for Robby. He's a good journalist trying to do honest work, and he's been cast as the clueless blonde on a left-wing version of Hannity and Colmes.
"The people who create our culture and lead our national conversations are suspicious at best and contemptuous at worst of ordinary people, who become distrustful in turn as they intuit, not incorrectly, that the folks in charge are not above trying to control their behavior."
The succintness of Kat's writing is unrivaled. An absolute joy to read. What a baller.
I gotta say, I think Coleman give Moynihan a run for his money with his Finkelstein impression.
I think I can fix Brie ♥️🫣
And another one bites the dust
Ass-kicking, LA-style therapy, NY-style therapy, Ayhuasca, or maybe an "Intercommunications: The Basics" retreat...I mean what are we talking about here?
Just a wild stab in the dark? I think it is another one of those men and sex things.🤷♂️
So the Inter(comm) course...got it.
Still eager to see MM debate with BJG -- in and when someone gets a link!
I want to see it again because I want to see if I'm right about one of the two bringing up Eli's family...
Great essay on root causes and Chomskyite analysis in the volume of Sapir journal that Coleman's piece appeared in.
Probably don’t deserve the credit for telling them about it, but I wrote my first email to the Fif boyz the other night while I was high off my ass putting off writing a blog for work to tell them about Brie Brie Joy bringing up Moynihan’s horrible racisming. So I’m gonna give MYSELF the credit. ❤️