PicoBlog

Some months ago now, the American libertarian commentator Dave Rubin did what libertarians have been doing for decades: publicly demonstrated he hadn’t thought about something very much until everyone pointed and laughed at him.  The thing he hadn’t thought about on this occasion was Occam’s Razor, the philosophical axiom generally, if mildly inaccurately, phrased as “the simplest explanation is usually correct”. The place he chose to demonstrate this was the ultra conservative American news channel Newsmax, where he paraphrased it, completely inaccurately, as “if something can go wrong it will”.

UPDATE AND ADDENDUM: Given the indictment of Young Thug this week, I’d like to revisit this post. I’m leaving it up because the background information about the case that led to the indictment is correct and accurate. But the overriding inference of this piece - the suggestion that LaKevia Jack… ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbjAp6uap5KfsqTAyK%2BcZ6ull8C1rcKkZZynnWS9cL%2FOppxmq5ikvLW1zaCqZpmimru1edGapZ2nnQ%3D%3D

THERE is normally a feeling of unease when visiting places associated with evil. For me at least, that unease is not so much rooted in walking the same ground as where horrific acts were either executed or planned, but more in the problematic relationship the visitor has with such sites. How reverential should your demeanour be? Is it acceptable, for example, to wear shorts when visiting Auschwitz? How comfortable are you with the presence of a gift shop?

The world needs better sex! I’m Ruth Ramsay, adult sex educator and coach, and it’s my life’s purpose to help make that happen. This newsletter is one small but powerful step towards that. We are living at a time where sex education in our upbringing was woefully inadequate - meaning as adults we all too often are stumbling around at the mercy of the ‘education’ we see in mainstream media.

As you probably know if you follow me on social media, nothing makes me happier than the discovery of some old and/or obscure television series popping up on a streaming service, so the sight of the two Legends of the Superheroes specials landing on Tubi yesterday was thrilling…and also kind of horrifying. I mean, seriously, both adjectives 100% apply, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I don’t think anyone who’s seen these specials would disagree with that assessment…and if they do, then I’ve got four words to remind them that they’re wrong: “Charlie Callas as Sinestro.

The good news: you can still buy these dolls on Amazon. They still have their “I Love You” candy hearts stitched across their chests. The Johnny Gruelle books too. At least four of them, but you’ll find over twenty on Goodreads. These delighted me, especially the “Cookieland” one where the dolls eat all the sweets my mother wouldn’t allow. They’re always foraging for food, those dolls—in an early episode, they spoon up jam from the jar and Raggedy Ann gets it all over her mouth.

On August 18, 2020, Taylor Swift released “the lakes” as an exclusive track on the deluxe edition of folklore. At its core, this song is about escaping the circumstances of your current reality and slipping away to a place in your mind where you can find peace. “the lakes” as both a song and a concept doesn’t necessarily represent a physical place – though the song is inspired by the Lake District and the Lake Poets of the Romantic movement.

Hi Pal, Welcome to this edition of List of Ten, a newsletter where I mention ten things from any theme of my choice. The only common denominator is that it is something related to Christian music. Taking the reins for today’s edition of List of Ten is Josephine ‘Dera. She is the writer of Bud & Blossom, a Newsletter that reflects on the Christian experience through accessible bible study and teachings.

I can — and do — go years without listening to Sonic Youth. But when I was in high school at the end of the ’80s, they were one of a group of bands, also including Pussy Galore, the Butthole Surfers, and Einstürzende Neubauten, that blew my head open. And recently I’ve found myself returning to their work: revisiting their early ’90s album Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star, reading (well, skimming) Thurston Moore’s and Kim Gordon’s memoirs, and hearing for the first time the amazing 1986 “bootleg” live album Walls Have Ears, which the band reissued in January.