Novelist. Critic. Books about crooks.
Joined May 2009
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Jun 13
Jun 12
I don't have any moral objection to trillionaires, but does it have to be a whack job obsessed with white identity politics and conspiracy theories
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Jun 13
Notes from Europa: Americans love to be smug about dryers but have never experienced the civilizing power of ironing clothes at 220v.
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Jun 13
It could equally be the case that improved life and career outcomes are the result of aspects of G&T programs themselves—smaller cohorts, exceptional early enrichment and cocurricular opportunities, etc.—rather than anything innate about those selected to participate.
Jun 12
This is embarassing for @NYMag -- these "gifted" children were about 30X more likely to acheive eminence than their peers. By any standard that is not a "mirage", but the embodiment of whatever metric identified them as gifted.
It's one thing if their writers don't understand baserates and probabilities, but this should have never gotten through editorial review.
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Jun 13
I think G&T programs are fine. But in the annals of correlation and causation, we should be careful not to ascribe to Genetic Big Brains what might in fact just be The Private School Experience.
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Jun 12
The Czechs have figured out what to do with The Odyssey popcorn bucket.
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Jun 11
Every five years or so, a man must tell himself, "Surely I misremember how bad the Philadelphia airport is," and book a seemingly convenient international connection, and every five years or so, he must learn again that it is the single worst place in America.
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Pleased to say that I've been named a finalist for the 2026 Kukula Award Book Review Prize: washingtonmonthly.com/2026/0…
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Thanks to @lmlauramarsh and @newrepublic for giving me a place to review books!
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On the contrary, to have a spurious quotation as your most famous statement is one of the commonest signs of historical greatness.
Jun 9
I'm not a fan of Anthony Bourdain but there's something tragic about the fact that easily his most famous quote is something he appears to have never actually said.
x.com/i/status/2064046342171…
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Jun 8
Some in the tech industry believe that AI will soon render sex obsolete
imo, sex has staying power. Yet people are *already* substituting digital technology for real-world intimacy in myriad ways. AI-infused sex tech could accelerate that trend
vox.com/politics/491167/ai-s…
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Which moment made you stop rooting for Tony Soprano?
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None of the defenders of Western Civilization has ever encountered it.
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