Pour one out for the middle managers dealing with pandemic loneliness

It’s pointless to debate which group is loneliest. Still, I might argue for some sympathy for Northerners in midlevel jobs who work alone or remotely.

Pouring one out for the academics, the accountants, the middle managers dealing with pandemic loneliness.

↩︎ Bloomberg

Jan 14, 2022

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Welcome to the 2023 Tournament of Books presented by Field Notes. New for 2023: a brand new website! It's time to Rooster!

↩︎ The Tournament of Books 2w

In 17th-century Paris, transfusing the blood of lambs and calves into humans “held the promise of renewed youth.”

↩︎ The Public Domain Review 4h

Out of 20,063 adults surveyed in the United States, nearly a third said they were “somewhat confident” or “very confident” that they could safely land a passenger airplane in an emergency.

Pilots explain why you definitely wouldn’t be able to land an airplane in an emergency.

↩︎ The Washington Post

A long article on being a Premier League referee. “It’s like, ‘what are you doing?”

↩︎ The Guardian 4h

Justin Heckert explains how an old, untorn ticket to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls debut game became a priceless artifact.

↩︎ ESPN 4h

Seoul is building the world's largest (also spokeless) Ferris wheel.

↩︎ Uncrate 2d

The script opened with a huge battle around the Greeks’ beached ships. For that spectacular scene, Susan and I had meticulously assembled ships, five hundred shields, two thousand costumes, and the other requisites. The Greek government had been most cooperative.

A college student in the 1960s, in pursuit of a young woman, attempts to make a movie with Marlon Brando to impress her.

↩︎ Lapham’s Quarterly

A researcher uses GPT-4 to measure the passage of time in fiction. "This is a preliminary report on a very strange world."

↩︎ Ted Underwood 2d

For your midweek wanderlust, some photos and a diary from a bikepacking trip between México City and Oaxaca.

↩︎ The Radavist 2d

When I told people about my semaglutide stash, they were intrigued. “Should I take it and be your guinea pig?” a friend asked. I reminded him that he was already skinny. “I’m Gigi Hadid skinny,” he replied. “I could be Bella Hadid skinny.”

Jia Tolentino: Drugs like Ozempic may help people see appetite as a biological fact, not a moral choice.

↩︎ The New Yorker

An excellent story about the entwined plights of a Phoenix sandwich shop and a homeless encampment.

↩︎ The New York Times 4d

“Pedro Pascal’s coffee order is a cry for help.”

↩︎ Sprudge 1w

“What Time Do You Wake Up? Write It in the Comments and I Will Tell You Why You Are Bad and Lazy Compared with Me, a 3:15 a.m. Waker-er Upper Who Owns Not One but Two Vitamix Blenders”

A round-up of satirical headlines for stories about supposedly life-improving morning routines.

↩︎ The New Yorker

A brief letter to publications that want your email address to read free content. “Not reading is easier than reading."

↩︎ The Verge 1w

After 29 years of neoliberal failure, xenophobia appears a satisfying answer for a national bourgeoisie that has thus far avoided redistributing sufficient wealth to the majority of South Africans.

Thomas Lesaffre: Across post-colonial Africa, foreigners are an easy scapegoat for an elite that’s failed to redistribute wealth.

↩︎ Africa Is a Country

In the Bay Area, eight households hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of residents (nearly half a million households).

↩︎ SF Gate 2w

The professor who called Bret Stephens a bedbug bets Twitter only has six months left.

↩︎ The Future, Now and Then 2w

A compelling argument to stare down SUVs (and be extra cautious at any crosswalks).

Of course, L.A. isn’t concentrated like Manhattan, or pedestrian-friendly like Tokyo. It’s not aesthetically breathtaking like Rome. Crosswalks are infrequent, and drivers often ignore them; the city only recently stopped ticketing residents for jaywalking.

TMN’s Rosecrans Baldwin claims Los Angeles as a great walking city, even if most of it “is awful to experience on foot.”

↩︎ The New York Times Magazine

The most polluted places to live in the United States: Bakersfield, South Los Angeles, and Chicago’s south and west sides.

↩︎ The Guardian 2w

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