I think everyone will find something to dislike in my take on Dylan Mulvaney, which is that there is obviously a desperate cultural thirst for someone, anyone, to just wholeheartedly enjoy being a girl in a way that is politically acceptable — and this is probably a good thing!
I do find it reductive and a little bit embarrassing, but man, the culture we have has got to start somewhere. The idea that there is *anything* good about femininity has been MIA for what, a decade? Longer?
Jan 19, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
My mom's home in Oregon is being seized by "friends" who she allowed in a few months ago, who now refuse to leave & have literally stolen keys to her outbuildings. It's impossible to navigate her rights & obligations because local housing lawyers are booked up w similar conflicts
They moved two additional people in; mom can't afford to go anywhere else, so she has four people who live rent free in her house and glower at her as they go to and fro, leaving their dishes for her to clean and taking hour-long showers
Dec 27, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
There is a whole alternate canon, more vibe than fact, emerging here
"My lived experience is that twitter was actually always pretty right wing"
Nov 15, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Stellar jays have caught on that I'm feeding the squirrels from my window
(I guess these are actually "Steller's jays." I just always heard it pronounced "stellar jay.")
Nov 15, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Why is the NYT licking SBF's nether regions
"Political connections" would probably have been a better broader category, to encompass all kinds of hobnobbing and back-scratching aside from just $
"Just whoring" should probably have been left more generic, to include rapport-building for future scoops
Nov 13, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
The downstream effects of this have the potential to destroy entire communities from the inside out
There will be support groups filled with parents whose children were put down like dogs by the same people to whom they pay their taxes
If you think this is an exaggeration, you may not fully grok the scope of this program as it *already* exists after just 5 years commonsense.news/p/scheduled-to…
Aug 21, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
@wesyang IMO most people who think they innately value intelligence in a partner are probably actually using that as a proxy for something else
It's actually a very good proxy for a lot of things — stuff like career/status potential, sure, but also "makes me feel deeply understood"
@wesyang I think a lot of people — maybe men in particular but maybe not — want someone smart enough to agree w/ them about most things & elevate their own arguments in a way that gives them greater clarity on their own ideas, more opportunities to expound on their favorite hobby horses
Aug 10, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Political violence is nearly always bad. It's also nearly always understandable. For a lot of people, the extent to which an act of violence is one of these two things is a reflection of the extent to which it is NOT the other, and that's why we consistently talk past each other
If you viscerally grok that someone can be so different from you that their instincts about which social/political circumstances justify violence are fully incompatible w/ yours, you can either try to eliminate all people like this or find rules that protect you from each other
Jul 4, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I think this is a pretty weak argument, not least because it basically implies that abortion is less about what women want than about making sure neither men nor the broader society have to deal with abandoned women and their children
I feel like one possible solution is to raise sons with half-decent judgment and values
Apr 21, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
It seems like by the time I got preggo most online baby communities had decided to end the eternal heated breastfeeding vs. formula debate with a truce, which is fine, but the form this takes in practice is basically mindless chanting of the completely inane phrase "fed is best"
1. Breastfeeding is much healthier 2. Yes, but sometimes it's really hard/impossible 3. ????? 4. Don't starve babies, the end
Apr 21, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
It's not about the house, it's about the priorities represented by the house. e.g. space for kids, safe neighborhood > walkability, cool neighborhood
Twitter’s moderation game is unreal. If there’s no remotely plausible TOS violation, simply append a “misleading” label (no elaboration necessary) and disable all engagement aside from quote-retweets
I enjoy getting into the weeds re: how misleading this actually is, but frankly I also think it’s fucking important that people are allowed to say things on social media that social media staffers consider misleading
Dec 9, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I’m struggling to understand how the entire medical & media infrastructure can be so invested in a novel drug with the potentially catastrophic risk profile of molnupiravir when there’s a standard FDA-approved SSRI that performed just as well in a widely lauded large-scale RCT
Molnupiravir caused such significant harm to fetuses in animal models that Merck has suggested ensuring contraceptive use during *and* after treatment, actively generates mutations that could theoretically lead to new variants & has a mechanism of action that may cause cancer
Dec 9, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
The media has gone absolutely schizophrenic on omicron, just totally unable to draw a coherent narrative or practice any patience where it’s owed — and even the most forgiving portion of its audience seems to be tired of getting pulled through the panic/blame shredder
A key phrase I’m seeing a lot is “giving ammo to the anti-vaxxers,” which IMO can reasonably be parsed as a frustrated expression of that which cannot be stated plainly: the people committed to following institutional advice are tired of being kept in a coercive state of panic
Dec 4, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Somewhat optimistic takes on Omicron out of South Africa bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Omicron is spreading fast, but no confirmed deaths globally so far. Depending on how long it’s been spreading, that could be a *really* good sign google.com/amp/s/www.alja…
Nov 22, 2021 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
They don’t tell you this, but (non-abusive) fighting and rough patches in the context of a committed relationship where neither person is afraid that the other person is going to reject them or leave are SO much better than the serial monogamy dating roller coaster
Looking back I don’t know how anyone gets anything done when they’re spending their 20s and 30s with zero relationship security. Some people are probably wired to tolerate this better than others, but geez, it just consumes so much human compute
Nov 3, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I usually argue a bit with Aella on this stuff, but honestly in a culture with low expected commitment norms she’s right that monogamous defaults basically just lead to serial breakups to trade up or enjoy the perks of novelty
Hesitantly accepting a polyamorous lifestyle so your partner doesn’t “have to” leave you when he or she wants to cheat doesn’t seem like such a big win to me though
Oct 18, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
To be clear, I think #3 is substantially worse for most people than #1, and #2 is generally benign only because it is almost impossible to maintain by force of will alone
Otherwise bright people believing that their goals/desires are more malleable and subject to rational reconsideration than they actually are probably generates more personal angst and interpersonal drama in these groups than any other single factor
Oct 18, 2021 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
One of the weirdest ideas in Bay Area rationalist/adjacent circles is that you become someone like e.g. Elon Musk, hyper-productive and motivated, by introspecting a ton
Introspecting to the extent that you're actually treating it like a dedicated hobby or job might do something for you, but I see no reason to believe that it will make you substantially more productive or motivated to do things other than introspect even more
Sep 14, 2021 • 17 tweets • 5 min read
Yesterday's @Rspodcast with @juliagalef & @KelseyTuoc on COVID-19 covered ivermectin, and included a pretty shocking final twist. Thread:
@Rspodcast@juliagalef@KelseyTuoc I trust @KelseyTuoc. I consider her a friend. She was one of the first journalists to suggest the concern about the pandemic was reasonable, and early on she wrote a thread admonishing herself for expressing more concern amongst friends than she was willing to publish publicly.
Sep 8, 2021 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
You shouldn't have political opinions about medication, if "they did it first" is your defense you need to go ahead and try that out loud in the presence of an actual adult
Resist the politicization of everything by getting a fucking life
Omicron is spreading fast, but no confirmed deaths globally so far. Depending on how long it’s been spreading, that could be a *really* good sign google.com/amp/s/www.alja… 
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