What "austerity"? econlog.econlib.org

I have an alternative explanation. Progressivism leads to a virtually infinite number of "unmet needs" Patch one hole (say health care) and lots more will pop up, such child care, or free college education. Patch those holes, and still more unmet needs will pop up, such as housing and high speed rail. Combine that with the inefficiency of big government, as well as all the problems identified by public choice models (i.e. special interest groups), and you have a recipe for continual disappointment.

I was Jordan Peterson’s strongest supporter. Now I think he’s dangerous thestar.com

He was a preacher more than a teacher.

Scenes Unseen: The Summer of ’78 nytimes.com

Long-forgotten pictures capture escape and discovery in the city’s parks.

Work habits while traveling marginalrevolution.com

My biggest piece of advice is simply to get something written every day.  No matter what, whether you are traveling or not.  No matter where you are or what you are otherwise doing.  The enemy of academic or writing productivity is “days spent doing nothing,” not “I didn’t get enough written today.”

The distribution of cities, then and now marginalrevolution.com

In today’s developed countries, cities are thus scattered across historically important agricultural areas; as a result, there is a relatively higher degree of spatial equality in the distribution of resources within these countries.  By contrast, in today’s developing countries, cities are concentrated more on the coast where transport conditions, compared to agricultural suitability, are more favorable.

What does living in a dictatorship feel like? kottke.org

It’s a mistake to think a dictatorship feels intrinsically different on a day-to-day basis than a democracy does. I’ve lived in one dictatorship and visited several others—there are still movies and work and school and shopping and memes and holidays.

Bored People Quit randsinrepose.com

“I’m quitting. I’m joining my good friend to found a start-up. This is my two weeks’ notice.”

What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men? theparisreview.org

When you’re having a moral feeling, self-congratulation is never far behind. You are setting your emotion in a bed of ethical language, and you are admiring yourself doing it. We are governed by emotion, emotion around which we arrange language. The transmission of our virtue feels extremely important, and weirdly exciting. […] The psychic theater of the public condemnation of monsters can be seen as a kind of elaborate misdirection: nothing to see here. I’m no monster. Meanwhile, hey, you might want to take a closer look at that guy over there.

Inside One of America’s Last Pencil Factories nytimes.com

Over the past few years, the photographer Christopher Payne visited the factory dozens of times, documenting every phase of the manufacturing process. His photographs capture the many different worlds hidden inside the complex’s plain brick exterior.

21st Century Landscapes medium.com

With the onset of the Information Age, the 21st Century promises to bring another change in the human impact on Earth’s environment. In this image series, Planet explores landscapes unique to this century—high-resolution satellite images of landscapes that have been completely transformed since January 1, 2000.