Culture

A water drop and ripples

Questions get complex when you upend social (and biological) fundamentals.

By Justin Katz | May 8, 2024 |

This video of a police interaction with a young couple entered my awareness at a moment of reduced willpower, so I watched it.  Although it escalates from a towed car to an arrest and flirts with even more-dangerous outcome, the entire twenty minutes is primarily a display of young adults, feeling their economic oats, whose…

Comparison of the two covers of Mountain Music by Alabama

Rewriting history, especially to erase the stages of progress, is a dangerous practice.

By Justin Katz | April 18, 2024 |

The featured image of this post compares the original cover of Mountain Music by the band Alabama with the censored version now used for music streaming services.  I should specify that I’m not alleging the band and the companies that manage its music were forced to make the change by a government agency, but censorship it…

A yacht sails toward an almost entirely submerged city.

The Maher life can’t be representative of human needs.

By Justin Katz | April 10, 2024 |

Arguably, Eric Abbenante— overstates the degree of “debate” in this clip featuring Dr. Phil and Bill Maher, but the difference in point of view he highlights is the crucial one.  Here’s Abbenante: Bill Maher and Dr Phil debate the importance of family and religion: “You think family and faith are a big fix to the…

A healthcare panel gives thumbs down.

Politics This Week: Under Their Thumb

By Justin Katz | April 1, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz warn of growing government control and corruption.

A water drop and ripples

Vitalogy is a reminder of our need for adventure (at least for me).

By Justin Katz | March 6, 2024 |

Yesterday, I listened to Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy album all the way though for maybe the first time because it’s the 574th best-selling album, and I’m tracing that list from the top. The band’s prior recording, Vs., had been such a disappointment that I didn’t bother with its follow-up. Vs. came out while I was a…

People stare at their cell phones while disasters happen around them

What is it about social media lately? (A hope for controlling the crisis.)

By Justin Katz | February 29, 2024 |

Almost in passing during a recent podcast featuring Greg McKeown, Tim Ferriss stepped into an idea I’ve been contemplating lately: [A]s my job, I interview some of the top performers in the world, hundreds of them, and the change that I have seen for those people in that subset who are already, I think most…

A water drop and ripples

A few words on the viral video of girls dancing at a concert (or something).

By Justin Katz | February 29, 2024 |

I haven’t seen anybody outraged by this video. I have seen a lot of people displaying their moral superiority to the people who are supposedly outraged by it, though. For that reason, it seems like a good example of the way in which social media can social engineer movements by creating opportunities for communal opposition…

A water drop and ripples

Yes, pet euthanasia often comes down to convenience.

By Justin Katz | February 26, 2024 |

I mean, I know from experience it can still be sad and traumatic, but at the end of the day, few people exhaust the medical possibilities before concluding the cost is too high.  That’s why this tweet is an example of the way in which political arguments can brush aside the most significant distinctions: Kelsey…

A water drop and ripples

The cause of the young-adult suicide drop is less important than the cause of its resumption.

By Justin Katz | February 24, 2024 |

Armand Domalewski asks an important question, when he observes a quick decrease in teen and young adult suicide after 1994, which held until about 2008 and in 2017 exceeded its previous high: The more important question, though, is what has been happening since 2007/2008. Having graduated high school in 1993, I’d speculate that the drop…

Reporter shocked at 19th Century public meeting

A Central Landfill meeting gives a sense of what’s being lost from media.

By Justin Katz | January 11, 2024 |

Considering how frequently I criticize professional journalists, I may too infrequently convey how powerful I think their role can (and should) be.  A recent Johnson Sunrise article by Rory Schuler, about the resignation/retirement of Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC) Executive Directo Joseph Reposa, is an excellent example of what we’re losing.  Without making a gooey…