Virginia Postrel @vpostrel Twitter profile

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@clementoSuarez

Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@NyereNevarez @nypost The SAT is the only way people from crap schools with limited curricula and counseling have to prove they’re as promising as the educationally privileged. Anyone can read old books and build vocab. Not everyone can take a zillion AP classes. Changed my life.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

5 months

I went to one of those lousy, obscure public high schools nobody's heard of & got very high SAT scores. That's why I wound up @Princeton , which fed my intellectual hunger & changed my life. It was long ago but kids like me haven't disappeared & not all are 1st generation.

Emma Camp

@emmma_camp_

5 months

Love this @nytimes article. Poor students are better off when elite unis require the SAT because (unlike grades and essays), it closely predicts student achievement. It’s mediocre rich kids, not smart disadvantaged ones who stand to gain from the recent anti-SAT trend.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

By far the most fun thread I've read in a long time.

Latif Nasser

@latifnasser

4 months

Last January, I noticed something peculiar in my 2yo’s bedroom that - after a year of obsessive reporting - led me to a profound cosmic revelation about what’s even possible in our universe. A 🧵.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@jmhorp @Noahpinion I’m having flashbacks to the 1970s, when the jargon was “demand pull” and “cost push” and nary a word about monetary policy.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

8 months

Monday marks the 250th anniversary of birth of the most important scientist you've never heard of. I explain here:

Essay | The Pioneering Scientist Who Explained Contagious Disease

After decades of experiments in the early 19th century, Agostino Bassi showed that silkworms were being killed by a microorganism, setting the stage for modern germ theory.

www.wsj.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

Rufo's anti @TheFIREorg campaign is fascinating & illuminating. He sees the defense of free speech and free inquiry as the enemy. That's been obvious for a while but now he's explicit. And the "donor dollars" swipe sounds like projection.

Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️

@realchrisrufo

7 months

Donors should ask themselves: Does FIRE have a real plan to reverse ideological capture and restore balance to the universities? Or is it another organization that's satisfied with losing these cultural fights, as long as it keeps the donor dollars flowing? (Hint: the latter.)

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

This article by @page88 is a must-read. Beautiful and informative. Chipmaking as a sublime activity. via @wired

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Fantastic keynote from ⁦ @KillerMike ⁩ at last night’s ⁦ @TheFIREorg ⁩ gala. Funny, thought-provoking, principled, and moving. What a great #freespeech advocate.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@worthy_daw @nypost Faculty don’t make these decisions. They may not even be consulted. College faculty generally aced these tests. You’re confusing them with public school teachers.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

It's increasingly clear that they don't really care about getting chips made in the U.S. If they did, they wouldn't lard so many conditions on. Here's hoping Taiwan stays safe. We depend on it.

Scott Lincicome

@scottlincicome

1 year

"Companies that give up stock buybacks for 5 years will get preferential treatment in $52B CHIPS program, Commerce Secretary Raimondo says" "The program also gives preference to companies that use unionized workers or have labor agreements in place"

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

This whole thread is a Thing That Is True. Biden's problem is that too many Americans know people his age.

Megan McArdle

@asymmetricinfo

4 months

Bunch of people assuming that the reason I am harping on the Biden age issue is that I want him to lose to Donald Trump. This is wrong; I'm voting for Biden, or whoever the non-Trump candidate is. So why am I talking about it? Three reasons.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

5 months

I was once embroiled in an academic plagiarism scandal--as one of the victims--that is a reminder that people generally steal from folks they agree with, not their political adversaries, and only get caught when someone gets mad.

UF professor Twitchell admits he plagiarized in several of his books

The admissions have prompted an ethics inquiry

www.gainesville.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@jeffgiesea @pmarca Someone should write a book about that: 25 years old in November and more timely than ever. Just change some names.

The FUTURE AND ITS ENEMIES: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress

www.amazon.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@CathyYoung63 Strip away the woke rhetoric and you wind up with the basic insight that people who come from different socioeconomic backgrounds may clash even if they love each other, because they confront the world with different expectations.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@patio11 As a condo owner, and president of a 14-unit association, I can say that if you own either built in 1975 you're going to experience a lot of maintenance issues. Nadir of U.S. construction.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

I reviewed the @elonmusk bio

Elon Musk and the Value of Failure

For its first two-thirds, Walter Isaacson’s mammoth biography of Elon Musk is an epic romance, like The Lord of the Rings (a Musk favorite) or the Arthurian legends. It portrays the hero and his...

freebeacon.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

5 months

As someone who values universities highly, I find this analysis by @jbarro both accurate and depressing.

Universities Are Not on the Level

Academics should think more about what their industry has done to lose the trust of Americans

www.joshbarro.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

The comments reinforce that conviction. But if you want to live in a world where ideas are debated on their own merits and in a good-faith manner, you have to behave that way yourself, despite the powerful cultural and economic incentives not to.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

9 months

A majority of Americans (57%) say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity in the country, up from 43% who said this in 2020.

Growing share of Americans favor more nuclear power

A majority of Americans (57%) say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity in the country, up from 43% who said this in 2020.

www.pewresearch.org

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

11 months

If you can get past the paywall, this @scottlincicome column is worth a read: ‘The Bear’ Is a Tribute to Dynamism—and What Blocks It

‘The Bear’ Is a Tribute to Dynamism—and What Blocks It

The regulatory nightmare of opening a restaurant.

thedispatch.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

In that cause, I would strongly encourage anyone who is in the #synbio business, esp. in consumer-facing products like cultivated meat, to seriously engage with the fear of coercion. Environmentalists don't have a good track record of respecting the choices of ordinary people

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

8 months

And the first words are about dye!

Dr Anton Howes

@antonhowes

8 months

This is HUGE! For the first time since the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79, the words on un-openable carbonised papyrus scrolls can now be read. Looks like someone will soon win the $700,000 prize for reading four passages by the end of the year!

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

10 months

Great thread

Cora Harrington

@lingerie_addict

11 months

Having a thread about a stone age girl going viral and having a thread about the fashion industry going viral makes me want to do a thread connecting both of these subjects to talk about one of my favorite prehistoric articles of clothing: the Lendbreen Tunic.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

2 months

I'm speaking at the DeYoung museum in SF on Saturday morning

The Fabric of Civilization

9/23 Saturday Lecture with Virginia Postrel Greek warp-weighted loom as depicted on a lekythos, or oil flask, c. 550–530 BCE. Credit: Metropolitan Museum of ArtSaturday, 9/23/23 10-11:15am PTPresen...

www.textileartscouncil.org

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@Noahpinion on the "stasis subsidy."

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

8 months

It's Time to Have That Serious Discussion about Elderly Elected Officials

It’s Time to Have That Serious Discussion about Elderly Elected Officials | National Review

The elderly can and do pass away while in office, and they won’t always know when it’s time to retire or acknowledge that old age has taken its toll.

www.nationalreview.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

3 months

This is appalling. I in addition to expulsion and jail time she should have to pay the restoration costs.

Emma Webb

@Emma_A_Webb

3 months

I hope @TrinCollCam & @Cambridge_Uni will not only immediately expel this student but aid her prosecution. I hope my fellow alumni like @LanceForman will join me in contacting the College to insist on the harshest repercussions.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

5 months

Amen, Megan. You can hold two ideas in your head at once: 1) Gay was unqualified and it's good she resigned. 2) She doesn't deserve to be inundated with hate. Let her learn from the experience and get on with her life.

Megan McArdle

@asymmetricinfo

5 months

Look, whether or not you think Gay should have been forced out, I promise you that over the last month she's gotten a lot of racist garbage, as well as the general unpleasantness of having her life torn apart for the entertainment of the internet. Take the win, show some mercy.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@s8mb An unfortunate side effect of COVID, when touchless payment spread and customers were especially sympathetic to servers.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@PaulFra89008014 @Ryan_Reilly78 @TheFIREorg @KillerMike @kmele He has a particular obsession with FIRE. @KillerMike spoke as a man of the left, as well as a principled civil libertarian. Along the way, he educated a new audience on the frightening pervasiveness of the use of rap lyrics as "evidence" in criminal cases.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

3 months

I just watched the celebration online. The project is incredibly inspiring and I'm embarrassed as an American that you didn't get a visa. Thank you for your work!

YoussefNader

@Youssef_M_Nader

3 months

I am about to miss the celebration for winning the Vesuvius Grandprize! This is the second time I am missing a Prize Ceremony for winning a Vesuvius Challenge in the USA and I started the visa application process as so as the prize was announced. This is incredibly frustrating

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Why AI Won't Cause Unemployment: A gloomy analysis by @pmarca I suspect "food and beverages" belongs in the blue group and is distorted by shift to meals away from home.

Why AI Won't Cause Unemployment

"In retrospect, I wish I had known more about the hazards and difficulties of [running] a business." -- George McGovern

pmarca.substack.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

11 months

Truth: Awards for young talent are antinatalist As woman whose success depended on working all the time in my 30s and not having kids, I'm tired of ostensibly pro-natalist men who don't get biology. Now could someone offer fellowships for old ladies?

Awards for young talent are antinatalist

Another announcement just went out in my field to apply for an award for research support. This one is for early-career people. There are parameters about who can apply. I know one of the men on th…

economistwritingeveryday.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

So Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit quoted my post on the reaction to my cultivated meat story. Once solidly dynamist, Glenn is now 80% culture warrior. So his reaction is:

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

I fell for what appears to be an incredibly elaborate scam, though for what purpose I can't tell. At any rate, I'm locked out of my @facebook public page and the help screens are no help. Any advice?

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

I like @roybahat but this makes me want to scream. “A loom is designed to replace a person. The same way the Luddites fought against the introduction of the spinning loom.” So...many...problems

Art Has Long Shaped Technology. With AI, the Roles Reverse

The Bloomberg Tech Summit in London dealt with big questions around AI. But first...

www.bloomberg.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

Constitutional amendment needed to exclude anyone over 75 from being inaugurated as president. Preferably passed tomorrow.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Quite a story: An obituary for the man who saved North Carolina from nuclear disaster, by @deftlyinane

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Twitter is finally living down to the predictions. If journalists can’t publicize their work or link to others’ it’s not very useful.

Elon Musk Wants You to Hear About Substack Notes

He's boosting the Substack competitor to Twitter that he wants to kill. Plus: Killer AI sounds fake to me.

www.joshbarro.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

Apparently Trump thinks he even won California. Is it age* or a lifelong delusion? *Who's with me on a constitutional amendment barring anyone over 75 from running for president?

David Cay Johnston

@DavidCayJ

7 months

Donald's lies are becoming ever more outrageous, yet this 13-seconds of craziness apparently didn't make the national news anywhere:

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

"In 1956 at the opening of the Calder Hall plutonium production facility in the UK, a young Queen Elizabeth was invited to handle a lump of plutonium and feel the warmth of the extraordinary material." Obviously she died immediately.

The most dangerous substance known to man - Works in Progress

We have learned to fear plutonium – one of the world’s most useful materials. But as long as you don’t eat it, you’re probably safe.

worksinprogress.co

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

"the people who stand to gain the most from getting rid of the SAT are not poor Black kids but affluent white kids whose parents have the sway in the local school district they need to lean on teachers and get the grades they want for their children."

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

8 months

But will it get beyond the lab and into commercial production?

Ray Armat, Ph.D.

@RayArmat

8 months

GMO Silkworms & Spiders for Bulletproof Body Armor! Chinese/US armies have reportedly inserted specific #spider silk DNA into silkworm eggs, creating MUTANT silkworms that can spin spider silks stronger (tensile of 3 GPa) & more elastic than polyaramid fibers (Kevlar) #GMO

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

6 months

@asymmetricinfo Neither approach will work, however.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

8 months

More evidence that @conor64 is a national treasure (also that X should bring back headlines):

Students for Pogroms in Israel

By excusing murder and kidnapping, activist groups have already changed campus politics in America.

www.theatlantic.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

I'm getting lots of advice on people who can supposedly help me with my @facebook lockout, but the pattern suggests bots. Anyone I know with advice?

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

who want their toilets to flush and dishwashers to rinse and don't want a compost pile on their kitchen counter. DJT didn't invent these grievances. I experience them regularly in my own home. (Not looking forward to the composting. Not everyone in CA has a backyard, people.)

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Anyone paying attention knows this, so why are college officials pretending otherwise? I Cannot Stress Enough That Grade Point Average is Racially Stratified Too, by @freddiesubstack

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@Ryan_Reilly78 @TheFIREorg @KillerMike He supported Bernie Sanders in his speech. Noam Chomsky as well. You need to educate yourself on what FIRE actually does and believes rather than spreading b.s.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Terrific post: Zoning reform lessons from the closing of 16th-century English monasteries, by @mattyglesias

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

‘Plastic asphalt’ – looks, feels, and sounds nearly identical to traditional asphalt. But it’s tougher than traditional asphalt while also repurposing plastic waste.

Plastic roads - Works in Progress

Plastic is eating the roads. It might be a cleaner, quieter, ready-made alternative to asphalt for the next generation of paving.

worksinprogress.co

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

Nice writeup here, with a cool lead example I was unaware of.

The Charter Cities Institute

@CCIdotCity

4 months

In 'The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World', @vpostrel argues that textiles have played a central role in the history of technology, commerce, and civilization...

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

9 months

Half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents now say they favor expanding nuclear power, an increase from 37% in 2020.

Growing share of Americans favor more nuclear power

A majority of Americans (57%) say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity in the country, up from 43% who said this in 2020.

www.pewresearch.org

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

TIL that in 1299 Florence banned Arabic numerals, claiming they were too easy to falsify.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

I’m nostalgic for sonic booms. They were cool.

Eli Dourado

@elidourado

1 year

Today is the 50th anniversary of one of the most destructive acts of industrial vandalism in history: the ban on supersonic flight over the US. It's why we're not flying NY-LA in 90 minutes. Congress can end the ban this year. Make America boom again.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

We're all ignorant of most of the world's knowledge. Not most as in 51% but 99.99999%+.

David Wolpe

@RabbiWolpe

1 year

People cry out for genuine facts and deep knowledge, and I am not disputing that, but I also think we need more self-conscious ignorance. I must face others and the world knowing I do not know, open to receiving, without the assertive certainty so celebrated these days.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@Culture_Crit @imalexbeamyrnot We didn’t just allow it. We required it in many cases.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

“President Bush received a jarring political message in the New Hampshire primary today, scoring a less-than-impressive victory over Patrick J. Buchanan…With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. Bush had 58 percent of the vote and Mr. Buchanan 40 percent.” @nytimes 2/19/92

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

"But there are other kinds of kids, the brilliant but disengaged, the talented but unfocused, the gifted whose difficult lives keep them from doing well in school. Those kids are the ones the SAT rewards. So why not use both?"

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

5 months

Faculty at the UCs wanted SATs mandatory: Faculty generally want smart, eager-to-learn students, regardless of personality, background, or athletic prowess. Admissions offices have different priorities.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

So @nickgillespie 's classic look is now on trend. (But here's the evidence I wore it first. Author photo for The Future and Its Enemies, 1998).

Vanessa Friedman

@VVFriedman

1 year

After Steve Jobs and his black turtlenecks, and Mark Zuckerberg and his gray T-shirts, comes ... Jensen Huang and his leather jackets! Or, what the next generation of A.I. will be wearing.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

9 months

Watching debate on delay. Wow, @VivekGRamaswamy is obnoxious and juvenile. @NikkiHaley impressive. Tim Scott disappointing.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

It's making me feel old that 25 years after The Future and Its Enemies, people are discovering that dynamism versus stasis is a real thing.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

8 months

In honor of Claudia Goldin's well-deserved Nobel prize in economics, here's a 2021 interview I did with her: "The problem is mainly — but not entirely — that children take time and careers take time and they vie for the same time."

Virginia Postrel

Official website of Virginia Postrel, writer, author, curator...

www.vpostrel.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

1) Pretty much the thesis of The Substance of Style (2003) 2) Amazon has started making user experience increasingly bad instead of increasingly good. Ad customers trump retail customers.

The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consci...

The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness

www.amazon.com

Karri Saarinen

@karrisaarinen

7 months

Why design matters more as we create more in any particular area: What is an amazing user experience today, is table stakes tomorrow. Only way to keep being a great product, is to keep pushing the experience forwards.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@chriswithans @NyereNevarez @AbbieM16 @nypost If you don’t have math beyond algebra one you may be brilliant but you aren’t prepared for college. It’s horribly unfair but getting rid of the measurement isn’t a cure.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Astute and depressing analysis of "authentic, post-spin" journalism and the business conditions that support it by @JonAskonas . As an opinion-oriented journalist, I do think ethics matter, but you pay an economic cost. h/t @ZacharyGraves

How Jon Stewart Made Tucker Carlson

A world of authentic, post-spin journalism: The dream Jon Stewart spent a decade making real is now America’s waking nightmare. What did he get so wrong?

www.thenewatlantis.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Am I the only one wondering why the Dems can't find a speaker candidate acceptable to their caucus & enough Republicans to take the office? Would be both conciliatory & a power move.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

My latest Substack newsletter: The Most Misnamed Generation, with a shoutout to @stewartbrand

The Most Misnamed Generation

Far from "Silent," those who were children during World War II changed the world. Plus Biden's aviator shades.

vpostrel.substack.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

11 months

My latest: Why do people love pocket gadgets? Adam Smith had a theory. #gadgets #tech #ingenuity via @reason

Gadgets and gizmos that inspired Adam Smith

Smith appreciated the beauty and allure of intricate systems.

reason.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

I was delighted to finally have a chance to work with Hiawatha Bray aka @GlobeTechLab , commissioning him to write this @WorksInProgMag feature on the future of #silk and the Silk Lab at @TuftsUniversity

The future of silk - Works in Progress

Silk is stronger than steel or kevlar. We are already using it to transport vaccines without cold chains and make automatically dissolving stitches. What else could it be used for?

worksinprogress.co

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Looking for interesting stories and questions about progress in #materials —and the writers who want to take them on. Ideas?

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

7) The Luddites were short-sighted and selfish. Don't be like them. Increasing productivity is good.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Kamala Harris needs to withdraw from the 2024 race for the good of the country. She could jump into the CA Senate race.

Opinion | Why Kamala Harris Matters So Much in 2024 (Published 2023)

America can’t afford for voters worried about Biden’s age to be turned off by his running mate.

www.nytimes.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

@mattyglesias And yet here she is, living on someone else’s ancestral land and reaping the benefits of the Great Enrichment,

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

If RFK Jr. is the techno-optimist candidate, as @Axios claims, I don't understand techno-optimists.

How the techno-optimist movement could impact U.S. elections

The movement's ideology is rooted in unfettered free speech and deep skepticism of DEI.

www.axios.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Get out of your cultural bubbles, where everyone shares your assumptions about food and science and global warming and try to generate excitement about the future in places like Knoxville. Subscribe to my substack, where you can read the original post:

Synthetic Meat: The Reaction

I've been in a chicken-packing plant and, believe me, the prospect of growing meat from cells is progress, not "woke propaganda."

vpostrel.substack.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

Interesting thread. One advantage of Europeans going to the West Coast is the reminder of how BIG the U.S. is and (if you look out the window), how different its geographical features are in different regions. I'd also plug Atlanta.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

People who give others kidneys or liver sections have to travel, take time off work, pay for childcare, etc. It costs more than flesh and blood. "Donors should not be debtors," says one. NY is doing something about that. @slsatel explains

We Have to Make Organ Donors Whole | Washington Monthly

I’m alive because of kidney donations, but there wouldn’t be an organ shortage if we made it easier for those willing to literally give a piece of themselves. New York is taking a good first step.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

@asymmetricinfo When people say "cease fire," they mean, whether they admit it to themselves or not, Israeli withdrawal and Hamas pursuing business as usual.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@antonhowes Tobacco is great for bee stings. Although nobody smoked, when I was growing up we always kept a packet of cigarettes in the house for that purpose. You make a poultice w/ water. Really works.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Why You’ll Be Watching Fewer Problematic Movies, by filmmaker @tedbalaker at his new Substack.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

6 months

Ebook of The Fabric of Civilization is on sale for $3.99 on @BasicBooks site:

The Fabric of Civilization

From Neanderthal string to 3D knitting, an “expansive” global history that highlights “how textiles truly changed the world” (Wall St...

www.hachettebookgroup.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

There is no art which has not had its beginnings in things full of errors. Nothing is at the same time both new and perfect.

Leon Battista Alberti Quote

There is no art which has not had its beginnings in things full of errors. Nothing is at the same time both new and perfect.

libquotes.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

11 months

Should credit @aboutjoy for this post. "Any prize that is age-limited sends the message that you had better accomplish whatever you are going to accomplish professionally first. Having kids needs to be the afterthought, chronologically."

Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

11 months

Truth: Awards for young talent are antinatalist As woman whose success depended on working all the time in my 30s and not having kids, I'm tired of ostensibly pro-natalist men who don't get biology. Now could someone offer fellowships for old ladies?

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

My faves: LBJ, Woodrow Wilson Really brings out the Scots-Irish backwoods vibe in some of these guys.

Cam Harless

@camharless

1 year

every american president, but they're all cool and they all sport a mullet 46. Joe Biden

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

@pmarca I agree with the general point. But when people say "polarization" these days they mean separate self-reinforcing bubbles, not argument and disputation.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Is there anyone in the public intellectual trade, other than libertarians and POC, whose parents had jobs in a line of work besides academia/journalism/NGOs/politics? When I got into this game, it never occurred to me that an engineer dad nobody had heard of would be a handicap.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

1) Salary at any level is easy to trace and tax. 2) This explains why commenters who don't like my articles assume I make much, much more than I do. (Freelancers get freedom at a high cost, unlike wage slaves like the interlocutors here.)

Robin Hanson

@robinhanson

1 year

“If you think of a middle-aged professional couple .. each making ~$200K a year, filing a joint tax return, .. paying through the nose for rent or maintenance or a mortgage, you’re probably not going to describe their lifestyle as ‘rich.’” Uh yes I am.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

6 months

This Colorado ruling reminds me of John Eastman's legal theory that the vice president can reject electors. OK for a theoretical law review article, terrible in a real world political situation.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

4 months

Here's a substantial article on the @facebook scam I fell for. Learn from my mistakes.

How a social engineering hack turned these Facebook pages into a dumping ground for spam

Much of the cyber criminality today is social engineering jobs, ripping off mid-level creators with much fewer resources than a multinational corporation, but also significantly less technical...

www.engadget.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

The Myth of Prometheus Is Not a Cautionary Tale, and I'm sorry that techno-optimist @pmarca thinks it is.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

7 months

Something bad is happening between the sexes among the young. Too few siblings? Not enough male-female friendships? Tribal victim cultures, with both feeling disadvantaged? It's hard to see online porn as the sole reason, though it's the most popular one to give.

Derek Thompson

@DKThomp

7 months

New AEI survey on Gen Z finds widespread evidence that today’s teenagers are especially polarized by gender - Gen Z women are disproportionately liberal and likely to report being disrespected by men - Gen Z men are much less likely than Millennial guys to say they’re feminists

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

I want it to be the affordable, dynamic place I moved to in 1986.

Andrew D. Lewis

@AndrewDLewis

1 year

West LA is being pushed into the 21st Century (quickly) at the City & County level - & it's quite jarring for many who want West LA to forever be a 'sleepy town' by the Sea. We can adapt & move forward with the rest of LA or regress to the '50's.

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Progress against a truly awful condition: FDA just approved rub-on gene therapy that helps “butterfly” children

The FDA just approved rub-on gene therapy that helps “butterfly” children

Biotech companies are getting creative with how they deliver DNA fixes into people's bodies.

www.technologyreview.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Bob Faith...echoing the sentiments of other developers, said that for the most part, the style of its buildings was “driven by the planning regulations in any city.” “I don’t want to say it’s like color-by-numbers, but, in some cities, it’s color-by-numbers.”

Evan Farrar

@evanjfarrar

1 year

I love how the NYT literally quotes the CEO of Greystar explaining why new apartment buildings look “startlingly alike” and then just…drops it and proceeds to grovel more about the problem

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

Amen. But I learned in the 1990s that it’s not a priority.

TheHistoryOfTheAmericans

@TheHistoryOfTh2

1 year

It would be so much cooler if the GOP soberly addressed national policy and worked on the actual capacity of government. I'd prefer they investigate (say) regulatory/legal chokepoints that make it impossible to build new infrastructure (most of which are supported by Democrats).

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

I didn't write this article on to coincide w/ the Met Gala, but sometimes you get lucky on timing. Just out: #guopei #metgala #rihanna #fashion #china #culturalrevolution @smc90

The Brilliance of Guo Pei

Questions of appropriation and cultural legacy are explored in Chinese couturier Guo Pei’s challenging and extravagant dresses.

www.americanpurpose.com

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

1 year

"You’ll be disadvantaging the brilliant but poor Black kid from a low-income school who used the SAT as the way to announce themselves. And you’re giving a hand to the idiot sons of privilege whose tony private academies will ensure they get a good GPA."

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Virginia Postrel

@vpostrel

5 months

Anyone auditioning to be president of Harvard (or a similarly elite institution) should be required to write an essay on higher education addressed to first-year students. Here's an example:

Self-Fashioning in Society and Solitude | Harvard Magazine

On crafting a liberal-arts education by reading the classics and shaping one's life course

www.harvardmagazine.com

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