Kierkegaard Explains the Psychology of Bullying and Trolling—in 1847 →

Maria Popova:

In an immeasurably insightful entry from 1847, 34-year-old Kierkegaard observes a pervasive pathology of our fallible humanity, explaining the same basic psychology that lurks behind contemporary phenomena like bullying, trolling, and the general assaults of the web’s self-appointed critics, colloquially and rather appropriately known as haters. Kierkegaard writes:

“There is a form of envy of which I frequently have seen examples, in which an individual tries to obtain something by bullying. If, for instance, I enter a place where many are gathered, it often happens that one or another right away takes up arms against me by beginning to laugh; presumably he feels that he is being a tool of public opinion. But lo and behold, if I then make a casual remark to him, that same person becomes infinitely pliable and obliging. Essentially it shows that he regards me as something great, maybe even greater than I am: but if he can’t be admitted as a participant in my greatness, at least he will laugh at me. But as soon as he becomes a participant, as it were, he brags about my greatness.

That is what comes of living in a petty community.”

Nailed it.

‘Everything Will Change’ Trailer

‘Everything Will Change’ is a feature-length documentary concert film of The Postal Service's performance at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, CA during their 2013 reunion tour. A collaboration between Benjamin Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) and Jimmy Tamborello (from Dntel), with Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis, The Postal Service released Give Up, their one and only album, in 2003.

All I can say is that I sincerely hope that they really do never put out another album, because all of this fanfare will really be a bad look if they do.

/via Devour

Blue State vs. Red State? Starbucks vs. Chik-fil-A? Nope—Try Whole Foods vs. Cracker Barrel →

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David Wasserman:

A few weeks ago, the new moderator of “Meet the Press,” Chuck Todd, took to his “Nerd Screen” to outline an unconventional way to think about the midterm political landscape. His theory: 2014’s hottest races are boiling down to big Democratic urban areas and inner suburbs with lots of Starbucks coffee shops versus heavily Republican exurban hinterlands and rural areas with lots of Chick-fil-A restaurants.

But after immersing myself in numbers, maps and, admittedly, a spicy chicken sandwich, I discovered a slight problem: Neither chain’s political geography fits neatly into Todd’s heuristic.

Nothing makes me happier than when data disproves institutional thinking.

Consider the Log Lady: Questions (and Answers) About the Return of ‘Twin Peaks' →

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Andy Greenwald:

In the spring of 1990, when ABC debuted Twin Peaks, the network was still pulling in an estimated 14 million viewers a week for Full House. One of its most popular programs — and, in fact, Twin Peaks’s initial lead-in — was Father Dowling Mysteries, a genteel hour in which a priest and a nun, played by Mr. Cunningham from Happy Days and these guys’ older sister, solved crimes. (Just how long ago was it? There was a prime-time show about the Flash.) You could say TV wasn’t ready for a show as dark, as weird, as insanely idiosyncratic as Twin Peaks. But that’d be like saying prehistoric cavemen weren’t ready for Snapchat. Twin Peaks wasn’t a gradual, evolutionary step in the development of television as an artistic medium. It was the guy responsible for [the incredibly unsettling opening of 'Blue Velvet'] pressing fast-forward with his middle finger.

I was trying not to get too excited about the return of Twin Peaks, mostly because it’s 1.5 years away, but also because Season 2 really left a sour taste in my mouth. But this mailbag from Greenwald sucked me in. It’s going to be a damn fine 2016.

Baking the Cookie Dough in Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream →

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Andy Kryza:

It was a surprisingly sober night when, halfway through a pint of delicious Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, the thought struck me: sure, this was tasty and all, but what would a Ben & Jerry's cookie actually taste like? Would the dough even bake into a cookie? Or had B & J created some sort of ice cream-exclusive cookie wonderfood, like Flubber with sugar, that thrives in cold and heat without changing form?

I had to find out.

Well I, for one, am glad that we’ve at least got that sorted out.

/via The Kitchn

Z is for Zebra—90 Percent of the Time →

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David Goldenberg:

To get a sense and take a census, I analyzed 50 animal ABC books ranging in publication date from 1820 to 2013. They weren’t individually selected, but were simply the ones available to me: The older books were sourced online through OpenLibrary.org; the more recent ones were found in the San Francisco Public Library. (I couldn’t convince FiveThirtyEight to give me an Amazon card to buy the thousand or so I missed; we’ll have to go with a representative sampling, instead.)1 There were 1,300 data points (50 books multiplied by 26 letters) in all.

What I found was a whole lot of zebras.

A perfectly fascinating, useless, and data-driven article. FiveThirtyEight’s bread and butter.

Brickjest—‘Infinite Jest’ Retold in 122 Lego Scenes →

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p. 3 These are three Deans--of Admissions, Academic Affairs, Athletic Affairs. I do not know which face belongs to whom.

Brickjest:

Kevin Griffith, Professor of English at Capital University, and his son Sebastian first envisioned translating David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest into Legos after  reading The Brick Bible, by Brendan Powell Smith.  Wallace's novel is probably the only contemporary text to offer a similar challenge to artists working in the medium of Lego.  The artist in this case was Griffith's eleven-year-old son, Sebastian, who created all the scenes based on his father's descriptions of the relevant pages.

The edition of Infinite Jest used for this project is the Tenth Anniversary paperback edition, published in 2006.

The creators of this site neither expect nor intend to make money on this project.

Well there goes talking to my family tonight.

/via Vox

‘Twin Peaks’ Returns →

Alan Sepinwall:

* There will be nine episodes, all of them written by Lynch & Frost, all of them directed by Lynch.

* The new episodes will be produced next season to air in 2016, which will be 25 years after the show was canceled.

* Showtime will air the previous two seasons in the lead-up to the new miniseries' debut.

* In the statement, Lynch & Frost said, “The mysterious and special world of 'Twin Peaks' is pulling us back. We’re very excited. May the forest be with you.”

I’d be more excited about this if I hadn’t had to force-feed myself almost all of Season 2. The fact that Lynch is directing all of the episodes is promising, though. And you thought ‘True Detective’ had too many red herrings and dead ends?

Meet the All-Female, All-Volunteer Group Fighting ISIS →

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Elizabeth Griffin:

Ahmed, like many of the YPJ, is fiercely loyal to her fellow-soldiers. She insists, “I love being a YPJ soldier, I love the other soldiers, we are closer than sisters. This is the only life for me. I can’t imagine living any other way.”

This sentiment, says Trieb, is echoed by all members of the YPJ, who live by a code of honesty, morals, and justice. “Their motto is ‘Haval’ or ‘friendship’,” explains Trieb, “and (it) is of utmost importance to them. They treat each other (and treated me) with a sense of solidarity and sisterhood. They address each other as Haval, and when they spoke to me, they would call me 'Haval Erin'. It enforces a constant sense of belonging and support."

The women range in age from 18-40, though there are some younger recruits like the 12-year-old Hevedar Mohammed (pictured below). Recruits under the age of 18 are not permitted to fight, although they go through some physical training and participate in the group by way of carrying out ‘household’ chores. Hevedar, like many YPJ, was inspired to join because of the group’s reputation for developing strong, independent women and because of its positive standing in the community.

Freedom isn’t free.

/via Nick v.d. Kolk

Billy Beane Says The Athletics’ Trades Paid Off →

Barry Petchesky:

Beane spoke in the A’s clubhouse on "pack up your shit for the winter" day yesterday, and if he wants reporters to take anything away from this season's aggressive deadline moves, it's that those trades were made with the express purpose of making the postseason, not necessarily succeeding in it:

"The Angels were going to catch us," Beane told reporters. "They played nearly .700 ball from a certain point. If you go back to my quotes from when we made those trades, despite the fact of where we were, at no point were those trades made for the playoffs. I was adamant about it. I could feel the Angels breathing down our necks.

"What I didn't reveal was that I was also concerned about us, which was the point of the trades."

You know who says stuff like this? Losers. Losers also say stuff like this:

One of the takeaways from Moneyball is that Beane believes the playoffs are a crapshoot, that getting there is the hard part and that every team that makes it has roughly similar chances of winning it all.

Nobody ever does anything great by striving for mediocrity.