Radical Technology and Neighborhood Power At Reason (“The Anarchist and the Republican,” April 13), Jesse Walker writes of a period in the 1970s when an Old Rightist speechwriter for Barry Goldwater turned New Leftist (Karl Hess), and a Nixon Republican and future Reagan speechwriter (John McClaughry), could reach unlikely consensus around values like worker self-management...
American Classmates Having Difficulty Understanding Better Educated Foreign Exchange Student
SACRAMENTO, CA—Addressing the glaringly obvious cultural and linguistic differences that have become apparent in their American classroom, students at Anderson Valley High School admitted Thursday that they were experiencing difficulty understanding Timo Mäkinen, a far more thoroughly educated foreign exchange student visiting from Finland. “I feel bad because Timo is new to this country and we want him to feel welcome, but every time he speaks, the class gets lost in about five seconds because of the thoroughly informed, nuanced concepts he shares,” Anderson Valley principal Alexis Howard said of Mäkinen, whose nation avoids the almost useless practice of regular standardized testing and pays for the mandatory Masters education required of all Finnish teachers. “He always raises his hand respectfully while participating in class discussions, talks about countries the students have never heard of, and tries to help other students with the basics of math and science, but they just get confused. He even sticks out at lunch because he doesn’t eat hot dogs and cafeteria pizza. Timo’s polite about it, but he just sticks to vegetables and yogurt. And it doesn’t help that kids say it’s really hard to understand what he’s talking about due to his precise English diction and extensive vocabulary.” Howard remains hopeful that she could still make Mäkinen feel at home, as they were slated to spend time hiding in the same room during next week’s school shooting lockdown drill.
Pluralistic: America’s collapsing consumption is the world’s disenshittification opportunity (16 Dec 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
What Net Worth Puts You in the American Upper, Middle, & Lower Class? - New Trader U
When Americans discuss social class, the conversation often centers on income—how much you earn each year. However, net worth tells a far more complete story
Small digital frictions can slow the spread of misinformation
New research from the University of Copenhagen points to a simple yet effective method for combating misinformation on social media: make it slightly harder to share content.
When it goes well, cultural evolution works like biological evolution: the strongest things survive, while flaws, weaknesses, and superfluities disappear. Unfortunately, the progression of culture doesn’t follow such a linear arc. Sometimes the societal pendulum swings simply because of boredom; technological innovations push current practices into obsolescence before we’ve considered what might be lost without […]
