the world is not kind to those who are tacky
Late night thought: “Don’t be tacky (unless you know why you’re doing it)” is a surprisingly powerful heuristic for me
Where does money come from, really?
A question that made me anxious when I was a teenager is “where does money come from really?” Most people tend to be s
make friends
— 1 — You can spend years arguing with idiots, or you can spend years making friends. The idiots aren’t going to be
Relationships are challenging + a lot of work
Preamble: Hello everyone! This post has been getting shared a little bit, so I thought it might be worth taking some time to p
flirting is about signalling interest with plausible deniability
What I tell my nephews: flirting is basically this – give moderately strong signals of interest with plausible deniabili
We need to get better at dealing with assholes if we are to progress as a species
— 1 — As I get older I feel this subtle-but-strong pressure to become more “professional” – more “civil”, mo
minorities have to be extra-sensitive
(these were thoughts in response to Sarah Jeong being called out for being racist towards white men) I think one of the rules
women’s perspectives are criminally underrepresented
As I get older and hear more about women’s experiences, it gets clearer and clearer to me that movies and TV are dominat
menworld: a way of considering the patriarchy
(Clarification: for the whole of this thread, when I say Men, I’m referring to the subset of straight men who live &
“I only like Chinese girls”
There is some nuance in the space between having a preference and articulating it. Lots of dudes are utterly incapable of walk
Punching nazis is probably good, but never be gleeful about violence
There was a period of time where people on Twitter seemed very gleeful about punching Nazis, and the idea of punching Nazis.&n
Talking about cultural things means getting things wrong.
I think cultural things are the most interesting things but they’re also the hardest to talk about with other people A b
People are tired, and this leads to suboptimal outcomes on many fronts
A thing I didn’t appreciate as a kid, but understand better now, is why so much of the world is suboptimal – it’s no
Narcissist PR works because we can’t shut up about it
WIP I tweeted a more cautious version of this blogpost in July, and it’s been on my mind so I wanted to take some time t
Most people over-tolerate assholes, which lets them get away with it
[Original thread] As I get older I feel this subtle-but-strong pressure to become more “professional” – more “civi
Skinwalkers: mass shootings are nihilistic acts of disaffiliation
(Writing this post because I’m cleaning out my bookmarks in one-tab and realizing that I’ve mentioned Skinwalkers
surviving in jailworld requires some complicity; dismantling it will take lifetimes
Notes from a conversation about Oprah and Neoliberalism: yeah so there are multiple things going on at the same time, and peop
sinister connotations allow people to be assholes with plausible deniability
I like words. It’s a big part of why I’m a writer. I like everything about them. Here are some interesting things
Mariamman Temple and Capital Tower
The oldest Hindu temple in Singapore is Sri Mariamman Temple. It was founded in 1827 by Naraina Pillai, eight years after the
Real Life Is Dystopian
Lately I’ve been collecting factoids that I’ve found dystopian about the world we already inhabit. A mirror that
Making Sense Of Modern Civilization
1 To be born into modern human civilization is both a great privilege (for the safety and opportunities it provides) and a rat
The Seductive-Destructive Siren-Song of Fame
In 2010, I wrote a blogpost about Justin Bieber. In 2018, I want to expand this post into something broader, about celebrity a
Institutionalized
Local man gets released from prison, quickly proceeds to attempt to throw himself into path of bus to extort money from driver
Baby abandonment
People are usually quick to demonize the mother in these situations. It’s interesting (and sad) to me. There’s a v
Politics and the English language [2016]
The following is my attempt to update George Orwell’s essay Politics and the English Language [1946] for modern reading.
We are all miseducated + need to rethink education from scratch
We are all miseducated. My education journey 0129 – future of education 0461 – we are all miseducated – accepted it and
Schools are powerful, outdated tools of social programming
Why does this post exist? I haven’t been in school in over a decade, but it had a debilitating effect on me and I want t
Communication, negotiation and the friendship of Charles and Erik
Can anything be more important than learning how to deal with yourself, and with other people? What a ceaseless struggle! Mana