The following puts everything in a nice neat package. Lets do this! 🔥🔥🔥

A few notes on @TheProspect article on "The China Hack"

In general, it presents a critique of American political economy as overly dominated by corporations (including non-profits, that is, universities) that sell out US national interests (principally considered in the national security sense) for profit.

Much of the argument is based on US military contractors seeking profits in China and pushing the US government to allow transfers of what should have been obvious dual-use (commercial but also military) technologies.

The tone of the piece is harshly critical of prior engagement, but the policy recommendations are mostly limited interventions pushing for more engagement on better terms.

What the piece did not have as much on but made me think about were counterfactuals, especially in geopolitics.

Thread: I don't know about you, but staying sane recently hasn't been that easy. I've found it particularly hard to read novels - something that is usually my go-to therapy.

BUT I've always loved radio, and especially radio drama, and...

I was giving someone a few recommendations for things to listen to on BBC Sounds and realised I was getting carried away. I've heard tons of really good stuff in the past year and a lot of it is still online.

So here are some links! (stay tuned - this will take a while).

Firstly, there's Primo Levi's 'The Periodic Table' - unutterably brilliant. If you haven't heard this you've just got to stop what you're doing and do so.

Then there's Big Girl, Small Town by @michellegallen

Brilliant - probably the best thing I've heard on radio on a long time. A dark secret gradually gets revealed (or not) in small town near the British border in Ireland.

For a bit of fun there are two Charles Paris Mysteries - A Doubtful Death / The Cinderella Killer. Bill Nighy plays a slightly louche thespian with a bent for amateur sleuthing. Funny dramas based on old radio plays by Simon Brett updated by Jeremy Front.

I’m feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place in terms of the sheer number of people who still have no idea my book exists and the degree to which I feel like I can’t just keep shouting “hey my book!” over and over again without alienating the entire world. Thoughts?

Music can certainly transform destinies, it has certainly given myself and my family a chance of a better life. I have never forgotten my roots, nor the deep gratitude to all who participated in nurturing me over the years. Here is a true story ⤵️

early 1950’s. My father was. 12 year old boy whose family just arrived to Beijing. They lost everything during the war, and came to the capital to start a new life. It was a big family KF many children, my father was 2nd of three brothers with a few little sisters behind⤵️

They were very poor in those days, the Beijing looked down on their country accents and bad clothes. The older kids used fo to the market and collected thrown away vegetable pieces to bring home. My grandparents were educated, but 1 salary was not enough to support everyone. ⤵️

There was a old neighbor who lived alone, he had a radio, and often listens to music on it. My father would sit under his window to listen, eventually the neighbor invited him in, seeing how he loved music. ⤵️

One day when my father was about 12, the neighbor said he heard of a new school that just opened, where they will teach music. The school is free, and offered full room and board.
My father liked the idea, especially because it would mean one mouth less for his parents to feed.⤵️

Here's my 2018 rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas:
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . A Bao Bao in a hemlock tree @pinkypanda0823 #12DaysOfChristmas

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . Two love birds @tiantianpanda97 @MommyMei98 #12DaysOfChristmas

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . Three window escapes @pinkypanda0823 @houseofcubs #12DaysOfChristmas

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . Four honey crates @tiantianpanda97 @houseofcubs #12DaysOfChristmas

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . Five gold rings @tiantianpanda97 @houseofcubs #12DaysOfChristmas

💞𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐲𝐚'𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 2020💞

I didn’t read as much as I normally do because I was writing my own books in The Mogul Series which you can find here: https://t.co/0sODsY2S21
🥰

There are a ton of books I just did not get a chance to read that are on

my TBR which is why this is a FAVORITE list and not a BEST of list; bc I mainly read for pleasure. I was introduced to some new authors who blew my fcking mind.

Many of these books challenged or comforted me in some way; so I want to thank these incredible authors for putting their heart on the line and sharing their words with us and making this tumultuous year a little bit brighter. 💖

🌟𝐓𝐇𝐄 2020 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓🌟
1. Queen Move — Kennedy Ryan
2. Our Reckless Hope — Love Belvin
3. Villian — LJ Shen
4. Shu — Alexandria House
5. The Duke the Lady and a Baby — Vanessa Riley
6. Daring and the Duke -- Sarah MacLean
7. Charming the Scottish Bastard— Melissa Blue

8. Andre - Jayce Ellis
9. Rock the Curves— Twyla Turner-Author
10. Truly— Carmel Rhodes
11. Jaded by Love — AJ Alexander
12. Cry of Metal and Bone— Leslye Penelope
13. The Jezebel— Dylan Allen
14. Black Out— Lynn Raye Harris
15. In Fury Lies Mischief — Amo Jones

I’ve recently been reading through “The Butchering Art”, a terrific account of 19th century surgery & the introduction of germ theory & anesthesia to Victorian medicine. I highly recommend reading it yourself, but here are some interesting tidbits that caught my attention (1/10)

(2) First, as you can imagine, early surgery was absolutely awful & almost always a last resort. One thing I didn’t realize was that back then, the best surgeons were the *fastest* surgeons — for instance, Robert Liston could remove a leg in less than thirty seconds (!).

(3) Early surgery was limited to “peripheral” conditions, like lacerations & fractures. This is because entering the body in surgery was almost always fatal due to infection. This led to the distinction of physicians practicing “internal medicine”, a term that still persists.

(4) More dangerous than the surgeries were post-operative infections & diseases. Four were particularly common — gangrene, septicemia, pyemia, and erysipelas — & were known as “hospitalism”. With the rise of early anesthesia came a rise in attempted surgeries & hospitalism.

(5) What’s wild about this era, looking back, is that no one really knew what was going on... but their theories made some sense. “Contagionists” thought disease was communicable, being transferred from person to person by “invisible bullets” or chemicals. Not the craziest idea.

I want to start a thread of 90s rap records that aren't often discussed here.

I'll focus on singles that were dope/ringing off at the time because rap discussions on Twitter tend to focus on the same 15-20 "big ticket" classic albums, and this way, we can flesh things out a bit:

..and this isn't a "definitive" or authoritative anything. I'm just killing time until my mom finishes Christmas breakfast. Lol

I watched #Shazam last night (somehow) for the first time, and of the DC films I've seen, it's my favorite by a mile! To be fair I still haven't seen Aquaman or Birds of Prey, but my guess is that Shazam will still be my favorite when I do. My (probably) luke warm takes, below 1/

I thought I'd like it but I didn't know I'd like it as much as i did. Setting it in Philly endears it to me even more! I adore Philadelphia, so when movies are set there it probably makes me like them a little more than I otherwise would. That's just a thing for me. 2/

I also feel this movie made me believe that regular people in this world love the other DC heroes, specifically Supes and Batman. It just felt like a given in this story when they were brought up. Like "yeah of course heroes exist here!" It was part of the fabric of this world 3/

In my own headcanon, until it's contradicted, this film takes place in an area of the multiverse seperate from the other films. One where things are a little less grim and Supes isnt at all conflicted about being Supes, Batman isn't a murderer, WW is I guess the same, idk. 4/

After I finished it I couldn't help but wonder what a DCEU would look like if this had been the 1st movie in the series. If DC wanted to start their world with the idea that all the big heroes already exist, this would have been a perfect way to introduce that concept! 5/

OK. I'm about to read the #1776Report. I'll see you in Hell.

When a student's essay starts with a word jumble that says absolutely nothing, I know I'm about to have a bad time.

Our purpose is to provide easily regurgitated propaganda that prevents any need for critical thinking.

Hit 'em right off the bat with the positivist bullshit! Any competent historian will smell it on the first page.

Just read the words! You don't need to know the context. In fact, we'd strongly prefer if you never placed any historical facts into context.

HELEN by Georgette Heyer (Tweet Read #2)
Part I - The Child
Chapter I
II

MILDRED, Mrs Beazley, came on the evening of the following day. (1/14)

She had had no time to buy mourning clothes, as she would have liked to do, but she had found a very dark blue coat and skirt, which she wore in preference to her new green dress. It was more respectful to the dead, she thought. (2/14)

She had been weeping, and as she crossed the hall she tiptoed.
“Oh, James!” she said, and her hushed voice irritated him, “My poor James! Dear Kitty! my only sister! the shock!” Tears choked her; she clung to his hands. (3/14)

“Thank you for coming,” he said. “I would have sent for you before, only… there wasn’t time.”
She was shocked to hear him speak so levelly. She had always thought him cold and unfeeling. “I can’t believe it!” she said. “I can’t! I can’t! She was always so full of life!” (4/14)

“Please!” he said sharply.
“If only I had been here!” For a time she sobbed, muffled, into her handkerchief, while he stood with his back to her, staring out of the window. “To me—such a blow! You’re so brave—I can’t understand it. What you must have gone through!” (5/14)

THREAD: My top music picks for 2020. An ongoing tradition I’ve maintained for years, here are my favorite music projects of the year:

25: Brandy - B7
24: Lady Gaga - Chromatica
23: Niia - La Vita Bella
22: Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind
21: Grimes - Miss Anthropocene

20: Orion Sun - Hold Space For Me
19: Moses Sumney - Grae
18: Disclosure - Energy
17: Purity Ring - WOMB
16: Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

15: BOSCO - Some Day This Will All Make Sense / Car Therapy
14: Little Dragon - New Me, Same Us
13: Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure?
12: Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia
11: Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas

10: Durand Bernarr - Dur&
9: Allie X - Cape God
8: Shygirl - Alias
7: Empress Of - I’m Your Empress Of
6: Kllo - Maybe We Could