Interesting stuff

  1. On grifters:”American self-conception, that wobbly construct, has long depended on a good amount of delusional entitlement
  2. A young Dutchman goes to India, “sees the light” and sets himself up in the US as a guru: “But the joy they derived from the videos was hallucinatory, dissociative, fleeting. When they looked away from the screen, they were once again faced with the reality of their lives. So they went back online.”  Abuse follows, and he’s not the last: “Over the past decade or so, Burton added, the internet has broadened and intensified this dynamic. Online spiritual communities offer a safe and exploratory experience for those who feel marginalized, alienated or exiled from traditional religions. As in the 20th century, these new spiritual movements are often met with condescension and fear. But while the low-barrier-to-entry of spirituality online means that vulnerable seekers are at risk of being exploited by a larger pool of ideologues, narcissists, and charlatans, Burton emphasized that spiritual communities on social media are mostly just filling a void.”
  3. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, is pretty cool
  4. A 240-year history of (not so) free trade in the US, in 22 minutes
  5. Project Gutenberg has over 60,000 free e-books (I like Agatha Christie) and a great attitude: “If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away–you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law.”
  6. The Deltaworks are the “wonder of the world” protecting the Netherlands from floods — for now.
  7. Investigating the corruption behind Beirut’s huge (and deadly) explosion
  8. The story of a white Boston orphan who ran a Chinese drug gang
  9. A neighborhood in Rome: Its people and bar-life during COVID
  10. Mammals have a lot more in common than I thought #NoHumanExceptions

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Author: David Zetland

I'm a political-economist from California who now lives in Amsterdam.

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