Ezra Klein, How politics makes us stupid:

The problem, of course, is that these people are also affecting, and in some cases controlling, the levers of government. And this, Kahan says, is where identity-protective cognition gets dangerous. What’s sensible for individuals can be deadly for groups. “Although it is effectively costless for any individual to form a perception of climate-change risk that is wrong but culturally congenial, it is very harmful to collective welfare for individuals in aggregate to form beliefs this way,” Kahan writes. The ice caps don’t care if it’s rational for us to worry about our friendships. If the world keeps warming, they’re going to melt regardless of how good our individual reasons for doing nothing are.

Allison Browning, This is how:

This is how cities are built empires made. Things done and undone and
This is how it is to be done, how I do it.
This is how maybe we
There are rules; ways of dealing, mechanisms.
This is how you choose and don’t apologise.
This, is how order happens: in the making of beds, the sorting of laundry, the pulling of weeds, the doing of things, in busyness. In not thinking.

it’s gonna be okay… This is water. This is water.

Kyle VanHemert:

Songs can sound different depending on when and where you hear them—I can only appreciate the subtle craftsmanship of Katy Perry, for example, when I’m at home with my headphones on.

Rands In Repose:

My requirements are simple: I want to listen to my music as it was intended to be heard with a minimum of fuss anywhere on the planet.

Katie Drummond:

Star search: a non-profit group wants to send four people to Mars… forever
Meet the group hoping to ship you off to the red planet — return ticket not included

Split eternally.

[update] All Dressed Up for Mars and Nowhere To Go.

1. Zero Dark Thirty
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Les Misérables
4. Life of Pi
5. Argo
6. Django Unchained
7. Silver Linings Playbook
8. Lincoln
9. Amour

Wreck-It Ralph is a better film than Brave. Also the wonderful NYT red carpet project.

Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, Where Earth Meets Sea:

They meet, my earthy eyes and yours full of the sea, find the place where they meet so tumultuously. Immersed, in famed indifference of one-anothers existence. You take me from my me wholly, soaking through your waters loose in the shifting and sifting grains of truth, upon which my me is built. You, you free away these bits of earth-bound fray, and I break you and I break you. Long you travelled to my sands, my shore but long you’ll travel no more, for by the blowing of winds and currents intricately traced a design so woefully laced with our mutual demise. In the place we meet we surmise our defeat. My earthy eyes and yours full of the sea swept away by your waves taken under the breaking of my making, submerged shelves form your upwelling suspended sensation swelling from the depths of you. What desires lie true? What desires lie true? I mold a horrific but beautiful monster of you. Of you flowing over my sand to surrending me through, me through the rolling crashing waters where we meet. Where we meet. Endlessly.

Tim Sniffen:

The darkness is my companion now. That’s all the contact I need.

Camille Dodero:

People call her an “inspiration” because she exists in the world? That makes her sad for them.

Elizabeth Spiers:

They acquire meaning that is completely divorced from the reality of who they are and what they believe and instead become symbols for what the observer thinks is significant.

David Thorne:

Unfortunately, confidence through encouragement does not automatically equate to capability.

Bruce Schneier:

The court of public opinion is an alternate system of justice. It’s very different from the traditional court system: This court is based on reputation, revenge, public shaming, and the whims of the crowd. Having a good story is more important than having the law on your side. Being a sympathetic underdog is more important than being fair. Facts matter, but there are no standards of accuracy. The speed of the Internet exacerbates this; a good story spreads faster than a bunch of facts.

Liam O’Murchu:

Back in 2005, we were dealing with hackers who were still doing it for notoriety—you know, people who were working out of their basement. I think that’s really quite amazing when you look at what else was going on in 2005. It stands out even more than it did before.

Suzanne Lucas:

You should always look to hire the best person for the job. And that may not always mean the person with the most letters after his name.

Lawrence Baldwin:

I’m not a press hound. There are serious personal safety issues to consider.

He who has knowledge spares his words.