If you would enjoy a novel about family, love, product management, and Chinese manufacturing, then If You Can Get It might be just the book for you. https://t.co/T9p1Bn1YtO

On the occasion of starting a new job (and considering my aging wardrobe) I wish @dieworkwear would write a thread on Brooks Brothers non-iron dress shirts and whether there is any substitute for how they were 5-10 years ago. They used to be solid, 100% cotton fabrics you could

“In a 2012 paper published in Human Nature, the authors observed that “if modern Western societies had homicide rates as high as some foraging peoples, a male graduate student would be more likely to be killed than to get a tenure-track position.” https://t.co/chlr9AL1AN

If I were to pick a movie to watch monthly, it would be Apollo 13, Master & Commander, or That Thing You Do. Though in deference to @asymmetricinfo and @whignewtons picks, if I were to pick a Katherine Hepburn movie it would be Lion in Winter.

In the 18th century, there was a real chance of death at any point in life, and there wasn't a big peak in old age. It wasn't just higher infant mortality - the whole distribution was completely different. Great chart by @Scientific_Bird.

People are always asking why we don’t spend less on defense and more on people, without realizing that’s the world we’re already in.

https://t.co/mAxFOywIIx

Leica, Rolex, M1/M14 — these ad algorithms certainly know their targeting How is a middle aged guy to decide?

2136: https://t.co/KXcYPb6Y5N

An almost 4% year-on-year rise in Sunday Mass attendance is good news for the Catholic Church in Belgium. 🇧🇪 But there’s also plenty of bad news in the latest figures: https://t.co/snJWYod56t 📈 by @Brendan_m_Hodge.

nickels are made of 75% copper and 25% nickel. Dimes and quarters, on the other hand, are made of 92% copper and 8% nickel. Copper currently costs ~$4.60/lb while nickel costs $7.00/lb So the higher nickel content in nickels makes them more expensive to make than the quarter.

The US mint has announced they are phasing out production of the penny, which costs $0.04 to make. It turns out, the penny isn't the worst offender. The nickel costs $0.14 to make. Dimes cost $0.05 and Quarters $0.12. The reason nickels are so expensive to make is/

I had thought that “nimrod” as “dim witted” was common usage, but apparently it derives entirely from Loony Tunes shorts where Daffy or Bugs call Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam “Nimrod” in mocking reference to the biblical “great hunter”

Reading a biography of Eisenhower, and dang it is NUTS how the military recommended the use of tactical nukes to solve just about every sticky problem in the 1950s. Extremely lucky Eisenhower had a strong aversion to the idea of using “those awful things” again.

The share of income spent on food, clothing, and housing in the has declined dramatically since 1901 in the United States. It's even lower than in 1973, which many claim is the beginning of economic stagnation.

Share of income spent on necessities in the US, 1901 to 2023

Every so often, someone reminds me: I wrote a novel. And it's a fun read! https://t.co/T9p1Bn1YtO

I heard a few too many opinion pieces asserting "the stock market is back where it was on April 2, which shows the economy has adjusted to the tariffs" so I had to do a podcast focused on how much is still to come on tariffs. https://t.co/lop7Hwov5x

So where do popes come from? @Brendan_m_Hodge explains: https://t.co/SxfpBcGrsV

For those who like their graphs and numbers about the conclave and the papacy, I've got more coming at @PillarCatholic However, in the meantime, you might want to check out @meepbobeep's post on papal mortality and lengths of reign. Great stuff: https://t.co/BevKP20Ovf

Here's what I've learned in Rome, for serious, when I talk to reporters, commentators, pundits, etc. If you read @PillarCatholic regularly, you're already ahead of most news people. Most of them are reading The Pillar now to catch up on what you've been reading for five years.