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Russia/USSR & Star Wars Decode

So how did the USSR fall? (First topic of many)

Let's start with Reagan's "Star Wars"

https://t.co/LsC84g2ei3
SDI was created to "protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons"

1. - Meat Loaf comms

01/04/2021 Ivanka Trump causes confusion by mistakenly tagging Meat Loaf instead of her Father in

1.
01/13/2021 Trump orders U.S. Space Command to leave Colorado

The permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command will now be located in Alabama at the Huntsville’s Redstone

I've completely fallen down a well of reading crappy superhero comics. (virtually all superhero comics are crappy.)

it's a comfort food thing. takes me back to my ill spent youth.

read a bunch of Dan Slott's she hulk run, which is depressingly sexist, all things considered. (the old, there's something wrong with you if you're a powerful woman who enjoys being powerful trope.)

Gail Simone's Birds of Prey is pretty fun; character interactions are great but she's got trouble figuring out worthwhile plots. all the villains are pretty eh.

read some Bendis avengers and new avengers. he writes fun characters, but the crossover stuff is so omnipresent it's hard for him to develop any narrative cohesion.

Today in pulp I look at the scandalous history of lady jeans!

Well there's a turn-up...

The denim jean and its predecessor the dungaree have a long history, and were traditionally seen as work wear for men.

But WWII changed all that...

As women headed for the factories and shipyards they found that a sturdy denim bib-n-brace, paired with a stout headscarf, was the way to go!

Coarse heavy 'jeens' were fine for riveting work, but 1940s women didn't take a shine to them as leisure wear. For one thing they were voluminous and shapeless.

Jeans were also seen as clothing for children. No adult wanted to be seen wearing kid's dungarees in public.

Or did they?

The Blank Sheet Method that will 10x your reading comprehension.

Here is how it works.

Before you start reading a new book, take out a blank sheet of paper. Write down what you know about the book / subject you’re about to read — a mind map if you will.

After you finish a reading session, spend a few minutes adding to the map with a different color.

Before you start your next reading session, review the page.

When you’re done reading, put these ‘blank sheets’ into a binder that you periodically review.

THREAD @ReadingsBooks now 'regret' the apology. This is from @TimesLucy in the Times today (can't find online link): Bookshop forced to apologise for feminist's visit in 2018
The Times (London)

February 11, 2021 Thursday

"A bookshop in Australia has apologised for "any hurt

caused" by an event it hosted three years ago with the feminist campaigner Julie Bindel.

Readings, an independent bookseller in Melbourne, is to host an event on Zoom with Juno Dawson, a transgender author, and Alison Evans, a nonbinary author, on February 25. Transrights

supporters have long accused Bindel of transphobia because she does not believe trans women are women.

Evans, an award-winning author from Melbourne who writes queer sci-fi for young adults, tweeted on Monday: "I agreed to do this event providing Readings publicly apologise for

hosting Julie Bindel. Where is this apology?"

The next day the bookshop said: "Readings prides itself on ensuring everyone in our community feels safe, respected and considered. We apologise for any hurt caused by highlighting the work of an author whose current stance is to

divide our community.

"To that end, Readings regrets programming Julie Bindel in 2018 and thanks our community for opening the dialogue with us. Readings is committed to considering the work of all authors to ensure our future programme of events, reviews and discussions remain

How to Read Better and Gain More From It

// A THREAD //

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.”

— Charlie Munger

...but maybe you don't and would like to.

That's why I put together this thread.

What will I cover?

1) The biggest myths about reading
2) Why should you read
3) How to find time for reading
4) How to gain the most from your reading

1) The biggest myths about reading

Let's start with briefly debunking some of the biggest myths out there.

"I don't have time for reading."
- We all have the same 24 hours. The reading may not be the priority for you, but that's a choice. The choice you made.

"Reading is boring."
- It doesn't have to be. As @naval puts it: "Read what you love until you love to read".

"Reading is procrastination."
- If you apply what you read, this is non-sense. And if you don't... I still think it's time well spent.