The Iron Law of Oligarchy:

The iron law of oligarchy is a political theory, first developed by the German sociologist Robert Michels in his 1911 book, 'Political Parties'.

It asserts that rule by an elite, or oligarchy, is inevitable as an "iron law" within any democratic organization as part of the "tactical and technical necessities" of an organization.

Michels's theory states that all complex organizations, regardless of how democratic they are when started, eventually develop into oligarchies. Michels observed that since no sufficiently large and complex organization can function purely as a direct democracy,

...power within an organization will always get delegated to individuals within that group, elected or otherwise.

Michels argues that democratic attempts to hold leadership positions accountable are prone to fail, since with power comes the ability to reward loyalty,

...the ability to control information about the organization, and the ability to control what procedures the organization follows when making decisions. All of these mechanisms can be used to strongly influence the outcome of any decisions made 'democratically' by members.

Kicking off WW84 and listen it starts with showing me Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright and Doutzen Kroes so whatever else happens that can’t be taken away from me.

Gotta say this obsessive lesbian erotic thriller vibe coming off Kristen Wiig is a lot of fun as a WW84 bonus item

I’m absolutely loving the rejection porn in WW84 of Diana just telling men no ☺️

Watching WW84 not thinking “please step on me Diana!” but instead thinking “please step on ALL MEN, Diana!!!”

L O L the Internet is so weird!

Reasons not to do it

Now that the year is actually at the end and I have seen almost all the movies (haha not even close), I will list my favorites in no particular order in a thread no one will care about but me. But first, @letterboxd says there are 22,519 films released in the 2020s. Yikes. 1/?

#1 @MinariMovie by @A24 which is genuinely a movie I have thought about regularly since I saw it in January. Wider release in 2021 and do not sleep on this one. Gorgeous Korean American Arkansas farmer story of building a new future and generational gap. 😍🥰

#2 @nomadlandfilm by Chloe Zhao which is a sweeping hybrid film of the new American west and the death of the American dream. @Criterion needs to go ahead and collect. 3/?

#3 @americanutopia by Spike Lee brought us the reminder of music, theater, audiences, joy at a time when we needed it most. Oh David Byrne. Thank you.

#4 David Attenborough's A Life on Our Planet reminds us that Earth is a gorgeous place we are screwing up pretty royally. Cinematography alone worth a watch.

I ran across a quote a long time ago, and it's stuck with me:

“Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.”
— Charlie Munger


This talk is both in transcript form and there's a YouTube audio of it as well.

I like this quote from Munger:

"I think I’ve been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I’ve underestimated it. And never a year passes, but I get some surprise that pushes my limit a little farther."

So now, like a mad monkey who has just discovered the hammer, I will now go around using this tool of incentives and perverse incentives on everything. Maybe I'll get lucky and hit a few actual nails.

At root, I think the riots at the capitol are the result of a synergy of perverse incentives in politics, mass media, and social media, and they all contribute to a perfect storm of dysfunction. Maybe this is obvious to everyone, and I'm just catching up. But whatever. Here goes.

Star Trek S1E02 "Who Mourns for Adonais?" #TOS #StarTrek https://t.co/LIkzMGcPIi has interesting features 1) sexism tempered by female crew members' competence, (2) advancement of Ancient Aliens theory & 3) use of Pre-Modern anti-Muslim slur 4) appearance of Walter Koenig: Chekov

For the 1st time, Michelle Nichols as Uhura performs a technical task. In previous episodes, she basically was a receptionist or a switchboard operator.

After Scotty the Chief Engineer oogles Leslie Parrish as Lt. Carolyn Palamas on the bridge, Capt Kirk basically states that women won't go far in Star Fleet because they end their careers for marriage. She's part of the landing party where she & Kirk exchange these lines:

Apollo changes her miniskirt uniform into an alluring evening gown and does her hairdo quite elegantly. The camera gives viewers multiple shots of her the remainder of the episode.

Despite her being tempted by the life Apollo offers her, she does her duty as a Star Fleet Officer and spurns him, thus draining him of his power so that the Enterprise's crew and the landing party could free themselves.

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🧵
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." - Reagan

The strategies that have helped me write 10 books in 10 years
⬇︎⬇︎⬇︎

1. Always be researching

The bulk of the work is researching—collecting stories, anecdotes, and data to marshal your argument. The writing is stringing those pieces together.

2. Know where you’re going

You don’t “find the book as you write.” You have to do the hard work of solving the problem first. You have to figure out the best route, too.

3. It’s all material

Turn all your bad experiences, your struggles, your pain, your mistakes into material. The obstacle is the way / antifragile…

4. Have something to say

“To have something to say,” Schopenhauer said, “by itself is virtually a sufficient condition for good style.”

THREAD ⚠ :-

THE-NOT-SO-ENTERTAINMENT-INDUSTRY.
One cannot make an omlette without breaking some eggs. The web series or any digital content released time to time is for the purpose of "entertainment" but there are following things that acts an impediment.

The content released becomes a propaganda due to the statements of the artists in public domain. It is not a matter of suppressing Freedom Of Expression by any means but just like a judge who is adviced to never reveal their political biases because it questions their credibility

, the artists should also refrain from commenting on politics or endorsing any hate speech that will force audience to "relate anything to literally anything" resulting in Boycotts. These can also be PR stunts to promote the content but it certainly degrades one's reputation.

The content also influences people's thoughts and perceptions. Movies can control our brains. Artist use their art to shape their viewers, and advance their point of view. To some extent, all art is in the business of manipulating the thoughts and emotions of its audience.

You can google the research about how shows/digital content shapes our views, and is not always limited to "entertainment".

No beating around the bush. I am a Hindu, and it is important to call out hypocrisy of departments.

💞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

"What would you say if I asked you to run away with me?"

Asahi stills, the tip of his pencil hovering over his notebook, and looks up at Nishinoya seated across the table from him.

Nishinoya is staring out the window, chin propped in his right palm as he idly stirs the soda in

front of him with his left hand.

The question takes Asahi by surprise.

Noya had never asked anything like that before.

"What?"

Noya turns his head away from the water droplets streaking the glass window to fully look at Asahi. "If I said "Hey, Asahi-san, let's run away,"

what would you say?" Noya rephrases.

He's joking.

He's got to be.

After all, they're here right now helping Yuu study for his entrance exams in three months. They'll be in different courses, but Yuu is aiming for the same college as Asahi. Asahi's already been cleaning out

his spare room so Noya can move in with him until he finds a place in Tokyo.

Plans for the future have already been made, so Noya /must/ be joking.

But with the way Noya's watching him, waiting patiently for an answer, it doesn't feel like a joke.

"...I would say... that you

need to stop joking around and focus on your entrance exams." Asahi smiles, but it feels awkward, forced. "If you don't work a little harder on your math, you won't make it into the same college as me."

Noya watches him for another minute, and Asahi swallows, anxiety tying his

An Open Letter To: .@KirkCameron

Yesterday, I sat in the parking lot of the James Cancer Center in Columbus, OH and was reduced to an inferno of rage and sadness. I screamed in my car and scared a passerby. I cried, but tried not to so when my husband got back in my eyes were only mildly red.

You see, he had to go into his first post-op colon cancer visit to his liver doctor without me. You read that right, liver doctor. His cancer had traveled to his liver. I like to say "traveled" instead of the common "spread". It makes it sound less threatening to me.

His amazing team used robotics on the 10th to remove three liver tumors. Then they took out the tumor in his colon that was the size of your fist and had closed off the colon. There they removed 24 lymph nodes and yesterday, on the phone with my husband while he sat in a doctor's

office without me in physical form with only my voice through the phone, he heard that 2 of those lymph nodes also had cancer. He heard how he needs to start chemo as soon as possible (mind you it's Christmas, so yay! what a present). And through all of this in "normal times",