What I Read In 2020 (A Thread) [ Let me know if you read any of these because I want someone to talk to about these books or if you want my full thoughts on anything ]

So overall I read about 28 books and 11408 pages. I had an initial goal of 24 but lockdown kicked in and I also had some big boy books too. Here's as much as I can get into a single thread:

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris: The first Hannibal Lecter book. I've always been a fan of the Hannibal franchise so I enjoyed this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Francis Dollarhyde as a tragic villain. Very cool crime thriller.

Animal Farm by George Orwell: As much as I shitpost about 1984 and George Orwell, I do enjoy what works of his I have read. Very short endearing book about a bunch of animals that get into some wacky shenanigans.

Dune by Frank Herbert: This is the first Sci-Fi book I read of the year and what sparked that book club I set up early this year. I went on a bit of a Sci-Fi binge. Dune is a very well written book, the world building is really well done and I liked the big worms a lot.

LIVE AMA THREAD 🧡 🧵

High level updates will be posted here 👍🏼

Alex says acceleration in AUM and users is the highest it has ever been 🔥

A special mention for the 24 hour community call setup by @dollarcostcrypt @Crypto_Flippin and @1trillionCEL from Zach. Alex attended and appreciates the effort from you guys!

Alex shows the “Channel of Dreams” created by @Crypto_Flippin 🔥

Pretty sure that name was created when @Crypto_Flippin and I were running together earlier in the year 🙌🏼

Alex confirms that Cardano #ADA will be added to Celsius wallet in Q2 of 2021 👍🏼

Just finished running what was probably my best session of Star Trek Adventures yet. Definitely learning some interesting lessons about the game, its systems, and perhaps more importantly, the challenges of running a game in the Star Trek setting. Short thread.

Tonight's episode revolved around the ship's Klingon doctor & Trill ensign being recruited to fly a cloaked Bird of Prey deep into Cardassian territory to retrieve a defector. There was deception, cultural conflict, and a moral dilemma that saw the doctor go against his beliefs.

I did two things differently in crafting tonight's episode than I've done previously. First, I made it clear to my players that there was an A-plot (the Klingon story) and a B-plot (involving an away team that got left behind on a planet), & that the A-plot would get more scenes.

I also made it clear that I was going to expect the B-plot players drive a lot of the scene creation and setup, and that they should see the goal of those scenes as fleshing out their Focuses, Values, and character histories.

Second, I crafted the plot using something similar to the new edition of Legend of the 5 Rings' brilliant-but-woefully-under-discussed Discord mechanic, where you create complications that put two players' beliefs in conflict with one another.

Looking for reading material to help you stay comfy & warm on this frigid January day? Well, it’s easy as another #ScholarSunday morning thread of public scholarly work from the last week! #twitterstorians

Great @benbarber96 interview of @AngieMaxwell1 for @facingsouth on countering the “Long Southern

& an equally vital @FAIRmediawatch interview w/@KeriLeighMerrit on the Lost

& one more excellent interview, @nhannahjones w/@VelshiMSNBC on Mike Pompeo’s departing attacks on multicultural

wrote a couple wonderful pieces this week. This one for @madebyhistory on Warnock’s victory & Black

Good night, you wild bells of Maine, you Christs to be of New England.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

happy new year, all. i’ve barely had time to absorb new music or artists in 2020, because mostly i’ve been listening with ash, and all he wants is the Grease soundtrack over and over (and over. and over). but here’s a little list of my top ten. ready?

1. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
In Three Words: homespun percussive truth-bangers
For Fans Of: feminism, confessional lyrics
Note: not background listening

2. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
In Three Words: scream of consciousness
For Fans Of: kimya dawson, courtney barnett
Note: kills you softly

3. Laura Jane Grace - Stay Alive
In Three Words: laura spills survival
For Fans of: against me, punk, confessional songwriting
Note: listen to our podcast dammit

4. Reb Fountain - Reb Fountain
In Three Words: soft dark-soul dive
For Fans of: kathleen edwards, mazzy star
Note: she’s a new kiwi friend. and i just found out red is my COUSIN.

This reminds me of an old story...

Once upon a time there was a city.

In the middle of the city there was a huge and very popular meeting place where everyone gathered and talked and shared ideas.

The meeting place had only one rule: "No shitting on other people".

1/10

The people agreed that it was a good rule and they met and talked and didn't shit on each other and were happy.

2/10

By and by a politician wanted to take advantage of the meeting place to talk to all of the people at once.

The owner thought it was a good idea and said "everyone is welcome but you must obey our one rule".

The politician agreed.

3/10

Day after day, the politician talked and talked and people listened, but there was a bad smell in the air.

People thought that the politician was not obeying the rule and complained to the owner that they were being shat on.

4/10

The owner assured the people that the politician wouldn't do something like that deliberately but agreed that it was only fair to warn people.

So, whenever the smell was bad the owner made the politician wear a blue badge to advise that there may be shit in the air.

5/10

I had a few Christmas stories that I thought of telling.
I thought of the one about Rocky de Blood with a Teardrop, a homeless lady that my husband picked up on the on-ramp.

Or the story about the Miracle Christmas.

But I think instead I will talk about my Quantum Christmas 🎄

Just finished the bio of Deng Xiaoping by the recently departed Ezra Vogel. Really fascinating book for anyone interested in the foundation of Modern China. I'd argue Deng was the most important statesman in the world from 1950-2000. Many lessons for India. A few takeaways (1/n)

We expect transformative leaders to be grand architects w/ a modernization vision. They should know what changes are crucial. In actuality, most have no clear agenda. Reforms - esp econ. ones - are messy, contradictory, beset by unorthodox ideas mixed in w/ many good ideas (2/n)

Deng & his Communist Party had a nebulous philosophy of "trial by error" & "do what works." Deng's early years as ruling premier were noteworthy for debacles like an economic retrenchment & abrupt cancellation of foreign contracts to husband scarce forex reserves (3/n)

Deng believed in the "population bomb" myth and enacted the 1-Child Law which could hurt China's long-run growth prospects. Deng also quixotically spent much of his country's resources trying to become a petro-state to match Saudi Arabia during the '70s (4/n).

Even Deng's good ideas like special economic zones (SEZs) were rife with problems and accusations of poor implementation. SEZs led to shortages, graft, inflation. Communist leaders demanded an SEZ moratorium and Deng would periodically accede to such demands (5/n)

THREAD: 1) Hollywood Celebrities and the "Elites" (of DC & the Media) tell you it's an oppressive system because they not only preside over that system of YOUR oppression, they financially benefit from that illusion as they cash the check from their owner.

Son of Perdition (a prophetic poem in a thread)

He thought himself Perfecta, But his perfidy makes me sick. His lack of grace is brazen, he perfumes all his tricks. But we perceive the stink which permeates his tongue, his hypocrisy is perjury, his own perdition he has sung...

His performance is a wonder but positive he’s not. No paragon of virtue, in his lies we’d all be caught. It’s power he lusts after, he sold his soul to do so well. He’s the biggest liar, at the gates of Hell. He purchased himself mirrors to perpetuate the con...

He purloined all the light and claimed it as his dawn. But my purview is the better, I have a higher throne. Though he’s the prince of darkness, no kingdom shall he own. His purlieu is perdition. Usurper-moon defeat! He tried to block the light of love and steal the power seat...

He thought himself invincible, the light he gave so fair, but his light was only the light the Sun/Son did share. Happy too to share it, The light that is God’s face but he’d rather occult Him, And bring God’s word disgrace...

He’d prescribe eternal darkness to all he perceives as peril, his Babylon is fallen, his pursuers now are feral. All shall see his true form and the true light shall prevail, from the light he shall be stricken and from disgrace there’s no avail...

Music can certainly transform destinies, it has certainly given myself and my family a chance of a better life. I have never forgotten my roots, nor the deep gratitude to all who participated in nurturing me over the years. Here is a true story ⤵️

early 1950’s. My father was. 12 year old boy whose family just arrived to Beijing. They lost everything during the war, and came to the capital to start a new life. It was a big family KF many children, my father was 2nd of three brothers with a few little sisters behind⤵️

They were very poor in those days, the Beijing looked down on their country accents and bad clothes. The older kids used fo to the market and collected thrown away vegetable pieces to bring home. My grandparents were educated, but 1 salary was not enough to support everyone. ⤵️

There was a old neighbor who lived alone, he had a radio, and often listens to music on it. My father would sit under his window to listen, eventually the neighbor invited him in, seeing how he loved music. ⤵️

One day when my father was about 12, the neighbor said he heard of a new school that just opened, where they will teach music. The school is free, and offered full room and board.
My father liked the idea, especially because it would mean one mouth less for his parents to feed.⤵️

Here's my 2018 rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas:
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . A Bao Bao in a hemlock tree @pinkypanda0823 #12DaysOfChristmas

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . Two love birds @tiantianpanda97 @MommyMei98 #12DaysOfChristmas

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . Three window escapes @pinkypanda0823 @houseofcubs #12DaysOfChristmas

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . Four honey crates @tiantianpanda97 @houseofcubs #12DaysOfChristmas

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . Five gold rings @tiantianpanda97 @houseofcubs #12DaysOfChristmas

Ok. Here goes.

I track all my books at https://t.co/WLPKFEPoYK. I am going to go through the list and talk about the books I read in 2020 that struck me. Hopefully this won’t be 55 tweets long.

The first book I read in 2020 was this book about punk rock I think recommended by @dansinker

I love books about music and especially music that I enjoy. I learned a lot reading this book and it introduced me to a number of bands. Was fun.

I will read anything by Ken Liu. This collections is wonderful. The story “The Paper Menagerie” broke my heart. I loved it so so much.

A friend recommended Infinite Detail and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I often think about the techno utopian world that we have build and what will happen in the future. This book details a very bizarre and weird future building on a lot of those ideals.

I loved reading this book. I didn’t really know anything about Jessica Simpson before - but really enjoyed her autobiography. Who knew!

There's more today on the weirdness of a housing boom in the midst of the worst economic crisis in 300 years, helped by temporary tax breaks that will expire - probably before Lockdown3 comes to an end.

It's always puzzling why people aren't more repulsed when lenders report "soaring" house prices; we wouldn't, for example, welcome "soaring" gas or electricity prices - or soaring bread prices. But in any case that's what Halifax says they have been doing:

"Soaring" sounds very different if you're hoping to be a first-time buyer than if you're a potential seller who thinks 'ah - freebie time'. That something for nothing mentality has led politicians for decades to think it's bad politics to have prices fall.

...and to spend taxpayers' money propping them up (from mortgage interest relief in the late 1980s to Help to Buy to the current stamp duty holiday). But the reality is that unless your next move in the housing market is to downsize - rising house prices work against you.

Today the estate agency chain Chestertons highlights a huge imbalance in supply and demand: “There were 4% more homes for sale in 2020 than the previous year compared to a more than 40% rise in buyers." And apparently the outlook for the market is therefore 'positive'.

OK. I'm about to read the #1776Report. I'll see you in Hell.

When a student's essay starts with a word jumble that says absolutely nothing, I know I'm about to have a bad time.

Our purpose is to provide easily regurgitated propaganda that prevents any need for critical thinking.

Hit 'em right off the bat with the positivist bullshit! Any competent historian will smell it on the first page.

Just read the words! You don't need to know the context. In fact, we'd strongly prefer if you never placed any historical facts into context.