I tried out the Culture Study podcast, and the episode I chose was on why sweaters are so crappy now. The exact line that jumped out at me is the one that AHP happened to pull for this IG post, which is fortuitous:

"The biggest thing is that the multi-fiber arrangement, which is a piece of, like, mostly boring trade regulation between the United States and other Western countries and garment-producing countries in other parts of the world, expired in 2005. And with that expiration, it sort of changed everything about how the global garment industry works, and baout how fast fashion works in the US and in Western Europe, and the quality of clothing that's available to consumers in those countries. That is the fulcrum on which much of this conversation hinges." - Amanda Mull

I just think the idea that the decline in sweater quality hinges on the expired trade agreement is really interesting. I'd like to know more, but the article that inspired the episode "Your Sweaters Are Garbage," is paywalled. The article starts with this tweet, though:

The quality of sweaters has declined so greatly in the last twenty years that I think it genuinely necessitates a national conversation https://t.co/sbjNYp4KSy

— ellory smith (@ellorysmith) September 20, 2023

which is a striking visual. However: do buildings run their heaters hotter now than they used to? When I look at Billy Crystal's sweater, I can feel the sweat running down my back if I tried to do anything (like teaching) indoors.

One thing they harp on a lot in the podcast is the weird plasticky stretchiness that sweaters have now. I agree that it is weird. I'm definitely not contesting the premise of the conversation, that sweaters are weird and cheap these days.

I re-gifted a holiday gift for the mail carrier, and if we'd acquired things in the right order, would have re-gifted more for the piano teacher, etc. It reminded me a little bit of the velocity of money. I hope these holiday gifts circulate until they land on someone who's a good fit for it.

E. Messily sends this in, on the dangers of Christmas. "Researchers suspect euphoria and intimacy of season may be behind spike in cases," indeed.

Under the cut, an old Christmas photo that you've probably seen, but still quite possibly the greatest photo of all time. If you think you know what it is, put your guess in the comments before checking.

A thing that drives me crazy when articles lament the increase in political polarization over the past 20-30 years, without noting that the RACIST BLOC has been extremely intact for the those decades of supposed reaching-across-the-aisle. It's just that for a few decades they were in the uncomfortable position of being uncertain whether they could better be racist by being anti-Lincoln, or by being pro-Nixon/Reagan/etc. Such a dilemma!

The former lack of polarization was an illusion based on the fact that this group was so dependably racist that you could court them based on that one sole fact. So yes, Trump is literally using rhetoric lifted from the third Reich, but Strom Thurmond literally ran as a Dixiecrat in order to protect institutionalized violence against black people. Potato, potato.

Semi-unrelated, one of our former commenters recently posted this at the other place:

There are more Trump voters in California than Texas, more Biden voters in Texas than New York, more Trump voters in New York than Ohio, more Biden voters in Ohio than Massachusetts, more Trump voters in Massachusetts than Mississippi, and more Biden voters in Mississippi than Vermont.

(Mouseover from this XKCD)

I found it weirdly reassuring about the messiness of the country.

Also we can tack on the Colorado thing about Trump here if you want.

What's up? How've you been?

Three groups receive different variations on UBIs: The first group gets $50/month UBI for 12 years. The second group gets $50/month UBI for 2 years. The third group gets a one-time lump sum equal to two years worth of UBI.

It started in 2017, so they've only gotten partial results in so far. And [drumroll]... the lump sum is the best, because it allows people to start their own businesses.

Other highlights:
- it matters that you actually make it universal, and not a subset that lends itself to a tidy study, in part because you create a customer base for the new businesses
- It did not seem to trigger inflation.

Original paper here. I only skimmed the beginning, but it's extremely readable.