BPS Research Digest: The books and journal articles all psychologists should read
Tent City, U.S.A. - George Saunders - GQ
A field study, in these Hard Times, of the Homeless (as observed in the H Street Encampment, Fresno, California). Being an examination of who they are, how they think, and what they do.
See also the excellent Homeless in Sacramento: Welcome to the new tent cities.
Most people have excellent necks
Most people have excellent necks. Now they cover them with curtains, which is kind of ridiculous.
Time's Inverted Index (Ftrain.com)
Great read. (via)
I’ve been surprised—and upset—to find that ideas I had then were very similar to the ones I have now.
Also:
This younger I seemed far more engaged than the venal goon I remembered. Why did I want to judge him as lacking? Jealousy? Fear that what was lacking was my own progress?
Portlandia: Put A Bird On It
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Liveable v lovable - FT.com
“We also have to acknowledge that these cities that come top of the polls also don’t have any poor people.” (via)
The Joy of Stats - Tablet Magazine
Where before we silently cursed the dumb coach in our living room while remaining unsure whether we were pissed because we were right or because we had had four beers, today we take to the Internet and find thousands of people who also think we are right, and some more who have done the math that demonstrates that we are right, and therefore we know.
Once death is invoked, the choice of who must die may seem oddly arbitrary
Once death is invoked, the choice of who must die may seem oddly arbitrary.
John Berger quoted in The New Inquiry - Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Little Girl?.
Inside David Foster Wallace's Private Self-Help Library | The Awl
The Case for Dennis Rodman, Part 4/4(b): The Finale (Or, “Rodman v. Jordan 2”) » Skeptical Sports Analysis
Could being the best “3rd-best” player in NBA history actually make Rodman the best player in NBA history?
Girls encounter hippie vans in Piedmont Park

Girls encounter hippie vans in Piedmont Park. Atlanta, 1970. Photo by Boyd Lewis. (via)
Breaking down the Situation Room - The Washington Post

Breaking down the Situation Room - The Washington Post.
So the sequence is this: We have less power than they do, and they have less power than reality. The photographer creates a kind of “V” of sightlines to emphasize this drama: We look in from one angle as they look out at another, almost a perfect mirror image.
The way to success is strategically along the line of least expectation…
The way to success is strategically along the line of least expectation, and tactically along the line of least resistance.
B.H. Liddell Hart, writing about General Sherman’s philosophy of war. I got this quote from Ryan Holiday’s monthly Reading List newsletter–if you’re not subscribed, you’re missing out pretty big.
Here are a few blog entries to get you started

Genius. The google lets you read people’s minds. Whether stated preferences match real preferences is, of course, another matter.
Soviet film classics find new life on YouTube - Yahoo! News
The Moscow film company behind some of the greatest classics of Soviet cinema on Wednesday said it had agreed to make dozens of its best-known movies freely available on YouTube.
Now I need someone to tell me what to watch.
The Believer - The Immortal Horizon
“Thirty-Five Runners Face Hollers and Hells, a Flooded Prison, Rats the Size of Possums, and Flesh-Flaying Briars to Test the Limits of Self-Sufficiency.” Essay about the most ridiculous footrace on the planet.
School buses lined his block every morning, like vast tipped orange-juice…
School buses lined his block every morning, like vast tipped orange-juice cartons spilling out the human vitamin of youthful lunacy.
An excerpt from the story “The Dystopianist” in Jonathan Lethem’s very good book, Men and Cartoons. It’s worth seeking out even if you only read “The Spray”–amazing story.
seedy: Terry Riley - You're No Good (1968)
c-d:
Here’s You’re No Good, a live performance using moog and tapes from 1968. He takes Harvey Averne’s r&b song of the same name and cuts it up, layering and multitracking parts above and below.
1968. Terry Riley, OG.
It’s Clint Eastwood & PJ Harvey!
Puberty was a bag of cement lashed to my ankle
Puberty was a bag of cement lashed to my ankle. At least conversationally. Everything I thought and said now had this burning undercurrent of “How’s this going to get me laid?” And wit can’t have an agenda.

