Tim Ferris interviews Stewart Brand

Stewart Brand is one of the strongest influences in my life and Tim Ferris one of the most interesting explorers. Tim interviews Stewart for 90 minutes in this podcast - most interesting views, derived from a life of exploration that has reached the age of 78.

https://tim.blog/2017/11/21/stewart-brand/

Trump pick for Census Bureau puts anti-democracy theoretition in position to mastermind gerrymanding

Theintellectualist

So we have a deficit plan to encumber Dems, a judiciary to control everything, and elections tilted - master warfare by Reeps

Charlie Manson was an alt-right progenitor

I know someone who knew Manson and am sure this Times opinion column is correct.
Manson was a charismatic crazy exploiter of the weaknesses of the Sixties Counterculture and a race war provocateur.  I also recommend watching the Aquarius tv series (2 seasons) and listening to the You Must Remember Manson podcast

data analytics/AI in the service of Right wing psywar

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy

This is an important pointer to the role of Cambridge Analytica and similar companies in the Brexit, Trump and other campaigns.

San Francisco's Transbay Terminal and the Salesforce tower

SF Chronicle story

why conservatives are more susceptible to lies

Slate.com article similar to Lakoff

a must-watch HBO/Vice News reveal of the Paradise Papers

The November 7 episode of HBO/Vice News series reveals the Paradise Papers, the largest by far expose of the intertwining businesses of the mega-wealthy, the powerful and many administrations, especially the Trump administration.

things French, mostly

KevinO follows a steady diet of things French these days, including reading the news in French and a visit to Paris. He should check out a recent post at one of my favorite blogs, the long-running kottke.org, which is filled with French influences... I also see a Montreal restaurant review, which reminds me I was looking at a flight to Athens with a five-hour layover in Montreal - maybe I could visit with Debbie Marc?

first lucid dream

Brief and momentary, real: I became aware of my waist length hair and wondered what was going on, as my hair has been short for forty years.  It then dawned on me - "I'm dreaming!" I exclaimed to myself. I was joyful. That's all I remember. I occasionally dream I have long hair, usually flipping it back - this must be my wakeup object, rather than Castenada's hands trick.

the pit bull right hand man to Mueller

go, Andrew Weissmann!

the dominance of GOOG, AMZN, and FB changes the internet

The Next Web h/t Steve Adams

play Spot the Bot

Cal undergrads use machine learning to id the political bots

more in-depth Wired article

where does the ideology of the two parties come from and how does it play out?

This NY Times opinion piece looks correct and does not bode well for the dominant Democratic strategy. It also implies that success would require a long-term campaign to define an identity, given the weak one that now exists.