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: Filtering Out Conjecture

: Bigger is Not Always Better

: Trump might want to remember how Pearl Harbor turned out for Japan.

: Me and Ozempic

: “For the intellectual an exilic displacement means being liberated from the usual career, in …

: Finished Reading: "Dark Renaissance" by Stephen Greenblatt

: “A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with …

: The unintended irony of this book’s title made me laugh… American Intellectual History: …

: The questions asked by 3 psychological traditions

: George Saunders's "Vigil": a metaphysical romp

: My Brain Needed Numbers!

: “In a wonderful scene in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, detective Sherlock …

: “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody …

: “No matter how much one may love the world as a whole, one can live fully in it only by living …

: Thought Experiment: The Height of the Rim in Basketball

: Definition of Greatness in Art (John Ruskin)

: Katherine Addison's "Witness for the Dead"

: Help! Problem Scrolling Down Left-Side Column of Links on MB

: OK, the furnace is back sending steam throughout the radiators. Our furnace guy is the BEST!

: Brrrr!

: I really want Obsidian to be useful for my writing, but it isn’t easy. This is what I liked …

: Filed my taxes today. Always good to have that out of the way.

: A Theater Historian's Response to Alan Jacob's "Reorientation"

: I just finished snow blowing a circuit in the back yard so the dog can have some place to go when we …

: I spent part of the day sealing up a couple drafty windows before the Big Freeze hits tomorrow …

: An uplifting article about intergenerational arts attendance as a way of combating loneliness in …

: Fizzy and Me: Adventures with Kan Ban

: The Outrageous Price of Books

: The Quest for the Grail

: Theater and Apple Vision

: Help Needed: Online Book Publishing

: Book: The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown

: Panthers win the division! Thanks, Falcons!

: Go Falcons!!! (Never thought I’d say that…)

: The Enshittifcation of the NFL

: No, AI coding is "not the same" -- so?

: Ed Zitron needs an editor.

: Really? “Fear Factor”? What is the matter with you, America???

: The Quest to Disconnect from the Global Internet

: Images, Parables, Paradoxes, Religion, and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

: Time Out for "Salesman"

: OK, Claudia Scheinbaum, the President of Mexico, is 5' 3". Check the horizontal lines running …

: One of my former professors is called a “theatrologist” on Wikipedia. Theatrologist??? …

: I’m slow in observing things sometimes. It wasn’t that long ago that FOX broadcast the …

: A Poor Player on the Season of Hibernation

: Ezra Klein, Sheila Liming, Loneliness, and Winnie-the-Pooh

: Finished reading: The King of Torts by John Grisham 📚 (affiliate link) A cautionary tale about the …

: Winnie the Pooh and Josh Aronson's "Florida Boys"

: Finished reading: The Wild Robot by Peter Brown 📚 Wrote about it here.

: On Reading "The House at Pooh Corner"

: A lovely song by Tuck and Patti: Christmas Wish,

: Greater Detail Concerning My Shift Back to MB

: This summary of Guy Debord’s analysis of our culture by Nobel prize winning novelist Mario …

: Does anyone else find the pardoning of a turkey by the President a macabre tradition?

: Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, especially my friend @apoorplayer who may or may not be buried in …

: (sneaking in the side door) Shhhh. Don’t mind mind me. I’m back. Again.

: Books written for K-12 teachers are mind-numbingly awful. It’s amazing anybody decides to …

: Learn Like an Athlete

: Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution: Cooking at Home

: Milton Understood the 21st Century Mind

: Clif Bar and Theater

: Thomas Merton on the Interior Life

: Today is my 30th anniversary, and I am the luckiest man alive.

: I Changed Lila Shroff's ChatGPT Query to

: I love this version of Blind Willie Johnson’s song “Sorrow Will Soon Be Over” sung …

: I’ve just finished the first part of Jon Cohen’s beautiful novel, “The Man in the …

: Here’s a question: at a time when anyone with $10/month can have their own website, why are …

: I’m getting so tired of bad faith efforts by journalists (yes, I’m looking at you, …

: Welp. I seem to have started to work on another book project.

: Theater people, you DON’T NEED purpose-built buildings. www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/v…

: Politicans and parents think they know about education because they once went to school, which is …

: We finally have a dog who doesn’t give a hoot about fireworks.

: Reading The Hidden History of Neoliberalism by Thom Hartmann. It’s a book that puts the daily …

: Rush Would Not Be Pleased with US Today

: Do you know what would be the best use for AI? It should be trained on tax law, and then set loose …

: I spent some time trying on the ideas of small-c conservatism (i.e., pre-Trump conservatism), but …

: I don’t know about you, but I find this shocking. Stock ETFs that buy the same thing that …

: Unboxing! 3rd Edition of my textbook "Introduction to Play Analysis"

: The AI Discussion

: For those of you who are still willing to learn about AI, Ethan Mollick does a good breakdown of the …

: Ted Gioia declares that long form material has made a comeback. I think he’s right! …

: adam@social.lol “suspended” me, whatever that means. What a coward. Apparently, my posts …

: Bounded Source AI and Google's NotebookLM

: Really? We’re going to judge learning effectiveness based on (checks notes) an EEG assessing …

: The Age of Futility and the Age of Sensibility

: 125 Years of Theater Centralization

: Pixar

: The New Criterion

: Trump Admin members cash in on tariffs

: I have a new author page that includes a blog: scottwalters.net.

: OK, this is cool. Falcons nest on the roof of the UMass W. E. B DuBois Library where I get my …

: Just finished “The Heartbeat Library” by Laura Imai Messina. A beautiful, deeply-felt …

: Arts Orgs and Markets

: Hey, look, Ma! My letter is in American Theatre Magazine!

: This post by @ayjay pretty much describes me as well. “Back to My Books,” by Alan …

: Yesterday was my birthday, and my wife and I went to the Habitat ReStore and I bought a used desk …

: Life Energy

: A Rational Approach to the Presidency?

: OK, I’m settled in for the NFL draft. I’m not hard-core: I’ll probably turn it off …

: Do stock market people ever get tired of knee jerk responses? “Oh, look!” Trump said …

: It seems to me that a large portion of new ideas that, when eventually adopted, turn out to be game …

: Now Reading: On Consolation

: Regrets: I Have a Few (On Teaching)

: Last Night's Entertaining Dream

: Freakonomics on the Economics of Theatre

: The Importance of Imagination to Social Change

: The Death of PAJ: Performing Arts Journal

: Erich Fromm "On Disobedience"

: WTAF

: Total market manipulation. I have put all of my retirement savings into cash and CDs. I will not …

: Cells in Cells

: Stand by for Threads Deactivation in 3...2...

: On Edmund Wilson's Style and Career Path

: Jaron Lanier's "Oy, AI" -- Don't Try to Hide the People

: Jaron Lanier on AI

: BREAKING: Only 12% of the 1903 general public believed that the flight at Kitty Hawk would affect …

: So here’s the problem: American-made cars aren’t made with American-made parts. So …

: For some reason, I decided to post something about AI on Threads. 2 stars. Would not recommend.

: The Size of Grants to Individual Artists

: On AI in Music Composition and Image Generation

: It's Just My Opinion and Other Time Wasters

: The Barter Theater and the Importance of Alternative Stories

: My Position on AI

: Stories

: Using AI as a **partner **in a research team.

: The Lack of Inspiration in US Politics

: There is so much BS in this article from American Theatre Magazine about what theater students …

: I'd Come Out of Retirement to Do This

: Something is wrong with my Social Security

: A Play, a Pie, and a Pint -- Why I Appreciate Scotland's Famous Lunchtime Theater

: Ivan Illich, John McKnight, and Asset-Based Communities

: Michael Rushton does it again, this time calling BS on arts districts. …

: A Personal Project

: “The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world, full stop. Unless we can …

: Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Birth of Show BUSINESS (Part 2): The Resistance

: You know what I think is weird? That people will condemn you for not keeping up with the news while …

: Thoughts on Style While Feeling Crummy (Embracing My Inner Paglia)

: Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Birth of Show BUSINESS (Part 1)

: Nicholas Carr on the Contemplative Gaze

: Michael Rushton is doing an excellent job of dismantling all the ways we miss the boat when …

: True Wealth

: The Rise of the Combination Company and the Death of the Resident Stock Company

: Independence

: Trains, Canals, and Uncle Tom's Cabin (The Rooted Stage, Part 4)

: The River of Vision

: “My poetry is basically a poetry of praise. It’s an affirmation of the world, of the …

: When i largely disconnected from social media, I remembered what it was like to have only my own …

: Theater Ideas Weekly Newsletter

: I Need Ideas About Getting Formatting into EPUB

: I just made the mistake of checking in on Threads. Good God, it’s just one person after …

: playbill.com/article/b… Brown and Trinity Rep shutting down MFA in Acting and Directing. Let …

: playbill.com/article/b… Brown and Trinity Rep shutting down MFA in Acting and Directing. Let …

: What You Have to Do to Get an NEA Grant Now

: A Dream about Story

: I Interview Myself (The Rooted Stage -- Introduction)

: Sophia Efthimiatou On Receiving

: Who Owns the Buildings (The Rooted Stage, Part 3)

: Fichandler: The Burden of the Nonprofit System in US

: What Happened in 1870? (Not So Fast) (Part 2 of The Rooted Stage)

: On Restaurants and Theaters

: I’m fascinated by the Scottish theater company A Play, a Pie, and a Pint. They’ve just …

: The Rooted Stage: Beginnings (Part 1)

: "Snakes on a Plane" is a better movie than "Oppenheimer," or Why Artistic Categories Can Make It Easier to Talk about Art

: The More Things Change...

: I’ve been reading Michael H. Shuman’s books for 20 years. This one really has me …

: social.ayjay.org/2025/01/0… Lately, @ayjay has been the source of a lot of new thoughts and …

: Tracing My Influences

: It seems to me that what micro.blog is helping me to do is avoid what Ed Zitron describes here.

: As tech moguls each “contribute” money to Trump’s “inauguration fund,” I am …

: Michael Rushton asks “what is public funding for the arts for?” He offers a starting …

: Notes Toward an Article on the Arts and Effective Altruism That I Didn't Post

: “Along with Joseph Addison, Shaftesbury paved the way for a new approach to English writing, …

: I like Austin Kleon’s idea of keeping track the books he __didn’t__read (h/t Alan …

: Wow. I just spent 3 hours writing something that could have been created by 3 monkeys pounding on a …

: A Different Vision of Education

: A fine line, but the best playwrights and artists understand.

: Where Are Our Prophets?

: Definition: Anti-Intellectualism

: “The theater’s rich intellectual inheritance serves as a buffer to society’s recrudescent …

: Alan Jacobs on The Work Itself

: Adam Smith on Vanity

: Alan Jacobs, Ross Douthat, Margo Jones, Tony Kushner and the Fate of (Pop) Culture

: Interactive Theater In Person AND Online

: I hate the post-Fed-announcement hysteria that hits the stock market every time the Fed cuts …

: There are few things better than a good rant, especially if it is about the internet. Well done! …

: He Who Is Without

: Saul Bellow on the News

: So here’s a question I’d be interested in hearing you talk about: if we just stopped …

: If Rushton is really calling that “ingratitude,", it should serve as an illustration as …

: One Size Doesn't Fit All

: “Adaptive problems are embedded in social complexity, require behavior change, and are rife …

: “we have lost sight of any collective belief that society could be different. Instead of a …

: Comps

: ”The characteristic of the hour is that the commonplace mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has …

: Diane Ragsdale Provides a Thanksgiving Pi

: “Murdoch believed we should cultivate a kind of ‘mindfulness’. By making a habit of focusing …

: “Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he thought, lying awake, that is because dull …

: The winter begins!

: A Time of Leisure and Freedom

: “The arts can turn a piece of banal knowledge into a truth that has the power to move us, when …

: “Although Goethe was intimately connected to the social and cultural life of his time, he also …

: “Resistance is first of all a matter of principle and a way to live, to make yourself one …

: Charm vs Charisma