Friday, February 19, 2021
In 2002 a senior Bush advisor told a reporter for The New York Times that journalists "believe solutions emerge from judicious study of decernable reality, but that's not the way the world works anymore. We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
— Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States
Thursday, February 18, 2021
But it may not be as great as you think. That's how secrets are supposed to be.
— Min Guhong, "Fruitful Presentation"
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
One explanation that fits some of the evidence, if not all of it, is that the century of economic growth that had begun in 1870 had been driven by inventions, from electricity to the automobile, and was not sustainable.
— Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
It's so important.
— Lily on back massages
Monday, February 15, 2021
Blumer argued that public opinion does not exist absent its measurement. Pollsters created it. "Public opinion consists of what public opinion polls poll."
— Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States
Sunday, February 14, 2021
(The car dealer, in mid-transaction, wonders aloud how he can stand here telling me all of these lies, and I respond to his honesty with a renewed burst of trust and end up buying the car.)
— George Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Saturday, February 13, 2021
Orange cake.
— Emily
Friday, February 12, 2021
"Upton was beaten" Whitaker later said, "because he had written books." The Los Angeles Times began running on its front page, a box with an Upton Sinclair quotation in it, a practice the paper continued every day for six weeks right up to election day.
— Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States
Thursday, February 11, 2021
It looks fake. That's how you know it's real... The images are too lame to be fake.
— Elon Musk, "The Joe Rogan Experience #1609 - Elon Musk"
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
With enough money and with the tools of mass communication, deployed efficiency, the propagandist can turn a political majority into a truth... Efficiency could not solve this problem, efficiency was part of the problem.
— Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
The first lesson was that you're really not peanalized for making below average posts, and that sometimes the things you think are below average, people turn out to really like, so you might as well just post everything as frequently as possible in the hopes that something takes off and you can gain a few new followers.
— Brad Troemel, "13 Years at The Intersection of Art and Technology"
Monday, February 8, 2021
Their hands over their ears and their mouths wide open, to blunt the force of the shock wave.
— Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States
Sunday, February 7, 2021
Tampa Bay has the same initials as Tom Brady.
— David
Saturday, February 6, 2021
The former president is considering launching his own social media platform in the not-too-distant future.
— Matthew Boyle, "Exclusive – Adviser: Trump Considers Launching His Own Social Media Platform," Breitbart
Friday, February 5, 2021
But the delegation had pledge to keep their deliberations secret—for a term of fifty years—a pledge that worked in favor of men like Madison. And within the hall, it allowed for a full and frank airing of views.
— Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Into the footnotes, which I've kept clipped and short, like a baby's fingernails.
— Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
It's not really in my wheelhouse.
— Lily on the Cuban Missile Crisis
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
The only things that can ever be universal, in a sense, are scaling things.
— James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science
Monday, February 1, 2021
Infinite length in a finite space.
— James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science
Sunday, January 31, 2021
It just goes to show--be careful what you put out into the world.
— David on Lily still practicing tapping her fingers together with each hand one finger off
