Scott Alexander steelmans NIMBYs (4,900 words) – Scott is a great writer which is why I think all of his blog posts are must read, but I felt there were many holes in his argument. Luckily, he is also willing to provide a platform for those who disagree with the position he took in a follow-up comments article (3,000 words). The commenters that most reflected what I was thinking were Gwern (trillions of additional economic growth created doesn’t sound so bad) and DS (NYC has severe housing restriction as well so it’s not a good comparison; a better one would be Seoul).
David A. Kaplan on the Supreme Court – The title on the Longreads website is deceiving, since the article doesn’t explain how the Supreme Court got to be the way that it is. Instead, it goes over the secrecy and excesses of the court. Interesting nonetheless. The court that was all but irrelevant when the Constitution is now all powerful and carries itself accordingly (not in a good way). (5,000 words)
Every Frame a Painting – I’ve been living under a rock and just discovered this YouTube channel 2 years after its last video. My god is it amazing. Having discovered it right after seeing Seven Samurai this past weekend, I found the video on Kurosawa especially great. As someone who didn’t go to film school, I miss a lot of the technical details, which is why these videos are so engrossing. My favorites so far are the Marvel Soundtrack, Jackie Chan, Texting, and Snowpiercer videos. If you like this channel, I also recommend the Lessons from the Screenplay channel.
Bill Simmons interviews Matt Damon – The stories Damon tells are riveting. I don’t watch celebrity interviews, so I hadn’t heard any of these stories. (108 min.)
On The Nose 