Doing film versions of well-known fairy-tales that explore the point of view of the traditional villain is a great idea. Wicked shows the Wizard of Oz story from the perspective of the two evil witches. Netflix is planning to release a new version of Cinderella that tells the story of the stepsisters.

This is great because it teaches children that in every conflict the other side has its own version of the story. It’s a crucial life lesson. We are all villains in somebody’s story. And sometimes, it’s deserved. Remembering this helps us to be a villain less.

It’s the end of the semester, everybody is tired. It takes an effort not to be a jerk to a colleague who asks the same question for the fifth time, not to go off at a student who barges in while I’m recording a class video and spoils the whole thing, and not to snipe at a lab worker who showed up to work even though we issued 5 reminders that the lab closed for the holidays. Remembering that for all these people I’m a character in their story like they are characters in mine helps to avoid rolling my eyes, huffing, and being annoyed. The realization that they find me as annoying as I find them is a necessary humbling experience. We all need more of those.

The people who are ranting the most about the movies which question whether those everybody considers villains are really villains are conservatives. This is strange because, who do they think the Evil Witch of the West and the Evil Stepsister are in the story taught at every school and college and transmitted from every MSM outlet? In our society, who is it that needs people to wonder whether the official narrative of who’s the evildoer might be wrong? Who is the other side that gets labeled evil by definition? Who is it that doesn’t get to tell their story?

If anybody needs people to have a well-developed capacity to doubt official stories and give a chance to official villains, it’s conservatives.

Thank you, President Trump.

Obviously, I’m saying this sarcastically. This is a clarification for people who might have arrived since yesterday and don’t know that I despise BlackRock. That Trump is extorting Ukraine to accept BlackRock shenanigans is very depressing.

If anybody thinks that this is good and can explain how, please pipe up now. I need good news.

These children are being raised for success in 1825. In 2025, this slavish mentality of an identical cog in a vast machine doesn’t pay. The flat subjectivity this upbringing creates puts you at a big disadvantage.

The existing economy needs individuals, deep layered personalities, a quirky, complex character, and a very deep subjectivity.

I have no knowledge of South Korea to explain what drives this incapacity to understand that the world has changed but these poor people are doing their own children a great damage.

The latest strike in the Trump administration's war on "woke": @SecRubio orders the State Dept. to abandon using the Calibri typeface and to go back to Times New Roman. Blinken had State adopt Calibri since a sans serif typeface is easier for people who have a hard time reading. pic.twitter.com/V2cZNIEKvZ

— Edward Wong (@ewong) December 10, 2025

I support this measure. Not for any ideological reason but because Calibri is ugly and hard to read. I prefer Bookman Old Style or Book Antiqua but Times New Roman, which is the standard in academia, will do in a pinch.

I write all of my own research in Book Antiqua and then convert to TNR before sending in for publication. This is a trick I learned years ago from this blog’s long-time friend Jonathan, and it made me more productive because I love how my text looks on a page.

An absolutely horrible story about teenagers driven to suicide by online sex scammers:

In 2022, Mississippi high school football star Walker Montgomery, 16, committed suicide in a story nearly identical to Bryce’s, after he was contacted on Instagram by a “girl” who turned out to be a Nigerian scam artist.

That same year, 16-year-old Waylon Scheffer of Montana, 17-year-old Ryan Last of California, and 17-year-old Jordan DeMay of Michigan all took their lives after being contacted by East Africa-based scammers who had proxies operating in the US.

https://nypost.com/2025/12/09/us-news/west-virginia-teen-commits-suicide-over-online-sextortion-plot/

Somebody needs to be talking to these young men and explaining that there are no normal teenage girls in existence who want to see a picture of their penis. Girls do not solicit pictures of penises. Girls do everything to avoid seeing any more pictures of penises than the ones that are constantly thrust into their faces whenever they go online. Somebody needs to explain that girls aren’t boys. That there’s absolutely zero value to a 17-year-old girl in getting a guy send her genital photos. Because it’s not difficult at all.

These boys lost their lives because nobody bothered to explain that girls aren’t boys.

Or they could have sex. That would make the bowls feel a lot less dramatic.

It goes on and like this about the bowls on an infinite loop. Nobody will ever convince me that a man can care that much about the bowls. Given the shape of bowls, it’s hard not to read this as a cry for… not bowls.

You think it’s a parody but no, it’s real.

The sense of humor is dead and buried.

It’s Spain and Argentina, which makes the whole thing all the more grim.

There’s an ongoing battle for the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. It has been going on for 1,5 years. Ukrainians call the city Pokrovsk, which means “Virgin Mary’s Protective Veil.”

Do you know what Russians call it?

Krasnoarmeysk. Meaning, the city of the Red Army.

These are people who are fighting for very different things.

'Republican' Sen. John Curtis: "All of us need to wake up every morning, look in the mirror, and say 'What am I doing specifically today… to make our immigrants feel more welcome.'"

No, I don't think I will. pic.twitter.com/iDXftXZkJb

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 7, 2025

As a two-time immigrant, I’m most seriously opposed to this project. I’m not a mental invalid or a child. I made my own decisions and am living with their consequences, both good and bad. Nobody can make me feel anything. You are not my mommy and I’m not your toddler.

And what did I do to merit this daily soul-searching in front of a mirror? Moved? That’s my big, heroic feat? That I packed up my stuff and moved? My decision to move in pursuit of my own private goals places an obligation on people who never asked me to do it? Why is it that this particular personal decision is so privileged over any other? Why don’t we concentrate on how to make life easier for pregnant women, families with 3+ children, the elderly, the veterans?

Even among close friends such behavior would be creepy. Imagine your best friend telling you that she stands in front of a mirror every single day wondering how she can make your life better. You’d think she’s gone mental. You’d tell other people, “poor Lucy, I think she’s not well.” Because we all know that this isn’t a normal way of engaging among adults. Nobody wants to be anybody’s pity project.

I am deeply grateful that first Canada and then America accepted me as an immigrant. I don’t expect anything beyond that. To the contrary, I want to demonstrate that I provide value, that I’m not a drain. It actually feels really good to be able to say, “I put an enormous effort into assimilating, my child is as American as they get, I’m law-abiding, I’m productive, I’m not a drain on welfare resources, I pay a lot in taxes.” I received a big gift by being allowed to come. Now I must reciprocate. At the very least, I should try not to turn my presence into a punishment for the locals.

This Senator thinks he’s being kind but he’s completely counterproductive. This is a perfect example of what they call toxic empathy.

I read a suggestion in a novel that the government should institute gigantic financial awards for people who stay married for 50 years. It encourages early marriage, makes divorce a losing financial proposition, and encourages people to take better care of their health because what if you croak a week before the 50th anniversary of the wedding?

People will object that there will be fraud. But honestly, how many pairs of fraudsters will file joint income tax returns for half a century with the hope of getting a payout after that? I’m sure there will be a few but it won’t be a mass phenomenon. Imagine opening your entire finances to a stranger who you know is a crook. And how do you avoid starting a real relationship where the actual wife or husband won’t tolerate you never marrying them and being legally bound to some stranger?

Also, I believe that the payout should be doubled if people raise at least 3 kids in such a long, committed marriage. Huge, fabulous awards. This will openly establish what we value as a society.

Currently, our social payments reward dysfunction. We take money away from people who do everything right and award it to those who do everything wrong. This makes no sense. There should be rewards for socially productive behavior that advances society.