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"Luke Ford reports all of the 'juicy' quotes, and has been doing it for years." (Marc B. Shapiro)
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
- Robert Putnam: The Man Who Counted What America Lost
- W. Bradford Wilcox: The Sociologist Who Tells America to Get Married
- Peter Moskos: The Cop Who Talks to People
- Julius Krein
- Ryan Burge: The Numbers Man in the Empty Church
- Emily Oster: The Economist in the Delivery Room
- The Most Ridiculous Story Ever Told
- Tanner Greer
- Economist Tyler Cowen
- Richard Reeves: A Life in Institutions
- Jake Adelstein: The Reporter Who Became His Story
- Jim Goad (1961-2026)
- Moira Greyland
- Robert Oscar Lopez: The Inconvenient Witness
- Two Ledgers: Decoding the Gurus and the Price of Talk
- The Pervert’s Progress: Costin Vlad Alamariu and the Making of Bronze Age Pervert
- Curtis Yarvin: A Life Against Democracy
- Mark Helprin: Against the Current
- Mark Brandt: The Man Who Asked Who Else Is Prejudiced
- John T. Jost: The Psychologist of Acquiescence
BEST POSTS:
- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Category Archives: Addiction
Conversion, Attachment & Addiction
In my experience, most converts to Orthodox Judaism are unconsciously trying to fill a hole in their soul, fill up a deep sense of emptiness stemming from a lack of attachment (aka an unhappy childhood) and that without deep inner … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction, Conversion
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Unspoken Family Rules
The most powerful rules in my home as a child were: * Live according to God’s dictates (which were no different from dad’s dictates). * Do nothing to discredit or diminish God/dad’s ministry. * Do nothing illegal or unseemly. * … Continue reading
Just For Today
From Al-Anon: Just for today, I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt that I had … Continue reading
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12-Step Wisdom
* Many of my visions turned out to be hallucinations. * Going from invisible to invincible. * You can’t save your ass and your face at the same time. * Suit up, show up and speak up. * Wherever you … Continue reading
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The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships
As I open and start reading the new Neil Strauss book, I notice a lot of pages about Ingrid, his wife. A warning signal goes off in my head. Love made public rarely goes well for long. I fear he’s … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction, Eroticized Rage, Neil Strauss
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Analyzing Neil Strauss
From The Rawness: When I was doing Part 4 to this series, I did a lot of research on the internet and in the book The Game to try to make a psychological profile. One thing I found interesting though … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction, Neil Strauss
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‘His book The Game made him a fortune, but left Neil Strauss in treatment for sex addiction. Ten years later, he’s a changed man, he tells Tom Lamont’
The Guardian: Around 2010, he met and fell in love with a Mexican-born model named Ingrid De La O. She was perfect, Strauss thought, their relationship together “the best I’d ever had”. Yet he found he couldn’t stop pursuing other … Continue reading
NPR: Measuring The Use Of Force May Help New York Police To Limit It
NPR: “The New York Police Department is rolling out a new policy to record officers’ use of force. The strategy has already been implemented in L.A. and Seattle. Advocates say it’s an effective way to limit force; but cops say … Continue reading
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The Underearning Mentality
Over the past couple of months, I have been listening to about a hundred free Underearners Anonymous lectures on this unofficial website and Dropbox account. In lecture 68, Jeff in LA says he’s been in the program for two years. … Continue reading
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The Fear Inventory
Here are some of my notes from HerbK’s Tuesday night 12-step workshop: * When we wrote out our fourth column (where were we to blame in our conflicts with others) in the Fourth Step, we had the experience of feeling … Continue reading
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