Category: Culture (Page 4 of 22)

What’s the code?

November 13, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

If you receive a call from someone who sounds just like your grandson and says he needs money or a gift card, the best thing to do is hang up and call your grandson. But if the voice is so convincing that you can’t bear to do that, ask for your family code word.

This happened to my mother. She got a call from somebody who identified himself as her grandson, and needed money to get out of jail. The same thing has happened to the elderly parents of several of my friends.

Being alone isn’t so bad.

November 12, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

RCI: Americans Are Increasingly Alone, But Are They Really Lonely?

In 2023, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released a bombshell report, “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” that painted a bleak picture of citizens feeling “isolated, invisible, and insignificant.” Most provocatively, it stated that perhaps half of Americans face a personal crisis of aloneness that poses health risks “similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.”

The “Crisis of Loneliness” issue has been in the news for over a decade. It has always sounded phony to me. How does anyone gauge the loneliness of others?

Feet people should be able to get along.

November 12, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Fetishists infiltrate group promoting barefoot living

The largest group dedicated to “barefoot living” in the UK has been forced to bring in strict rules after being infiltrated by people with a sexual “foot fetish”.

The largest group? That means there are several groups in the UK for people who don’t wear shoes. I hope at least one group has a hobbit theme.

Rap music is off the charts.

October 30, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

RollingStone: Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Luther’ Departs Hot 100, Leaving No Rap Songs in the Top 40 for First Time in 35 Years

I don’t follow pop culture, but it must mean something that for the first time in a few decades, there are no rap songs amongst the Top 40.

“If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

October 28, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Why Chicago’s Brandon Johnson fumed at ‘illegal alien’ question

The quote in the title comes from George Orwell, and everybody thinks that he was smart.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson argued that the phrase “illegal alien” strips away the humanity of the person in question.

Government control of media.

October 8, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

China Punishes ‘Excessively Pessimistic’ Social Media Users

The authorities have punished two bloggers who advocated for a life of less work and less pressure; an influencer who said that it made financial sense not to marry and have children; and a commentator known for bluntly observing that China still lags behind Western countries in terms of quality of life.

China doesn’t just censor, they punish.

Free speech on social media is important, particularly hate speech, with two caveats. It’s better to know who the haters are, so it should not be anonymous. Also, it should be able to be blocked or filtered if you don’t want it.

Henry Ford is a greenhorn at this aviation business.

October 7, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Here’s what was in the NYT, on October 7, 1925.

“They tell me a paper has quoted me as saying the first commercial airplane reliability tour proves the airplane to be reliable,” said Mr. Ford. “Maybe I said that, but I doubt that the tour alone could prove such a thing. I’m a greenhorn at this aviation business, but I can see that it is going to be a great industry.”

Choose authoritarian Progressives or authoritarian Conservatives.

October 6, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 2 Comments

Over a dozen arrested at anti-ICE protests in Chicago suburb

This isn’t good for America.

Mental health challenges are an important part of my identity.

October 5, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Mental Illness, Political Ideology, and Holding False Beliefs

Our recent Skeptic Research Center survey of over 3,000 Americans found that 67% of GenZ men and 72% of GenZ women (i.e., those born between 1997-2006) believe “mental health challenges are an important part of my identity.”

That doesn’t sound healthy.

Hegseth bans fat people.

October 1, 2025 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, addressed the generals and admirals yesterday.

I have not been in the military, but get what Hegseth is going for. Good people are drawn to quality. Forty years ago, the Navy had the motto, “It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.” Hegseth wants to appeal to people who want a challenge and are ready to work for it.