Culturally Determined

Apple's role in the San Bernardino investigation ... The case for—and against—unlocking the phone ... William: Impenetrable encryption is a necessary risk ... Thoughts on the 20th anniversary of Infinite Jest ... Was David Foster Wallace just messing with us? ... Hashing out Wikipedia's current internal turmoil ...

Jesse's article on the closure of a gender identity clinic ... The rise of #firejessesingal ... The real-world consequences of abusive online discourse ... The social dynamics driving internet vitriol ... Why engage at all? ... Life lessons from being shamed on Twitter ...

The origins of @dick_nixon ... Justin: Nixon has no true political successor ... How fake Nixon has changed real Justin ... Did Nixon just want world peace? ... Why Nixon was his own worst enemy ... "Nixon" for Kasich ...

Star Wars Philosophy 101 ... St. Augustine on why people join the Dark Side ... What makes Jedi better than terrorists, and the Empire worse than the U.S. ... Midi-chlorians and the mind-body problem ... The Lucas Empire v. the Fan Alliance: battle for the imaginary universe ... The Force Awakens: spoilers and speculations ...

Is Star Wars: The Force Awakens too derivative? ... Critiquing Kylo Ren, the "hipster Darth Vader" ... The power of fan theories ... Why exactly the prequels were so bad ... Star Wars vs. Star Trek in the cultural imagination ... Aryeh departs for a new adventure ...

Kickstarting The American Bystander, a new humor magazine ... Why stick with print in 2015? ... Upsides and downsides to the dominance of The Onion ... Why Mike likes advertisements ... Advice for the young humorist: "Come from money" ... Mike's guide to the best humor writing ...

Reviewing David Simon's Show Me a Hero ... The show's realistic take on local politics ... Public housing residents depicted with their virtues and flaws ... The perspective of white incumbent homeowners ... Solving public housing's tragedy of the commons ... Why this fight may be coming soon to a town near you ...