* “Israel Proves the Desalination Era is Here: One of the driest countries on earth now makes more freshwater than it needs,” an important point and one I didn’t realize.

* “J.D. Vance and the Anger of the White Working Class: The author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ on his tough upbringing, his new life as one of the ‘elites’ and what communities can do to help.”

* The New York Post and others have dug up nude Melania Trump photos from the ’90s, which I won’t link directly to though they can be easily found; the better media responses have observed that a) there’s nothing wrong with nude photos and b) you shouldn’t attack candidates for their spouses’ non-relevant pasts. Both are true, but many people who identify as Republic likely disagree with them, which is part of the reason the story gets so much play: It reveals hypocrisy.

* “How to Write a Novel,” amusing throughout and it seems that many quality authors use many different systems (or lack of systems). There is not one route to good end product.

* Mark Manson: “Is It Just Me, Or Is the World Going Crazy?”

* In good news, “Court Rules Former Columbia Student Suspended for Alleged Rape Can Sue for Anti-Male Bias.”

* Oliver Sacks: “Me and My Hybrid,” from 2005, and his points still stand today.

* “The big puzzle in economics today: why is the economy growing so slowly?” Likely to be of interest to politically interested people even if they don’t care for economics in general.

* A new Tyler Cowen book is coming out in February; the link goes to the post describing the book (and how to get a free book) and here is a direct Amazon link to The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream.

* “Brexit Blues,” the best piece on this topic I’ve read, and one of the better for describing Trump. It reminds me of the saying, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Ignorance is expensive in voters round the globe right now.

* “It takes way too long to build new housing in expensive cities.”

* This is why people in the know vehemently opposed public-sector unions: “A Metro worker blamed for falsifying records about the tunnel fans that failed during last year’s deadly smoke incident near L’Enfant Plaza has been granted his job back by an arbitration panel — and Metro’s largest union has just filed a lawsuit against Metro because the worker hasn’t been reinstated yet.” Or see “How police unions actually hurt police officers.” Unfortunately, it looks like the Supreme Court will not save us. Still, it is odd that the left favors public sector unions, since those very unions make the public sector less efficient and more prone to right-wing attacks.

* “How The Cures For Cancer Snuck Up On Us,” good news all round.

* “A Republican intellectual explains why the Republican Party is going to die;” it is hard to say whether the consequences will be very bad, very good, or somewhere in between. The current Republican Party is bad for democracy, the U.S., and itself.

* “How The West Was Won,” which is actually about how and why “Western” culture took over the world because a) it’s popular and b) it’s not so much Western per se as the result of technologically oriented development.

* The pre-order page for Tom Wolfe’s new novel, The Kingdom of Speech. If Wolfe writes it you ought to read it.

* “Apple’s China Problem Is That Local Phones are Good — and Cheap.” I’d expect this to become more of a “problem” for manufacturers and good news for phone users over time, as the market saturates.

* “Why Police Cannot Be Trusted to Police Themselves,” a point that seems increasingly obvious.

* “A Conversation with Michael Orthofer” is the latest conversation with Tyler, and as always it is excellent. This describes me: “A lot of people come away from travel alienated. They don’t always enjoy travel. They may vaguely feel it was good for them. They had to make too many decisions, and they argue with each other.” I think few people who live in big interesting cities know their homes well, and I also think that loneliness / disconnection / anomie is a bigger problem for most people than the marginal trip / vacation, especially now that U.S. airport security theater is so bad.

* Why do most Millenials have children out of wedlock? Oddly, the researchers never seem to consider the answers from “Real World Divorce,” or ponder what decades of real-world divorce observation may have done to most people currently of reproductive age.

* “‘The Concubine Culture Is Alive and Well:’ Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s new novel exposes the glittering compromises of the ‘sarong party girl.’ Amazon link straight to the book is here, sounds interesting but not for me.

* One political / cultural / legal reason cops are ultra-violent. It also goes well with “How police unions actually hurt police officers.”

* “This $99 accessory turns your phone into a laptop,” things I had never really imagined and yet could be very helpful for many people. The more powerful phones get and the more capacious their batteries, the more impressive / useful this becomes. Here is their Kickstarter.

* Similar to the above, “Why I left my new MacBook for a $250 Chromebook.” I’d have trouble without Devonthink Pro, which is the killer app for me. Still, Apple’s recent moves have me watching the Linux laptop market, because I’m not sure OS X will remain usable, good, and supported forever.

* “Can a Nurse Practitioner Replace a Physician? Data and personal experience suggests it’s possible. The current shortage of doctors attending veterans might make it necessary.” That last sentence is the key. See also my 2012 essay, “Why you should become a nurse or physicians assistant instead of a doctor: the underrated perils of medical school.”

* “Confessions of an Ex-Prosecutor: Culture and law conspire to make prosecutors hostile to constitutional rights.” Disturbing and important.

* “The Libertarians’ Secret Weapon: The third-party candidacy of Gary Johnson might make the most unpredictable election in modern times even weirder.” It’s from The New Yorker so it isn’t like the numerous garbage political articles that pop up around presidential elections.

* “How police unions actually hurt police officers,” an underappreciated point.

* “We’re Building 6 Homes for Every 10 New Households. Where Will People Live?” When you hear people talking about “income inequality” in the national media, what they’re really saying is, “People feel financially squeezed.” That’s because, since the 1970s, we’ve systematically raised the cost of housing for virtually everybody through zoning rules. But that issue is complex enough that you won’t see slogans or bumper stickers around it.

* Drug Prohibition Has Made Policing More Violent: What can be done to curb the excessive and, sometimes, predatory policing that has emerged from the Drug War?

* “Why Trump’s Prosperous Supporters Are Angry, Too,” not the usual, and “inadequate savings” may be surprisingly salient and motivating.

* “Why NYC Rent Is So High (It’s Not Airbnb).”

* Far better than the title makes it sound: “The Philosopher of Feelings: Martha Nussbaum’s far-reaching ideas illuminate the often ignored elements of human life—aging, inequality, and emotion.”

* “Classic Hollywood’s Secret: Studios Wanted Their Stars to Have Abortions,” unusually sad and affecting.

* “How Anti-Growth Sentiment, Reflected in Zoning Laws, Thwarts Equality.”

* “How to Beat Writer’s Block.” In The New Yorker, not the usual Internet drivel.

* “Pharma companies are fighting legal marijuana because painkiller prescriptions drop when weed is legalized.” Talk about unintended consequences.

* “Why 30 is the decade friends disappear — and what to do about it.”

* “The Fight for the ‘Right to Repair:’ Manufacturers have made it increasingly difficult for individuals or independent repair people to fix electronics. A growing movement is fighting back.” The increasing difficulty of repairing Apple products is notable and annoying; for example, only recently did aftermarket hard drives show up for many 2012 – 2015 MacBook Pros.

* Megan McArdle: “Sexual Harassment Is Invisible to Half the Population;” not the dumb stuff you’re used to reading on this topic.

* “So Many Research Scientists, So Few Openings as Professors.”

* “The Complicated Legacy of Helen Gurley Brown,” who founded Cosmo and wrote many other interesting things.

* A promising book about chocolate, though too expensive for me right now.

* Concern trolling, competition, and ‘Facebook Made Me Do It.'”

* “Data Mining Reveals the Six Basic Emotional Arcs of Storytelling,” and their conclusions are likely to be of near-zero help to actual storytellers.

* “End Needless Interactions with Police Officers During Traffic Stops,” another of these “should be obvious” things. And: “My husband is a cop. I’m tired of trying to convince my fellow liberals he’s not a monster.”

* “The Surprising Health Benefits of an Electric Bike.”

* “Sonnen’s new battery for solar self-consumption could succeed in US.”

* From Grant Writing Confidential, a post about an aspect of government few people understand: “It’s possible to get re-programmed funds, if you’re tight with your federal agency program officer.”

* “Thoughts on possible and perceived income inequality.”

* Transit Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) in Chicago.

* “How Expensive Cities Hurt Workers,” which regular readers no doubt know.

* “Is American Culture Asking Too Much of Marriage? The relationship therapist Esther Perel thinks so—and argues that it’s time to rethink matrimony and, with it, infidelity.” Points rarely made, and Perel’s book Mating in Captivity is one of the most interesting and unexpected I’ve ever read. It was published in 2007 and feels equally shocking today.

* “A fieldtrip to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a work-in-progress that will test fusion’s feasibility.” Progress has been made since 2014’s article, “A Star in a Bottle: An audacious plan to create a new energy source could save the planet from catastrophe. But time is running out.” Both are excellent.

* Kids are more boring than they used to be: They’re drinking less, using fewer drugs, and having less sex. What’s the point of being young?

* Synthetic spider silk could be the biggest technological advance in clothing since nylon.” Cool if true.

* “Building My $1,200 Hackintosh,” which is pretty attractive compared to Apple’s anemic lineup of desktop Macs.

* “Let’s make peer review scientific,” something that ought to have happened ages ago.

* “Italian banking is the next shoe to drop,” a story that has gotten weirdly little play.

* “What’s the point of the PhD thesis? Doctoral courses are slowly being modernized. Now the thesis and viva need to catch up.”

* Speaking of the PhD thesis, “Universities May Be Contributing to High Attrition Rates Among Graduate Students.” See also my posts “Why do so many people continue to pursue doctorates?” and “What you should know BEFORE you start grad school.”

* New York City’s subway agency loses six billion dollars a year—and nobody cares.