ubac

> Typography is about the spaces between the letters as much as it is about the letters; to optimise the spaces you need more and better-fitted “pangrams”, which is what typographers call the test sentences, frequently invoking foxes and dogs and lynxes, used to evaluate fonts. “The seven most visually awkward letters are among the nine rarest in English, but pangrams force them into every sentence”

'We may think we know what “life” is, or means, at a literal level. But, in general, definitions of “life” boil down to oppositions between “life” and “non-life” — circular arguments that never seek to specify the boundary between the two. For example: If life exists in a given entity, can parts of that entity be alive in their own right? “It would be wrong to say that the molecules in an organism are living things, but it isn’t a stretch to say that the gross organs that compose a body are themselves living things”'

"The rebels were not happy with the new notes. It's easy to guess why. Fresh money could be used to pay government fighters, not rebel fighters. This "blood money" would then cheekily flow north via trade. Since anyone who holds a banknote is by definition funding the government that issues it with a no-interest loan, the rebel north was financing its own enemies. (The technical term for this sort of financing is seigniorage)."

It's a bit out of date but this book is really interesting on American social class: https://smile.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-Syste...

> though I wouldn't recommend taking a Facebook test that offers to tell you where you lay

hahah, indeed....

was it this one? https://aeon.co/essays/how-european-sailors-learned-celestia...

sorry for late reply -- I don't want to over-state my confidence on this, it could be I was wrong about PPP, and even if it is PPP it's possible that the comparison is missing somtehing. But I think part of the answer to your rent question is that many people in the developing world are living 1) multiple people to a room, in 2) informal settlements/structures that would not be legal in the US. And I do think it's possible to live off ~$60 a month for food in the US if you literally eat oats, rice and lentils -- it's terrible, I hope that goes without saying, but if we're just talking about what's possible I think that can explain the numbers.

I know this will sound unbelievable but I believe the comparison is done at purchasing power parity, so it's adjusting for food and rent as well. Here's the graph I remember, though it unfortunately doesn't confirm or refute my memory that the comparison is at PPP:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/08/15/this-...

This is great. I still remember seeing his India top ventile vs US bottom ventile chart ten-ish years ago, absolutely blew my mind.