Matthew DeBord

@TheStalwart Keynes prefaced his remark by dispensing with the inversion as the “vile doctrine of the nineteenth century,” which suggests that history has not exactly marched forward here.

Everyone knows the Keynes quote "Anything we can actually do, we can afford." Heard a good inversion of that today, basically "The things that we can't do are unaffordable". Which I think might be a better characterization of some of our challenges in this country right now.

@TheStalwart Another factor is that no serious person in say NYC in the 70s watched TV that much. Not even the “quality” programs. If the was a macro-cultural shift, it was TV become OK for the highbrow crowd that would have previously favored film, theater, art.

@TheStalwart Of course, certain canny operators such as Gore Vidal and Buckley bridged the highbrow-lowbrow gap with TV, but their activities were seen as cynical and self-promotional.

I’ve actually been curious about this. 70s talk TV clips always seem surprisingly high brow (or upper middle brow). Came across some Jerry Garcia clip, where the host just really let him go on about making music. Why was the culture so amenable to that at the time?

@tedfrank @TheStalwart …Colbert were the only places left and even then the setups were sort of skit-like. So it wasn’t the culture, it was the subculture of the hosts and their ideas about what they wanted their shows to be.

1. Cartelization of tv. With only four networks, innovators hadn’t yet figured out that dumbing down is more profitable, and there was a gentleman’s agreement not to dumb down too much that increased competition destroyed. 2. There were also technological limitations making quick cut editing more expensive and difficult, so the style was necessarily for longer shots before MTV changed everything, which was more conducive to longer sound bites. Quick cut editing, on the other hand, requires shorter sound bites, and as network news adopted it… Check out, say, network news tv coverage of Bakke v Board of Education, or a hit movie from 1970-74, or a televised political convention before 1984 RNC turned it into pageantry. Unbelievably slow and measured to modern eyes.

@tedfrank @TheStalwart …transferred to Charlie Rose later, minus the comedy. The Letterman show in the 1980s pioneered a new model, and the intellectuals and comedians started to diverge. Tom Wolfe didn’t play well on “Late Night.” Dennis Miller hung in there, but eventually “The Daily Show” and…

@tedfrank @TheStalwart There isn’t some grand macro-cultural explanation, unfortunately. Cavett’s approach in particular was relatively patient and low-key, derived from his “cool” formulation of comedy. Carson was the more popular version of this. Their manner supported conversation, and this model…

@nigelshortchess The amount of ‘70s tennis detail in that photo is astounding, quite apart from the notable subjects.

@moorehn The trick is to get one of these and store it by the radiator until the braces start to fall out of the inside.

@moorehn Ideally you lay the case or gig bag flat for the packs to be properly situated but it’ll work OK regardless. If the guit is all-solid you prolly wanna be a bit fussier about it.

@Noonz No spill harder to mop up. Rate your gratitude, scale of 1-10.

@hmugica businessinsider.com/teslas-navigat…

@mattdebord I read today your 2018 article comparing Tesla, Mercedes and Cadillac driver assistance and it doesn't provide details of features in each system, such as navigate on autopilot or not. Have you updated your review of recent versions of the three systems?

@hmugica businessinsider.com/teslas-navigat…

@mattdebord Thanks. I will look for them.

@hmugica businessinsider.com/cadillac-super…

Insider’s 2020 Car of the Year is TWO cars: Polestar 1 and Polestar 2! Congrats, @PolestarCars and many props to @KristenLee and @alanisnking for bringing it all together. businessinsider.com/polestar-1-2-w…

A little game I play with myself, the first 5 words I find on #spellingbee will define the day. Today was epic

My Reddit AMA on all things Tesla is happening today (Friday) 12-1PM ET! Join in and please ask general Qs about the auto industry if you like reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment…

I'll be doing a Reddit AMA on all things Tesla (and anything else automotive anyone wants to ask. 12-1PM ET on Friday, 12/18/2020. Join in!

@Matthaber @NewYorker Props for finding my very first ever piece of chess journalism!

The Queen's Gambit is a huge hit on Netflix, but writers @mattdebord and @EvanRomano say it's also the best sports show out there right now. "It’s such a hero’s journey and it draws everybody in," says Romano. cbc.ca/1.5818387