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A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

Paul Barron Network PBN3 is focused on the future of technology in Blockchain and Web3, led by award-winning journalist, author, and analyst Paul Barron. We deliver deep dives, sentiment data, and thought leader interviews. By PBN3 Paul Barron Network No thanksncG1vNJzZmiokqOAb7%2FUm6qtmZOge6S7zGg%3D

Good evening, For you newbies out there, welcome to Outsider on the Inside. I hope this dispatch from in and around the nation’s capital on underreported topics finds you well. If you’re just discovering my musings, here’s a backgrounder and make sure we’re connected on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. On Saturday, I celebrated my 33rd birthday with some of my closest friends and boldly went where a Millennial can go: eating cheese-wheel pasta.

The digital world is full of voices (often loud and disgruntled), but this is a place where you won’t find the obvious perspective, or the one you see everywhere else. By an Irish writer, editor and ex-philosopher. Over 9,000 subscribers No thanks“Good sense on everything, except how much milk to put in tea. ” ncG1vNJzZmikm5q7r7HDsmWsrZKowaKvymeaqKVf

Nowadays, we take it for granted that Rome is the capital of Italy, but did you know that wasn’t always the case? When Italy became a unified country, its first capital was actually Turin. The Kingdom of Italy was officially declared on March 17, 1861 and Vittorio Emanuele II, then King of Piedmont-Sardinia, was proclaimed its king.  Up until that point, the Italian peninsula was made up of a number of different kingdoms and dukedoms.

US News and World Reports has a popular rating guide that is often cited by consumers as an accurate indication of a university’s standing. In the last 10 years, Penn State has plummeted in this ranking, from 37th nationally (3rd in the Big10 Conference) to 77th nationally (and 11th in the Big10). This drop is the largest of any major university in the country.  During the same time, the University of Iowa dropped 10 spots, Michigan State University fell four, and the University of Nebraska was kicked out of the American Association of Universities, but the remaining fourteen Big10 universities have either maintained or improved their rankings.

Someone with a “chip” on their shoulder believes they have been underestimated, passed over, undervalued, or rejected unfairly. The perceived slights they have experienced create a desire to prove their value. This motivates them to work differently than others. ncG1vNJzZmiZlKK2s7HDpZyanJWnwKm1z2eqrpqjqa6kt42cpqZnoGS9prvPpZxmr5mptW6tjJyfoqhdpLtuwMeeoKtlo528trjDnqlom5%2Biuqa606w%3D

Hi, Friend. We’re just about done with this year. And what a year, full of all-at-onceness, by which I mean full of both the beauty and the terror Rilke wrote about: “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” I’m sure you’re familiar with the branding around the beginning of a new year: “New Year, New You” is a phrase I’ve heard often. In other words: The old year is over, so why would we want to drag our same old selves into the new one?

Patton Oswalt on Jim Gaffigan’s Hot Pockets bit. It’s amazing. One of those perfectly realized, no-meat-left-on-the-bone-of-the-idea jokes that also so perfectly captures the personality and intelligence of the teller that it becomes a part of how you think of them. Martin Scorsese and Rolling Stones songs in films. Salvador Dali and melting watches, desert landscapes. Carson McCullers and that specific kind of insanity that festers in the Southern heat and haze.