The Buffalo Journal

There is a collective hallucination currently infecting our cultural memory. If you listen to modern media or scroll through “revised” history on social media, you’d be led to believe that the slang of the late 20th century was only used by a handful of fringe bigots or “problematic” outliers. That is a flat-out lie. The reality is much simpler, much more pervasive, and much more uncomfortable for the “virtue” era to swallow: for decades, words like gay and retarded were the undisputed, universal standard protocol for every kid in the country. ...

Somewhere along the line, we decided everyone needed to be smart—just in “different ways.” It wasn’t enough to admire the emotionally supportive friend, the empathetic boss, or the skilled communicator for what they were: emotionally attuned, socially skilled, or just really good with people. No—we had to call them intelligent. And so was born the phrase emotional intelligence, or EQ. But here’s the problem: emotional intelligence isn’t intelligence. It’s a category error dressed up in flattery. And the more we inflate the definition of intelligence to include feelings, vibes, or social maneuvers, the less the word means anything at all. ...

Every photo album holds a quiet contradiction. Look at images from 1991 and you don’t see the 1990s. You see the 1980s — the clothes, the malls, the cars, the interiors, the hairstyles, the tone of everyday life. The same happens with 2002, which still looks like the 1990s, or 2012, which resembles the 2000s more than the decade it technically belongs to. This isn’t a glitch of memory or a trick of nostalgia. It exposes a structural truth about how culture evolves: our cultural decades do not match the calendar decades we assign to them. ...

If you’ve ever picked up a sterling silver spoon, bracelet, or candlestick and wondered, “What is this actually worth?” you’re not alone. Luckily, there’s a straightforward way to estimate the melt value of any sterling silver item. All you need is the current silver spot price, a kitchen scale, and one simple formula. The Formula The approximate melt value of sterling silver can be calculated with this formula: (Silver Spot Price) × (Weight in Avoirdupois Ounces) × 0.911 × 0.925 ...

You’ve probably been carrying this in the back of your mind for years. Maybe you haven’t heard from anyone in over a decade. Maybe the loan has been sold to a third or fourth collector by now and you’ve long since lost track of who even holds it. Maybe you’re just waiting — not sure if you’ll ever hear from them again, or if a letter is going to show up next month demanding a number you can’t pay. ...

When the price of gold rises, many investors assume something fundamental has changed about gold: increased demand, a looming crisis, or market momentum. But gold doesn’t always rise because it becomes more valuable in real terms. Sometimes, the price of gold increases simply because the currency it’s measured in has weakened. This distinction — between a real change in gold’s value and a change in the value of the currency — is critical, and rooted in foundational economic theory. Yet it’s often misunderstood, even by otherwise sharp observers. ...

AMC wants you to think they’ve done something generous. Something for the fans. A little thank-you to moviegoers for sticking around through Marvel fatigue and overpriced ICEEs. What they’ve actually done is hand you a plastic bucket and said: “Now you can keep paying us $6 for popcorn… but feel good about it.” This is the AMC Annual Popcorn Bucket — easily one of the most ridiculous “deals” in the entertainment industry. A promo that only works if you ignore the math, the fine print, and common sense. ...

The 77-cent gender wage gap is one of the most aggressively promoted statistical lies in American political life. It won’t die — not because it’s true, not because it survives the slightest scrutiny — but because it is useful. Politicians repeat it, journalists amplify it, and advocacy groups fundraise off it. The fact that it is demonstrably, provably false has never slowed it down for a single news cycle. That ends here. ...

Walk into a corporate training session today and you’re likely to be greeted not with a discussion of strategy, execution, or accountability but with something closer to a group therapy session. “Let’s go around the room and share how we’re feeling today.” “Hold up a color card that represents your mood.” “Let’s celebrate each other with affirmations.” This is not a wellness retreat. These are sessions for highly compensated professionals responsible for real budgets, clients, and teams. And yet the tone is increasingly indistinguishable from a kindergarten classroom. ...

I honk back at everything. It doesn’t matter who the horn was for. It doesn’t matter if I can even see the car that produced it. If I’m behind the wheel and a horn goes off anywhere in the vicinity, I honk. Once, firmly, with purpose. Then I continue my drive like nothing happened. I’d been doing this for years before I ever thought to question it. Then one afternoon, somewhere in stop-and-go traffic with a horn going off three or four cars ahead — aimed at someone I couldn’t see, about something I’d never know — my hand went reflexively to the center of my steering wheel. Afterward I asked myself: why do I do that? Why am I joining an argument I was not invited to? ...