Retiring Guy's Digest

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Inside the manosphere

Headline: New York Times, 3/25/2026

Gina Cherelus reports on the sluts of the manosphere:

Relationship experts say it’s possible for an open relationship to be asymmetrical: At any given moment, one person may be practicing the “open” part more than the other. But context is key.

“In the manosphere, there’s a lot of crude, evolutionary psychology where they glom onto these pseudoscientific explanations for why what men want to do is natural,” said James Bloodworth, the author of “Lost Boys: A Personal Journey Through the Manosphere.”

“They used these justifications to say that men are programmed to sleep with lots of women,” he added. “Whereas women are programmed to be with one man.” [emphasis added]

According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of 'manosphere' occurred in 2011.

Other coinages from the same year include:

burner account
gender-affirming surgery
humblebrag
nanoplastic
wokeness

Other vocabulary posts:

2026
Oomph. (4/2)

Retarded. (3/31)

Noob. (3/31)

Shoegaze. (2/5)

Gonzo. (1/22)

2025

Hypergamy. (7/31)

Situationship. (7/30)

Lollygag. (5/22)

Bummer. (5/20)

TV dinner. (2/3)

March-December 2024

Deepfake. (9/1)

Life coach. (6/30)

Face-plant. (6/8)

Veggie. (4/26)

Dox/doxxing (4/11)

Edgelord. (3/23)

Dad joke. 3/4)

February 2024

Edutainment. (2/16)

Cut, as an adjective. (2/13). .

Flunky. (2/5)

Janky. (2/2)

Kiddo. (2/2)

January 2024

Bonkers. (1/31)

Heebie-jeebies. (1/31)

Nudification. (1/31)

Right-size. (1/14)

2022

Dumpster fire. (10/20/2022)

2018

Swinge. (12/18/2018)

2017

Michael Flynn vocabulary lesson. (2/14/2017)

2013

Yaw. (2/28/2013)

Las Vegas is feeling the pain of a K economy

Top headline: New York Times, 3/28/2026

Bottom headline: New York Times, 12/19/2025

Reis Thebault reports on Las Vegas:

These days, the high rollers are still rolling into Las Vegas, but those on a budget no longer feel like winners. [emphasis added]

Even as private jets pack the airport and V.I.P.'s crowd the high-stakes tables, a steady decline in overall visitors is sending ripples of worry through this city and beyond. Casinos have closed card rooms, restaurants have cut hours, and resorts have scrambled to lure customers back with deals and discounts.

And pain in Las Vegas, a sequin-draped economic indicator, tends to signal a malady in the nation at large. “

Some say when the country gets a cold, we get the flu,” said Aaron Ford, Nevada’s attorney general. “I say we get pneumonia.”

Lora Kelly reportes on the K economy:

“When people talk about the K-shaped economy, they’re talking about an economy that is being experienced very differently across the population,” said Joanne Hsu, the director of the Surveys of Consumers at the University of Michigan. The wealthy, represented by the line of the K that is angled up, are spending confidently. The less wealthy, the line trending down, are scrambling to make ends meet. This “bifurcation,” Dr. Hsu said, is visible in surveys about consumer sentiment.

Travel and tourism: Trump slump hits Las Vegas. (8/11/2025)

In Las Vegas, a booming population leads to hot nights. (8/12/2024)

Keeping tabs on authors in LINKcat: Brian Doherty

South Central Library System LINKcat online catalog

New York Times, 3/23/2026

Trip Gabriel reports:

Brian Doherty, a writer who colorfully chronicled the libertarian movement in articles and books, most notably a sweeping history that covered eminent founding figures like the novelist Ayn Rand and the economist Milton Friedman as well as obscure oddballs with an anarchist streak, has died in Sausalito, Calif. He was 57.
He was found dead on March 13 in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. His brother, Jim, said Mr. Doherty fell the night before from a steep overlook of San Francisco Bay during a walk with friends who were scouting a site for an art performance. He had a leg injury and walked with a cane.
Mr. Doherty produced an eclectic body of work that had as a common thread his fascination with how bands of outsiders on the cultural and intellectual fringes infiltrate the mainstream. He was especially interested in movements with no central authority.

The 52 member libraries of LINKcat