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How to Read This Substack
San Antonio Palopó, Guatemala.
Dec 25, 2025
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U. Ortego
90
25
44
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THE UNSINKABLE MYTH
Dec 26, 2025
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U. Ortego
75
13
20
THE BENGAL CONNECTION: How Britain's Opium System Became OxyContin
Dec 10, 2025
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U. Ortego
68
2
13
The Ghost in the Machine
Dec 28, 2025
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U. Ortego
62
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10
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ONE BIG UNION
When Workers Briefly Broke the Machine—and What the System Learned
19 hrs ago
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U. Ortego
1
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MONSTERS OF THE ATOMIC AGE
How Civilizations Teach Themselves to Fear Their Own Power
Jan 13
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U. Ortego
3
1
1
Greenland Wasn’t a Joke
The ice doesn’t care about borders.
Jan 11
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U. Ortego
3
1
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The Mad King Myth
And the Systems That Break Around Him
Jan 10
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U. Ortego
4
3
4
When Profanity Stopped Being Disqualifying
How presidential cursing documents the collapse of deliberative power
Jan 9
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U. Ortego
50
1
5
Borrowed Saints, Older Gods
When Empire Meets Older Gods — and New Powers Move In
Jan 8
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U. Ortego
36
1
2
When the Ship Becomes the System
What The Sea Wolf (1941) teaches about power, myth, and the people trapped inside
Jan 7
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U. Ortego
45
1
4
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Optimal Outcomes
Dissecting the machinery beneath modern life—where reason fractures and power performs.
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Optimal Outcomes
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