Month: July 2025

Pancake

Chill Amusing, Annoying

Heh. Exactly. Biking is a dangerous hobby because in the US we made different choices about how to organize our transpo infrastructure as compared to some rinky-dink European town.

Make adult choices about it, STFU, or get pancaked. Anyway, most of the US is unpleasant or untenable to ride a bike in 60% of the year. Right now, it’s 92 outside where I live and will get up to 98 later in the day. I’m resilient to heat and no way I’d ride in that.

Lurch

Chill Gutter Philosophy

Feminism lost its way when it became primarily about keeping “undesirable” men away from PMC women. And then it embraced Islam as feminist.

Combine with that a heaping serving of “Feminism for me but not for thee” and it was done. Now feminism lies in ruins with nothing to replace it — which to be fair is true of most of the zombie 20th Century ideologies we still cling to. There is nothing yet clearly on the way to supplant any of them and it appears there will not be for some time.

Intentionality

Chill Evil

After reading the prelim report and knowing a good bit about that plane, I’d say the chance of murder-suicide is 90%. It’s nearly impossible to operate those fuel cutoff switches without intending to do so. And cutting fuel at that altitude == gooey kablooey. Any pilot would know that.

Would Hate To See Losing

Chill Clowns, War

Even ignoring my feelings about the war, anyone who describes Russia as “winning” is a clownish dumbass.

Russia:

  • Has achieved none of its military objectives
  • Has not made any substantive gains in years
  • Controls nothing important it didn’t already control in 2015
  • Has experienced 1M casualties, including ~250K KIA
  • Is relying on North Korean ammo and personnel
  • Has very little equipment left
  • Probably cannot hold what it has taken long term

Whatever that is, it sure ain’t winning no matter what doofs like Ian Welsh claim.

Chill Links

Canada, Japan and Australia: Swing States or Pawns for China?

US Naval Revival in the Indo-Pacific Ramps Up.

Bad Actors are Grooming LLMs to Produce Falsehoods.

FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show.

In a First, Solar Was Europe’s Biggest Source of Power Last Month.

Before Tragedy, Texas Repeatedly Rejected Pleas for Flood Alarm Funding.

The Biggest-Ever Digital Camera Is This Cosmologist’s Magnum Opus.

Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers’ stuff.

World must be more wary than ever of China’s growing economic power.

The Trump Administration Is Planning to Use AI to Deny Medicare Authorizations.

The U.S. Is Testing Tiny Nuclear Reactors That Can Go Practically Anywhere. I’ll take one.

Stare Up

Chill Killin' It

It’s kind of weird to be fit enough that every time I go into a crowded grocery store at least 2-3 women stare at me thirstily.

I can see how women would get tired of that sort of attention, though I think they complain about it too much (because it’s a way of saying, “I’m so attractive!” without directly starting it). But that’s from the perspective of the average man, who often gets absolutely no attention at all ever. That is the default male experience — invisibility and disposability.

Women can claim what they like, but it’s a horrible way to live.

Chill Links

Bear-Sized Giant Beavers Once Roamed North America.

‘Autofocus’ specs promise sharp vision, near or far.

The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Climate Chaos to Come.

The Milky Way could be teeming with more satellite galaxies than previously thought. Can I have one?

‘Show Your Papers’ Threatens Life On the Internet. Freedom has decreased greatly since the 1980s. And getting worse all the time.

How Volkswagen’s Electric Bus Went From American Flagship to Flop.

‘Vibe Coding’ Has Arrived for Businesses.

Pentagon Just Made A Massive, Long Overdue Shift To Arm Its Troops With Thousands Of Drones.

Clarence Thomas has long tried to undercut the Voting Rights Act. Now, he may finally have the numbers.

Doing exercises that increase your heart and breathing rate on a regular basis may reduce your risk of an early death across all causes by up to 40%, according to a new meta-analysis of 85 studies that looked at 7 million people worldwide.

The Outsize Impact of AI Logistics.

Few Texas Homeowners Hit by Extreme Rains Have Flood Insurance. The lack of coverage is becoming more problematic as climate change intensifies storms.

US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts. Moronic.

Pipe

Chill Political Economy

My unpopular opinion: These days, all water shortages in the US are self-created.

With cheaper desalination and much, much cheaper solar options available (not to mention nuclear) we could desalinate water at the coasts and transport it via pipelines to anywhere needed — even Kansas.

As we scaled this up, the costs would fall enormously over time.

And contrary to what you might’ve read, transporting by pipeline is insanely cheap. Many of our problems have obvious and easy solutions. We just lack the will to implement them.