Month: July 2025

Chill Links

How AI is impacting 700 professions — and might impact yours.

He Europeans are not stupid negotiators by any means, rather they are in a weak negotiating position for reasons that are largely their own fault and reflect underlying weaknesses of their basic economic and political model.

Billion-dollar disasters: The economic toll of wildfires, severe storms and earthquakes is soaring.

Russia kills 22 civilians in Ukraine as the Kremlin remains defiant over Trump threats.

“No Tax on Tips” Is an Industry Plant.

The Coldplay kiss-cam frenzy shows we need a culture shift. Or nuking.

Inflation Outpacing Wage Growth For Over 40% Of Americans, Report Says.

Electricity Prices Are Soaring Under Donald Trump.

CEO Brags That He Gets “Extremely Excited” Firing People and Replacing Them With AI.

With Individual Home Buyers on the Sidelines, Investors Swoop Into the Market.

How Wikipedia Whitewashes Mao.

Gaza Said To Be Starving But Not ‘Release The Hostages’ Starving. Heh.

Earlier phone = lower mental health as young adult.

Not Tea Time

Chill Evil

Damn I’m so glad I’m not dating now. That Tea app is a travesty and any woman who posts anything there should be in federal prison for a year at the least.

Can you imagine if men did something like that Tea app to women? That app would be taken down in hours or minutes.

These days, though, there is always a double standard.

Fire Season

Chill Annoying, Evil

I made a mistake at work that caused a senior employee to get fired. I feel horrible.

I’ve accidentally gotten someone fired too. I feel bad about it to this day.

On a large project that involved sensitive data, I noticed that one of the encrypted hard drives we’d received had some files that didn’t seem correct. The information appeared to be from another customer altogether. I mentioned it on the next project status call and it sent a chill through the virtual meeting room when I did so. I didn’t know why as I said that my team would just ignore the incorrect data and get on with business.

I didn’t call out anyone specifically and I just wanted to make sure that we weren’t supposed to do something with those files.

On the next call, I noticed that the very competent, personable and on top of things project manager we’d been dealing with was not in the meeting. I asked about it later and was told that she’d been fired for including that data.

Awww shit. If I’d had any idea, I wouldn’t have said a damn word about that stuff. It just would’ve gotten silently deleted. There was zero chance my job was or would’ve been at risk as the project could not have been completed on time without me.

But I didn’t know. Someone was probably gunning for her job anyway (this was a terrible org we were taking over for) and that accidental sensitive data inclusion gave them their shot.

I sent her a message on LinkedIn after but never heard back. Hope she’s doing ok; this was years ago now.

Cog Haz

Chill Evil

I basically agree with this. We are now routinely exposed to addicting irresistible cognitohazards to which we are wholly unsuited and cannot handle. Most US (Western?) women have gone what would’ve been described as insane only a few short decades ago from this super-stimulus causing cognitive poisoning. 1. A large minority of men have as well.

We will never conquer the fucking galaxy this way.

  1. As they are already more neurotic by nature, and spend far more time on social media.

Chill Links

VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in. VPNs will probably be banned soon in most of the Western world.

Allianz Life says ‘majority’ of customers’ personal data stolen in cyberattack.

Britain’s spies-for-hire are running wild.

Return of wolves to Yellowstone has led to a surge in aspen trees unseen for 80 years.

The creepy new future of price gouging.

Measles cases are surging in Europe and the US. This is what the anti-vax conspiracy theory has brought us.

For MAGA, Ignorance is Strength. Research cuts aren’t about shrinking government, they’re about killing science.

Power is civilization. Indeed. Energy conservation? I want a fucking energy explosion.

How US Space Command is preparing for satellite-on-satellite combat.

Russian sabotage attacks surged across Europe in 2024. We are already at war with Russia.

A secretive space plane is set to launch and test quantum navigation technology.

Blutbad

Chill Evil

With the absolute bloodbath happening in tech, I’m glad I have significant cash savings and require very little money to live.

I don’t always do the smart thing. But often enough to matter I do. What’s a disaster for many would merely be a vacation for me. I understand that I am very lucky.

Cetacea

Chill Cool, Cute

That’s one of the things I like about Sydney Sweeney. She’s only “regular” beautiful. Sure, she cleans up nice but she looks like about the average girl did during the 1980s — before all the obesity, people walking around looking half-dead due to poor diets, and the horrible tattoos1.

It’s not that Sydney is unattractive. She actually is beautiful! But so were the vast majority of women before they became purely cetacean and disfigured themselves with tattoos. And don’t fuckin’ argue with me. I was there; I remember.

  1. Sydney to her great credit has none.

Knows

Chill Music, Video, Video (other)

That’s a great analysis. Such a difference when you watch someone who actually knows something about music.

Rick doesn’t usually talk about percussion, so I guess I will. The rhythm part of “God Only Knows” is just as interesting and as unusual as the rest of the song. It’s all completely intentional to achieve the ends of the song. It’s structured to highlight emotional beats rather than to “drive” the song as standard percussion does in most rock songs. Sometimes the percussion just disappears altogether and then resumes to highlight and elevate a phrase.

Sleigh bells in the intro and first verse make the song feel like stepping into a shimmery fantasy. The distinctive “clopping” sound in the song (perhaps coconut shells or wood blocks?) mimics a soft horse-hoof rhythm that makes one think of pastoral ease, of falling asleep in a meadow and awakening in a transformed world. Those sleigh bells I mentioned earlier make their return subtly during the instrumental interlude (just before the final chorus) and propel the fade-out, adding a soothing, ethereal sparkle. Sparse drum hits highlight repeated vocal phrases. Timpani rolls add drama and make the song feel orchestral rather than rock-like without overwhelming the progression and becoming overwrought.

Even drum phrases that might typically repeat do not. Instead, they shift and respond to the vocal lines. Check the end of the song particularly. Not one is precisely the same and all work exactly with the vocal part.

Most songs do not get better as you deconstruct them. “God Only Knows” does, though. There’s just so much in it. And it all fits perfectly.