Draining

October 19, 2025, 7:03 PMOctober 19, 2025, 7:10 PM Chill Annoying

Maybe we should’ve immigrated, but where would we have gone?

Any country that would accept us also really sucks and is also in decline. Sad times.

No matter how bad things get in the US, we can rest easy knowing that they will never be as bad as the UK. https://t.co/PxUh2omXSH

— psychosomatica (@Xenoimpulse) October 12, 2025

The UK is cooked. Germany has shot themselves in the face. Spain has an economy like a flaming dumpster. Australia is killing itself with too much immigration and their housing market is stygian. The same goes for Canada. Maybe New Zealand?

I mean, it’s always the case that nowhere is free of problems. But most countries seem to be circling the drain by self-caused and completely-preventable induced crises.

Tuna

October 19, 2025, 6:50 PM Chill Annoying, Clowns, Tech

the hysteria on the left about AI art has always been bad, but this is a new, absurd low. also the 'boiling water' narrative is making a comeback again, for some reason. https://t.co/I1EEcdAtDj

— psychosomatica (@Xenoimpulse) October 16, 2025

That is in-fucking-sane.

The left really is fully in degrowth anti-tech mode. AI is a tool like any other. It has its uses. For instance, I put it to work it to create an infrastructure usage estimation and comparison spreadsheet with tunable parameters in about an hour. I could’ve done it all myself, but it would’ve taken me 5-6 hours (it’s a quite complex spreadsheet). But I could do this because:

1) I am extremely familiar with all the infrastructure involved so I’d notice any hallucinations.
2) I’ve done infrastructure capacity planning for twenty years.
3) And I’m already very competent with Excel.

It wouldn’t have saved me nearly as much time if those three items weren’t true and also probably would’ve produced something inaccurate without my manually fixing what it got wrong. But the key is: it did save me tons of time.

Pushy Guy

October 19, 2025, 6:04 PM Chill Killin' It, Kratos

I did 230 push-ups today across three sets.

And that’s a freakin’ lot.

Buse

October 19, 2025, 11:43 AMOctober 19, 2025, 12:49 PM Chill Evil

Woman makes her bf crash.

It’s claimed women can’t be abusive because they are “not a threat.” But of course they are. My mom was the physically and mentally abusive one in my parents’ relationship, for instance. And wasn’t averse to attempted stabbings.

What the woman in this clip did could’ve easily killed them both. In my own life, I imagine the look on this poor dude’s face is the same as mine must’ve been when I was with my horrid ex.

These days, this demonic person would immediately be kicked out of the car and would never see me again. Back then, I bought into the “relationships are work” nonsense. So that’s some improvement.

Fed Up

October 19, 2025, 11:10 AM Chill Clowns, Evil

Techno-capitalists think innovation can save the planet. But that same thinking is what got us here.

Clownish. Idiotic. Poltroonish.

Could as easily be entitled: “Norman Borlaug thought better agricultural technology could feed the world. But that same thinking is what got us here.”

For those who don’t know, Norman Borlaug.

Fuck, I hate degrowthers so very much. Just the worst people — and some of the most dangerous.

Commercial Logic

October 19, 2025, 3:59 AMOctober 19, 2025, 11:02 AM Chill Political Economy

Why do stores and malls let so many storefronts stand empty for months or years? Wouldn’t having tenants bringing in SOME money be better than leaving the property to rot and generate zero rent?

It’s because commercial loans do not work like private mortgages. They refinance more frequently (every 5–10 years), and the value and loan terms are set by the property’s Net Operating Income (NOI) as well as the quality and length of leases. Loan covenants are also a factor. Many lenders require consent for below-market rents or very short terms.

As implied above, however, the overriding reason that commercial spaces site empty is that locking in a low rent on a long lease can knock millions off the property value and jeopardize the next refinance. And since refis can be as frequent as every five years in CRE, this is not a trivial concern.

An Offensive Offensive

October 19, 2025, 12:24 AM Chill Evil, Prediction

Russia’s latest big Ukraine offensive gains next to nothing, again

Ian Welsh: WINNING! OMG I LOVE PUTIN!

Everyone else: Seems not that great to sacrifice 500+ people for every dozen meters gained. That’s not really sustainable.

More seriously, Russia’s strategic position is incredibly weak and worsening as the war goes on. Time used to be on Putin’s side but as Europe seems to be waking up to the peril a bit, it no longer is.

At the pace of the past 30 days, seizing what remains of the four regions Mr Putin already claims—Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia—would take until June 2030. (For Russia to occupy all of Ukraine would require a further 103 years.)

Russia will never occupy all of Ukraine because the attacker’s problem is that as the lines get smaller, they also get easier to defend. (This is due to having less distance to spread personnel and war materiel over.) Ukraine will not give up the fight easily as they know a genocide will occur if they do, so the war will grind on 2-3 more years until Russia agrees to a cease-fire and then tries again in 7-10 years.

That’s my best guess, anyway.