Year: 2025

No-Gutenberg

Chill Clowns, Rant

I was forced to use the new WordPress editor for a bit again and goddamn it is a piece of crap. It’s impossible to do anything and even basic text editing is terrible. Copy and paste somehow doesn’t even work reliably, which is something that for most applications was solved in the 1980s.

It’s absolutely insane that someone released this. And of course it has its cheerleaders that claim that if you don’t want to use this utterly-broken mess that you “just hate change.”

Yes, I do fucking hate change that harms me, thank you very much.

Eps

Chill Evil, Politics

I don’t care about the Epstein affair overly much. Not because I don’t think it was all evil and wrong. It was. And not because I don’t think any women harmed deserve justice and recompense. They do.

But I think the focus on it is irrelevant for a few reasons. The first is that I just kind of assumed this is what a lot of the elites were up to, so it’s not any sort of surprise. The second is that it’s a deliberate distraction, for both sides. The 24/7 Epstein show shifts focus from substantive and consequential issues that the panjandrums would rather you not pay attention to. This is intentional. The third reason I don’t care much about the whole thing is that there’ll never be any real accountability for what happened. The evidence is just not there in a way that is prosecutable, and likely never will be.

It’s a crime, but it’s normal crime for those types. It matters little to the fate of our nation and the world, which is where we should be placing our attentions now.

Chill Links

I didn't realize my LG TV was spying on me until I turned off this setting.

Manufactured Inevitability and the Need for Courage.

China’s Sprint for Tech Dominance Can’t Hide an Economy Full of Holes.

Returning Russian POWs Pay Heavy Price for Choosing Surrender Over Death.

Department of Veterans Affairs quietly implements abortion ban.

Amazon blocks 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents.

New EV battery recycling process recovers 99% pure nickel and cobalt.

AI overestimates how smart people are, according to economists.

In the snow, these salamanders get supercool.

Only Opt

Chill Evil

Absolute truth. I found that by hanging out with Israeli women first, but it is generally the case that non-US developed-world women are actual egalitarian feminists, while American women are of the “Feminism for me but not for thee” stripe.

If you’re an American dude and single, becoming a Passport Bro is the only option; American women are simply not dateable.

Uncontain

Chill Rant

Even though I use it for some things, I really hate Docker, Kubernetes, containerization and the entire cult around it.

Most of the time it’s an incredibly inferior way of doing things. Stateless? Who asked for that, or needs it? For 99.98% of anything, state is important and matters! We had better tech that achieved even what’s attempted today in a far, far superior manner more than 20 years ago.

But my field is horribly cursed to reinvent poor implementations of past tech they aren’t even aware of every decade or so.

Shaped

Chill Evil, Political Economy

Ask an economist, they’ll tell you that this not happening because “reasons.” But it’s the most salient single fact that has shaped our present poor political outcomes.

Fronting

Chill War

Eh, the age of front line infantry is drawing to a close. The Russia-Ukraine war is not going to be the typical case as the Ukraine side is very personnel-constrained and the Russians are as well, just less so.

Neither side is or can execute any combined arms maneuvers or achieve tactical breakthroughs leading to meaningful gains simply because they do not have the people to do so vs. the drone threat. With better-staffed and higher-quality military organizations that can execute rapid armor advances with adequate air power combined with quality air defense, the battlefield will look much different.

In a real unit capable of maneuvering with credible drone defense in tow, the true front line will be an AI-based autonomous drone mobile picket for both recon and force projection that both attempts to wipe out enemy drones and the command and control of said drones. A few kilometers behind this line will be APCs, short-range air defense, other armor, as well as self-propelled howitzers and the like. In these APCs — protected by platforms such as the Skyranger 30 — will be infantry capable of rapid dismount and dispatching remaining resisting enemy infantry. The need for this capability will not go away any time soon.

This is a more realistic scenario than what Noah is expostulating here for major power and even many regional wars.

Chill Links

How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?

Is the Dictionary Done For?

The RAM shortage is here to stay, raising prices on PCs and phones.

Australia Poised for Desalination Boom as Water Shortages Loom.

Why California’s milk cartons may lose their coveted recycling symbol.

FDA Approves Pill Version of Wegovy.

Flying Taxis? China Has Them. And Drone Lunch Deliveries, Too. Was told all this was “nerd fantasy.” No? LOL.

The chaotic 'Dracula's Chivito': Hubble reveals largest birthplace of planets ever observed.

Raindrops form 'sandballs' as they roll downhill, contributing more to erosion than previously thought.

Browning

Chill Regular-ass Post

This is a good example of a false mind-boggle. And it’s only limitedly true.

But first, why it’s a false mind-boggle: Pistols are dominated by their constraints. They must be compact, controllable, portable, and fit the average hand. There are only a very limited number of designs, configurations and materials that will meet these requirements. That’s why pistols basically function the same as they did in WWI. The optimum working object was found given the constraints of design and physics.

However, there have been tons of improvements that have increased reliability, safety, longevity, and the ease of operation of pistols while also lowering costs. So, no, your great-grandpa’s Browning M1911 might’ve looked and worked about the same, but it’s not really the same weapon at all in many ways that matter.

Chill Links

NASA’s Webb Observes Exoplanet Whose Composition Defies Explanation.

Grid-Scale Bubble Batteries Will Soon Be Everywhere.

Autoland Saves King Air, Everyone Reported Safe.

Indoor Tanning Makes Youthful Skin Much Older on a Genetic Level.

Evolution by natural induction.

Public opinion surveys across Western countries consistently show that majorities prefer lower immigration levels. Yet, academic studies on immigration—particularly for welfare states and social cohesion—often report neutral or positive effects, downplaying public concerns.

Danish postal service to stop delivering letters after 400 years.

Hospitals Cater to ‘Transplant Tourists’ as U.S. Patients Wait for Organs.

Japan prepares to restart world's biggest nuclear plant, 15 years after Fukushima.

How Trump broke California’s grip on the auto market.

Trump Halts Five Wind Farms Off the East Coast. Beyond moronic. China has already won due to shit like this.

The Media’s Take on Trump’s Economy Doesn’t Match What Many Americans Feel.

The Role of Doctors Is Changing Forever.

Tech Disrupted Friendship. It’s Time to Bring It Back.

AI Wake Fake

Chill Annoying

Is he being for real? “She” looks like every other AI girl I’ve ever seen. Obviously fake. Doesn’t look human in the least. Do people not know what real women look like? What’s going on here?