I get a lot more attention from women now but I just do not care. When I was twenty-ish I would’ve fought a lion with only a rusty fork for this surfeit of being noticed. Then, of course, I was roundly ignored by women and treated very coldly. Funny how life works.

Sure, it’s flattering. But I’m tired and I have stuff to read. These days my social battery looks like this:

COVID-19 origins: plain speaking is overdue – The Lancet Microbe.

Unsigned, of course, because it’s probably written by a GoF researcher worried about losing funding. They came out of the damn woodwork to insist no lab leak had ever happened in the history of the world.

The reality is of course that Covid almost certainly escaped from the WIV. No other explanation or chain of evidence makes any sort of sense when you look at the claims made and what’s backing them. And, of course, how many self-interested parties insisting there’s all this evidence they never examine, link to, or seem to have.

Meanwhile:

What do you do when the US national anthem is played?

I pull out my AR-15 from my back sling, my .357 from my belt holster, my .38 from my boot holster (while growing a third arm) and immediately start firing them all up in the air simultaneously while chanting “USA! USA! USA!” at top volume. It’s the only right answer. It means I am a true American.

Why is it okay for older gay men to date much younger guys, but not in heterosexual relationships?

Because increasingly women are seen — even by other women — as fragile children with no agency and as de facto minors until they are 35-40, while even boys 13-15 are seen by many adults as full-grown men.

Yes, it’s a huge double standard. And yes, it’s terrible. Anyway, compatibility is far more important than any age gap ever will no matter what PMC libs like to believe. People should do what they want as long as everyone is above the age of majority. Also, much of this disparity comes down to the fact that society sees the average man as completely disposable and the average woman as inherently valuable. There are other things around that but that is the fundamental underpinning.

It’s a strange time in gender relations. As a man, you’re supposed to treat women as fragile creatures with no agency at all and no ability (or wish) to make their own decisions and, simultaneously, to believe they are omnificent “girl bosses” who don’t need no help, dammit.

Those two view of women’s agency aren’t really compatible. I’m partnered, but I do understand men who are withdrawing completely and want nothing to do with any of that. It’s dangerous out there — and not just for women.

I don’t know about y’all, but I personally love spending half the day “troubleshooting” non-existent infrastructure problems because a developer won’t spend 30 seconds looking at a few lines of code.

I mean, could there be a better use of my time? Surely not.

How soon would you expect someone you’re dating to reveal they have a serious mental illness?

Before the first stabbing. But not, like, right before. At least a few days in advance. Preferably weeks.

The solar panels on the roof of our new house produce 35+ kWh of power a day (which is a lot) on really sunny days, but we have no batteries so most of that just gets tossed back into the power grid.

We’ll probably wait a couple of years and get a battery, since prices are falling all the time and the tech is constantly improving. But those panels are rockin’ it.

Katie Ledecky balancing a glass of chocolate milk on her head while swimming is more impressive than her seven Olympic gold medals.

Definitely not more impressive, but pretty amazing nonetheless. I think I could maybe do that for 5-10 seconds — if I practiced for a few years.

I do genuinely dislike that I make people look bad sometimes. But I like being competent. A few months ago our physical office had a problem I solved. Went onsite to do it. Another director noticed I’d solved it and said, “Wait, you’ve been here five minutes and it’s already fixed? Someone else has been working on that for months.”

Well, what can I say. I am that good. And also, I’ve just seen a whole damn lot, stretching back to the early 1980s. Seasoning makes me spicy as all hell but means I can troubleshoot something fierce.

This Scientist Has a Risky Plan to Cool Earth. There’s Growing Interest.

I can guarantee we will be doing geoengineering in our future so it’s worth thinking about what we’ll do and how. Yes, it’s risky. However, the alternatives are even worse.

My version of this must involve space lasers. They can be Jewish or gentile space lasers; I care not.

I know I’ve written a lot about the 90s, and I don’t intend to bang on about it again at length. But here’s how it was different than what has happened since: The 90s was the last decade where we thought everything would be ok.

She is correct. I can (and do) say shit with no consequences like, “If anyone says I have to RTO, I’ll quit immediately with no notice period” and no one does anything because I’m a rare bird; good luck finding many people who can design and build a secure app services environment from nothing with poor documentation, can do compliance work, can from scratch create an entire enterprise networking environment with no assistance in a day or two, and that external customers ask for by name to attend meetings.

And so I can get away with a lot and bring in loads of dosh for the hours I do work. But you aren’t gonna be able to do that if you aren’t an expert in fifty-eleven different areas where a company would have to hire half a dozen people to replace you. And getting to that state is not in fact easy.