Did you go with the iphone 17? For me, the battery is the key driver of a new phone, and the current phone I have is a 13, and my wife and I will probably get a 17 now. I realize that it is not just the battery, chip and phone design makes a huge difference, but it's surprising to me that the models cycle thru without much improvement, so I can't imagine just going up one or 2 model numbers
Pro Bono's quote reminds me that the inner circle of George Bush was dubbed the 'Mayberry Machiavellis' (and Gemini tells me it was not by a democrat, but by a former White House staffer under Bush)
Just an ancillary observation, in hindsight, it is almost overdetermined that the first Black president had to have a white mother and be from an exotic locale like Hawai'i. One could claim that his Chicago stint was important, but I think it was more important that he wasn't from a traditional place we might imagine a black candidate coming from. I don't think it wrecked Harris' chances that she went to a HBCU, but it is hard to imagine a male candidate graduating from Howard or some other HBCU.
Speaking to novakant's point, I've been looking for clips from the New York mayoral debate and I'm really surprised that I don't see any. These should be things that would think my algorithm would serve up, and I'm seeing nothing. Here's the whole debate, at 2 hours, it is probably not something folks are going to sit thru, but I think Mamdani really ate Cuomo's lunch, so I'm wondering why the attention machine hasn't fed me any of those soundbites.
Michael's point about grain reminds me that it was countered by the King Cotton argument, where mills wouldn't be able to run without the cotton from the South, so that was the counter-argument to the necessity of having wheat to import and led to friction between the US and Great Britain when the Union blockaded the South. In the end, because Great Britain then sought cotton from other sources, like India, Egypt and (peek at Gemini) Brazil. I think we are seeing a replay of this with Chinese rare earths and US soybeans.
There is an interesting debate in the literature as to whether the Cotton vs Wheat was simply a cover for pro and anti slavery views. The more things change...
Thanks so much for the guestpost wonkie! I waited a bit to get it closer to Halloween. Other writing eagerly sought.
The idea that inanimate things have 'something' is one that I would like to believe, but feel a bit strange about. There is something vaguely comforting to me about a Shinto view of the world, where everything is imbued with something, but it always feels like a short distance from that to thinking that vaccines are trying to kill us.
Fun stuff everyone. Just to pull out a few things I miss salsa. At least that gives you both sides of the clave.
My playing experience has been classical and 'big band' jazz (by which I mean the size of the ensemble, rather than the swing bands that people think of) so my Latin experience is pretty minimal, but I did have a section in the post about the clave's evolution to reggaeton, but it is 1) hard to explain about rhythms and 2) I'd probably screw it up. This first article on this page might be of interest for folks wanting more https://www.cubanet.org/htdocs/CNews/y00/jun00/12e9.htm
Yonaguni, as a feminine coded island holding of Japan
I wasn't able to find any interviews with BB talking about the song and how it came about, so I imagine it was a mélange of reasons.
one could really capture an international audience and maintain a US presence all without ever having to make a single move to acknowledge the US mainstream.
I've recently been getting youtube videos titles [Indian journalist/Singaporean minister/Chinese author] destroys [Western journalist/politician/pundit]. and one of the lines that always seem to score points is the first person calmly pointing out that the West is about 15% of the world while Asia is about 60%.
This life brought to you by The Algorithm.
I wonder if there is a chicken-egg thing going on here. The trends mentioned by nous have been in popular music since the 50s, before the tech-bros had gotten their hands on the internet. I don't want to absolve them of their responsibility, but I don't want to give them too much credit for the idea, more of the shitty implementation.
I also think that these Weekend Music threads, because of my own interests, are going to lean into how so much music is blended and remixed. It's not new, classical music has a long tradition of taking folk melodies and rhythms and repackaging them, but I'm beginning to think that this is really foundational. So if that sounds boring, guest Musical weekend threads are solicited!
I've changed it to 5 links and 28 days. I was tempted to change it to either 23 or 29 because they are prime numbers, but opted for the 4 weeks.
I've also changed the default order for comments to oldest.
If you become a subscriber, you can choose your own picture as your avatar, I've taken the liberty of adding Hartmut as a subscriber so he can show off that fine bust, which I think is Sargon the Great of Akkad.
Speaking of Akkadian, I've just discovered some more settings for the comment plugin that seem to written in language... I would like to try and get the comment box at the bottom, but is seems that this is a nod to mobile users. Gemini tells me a way to change the php file, so I'll give that a go this weekend.
The limit is set at 3, but it is possible to change it. Boosting it up to 10 is possible, but the reason it is not just open is that it is an easy way to try and identify spam
1 vote for longer than 14 days, any idea how much longer? You don't want it open forever because then spammers drop comments in (and my anal retentive self gets really angry when I read something and go thru the comments and find one of thos f**king spam posts there)
About information 'in the wild', some people prefer not to sign up for things. I'm not going to distribute anyone else's info, and I try to be careful, but as soon as you are making it so your commenting history can be pulled up by you, something could happen to make them available more widely. I'm not positive how much information can be seen by others, and I'm not going to just open everything up for anyone to sign up, but if people don't want to subscribe (or don't know what it means and don't do it), I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to add features for subscribers.
With the commenting plugin, there is a system for up/down voting comments. I was planning on removing that, but it is like an appendix or tonsils, where you don't mess with it unless it is causing problems.
Hi all, just a quick bts note. Nous is right, editing a comment gets it put in the spam bucket. There was also a comment from bc there which I have pulled out and posted, it was blocked because it had 3 links.
I'm making a separate post to get opinions on some things on the blog so as not to disrupt this discussion. Thanks!
Here in Japan, we generally use boiling water, fortunately, there is usually a hot pot for green tea. I was looking at Gemini and it says that undiluted vinegar also get them.
Well, at the risk of scoffing at Godwin's law, Hitler and Stalin were buddy buddy until they weren't. Trump gets along with other authoritarians, but that's no guarantee they are always going to be bff.
And Michael has some more measured points as well, which I will put here for reference
Is there an alternative? No one else will lease us enough space for the air base we operate there. Parking a carrier in the Persian Gulf is at least impractical, and may not be able to fly everything we fly out of Qatar. Iran has already launched missiles at Qatar once because of our presence. That one was face-saving, but if you were Qatar, wouldn’t you want a “we’ve got your back” guarantee in the event of real attack? Even more pressing, perhaps, since Iran signed security agreements with Pakistan, who has nukes and ballistic delivery systems that can reach Qatar.
<i>What are your thoughts about the unilateral defense agreement with Qatar?</i>
I'm going to lift up Michael's comment to the front page, with some comments from me. I think it is a very interesting topic and one that might bring out a lot of discussion.
I have a few questions about blog format that you mentioned bc, so I hope I can ask you later about that, but I did want to point out one thing
I guess it depends on who you read. I do think there is some truth here (Trump being somewhat indifferent in the first term), but I think Biden was far worse than Trump.
I'm guessing that COVID spending could be debited 50/50 to Trump and Biden, but the article doesn't mentions the CHIPs act or the Infrastructure Investment act. Also, I had to look, but another program that significantly increased debt was the PACT act https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits/
One has to wonder how all these things are going to fare after the DOGE CF.
So yes, all of these things increased the debt under Biden, but you can't wave your hand and have the underlying issues disappear. That heritage page is pretty disingenuous, imo.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Something Different”
Did you go with the iphone 17? For me, the battery is the key driver of a new phone, and the current phone I have is a 13, and my wife and I will probably get a 17 now. I realize that it is not just the battery, chip and phone design makes a huge difference, but it's surprising to me that the models cycle thru without much improvement, so I can't imagine just going up one or 2 model numbers
On “Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny”
Hartmut, a best guess
====
In [Venice]
Rollers [ahead]
It's so full of fun
While you roll, you feel the groove
Such a sport that makes you move
Grandpa
and mama too
Freaks are all the same
police chief and businessman
They are rolling
They are rolling
to the holy land
Roll
Roll
Roll on baby roll x2
skating here in the rolling disco
Lights are blinking wild
exotic clothes and bathing suits
skintight is a style
repeat chorus
Mama's rolling with a baby on her back
Just moving like the wind
headphones upon her ears
full of power
full of power
There's a crazy [??]
repeat chorus
On “Bal des Ardents”
Pro Bono's quote reminds me that the inner circle of George Bush was dubbed the 'Mayberry Machiavellis' (and Gemini tells me it was not by a democrat, but by a former White House staffer under Bush)
On “The South shall writhe again”
Just an ancillary observation, in hindsight, it is almost overdetermined that the first Black president had to have a white mother and be from an exotic locale like Hawai'i. One could claim that his Chicago stint was important, but I think it was more important that he wasn't from a traditional place we might imagine a black candidate coming from. I don't think it wrecked Harris' chances that she went to a HBCU, but it is hard to imagine a male candidate graduating from Howard or some other HBCU.
On “Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny”
A little late, but this Daily Show explainer on Reggaeton is good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdNWZXFREA
On “Politics thread”
Speaking to novakant's point, I've been looking for clips from the New York mayoral debate and I'm really surprised that I don't see any. These should be things that would think my algorithm would serve up, and I'm seeing nothing. Here's the whole debate, at 2 hours, it is probably not something folks are going to sit thru, but I think Mamdani really ate Cuomo's lunch, so I'm wondering why the attention machine hasn't fed me any of those soundbites.
On “The South shall writhe again”
Michael's point about grain reminds me that it was countered by the King Cotton argument, where mills wouldn't be able to run without the cotton from the South, so that was the counter-argument to the necessity of having wheat to import and led to friction between the US and Great Britain when the Union blockaded the South. In the end, because Great Britain then sought cotton from other sources, like India, Egypt and (peek at Gemini) Brazil. I think we are seeing a replay of this with Chinese rare earths and US soybeans.
There is an interesting debate in the literature as to whether the Cotton vs Wheat was simply a cover for pro and anti slavery views. The more things change...
"
Thanks nous!
On “The Return of the Boat Hook”
wonkie, check this out
https://aeon.co/essays/shinto-shows-the-debt-to-animism-of-organised-religions-today
On “Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny”
Russell, if it is ok, I'd like to lift up your comment as next week's music thread?
On “The Return of the Boat Hook”
Thanks so much for the guestpost wonkie! I waited a bit to get it closer to Halloween. Other writing eagerly sought.
The idea that inanimate things have 'something' is one that I would like to believe, but feel a bit strange about. There is something vaguely comforting to me about a Shinto view of the world, where everything is imbued with something, but it always feels like a short distance from that to thinking that vaccines are trying to kill us.
On “Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny”
Fun stuff everyone. Just to pull out a few things
I miss salsa. At least that gives you both sides of the clave.
My playing experience has been classical and 'big band' jazz (by which I mean the size of the ensemble, rather than the swing bands that people think of) so my Latin experience is pretty minimal, but I did have a section in the post about the clave's evolution to reggaeton, but it is 1) hard to explain about rhythms and 2) I'd probably screw it up. This first article on this page might be of interest for folks wanting more
https://www.cubanet.org/htdocs/CNews/y00/jun00/12e9.htm
Yonaguni, as a feminine coded island holding of Japan
I wasn't able to find any interviews with BB talking about the song and how it came about, so I imagine it was a mélange of reasons.
one could really capture an international audience and maintain a US presence all without ever having to make a single move to acknowledge the US mainstream.
I've recently been getting youtube videos titles [Indian journalist/Singaporean minister/Chinese author] destroys [Western journalist/politician/pundit]. and one of the lines that always seem to score points is the first person calmly pointing out that the West is about 15% of the world while Asia is about 60%.
This life brought to you by The Algorithm.
I wonder if there is a chicken-egg thing going on here. The trends mentioned by nous have been in popular music since the 50s, before the tech-bros had gotten their hands on the internet. I don't want to absolve them of their responsibility, but I don't want to give them too much credit for the idea, more of the shitty implementation.
I also think that these Weekend Music threads, because of my own interests, are going to lean into how so much music is blended and remixed. It's not new, classical music has a long tradition of taking folk melodies and rhythms and repackaging them, but I'm beginning to think that this is really foundational. So if that sounds boring, guest Musical weekend threads are solicited!
On “What’s up, doxx?”
GftNC
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/us/politics/trump-sandwich-assault-indictment-justice-department.html
To be fair, it was a Subway salami sandwich, which isn't really their best offering.
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
From Propublica, via LGM
13 links, so being an admin has it's perks.
On “Opinions on settings”
Tony P and GftNC, those are cookies from your browser. I'd be happy to make you both subscribers!
"
I've changed it to 5 links and 28 days. I was tempted to change it to either 23 or 29 because they are prime numbers, but opted for the 4 weeks.
I've also changed the default order for comments to oldest.
If you become a subscriber, you can choose your own picture as your avatar, I've taken the liberty of adding Hartmut as a subscriber so he can show off that fine bust, which I think is Sargon the Great of Akkad.
Speaking of Akkadian, I've just discovered some more settings for the comment plugin that seem to written in language... I would like to try and get the comment box at the bottom, but is seems that this is a nod to mobile users. Gemini tells me a way to change the php file, so I'll give that a go this weekend.
"
Thanks GftNC, that's helpful.
About subscriber superpowers
I'm trying to take out the up/down vote, but it's built in the plugin, so requires some buk lernin on my part.
"
The limit is set at 3, but it is possible to change it. Boosting it up to 10 is possible, but the reason it is not just open is that it is an easy way to try and identify spam
1 vote for longer than 14 days, any idea how much longer? You don't want it open forever because then spammers drop comments in (and my anal retentive self gets really angry when I read something and go thru the comments and find one of thos f**king spam posts there)
About information 'in the wild', some people prefer not to sign up for things. I'm not going to distribute anyone else's info, and I try to be careful, but as soon as you are making it so your commenting history can be pulled up by you, something could happen to make them available more widely. I'm not positive how much information can be seen by others, and I'm not going to just open everything up for anyone to sign up, but if people don't want to subscribe (or don't know what it means and don't do it), I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to add features for subscribers.
With the commenting plugin, there is a system for up/down voting comments. I was planning on removing that, but it is like an appendix or tonsils, where you don't mess with it unless it is causing problems.
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
Hi all, just a quick bts note. Nous is right, editing a comment gets it put in the spam bucket. There was also a comment from bc there which I have pulled out and posted, it was blocked because it had 3 links.
I'm making a separate post to get opinions on some things on the blog so as not to disrupt this discussion. Thanks!
On “Bathtub Bug is Dead”
Here in Japan, we generally use boiling water, fortunately, there is usually a hot pot for green tea. I was looking at Gemini and it says that undiluted vinegar also get them.
"
How did you kill the centipedes? They are really tough buggers.
On “The Qatar that plays like butter”
Well, at the risk of scoffing at Godwin's law, Hitler and Stalin were buddy buddy until they weren't. Trump gets along with other authoritarians, but that's no guarantee they are always going to be bff.
"
And Michael has some more measured points as well, which I will put here for reference
Is there an alternative? No one else will lease us enough space for the air base we operate there. Parking a carrier in the Persian Gulf is at least impractical, and may not be able to fly everything we fly out of Qatar. Iran has already launched missiles at Qatar once because of our presence. That one was face-saving, but if you were Qatar, wouldn’t you want a “we’ve got your back” guarantee in the event of real attack? Even more pressing, perhaps, since Iran signed security agreements with Pakistan, who has nukes and ballistic delivery systems that can reach Qatar.
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
<i>What are your thoughts about the unilateral defense agreement with Qatar?</i>
I'm going to lift up Michael's comment to the front page, with some comments from me. I think it is a very interesting topic and one that might bring out a lot of discussion.
"
I have a few questions about blog format that you mentioned bc, so I hope I can ask you later about that, but I did want to point out one thing
I guess it depends on who you read. I do think there is some truth here (Trump being somewhat indifferent in the first term), but I think Biden was far worse than Trump.
I'm guessing that COVID spending could be debited 50/50 to Trump and Biden, but the article doesn't mentions the CHIPs act or the Infrastructure Investment act. Also, I had to look, but another program that significantly increased debt was the PACT act
https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits/
One has to wonder how all these things are going to fare after the DOGE CF.
So yes, all of these things increased the debt under Biden, but you can't wave your hand and have the underlying issues disappear. That heritage page is pretty disingenuous, imo.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.