https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-16-2025
I think there is a case that never before have Americans votes so stupidly. (The civil war, by comparison, had some logic to it.)
Category Archives: share
Trump 2: “even in the best case scenario we’re likely going to spend all the rest of the time I’m alive recovering from it”
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/01/17/what-im-expecting-from-the-new-administration/
Remember those who voted for Trump and those who grovel before him. So you can quietly spit when they pass. Until we die.
Fukuyama on real government failure: how gov does software
https://www.persuasion.community/p/we-need-policy-implementers-not-policy
“actual RFP and bidding process are regulated by the Federal Acquisition Regulations, a document spanning hundreds of pages of detailed requirements that mandate things like seeking bids from female- and minority-owned businesses and the like.” (Also veteran owned, which means lots of scams)
“the global logistics network did pretty well during COVID and is decidedly still around; the CDC actually performed admirably; the Afghanistan withdrawal was remarkably efficient under impossible circumstances”
https://jabberwocking.com/stop-panicking-people/
The legit CDC fail was airflow. Not what people mostly remember.
Cancer rates mostly down but smoking and obesity and ? increasing rates in women.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/health/cancer-younger-women.html
HPV vaccine and GLP1 should help.
“Perdue Farms and JBS to pay $17 fine for using underage migrant labor in meatpacking.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/us/perdue-jbs-slaughterhouses-child-labor.html
Ok, $8 million. But that is $17 for them. Hilariously inadequate fine.
Biden’s warning: “the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultrawealthy people, and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked”
https://fallows.substack.com/p/the-speech-joe-biden-is-likely-to
I don’t listen to speeches so i appreciate Fallows summary
“heat-resistant order in fundamental quantum theories” — to infinity and beyond
https://www.quantamagazine.org/heat-destroys-all-order-except-for-in-this-one-special-case-20250116/
In theory, but it is good QFT. Physicists will try to test.
“cost of a one-time mass deportation operation … at least $315 billion”
https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/the-incoming-clubber-lang-administration
“Republicans in immigrant-heavy states have been suggesting he’ll prioritize or only focus on the worst criminals”
“tariffs … cost a typical US household in the middle of the income distribution more than $2,600 a year.”
OpenAI o1: “LLM had begun to incorporate Mandarin and Cantonese into its process”
https://gizmodo.com/why-does-chatgpts-algorithm-think-in-chinese-2000550311
“certain languages might offer tokenization efficiencies or easier mappings for specific problem types”
Somebody is going to train an AI to develop an optimal representation and computation language.
Google Workspace Business editions with Gemini Advanced
At some point it might make sense for a family to pay for Google Workspace. I think my legacy Google Apps won’t get Gemini Advanced sadly.
Why Greenland: “five Trumpian logics explanations, all of which can function together, and probably do”
https://snyder.substack.com/p/why-greenland
I’m not sure Trumpian logic exists but this is a decent exercise. Trump is, at heart, a property and land guy and he understands very well how to distract the media. He likely has some whacko we’ve never heard of babbling to him about Canada and Greenland as refuges once the world melts.
The history of the H-1B visa
https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2025/01/whats-an-h-1b-visa/
It has all happened before. He predicts the program will grow again.
“these jets are rapidly moving at around 30% the speed of light”
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/supermassive-black-hole-caught-turning-on/
We get to watch as, a few hundred million years ago, a black hole ate something big and sent out a jet of materials. (A thousand civilizations died of course).
Claude summarizes OpenAIs 15 page economic blueprint
https://openai.com/global-affairs/openais-economic-blueprint/
I asked Claude to summarize the 15 page document and I summarize Claude:
1. If you don’t back us China gets the money.
2. We will put our hubs in Trump states.
3. Federal money for AI infrastructure
“Biden is like the protagonist in a horror movie who defeats the villain but doesn’t finish him off, congratulates himself, and turns his back on his foe and starts walking off into the sunset.”
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/14/smith-special-counsel-report-vol-1
Most of us didn’t think America was as broken as it was. We thought the GOP would turn from Trump. America is far more broken than we realized.
Software configuration: AI needed to manage complexity, Complexity requires AI.
https://thenewstack.io/the-configuration-crisis-and-developer-dependency-on-ai/
Resolving complexity is expensive and often unprofitable. Easier to leave it the AI, but then the AI becomes essential.
In MSP CenturyLink and copper theft industry coordinate to end landline support.
Another day in the Age of Chaos. The copper theft here is dystopian, but CenturyLink is also happy to dump the regulatory burden of money-losing copper wires. We lost service weeks ago and are moving legacy landline to voip.ms.
“About a third of Minnesota households still have landline service, though as of 2020 only about 5% relied on it exclusively”
This is The Contrarian: “the election of an openly authoritarian figure who traffics in conspiracies, lies, unconstitutional schemes and un-American notions, has moved the United States to an inflection point”
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/this-is-the-contrarian
“Not Owned by Anybody”
“His insane pronouncements … cannot be ignored or treated as hyperbole”
Return of the Usurper: “should be viewed roughly like the British march on Washington during the War of 1812”
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/a-contrarian-take-on-volume-one-of
The greatest failure of American governance since the internment of Japanese-Americans.
“It’s important to bear the Supreme Court’s culpability in mind as we prepare to defend our democracy”
And the GOP.
The journalists of The Contrarian – an honor role. 🆓
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/on-meeting-the-autocratic-moment
At this time RSS is full feed and free
The Contrarian – substack voice of the resistance
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/i-have-resigned-from-the-washington
The best of WaPo and others that have fallen to the oligarchs. RSS works.
“….The Contrarian … journalists and commentators who have stood against the rise of Trump and the MAGA Republicans …”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-13-2025
We need micropayments but this may be where to send your WaPo subscription money. HCR post has details of how GOP plans to force their agenda.
Longevity maniac: “after taking this experimental drug for half a decade, a new study came out that suggested it might be doing the exact opposite … additionally, be giving him skin infections”
Taking multiple random experimental meds at once is sure to go well.
“The global steel industry has been through a blizzard of mergers, bankruptcies, takeovers and reorganizations. Rusting abandoned blast furnaces…”
First of a two part explainer. RSS ducks paywall.
“teachers whose schools were using learning management systems [canvas, etc] had higher rates of burnout”
About as good research as we will get. Typically old requirements persist so it is a new set of hassles.
Beyond Ozempic: more obesity drugs.
https://gizmodo.com/the-best-obesity-drugs-arent-even-here-yet-2000547636
Semaglutide cost will fall quickly. Longer term outcome data is of interest.
NYT mag chronic pain review 🆓
I think helpful. Mentions CB-1 cannabinoid. Mixes idiopathic (her disorder) and secondary (OA, spine).
Most chronic pain is thought to be in the head, specifically in the brain where all pain lives. A kind of cortical malfunction.
Mouse study: Nav1.7 Sodium Channels and OA
Mouse study: “drugs that block Nav1.7 channels, including carbamazepine … provides substantial protection from joint damage and associated pain in the two models”
Very interesting but many mouse things don’t work in humans. Main appeal is we already use this drug – but it has many side-effects.
“in at least five of the 16 African countries where the service is available, a monthly Starlink subscription is cheaper than the leading fixed internet service provider”
https://restofworld.org/2025/starlink-cheaper-internet-africa/
Not including $180-$380 kit.
“The exceptionally hardy and battle-scarred canine was 11.8-years-old, having lived three times longer than the average wild wolf.”
https://gizmodo.com/yellowstones-legendary-queen-of-the-wolves-killed-by-rival-pack-2000546876
Damn. I didn’t realize wolves were so shortlived.
“Why use focus groups or poll the public when you can talk to them once, spin up an LLM based on that conversation, and then have their thoughts and opinions forever?”
Based on Google research project. Iain Banks “Culture” series explored this topic in several books that wear the guise of mere entertainment.
Orbit – Mozilla browser tool for summarizing web content.
I want this for Safari. I’ve done the copy/paste-to-Claude and I have been happy with the results.
Useful for long articles, often with human-interest threads, that I would otherwise skip. If the digest is promising I will scan the article.
Sphingomyelin binding: “chance of a broad-spectrum [RNA] antiviral therapy”
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/new-antiviral-target-host-side
Years away unless need becomes desperate.
Finland’s 2020 homeless drop from 16000 to 4000 – basically fully sheltered
https://oecdecoscope.blog/2021/12/13/finlands-zero-homeless-strategy-lessons-from-a-success-story/
“building new flats by a government agency” Government built and managed apartments -> public housing is the only thing shown to work.
“Social services provide housing before other interventions that are targeted to beneficiaries’ needs”
health care?
“TIPS don’t exactly protect investors from inflation; they protect investors from the inflation the government reports“
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-real-threat-of-fake-numbers
Trump will fire civil servants until they give him the numbers he wants.
Mollick believes AI progress will advance again
https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/prophecies-of-the-flood
I had hoped for more of a pause
Inscrutable AirPods noises: “Years ago, Apple was a successful company and documented how their products work. These days, Apple is struggling financially…”
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/09/airpods-pro-beeps-and-bops
We all throw up our hands at Apple’s reluctance to document anything.
Prenatal fluoride and fetal brain: neurotoxicity concerns
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/health/fluoride-children-iq.html
This type of study is hard to interpret but they claim a dose-response curve. I’d want to see animal study data.
“For every one part per million increase in fluoride in urinary samples, which reflect total exposures from water and other sources, I.Q. points in children decreased by 1.63”
Greenland, Panama, Canada … None of that is Going to Happen.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/greenland-panama-canada-none-of-that-is-going-to-happen
Or by the time it happens all resistors are in camps. We will get lots of warnings beforehand.
“This ain’t our first rodeo. We’ve been here before and we should know that.”
Dreamhost RSS Cache Control default causes two day feed delay.
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/01/08/rss-cache-control/
Via Tsai. Damn. I hope they fix this.
The Economics That Define Social Media (Gruber)
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-economics-that-define-social-media
“Providing everyone with bandwidth and software keeps expense growth arithmetic. But if you try to exert any control over how it’s used then expenses become exponential too”
I had not thought of that. AI might change the cost equation?
Bing putting on a Google mask.
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/08/bing-google-masquerade
“It’s an exquisite dirty trick, and I’ll bet it actually works remarkably well”
This is nostalgic for those who remember 90s Microsoft. By modern culture standards it is kind of sweet.
“Hard disks using APFS normally remain usable for a year or more when they store files that don’t get changed very often”
https://eclecticlight.co/2025/01/09/why-use-apfs/
Synology TM uses sparse image, often HFS+. I think mitigates fragmentation problem. But eventually need to wipe and redo. Backup fails.
Python virtual environment explained.
https://thenewstack.io/why-every-python-dev-needs-virtual-environments-now/
Even if you use an IDE with env support this helps understanding.
Paying Trump protection money: “opening set of bribes to a corrupt regime … as such, they offer good value for money”
Corruption disables nations.
H5N1 Update: “130,674,361 poultry— a big reason why eggs are hard to find and expensive” 🆓
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/h5n1-update-january-7
Happily COVID left us with a much improved public health system. (Oh, wait, that’s on Earth-2)
“H5N1 is something to watch, but don’t let it take up too much headspace yet”
HMPV in China: RSV-like virus identified 2001 causing more pneumonia.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/health/hmpv-virus-china.html
The article doesn’t say why the virus is spreading more now. Often we don’t know. Probably common here but we don’t test for it. Nobody trusts China however.
US hits demographic cliff expected since Great Recession
https://hechingerreport.org/the-impact-of-this-is-economic-decline/
College tuition falling, many closing, international students down, fewer seek college.
“The proportion of high school graduates who are Hispanic, nationwide, is expected to rise from 26 percent to 36 percent by 2041”
Editing Contant/List relationship broken in macOS Sequoia
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/477085/contacts-app-misbehaving-in-sequoia-on-m1-imac
I have the same problem except I can’t change any Contact List relationships. I’m going to try the latest macOS (secret) update and if that doesn’t work it sounds like we need to rebuild the Contacts database from iCloud. (May be related to my migration from Monterey)