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netstack

The horse embodies the wings a person feels inside.

9 followers   follows 3 users  
joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC 

				
User ID: 647


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
netstack


								

								

								
								
									
								
								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
The horse embodies the wings a person feels inside.

				
				
				

				

					9 followers  

					follows 3 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 647


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Wait, what did Texas do this time?


Or are you talking about the bullshit redistricting from last summer?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Shifted?


People have been smugly telling me that climate change isn’t real(ly a problem) for years. They had studies and everything. Why is this time different?


Cowen has previously called for measured, rational responses to the problem rather than knee-jerk authoritarianism. Reblogging an article which finds exactly that shouldn’t be surprising.


The actual contents of the article are a little above my pay grade. There are an awful lot of simple graphs which show curves that don’t line up. I can’t say I understand why that’s irreconcilable. Couldn’t some of the models just be…wrong? Bad? Maybe even dishonest?


Then again, better scientists than me have found it noteworthy, so maybe the conclusion is obvious. What does that mean for us? What trillion-dollar bills should we stop throwing in the trash? The introduction suggests “insurance markets,” “climate-risk-evaluation products,” “tools for evaluating risk,” “carbon pricing,” and the mysterious “policies affecting GHG emissions.” Some of those might be actionable. Others…how are you going to tell insurance companies to put less stock in climate change? How much money does that reallocate to more productive endeavors?


I think my takeaway is that there’s little reason to believe the most extreme estimates of damage. If someone tells you the only way to save the economy is to renounce electricity and retvrn to pastoralism, they’re probably a bad actor working off of very incomplete information. Conversely, the probability distribution for positive effects is also awfully thin. “Nothing ever happens” is about as well-founded as the doomer argument.


I guess that’s what the authors conclude. Don’t stop improving batteries and public transit and methane, because they’re already more or less economically viable. But maybe hold off on that deindustrialization plan. Sure, fine.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Economists definitely get more than one data point a quarter. I think you’re handwaving away a whole field without good reason.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Some of them even have both!


This is what I was trying to get at with @ArjinFerman. The modal Internet community is profoundly disinterested in things like “freedom of speech” or “reasoned debate.” It can be expected to make everything as comfortable as possible for its users. Or it loses out to a more filtered, more flattering space.


If that userbase is remotely young, affluent, and left-leaning, the filter will reinforce those traits.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No? In that case you could point to specific actions which would not have happened without fed involvement. What’s the equivalent here?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Most people do not want to debate. They want assurance, tacit or vocal, that their community will back them up when it comes to anything remotely threatening. They will usually sort themselves into groups which offer that comfort. This is the only thing I’d come close to calling “immutable.” You will not find a diverse, truth-seeking community on any sufficiently large site.


Reddit used to offer sortition via subreddits. The pivot left came after a broader erosion of subreddit independence. At the time, it was justified as “cleaning up for the IPO”. I suspect that downplays the consequences of everyone on Twitter knowing what /r/TheDonald was up to at all times.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The Wikipedia article you want is probably “Teledildonics,” but I’m not looking it up at work.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, it is.


Apply that standard to literally any other group. Marx was dead for decades before the Russians got to him. Might as well say the U.S. is a white supremacist state.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Debate clubs are just harder to cultivate than the average Internet echo chamber. They offer a weird, specific sort of entertainment.


I think evaporative cooling happens faster for left-leaning users because so many of those other spaces are more friendly to them. This doesn’t mean they’re unwilling or unable to debate; it’s simply become less fun.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What? Maybe you


    

  • disagree with Marx
    • 

  • think that real communism has, in fact, been tried
    • 

  • got disillusioned after Glushkov et al. failed to optimize
    • 

  • value the right to property more than fixing the unfairness of capital allocation
    • 

  • are convinced that a coming era of post-scarcity will make it all moot
    • 

  • actually like having material goods
    • 



Take your pick. I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons why a reasonable leftist would think socialism isn’t actually a good thing.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Correlation, causation. The Schism has a different political slant, new
user funnel, expected level of effort, etc. Which of those really deserves credit for the volume difference?


I would say that the cost of flouncing back to mainstream social media is generally lower for a left-winger than a right-winger. This makes niche forums lean right even if the underlying appeal is the same for everybody. The Schism counterbalanced this by kicking out more right-wingers, so it just has a tiny userbase.


As an aside: do you remember what the no-no topics were? I remember it being race war stuff, but I could be completely off base.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A couple times a week, amount varying from one drink to five. The latter is only if I’m at home with the wife and we’re hanging out for the evening, playing Minecraft or listening to music together, low-effort social interaction.


I do think that’s too much for me. Today I I went back to sleep after my alarm this morning and was late for work. I feel like an idiot, so I am going to make an effort to cut back.


The complication is that I’ve been getting into mixing cocktails, mostly for my extended family. It feels like a legitimate reason to buy more and better liquor. I…think that might be a bad thing. I’m very capable of overthinking this, so the best thing is probably just to cut back.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Rolling up with the siege mortar, I guess.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
/r/theschism gets a little closer, I guess. It started as a split from the Reddit Motte over how to moderate accelerationists and edgelords. Since that involved a lot of right-wingers calling for violence against protestors/progressives/the DNC, it ended up collecting some of the harried leftists and more compassionate conservatives. I think it has much less material, but what’s there is of high quality.


You’re probably going to get several responses about how (insert outgroup here) is unwilling or unable to have polite dialogues, which I think is patently untrue. I’d say that all such spaces are subject to evaporative cooling, and that by the time you or I hear about one, it’s probably already drifted one way or another.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Incredible work. I’m still reading through the list, but I wanted to comment on one thing.




to isolate this specific substance that is shared between garlic and vanilla and infuse a slab of tofu with it (or at least I hope they haven't).




The phrase you need is molecular gastronomy. This stuff pushes the bleeding edge of what might, possibly, be considered “food.” It’s wild.


See also adventures in fine dining.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I was thinking the same thing. A thousand midlevel diplomats can try to hammer out an agreement, but it only takes one guy to torpedo it.


I’m just not sure how to bet against peace.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Ah. I haven’t read any of his stuff outside of the Inhibitor books. That would do it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, I think the question is still open. No idea how many of the immigrants post-2014 are fleeing Ukrainians vs. economic migrants, Russian dissidents, Chinese, who knows what else. So if you find  country of origin + time data, let me know!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, we can. The wiki page has a bunch.


No, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t show what you’re expecting, because a giant chunk of the immigration comes from the Baltics and other post-Soviet countries. I didn’t find data which separated those out over time.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Kto indeed. You are conflating several different groups.


The presidential twitter has more reach than any shock artist. I think you’ll find that most of the people complaining never said anything about Piss Christ at all.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
¿Por que no los dos?


I’m saying that you can lose as much through translation than you do by omitting passages or chapters. Both are dependent on the editor’s understanding of the original intent. In the same way that you can have good and bad translations, then, it should be possible to find good and bad abridgements.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Right. It splits into two questions: Can you act shocked?
And is being shocked reason enough to allow an abortion?


I think the answer to the first question is yes in cases with most any precaution. I’d certainly expect it from your cases 2-4. As a consequence, I don’t think protected sex qualifies as “signing up for baby making.”


Same goes for @FtttG’s tumblr encounter. It would be quite reasonable to say “I signed up for golf, not wasp-induced vandalism!” Even if you’re still responsible for the damage, you shouldn’t be blamed.




For what it’s worth, I think I agree that abortion is justifiable even in the case of recklessness, but that you also can’t get there from violinist-type arguments. It’s the dismissal of “acting shocked” that bothered me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Maybe for unprotected sex.


I don’t think we apply such a black and white understanding of causality to every risky activity. Is there some point at which you’d say “yeah, neither he nor she could have reasonably expected a pregnancy?”


The reverse came up last time we discussed miscarriage. A surprising amount of fertilizations don’t result in a viable pregnancy.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.




It’s not impossible to have a civil discussion about this brand of drama, but you’re not going to get it by coming in guns blazing.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’ve always been a bit confused about that. What’s in Tarkov that’s worth facing down a couple dozen psychopaths, some of whom are highly trained and/or awfully resistant to bullets? I’m not even sure what you’re collecting in Arc Raiders or Marathon.


Out of the extraction non-shooters…Quasimorph acts like almost everything you loot was available, just to someone else. It’s more piracy than mining. Maybe the quasistuff counts.


At least Duckov has a sensible goal.