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ActuallyATleilaxuGhola

Axolotl Tank Class of '24

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joined 2022 September 08 09:59:22 UTC 

				
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ActuallyATleilaxuGhola


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Axolotl Tank Class of '24

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 08 09:59:22 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 1012


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles.  Just finished "Winter King" and now starting "Enemy of God."  Listening to the audiobooks read by Jonathan Keeble and having a great time.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I always found the supposed paradox amusing.  "Tolerance" just means "Enlightenment liberal orthodoxy" and intolerance just means "heretics."  When you translate the terms into what they actually mean in practice, the alleged paradox quickly vanishes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Japanese and Koreans also believe this and are open about it.  Some normie Dutch and Belgians are pretty open about it too, although they will use softer language and qualifications.  This "nation of immigrants" idea is really just an American meme that infected the Anglosphere.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


A distinctive mark of fascism is its conception of politics, best captured by Carl Schmitt, an early-20th-century German political theorist whose doctrines legitimized Nazism. Schmitt rejected the Madisonian view of politics as a social negotiation in which different factions, interests, and ideology come to agreement, the core idea of our Constitution. Rather, he saw politics as a state of war between enemies, neither of which can understand the other and both of which feel existentially threatened—and only one of which can win. The aim of Schmittian politics is not to share the country but to dominate or destroy the other side.




This is either ignorance or dishonesty.  Schmitt differentiated between "inimicus," the private enemy with whom you disagreed about e.g. tax policy, and "hostis," the public enemy whose way of life is fundamentally incompatible with yours and who threatens your ability to continue your way of life.  AIUI he argued that democracies treated both groups as "inimicus" which allowed the "hostis" to undermine the existing culture unopposed.  It's actually a pretty anodyne description; I think that outside of a few dogmatic ideologues, people of nearly any political leaning would agree with it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Those sound like pretty standard "old GOP" positions to me.  Fiscally conservative, fanatically supportive of Israel and Jews.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks, that makes a lot more sense.  Really sad stuff.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This would make it all add up for me.  And adds an extra layer of tragedy to the whole affair.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have the same question I had last time this came up.  When she repeatedly passed out for hours only to wake up later with body aches and sore and messy private parts, did she not suspect anything? This seems like the sort of thing you only get away with a few times before even the slowest people wise up, but somehow he did this to her 2-3 times per week(!) for 9 years(!) including sex acts she wasn't willing to do, such as anal(!), and apparently these strange men were sometimes forcing her to gag on their members while she was unconscious(!).  I do not understand how you she could not out the pieces of the puzzle together.


I'm really not trying to blame this victim here as the husband seems like an absolutely awful person, but there must be more to the story. Did the wife have some psychological issues that caused her to miss the signs? Was she aware of it but refused to report it because she feared for her safety?  Was she hiding the abuse because she was too ashamed to reveal it? Did she have some mild kink that her husband just took way, way too far?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
His username was different than the site name. And I think he was a pretty high quality poster back when he posted.  Can't remember who it was.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Tell us more about which countries are which.  As a burgerstani I cannot begin to guess.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Wow, now that's a blog I haven't thought of in a long time.  I'm pretty sure the creator was a regular on the Motte subreddit (or even the old /r/SSC CW thread?).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks.  I will try to report back after a year.  Maybe do a small write-up in the Small Questions thread.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I didn't phrase it well.  It's really just supplemental education at home, no exams or registration with the government.  Just extra reading and study in addition to what theyre doing at school.  Currently just religion, English, and history.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No judgement here, but I can never get over how cringe Japanese rap sounds to my American ear.  I realized long ago that it's not for me, it's for the domestic audience who have a completely different idea of what rap is. But it is so goofy and poseur-ish (and not in an ironic self-aware way) that it triggers a disgust reflex when I hear it.  Objectively speaking, there are some quite talented Japanese rappers, but I just can't get into the genre.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have four kids.  I like hanging out with and taking care of my kids.  It gets more fun after they turn 1, then even more after they turn 7, then still more after 10.


It's really not that bad.  It's hard, but so is training for a marathon, learning violin, studying Chinese, learning to sail, reading literary fiction, really anything worthwhile in life.  I personally do not think a life of video games, Netflix, international vacations to the rest of the now-Disnified tourist-friendly world, concerts, craft beer bar visits, escape rooms, or whatever single millennials my age are doing these days would be very fulfilling for me personally.  I actually WFH expressly because I want to help my wife (a SAHM) cook, clean, and take care of the kids. We also do part time homeschooling and plan to switch to full homeschooling soon.  Neither of us had to do any of this, we both have careers and made enough money to pay for daycare and still have disposable income.  We chose to.  I promise you we are not doing it under duress.


Also, there isn't really a stigma against saying you don't want to have kids anymore. Everyone in my entire company AFAIK has 0-2 kids.  Probably 70% of coworkers over 30 are childless.  Not having kids is the normal default now.  Having kids at all is slightly unusual.  Having enough kids that you must orient your life around raising them instead of throwing them into daycare is on par with being a Scientologist or something.  People clearly think I'm a little insane.  But I've also been surprised at the small minority who express admiration and jealousy. Not everyone thinks the way you do.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Is it ethnic French having the kids though, or ethnic North Africans and other Muslims?  IIRC France deliberately obscures the answer by preventing collection of racial census data, so I'm always skeptical when France is brought up in TFR discussions.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, no, you don't get to rewrite history like this.  I grew up surrounded by O'Reilly and Rush fans before moving to Blue America.  Cons say libs are "dumb," "fruity," or "clueless." Libs say cons are "hateful," "evil," a "disease."  Libs don't get to excuse their bloodthirst by inventing an alternate past where the cons escalated the rhetoric first.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
He has probably just been out of the game a long time and has specialized in non technical things like "how to manage managers/directors," "political tactics to protect the  engineering department's budget," "communicating the value of technical projects to the head of accounting who does not care about tech at all," plus all the mundane process, paperwork, and ego soothing one must do to keep things running smoothly.  He probably hasn't written serious code in years and may not have more than a high level understanding of what his department's tech stacks are and how its products works, but that doesn't make him a moron.


Alternatively, he may be not do any of the above and might just be a smooth talking glad-hander. Your department might be a dumpster fire and he's just very adept at shifting blame or sweeping the fires under the rug.  That would suck, but it also means he is far from a moron.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
These aren't innate properties of the left and right, but rather the difference between the internal power dynamics of an ascendant movement with entrenched cultural and bureaucratic power and fragile that has claimed the mantle of Orthodoxy, and the internal power dynamics of a fragile, cobbled-together movement of people with little in common other than having been branded Heretics by that Orthodoxy.


The Orthodoxy can survive internal power struggles and status jockeying because the movement's survival hinges on institutional and cultural control. If one president is replaced with another, it doesn't really matter.  The media and institutions will run cover for him regardless of whether he's a charismatic black(-ish) Harvard law professor or a senile, creepy, vaguely racist old white swamp creature.


The Heretics are still shocked to find that they have somehow collectively grabbed hold of a small sliver of power. Many of them recognize that the only reason there's a Heretic coalition at all is that the current Heretic-in-Chief is a rallying point for all groups.  The Landian tech bros and the evangelicals might hate each other and want their own guy in charge, but they both realize that replacing the current Chief Heretic would mean that they go from having a sliver of a sliver of power back to having no power at all.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
"E-prole" is a great coinage.  It captures the alt-slop normie aesthetic while avoiding all three of those now very tired words.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is interesting and timely for me.  We have a legendarily dysfunctional QA team at my company, and as the DevSecSREInfraPlatformOps manager, my biggest beef with them is that they have been killing our Lead Time to Release (time between dev having an idea and that idea getting released as a feature for customers).  They manually test almost everything, do nonsensical "verifications" (mocking responses from external APIs when they could just... use the APIs), and don't know how to code at all.  Dev and automated testing might finish in a few days, but QA takes 2-3 weeks(!) and they batch multiple changes together which confounds results.  They have been given a half dozen opportunities to change and learn but they have always made excuses or refused.  At one point they even had convinced a (former) director that they needed outsourced QA members to help with the workload -- and then promptly shifted 95% of their work to the outsourced QA!


Just this past week, I asked for a Claude Code account and started trying to vibe code a replacement for our QA team, partly out of curiosity, partly out of necessity (we have an OKR to reduce lead time), and just a little bit out of spite.  I was not optimistic because this is a very poorly documented 10+ year old codebase cobbled together by devs who have all since resigned to escape the mess they've created.


First, I told Claude to pull down all the test suites described in Qase and cache them locally.  Then I told it all of the paths to local copies of our frontend, backend, mobile, and infra repos.  I asked it to analyze each one.  Then, I asked it to begin writing tests for each Qase suite, starting with the simplest ones like "login." Sometimes it would get confused (it shows you its thinking) and I would interject a message (you can send messages while it's thinking, unlike other LLMs) to explain some important bit of knowledge.  Eventually, after repeating the same info several times which had apparently gotten lost in the context window compaction process, I told it to create a file called TRIBAL.md to record all of these contextual bits I was telling it that were not evident from simply reading the code. I also had it write a CLAUDE.md that points to all the repos, instructs it to read and update TRIBAL.md, BUGS.md and TODO.md, and contains descriptions of other tools it has created for itself (helper functions, data seeding scripts, env vars and credentials, etc).


So far I don't think I've written a single line of code and it has automated 85% of web QA tests.  I have had the test vetted by code rabbit and I plan to check them manually before release.  I am quite impressed, though I'm still curious to see how it will try to handle mobile testing. Claude Code really is next level compared to Gemini, Copilot, or Grok.


All that said, I am very aware that this project is probably riddled with false assumptions and nonsense code.  I am still not optimistic about the final result, although given how dire QA is, our director might try it out anyway just to see if we can reduce our dependence on them.  Either way, it's been a good way to get familiar with a SOTA coding LLM.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursday for January 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Good to know, thank you.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm increasingly disappointed that activist judges aren't even pretending to be arbiters of the law, but are just doing whatever they want.




To me this, just proves that the Trump admin has (accidentally?) struck a small vein strategic gold.  Apparently directly antagonizing the left causes a small but significant fraction of their institutionally embedded partisans to lose control and let their masks slip.  This seems like evidence in favor of the efficacy of further accelerationism and direct antagonism from the right.  Previously, it was believed by many on the right that long-march leftists were simply too clever, disciplined, and coordinated to challenge directly. Instead, the only option was to "exit" or to go full Benedict Option.  But no longer.  It must be frustrating for the more self-possessed and strategically-minded leftist partisans who are quietly manipulating procedural outcomes in a plausibly deniable way.  Their grandstanding compatriots are giving away the game.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursday for January 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I suppose you're trying to tell me they're Pakistani which is theoretically interesting but does not change the thrust of my post.  Is there some catch-all term I can use to avoid these tedious corrections from Indian/Bengali/Pakistani/etc people?  I suppose "South Asian?". Or "subcontinental," though that sounds like it might offend people.  What's the preferred term to refer to this collection of peoples? If there isn't one, I'm probably just going to have to continue saying "Indian."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursday for January 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The three Birminhgam residents photographed and interviewed have Arabic/Indian(?) names and are clearly not ethnically British, while the garbage man photographed and interviewed is clearly ethnically British.


"Are you sure this will help us sell more burgers?"