VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
No bio...
User ID: 64
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
I hear this a lot, and I can appreciate that it's probably true to an extent, but "milspec electronics" and "next gen process nodes" don't really overlap as much as you'd expect, as best as I can tell. I can imagine some things it matters for (radars and such), but I don't think process node differences within the last decade are really driving, say, artillery battles or even drones in Ukraine. Maybe in a few years we'll be talking about mostly-autonomous targeting systems with ML, but half of the impact of drones seems to have come from how they became commercially ubiquitous in ways that drove the price down into the "expendable" regime.
Generally I don't see this claim with listed categories of weapons systems, but maybe there is something I haven't thought of. What can you do at 3nm that you can't at, say, 65nm?
If unclear, my suggestion is that putting Jackson on the most popular bill issued by a bank of the United States is pretty close to pissing on his grave rhetorically. His vociferous opposition to the (second) Bank of the United States is well-documented. A choice quote of his (although the provenance is questionable, it's at least aligned in sentiment with official speeches):
Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out!
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
Andrew Jackson belongs on US currency for irony's sake because he'd be dead set against the existence of the institution that prints it.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
I'm pretty sure it is in reference to that meme.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
It also highlights why some of Scott Alexander's takedowns of people are so damn effective and brutal. He will spend a lot of writing space saying many nice things about people that seem objectively bad. And then he will end by saying something slightly not nice about one person, and you come away thinking "damn that person must be the worst piece of shit ever".
Honestly, this also describes most of Singal's work, which is I suspect part of why he's so hated for, as far as I can tell, things like questioning small-n studies that have been embraced broadly with shockingly few published followups now that drastically more data should be available.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
I wish we put this much effort into teaching everyone other equally important lessons.
Just curious, do you have any specific lessons in mind here? The idea is at least intriguing.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
Somebody has to pick the crops and slaughter the chickens and thats a very reasonable principled exception.
Without really wanting to weigh in on whether this statement is true or not, it's at least possible to note that Congress in its wisdom created visa categories (H-2A, H-2B) for these sorts of jobs. Is it completely crazy to think "maybe we should actually use (or expand/modify as necessary) the existing visa program, rather than allow 'anything goes' under the table"?
Although there's probably an interesting tangent on using AI and robotics in slaughterhouses.
What if the Democrats spin up the "super ATF" who start kidnapping people who fuck up their gun paperwork into unmarked vans to be sent to Romania?
That's been tried before: in 1992 (admittedly under the elder Bush administration) Randy Weaver (not the best of characters, mind you) had an undercover informant request illegal shotgun modifications, then ATF agents shot his dog, shot his son in the back, and shot his unarmed wife who was holding a 10 month old baby.
And they followed this up a year later by, on a rather flimsy set of weapons allegations, (allegedly) lighting on fire and demolishing the Branch Davidian (David Koresh again not the best of characters) compound near Waco, killing 76, including 25 children.
The resulting backlash was complicated [1] (and also pretty terrible, but Weaver did win a civil suit and there were some later investigations of the Waco incident that weren't entirely supportive of the government side), but seemed to usher in a ceasefire in practice, with the gun folks (mostly) filling out all their paperwork and ATF not shooting up (too many) places (see the two Bundy standoffs in which they didn't go scorched earth). Although the two sides, as far as I can tell, don't really have tremendous fondness for each other still.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
Fair, but the valence of "we're going to enforce the letter of federal law because the feds have chosen not to" hits differently than "we're going to willfully obstruct federal enforcement efforts". That's probably a bit charitable to Abbott there, but he could at least claim it was seen as an act of loyalty to federal law.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
The big difference from the actual Civil War to me is a seeming lack of enthusiasm for fighting under a state flag. Despite a recent surge in state vexillology interest --- I like Utah's new flag --- I think governors aren't going to be able to command legions, leaving a pretty big gap for who would command anti-federal forces.
The only way I can even hypothetically see the states winning is if disagreement within federal forces causes them to not show up. I think that'd happen if they were ordered to drop bombs today, but I think that's beyond the pale for even the current administration.
This feels like the right take. "How do you do, fellow kids white dudes?"
For all the talk about "permission structures" as a joke, I think the Democrats lack such a permission structure among themselves to talk to men, especially white men, qua men. The idea of such an affinity group seems anathema to them --- although to be honest I have no desire to join such a group, and they're not completely wrong that such affinity groups have done, uh, some bad stuff in the last couple centuries. "White dudes" seems about the least threatening way to identify them, but nobody asked how they feel about the label.
It might be easier to turn down the volume of the affinity group messaging altogether, rather than grapple about how to accept perceived "majority" affinity groups, but that would be a pretty big course change for the party. But I'll note this plan also flatters my personal "post-racial society" sensibilities from growing up in the 80s and 90s. Ultimately it feels like they've put a lot of effort into advertising what they aren't, but that's a set they seem to think includes me.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
I have seen a few ads out there recently that are clearly right-coded and anti-porn, usually treating it as a personal failing (addiction). I don't think there are that many "porn is a great thing, actually" advocates out there, and most that exist are probably left-of-center by a decent margin.
I could see the median male voter being both a consumer of the, uh, content, but also thinking it should be less accessible. Not high confidence in that, though.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
Without directly encouraging it here, a concerted campaign by the right could probably severely undermine the (left) cultural cachet of Reddit and Bluesky purely by constantly juxtaposing the brand names with things the users endorse in words or (in)actions on such content from the moderators.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
IIRC at least Parler and Gab were kicked out of both the Apple and Google app stores for what is demonstrably less "violent rhetoric" than is frequently seen posted on Bluesky (by public figures, no less) about Jesse Singal, plus whatever you can find about Charlie Kirk.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
Which matters more, act or conviction?
Isn't this one of the classic post-Reformation Christian theological arguments? Whether faith alone is enough (common among Protestants), or whether good works are required in addition to faith (IIRC approximately the Catholic view), or as a pathway to faith. Or whether those works are an orthogonal separate good. Or maybe its just predestination all the way down (Calvinism).
But I am curious when OP's essay was written: Obama hasn't been president for a while, and I haven't heard the name Ben Bernake at all recently.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
LISP programmers of the world unite!
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
Ideal answer would involve a PTZ self-resetting fuse
These at least used to have a failure mode where they failed short when abused often, and I've typically seen them paired with a real fuse that handles that case.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
"Would you love me if I was a worm"
Ah, the God Emperor of Dune question.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
I think the point is that if your institution is over a century old, like BYU, (cue Fiddler: "Tradition!") you can get away with a lot more than if you're starting something today. Liberty seems to do okay, but Bob Jones University has gotten a lot of litigation for its beliefs (which I personally don't subscribe to, not defending it here).
The problem is that you can't start century-old institutions overnight. Maybe the second-best time is now, but that's not a huge solace. I guess "find a vestigial existing one and wear it as a skin suit" could be done --- haven't there been a number of liberal arts colleges going up for auction in the last decade?
At some point, I think at least 2-3 years ago, the default Android (and IIRC iOS) camera apps got the ability to scan QR codes. Honestly I try to have as few apps on my phone as I can get away with, though.
ETA: searching says it was 2017-2018 for Android.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
Certain vice presidents have had trouble with shotguns too. Similar incidents have happened to a number of other celebrities over the years too.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
Almost all products sold at my grocery store are labelled in both metric and imperial. A quick search suggests this has been federal law since 1992, with a few exceptions.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
It doesn't really help the "switch to metric" argument that unit conversions are typically done by computer these days anyway. The marginal cost of doing calculations in "harder" units isn't worth it because the calculations aren't really the hard part any more. Consumer products are pretty universally labelled with both, but the imperial units are round numbers: the box in front of me here is "16 oz (1 lb) 454 g".
Raw material stock sizes are probably a more difficult transition at this point: changing to size of the "2x4" (1.5 x 3.5 inches, naturally) would impact pretty much all construction heavily with seemingly little upside.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1mo ago
US airports sometimes mix international and domestic gates. The difference is that on arrival international flights kick all the passengers over to customs and usually make them go back through security before flying onward. But that can just be rearranging a couple doors.
The extent to which 20th century unions were also racial/ethnic spoils systems is, IMO, underappreciated for political reasons. Not saying it always worked that way, but there isn't a shortage of "and then they hired/imported (across state or sometimes country borders) minority
scabsworkers to break the strike" tales. But it's inconvenient to observe this because "union labor" and minority workers are supposed to be part of the same big tent.Maybe people will start noticing more if union labor keeps swinging right.
More options
Context Copy link