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netstack

The horse embodies the wings a person feels inside.

10 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.

				
				
				

				

					10 followers  

					follows 3 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 647


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 14, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, but with a particularly gormless, class-driven sort of trust.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 14, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That only goes to 1950, though. By which point America is almost fully electrified and coming off a generational economic boom. I wouldn’t be surprised if working hours peaked right after WW2.


A casual search found this totally unbiased article, which suggests the U.S. started movements for paid time off, but Sweden and Germany adopted them first.


I know the eight-hour workday became popular over the course of the 1800s. I could see the paid vacation as a Progressive outgrowth of that sentiment.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 7, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Worst Invincible War OC.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 14, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Elden Ring: The Convergence with my brother.


This is a borderline-total-conversion mod for one of the best games of the decade. It removes almost all of the progression gates to focus on remixing areas and playstyles. Instead of cruising every region to see if there’s a relevant spell or talisman, your starting class gets a shopping list of places to try. That’ll take your character on a tour as you accumulate relevant gear and stats. And there’s plenty to see; in addition to the new and redesigned items and spells, entire areas have been expanded. Surprisingly, most of it has a pretty high quality level and looks like it could have been cut content.


I’m playing an archer using the talisman which gives you infinite ammo. It would normally have a drawback, but with my choice of gear, I’m able to dampen that and spam arrows without worrying about the cost. My brother has built full tank with greatshield. He keeps aggro and breaks poise while I needle them. It’s broken but in a silly, fun way.


Highly recommended if you’ve seen all the vanilla Elden Ring you want. Combine it with Seamless Co-op to make it even more casually enjoyable.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 14, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Definitely longer stays. You can see it in a lot of period fiction. Some of that comes down to social class but it applied to labor too.


Prior to rail access, you had coaching inns for travel and boarding houses for longer stays. I think this shaded a little more smoothly from “staying” to “renting.” You had flophouses (where nobody would stay for long if they could help it) all the way up through factory town lodgings or urban apartments. The big hotels take off once railways concentrate a lot more traffic in one spot.


I’m pretty sure individuals used to offer rooms more, too. Some of the quirks of Remains of the Day come from the butler protagonist staying at various private homes which operate more like a bed and breakfast. This is as he’s making a multi-day trip across…England.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 14, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Judging by their previous games, they’ve never understood how to manage success.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 14, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
“Which came first: the shitty rave music, or the drugs?”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’m not sure what you mean.


I think moving the conference because their feelings were hurt is lame. I also think it’s orthogonal to the missionary spirit, in which immortal souls are supposedly at stake.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 7, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Has YT ever done anything else?


Serious question.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Mea culpa. Nine sets of scare quotes to say that this movement is inherently averse to consistency, with no comparisons to similar movements.


I think this is still awfully uncharitable. “Alternative ways of knowing” have next to zero impact on the vast majority of progressive politics. People can and do argue any number of progressive policies—police, borders, reparations—on the boring ol’ grounds of facts and logic. That doesn’t change when some jackass decides to mock mathematics for being too white.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hosting a conference isn’t missionary work. They’re not shirking a duty to their flock or their fellow man by hosting it in Portland or wherever.


Your apostate acquaintance is a different story. Are you suggesting that the UMC ethos was responsible for leaving him unprepared?


I grew up as a casual Methodist. I can’t say I miss it. Perhaps they really failed to inculcate the fear of God.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’m not surprised you could tell. There are a bunch of groups that just sort of make it obvious, but most of them don’t have a Pope. Homeschoolers, new Agers. Mormons.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Oh, come on. Nine sets of scare quotes to say this movement is unusually prone to contradiction?


Show me a coalition which has national reach and I’ll show you a contradictory mess.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Exactly. Precision manufacturing requires a lot of things to go right. Then they have to be provably right, which was a recurring problem for the Soviet system.


I think the latter danger is real but not for that reason. Comparative advantage pushed Americans out of manufacturing. We still produce excellent technical professionals*, but they have little incentive to start up an industrial plant. The money is in finance, pharma, software.


When I was in college, the perception of academia was already pretty grim. People were aware of the employment prospects and the shift towards adjunct professors. It’s hard to imagine it getting better in the last ten years.


I’d say cultural work has also taken a beating, though that’s even more subject to my bubble. This is a damn cynical generation. Are they really eager to fight over the last scraps of journalism? Of mass culture?


* I wanted to show this via bls.gov, but the data retrieval tool was “under maintenance.”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Probably not. As I understand it, China has been investing a lot of money into domestic jet engines for decades. The marginal opportunities from an active conflict are small by comparison.


Espionage isn’t going to be enough, either. The U.S. was literally collecting Nazi experts and still took years to integrate early jets. China has picked all that low-hanging fruit.


I remember reading an article about China’s difficulties called something like “why jet engines are hard.” It wasn’t the Construction Physics article, which focuses on the West. I thought it was older than this, too.
If I find it, I’ll let you know.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is a bad post. Speak plainly and see if you can manage to include something other than “boo outgroup” next time.


Three day ban.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Was he allowing for collective ownership of rentals? Say, publicly traded corporations. They’d probably end up as larger cartels, but in some of our worst housing markets, that might be an improvement. Might.


Renting out houses feels scummy, illegitimate in a way that renting office space or even apartments does not. I don’t know if I can justify that feeling. It might just be a lifetime of cultural conditioning.


But speculating on houses? Using them purely as a store of value decoupled from the normal economy? That part I hate and resent. We put so many fingers on the scale to smooth out the largest, most important purchase most Americans will ever make. If one has enough money, though, one can just…exploit that. Free ride on the distortionary effects. I wouldn’t mind seeing that use case disappear.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Maybe they won't endorse it because, you know, they don't believe it? Second-order consequences are for nerds.


The modal progressive believes that people deserve the same standard of living. When reality falls short, he blames the people with the most money and power. In America, that's usually white dudes, but anybody who does well enough gets trimmed out of the coalition. See Asians. The rest of the world imports their narrative from us whether or not it makes sense.


Sometimes, he gets a slice of that money and power, then drives himself nuts trying to bring the world a little closer to his ideal. Call it "neurotic philanthropy."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 27, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Look, I realize this metaphor is beyond strained, but that’s only true if they’re under orders. Clayton and Swinson walked into this minefield on their own initiative. They have no particular obligation to keep moving in a straight line.


It’d be different if they were, say, called as witnesses for a defense.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The average person with a "No human is illegal" sign on their lawn would never, ever, ever act like that.




More or less true. The rest of this comment is basically slander.




They see it as something like a shelter dog rescue that makes messes on the floor




There’s probably a leftist out there who would endorse the racist paternalism you describe, but that person is not an “average person.” The concept is so far outside the Overton window that it horseshoes around to the general fringe category.




even if they'd quietly have such a dog returned and euthanized




Oh, come on. It wasn’t enough to make a strawman of the policy? You had to have them killing puppies, too?




It's hard to escape the conclusion that they're just the most insanely racist people on Earth.




I don’t believe that you want to escape that conclusion.




Even professional-grade racists like Asians and Slavs don't usually hate themselves too.




Perhaps this is because “racist” is the wrong label for what you’re describing.


You’re putting an awful lot of words in people’s mouths. If those words are shocking and incoherent, if you notice you are confused, maybe they aren’t the right words.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Shit. This is exactly the opposite of what I was hoping.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I supposedly turned off DuckDuckGo’s AI features, but I am not sure how much effect it actually had. Google won’t even let you opt out of their summarizer.


Yesterday I grew really annoyed trying to source statistics on medieval crossbows. Every site was the same AI-gen listicle. Did you know crossbows were easier to train than longbows? Because I fucking did. I wanted to know the bolt length and weight, machine, not the single most obvious fact you can find.


Where are the Web 1.0 sites which exhaustively document one guy’s home testing? The blogs nerding out over graphs? The doctoral theses on historical records? I swear Google used to give you Google Scholar links.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sure, but you’d have to pay me.


I don’t actually have much confidence in my fiction skills. It’s not something I’ve practiced. I could regurgitate tropes in your direction, maybe sprinkle in some memes, but I suspect modern genAI would outperform me on this task.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Do you believe that all taxation is theft slavery, or can some of it be justified?


Your arguments are fully generalizable.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
OP did say “cooking for oneself.” I don’t think that’s ever been male-dominated outside of the army.




The editor seriously hopes that her toil may not have been in vain, but that her country-women may find just cause to be satisfied with the Model Cookery and Housekeeping Book.