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Texas is freedom land

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joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC 

				
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Texas is freedom land

				
				
				

				

					9 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
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Rome wasn’t killed in a day.


The city was sacked by Visigoths in 410. But this was the consequence of a failure to secure the northern border in the 370s. That, in turn, had a lot to do with previous decades of usurpations and civil wars. You have to go back to Constantine to find a roughly stable period.


Basically, Rome was under almost constant internal and external pressures. Emperors kept debasing the currency and compromising with the barbarians and moving the capital, all just to stay afloat. And they did keep limping along for decades. The Empire didn’t fully collapse until 476, over a century after the barbarians reached the gates. That’s a lot of time for demographic and economic ruin.


I find "I totally could do it, if I wanted to, it's just that I don't want" much less likely than “you’re going to pay me in debased silver? Fuck you.”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I found it interesting, too.


Per gwern:




Clothing has become almost “too cheap to meter”, as the Industrial Revolution in textiles never stopped; employment in the US textile industry has cratered while garment per man-hour & per capita GDP in new textile-heavy economies like Bangladesh soars as textile automation continues.




I thought his article was the one with stats about the percentage of income spent on clothing, but I guess that was somewhere else. It was outrageous even through the 50s.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There’s a difference between unable and unwilling.


Even if Roman men were champing at the bit, if the state couldn’t pay them enough to support a family, that’s a sign of state capacity, not cultural softness. Same goes for steppe nomads. All their tough-as-nails culture doesn’t give their band the capacity to threaten Rome. It’s not softness if there’s no rational choice.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Motte: obviously environment affects toughness…

Bailey: in the specific ways that let a state control its environment


That last one is where the arguments happen, because it’s where people like to make predictions about Current Thing. It is an explicitly cyclical argument where “decadence” signals that those in power must be on their way out. Surely the U.S. is too decadent to handle the Germans/the Soviets/the Islamists/the Chinese?


Devereaux’s post illustrated that poor, hardened barbarians actually had a pretty poor track record against Rome. Even (especially?) when it was at its most luxurious. Turns out that having enough wealth to throw stupid parties correlates pretty well with maintaining roads, armories and fleets.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don’t think the broader historical record supports that, either, but it’s certainly more defensible than the pure Fremen version.


On the other hand, the machine gun and airplane are here to stay. Any reactionary with a profile picture of Roman statuary has to explain why a model which might have gone out of fashion with WWI should apply today.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Okay, maybe I was being a little melodramatic. Slide cuts. Not that I wouldn’t love to get in to black powder.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hell yeah. I put a Romeo 5 on my basic-bitch AR and I have no regrets.


You’ll find that a red dot on a pistol is also vastly superior to irons. It’s just more intuitive. With modern batteries, the downside is basically just form factor. Caveat: my pistols are waaaay too old for a red dot, so I’ve only used them on others’ guns. Maybe spending your own money on it immediately ruins the effect :)


There is absolutely no way you need to spend $3000 on an over/under. Dicking around with easy throws using your used coach gun is the way to go. Hitting a double pull is such a good feeling, though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’ve been expecting to see Haskell (etc.) as a limiting framework for vibe coding since before the latter term caught on. If it’s been tried, I haven’t seen it. Does that mean it doesn’t actually help? It helps, but tech media gets too confused to report it? Or perhaps the Haskell community hates LLMs too much to try and direct them?


Anyway, I hate to break it to you, but the future is Prolog.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It was a good attempt to divert the hijackers, but they didn’t bite. Not enough virgins.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What did you say that was so based?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
In…I think it was middle school, I tried cutting into a particularly tough one with a plastic knife. Managed to cut my hand up real bad. Now I always go by hand unless I’m garnishing drinks.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I went back and forth on including scenarios like that, where it is or isn’t appropriate, but decided I was getting sidetracked.


She is entitled to her preference. (Historically, that would in fact have been pretty unreasonable.) More importantly, you and I are free to say that she’s being reasonable or not. Opinions are protected.


A judge allocating convicts to prisons is in a different position. He or she has a a duty to the convict, but also to the officers and to the other prisoners. He or she is entitled to know and act on each convict’s sex in the line of duty.


The central examples of sex discrimination don’t have either defense. Lawmakers are not entitled to condition driving privileges by sex, for example.


You, as an individual, have rights to freedom of expression and association. It is not inherently bad for you to act according to someone’s sex. On the other hand, it is that someone’s own right to treat you accordingly. If your perfectly valid preferences don’t align, go your separate ways, because neither of you is entitled to the respect of the other.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
They can’t do that. It would ruin financial derivatives.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Eh…not really? I think that correct inferences are good.




entitlement to know and act on the genital/gonad configuration of strangers




I think this is actually a bad thing, mostly because of the word “entitlement.”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
IMO the Cosmic Crisp has earned its place in the top tier now.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Things can be bad without being oppression, though. Without getting universal agreement at the time.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If that were the definition, why would conservative populists want to attract them?


I’m pretty sure that I’m using it as the OP did, which is much closer to the first sense.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Good.


Also, nominative determinism claims another victim?


				

				

						

							

								
    
									
									
									
									
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Great assessment of the Enterprise setting. “And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning ‘That path leads ever down into stagnation.’”


But you completely lose me at the CW bits.




they lack the intelligence and positive vision for the future necessary to attract "elite human capital".




Elites don’t demand either of those things. The traditional substitutes are money and power. Conservatives are quite willing and able to reward elites with such; populists are not. Intellectual and technocrat discomfort with MAGA was directly proportional to the amount of time it spent reminding them that they were class enemies.


In fact, this class consciousness was an essential part of MAGA’s positive vision. America is supposed to be great. We beat all our rivals, so what gives? It must be the liberal, coastal elites. Get them out of power so we normal Americans can resume our upward trajectory.




what does "elite human capital" have to offer the base-model human other than growing social dysfunction and death via "managed decline"?




Wild material prosperity is a good start.   Really, the question is absurd unless you draw a very unintuitive box around “elite human capital.” Purging your best and brightest is not conducive to scientific or cultural wealth.


It doesn’t appear to prevent social dysfunction, either. There is a direct line from the Chinese intellectual purges to the starvation of millions of peasants. Then China had to redevelop its own oligarchic class before it could play in the big leagues. Hollowing out institutions comes with consequences.




we can't do it with the sort of "Khesterex" thinking that seems to have become endemic to blue spaces.




Wait, wait.


You gestured at all those examples of conservative populism, but now it’s “blue spaces” at fault? I don’t think you’ve properly made the case. Presumably, you’re thinking of critical theory, reparations, the intellectual backlash against America. But what you’re describing is just populism. Swap the word “blue” and you’d have the standard criticism of MAGA. It gripes, it does damage, but it has yet to build anything that lasts.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, other than flying our planes into our own buildings, that is.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
And one which tracks other economic markers a lot better.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Disgusting.


I was fooled by the fact that chart 1 did adjust for inflation.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Looks pretty good, yeah.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Canticle for Liebowitz. Can’t believe I never actually read it before. I’m really wondering about the lineage which got us from there to ubiquitous settings like Fallout.


Though I did always confuse it with Flowers for Algernon.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, abortion politics is up there with Israel as the last holdouts of the religious right. At least on a national scale. All the big controversies of the 90s, etc. have slid out from the Overton window.