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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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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				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.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Devil’s advocate: that ship sailed immediately. Even the earliest collected versions did shit like spelling the title “Monte Christo.” Who knows what else was modified?


And that’s for the original French. I’m not sure if Dumas wrote much English, but he never published his own translation.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Anyone know of post-apoc fiction that features storage units?


It feels like half the new construction in my town consists of these stupid, chunky self-storage buildings. Incredibly cheap materials. Similar but not identical layouts. They are fundamentally dead buildings, existing to facilitate brief visits and long periods of quiescence. Mausoleums for consumer goods.


This brought to mind the sci-fi tropes of “tech-mining,” delving the ruins of the past for lost and valuable resources. It’s a big part of certain genres of post-collapse sci-fi. Starsector (probably by way of Revelation Space), Hyperion Cantos, Battletech, arguably Foundation. I most recently saw a version in Iain Banks’ Matter, where an eroding waterfall progressively excavates the long-lost city  buried beneath its cliff. The advanced alloys which withstood all that water are salvaged for building materials by a subsequent civilization. Evocative.


These tropes surely owe a lot to the post-apocalyptic genre. A Canticle for Liebowitz begins with a monk uncovering relics in a lost fallout shelter. Not anything useful, mind you, but cultural artifacts of immeasurable value. An apocalypse is perhaps the easiest explanation for how the ancients had something we can no longer get for ourselves.


There’s a game called Caves of Qud dotted with ruins from a long-dead civilization:




Here crumble the mysterious Eaters' vine-swathed works, spun on the cyclopean lathe in an ageless past. Chrome steeples and parapets that rise above the clutches of shale hint at the labyrinths beneath them.




You can trudge through a futuristic jungle only to stumble upon these bones of the former world, populated by tribal robots and sentry turrets. Descend into the caves like a true arconaut, and you’ll find even greater treasure…


In our current reality, how much of that “treasure” is piled in storage units? Boring-ass grids of concrete with one, maybe two garage doors between the loot and the outside world. If the bombs dropped today, any future generations would face the most boring, practical version of tech-mining: cleaning out the attic. “Yeah, we cleared out the mutants from sector 35. Found another one of those metal crypts. Bring the boys over; we can probably find each of them a golf club.”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Unrestricted submarine warfare was very much not the same thing. It was obviously departing from existing blockade law; the debates were over how much could and should be done to enforce those laws. Note that the first few incidents were handled with reparations and apologies rather than a declaration of war.


In your hypothetical, the U.S. might or might not choose to respect the blockade. We have that privilege. This does not provide a general argument for or against such tactics.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Military access through an extremely weak third party.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hell yeah. I got married last month after a similar dating period. Even though I didn’t really expect it to change anything, I keep finding myself grinning like an idiot.


Congratulations!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Spoken like a true heretic schismatic.


When was the last time that an antipope acquired any real momentum? Nowadays, independent Catholics are just filed alongside the Protestants.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’m feeling strange deja vu…have we had this argument before?


Both of those articles support the common economic wisdom that, ceteris paribus, competition lowers prices. This is not sufficient to show a quality of life improvement or to demonstrate technological advances. You lose out on specialization of labor. You have to give up coordination problems. There is less economic slack to search for more efficient investments.


China absolutely flooded its labor pool with cheap immigrants. This has been widely regarded as a bad move.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I’m not sure that model would have predicted the initial attack.


Trump does what he thinks is on-brand. If somebody convinces him that breaking the ceasefire will totally get Iran to fold in a week, he’ll do it. Iran will have done something hostile in the meantime, so he’ll even be able to blame them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
How many people are really in that first category?


I have learned to stop betting on a splinter faction of principled dissenters. Most of the people who wanted off the Trump Train got their wish over the last few congressional elections.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 3, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You’ve got it backwards, I think.


Glorious Nihon was also made up by people selling comic books. Er, manga. The average weaboo is vastly overconfident in his knowledge of Japan.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I get the impression this was something that played out more on Twitter than in meatspace. I’d have thought people had built an immunity by 2014, but apparently not.


It is interesting that even the “republicans pounce” commentary is subdued by post-2016 standards. Outlets are using this to mock Republicans for having nothing better to do; I could barely find anyone calling it racist.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


…but once you have computers in every fridge sold, exponential growth is no longer possible.




A couple weeks ago, someone made analogy to the tractor bubble. Turns out that once you have a rugged, cheap machine on every farm, you can’t keep up the initial growth. But this should apply to every durable good. Why are some slow to reach the flat part of their S-curve?


    

  1. Continuous improvement. This describes lots of mid-century consumer goods like televisions where the underlying tech just kept getting revolutionized.
    2. 

  2. Untapped markets. Once every American has a tractor, proceed to every NATO member, then to every third-worlder. Companies can keep up this classic capitalist snowball until they outrun their logistics and lose out to a local producer.
    3. 

  3. Resource sinks. Postwar Europe had much higher demand for industrial materials, courtesy of a few thousand Allied bombers. Probably not a controllable strategy.
    4. 

  4. Synergy. Tractors needed fuel; PCs needed software. Demand grows as other technologies climb their own curves.
    5. 

  5. Moat. Lock down tractor repairs, sell subscriptions, etc. and extract what you can. I’m not sure this is extending the curve so much as slowing others so that you can safely slow your own ascent.
    6. 



Tech companies benefit the most when they’re climbing the curve. If reasons 1-4 aren’t applicable, they’re going to end up trying for 5. Right now, we’re seeing massive buildouts of data centers because AI serves as a synergy for cloud computing. Apple Intelligence and its ilk will remain a gimmick until such a synergy applies to personal computers.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 3, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That’s a good one. I’ve definitely caused it…more than once.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not that I know. I was trying to figure out what Bondi’s actual experience was.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Join the club, friend.


Though…which three do you have in mind?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think you can come up with better commentary than this.




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.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not just basically. Chickens are straight up dinosaurs, while crocodiles are only archosaurs. Peasants.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				What is the problem with women?
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Knowing our audience, I figured this was probably going to trigger the usual flames. Sorry.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What would you recommend?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You can find a guy with XYZ experience anywhere. This one doesn’t even advertise double-Ds!


You can also find Trump hinting at anything and everything. In fact, a lot of the early opposition to him came from people convinced he was hinting at various flavors of racism. This is not strong evidence of his actual motivations.


The U.S. does suffer from these things. Maybe Europe has it worse? But then again, they aren’t actually expending munitions and fuel to putter around outside the Straits. That’s got to make them feel at least a little smug.


I think you have to be really motivated to find reasons to come up with shit like this.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Don’t paraphrase unflatteringly.




It’s fine to ask what people are thinking; the problem comes from assuming that you already know.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The official position is that AI usage is allowed, but cannot constitute the substance of one’s comment. If it wouldn’t pass the “low effort” rules without the AI additions, we’re probably going to mod it.


@self_made_human has modded  accordingly.


Unfortunately, our best examples of what isn’t allowed tend to stop at the new user filter. You’d be surprised how many psycho-political manifestos we get from first-time posters.