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The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.

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PaperclipPerfector 3d ago (text post) 2035 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 30, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

nomagicpill 1d ago

Here's everything I read in January 2026, ordered from most to least interesting. I posted this on /r/slatestarcodex earlier, but figured the overlap between here and there is small enough that it would be of some value to post here as well.

My Apartment Art Commission Process: jenn details how she captures her apartments in digital art form. It even includes an email template!
"Everything's Expensive" is Negative Social Contagion: Justis argues that saying such things makes people think the economy is bad, resulting in "facially insane political choices". I'd be curious if there is any literature on this as a social contagion, i.e., even if prices aren't up that much, does saying "everything's expensive" lead to said political choices? Regardless, he's probably right that it's just better to leave it alone.
Sand Hill Road: "notable for its concentration of venture capital firms.[2] The road has become a metonym for that industry; nearly every top Silicon Valley company has been the beneficiary of early funding from firms on Sand Hill Road." There are a shocking number of VC firms on this road!
CIA taught Ukraine how to target Putin’s Achilles heel: "A CIA expert had identified a coupler device that is so difficult to replace that it could lead to a facility remaining shut for weeks."
The McUltra: Riding 500 km around a McDonald's drivethru.
Notes on Afghanistan: Matt Lakeman visits Afghanistan.
Does Pentagon Pizza Theory Work?: RBA scrapes Twitter and backtests it against major military actions, finding that... well, Betteridge can answer that for you.
Don't Get Sucked Into The Thoughtful Gesture Industrial Complex: CHH argues that we gotta stop upping the ante on gift-giving, else the reasonable people among us will be either forced in or unable to say no because it will make them look like assholes. I agree! What happened to simple gift giving? Why must everything be extravagant? If anything, we should be going the opposite way to save money!
The Militia and the Mole: "A wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover, climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell his family or friends."
The art of cold-emailing a billionaire
Dating Roundup #9: Signals and Selection: "You're single because... [insert a bunch of reasons in a bulleted list format]".
Third rail (politics): "a metaphor for any issue so controversial that it is "charged" and "untouchable" to the extent that any politician or public official who dares to broach the subject will invariably suffer politically. The metaphor comes from the high-voltage third rail in some electric railway systems."
US Data Incidence Calculator: Go see just how (un)realistic your standards are! Or compliment your partner on how they're literally 1 in a number.
Do travel visa requirements impede tourist travel?: "Yes. Using a travel visa data set developed by Lawson and Lemke (2012) and travel flow data from the World Bank and the UN’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), we investigate the deterrent effect of travel visa requirements on travel flows. At the aggregate level, a one standard deviation more severe travel visa regime, as measured, is associated with a 30 % decrease in inbound travel. At the bilateral level, having a travel visa requirement on a particular country is associated with a 70 % reduction in inbound travel from that country. The gains associated with eliminating travel visas appear to be very large."
Alternative lifestyle choices work great - for alternative people: Pretty self-explanatory title. Alt lifestyles only really work for people on the fringes, and chances are you're not one of them. Examples include polyamory, drugs, sex-positive feminism, psychotherapy, gender transition, following your dreams, amateur pornography, and being a Linux user.
The Champagne Toasting Problem: niplav tries to figure out the best way to toast champagne in as few moves as possible.
The Importance of Diversity: Hotz argues that open-source AGI is the only way to go, lest the big tech owners integrate their personal values and people don't like that. (Thanks to Daily Links for the link!)
No joy in life can survive reductionism
2026 Center for Food as Medicine & Longevity Airline Water Study: "The 2026 Airline Water Study ranks 10 major and 11 regional airlines by the quality of water they provided onboard flights during a three-year study period (October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2025). Each airline was given a “Water Safety Score” (5.00 = highest rating, 0.00 = lowest) based on five weighted criteria, including violations per aircraft, Maximum Contaminant Level violations for E. coli, indicator-positive rates, public notices, and disinfecting and flushing frequency. A score of 3.5 or better indicates that the airline has relatively safe, clean water and earns a Grade A or B. ... Delta Air Lines and Frontier Airlines win the top spots with the safest water in the sky ... airlines with the worst score are American Airlines and JetBlue"
Don't Sell Stock to Donate: Why donating a stock directly is superior to donating the proceeds of selling that stock. You guessed it: taxes!
Learners will inherit the earth: Adapt to AI or get left in the dust.
To be well-calibrated is to be punctual
The Old Year, and The New: 2026: Joshua shares his goals for 2026 and plans to achieve them.
Toys with the highest play-time and lowest clean-up-time
Inside the Turbulent, Secret World of the AP3 Militia
Bacha bazi: "a pederastic practice in Afghanistan and in historical Turkestan, in which men exploit and enslave adolescent boys, sometimes for sexual abuse, and/or coerce them to cross-dress in attire traditionally only worn by women and girls and dance for entertainment."
Cloak of Muhammad: "a relic hidden inside Kirka Sharif in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It is a cloak believed to have been worn by the Islamic prophet Muhammad during the Night Journey in 621 AD."
"I Found My People!": Amanda argues for social bubbles.
Reflections on Peru and Bolivia: Caplan talks about his South American travels, especially from an economic lens.
Making Money on OnlyFans Is a Lot Harder Than You Think: They work a lot and competition is stiff.
What do you think you're hiding?: Either post your Strava map or don't post at all.
Weasel Heart-To-Heart: Weaseling in Beeminder is where you mark that you did something when you really didn't, which defeats the whole purpose! Chelsea discusses the slippery slope to weaseling and what can (and should!) be done to get out of that weasely hole.
Raymond Allen Davis incident: CIA contractor (apparently Pakistan station chief) killed two men. A rescue car also killed a third man. Davis was taken into custody and the U.S. paid $2.5MM of diyah to the victims' families.
Most successful entrepreneurship is unproductive
Travis Kalanick: Founder and former CEO of Uber. Crazy work ethic and expectations for Uber staff during the initial startup phase. Some interesting tidbits: "Kalanick also made a point of undermining potential investments into competitor Lyft, poaching them for Uber." "Executives were known to expense strip club visits to corporate accounts, a practice jokingly referred to as "Tits on Travis"." "Kalanick's experiences with investors at Scour and Red Swoosh had made him wary of investors who might interfere with his control of Uber, so he ensured that the terms for these and future investments strongly favored himself and Uber. He strictly limited the amount of financial information investors could access, and the shares for new investors had a tenth of the voting power of the shares held by Kalanick, Camp, and Graves."
Ryan Graves (businessman): Former CEO of Uber. Runs a family office called Saltwater.
Total Knee Replacement Surgical Video: GORE WARNING.
You Will Not Have a Flat Floor: You can shim all you want and it still won't be flat.
Debunking the AI food delivery hoax that fooled Reddit
Mamdani Demotes NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch
Yasslighting: "A pun based off the term gaslighting when a person or group of persons (typically a comment section) blatantly lie to gas up an ugly person trying to pull off a look they shouldn't with "yasss queen slay girl boss" energy. Typically this will be skinny girls telling fat girls they look amazing in skintight revealing outfits complimenting their "confidence" so that they can look better in comparison or handmaidens and trans people telling other trans people how awesome and feminine they look in anime outfits they got off wish or masculine they look while still in makeup, jewelry, and neon hair dye."
Clipboard Normalization: Jeff standardizes his computer's clipboard with a handy homemade app that gets the style he wants.
JANE STREET GROUP, LLC, v. MILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT LLC, DOUGLAS SCHADEWALD, and DANIEL SPOTTISWOOD
How I rebooted my social life: Turns out if you invite people to stuff (and are an interesting person and have food/drink), people will probably come!
2025’s Biggest Vibe Shift: "Decorum is dead."
Dushanbe Flagpole: 165 meters (541 feet) tall with a 700 kg flag!
Wilderness Responsibility and Obligation to Others
Chris Arnade
The meaning of, and in, McDonald's: America's default community center.
Please remember how strange this all is.: Toby talks about how complex and advanced our society is, and when you stop to think about it for a second, it's actually pretty freaking crazy. Flying pieces of metal traveling at 600 mph. Evolution. Our consciousness. Creating machine gods.
"The first two weeks are the hardest": my first digital declutter
Steinholding (sport): Hold a one-liter beer stein straight in front of you for as long as possible. This is a great party game, especially when a bunch of shit-talking, competitive guys are there.
Mirwais Azizi: Afghanistan's richest man.
Ah, f*ck. My friend travels like Anthony Bourdain.
inside the hot girl economy: Living life as an attractive women in some of the top U.S. cities—NYC, Miami, etc.
Supplement Stack of a Gold Medalist Rower (Part I): Plus a look at his typical day while both working and training for the Olympics. Supplements include creatine and sodium bicarb.
"Why are you always so into chess?": Chess is equalizing, competitive, and cognitively beneficial.
modern day social etiquette you should live & die by: Pretty basic stuff, but sometimes the basics serve as good reminders.
10 reasons why you should (definitely) use TikTok: TikTok is pretty bad and the reasons listed here are pretty fair. That being said, the challenges I've seen on there can look pretty fun!
I Deleted My Second Brain
Typing quickly saves a ton of time: Strong agree, and this type of cost-benefit analysis should be done more often. The same CBA can be done for removing typing and other small, short, adds-up-quickly tasks, like typing an email signature, sorting emails, texting, etc. Automate all of it!
Journaling doesn't have to be aesthetic to be effective
Bashi-bazouk: "'one whose head is turned, damaged head, crazy-head', roughly "leaderless" or "disorderly") was an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army, raised in times of war. The army primarily enlisted Albanians and sometimes Circassians as bashi-bazouks,[1] but recruits came from all ethnic groups of the Ottoman Empire, including slaves from Europe or Africa.[2] Bashi-bazouks had a reputation for being undisciplined and brutal, notorious for looting and preying on civilians as a result of a lack of regulation and of the expectation that they would support themselves off the land."
Gregory Bovino: "American law enforcement officer who has served as a senior official in the United States Border Patrol since 2019."
Was I Married to a Stranger?
EXCLUSIVE: Federal Lab in Montana Reports Potential Theft, Loss, or Release of Dangerous Biological Agent
Sacramento US attorney fired after questioning immigration raid speaks out
Happiness Is a Chore
7 takeaways from Jack Smith’s congressional testimony: Smith built his case around Trump’s allies; Smith hadn’t made his final charging decisions; Lawmakers failed to knock Smith off his game; Smith forcefully rejected any hint of political bias; Smith didn’t pursue ‘uncooperative’ witnesses; Smith defends pursuit of lawmakers’ phone records; House GOP revel in Smith comments on Cassidy Hutchinson.
Cassidy Hutchinson: "a former White House aide who served as assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the first Trump administration. Hutchinson testified at the June 28, 2022, public hearings of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack about President Donald Trump's alleged conduct and that of his senior aides and political allies before and during the January 6 United States Capitol attack."
Jack Smith deposition
Billy Graham rule: "a code of conduct among male evangelical Protestant leaders, in which they avoid spending time alone with women to whom they are not married. It is adopted as a display of integrity, a means of avoiding sexual temptation, to avoid any appearance of doing something considered morally objectionable, as well as for avoiding accusations of sexual harassment or assault."
The Permanent Emergency: Scott describes life with two mischevious toddlers.
Slippage (finance)
Jeremy Hammond: Activist and computer hacker.
Crocker's Rules: "other people are allowed to optimize their messages for information, not for being nice to you. Crocker's Rules means that you have accepted full responsibility for the operation of your own mind - if you're offended, it's your fault."
Ilya Sutskever’s OpenAI equity could be worth $100 billion, court records reveal
Messages between Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Brad Lightcap immediately following Sam's OpenAI ousting
Jared Birchall: Elon Musk's adviser, fixer, and family office manager.
County pays $600,000 to pentesters it arrested for assessing courthouse security
Did photos of the 1917 Miracle of the Sun at Fatima prove the sun was at an impossible place in the sky?: Georgia does some pretty great analysis to find that Betteridge's Law strikes again!
23 lessons you will learn living in a very snowy place (Thanks to Daily Links for the link!)* Patrick J. Schiltz: "American lawyer and jurist serving since 2022 as the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota."
Shiber v. Centerview Partners LLC, No. 1:2021cv03649 - Document 139 (S.D.N.Y. 2025): A woman sues an investment bank for not accommodating her disability of needing 8 hours of a sleep a night.
ICE Unloads: Klippenstein receives negative complaints about recent events from current ICE officers.
Stratfor: Intelligence publishing company for businesses interested in geopolitical risk.
Double Down (sandwich): Sandwich with "two pieces of fried chicken fillet, as opposed to bread, containing bacon, cheese, and a sauce."

Context

urquan Hold! What you are doing to us is wrong! Why do you do this thing? nomagicpill 1d ago · Edited 1d ago

Well, some of these are a bit interesting. If you don't mind a few off-the-cuff takes--

Dating Roundup #9: Signals and Selection: "You're single because... [insert a bunch of reasons in a bulleted list format]".

These were interesting, obviously mostly well-known.

I do want to comment on the astrology thing though. I think I'd struggle to take a partner who used astrology as a means to talk about personality seriously. My view is that it's ludicrous, but moreso that it forces human personality into very silly boxes instead of using big-boy (girl?) words to actually talk about things in an organic manner. It suggests immaturity in emotional and social communication.

This tweet included in the essay was interesting to me:

Astrology is a vehicle women use to communicate indirectly. Why would it possibly make you annoyed?

That's actually a question that includes the answer -- the problem is that it's a way to communicate indirectly, and as the article says "super flexibly", without actually committing to making a statement. That's one of the worst traits in a partner, from my point of view.

This comment on the article was interesting:

A girl opens with "what's your sign", you tell her, and then you make up a story together about the relation between the two signs. There's no actual predictive power there, the signs are meaningless (she knows this, at least subconsciously), it's just a framework within which you can indirectly talk about how you'd fit together.

I love talking about values and hopes and dreams and goals. It's actually because I like talking about those things that I don't like astrology. I don't believe it's necessary or helpful to try to fit me, or you, into a star-sign box. If you're someone who likes to stay in a lot and is slow to trust someone, you can just say that. Have an adult conversation with me about who you are and who I am. I don't believe in "indirectly" communicating about "how we'd fit together," I believe in directly communicating it. I kind of want to make a joke on the "I don't consent" Jesus meme where the third player is "literally the observable universe." Don't bring galaxies into the bedroom, please!

I think tact is useful. But when I'm looking to share my life with someone, I want to know they can communicate about desires and preferences in a straightforward, clear, and reasonable manner. Astrology as an interest suggests a way of looking at life as a kind of following the wind, at the mercy of (literally) astronomical forces, and that leads me to believe someone is flighty and doesn't fully take responsibility for the outcomes of their own life.

I also disagree with this:

People underestimate how much relationships are built on that ability. To step into someone’s weird side hobby, their micro belief system, their little rituals, even when you do not share them. She might have astrology. Someone else has Dungeons & Dragons lore. Another person has fantasy football statistics. Your uncle has his grill.

"Dungeons and Dragons lore" or "fantasy football statistics" are generally not means by which people aim to understand themselves or their place in the social universe. The closest equivalent is actually if some guy tried asking his date about her DnD moral alignment -- I think most people would find that cringe. I'd be happy to listen to a date talk about her interest in makeup, or fashion, especially if she could forgive my ignorance -- but not astrology. It's just a different kind of a thing.

But what's most interesting to me is that the article ignores the biggest and actual reason you're single: the social people aren't available, and the available people aren't social, because they're on their phones scrolling TikTok because fewer and fewer people participate in voluntary social activity, especially after college. It's almost a meme how many times I've been told "I'm boring, sorry," by women whose hobbies included watching YouTube videos and eating dinner, alone, at home. I don't have any problem with that! But that's not exactly a social calendar that lends itself to meeting interesting people. If my girlfriend and I hadn't met each other at the right time, I'd probably be single too. And so would she.

That said, the main thing I have to say about astrology is I took an astronomy class in college for a natural sciences credit, and at the end of the course two girls had a short discussion in the class group chat, where they said:

This class was so hard [it wasn't], I thought when I signed up it was going to be astrology

BITCH ME TOO

I don't know why we're giving bachelor's degrees to people who can't distinguish between astrology and astronomy, but that's a different issue.

Alternative lifestyle choices work great - for alternative people: Pretty self-explanatory title. Alt lifestyles only really work for people on the fringes, and chances are you're not one of them. Examples include polyamory, drugs, sex-positive feminism, psychotherapy, gender transition, following your dreams, amateur pornography, and being a Linux user.

I'm a Linux user (btw), but I do have to admit I'm fringe.

Well, I guess I just had a couple thoughts as I actually selected what random neuron firings deserved being typed out. Anyway.

Context

rmtodd urquan 10hr ago

I don't know why we're giving bachelor's degrees to people who can't distinguish between astrology and astronomy, but that's a different issue.

Technically "we" (the universities) aren't giving bachelor's degrees to those people, they're selling bachelor's degrees to those people. For what can I gather be up to $20K tuition&fees/year * 4 years, you too might be more flexible regarding what sort of intellectual standards the clientele is expected to uphold...

Context

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.

Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.

New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!

Rules

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