Paulie T

When and how did it become a marker of common social capital, in rural areas especially, to claim fealty to Republicans generally and Trump specifically? If we view the MAGA movement not as a shift of motivations and arguments but as a sociological construction, well, I'm not sure how to address it.

Eh, I'm just leaving curiosity notes for myself now. Could 'MAGA posturing' as a religious-adjacent in-group signaling in rural areas be a result of the decentralization of mainstream religion? And regardless of the origin was it formulated intentionally or accidentally or bit-of-both?

The more I hear about AGI, the more I think that I have long been overestimating the magic of human cognition.

At DragonCon this year, it feels like there's a changing of the guard. A lot of panels that are normally pretty packed are less than half full, where other things almost crash the convention. Time marches on, indeed.

I have this feeling that, from this point in time forward, politics and weather are going to parallel each other: Continually getting more heated, more difficult to predict, and more frequently violent.

I get confused as to how sad I should be when someone past the age of 80 passes. It's great to remember their legacies and celebrate them, and normal to be a bit sad they're not around. But living past 80 is mostly luck, partially genetic and partially circumstantial.

More (very slightly more realistic) for Microsoft's XBox division, similar to my dumb idea a month ago: 1) declare that they're pretty much just going to stick with to the Xbox series X/S machines for the next five years or more, and just announce a series X without the drive. XSXD or something.

4) the miniX360 and possibly another even weaker unit can act as a web terminal, borrowing power/memory from the XSXD to do basic web tasks. Comes with a free subscription to office suite.

Listening to video gaming forums about console price increases is just sad. GTA6 might be be the high water mark before, for all but the richest enthusiasts, the hobby is stunted for years as the world re-sorts itself.

It's not *precisely* accurate, but there's a argument that both major American political parties are conservative, they're just aiming to conserve to different points in time. Democrats at this point want to conserve back to the Obama era, and Republicans want to conserve back to before the new deal

I wonder sometimes how many republicans want to target before 1919 (women's suffrage), before 1913 (federal income tax), before 1860 (I don't want to even meet those people), or before 1775 (darn you, neoreactionaries!) Wonder if any want before that even! And if so, why?

After the US Supreme Court decisions of the last month, I'm trying to imagine what kind of extremely specific collection of constitutional amendments would have to pass to get the current crop of Justices to grudgingly allow the previous state of affairs to revert without packing the court. Ugh.

I would probably add one more modifying the supreme court, forcing more accountability for them as well, as a "screw you" cherry on top. Maybe term limits, maybe an ethics code, maybe a lower threshold for congressional removal. As long as we're making six amendments, why not add a seventh.

After the US Supreme Court decisions of the last month, I'm trying to imagine what kind of extremely specific collection of constitutional amendments would have to pass to get the current crop of Justices to grudgingly allow the previous state of affairs to revert without packing the court. Ugh.

More (very slightly more realistic) for Microsoft's XBox division, similar to my dumb idea a month ago: 1) declare that they're pretty much just going to stick with to the Xbox series X/S machines for the next five years or more, and just announce a series X without the drive. XSXD or something.

2) release a mini Xbox 360, which is lower power system, designed largely around a sort of emulation/re-creation, and supporting new and old and wired controllers

Got the perfect idea for Microsoft to get back in the console game: Make a new console that is designed for a $299 price point. The people's console! In an age of AI austerity just forget the high end of the market. The power is whatever that price will afford. Done.

I'm losing track of all the things in the polycrisis: Cost Disease, aging population, falling birth rates, uncontrolled US national debt, various enshittifications, several surrounding AI, de-dollarification, nuclear proliferation. It's hard to keep track of.

If anyone wants to add any obvious ones feel free to chime in! Unaffordable housing? antibiotic resistance? the general collapse of US-led epidemiology? the unendable often-hot-war between Israel and the bulk of the middle east? The general unsustainability of virtually everything? Fire away!

I'm losing track of all the things in the polycrisis: Cost Disease, aging population, falling birth rates, uncontrolled US national debt, various enshittifications, several surrounding AI, de-dollarification, nuclear proliferation. It's hard to keep track of.

Watching stuff about the theoretical birthrate crisis, and wondering: Has any country tried "Direct income for full-time stay-at-home parents"? I don't mean tax breaks, though you could stack that on top to encourage two family households.