practicing patience Miscellany
2026-07-30 14:13:36

this morning, before I start work: watching people play video games.

⚔️ watching one person play one video game.

⚔️ maybe two video games.

yesterday, I watched DDRJake play Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library!.⚙️ the plot: there are 3072 books on the floor.  put them on shelves.  you can use magic to help.

watching it gave me motion sickness, so after about 10 minutes I had it as audio-only 💡 he's good at commentating, and the graphics are just "walk, pick up book, walk, put book down".  and he made some bad strategic choices, so he missed the (user) time limit. 🌎 but I stopped the audio after 40 minutes

today, we have "Tametsi" - advanced minesweeper.

He ... is not good at this one either.  If I am watching closely, I see most of the mistakes immediately.  and then have to watch him flounder until he catches the mistake, or makes another one.

but, as a recording of someone on another content playing a video game, I have no "agency" over the stream. also, it doesn't matter if he wins or loses.

clothing budget Miscellany
2026-07-29 14:41:59

https://edconway.substack.com/p/what-andy-burnhams-80-t-shirt-really 💡 Andy Burnham ⚙️ new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom wore a T-shirt that cost 80 pounds ⚙️ roughly $125 because it was made in the UK from UK wool/cotton.

Now in some respects all of this - the fuss about the T-shirts and then the fuss about how much they cost - is simply yet more evidence of what we here in the UK fondly refer to as the “silly season” - the period of parliamentary recess in the middle of the summer when newspapers are forced to fluff up minor stories into giant exposes, in the absence of much actual news.

But I think this story, of Andy Burnham’s expensive T-shirts and jackets, is actually rather more interesting than it probably seems on the surface - albeit not for the same reasons the Daily Mail thinks it is. Understand why Andy Burnham is paying so much for his casual-wear and you begin to understand rather a lot about the deep-seated problems we as a country and as an economy are facing right now. You begin to see how enormous is the challenge he faces as Prime Minister.

The article is right. There are multiple stories here: why are clothes priced how we are? Why does the UK press care about the PM's clothing budget?

the trouble with Toy Story 5 Film
2026-07-20 20:36:29

💡 if this was a stand-alone film, some of the sins would be more forgivable.

Compared to the first films 🌎 I haven't seen or read much about 4, there are some major issues with Toy Story 5.

  • the whole toys can't be seen moving ⚙️ mostly. we get one scene where Sid sees Woody at the climax of the film in 1. but, beyond that, the rule is there has to be an explanation other than "the toys did it" thing falls apart if you can send text messages constantly and operate giant construction cranes. the premise of the suspension-of-disbelief has been broken.
  • there is no villain. In TS1, the villain is Sid (and the conflict between Woody and Buzz). What is the villain in TS5? The Lilypad 🔥 iPad has one heel scene. Beyond that, the villain is Bonnie's insecurity and Jessie's pigheadedness 💡 so much of the plot is "Jessie demands things happen her way and makes things worse".
  • the army of drone robots is creepy and bad. but it's presented as a joke.
  • the army of drone robots only shows up due to multiple Deus Ex Machina -- apparently the entire internet is just 10 people?
  • i get that "default Buzz is really stupid" is part of the character, but why do they decide Jessie is their leader?

some other things I didn't like, but are maybe not objectively bad:

  • the poop jokes didn't land with me.
  • maybe the "toilet training toy" should have a finite lifespan
  • why is Woody a vigilante?
  • why do the toys have the magical ability to command animals?
  • how much of Bonnie's behavior is because her toys have been constantly manipulating her life?
  • the film doesn't really have a message about devices ⚙️ screens. Devices are sometimes bad?

the 15-minute version of the film without animated toys would be ... fine. Bonnie gets iPad, Bonnie's friends are mean to her (on and offline), Bonnie loses chat privileges, Bonnie makes new friends. and Bonnie's parents give wise commentary on the family's struggles.

the liturgical calendar Religion
2026-06-16 16:12:47

the Christian liturgical calendar is fairly straightforward. Christ is born, Christ lives, Christ dies, Christ lives again.

the Jewish one is much more depressing. this month, we have the Seventeenth of Tammuz. 🔥 why? 🌎 i do not want to "celebrate" the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem

my theology is, roughly, the tension between the LORD did reveal his law to Abraham and Moses and there is no reason to observe a holiday based on the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem is the cause of the burnt-over zone, the Pentecostal churches, the LDS movement, etc.

in the cellar Miscellany
2026-04-04 17:00:46

A basement is generally a full story below (or partly below) ground level that's designed as usable living or utility space — it typically has higher ceilings, may have windows, and is often finished or finishable. In modern North American construction, "basement" is the default term for any below-grade level of a house.

A cellar, on the other hand, traditionally refers to a below-ground space that's more utilitarian — lower ceilings, dirt or rough concrete floors, minimal lighting, and primarily used for storage (root cellars, wine cellars, coal cellars). It carries a connotation of being unfinished and not meant for habitation.

There is a regional/dialectal layer to it, though. In parts of the northeastern US and in British English, "cellar" is sometimes used interchangeably with "basement" regardless of the space's condition. Older homes in New England might have what anyone else would call a basement referred to as "the cellar" out of habit. In some building codes (notably New York City's), the distinction is actually formalized: a basement has at least half its height above curb level, while a cellar has more than half its height below — which matters for zoning and legal occupancy.

So it's partly regional habit, partly a real difference in the type of space being described, and occasionally a legal/technical distinction depending on where you are.

the end of momtok (part 2) Television
2026-03-20 19:21:35

on some level, the "plot" of Season 4 is DadTok tries to take over.

There are a few subplots with the girls:

  • Jen and Whitney on DWTS ⚙️ Dancing With The Stars
  • Taylor having drama, and The Bachelorette, and trying to solve her drama
  • Mayci tries to get the girls to show up for her book tour event

but "DadTok is here" is the main plot. with Jordan 🔥 ick as the main protagonist.

🔥 is it a parable for the Trump era? self-centered women with conservative-aligned politics act chaotically, are usurped by men?

the end of momtok Television
2026-03-20 16:50:40

On basically every episode of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives , somebody asks is this the end of Momtok? And, this time, I think it is.

In The News: The Bachelorette (American TV series) season 22 canceled ⚙️ or at least demoted to the purgatory of a summer dump, in response to new domestic violence allegations.

It is slightly weird because everybody could see this coming. Also, the 2023 incident that supposedly was the last straw ... was episode 1 of her TV show.

so Momtok will not survive this (hopefully). What happens to everyone else?

  • Whitney has already escaped. She's not in Utah anymore. Currently doing a second six-week commitment for Chicago on Broadway after her first run was a massive success.
  • Mayci will always be in Utah. Her business ideas and book ideas are mediocre.
  • Mikayla needs to get off the cameras.
  • Miranda is a bit boring, and is back on TikTok.
  • Jen 🔥 aka Jen Affleck may have peaked. DWTS didn't go great for her. Her husband kind-of hates SLOMW.
  • Demi is off the show already, for her semi-bogus "I was sexually assaulted" claims. 💡 "I kissed a guy on a reality TV show" is miles away from "I was sexually abused for years as a teenager", and every time Demi claims otherwise she is digging her own grave.
  • Jessi is getting divorced, and kind-of a mess. Her hair business is mediocre.
  • Layla is also there. 💡 it feels like she's on the show as Mason's girlfriend rather than as part of MomTok. She seems desperate for content, being the resident shit-stirrer, and trying to find a special ⚙️ as in: "a very special episode of this 1980s TV show" plotline.

So Mayci and Jessi might show up on the Real Housewives-ified reboot. Miranda is a normal tiktok person. Whitney will probably never want to talk about this show again. And everyone else can be forgotten.

survivor 50 Television
2026-03-04 20:04:26

notes after episode 1:

  • so many people. so many people. which is fine.
  • as a result, nobody is particularly jumping out.

For each tribe, I'll do a rough sort. People at the top are more likely to win, but also more likely to go out next week than the middle. There are at least 5 people who could ⚙️ obviously the season is already over and only one person wins win on each tribe.

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unwritten axioms US Constitution
2026-03-03 17:15:11

Every state rests on certain propositions that are treated as prior to ordinary politics. These are not policies to be debated but premises on which debate is conducted. They are the things a political community takes as given — the ground on which it builds.

Call these founding axioms. They are present in every mode of governing, but they function very differently depending on how they are held.

In a consensual state, the axioms are proceduralized. They are written into constitutional texts, interpreted by courts through adversarial process, amended through defined (usually difficult) mechanisms, and enforced by institutions that are themselves subject to law. No single person or class owns the axioms. The axioms constrain power rather than conferring it.

This demonstrates two problems with the American system:

ONE. The axioms have been on a random walk for at least 50 years. How does Chadha v. INS interact with Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo? Nobody knows.

TWO. We don't agree on what the axioms are, and people won't agree on what words mean when they are trying to be difficult.

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Two worlds of ideas High Physics
2026-02-16 17:57:47

There are 匹 types of "dynamical systems" that can be leveraged on top of this.

💭 the game of Hearthstone has a "meta" - what types of decks most people are playing. They optimize for success against the "meta", not the entire universe of possible decks. As a result, the "meta" is rarely if ever constant.

💡 it is an emergent behavior, similar to the movement of a flock of birds.

humans also build status games.

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