I shall not see my shadow
It’s too cold to go out today, so far, here in The Bahamas. So I am staying bundled and warm, getting work done. This was not my vacation plan, but it’s cool.
For maximum freakage and fascination
Moltbook is it. Zvi Mowshowitz runs it down. “Best start believing in science fiction stories. You’re in one,” he says. Bonus link.
Before it’s too late
I finally finished my answers to the latest Pew questionaire. If you’re a future-ish kind of person, you can too.
Good guidance
Nice obituary for Catherine O’Hara (who, at 71, died way too young) in the Guardian. Excerpt: Explaining her initial approach to improv, O’Hara said: “My crutch was … when in doubt, play insane. Because you didn’t have to excuse anything that came out of your mouth. It didn’t have to make sense.”
Of tunnels and lights
I’m a registered and temperamental independent. No politics or party matches my personal positions.
I love business, tech, free markets, and labor unions. I believe all rights are made up, but are necessary for civilization to exist and thrive. Among the most useful and necessary (though not natural) human rights is the one for health, which is why I think we need socialized medicine. I think owning and carrying guns should be a right, but for the fewest and most qualified and responsible people. I think most new laws tend to protect yesterday from last Thursday, and last decades or centuries past their initial relevance—but if we’re lucky will have collateral benefits that are still good in some ways. (Prime example: the US Constitution, with all its amendments.) I’m a pacifist who hates war, and honors selfless military service and bravery. I believe the best writing and thinking about politics and economics come from people who occupy or define the extremes (e.g. Marx, Hayek, Graeber, Buckley, Galbraith, Lowenstein, Friedman). And I love good writers who bring clarifying analogies and metaphors to our causes and arguments. The best today comes from Daniel Barkhuff, former Navy SEAL, front-line physician, and first-rank blogger.
I bring this up because, while I understand why many people I know and love voted for Donald Trump, it should be clear by now to all but the slavishly devoted that the dude is a dictator who is at risk of succeeding to the limits of Caesar-grade vanity, and will finish destroying what’s left of the US’s respect in the eyes of the world, plus most of its own citizens, if he is not stopped.
So, to those engaged in resistance to Trump’s ambitions, I commend Barkhuff’s latest post, in which he analogizes a sport in which I have no other interest: UFC, for Ultimate Fighting Championship:
Trump himself has shown what he fears. He blinks under sustained scrutiny. He recoils when institutions hold. He bristles at collective action he cannot bully or exhaust. The NRA. Epstein. Yes. But most of all, he fears opponents who refuse to be intimidated, who stand their ground, meet his stare, and say: I’m not going anywhere. You’re just as tired as I am. Let’s finish this.
Championship rounds are not about dominance. They are about resolve.
American democracy is bruised, winded, and tested, but it is still standing. The question is not whether the fight has been ugly. It has. The question is whether, in these final rounds, enough people are willing to keep their hands up, keep their feet moving, and stay focused until the bell.
Biology will defeat Trump anyway, as it defeated Biden, and is defeating me (one year Trump’s junior), and us all. But I hope, for the sake of the country and the world, that some of the babies in the MAGA bathwater (reduced influence of elites, smaller and more efficient government, respect for agriculture, manufacture, small business, and the working class) survive Trump’s defeat—and I hope the victors are respectful of those.
Also the first story about it. Hats off.
MyTerms: A New IEEE Standard Enabling Online Privacy and Aiming to Replace Cookies, by Sergio De Simone in InfoQ, does a nice breakdown of last week’s MyTerms launch in London.
Story Bowl
I’m a Patriots fan who was pained for the Seahawks when a bad play call (blame coaches) snatched defeat from the jaws of victory the last time the two teams met in the Super Bowl. So I won’t be too bummed if the Seahawks win this one. The Revenge Bowl will be a good story. So will the Redemption Game story for Sam Darnold. But there are good stories for the Pats as well. The MVP story for Drake Maye. The Huge Turnaround story for Mike Vrabel. The Nobody Believes in Us story for the team. My expectation: Patriots by less than a touchdown.
Leave a Reply