one of the reasons I like this passage a lot is think it captures a kind of small c conservative sense of duty/heroism that's really different from the kind of contemporary understanding of those concepts where it's journey of self-discovery/self-actualization. not, it fucking sucks, but here we are

I've been working with Claude Code a lot this last year. Today, I'm going to give OpenCode a try. I'll post my thoughts when I have them. If you've used it, let me know what you think. opencode.ai

the all-stick, no-carrot administration is unpopular?

Punishing his own country because he doesn’t like a Supreme Court decision. Insane.

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent

Rey should have gone to the dark side in TLJ, Ben goes to the light side, and the third movie is the good team working out a way to bring her back to the light.

The only words to live by: “Please step aside and let the passengers off the train first”

Good article on the non-zero cost of using AI for writing software siddhantkhare.com/writing/ai-f...

it‘s also theft of money, energy, and time

The new holy trinity

Democrats in Congress need to immediately appoint an adhoc bicameral working group to organize civil society and the legal community to stop Trump's ongoing desecration of our national monuments and the Capital. This has gone too far. Congress must step up and fight.

I declared horrors bankruptcy for myself and simply don’t look in the abyss anymore

The City’s Budget is our future. And you deserve to know how it works.

My ratings of the movies, books, & plays I "consumed" in 2025: www.chrisltd.com/blog/2026/01...

new alex pareene and ta-nehisi coates articles on the same day. the long 2016 finally throws us a bone

As dangerously cold temperatures move through New York, we have opened 10 warming centers across all five boroughs to provide safe, heated indoor spaces for New Yorkers in need. Centers will be open through at least Monday evening at the following locations —>

Our teams are scouring the streets, offering shelter to homeless New Yorkers, and helping bring people inside. If you see anyone in need of help, please call 311 so our outreach teams can assist.

I fear this might come true

I've increasingly come to view cynicism as the seedbed of totalitarianism, both because it can paralyze the opposition and because it implicitly validates the might-makes-right ethic of the authoritarian.

Supply and demand remains undefeated

2-minute comic

We witness a passing phase of eternity. Important things happen but some people never notice.

Kinda weird that Zohran was sworn in on a copy of Das Kapital

Last workout of 2025 in the books

I’m going to be the old man (41) who talks about understanding the code the AI generates and being able to write it by hand. The kids will say I’m out of date, and I’ll never be sure they’re wrong. The indignity will never be lost on me that I’m talking about hand-writing god damn Javascript.

It's really too bad Hans Zimmer wasted such a good score on Wonder Woman 1984 www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Z8...

I’m from Whoville, and I say kill the Grinch!

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you have a wonderful day

Feeling lonely this Christmas? Just make some friends and fix all your problems 🗣️

Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan… * Vehicle traffic: -11% * Foot traffic: +3.4% * Storefront vacancy: -0.9% * Pollution: -22% * Revenue for mass transit: $548M So YES this has been a huge success.

The first answer: "In this country those honors are conferred by consensus after a person's death." The second: "I'm not particularly worried about anyone who thinks a man who spiritually and financially bankrupted us is worthy of his name on a building."

even back when the only connotation of "RFK" was JFK's brother who also got shot (and also wasn't from New York) it was obviously better to call it the Triborough it's just a good name for a bridge and a fun thing to say

Zohran: "I mean, think about when you fly.  We have made it such a difficult experience to go through TSA that there's now a financial incentive to sign up for a separate program that can move you through it quicker. We have monetized the dysfunction."

incredible

incredible that the oldest scam in the book — “look away from the greed and poor leadership that destroy your chance to make a career, it is the [blanks] that stole your job!” — still works

Every hour you spend shopping for health insurance, is an hour of your life that’s been wasted. We should have less administrative work in our lives, not more.

Today, I spoke with Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife, Jennifer. In April, when I met with him in El Salvador, Trump said he would never set foot in the U.S. again. This case has never been about one man alone; if the govt can violate the constitutional rights of one, all our rights are threatened.

It’s important to contextualize just how much less safe American drivers are than everywhere else in the world, and it’s getting worse!

Propaganda. We thought that it was gauche and problematic to have government propaganda about public accomplishments and so people forgot about them. People consistently like the military more than ‘the government’ and you know what a large part of that is? They have an advertising budget.

tbh i think more charts could use this kind of clear labeling

Can't remember if it was this bad before COVID but I'm seeing an alarming spreading of what I'll call Airport Behavior to other public places. Obliviousness to other people's existence, ineptitude at navigating the environment. "Is this your first time at the grocery store" type stuff

This remains my opinion of the Supreme Court