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.

Today I'm fascinated watching psuedo-libertarians high fiving each other over the Trump DOJ's indictment of the SPLC. Has the flavor of "turns out they approve when the government attacks the people they don't happen to like".

Thinking about a friend's post, I'll admit 've thought sometimes about writing a psuedo-sequel to *Atlas Shrugged*, very roughly inspired by an old LJ post web.archive.org/web/20210419... .

Just realized the Raspberry Pi 500+ I bought before christmas has doubled in cost since. 100% in five months!

I kind of want to write a short story of a dude with a gambling addiction who loses way more money than he has through some online gambling app, and through some cross-promotion with a prediction market it auto-creates a betting market for whether he will self-terminate within a month.

A lot of the mainline Democratic party leadership are convinced that taking uniformly strong positions in favor of trans rights and justice for Gaza would result in permanent electoral suicide in federal elections. Are they out of touch or is there a grain of truth there?

"Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die" is just four episodes of Black Mirror in a trenchcoat. Not a complaint.

Visiting Dallas over the weekend, and I must say that the yeehaw is very real indeed.

The LLM version of AI isn't smart or dumb in any traditional way we think of intelligence. It's more alien than that. It just occurred to me that this means Asimov's laws of robotics won't apply to it. It doesn't consider potential causality or unintended consequences, only the best next word.

Fun facts from actuarial tables: a person is approximately ten times more likely to die before their first birthday than the year thereafter. A person living to their first birthday increases their life expectancy by half a year; the next half a year of life expectancy only occurs in one's twenties.

I wish I wasn't overwhelmed by the sense that the next era of mankind will be defined by cynicism, disinformation, corruption, and the collapse of trust. Or, I suppose, the endless Sisyphean fight against those things pervading all.

I feel inordinately proud that I didn't buy a new guitar this week. I have no place to put it. But heavens it looked cool and affordable

I finally successfully made Fig Jelly without solids. Protip: Add more lemon juice than you think you should. I made it with a normal amount of lemon juice (1/4 cup lemon to 3 cups of fig juice and 5 cups sugar) and it didn't set, but adding another 1/4 cup of lemon juice and recooking fixed it.

Cryptocurrency is just pump-and-dump-as-a-service. I get that it's backed by a cryptographic distributed ledger, but the actual value is just the hope you're not the last sucker left holding the bag.

Why is there golf on the screens at the airport?

Ever make a plan several months in the future and think to yourself, "man, I have to survive HOW long? I'm SO tired already"

Recently acquainted through ACX with the terms "Hellbanning" and the weirder "Heavenbanning". Thinking about it, I doubt if I'm ever "Hellbanned", I just truly don't have thoughts that reasonable people consider worth hearing. And I figure they're probably right.

I keep spreadsheets on a lot of things, one of which is Steam purchases. Over the last 14 years, I've spent almost exactly $2000 on games on that platform, totaling up 375 games (and a bunch of soundtracks, I always pay a little extra for those when available). I don't know how to feel about that.

I don't think I can play Balatro. It has just enough fun poker math, friendly gambling vibes, loot boxes, card collecting, roguelike challenge, on and on. It's a nesting doll of things designed to addict. Even for a one-time-price I don't think I can play it responsibly.

I just got a replacement credit card that did not require any action whatsoever to activate, and suddenly I trust the entirety of the banking world less than I did a few minutes ago.

Bluesky follow management rule: any user that follows me that 1) I don't obviously know in real life 2) Doesn't have any posts that aren't reposts 3) Has 3-5 numbers after the initial text part of their name Gets immediately blocked. Honestly, I'm not even sure the second part is necessary.

Related to my last post, I've been a FB user since 2009. About 80% of everyone I know is on there, more if you exclude people old enough to not care. Assuming for a moment that we're not happy with their service, how the heck do we unwind that?

Top features I would love in Bluesky that I don't think are there yet (I think). 1) Private Lists (for personal sorting) 2) Exclusive lists (only visible to people in the lists) 3) The ability to limit posts to lists or just following 4) Calendar/Event integration Any other ideas?

Steak lunch at home today. Experimental pan sauce consisted of capers, port wine, and caramelized onion reduction. No complaints, would do again if I had the onion reduction on hand.

I'm annoyed, in multiple ways, by the simple fact that I feel better, think better, and have more energy when I'm slightly hungry. It chafes at my Epicurean nature.

Should be a word for the guilt you feel for giving your close friends a cold.

Lost Whamageddeon hard this year at a weimachtsmarkt in Berlin. Both original and cover versions just to be certain. Merciless.

It's telling that after a few years of trying different Amaros and Kraüterliquor, I am absolutely unfazed by prescription German mouthwash. Honestly, if you put it in a fancy bottle with a quirky name & retro label Id probably pay 6€ for a shot.

Don't know about y'all, but between Windows 10 EOL next year and incoming tariffs, new computer buying season is go for me

Welp, bluesky is uncool now since I'm here, you can shut it down when you're ready