Dismantling www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/c...

A prediction for 2026. Being offered the choice between Trump-Washington, District of Columbia and Washington, District of Trump-Columbia, the president will select Trump, District of Trump.

A major part of MAGA is the grievance of those imagined not being promoted because of DEI. The cases of 'unredacted' DoJ files or 'unsuppressed' CBS screening show the real reason for these missed promotions.

The recent news reminded me of an old Soviet joke. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the poet Alexander Pushkin a competition for the best statue was announced. Then prizes were awarded. 3rd place. A statue of Pushkin reading Stalin's book. 1/2

Words of Type has an article published in the latest TUBGOAT issue! (Volume 46, No. 3, 2025) tug.org/TUGboat/ Thank you @borisveytsman.bsky.social for the invitation to publish an article about Words of Type in this institutional magazine!

I wonder if there is an organization more corrupt than FIFA, not being a drug cartel?

One of the words coming to mind about the current politics is "absurd". Two hundred years of American democracy going awry because some young idiots cannot get laid, and some old farts are anxious about their status—what can be more absurd than this? 1/4

Does Trump own a blue suit?

American exceptionalism. Under our fascists, the trains and the plains do not run on time.

Google translate is lowering barriers between people. Our car has been transported over the continent. When the Uzbek truck driver sent me the delivery report, I answered, "Rahmat." He replied, "Україна переможе безумовно."

Looks like the media is trying to use Zohran Mamdani's aunt in the same way they used Hillary's emails.

Ilya Ruderman from CSTM fonts told a funny story in his lecture about the history of Cyrillic. Bodoni made beautiful Cyrillic typefaces (you can see the samples in his Manuale Typograficum). They were gifted to Alexander I during the short thaw between Russia and France 1/2

An article in NYT (www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/o...). A whiz kid who made millions in crypto has been kidnapped by his former friend, the de facto ruler of Georgia, beaten and forced to give away his crypto. The techbros supporting Trump do not understand that this is their future as well.

A talented font artist from India Rajeesh KV added math to the beautiful typeface Arsenal by a Ukrainian artist Andrij Shevchenko: ctan.org/pkg/arsenal-... A rare example of a sans serif font with the full math support. #TeXLaTeX #fonts

Ins Choi wrote Kim's Convenience and staged it in 2011 in Toronto Soulpepper Theater with himself playing the young Jung. Then he produced a 65-episode sitcom on Netflix, and when the sitcom closed, he revived the Soulpepper show with himself playing the older Appa. 1/5

There is a quality of certain books, movies, and shows that can be called timeliness. This is exactly what one needs at the moment. I feel that Noises Off by @sfplayhouse.org has been such a show for me. 1/4

I grew up in the USSR. I remember our leaders with dementia sending our money to prop up corrupt and incompetent regimes in Latin America and Africa because they have been "ideological allies. " Thus, there is nothing new for me when Trump is sending money to Xavier Milei.

One of the best essays I have read recently. www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/09/the-...

Some people claim that Korean engineers violated the terms of their visas. Thus, their treatment was somehow justified. First, we do not know whether they did. This is for the lawyers to find out. But let us for the argument sake stipulate they did. 1/2

I disagreed with the late Charlie Kirk on a lot of issues. However, I share his position on Epstein files. We must open them and punish the perpetrators. It is possible he died for this.

The only group clearly benefitting from Kirk's death is Trumpists. What happened to the old Cui Prodest principle?

"Thus the Tories in England long imagined that they were enthusiastic about monarchy, the church, and the beauties of the old English Constitution, until the day of danger wrung from them the confession that they are enthusiastic only about ground rent." Karl Marx

The cat got a prescription diet after a minor surgery. Now he refuses to eat anything else. The internet is full of advice how to make a cat to eat prescription diet. Nobody says how to make him to stop.

I have on my laptop a copy of John Bolton's memoir about Trump. I wonder, is it safe to cross the US border with this laptop? What about having with me it during a traffic stop? Time to refresh my skills of hiding forbidden books acquired during my Soviet youth.

There are some good news too www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/08/jame...

When I was a postdoc, I once left my workstation unlocked. The student sysadmin told me, "When I see an unlocked workstation for the second time, I type there 'rm -rf ~'". When I worked in industry, we got chewed if we left sensitive papers on the desks. www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...

TIL the thought I have been promoting for quite some time is actually not mine. It belongs to Hanna Arendt. "Law, on its own, is incapable of restraining political action." Only a power can check power. See this great lecture hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/h...

Three decades ago, Margarita Rodnikova wrote a review of my PhD thesis (Nikolay Malomuzh was my advisor) authors.elsevier.com/a/1lb6wc8qpi...

Die Maske des Bösen Bertolt Brecht An meiner Wand hängt ein japanisches Holzwerk Maske eines bösen Dämons, bemalt mit Goldlack. Mitfühlend sehe ich Die geschwollenen Stirnadern, andeutend Wie anstrengend es ist, böse zu sein.

I have read a Gothic story by Conan Doyle. The character, among other things, was able to decipher cuneiform and read the ancient occult books. He would be disappointed to know that the vast majority of tablets are mundane bookkeeping entries. 1/2

My colleagues at @cziscience.bsky.social and I started to explore whether we can use AI to make scientific papers more accessible for blind and low vision scientists. While the preliminary results are not too optimistic, we see some prospects arxiv.org/abs/2508.00826

“We’re gonna get the drug prices down — not 30% or 40%, which would be great. Not 50% or 60%. No, we’re gonna get them down 1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%.” www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo... This reminds me of a story my late grandfather told me. 1/4

If you want to understand, why we are where we are, watch en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddingt...

I see too many people discussing Trump policies with respect to Russia and Ukraine, reading tea leaves about the possible changes etc. Here sharp Brad DeLong explains the folly of all this. Highly recommend open.substack.com/pub/braddelo...

I see too many people discussing Trump policies with respect to Russia and Ukraine, reading tea leaves about the possible changes etc. Here the sharp Brad DeLong explains the folly of all this. Highly recommend open.substack.com/pub/braddelo...

The corruption of everything

Our ruling billionaires are insecure and stupid. The Orwell quotation at the end is superb. www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/07/the-...

So, according to NYT, Netanyahu killed a lot of people to stay out of prison? And we all cheered him? Nice.

"My fair lady" is one of the most popular musicals ever. Theater going public knows by heart the jokes and can hum any tune from it. It is very difficult to play it without falling into cliches. @@SFPlayhouse brilliantly solved the problem. 1/2

The future historians will call the current period in the USA "The Counter-Reconstruction."

Yesterday NPR decided to have an interview with a Heritage foundation propagandist about LA events. Not even a dialog from somebody from the opposite side, just pure Trumpist propaganda. I am immensely proud that several years ago I have stopped donating them.

For several years, Ukrainians asked the West to close the sky for the Russian rockets. For several years, the allies told it was impossible. Well, it looks like Ukrainian decided to do it themselves.

Then en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechani... And now techstartups.com/2025/05/24/b...

A story about the role of satire in society. A Nazi soldier ordered Stanisław Jerzy Lec to dig his own grave before executing him. "If I were a tragic poet, I would marvel at the situation. As a satiricist, I killed him with the shovel and escaped," recalled Lec.

Find somebody in your life helping you as much as Trump is helping Liberals in Canada.

The Roads Both Taken xkcd.com/3076

Impostor syndrome: you immediately agree with Reviewer #2.

Donald Trump promises to eliminate capital gains tax as a president. 'Yes, yes!' shouts Bill Ackman. Monkey paw slowly uncurls.