These names are very difficult. In the West we have Emperors with names like “Charles V.” The use of numbers is such a time saver, compared to these names. (But “torching the mountain without assistance” is awesome as a description of self-Enlightenment.)

“For Europe’s diplomats, that surge raises more than budgetary questions. It challenges the story the bloc has long told itself about who guards its security. And that question is making the rounds in Brussels, where officials are wondering how “European” Germany’s buildup will really be”

was literally just admiring a brown overcoat that looks like this. unfortunately it's sold out IG nomanwalksalone

find someone who will wear a big overcoat with you IG meetcutesnyc

They mostly were yards behind #BEKI, but 4 or 5 #crows were harassing Mr. BEKI and it was a very high speed chase. BEKI mostly stuck to trying to fish and it was great karma when BEKI slowed and dove for fish and the crow got to experience "which way did it go?" as it flew through the splash. #birds

But we do need to raise Congressional salaries. Congress people need to make at least as much as the CEO of a moderately successful company. Every salary in Congress needs to be increased by a factor of 20. It's crazy these jobs don't pay at least $2 million a year. The people are our chosen leaders

Again, there is the question why humans never came close to the Malthusian limit. And why were Neanderthals so rare? Compared to other species of the same (or larger) mass, we should have been more abundant. We are omnivores, we eat anything. Yet we were outnumbered by bison. Why?

I'm still waiting for Mitt Romney's "binders full of women."

Who's gonna tell him

That’s what I like about it. Start with bare EC2 and if you need a little more scaling this might be a good step. But “might” is key.

It’s definitely more urgent in startups. Big orgs tend to bleed slowly. The org in question would have survived this. But it would have bound a ton of resources in an org with little to spare (as usual non-tech native). And this and other decisions squandered the little lift we had carefully built.

On a slightly more technical note, this might have been a good alternative to the team in question now: aws.amazon.com/about-aws/wh...

“But what if the user number grows 10x?” Well, a) it could easily service those on a bigger instance. Probably even on this one. b) There is a lot of optimization we have not yet done. c) The user number will not grow that much. Business actually reduced it intentionally in the past…

It’s not just a startup thing. About two years ago I had this discussion in a very mature org with the hot new data architect. Who wanted to migrate an extremely stable docker application to serverless. It was really, really dumb. “It’s not best practice”. Sorry, best practice is context sensitive.

I can’t make sense of this. The Democratic leadership has pursued this agenda since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The final Dixiecrats disappeared in 1994. “The Dems haven’t realized it yet.” What the hell is this nonsense?

The Roman senate under Augustus had more dignity

I wish I could find a reliable way to explain this to entrepreneurs: early stage startups are unique. There are certain ways to limit costs, certain ways to cut corners in ways that are safe. All the fancy cloud auto scaling stuff is for when you have $5 million ARR.

Are you in New York City and have you played Settlers Of Catan? Are you free Tuesday night? (November 4, 2025). We are going to play a 6 person game. We are looking for a 5th and 6th player. At Fabrik (corner of Canal and Hudson)

I am confused by the feminists who want to vote for Mamdani. He is a textbook example of what feminists have elsewhere complained about: a young guy with little experience, but an abundance of confidence and charisma, expecting the big promotion to a top job.

I know a lot of women who are eager to vote for Zorhan Mamdani even though he is a textbook example of “Guy who has zero executive experience but he has a lot of confidence so he is getting the big promotion.”

FYI @krubner.bsky.social.

@julieblattberg.bsky.social @kattywren.bsky.social @lisachambers55.bsky.social this is what you’re missing because you are no longer on Twitter, where the real intellectuals hang out.

To all of my US East coast friends, rest assured that your neighborhood Black-and-white Warblers are having an excellent time on their #CostaRica winter vacation, eating all kinds of delicious insects in the rainforest here. #birds #nature

When you live in the wealthiest country in the world, feeding people shouldn’t be a political struggle. It should be a basic right.

it is nine months until the primary please PLEASE do not get got by polling from the NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATE COMMITTEE

Started listening to the "Life after Cars" audiobook and apparently Superman was extremely woke in 1939

Along with unilaterally imposed tariffs, this is just explicitly the kind of shit monarchs used to do to get money without having to summon a parliament. It's the sort of thing that cost Charles I his head. The kind of expedient Louis XVI ran out of that forced him to call the Estates-General.

Junior Magpie dropped by. This is a kid from one of the late clutches this season so they still have blue eyes and a bit of baby beak gape. Adorable #birds

I could have written this about Platner.

Amazing how fast Elon Musk disappeared from politics.

Taking the whole ROAD ✔️ Distracted (singing) ✔️ No helmets ✔️ No lights ✔️ No reflective vests ✔️ Riding in a pack ✔️ Textbook radical anti-car cyclists.

Domzes III

had to put this one together from the archives but: called it again

Also, he is Hispanic. I have not spoken with him in months. I plan to reach out. I am curious what he thinks of Trump now.

Germany had a liberal policy of accepting Jews from 1740 to 1933. It was the Nazis who taught the Germans to turn against the Jews, ending 193 years of tolerance. This is from "Democracy For Realists" by Achen and Bartels.

What has been more common is for a broad coalition, including many elite actors who to tend to be center-right, to support democracy, and for those elite actors to be the main pillar of support for democracy. We need to be realistic about this, and I quote from Democracy For Realists on this point.

He hates all billionaires? Now I like him even more! He's gruff and blunt? Now I like him even more! He's hated by the Establishment? Now I like him even more! He wonders why black people don't leave tips? Now I like him even more! He has Nazi tattoos? Now I like him even more!

This is what democracy looks like: a love letter to my mom. demodexio.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...

“Tearing down monuments erases history!”

In 2016 white women voted for Trump at 51%. In 2024 white women voted for Trump at 53%. It’s curious that the misogyny doesn’t hurt him at the polls.

Edek likes watching birds out the window. But he caught me spying on him.

For Americans who harbor a populist rage about politicians working out secret deals in backrooms, you are really going to hate how most coalitions get built in these parliamentary systems.

No European Fascist went to war against their own economy this way. In terms blind-rage smash-the-economy antics the only precedent I can think of is some of the wilder and less coherent populists we’ve seen in Latin America and Africa.

If we get rid of Trump then the problems that Barbara Sinclair wrote about are still there, waiting to be solved. If we get rid of cloture in the Senate we are only getting rid of 1% of the issues that she describes. Procedural reform is necessary for any genuine democratic restoration.

We must be realistic. We must focus on what is actually working worldwide. To that end, we should notice that the largest demographic that is loyal to democracy is women. This includes some wealthy, elite women who tend to vote center-right. Most of these women are non-radical.

At least here in New York City most startups begin without an office. It’s easy to work from home when you have 10 employees. It’s between 10 employees and 100 employees that entrepreneurs typically get an office and start asking employees to come in to the office.

"failed-upwards managers thrive in spaces where they can manipulate off-record" You are not making any sense. You are saying that managers are off-the-record when they are at the office but they are on-the-record when they work from home? That is the opposite of most people's experience.

I have an acquaintance from 2020 who moved to a farm upstate during the pandemic. He now works remotely for the place we both worked then. He has not gotten a raise since 2020, and he now makes 60% of his peer in the office. He says it would be "exploitive" if they forced him back to the office.

"1. longer terms in office, also term limits " Britain's high court judges serve for 18 years, which seems to strike a good balance between independence versus generational turnover. In the Senate, 9 year terms, limited to 2 terms, would also give a similar balance of independence and change.