Jesse Powell

The point is whatever you want it to be, and that’s okay. I still find meaning and beauty in this life, in the natural world, and in what we can create. Even though the wreckers are doing the best to set it all on fire.

I think Ukraine is saving up flamingos for a massive attack in late November or December. They’ll take out the oil ports, pipelines, remaining refineries, main rail traction substations, and thermal power plants. It will knock Russia out of the war and probably lead to a total collapse of Russia.

What an amazing accomplishment! Imagine all the civilian lives saved by this one air defense unit. It’s humbling actually.

What we need, like right now, is a shadow SCOTUS and shadow DOJ, comprised of respected judges, prosecutors, scholars, etc., including liberals, conservatives, independents. These shadow institutions need to be handing out opinions and rulings on what is and isn’t constitutional and/or illegal.

Won’t Bagram be saturated with ballistic missiles the moment a war starts? China has thousands of BM. If the runways get cratered, Bagram is useless and American forces will be stuck in hostile territory with no way to reinforce. They’d be caught in trap. US would divert all its attention to rescue.

Well, the USD has been on a downward slide all year, while gold is at all-time highs.

I’m pretty ignorant about the law here. Is this a federal case or a state case? If federal, what circumstances allow a case to be brought federally? I ask because I don’t trust the FBI to tell the whole story behind the suspects motives, etc.

Unless the Russians can covertly sabotage the plant. Plausible deniability = 2 for 1.

This type of behavior is designed to erode UNCLOS and will eventually lead to the breakdown of global maritime trade if escalated. The US was the ultimate guarantor of Freedom of Navigation. While the actions of Russian / Chinese in maritime hybrid warfare were bad, this is arguably worse for world

Honestly, this is rational behavior given the possibility of single-target engineered viruses. Once an adversary has your DNA sequence, they have it forever. Of course, China probably already has Kim’s DNA.

Nazis funded by Russia. That’s my bet.

That’s cool yo!

tbf how else were they supposed to post their TikTok videos?

Also, if I was “not-all-men-ing” then you were definitely “all-men-ing” which seems problematic. Except in this case, this isn’t about gender issues, so weird framing there.

This is a public forum, if you post a strong public opinion, expect pushback sometimes.

I thought you might be interested that you were in fact wrong and maligning an entire technology class that has some very real benefits. If you don’t care about that, oh well, that’s your choice.

I didn’t know the other person was blocked, but he was talking to me sensibly, so I was happy to reply.

I get the animosity. There’s a lot of shenanigans. But the current financial system has orders of magnitude more corruption, money laundering, injustice, and no real way to fix it imo. Only crypto offers a path to ending tax evasion, ending bribes, enabling a sustainable economy, and funding ubi.

Hodl

In my pottery, I’ve resigned myself that I am on a 5 year journey before I make something truly worthy. At this point, everything is an experiment. If it turns out nice, it’s a happy accident. If not, c’est la vie.

I also think 95% of crypto today is currently bullshit memecoins, MEV, and self-dealing, but we should drag crypto kicking and screaming until it achieves its true potential.

I think crypto holds huge potential to make the world a better place. Simplified and unforgeable self custody of digital ID/certificates/attestations/titles/deeds, smart contract asset ownership/transfer/royalties, unhackable voting, supply chain tracking, etc etc.

I don’t care if you block me, but the Algorand blockchain uses 80kW worldwide (about as much as 2 electric cars). It’s been adopted by UNHCR and Red Cross to provide disaster assistance in areas without financial infrastructure. The world isn’t B&W, even in crypto and AI.

I have no problem with MS funding some form of CDR, maybe not DAC, but something. However, hating on current AI is short-sighted imo. It’s progressing very fast, and it might well be a tool we need to save the planet. Should it be controlled by megacorps? No, but they are doing heavy lifting rn.

To be clear, I’m perfectly fine with deconstructing the Russian military and fine with wrecking Putin’s ability to weaponize the Russian economy as a global force of anti-democracy. I just think the Ukrainians deserve better from us. They could have won this war already with the right support.

I’ve been disappointed in the US ever since the Kharkiv breakout. Our slow-rolling aid to Ukraine has cost countless lives. It often feels like the goal is not victory for Ukraine, but rather the drawn out destruction of Russian military and economic power, even if that means more pain for Ukraine.

The very *tiny* sharks of the forest

Science, as done by humans, will increasingly become like poetry. It will be done for enjoyment, for the mental discipline, and the grace. In the coming decades, AI will take our place illuminating the darkness, expanding knowledge. We should continue to write, in the meantime, to avoid bad poetry.

I remember reading as a kid about how the Nazis lied to Jews about the train destinations and asking my grandmother why they believed it...

She said: "Having no hope is a lot harder than you think."

A parallel I can't help but see and it nauseates me on a level I can't articulate.

Good to know! Thanks!

Beethoven’s 5th at the Disco is the best 5th