Author: Andrew
-
Always beware a declining superpower
Good post from Janan Ganesh at the Financial Times on how superpowers take decline (not well) and how the U.S. decline can’t really compared to Britain or France’s power decline after WW2 because that transfer was from West to West and demographically pretty similar, while this one would not be. He also says we’ve been…
-
Record of Snowfall
Starting today, January 15, 2026, I’m attempting to keep a record of all snowfall in Black Mountain, no matter how much or how little.
-
More Lawfare
“Lawfare is the hallmark of a failing state because it erodes not just political independence, but the capacity for independent judgment.” Probably not good. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/01/chairman-powells-statement.html#comments
-
Memes make War, or War makes Memes?
Did memes drive us to invade Venezuela, or did invading Venezuela drive the memes? Most likely Yes to both. But, let’s speculate for a minute. I think it might be mimetically possible that we have invaded Venezuela because “memes.” I.e., memes are funny > taking any big and serious action in present-day presents many meme-able…
-
Coercion
“The screens of all laptops in Apple stores are set at an angle of exactly 76 degrees, which is just awkward enough to invite people to tilt them back a bit more, thereby taking the first step toward interacting with the product. (Business Insider)” From this list of 52 things that Kent Hendricks found interesting…
-
U.S. interventions in the New World, with leader removal
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/01/u-s-interventions-in-the-new-world-with-leader-removal.html The Venezuala thing is a great Bayesian opportunity: Have a prior, update as it develops. The prior would be, Yeah seems like this never works. Though, in Tyler’s recounting above, there are some counterfactuals to that common expression/belief. I couldn’t coherently speak through them, but nonetheless. I’m of two minds on this as it…
-
American Pastoral
Last book I read this year and it was very enjoyable. It’s America Dream, both as it is and the story it tells about itself. I think it’s a tale, a commentary maybe, on what we all collectively think America was post-WWII through the 60s contrasted with the internal and external experience of people we’d…
-
January 2026, Ambitions
Here’s what I plan to do in January 2026. Starting tomorrow. No measurements on how much. Just do them as a matter of existing. The purpose is the live as focused as I can in contrast to the ever-losing-battle to the attention economy. As realistically hermetic as possible.
-
Slop & FIWB
Is slop the word of the year? Maybe so, or maybe it was in 2024 and I’m just behind. AI slop seems to have mode us realize the other places where we’re already doing slop. Where good aesthetics are absent or have all flattened into a unified, white-fluorescent, expression. And this tweet sums up what…
-
2025, Christmas Day
Ahh, Christmas. This is our first “tradition-building” Christmas and it’s been a blast. 6:55 AM, Greta wakes us up to let us know that Goldie is awake and she’d like some milk. We attempted a 15 minute snooze, but gave that up a few minutes in. It was wishful, this is Christmas. You have to…