this is a great story from the delightful Mike Dash (read his book on the Batavia wreck!).

this is a great story from the delightful Mike Dash (read his book on the Batavia wreck!). Pure Cthluhuvian material, complete with shade cast at Italian counts and mysterious desperate tactics employed by missing mariners.

Originally shared by Lachlan “Canageek” Brown

This is a very cool story that could give rise to lots of adventure ideas. The solution to where the boat came from has been found, after someone discovered details of an expedition that was only widely known in Ham radio circles, and someone else was able to read Russian and pull out some articles the original author did not have access to.

https://mikedashhistory.com/2011/02/13/an-abandoned-lifeboat-at-worlds-end///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

This.

This. I am amazed that anyone has the leisure to consult youtube videos. I know this makes me a dinosaur, I see my kids learning all sorts of stuff from them but:

it’s not searchable,

it’s not a reference, I can’t archive it on my hard drive

– it just isn’t reliable, useful information. Sorry.

Originally shared by Jürgen Hubert

I am fairly active on Google+, and as you may have noticed I like to discuss many political, technological, scientific and other matters. I generally encourage others to join in. However, here is something you should keep in mind for my stream:

If you want to make an argument and cite a YouTube video in support of your claims, I will not watch it.

This is because using a YouTube video to support your claims forces the other people in the discussion (including me) to consume a lengthy piece of media without any prior indication of its quality – I only have your word that the video actually contains useful information or is good at all. I can speed-read text articles, jump to the relevant bits and do Google searches of key phrases and figures mentioned therein, but with YouTube videos I either have to jump around a lot in the hopes of finding the relevant information (hoping that I haven’t missed anything relevant) or be forced to watch it all from the beginning – and that may be minutes or even hours of my life wasted that I won’t get back. There is too much bullshit on YouTube as it is – and it’s much harder to sort it out in advance than with text articles.

The same goes for podcasts. I may be willing to watch videos or listen to podcasts recommended to me by people whose opinions and knowledge I trust, but that list of people is unlikely to include You, Random Internet Stranger who dropped by for an argument.

So give me some text citations, or don’t bother.

Mission to Tartary

Mission to Tartary

A farishta has come down in Tuva, just north of the Altai. Rumours that it contains experimental Body Containment Modules for the deep sea of space cannot be verified at this time. We can certainly expect, however, that it contains long-life meals, free of radiation.

The Tuvans are known for their efficiency and ruthlessness. We cannot condone or support any salvage efforts, but note that the Black Casket, if recovered, would be of interest to us.

Go.

http://spaceflight101.com/progress-ms-04/progress-ms-04-lost-soyuz-launch-failure//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Sandy J-T I reposted your Baba Yaga post and now people are asking which campus you’re talking about.

Sandy J-T I reposted your Baba Yaga post and now people are asking which campus you’re talking about. Although I do some circle curation, I cannot guarantee the character of my readers.

So, I’m asking you if it’s OK to tell them before telling them – I can easily see that you might prefer not to engage in this, especially if there’s an ongoing investigation and the press is not yet involved.

I think I know the campus in question, but I’m totally happy just to not answer or say “I don’t really know” or any statement you would prefer.

There’s something poetic about architectural projects that don’t happen. Or at least they can make great villain HQs.

There’s something poetic about architectural projects that don’t happen. Or at least they can make great villain HQs.

Pictured: an art gallery covering the National Mall – imagine this repurposed as a shopping arcade and you have some idea of what the Grand Bazaar in Cairo was once like.

Supplementary link: in the 1876 the American Museum of Natural History was supposed to be extended into a giant Greek Cross plan (actually intended to reference Angkor Wat) with 4 courtyard galleries between the arms of the cross.

http://untappedcities.com/2014/02/25/the-nyc-that-never-was-the-american-museum-of-natural-history/

http://www.stcroixarchitecture.com/products/museum-of-natural-history-central-park-ny-1876-original-plan-vaux-mould

In the end less than half of the plan was built – only one court was enclosed – now the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life:

http://www.amnh.org/hostanevent/content/galleries/cocktails/cocktails_ocean6.jpg

http://hyperallergic.com/79263/unbuilt-museums///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Cindern Block apparently No Man’s Sky has had a major overhaul!

Cindern Block apparently No Man’s Sky has had a major overhaul!

They made it…. prettier. And tougher, apparently.

Point ->  .

                                 

Dev team efforts

                                         I I I I I

                                         vvvvv

Originally shared by Benjamin Baugh

No Man’s Sky got a major update, so I went back to check it out last  night. 

I deleted my save, and started fresh last night.

I’m liking it. It looks crisper, and the pop-in and whatnot are definitely better now. It looks much less like the world is materializing before me as I zip around. Going back to dirt and scrabble after upgrading the shit out of things is hard, but I wanted to experience the new stuff more naturally. I’ve found a bunch of new exotics on my (highly radioactive) starting planet. First world looks prettier, with more variation in land forms and vegetation analogs. Sentinels are also a lot more aggressive on ‘normal’ level of hostility. They go after me for the kind of casual vandalism that got a free pass last time. During the initial scramble to get the ship working, I ended up in three Sentfights. They also drop a new resource.

And monster shit is totally monster shit, and it even has a mineral drop that’s explicitly alien shit crystals.

Alien Shit Crystals. 

Alien Shit Crystals as a crafting resource. 

Haters can fuck off. Best game ever.

Paolo Greco you know how I said I was definitely finally giving up civ?

Paolo Greco you know how I said I was definitely finally giving up civ?

….

…….

this game has got to the point where I’m going to have to blog about it even if I don’t win, because

(a) still alive at turn 270

(b) stole 5 Siamese battleships, used them to take Siam’s city that he built in between mine

(c) 6 turns from being able to build my own battleships, which means upgrading my supermurderer class frigates, which I’ve had since they were galleases.

(d)???

(e) victory!

A Third Way?

Originally shared by Michael Cooke

A Third Way?

The writer Bruno Latour is a French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist of science, and so comes with a breadth of knowledge of the social and hard sciences. I like his non-partisan approach in which he takes task with what he calls the two utopias: a utopia of the future confronting a utopia of the past. which must not occupy us any longer. Although, as one commenter states, Latour offers no answers, he does make this plea: What matters now is finding a way to bring together two kinds of migrants: those forced by the ecological mutation to find a new world by crossing borders and those forced to do the same without even having moved, and whom borders can no longer protect. We need a third way.

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/two-bubbles-unrealism-learning-tragedy-trump//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

The Revised Aesop, #2:

The Revised Aesop, #2:

Once there was an alarm system that was prone to giving false positives. Grown-ups disabled the alarm, then when disaster struck, blamed the faulty alarm rather than their own irresponsible action.

Moral: most people are terrible at assessing repetitive risk, which is why alarm design is a professional field. When designing an alarm, imagine what happens if it fails, and then try to design failsafes around that.

Corollary: humans are never more ingenious than when they’re working on breaking systems.

this is a lovely little article about nautical flag signals:

this is a lovely little article about nautical flag signals:

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/11/18/at-sea/

It reminds me that I wanted to make t-shirts of signals. Specifically

I am dragging my anchor

and

keep clear of me, I am manoevering with difficulty

This holiday season I think I could shift a lot of

you are standing into danger

and

stop carrying out your intentions and watch for my signals

maybe accompanied by tiny hand signals.

http://www.anbg.gov.au/flags/signal-meaning.html

Tartary Season 2: Turkmentrumpy* has survived his death, nobody knows how and they will be sued if they ask.

Tartary Season 2: Turkmentrumpy* has survived his death, nobody knows how and they will be sued if they ask. Rumours about continuous blood transfusions from KGB headquarters are just paranoid rambling. The toytown/themepark/infinite construction project Berzengi**  is finally perfected as Trumpton USA, a little artificial world that operates according to Don’s weird pronouncements. The PCs are poorly-articulated puppets or maybe puppeteers operating just behind the scenes – they can go on adventures as long as they’re back in time for broadcasts and to fulfill Turkmentrumpy’s bizarre commands.

Missions:

find, spread and then be filmed scrubbing The Mexicant Disease

China china China is the question and answer. Bring China to Turkmentrumpy. Make China apologize.

Make everyone apologize, especially for putting out fires.

Build infrastructure (casino), steal money to pay for it. All money belongs to Turkmens and therefore to Turkmentrumpy. Knock down infrastructure (casino) and be filmed saying how broken it is. Laugh at casino workers and bankrupt them.*

* why Turkmentrumpy: http://gdb.rferl.org/CCB3CB57-8E20-4D4D-8C44-13FF11EDCED4_mw1024_mh1024_s.jpg

** http://eurasia.travel/turkmenistan/cities/ashgabat/berzengi/

http://www.thethemeparkguy.com/park/turkmenbashis-land-of-fairy-tales/photos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trumpton

* http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/10/10/trump-taj-mahal-closes-after-years-losses/91845566/

It was, in retrospect, obvious that someone would do something like this video. Half Man Half Biscuit’s The Trumpton Riots might’ve been funnier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqubk5QTadg//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Mr.

Mr. Berlusconi was able to govern Italy for as long as he did mostly thanks to the incompetence of his opposition. It was so rabidly obsessed with his personality that any substantive political debate disappeared; it focused only on personal attacks, the effect of which was to increase Mr. Berlusconi’s popularity. His secret was an ability to set off a Pavlovian reaction among his leftist opponents, which engendered instantaneous sympathy in most moderate voters. Mr. Trump is no different.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/opinion/the-right-way-to-resist-trump.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

…longest mission spent warming up the North Pole with their fiendish yellow lasers!

…longest mission spent warming up the North Pole with their fiendish yellow lasers!

I’m thinking of resurrecting my Tartary game – not because the world needs it but because I need it. Cannot decide if it should be strictly in the spirit of the original or more closely aligned with the Trumpiverse – either an absurd world where Trump’s statements are true or an exploration of Fever Dreaming Trumpton.

Originally shared by Ciro Villa

http://phys.org/news/2016-11-chinese-astronauts-earth-longest-mission.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Occasionally I look back at a familiar old story and see it in a completely new light.

Occasionally I look back at a familiar old story and see it in a completely new light.

When Zeus, the King of Gods, was about to get married, he invited all the animals to his wedding. All the animals attended, only the tortoise was absent, and Zeus’s joy turned to anger when he missed her. So he visited the tortoise to ask for the reason why she had not joined in the celebrations.

The tortoise replied, ‘There’s simply no place like home!’

Zeus waxed wroth and resolved to give her a lesson to remember: he forced her to carry her shell upon her back forever.

Moral: many prefer to live simply at home than to eat richly at the tables of others abusers can seem nice when they’re getting validation, but it must always be on their terms. Deviate from the script and you’ll see their true colours.

I didn’t know you could just phone up the House Oversight Committee and ask them to do stuff.

I didn’t know you could just phone up the House Oversight Committee and ask them to do stuff.

It strikes me that it would be useful to have a clearinghouse page for ways in which you might be able to exercise your democratic rights aside from voting once every 2 years.

Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121

Find your representatives:

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

…the point of this effort in the link is that Trump has not declared his financial interests and he’s getting his relatives involved in various governmental efforts. Some opportunities for old-fashioned corruption are obvious – why would he be so interested in multi-billion dollar construction contracts like a giant wall, for instance? Others are less easy to trace – just how much money does he owe to those Russian banks? How much is Ukrainian independence worth to him?

Also the Borgen Project provides a handy primer on calling your Congressional Representatives. I haven’t heard of them before, but coincidentally they seem like good guys.

http://borgenproject.org/call-congress/

Originally shared by Sandy J-T

As of 7:30 PST, the mailbox was full, but Eric managed to get in. I’m going to try calling the oversight committee again. This is a bipartisan committee, so no matter who you voted for, it’s not a waste of your time to call if you’re concerned about his financial interests.

quote: Using your Presidential transition website to promote your own business properties is not normal.

Originally shared by Susan Stone

quote: Using your Presidential transition website to promote your own business properties is not normal.

Calling for millions of federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements apart from standard government forms is not normal.

Blasting journalists with product placements for the labels your child, who is on your transition team, is wearing is not normal.

Having a wide range of senior figures in your own political party distance themselves from your transition team, citing the profound irregularity of it and worrying about future ugliness, is not normal.

Placing your children in charge of your business empire, then placing them on your transition team, then seeking top secret security clearances for them, is not normal. The conflicts of interest that this represents are almost too many to count, but at a basic level: you do not give someone with a financial interest to work against U.S. policy access to sensitive information — at all, ever.

Putting one’s children into senior positions of a government is the behavior of a banana republic, not a constitutional democracy with strong institutions. This is not normal.

For a president who ran on his business acumen to refuse to disclose his taxes to the public, which in turn denies anyone the ability to see if financial conflicts of interest are driving his policy decisions, is not normal.

Asking if he can decline the President’s salary, so as to avoid paying taxes, is not normal.

Owing hundreds of millions of dollars in business debt to a foreign bank and refusing to fully divest yourself from those finances is not normal.

Ascending to the White House while your eldest son, who is also on your transition team, and for whom you also seek a top-secret clearance, seeks out seven-digit business deals in Russia, is not normal. When Russia then names the President elect an “honorary Cossack,” it is not normal.

Asking a hostile foreign intelligence agency to hack into the emails of your opponent in the campaign is not normal. Refusing to comment while they expand those hacks into other institutions is not normal.

Watching that same government’s propaganda network dramatically change its tone in order to benefit the incoming president is not normal. That this foreign government is also the subject of numerous investigations into the President elect’s improper business conduct is not normal.

Threatening to cut off Europe from NATO if payment is not received, like a gangster demanding protection money, in a way that benefits said foreign government, is not normal.

Chanting for the summary imprisonment of your political opponent despite repeated conclusions that she has committed no crime is not normal. Refusing to back down from that call to summarily imprison her is not normal. Essentially suggesting a show trial before you’ve even assumed office is not normal.

Hiring an avowed white supremacist and proud antisemite to be the chief of strategy at the White House is not normal. That the new White House chief strategist has bragged, openly, of his desire to destroy the United States is not normal. That the cofounder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center raised money for this is not normal.

Staff participating in authoritarian victim-blaming and antisemitic conspiracism is not normal. Collaborating with cable news channels in that antisemitic conspiracy about protests is not normal.

When one of the new administration’s most senior proxies and spokesmen calmly discusses committing war crimes in the Middle East, it is not normal. When he is shortlisted for the Department of State — despite lobbying for terrorists who killed Americans, despotic regimes in the Middle East, and the tyrannical government of Venezuela — it is not normal.

When that proxy is simply following in the footsteps of the new President-elect, who has called for reinstating torture and summarily executing the families of alleged terrorists, it is not normal.

The leading candidate for the department of education (who himself has no background as an educator or in education policy) openly suggesting to censor speech on universities is not normal. Nominating an oil executive as the Secretary of the Interior is not normal. Nominating a climate change denialist funded by the oil industry to run the EPA is not normal. When the leading candidate for Defense Secretary having a long history of openly racist comments toward his own staff it is not normal.

The FBI intervening decisively in the last week of the election to alter its outcome for one candidate is not normal. But the FBI refusing to address the president elect’s violation of sanctions against a communist country is also not normal.

When a woman accuses a presidential candidate of having raped her as a child, but then refuses to go forward with her allegations because of a barrage of death threats yet still receives almost no media coverage, it is not normal.

It is not normal for a president-elect to have 75 pending lawsuits against him, ranging from business fraud to illegal hiring practices. It is not normal for his lawyers to demand those lawsuits be delayed until after his inauguration for not discernable reason other than to retreat behind the immunity of the office.

Relentlessly attacking the legitimacy of the media (to be distinguished from criticizing media conduct) is not normal. Threatening to sue the media because you don’t like being criticized is not normal.

Being so steeped in the language of fascism that you and and your staff mirror Hitler (“make the trains run on time“), appeasing Hitler (“America First“), or Mussolini (“drain the swamp“) is not normal.

http://joshuafoust.com/this-is-not-normal///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

I am going to try to keep this collection from being relentlessly negative and I’m going to try to restrict it, for…

I am going to try to keep this collection from being relentlessly negative and I’m going to try to restrict it, for the most part, to observations that I think are somewhat original or thoughtful or illuminating, not just reposting rants or adding to echo chambers. I also have no ambitions to become any kind of pundit, I’m just trying to puzzle stuff out for myself. I particularly hate predictions.

That said, I have just one prediction for the Trump presidency and I fervently hope that it’s proved wrong, but right now I’m grimly confident it will turn out to be true:

By the end of four years, Trump will have betrayed, offended or driven away every political actor who now supports him. That doesn’t mean he’ll be alone – there are always new people willing to step into smoking shoes. And it doesn’t mean that, say, Melania or his son-in-law will have abandoned him. Mike Pence… might be the one exception, or might not. He seems like he actually believes in something, which might be his downfall.

I do not think Trump will be able to retain anyone who is hoping for favours now that he’s got the thing he was trying to get. 

Closing comments because the point of this post is to act as a time capsule.

Hagiography of St. Hillary

Hagiography of St. Hillary

More deeply still, I wish I had not reasoned with anyone, patiently countered their ludicrous emotionalism and psychologically disturbed theories. I wish I had said, flatly, “I love her.” As if I had been asked about my mother or daughter. No defensiveness or polemics; not dignifying the crazy allegations with so much as a Snopes link.

http://www.lennyletter.com/politics/a613/hillary-clinton-is-more-than-a-president///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Charlie Stross reckons there’s a Fascist International, sponsored by Russia, and that it’s making giant leaps…

Charlie Stross reckons there’s a Fascist International, sponsored by Russia, and that it’s making giant leaps forward globally.

I’m not convinced, but it did set me thinking – even if it doesn’t exist, what would we lose by setting ourselves up against it, as an anti-fascist International? What could cosmopolitan citizens do to prevent the rise of fascism (or any equally horrible power bloc)? How would we avoid becoming a Fascist (or similar) International ourselves?

Originally shared by Kristian Köhntopp

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2016/11/playtime-is-over.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Then there’s the fact that Sanders…  co-sponsored a bill to ship Vermont’s nuclear waste to a poor Hispanic…

Then there’s the fact that Sanders…  co-sponsored a bill to ship Vermont’s nuclear waste to a poor Hispanic community in Texas, where it could be dumped. You can just see the words “environmental racist” on Republican billboards. And if you can’t, I already did. They were in the Republican opposition research book as a proposal on how to frame the nuclear waste issue.

This is not even a post about Bernie Sanders. It definitely isn’t supporting or condemning him. I was just struck by how Tartary things suddenly got there. The article’s a good read in general.

http://www.newsweek.com/myths-cost-democrats-presidential-election-521044

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/sep/22/fact-checking-viral-graphic-critical-bernie-sander/

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/02/28/Sanders-Nuclear-Waste-Votes-Divide-Texas-Activists/

http://www.newsweek.com/myths-cost-democrats-presidential-election-521044//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Feels like Tartary

Feels like Tartary

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/15/venezuela-crisis-nicolas-maduro-salsa-dj-radio

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/15/venezuela-crisis-nicolas-maduro-salsa-dj-radio?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+morning+briefing+2016&utm_term=199834&subid=3179942&CMP=ema_a-morning-briefing_b-morning-briefing_c-US_d-1//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Most politics involve imaginary figures – the nation, the will of the people, elites, the proletariat, terrorists,…

Most politics involve imaginary figures – the nation, the will of the people, elites, the proletariat, terrorists, anarchists, insurgents, liberals, gun nuts, angry black men, angry poor whites, the silent majority. Each has a face, a characteristic mode of dress and behaviour. Each can be draped over any individual that makes the news to make them comprehensible, to fit them to ready-made narratives.

It occurs to me that the figure of the disadvantaged rural or former industrial worker, now with 4 jobs at Walmart, burdened with debt, prejudice, resentment, incipient heart disease and painkiller addiction, has come to constitute the American volk.

There may be lots of people in that plight but the representative figure is imaginary, and it’s a dangerous figure to imagine because it’s irrational, impossible to appease or reason with, closed-minded and in every sense xenophobic. The more this figure informs our politics, the stranger our politics will become. 

That’s all I got for now.

This is my politics collection, easy to unfollow. My vague, furious rants will probably stay in “absurdism.”

Joseph H. Vilas thank you so much for the care packages!

Joseph H. Vilas thank you so much for the care packages!

The outright winner is the Smith n Cross laced jam – it’s amazing, we’ve all been enjoying it, I MUST get the recipe. Love it!

The Conniption gin is well made but it’s not my thing – too much licorice. Drinks I’ve made for other people with it have been very popular, it’s definitely a highly respectable gin, but I get about halfway through a martini or a collins made with it and the licorice gets to me.

OTOH I am currently having a 1794 with the coffee & cocoa bitters you sent and it’s superb – not overstated, just beautifully balanced, a little smokier than when I make it with Bittermen’s xocolatl. Lovely, thanks!

I’m not sharing this widely because it’s a cry from the heart.

I’m not sharing this widely because it’s a cry from the heart. This is exactly what I think about the election that just took place. This is why I have limited sympathy for people who are feeling slighted for being white and male. Sure, for elections it is pragmatic to include every asshole and try to make everyone feel good about the choices on offer but these are the stakes right here, and I believe exactly what Isaac is saying. Trump will be a fucking catastrophe, worrying about the people who elected him is a sideshow.

Originally shared by Isaac Kuo

I’ve been here before, in 2000, 2002, and 2004. I can’t sugarcoat it…it’s going to be very bad. The Republican President and Republican Congress will do everything in their power to roll back civil rights, enshrine racism and sexism, and benefit the wealthy at the expense of ordinary people. This includes Supreme Court appointments which will set us back for decades. The idiot President will be a laughing stock. Vladimir Putin will invade other countries with impunity (President Bush helplessly did nothing when Putin invaded Georgia). The people in Aleppo are about to get slaughtered, including so many children. Millions will lose their health coverage, like my own family, and thousands upon thousands will die needlessly because the Republicans honestly DO NOT CARE.

And that’s not even the worst of it. President-Elect Donald Trump is by all measures far more vile than President George W Bush. I don’t agree with Bush, but I know that he honestly cared about others. His policies may not have exemplified compassion, but at least his heart had compassion. Trump has no compassion, only anger and vindictiveness. Do not look to the Republican Congress or his own administration to hold him back. They cower in fear of his fanatic deplorable followers. They will dutifully do what it takes to survive, no matter who they must trod upon to do so.

Sadly, this tide will not be turned in 2018. We Democrats are defending three times as many Senate seats as the Republicans in 2018. The handful of states they are defending are all solidly Republican. The Republicans are fated to do well in 2018.

Our best hope to start to turn things back around will be 2020, four very long years from now. By then, a generation’s worth of damage will be done. I saw it happen in the early 2000s. It’ll be even worse this time.

Let me be absolutely clear – I value all human life as valuable. I do not value my low functioning autistic daughter’s life more highly than that of a child living in Aleppo or Ukraine or Puerto Rico or Yemen. If I concern myself more immediately with trying to figure out how the heck I’m going to be able to care for my family, it is because I know we’re on our own here.

But for anyone reading this message, I would ask that your thoughts and efforts go to the children of Aleppo. I fear they’ll be the first to die for our mistakes. They deserve better.

Every election I get another idea for election reform.

Every election I get another idea for election reform. Most of them are based on the kayfabe idea that elections are supposed to be methods for choosing rather than just stifling dissent.

This year’s version:

– after all the candidates there must be a further option on the ballot: PROTEST.

– you always get a first-choice and a second-choice vote. If your first choice is eliminated, your second choice is counted. So you could vote for e.g. PROTEST first and Hillary second, without risking giving the election to Trump.

If PROTEST wins, then all the other candidates are barred from running again for 2 electoral cycles. The current administration continues while new candidates are found. A second election must follow within 1 year.

Obviously this wouldn’t fix anything, for that you’d have to forcefully disband the current parties and replace the whole sorry mess with some sort of perfect administrative angels.

Last year’s idea was simpler – the ballot doesn’t ask who you want to vote for, but instead who you’re against. Instant doubling in voter turnout, I reckon. 

Still reading the article, but perverse incentives leading to a Macedonian town running alt-right propaganda…

Still reading the article, but perverse incentives leading to a Macedonian town running alt-right propaganda machinery is just too Tartary.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.daJ8dyOD7#.jxY97JzX1//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

What shall we teach those creepy DARPA robots to do next, Brain?

What shall we teach those creepy DARPA robots to do next, Brain?

How about pouncing, Pinky? Any self-respecting machine overlord should be able to pounce, mmm?

Originally shared by Panah Rad

StarlETH Robot Performing Long Jumps, Spins

http://www.roboticgizmos.com/starleth-robot-performing-long-jumps-spins/

reminds of that Boston Dynamics robot from a while back 🙂

“Medieval historians tend to treat peasant uprisings sympathetically, but it’s clear they can be pretty sinister,”…

“Medieval historians tend to treat peasant uprisings sympathetically, but it’s clear they can be pretty sinister,” says the venture capital aristocrat who definitely does not think of anyone today as analogous to peasants

https://twitter.com/paulg/status/793754587480092672//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

ok so what the hell +google+ ?

ok so what the hell +google+ ?

Now you’re truncating the feed on iphone so I can’t actually read what people have posted any more if it was more than 5 minutes ago?

Why? Why do this slow death by a thousand cuts? If you want to kill the service, why not just kill it? Is this some kind of psychological experiment?

turn 200, I’ve finally got my navy of frigates, ready to go mess up Venice.

turn 200, I’ve finally got my navy of frigates, ready to go mess up Venice.

Washington turns up with a mixed force of frigates, caravels and privateers. They attack in a nice, tight wedge like he’s been watching me. I do a fighting withdrawal, luring him toward a couple of galleasses.

And ship after ship switches sides. 5 turns later my force is doubled, his is gone. Only 2 ships sank.

Suleiman truly is magnificent.

and while I’m at it, here: “A whale and three fish sitting down to a formal dinner of Russian sailors.” Political…

and while I’m at it, here: “A whale and three fish sitting down to a formal dinner of Russian sailors.” Political cartoons of the Russo-Japanese War (spoiler: the Russians lose).

https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/kobayashi-kiyochikas-cartoons-of-the-russo-japanese-war-1904-5///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

this is one very cogent and concise video.

this is one very cogent and concise video. If I were teaching a global history survey I would probably start here. Few surprises but a good, clear statement.

I don’t share very much of the narrator’s optimism about democracy – I happen to think most democracies are really paper-thin disguises over oligarchies as described in the first part of the video (think about it, why would you ever let go of power and entrust it to a blind, irrational mass of nameless people?) but then the video keeps going and as far as it goes, it makess ense.

Originally shared by Andres Soolo

And that’s how the might-making-right-making-might cycle works.

(Via Sean Lin.)

https://boingboing.net/2016/10/24/video-that-explains-how-to-bec.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Civ V, level 8 (Deity), third try: archipelago, Suleiman.

Civ V, level 8 (Deity), third try: archipelago, Suleiman.

…turn 46, took my first capital (Warsaw) by systematically weakening Casimir, stealing all his workers, stealing his land using great general citadels, and Stalin-producing archers. It was a Pyrrhic victory – I didn’t know how to write, had no economy (only Honour!), nearly gave up.

Turn 146, took Jakarta at the height of its powers with galleases, composite bowmen and a newly-researched and -upgraded caravel. Indonesia’s score before the fall of Jakarta was 550, mine was 190. Now 450 vs. 350. I think I can win from here.

Netflix’s The Get Down is the most fun thing I’ve seen on TV in a long time.

Netflix’s The Get Down is the most fun thing I’ve seen on TV in a long time. It’s like a Boardwalk Empire about the birth of hip hop, by the Moulin Rouge guys, so less “attempt at a proper popular history” and more “disco/rap battle fairy tale.” By turns self-consciously ridiculous and really affecting. The characters are the best kind of stock.

Noteworthy also for the sheer density of stuff happening in NY in 77 – our hero is deep into graffiti, scratching and rapping but hasn’t heard of punk. Disco is the establishment, vogueing the decadent cutting edge. It occurs to me this doo-wop vs. rock n roll story can be repeated as often as you like, all the way back to the Harlem Renaissance (and what was the Harlem Classicsl period?) but I’ve never seen it done with such joy. Final proof that rap is dead and in a museum. Or at least a respectable topic for goateed musing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qcjh1a9Yoao//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

I have not yet begun to fight

I have not yet begun to fight

preparing a post about other kinds of games civ v could be, I realise I’d better wait until the dust clears around civ vi.

Anyone have insight into the critical differences between 5 & 6?

…regarding the title, I’ve started another game on level 8. Archipelago, 12 players, I’m Suleiman. Have defeated Poland, making contact with everyone else. Turn 70, looking to steal some triremes.

Nominate your dumbest ever TV thriller.

Nominate your dumbest ever TV thriller.

Blindspot keeps outdoing its own record episode after episode. I’ve got used to _oh sure I’ll just rewrite all the NSA’s software in 8 seconds or less so it does this new thing you want” – that’s par for the course. But “we can’t evacuate the square because that will spook the bombers and we want to catch them, therefore let’s shoot the bomb to bits with our handguns” is a new low.

OK at very long last I have finished reading the Undertiki notes!

OK at very long last I have finished reading the Undertiki notes! And it would probably be smart of me to write my stuff right in the google doc BUT I cannot bring myself to abandon all ideas of version control etc, so I’m doing the stupider thing of writing it all in a giant G+ post like an idiot.

Richard can you make similar up in real drink recipies of hisroric stuff that we can put in also in sidebars with

YES. ABSOLUTELY. I’ll even try to make them drinkable.

appendize of NPC rival groups and brief descriptions

start this and I can add to it

need to find someone with photoskills to manipulate old ads and pics

I can prob do this. I used to photoshop for a living. A bit.

Comments on text:

“K13 King Killer” makes it ambiguous whether it kills kings or is the king of killers. I like that.

Changing light colors: under one colour of light, not only can you see that the jungle is all plastic potted plants and the floor of the cave is matting over rough concrete, you can also pick the pots up and move them around. When the light changes again, it’s all back to actual jungle and won’t move but in the meantime you’ve Minecrafted it into a tactically useful shape or a big mess.

What is there in Quiet Village? What kind of utterly useless post-party trash could inventive players actaully find uses for? Spent party poppers, elastic chin straps, funnels, plastic detritus

eliezer palace – is this a reference to Eliezer Yudkowsky?

Pan-AM = Pa Nam – the vietnam vet/champagne class djinni

I’d like it if Thugmonks just don’t get the tiki thing, they’re Thug-life monks with bling grills, totally out of their idiom, and not at all surrogate thuggees, except when they start sacrificin’

the distillery and plantation house are sticky – caked with inches-thick molasses residue that acts like a poisonously delicious slime – like an addictive healing potion that lowers your to-hit chance.

There’s lots of background here but I think we should have more focus on what the players do with it? Some of that’s faction write-ups, but mostly I think I want adventure hooks, mcguffins, treasure, PC MOTIVATION all over this thing.

TORRENTS:

so when the tides are right at the torrents presumably there are loads of ships all clustered to take advantage of it and it’s a dirty rush? Sounds like a death race?

glassmen should contain drinks

glass python is actually a gusano worm with glass exoskeleton

shipwreck golems:

Anchorhead – attacks with chains, horn ram. wants to bind you all to the bottom. Can be persuaded to measure a length of land rather than attacking. Lunges 6’ at a time, has to pause and relocate after each lunge. His rhythm can be controlled by singing chanteys – he can’t resist a heave ho

Handspike – a tangle of skeletons bound around a capstan, cuisinarts you with capstan levers (handspikes), wants to winch things in. Can be persuaded to go ahead/set off traps, offer hoisting/turning power. Has a special place it’s been searching for – if found, can slot into place and stop beng a menace to all.

Sparsnarl – a big snarl of spars and rigging. Main problem is how large/long its limbs are. Stalks about the landscape, sometimes cartwheels. Dead child lookout at the centre can be appeased by pretending to be its mother or intimidated by pretending to be its watchmaster. If you say you’re its father it stalks you and rages over you unmercifully. You can climb up its ratlines, fight rats.

Gundek – walks on a dozen knees (bent wood braces), cannons are loose on top but murderously intent. Fires choking clouds, spoons/shrapnel. Takes any statement as a command issued by the Master Gunner, so listen to player chatter. Wants to attack. Can be persuaded to attack other golems as mutineers.

Oarlop – oars tangled in a big animal cage thing. wants to imprison you in its irons. can be persuaded to bind itself to something else and hamper it.

Bulkhead – doggable submarine doors hinged together like a flower. Opens to reveal the last working torpedo. Looking for something it could mistake for a warship.

Telemotor – A murderous motor on the end of a crane arm. Thinks it wants to rescue you, really wants to destroy you.

Marconist – giant tangle of wires, vestigial masts. electric hug. Can be used to communicate with wizards, also early warning system for wizards.

Figureleg – made out of carved wooden figures but has a toilet for a head. Endless nattering about ship histories. Gives out useful rumours if you can keep dodging the clumsy attacks.

The 13/ship graveyard wooden ship encounters

– keelson with skeletal prisoners clapped in irons

– rat king

– bilge beasts

– hidey holes with brandy, letters, peg legs inside,

– rigging snarl, bo’sun’s locker

collection of mildly erotic figureheads

junk hold full of tea compartments, ming china

– shot locker, rotted at base – shot may collapse out (dangerous)

– bricks for the grand city hall in New York

– slaver’s barricado

– tortured sharks

– barnacle and shipworm congeries

iron ship encounters

– radio mast and snarl of wires, may still work/who will you contact?

– anti-electric hawser loop, works as an eruv/magic circle for keeping the roving torpedoes out

– bulkhead doors, wisely shut to imprison whatever compartment demon

– periscopes to other universes

– rogue riveter

– cargo cranes, possessed. Now part of a children’s playground

– 3rd class smoking room

– wooden panel pix of exotic locales, not all looted yet. Some exotic locales are BATHROOMS and MANDIE ROOM

– snapping fold-up washstands, giant shipping company emblems/logos

– mail. lots of mail. all wet. And the mold that grows thereon.

– Asiatic quarters vs crew quarters. ditto bathrooms, kitchens, exercise yards

– stokers, oilers and deck officers in perpetual 3-way fights.

Civ on level 8 (Deity) is irritating.

Civ on level 8 (Deity) is irritating. Playing on a 4 civ map, I nearly got killed taking down Persia with an all-out early spate of violence. But I survived, killed Darius and then survived an invasion by Songhai! Woot!

…at which point I’m pitifully behind the leader, Carthage, who casually wipes out Songhai, my equal in score, and invites me to join in a research agreement.

I’m medieval, Carthage is pushing late Ren, early Industrial. I don’t think this will last much longer. My score: 550. Carthage: 1180.

I don’t know if I could really have done any better. Tempted to retry on an archipelago map because I think I know how to win more reliably on those.

Finally, a drink worth posting.

Finally, a drink worth posting.

Looks as ugly as a tiki drink, so no useful photo.

Bhumibol Memorial Saxojax

2 Rittenhouse Rye

2 Nigori sake (Momokawa). The Nigori “pearl” sake is important – it’s creamy in consistency.

1/4 Clement Creole Shrub (or maybe like half that of Grand Marnier but I haven’t tested that)

1 dropper CRUDE Tiki bitters

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Absinthe wash (St. George).

Wash glass with absinthe, as if you were making a Sazerac.

Stir the rest of the ingredients over ice. Strain, up, lime twist.