Bizarre scandal at the Hugo Awards.
Scott Sumner compares Abu Dhabi and Orange County. And here he looks at the economic situation in the rich Arab states, where the complete lack of a domestic working class means they can hire workers or firms from all over the world, making some industries very efficient.
Interesting piece by Jonathan Chait reviewing the career of Bari Weiss, who has retraced the path of the original neoconservatives: beginning as a Jewish liberal, she feels driven by progressives excesses and leftist hatred of Israel to join the right.
Visitors to Rome can now see a replica of the Colossus of Constantine.
There is now a very detailed 3D model of the best preserved Roman military diploma, a centurion's discharge from AD 71.
Some jurisdictions, including the whole country of Ireland, are limiting the construction of data centers because of their huge consumption of electricity and water.
Speaking of which, Scott Siskind runs the numbers and finds that developing a theoretical GPT-7 would require all the energy and computing power in the world.
The US Marines are testing a naval logistics drone "inspired by drug running narco subs."
Refuting the always dubious idea that sexual kissing was invested in South Asia around 1500 BC, which was based on the genetics of the Herpes virus. (NY Times) Sumerian records documenting kissing are older, and there are pretty convincing depictions of kissing in Neolithiic art, and since bonobos kiss it is probably a lot older than than. It is certainly true that not all cultures practice it, but it just seems too obvious to me to require some special act of invention or transmission.
The saga of Flaco, a Eurasian Eagle-Owl who escaped from New York's Central Park Zoo last year and took up residence in the park, teaching himself how to fly and hunt rats, thereby becoming a beloved symbol of freedom and the subject of several pieces of street art. (NY Times, wikipedia, CBS News video)
A libertarian look at the early moves of Argentina's libertarian president, Javier Milei, with a glimpse at the libertarian energy spreading across South America. No libertarian myself, I would agree that South America has a long-term problem with excessive statism and public corruption.
Interesting NY Times story about the rise of BYD, China's hugely successful electric car maker. On the one hand, they have grown thanks to billions in direct government subsidies, but on the other they have pioneered new battery technologies and are making appealing electric cars much more cheaply than any US or European manufacturer.
How to respond to criticism. Humor, I hope.
The violent death of the bog body known as Vitrup Man.
Video showing that Iran has converted a large ex-cargo ship to carry vertical launch silos for ballistic missiles. Such a ship could theoretically carry hundreds of missiles, although there's no way of knowing how many working launch silos it actually carries.
Ukraine sinks another Russian warship with naval drones, this time the landing ship Caesar Kunikov; the ship was attacked by several drones from multiple angles. Russia has been using these ships to ferry key supplies and personnel to Crimea, so this a more significant loss than last month's sinking of a missile corvette. And on Youtube.
1 comment:
I'm sure the response to criticism thing is humor. But, for many of us, it's the humor of self-recognition.
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