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Texas is freedom land

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joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC 

				
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Texas is freedom land

				
				
				

				

					9 followers  

					follows 3 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 647


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
In…I think it was middle school, I tried cutting into a particularly tough one with a plastic knife. Managed to cut my hand up real bad. Now I always go by hand unless I’m garnishing drinks.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I went back and forth on including scenarios like that, where it is or isn’t appropriate, but decided I was getting sidetracked.


She is entitled to her preference. (Historically, that would in fact have been pretty unreasonable.) More importantly, you and I are free to say that she’s being reasonable or not. Opinions are protected.


A judge allocating convicts to prisons is in a different position. He or she has a a duty to the convict, but also to the officers and to the other prisoners. He or she is entitled to know and act on each convict’s sex in the line of duty.


The central examples of sex discrimination don’t have either defense. Lawmakers are not entitled to condition driving privileges by sex, for example.


You, as an individual, have rights to freedom of expression and association. It is not inherently bad for you to act according to someone’s sex. On the other hand, it is that someone’s own right to treat you accordingly. If your perfectly valid preferences don’t align, go your separate ways, because neither of you is entitled to the respect of the other.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
They can’t do that. It would ruin financial derivatives.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Eh…not really? I think that correct inferences are good.




entitlement to know and act on the genital/gonad configuration of strangers




I think this is actually a bad thing, mostly because of the word “entitlement.”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
IMO the Cosmic Crisp has earned its place in the top tier now.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Things can be bad without being oppression, though. Without getting universal agreement at the time.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If that were the definition, why would conservative populists want to attract them?


I’m pretty sure that I’m using it as the OP did, which is much closer to the first sense.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Good.


Also, nominative determinism claims another victim?


				

				

						

							

								
    
									
									
									
									
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Great assessment of the Enterprise setting. “And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning ‘That path leads ever down into stagnation.’”


But you completely lose me at the CW bits.




they lack the intelligence and positive vision for the future necessary to attract "elite human capital".




Elites don’t demand either of those things. The traditional substitutes are money and power. Conservatives are quite willing and able to reward elites with such; populists are not. Intellectual and technocrat discomfort with MAGA was directly proportional to the amount of time it spent reminding them that they were class enemies.


In fact, this class consciousness was an essential part of MAGA’s positive vision. America is supposed to be great. We beat all our rivals, so what gives? It must be the liberal, coastal elites. Get them out of power so we normal Americans can resume our upward trajectory.




what does "elite human capital" have to offer the base-model human other than growing social dysfunction and death via "managed decline"?




Wild material prosperity is a good start.   Really, the question is absurd unless you draw a very unintuitive box around “elite human capital.” Purging your best and brightest is not conducive to scientific or cultural wealth.


It doesn’t appear to prevent social dysfunction, either. There is a direct line from the Chinese intellectual purges to the starvation of millions of peasants. Then China had to redevelop its own oligarchic class before it could play in the big leagues. Hollowing out institutions comes with consequences.




we can't do it with the sort of "Khesterex" thinking that seems to have become endemic to blue spaces.




Wait, wait.


You gestured at all those examples of conservative populism, but now it’s “blue spaces” at fault? I don’t think you’ve properly made the case. Presumably, you’re thinking of critical theory, reparations, the intellectual backlash against America. But what you’re describing is just populism. Swap the word “blue” and you’d have the standard criticism of MAGA. It gripes, it does damage, but it has yet to build anything that lasts.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, other than flying our planes into our own buildings, that is.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
And one which tracks other economic markers a lot better.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Disgusting.


I was fooled by the fact that chart 1 did adjust for inflation.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Looks pretty good, yeah.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Canticle for Liebowitz. Can’t believe I never actually read it before. I’m really wondering about the lineage which got us from there to ubiquitous settings like Fallout.


Though I did always confuse it with Flowers for Algernon.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, abortion politics is up there with Israel as the last holdouts of the religious right. At least on a national scale. All the big controversies of the 90s, etc. have slid out from the Overton window.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sure, historically low rates.


How about percent of income? From that second chart, it looks like mortgage payments are going up faster than incomes, with a big exception in 2020 and a smaller one in 2016. Depending on the strength of that effect, we could see new homebuyers losing ground even when the overall rate is good.


The other independent variable is total mortgage debt. I couldn’t find data separated by cohort, but if the median home price took off fast enough, maybe that low rate doesn’t feel so good.


I’m mostly spitballing, here. Some of the effect is probably rational financial caution. Some of it’s probably psychic damage from Dad losing his job three years back. And some surely comes from touring Europe. No idea what drives parents on the margin.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The other complication of a giant housing crash is, well, the crash.


For the cohort which didn’t lose a job in 2008, 2010 was actually a really good time to buy a home. Better than the next 10 years, anyway. I’m having a hard time sorting the data, here, but it’s possible that 2010 was a high-water mark before the rebound in prices made kids less appealing again.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
25% sounds about right to me, but this is an area where I really, really cannot recommend generalizing from internal experience. People have been reporting wildly different experiences on the subject since long before it reached the mainstream Culture War.


I personally find women attractive, play female characters in games, et cetera. It is rare for me to do something and think “ah, it’s great to be male”. When that does happen, I usually think of comorbidities—“this is a cool engineering problem,” “I feel so competent,”—rather than framing it as masculine.


By the same token, though, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten excited about expressing something feminine. The idea isn’t offensive, but it’s far enough removed to be an intellectual question, not an intuitive one. “Sure, nobody should be judged by her sex.”


Others have mentioned Cis by Default; I’ll endorse the followup. There is a fraction of the population which cares deeply about something called “gender identity,” and another fraction which finds the idea alien. These groups are the long tails on a distribution. More importantly, they are correlated with, but distinct from, the “trans” and “cis” categories.


As an aside: this model explains the worst parts of gender discourse. The skeptics aren’t (usually) lying repressors, and the evangelists aren’t (usually) cynics building a coalition for the inevitable purges. Such groups are just having very different experiences. I like this because I think conflict theory is overrated.


So I would guess Flesh was more or less correct. The percentage of men with a weak masculine gender identity probably dwarfs the percentage with a strong feminine one. Encouraging these men to transition using current technology is a recipe for dysphoria. In a fantasy world with no downsides, though, plenty of them would push the button and remain roughly as happy about it as they are now.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's almost certainly true that the marginal dollar of aid wouldn't go directly to having a child. But why do you think it's going to luxury consumption? How many of their higher priorities are boring, responsible things like house repairs? How many are outright virtuous? There's some number of couples out there who are prioritizing their sick or aging parents over having their own kids.


Sure, sneer at the avocado toast. That doesn't apply to everyone.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hunt for Red October was gold. All the weirdness comes across as a stylistic choice.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
    

  • First mover, or close enough to it.
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  • No humans, less risk of uncanny valley
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  • Songs which get stuck in small children’s heads
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  • Genuine heart??
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I think it just claimed the spot of default Christian entertainment. My family was pretty secular and we’d still check out the tapes from our library.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Lazy answer first:


Most fiction actually has a positive vision, to the point where it’s taken for granted. If it’s not actively nihilistic, the characters are probably gonna succeed within their system and be praised for it. Go watch a sports movie or something.


Marginally less lazy:


Your story has to have conflict, right? Criticizing the setting is a popular way to get that. Look for fiction where the conflict comes from man vs. nature instead. Planetary romances with steely-eyed princes fighting off aliens. Rugged individualists making their way in the Old West. There’s plenty of fiction where people just get into adventures  and present a personal vision.


I may draw a lot of flak for this, but I’ll slot a bunch of Brandon Sanderson in that category. He plops down a setting conceit, spins out a bunch of consequences, then has his characters struggle and grow within those systems. He doesn’t really do antiheroes. Stormlight Archive is a central example: superpowers are literally fueled by paladin oaths.


Now, if you’re specifically looking for a positive societal vision, rather than personal ones:


Rationalfic. Transhumanist stories like To The Stars. Weirder glowfic and dath ilan: aviation is really remarkably safe. All sorts of other stuff.


For published fiction, I wouldn’t count Ancillary Justice, but Too Like the Lightning probably makes the cut. The Dark Forest made its utopia really stupid, but it certainly didn’t apologize for it.


There’s also an endless supply of uncritical HFY thrillers out there for your reading pleasure. I’ll leave you with a pseudo-recommendation for Tom Clancy. America is always right, government force is always justified, and a shadowy parallel intelligence community which funds itself through insider trading is apparently a good thing. It’s a window into a different world.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Different waistband heights at different ages. That article doesn’t seem to care if the effect is upstream or downstream of historical fashion. I would guess what was popular in 1960 had become firmly entrenched as “old people fashion” by 1990. Add a few iterations of counter-countersignaling and here we are.


Erotica is weird and follows different dynamics than fashion. Also, the subset you’re talking about is heavily, heavily skewed by Japanese culture. I bet you can trace skirt height back to some year’s seifuku standards.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is the real reason BLS changed its metrics for inflation.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The classic fanzine article which introduced “clench racing” begins with a lesser-known section on poetry.




Leonard Nimoy, currently directing his own resurrection in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, is the author of two books of poems rightly considered too hot for bookshops to handle. They're distributed solely through Athena poster shops, in the same series of icky little volumes with tinted pages and silhouettes of weeds that has given the world the if anything even more deathless works of the legendary Susan Polis Schutz, the Colorado Sappho.




I’d say McCann is late to the party, except I’m not sure Nimoy was actually in on the joke.