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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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				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.
    • 

  • 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??
    • 



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.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think you’re barking up the wrong tree, and that you can’t explain “the leftist aversion to punishing” by making observations about general human tendencies. There are all sorts of human tendencies. Most of them will be present in a group as broad as “leftists.”


I used the death penalty example for comparison. It would be unreasonable to describe the ban as conserving “energy/time/capacity.” So too with your original question.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sure, they might. What does their existence say about a broader “leftist aversion”?


Just because a mindset is plausible does not mean it’s prevalent. Maybe some Minnesotans were playing realpolitik with the death penalty. Maybe some of them were Communists trying to recruit soldiers for the world revolution. Maybe some were devout Christians. But the prevailing reason, the one that made it into this history books, was that Minnesotans were outraged after a botched hanging. A single “slot” which drew in enough political capital to ban the practice entirely. Using that to make claims about the broader ideological purity of Minnesotans would be reasoning completely backwards.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No? That doesn’t make much sense. Perhaps it would be more clear if you posted about specific groups or people instead of the usual bogeyman.


For example, when Minnesota banned the death penalty, was there a demand for purity involved? Were Minnesotans worried about wasting political capital on murderers?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Wait, why the hell does Costco wholesale gold??


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I finished Teckla last night, and, uh. I hope it’s the one that got you. That was a complete train wreck. It’d be one thing to just watch the relationship implode, maybe with an understandable dose of self-destructiveness. But combined with the ideological debates? New frontiers in anti-elf racism? Protest politics?


I’m amazed that the author is still alive. He had to be hanging on by a thread.


If this isn’t the book that you had in mind, I don’t want to know what happened next.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The Book of Jhereg, Steven Brust. A mob boss/troubleshooter/assassin working in a fantasy city. He solves problems with a combination of sword, sorcery, witchcraft, and powerful friends.


It’s kind of like mid-series Dresden Files, except set in Morrowind. Magic is common but not egalitarian. There are all these guilds and institutions with their own histories. Everyone, including the protagonist, is super racist.


Great fun. I suspect it’s had a lot of unspoken influence on rogue archetypes in fantasy.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I used to work with some guys who did a related project ~20 years ago. I think you’re slightly underestimating the difficulty of reliable, real time image processing, but more importantly, I think you’re seriously underestimating the culture around automated weapons. Even in peak COIN years, there was an obsessive focus on “human in the loop”. You could only point, not shoot. Couple that with the regulatory and reliability hurdles, and your project bogs down pretty easily.


Those qualms probably go away in an Ukraine situation, sure. Until a Western nation starts planning for that, you might have a hard time with funding.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for January 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Truly, the greatest threat to western civilization is Yuri's Revenge.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for January 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I guess you’d have to send your agent to find the most controversial bits for you.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for January 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fuck Microsoft and their business model.


I work in closed networks separated from the broader Internet. The version of Windows we chose still tries to shove telemetry and AI bullshit down our throats. If you try to open a pdf, it’ll launch Edge, bitch about how that’s not your default browser, go through two separate dialogues to warn that you’re “starting without your data,” and grudgingly open the document. All while frantically phoning home and shitting out bland, corporate Memphis error pages. Every “app” has a useless Copilot button. God knows what happens if you try to use it.


I can’t tell if our IT guys just didn’t bother to disable this crap or if Microsoft doesn’t allow it even through group policy. It’s inconvenient and aesthetically offensive. Fucky-wucky indeed.