Lot’s of IR stuff in this thread:

What I am wondering is whether our eagerness to expand NATO is having more drawbacks than benefits. Russia’s weakness (which they are well aware of) is that because much of their land is currently tundra, the majority of their civilization is in the west, uncomfortably close to NATO. The Kremlin doesn’t want NATO forces within “rapid striking distance” of Moscow, which I can totally sympathize with, because I wouldn’t want Russian or CCP forces situated in Mexico. They’ve made it absolutely clear that this is a red line for them. I don’t think they particularly want to invade the Ukraine, they just don’t want the Ukraine to join NATO because they perceive that as a threat, and they’re probably going to do whatever they have to in order to stop that threat

• /u/SocratesScissors

Honorable Mentions:

Various duels and fights conducted in the Capitol or by Senators and Congressmen. Special plaudits go to: the duel in which Representative William J. Graves of Kentucky killed Representative Jonathan Cilley of Maine; the incident on February 6th 1858 in which a debate over the Kansas Territory grew into a fistfight that included over 30 Representatives; “The Battle of the Reed Rules,” in which newly-elected Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed attempted to count Democrats in the chamber who were present but remaining silent to defy a quorum, after which Democrats attempted to flee before Reed had the doors ordered locked; the infamous Brooks-Sumner affair, when Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Charles Sumner with a cane on the Senate Floor over a heated debate on slavery (which only ended when several Senators pulled pistols to restore order); and, less-famously, the caning in 1866, when Lovell Rousseau of Kentucky (a Union general during the war) caned Josiah Grinnell of Iowa, after which Rousseau was censured, resigned, and then re-elected handily in the same seat.

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There is no “America”, and anyone who tells you there is hasn’t travelled enough.

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To live, we must die every instant. We must perish again and again in the storms that make life possible.

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The Internet Changed My Life (2022)

A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes modern web design

Why russia’s economy is immune to western sanction - Money & Macro (2022)

/r/WaxSealers . a subreddit for people who like to seal their letters the old fashioned way

<scirDSL> I hated going to weddings. All the grandmas would poke me saying “You’re next”. They stopped that when I started doing it to them at funerals

“Everyday a fool and a smart person wakes up. When they meet, business are made” - Brazillian saying

“What’s the silliest thing you staunchly believe, support, or will do to support what you know is an otherwise unreasonable stance?

For instance, I refuse to read The Infinite and the Divine because I think Necrons are boring and I don’t want to find them interesting. I’ve heard its really good and but I just can’t risk it.”

• /u/NightHaunted

“GPS”. or how Viet spent 15 minutes manipulating a rope

“Research is just learning something no one knows yet”

“It is extremely hard to be an investor and a doomer”. or climate change analyst meet trying to build wealth

The shortest tallest building by state is in vermont at 38m. It has 11 floors.

How a democrat turns Republican. - /u/VelveteenAmbush

How a Trump voter turned on Trump cause of Jan 6. - /u/VelveteenAmbush

“In this comment I want to make the case for why I think there was a plan to keep Trump in power even though he had lost the 2020 election and the factors that prevented such a plan from being executed.” - /u/Hailanathema

lol, a big problem for governance. https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/07/26/a-big-little-idea-called-legibility/

I told this to close friends before, but it’s worth writing again.

When I first read Lord of the Rings, I thought Frodo was boring. He wasn’t heroic like Aragorn, nor was he wise like Gandalf. Frodo was just walking and “suffers” from the ring. I would skip Frodo’s parts when I re-read.

Having now been through what I have experienced, I would still skip Frodo’s parts on re-read. Not because I thought it’s boring, but because the invisible pain hits very close to home.

In tech, we use many words for old hands at coding that can weave miracles out of scraps such as wizards, greybeards, or Old [insert name here]. Today I met a wizard, and as such I would like to write about Robert Houllahan of Cinelabs.

I was at a “swimming party” for film processing, “swimming” because manual processing so much film takes boatloads of water, and found my way to the couch with some salad for dinner with my gf. My girlfriend then tugged on my sleeve and pointed out a quiet, unassuming man, definitely 50+, maybe even 60, beer belly showing with a camera in his side bag and one of those camo pants with lots of pockets. Oh and a man bun. Go see his linkedin for a profile lol. “That’s Rob!” she said, “That’s Rob!”. “Who?” I asked. “Rob of Cinelabs! All Vanderbilt’s student films get scanned there and I remember writing a long email to Mr. Houllahan for the first time asking…..”. (Imagine a Kpop fan seeing a kpop star from afar). Somehow, Rob came to sit next to us as we had dinner, just ambled himself onto the armchair next to our couch.

My girlfriend, obviously, had to introduce herself. And then Rob told us that he is the man that helped setup Steve Cossman’s scanner that I wrote about in niche tech in film. At that point I am piqued. One simply knows that Rob is gonna be absolutely delightfully interesting. And so 25 minutes of scanner tech talk begins.

From resolution dimensions, lens specifications, stabilization software, databus sizes, storage problems, SSD vs HDD and accompanying tools, operating systems, to supply chain origins, UI/UX improvements, historical (brief) walkthrough of scanner tech history and recent developments. Rob lists every detail on any topic, in a chain unending. There might be an intro to his answers? maybe a topic sentence? but never a conclusion. Sometimes, I knew I had to cut in because time is short (party conversations has a certain energy gauge you have to ascertain constantly), but I was enthralled. Here was a master, and even though I only understand about 33% of what’s going on, I had to ask them.

At one point, Rob stood up and goes to get more pizza. I think that meant my time was up. I had a feeling Rob is a solitary man, and goes where he pleases (even if he really doesn’t show it). We didn’t interact much afterwards but I did get a handshake before heading home. His hands were warm.

Last note: Researching online about Cinelabs, I get a distinct feeling modern filmmakers are sometimes frustrated about the lack of communication when put in an order. I think they don’t realize the work that goes in processing millions of feet of film a year in such a tightly run ship. Also, since it’s so very very unlikely that Rob would see this blogpost, I like to hypothesize, based on my short interaction with the glacier that is Rob Houllahan, that the man could be on the spectrum. He is a wizard though, that’s for sure. Not to mention, he is a site sponsor of cinematography.com, and is ALWAYS ONLINE! Seriously, check his profile! He even has a tiktok!.