I look forward to Netanyahu making his case in court and watching every argument evaporate under the sheer gravity of reality. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, standing beside him, defiant. Gallant gave up.

If I said yes, I’d caveat that by saying, “we’re not special.” There’s no interaction, quid pro quo or otherwise, with whatever presence, energy, or overmind that I would conceptualize as a deity.

Not an architect. Not a creator. Omnipotence and omniscience defy temporality. There are, similarly, no subdivisions of the deity; there are no places that it is present, and others that it is absent. No underboss gods, angels, demons, heavens, hells, or purgatories.

The deity, in my understanding, is simply a unity: An answer to paradoxes, a solution to the incomprehensible, a layer beneath and above all other measurements, concepts, and capacities. A holographic whole that encompasses and inhabits every possibility. It is older than the universe and beyond our feeble attempts to comprehend it, let alone write its character and tell its story.

A bearded white dude who impregnated a virgin, hates masturbation, holds vendettas, destroys cities, sends plagues, and permits humans to hide from “HIM” in the garden of good and evil… it is all just silly by comparison. At that’s just from the tradition I was raised in.

I mean, a burning bush? Or tests of faith?

We, people and all other organisms that are aware of one another, need to get on with finding ways to coexist. Biodiversity is the scorecard.

/rant

The metric is biodiversity.

How many kinds of life are there, and are they thriving? What are the bottlenecks and boundaries for species that slow or stop their progress?

Well, as a living, all-consuming, extinction-level event, I’d say we are making the experiment more impossible. We are a confounding factor, a bias most foul, and the primary flaw in the experimental design.

If only there was guidance in terms of balancing our biological impact and capacity for sustainable development. If only there were some models that have and had worked for millennia. If only there were living groups who could share their wisdom.

If only.

So, for now, plunderous expropriation rules: violent, resource-heavy, rational modern warfare; apathetic, resource-heavy, throwaway consumer culture; and ignorant, resource-heavy, industrial machinations.

What could go wrong?

Nice to meet you, too. Thanks to 세종대왕 (Sejong Dae Wang, King Sejong) for creating a Hangeul, a stronger phonetic system. I look forward to its use for a long time to come.

IIRC, the food, therefore the word, was introduced to Korea. It is a transliteration. Like “tae-kwon-do” is a transliteration from the Korean 태권도 (taegwondo).

Note: Korean is not my first language. It is first non-English script I’ve managed to learn to read and write and makes me happy every time I interact with it.

My read/spoken Korean is atrocious and barely functions.

치즈 (chi-jeu)

So there’s this Rick and Morty episode (s05e04)

I’ve read Dante’s Inferno. Two things are true:

1. In envisioning Hell, this is beyond even him.

Though, the ninth circle — betrayal — is where many politicians, pundits, and the president of Israel belong. Frozen in the ice at the center of Hell.

2. Many people deserve to be sent to Hell for this. Perhaps all of us who did not do more to stop it.

Jewish communities are not monolithic. This, like the genocide itself, is a wedge issue. People are being forced to confront the reality and scope of these past 20 months, and the occupation writ large.

Let justice be swift and certain.

If more people realized this, life would be a lot more simple. I never grew up. I just got older.

James Holden has a safe future in Quebec.

Well, I guess we’re not at full genetic mix yet.

Climate connection was also in my feed this AM.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/30/carbon-footprint-of-israels-war-on-gaza-exceeds-that-of-many-entire-countries

Carbon footprint of Israel’s war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries

Exclusive: Climate cost of war is more than than the combined 2023 emissions of Costa Rica and Estonia, study finds

Nina Lakhani

I agree with funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works. Running cover for despotic regimes seems to be a pattern that 20th and 21st century American history is shot full of.

Please keep in mind that America backed Pol Pot as the head of state through that 1975 to 1979 genocide and for over a decade after.

The password entry screen for Metal Gear.

Love that tune. So calming.

That Super Mario Bros 2 - Game End lullaby is perfect.

It suffers the same problems as many of the sequel/prequel ilk; as compared to the originals, it fails to stand on its own. Sure, it explains the origin and rationale for a few key characters in the original trilogy, but that’s the only function of this book. Any attempt to establish stakes is undercut before the start as we are locked up by the future we (who have already read the original three books) already know.

So, flat, perfunctory, and fan-servicing; punctuated by privations of humanity inflicted on District 12; this story was unsatisfactory.

I wonder at those who, to start their readings of these books, elect to go chronologically rather than in publication order. They are good books, but the two prequels rely on foreknowledge offered in the Katniss arc.

3D printed buildings and neighbourhoods.

The design implications are endless and including modular rough-ins for water, power, and HVAC, which would make design accessible to all. Get an AI engineer to test the design and a human engineer to double-check the results, and you can get printing.

Hopefully, the type of concrete is getting less specialized and more sustainable. If we can jazz up the exteriors, that would also help.

The voice I used for “piece by piece” was Denzel’s from Man on Fire (2004).

I’ve seen a bunch of those. Enough to know of his April 1st gags and to be able to shill for his website.

Which I won’t do here.

I’m more wondering about doing it as a career. What’s the annoyance/danger factor? How much work do you need to stay afloat? What do start-up costs look like? What would cause a locksmith to walk away and get into something else?

And so on.