I’ve been busy with the conference, compounded by the fact that I brought the wrong mouse with me for the laptop, so light posting. But it’s worth noting the anniversary of the loss of Challenger. Which is also (as always) my birthday.
Category Archives: History
The Canary In The Coal Mine Of Hollywood
The Sunset Strip is dying.
I’ve never habituated the place, though I’ve often driven down it in the daytime on the way to somewhere else. I haven’t done it in a while. Probably a lot less business for the “Sunset pigs” that Joni Mitchell sung about in her song California.
Poor Hitler
He’s discovered his new followers:
Hitler reacts to the new generation of Nazis pic.twitter.com/ihZR66rEHf
— TRIGGERnometry (@triggerpod) January 19, 2026
A Mass Hostage Situation In Iran?
And by “mass,” I mean by the millions.
If the administration still intends to do something, I wonder what they have planned?
[Update a couple minutes later[
What can’t the Democrats speak frankly about Iran?
Minnesota
A political culture full of arsonists.
It should be a cautionary tale. I hope it will be.
High- Versus Low-Trust Societies
Why who we allow to immigrate into the country matters:
When I first came to the U.S. to finish school, a professor told us to take an exam at home and simply said, “Don’t use Google or open your books.”
— Dan Burmawi (@DanBurmawy) January 6, 2026
As someone who grew up in the Middle East, I couldn’t believe it. What kind of society trusts people like that?
But over time, I…
Islamism
It’s time for zero tolerance for it.
Happy New Year To All
This past year has been good for a number of reasons, but I’m hoping that next year will be even better, both in general, and for space policy and activity.
I’m hoping that the economy will improve sufficiently to prevent the Democrats from taking Congress. I’m also hoping that there will finally be some accountability for all the corruption and lawlessness for the past decade, and not just in Minnesota.
I expect Jared to be aggressive in moving out on his agenda, and I expect Starship to start flying on a more-regular basis. In terms of technology in general, I suspect that we are entering interesting times, in the Chinese sense of the word.
We’re having people over for brunch today, with fresh bagels with lox, quiche, deviled eggs, meats and cheeses, and holiday cookies, while we watch a soggy Rose Parade and football games. The parade and Rose Bowl have been living a charmed life for the past couple decades in terms of weather, but looks like their luck may have run out. One of the things that motivated people to come to California was seeing the people in teeshirts and sunshine on New Years Day while they themselves were snowed in or cold. Maybe this will also dampen the enthusiasm people have had for immigrating here. The Democrats certainly continue to encourage them to leave.
Speaking of football, I was a little surprised, but not shocked, to see Ohio State lose, and I was disappointed, of course, to see Michigan do so, but they were playing only for pride. With the new coach, perhaps they’ll be on track for a better season next year. They’re doing well in basketball, but I hate basketball.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Be kind in comments.
The Early Days Of Computing
Eric Raymond remembers:
I was writing some code the new-school way yesterday, prompting gpt-4.1 through aider, and for whatever reason my mind flashed back 50 years and the utter freaking enormity of it all crashed in on me like a tidal wave.
— Eric S. Raymond (@esrtweet) December 27, 2025
And now I want to make you feel that, too.
In 1975 I ran…
The Scrooges Of 2025
A survey of evil philanthropists.