Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Shame on me for just finding out Wendell Berry died on the 31st. www.npr.org/2026/09/01/1... "We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. …We have been wrong. 100
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I like this a lot. Everyone in First Class thought the Titanic had roughly the right amount of life boats... www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO57...youtube.comWhy The Rich Need You To Believe The Titanic Was An AccidentYouTube video by Barry's Economics 100
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Regardless of the intent of the journalist or the scientists & engineers behind the technology, the direction is pretty obvious. You may "own" a car, but you won't be allowed to use it without a subscription to the self driving features. spectrum.ieee.org/are-self-dri...spectrum.ieee.orgCleaner Crash Data Could Prove That Human Drivers Are the Risky OnesSelf-driving tech could prevent 580,000 deaths every year 010
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Anyone read the Murderbot series? If you think the hellscape of the Corporate Rim is some sort of vision of the future, you are wrong. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKAD...youtube.comWe Found Rampant Waste And Fraud In Welfare. It’s Not Where You Think.YouTube video by More Perfect Union 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Comptroller requests doubling Texas school voucher program to $2 billion www.texastribune.org/2026/09/03/t...texastribune.orgTexas’ school voucher program would double under $2 billion requestThis is the first year for education savings accounts, which allow Texas families to use taxpayer dollars for private and home schooling. 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 01/09/2026I'm behind by, oh, 18 months, but I saw Helmet on KEXP and was reminded of seeing them on a triple bill with Sausage and Rollins Band at the (old) Bomb Factory. Most 90's show ever? Most of something. 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 23/05/2025Cody Fenwick at 80,000 Hours discusses Jan Kulveit et al's work on possible paths to AI hell. He describes a sequence of events culminating in this example: "...entertainment evolves into persuasion technology that can shape political outcomes..." 80000hours.org/problem-prof... 100
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 08/05/2025As children, both my parents skated on Corby Pond in St. Joseph, Missouri. I don't have hard data, but I don't think that's been possible going back at least to the early 80s when I was hearing those stories. grist.org/science/brea... 010
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 30/04/2025Who wins when physics collides with ignorance? Physics, physics always wins. I'd guess global insurers are getting the hell out of US markets (if they aren't already), and US insurers are doomed. www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/trump-a... www.theguardian.com/environment/... 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 03/04/2025In other we-could-see-this-coming-from-miles-away news: Yes, the economy is a subset of the environment. www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.comClimate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurerAction urgently needed to save the conditions under which markets – and civilisation itself – can operate, says senior Allianz figure 110
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 31/03/2025I'm listening to @thebulwark.bsky.social & @jonlovett.bsky.social discuss the worst case scenario (other than nuclear holocaust). I'm putting my marker on midterm elections suspended due to some Reichstag-ian event & convening a new constitutional convention to make GOP/MAGA rule permanent. 😟 100
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 24/03/2025More fun with charts! A hypothetical late-ish GenX'er's earnings over the past 26 years (adjusted for inflation) have averaged a stunning 2.2% of growth. 010
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 12/03/2025Beyond collecting the fragments of many work sponsored 401k plans into an IRA, I'm not an "investor". I do like charts and I recently learn of the Buffett Indicator. It indicates something akin to the '73-'75 recession: 100
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 06/03/2025I have to suppress the urge to (jokingly, of course) call my red pilled coworkers "tovarich", but maybe "muzhik" is more appropriate? 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 24/02/2025IMHO, applying positive discount rates to future lives is, very literally, a crime against humanity. Eliminating them altogether, well... www.propublica.org/article/trum...propublica.orgTrump Order Shifts the Financial Burden of Climate Change Onto IndividualsThe change would effectively transfer financial responsibility from oil drillers, auto manufacturers and others and leave Americans to face greater direct costs as warming continues. 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 11/02/2025For the Pope, this is a sick burn on J.D. Vance: "Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups," 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 24/01/2025A change of pace here: informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnew...informationisbeautiful.netThe New York Good TimesThe New York Good Times 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 10/12/2024I'm editing a...that doesn't matter. I think the term "hose reel" is a pretty good radio-friendly insult. 000
Sam @sam-watkins.bsky.social · 26/11/2024NYT on Percy's "Love in the Ruins": “Conservatives have begun to fall victim to unseasonable rages, delusions of conspiracies, high blood pressure, and large‐bowel complaints. Liberals are more apt to contract sexual impotence, morning terror, and a feeling of abstraction of the self from itself." 100
