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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 5h

His standing is, with some justification, reduced with some justice *because* of being a slaveholder yet not having the distinguished leadership of Washington.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 6h

He does deserve to be well-regarded as President, even outside of the Louisiana Purchase. Even a cursory examination suggests an impressive record, though not free from controversy or failure. He cut public debt, won the Barbary War, furthered the sciences, established West Point & etc.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I can't complain about dropping Count Fenring as that's a simple exposition in the books and completely impossible to explain in a movie. But I actually thought they made Margot Fenring into a "tool" which was uncomfortable. OTOH, Feyd-Ruatha in this version is *chef's kiss*.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

But, I also acknowledge that when the film is good, it's not just good, it's great. Irulan is barely in the first novel and is not a full character until the sequel. I do at least understand why the changes were done. I just don't necessarily agree with them.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I have big problems with D2: *They drop major character motivations, or even reverse characters for poor reasons. *The film can't make up its mine what's going on with the anti-Atreides faction. *Either Jessica had the longest pregnancy in galactic history or the Empire collapses in months.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The core problem of Gerrymandering is that it turns small wins into big wins, but cuts you off from the voters by design. The situation always changes; there are no permanent majorities.The tighter your grip, the more voters slip through your fingers.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I thought this was about Christianity and it reads VERY different that way.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I am not an expert, but this detail from Elon's post stuck out because I don't think it's relevant military radar. Detection involves arrays of tools and computers to tease signal from noise, because there are multiple stealth approaches. It's a number that *sounds* smart but is meaningless.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

While the Religious Idea Group does have useful policies, it is not a Military Idea Group and does not help Army quality. Its primary use is enabling the powerful Religious casus belli, but that's no help if you're in a war with Timurids and suddenly discover they can ruin your Trade income.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Even then, you cannot be certain unless you check. If legal liability is ever on the line don't touch LLM's. Also, anything put into an LLM does *not* belong to you. Put business or client information in? You just handed that to a third party, for use by competitor or malicious actor.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

"Why do we live in a Low-Trust Society?" I ask, as I go around glaring with suspicion at everyone who does not look and act exactly as I do to my exact whim.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Yes, that is the implication. The Allies worried about Tigers, but they faced almost entirely Panthers and Panzers. Well, that and a bewildering array of captured armored vehicles from across Europe.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The actual number of Tigers the Allies faced was a surprisingly low number. Few were ever made, fewer still reached the front lines, and only a handful ended up in a serious fight. Doesn't mean they were bad, but the Tiger was more threat than real danger.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It's broader: Trump's policies hammered manufacturing, transportation and energy, which all rely heavily on imports and access to international markets. Tourism also uses more male labor than you might think and that's down, too.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Putin just pulled a (well, another) Hitler move: After becoming enraged at your opponent for not meekly surrendering, you switch from crucial military targets to "soft" civilian ones which harden resolve but do not actually produce useful results.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Those are two different problems. The roofing material is meant to insulate and prevent water intrusion. The structure itself keeps it on. However, you *don't* want it held on impossibly tight; that would cause extreme stress on the walls and risk collapse instead.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Look up the terrain on Skyros. Every single day is Leg Day there.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

We've spent billions shooting off armaments, face billions more in high energy prices, shaken the faith our allies had in us (eve more than we already did), set half the ME on fire and accomplished *nothing* except to get bases and planes destroyed. Seems like a relevant and pertinent example.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

For a very pertinent example, our direct military assistance to Israel is the major reason we are currently quagmired with Iran, with consequent massive global disruptions. People are dead because of this, and our actions, be they right or wrong, inflicted lasting wounds on the region.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Doing so, and making this effort, may be good or bad but it is always a tradeoff. It takes diplomatic focus away from other regions and polities and priorities; giving Israel foreign or military aid means somebody else does not get that aid. That may be the right thing, but it's a real cost.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It means we have to make some *very* difficult political tradeoffs to try to an keep friendly relations with a number of powers who view Israel as a dangerous threat. Those powers may be racist or prejudiced, or scapegoating, but that's not something we can necessarily change.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

But supporting Israel has real costs for the United States. It means tricky political balancing acts in the Middle East are even more complex and painful. Israel is one of two reason the other being "oil" that we are heavily involved in the ME, and arguably the more significant of the two.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

First off, this guy says some extremely prejudiced and racist things, which I am not going to engage with. I am a firm support of Israel's right to exist like any nation, and to defend itself from aggression, terror attacks or criminal intent. That does *not* mean I support Israel's own misdeeds.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

One example of this is Harvey Weinstein. He's a grotesque, abusive creep *and* he produced a great many good movies. The movies do not excuse him being a creep.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Two guys who want to sell drones to the military, and who have anti-qualifications for any conceivable purpose. And also Newt Gingrich, who is 83 and has not been involved in politics or state for twenty years. (This news story is how I discovered he was still alive.)

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I was thinking more along the lines of, "And she looks *amazing* for her age."

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Monday: This thousand-pound bear is strong and scary. I would much rather deal with ten wolves of a mere hundred pounds each. That sounds much easier to handle. One hundred is less than one thousand! I am smert! Tuesday: I have a made a dreadful mistake, but it's all Joe Biden's fault...

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

He's actually somehow less than Ted Faro, a fictional character created to parody TechBros with his complete, utter moral collapse and inability to care about anything other than his own self-love.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Hegseth, and those like him, will not admit failure even when it's absurd, obvious and public. There will be no "acceptance of humiliation". They will always cry sabotage and claim they must do away with another enemy. It was Ney's fault! It was Soult's fault! It was the fault of the British! etc

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The Tech/Finance crowd has ignored it, but we don't know the market for LLMs yet. The "sane optimist" take is: models stabilize, costs drop, and everyone profits. This could be right but it's risky. Granting the same assumptions, revenue may crash from competition and early firms die to newcomers.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is whining. I don't mean that as an insult to OpenAI; I mean this is just a non-story and there is no reason for anyone to care. This is a burglar complaining someone picked his pocket.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I was holding out hope that Japan would unleash five or so mega-corporations and we'd all jump onto the Nuyen, but alas.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Looking at the responses, I think there is a significant confusion: Paprika is a spice, but it is not *spicy* in the sense I mean. Horseradish, which is used as a condiment, or in mustard, is spicy although it hits quite different from chile.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Semi off-topic, but Saul is a fascinating Biblical figure. He is a great man, if not as great as his successor. In his pride he makes several terrible mistakes. And yet he also did not seek out the Kingship, and theological traditions present him in a conflicted light, both as hero and villain.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Hahaha, there's no such thing as ratmen in the sewers! Ridiculous, and don't believe the silly tale-tellers who say otherwise, and ignore the suspiciously well-armed ratcatchers. Now excuse me I'm going to share a beer with this extremely hairy, toothy halfling rooting for the Nuln Rodentia.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Scotland got a Personal Union over England in the deal! Unfortunately, because England had the higher Prestige score and Development, it inverted the PU instantly allowing for the Formation of Great Britain Diplomatically at Admin tech 10. Oops.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Anthropic's financial picture, according to leaks, is an entire mountain of burning garbage. OpenAI's is very, very likely measurably worse.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Although, I am rather curious as why the British Isles never adapted most spicy flavours, whereas many other areas of Europe with access to chiles seem to have taken to them with more appetite. I'm not mocking. American cooking used to avoid spicy heat like the plague also.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's wildly false: meat got eaten fresh and quick then, everywhere in the world. Essentially nobody was storing meat for long enough to risk spoilage. It's precious calories! They could salt or smoke meats, or even freeze in winter. Those able to afford spices can also afford good meat.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Based on that I'm pretty sure he's turning into a Guild Navigator. Or possibly is actually some kind of Orange Slaad in disguise. Or has made around three Horcruxes too many. If you understand this you are too nerdy.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Fun fact: all the sports teams that "play" in Atlanta are fake. They're actors who pre-tape the home games. Also all the other teams are actors. The tickets really buy you an interview timeslot to conspire with Willis.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Like all people who have ever visited Atlanta, I frequently conspire with Willis. (We're trying to steal a muffin recipe from her cousin.) There is, of course, no other reason to visit the nation's sixth largest city and the world's largest global air hub.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The even more strange aspect is that this is exactly nothing even if it were true. It goes exactly nowhere proving he had anything to do with Willis even if true. It doesn't even remotely touch on that point.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

On a different level, Hanako. By the end, it'd clear she cares only for her father and no one else. Everything is an expendable tool. It would have cost her basically nothing to demonstrate even a tiny margin of care for V, but she does not.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Would this be such an "interesting time" that, one might say, we are cursed to live in it?

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

That is the literal description of Perfidy also.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Or just benefit from not having Todd Howard involved. I don't believe Howard is talentless, although I seriously question his ability to manage to large, complex teams. But he does force a certain narrow-minded view of games and seems completely impervious to outside perspectives.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I find myself wanting to apply for interview simply to prank the interviewer with an entire catered multi-course French supper. "Yes, for work-life balance I prefer - Oh, my, the Ortolan apertif! Let's resume after we hide our very faces from the eyes of God, shall we?"

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