Artificial Life | Emergent Garden (video, 35 min) – A video about simulations that simulate evolution or generate life-like complexity.  He draws a distinction between three kinds of simulations.  In the first kind, entities are given a goal, and they find a solution via genetic algorithm.  In the second kind, entities are given space to wander around freely, and evolve organically.  In the third kind, entities are not explicitly coded, and instead we see life-like patterns emerge from the rules.  I’ve played several games like this (mostly of the second kind), and I kind of want to make such a game, but it’s probably beyond my ability.

The underlying misogyny of grand romantic gestures | The Soak (video, 47 min, via) – I’ve never seen most of the movies discussed, but I’m still familiar.  I think film often depicts grand romantic gestures because they have to convincingly present a romantic entanglement within a very short amount of time.  Perhaps this is not unlike how porn jumps right into the sex, because that’s what the audience is here for.  Narrative justifications aside, I think many people have taken the trope seriously, and it’s damaging to people’s social skills, especially men’s.  Like, public education can’t realistically teach people about respectful dating etiquette, so instead people are left to absorb norms through movies.

Capitalism vs socialism? Get Serious. | The Weekly Sift (via) – Doug argues that US political disputes are not about capitalism vs socialism, but rather where to draw the line between public and private sectors.  The shift towards more socialism rather seems to be a shift in language, perhaps driven by the right’s desire to frame the left as extremist, and the left’s willingness to go along with the label.

So, I would identify as a socialist, but I don’t take the label very seriously.  My politics are not that far from my husband, who emphatically doesn’t identify as socialist.  I’d probably be considered neoliberal by the standards of a lot of internet leftists, and you know what I don’t care.  People can play with labels all they like, but the labels themselves offer little reason for anyone to actually change their views.

Ask the Strategic Genius: Iran Edition | stderr – I enjoy Marcus’ rants about the Iran war.  One thing I learned from this post was about the Millenium Challenge 2002, which was a war game exercise conducted by the US military.  The game cost $250 million dollars to run (before inflation), and then the US lost almost immediately.  They didn’t want the rest of the exercise to go to waste, so they resurrected the US ships, and imposed constraints on the rest of the game so that the US could win.  I can understand why people would be cynical about this.