The Shame of Capital Punishment

The US is one of the most barbarous countries on Earth. Sure, there are worse – places that execute citizens in what amounts to Hammurrabi’s code – but we pretend to be an advanced democratic republic. Briefly, let’s jump down that rathole: in principle the United States is a state organized along the lines of State Legitimacy, i.e.: a social contract in which the state is allowed to enforce certain things on an otherwise independent populace, in return for the populace expecting certain things from the state. What sort of things might those be? A social safety net? Health care? Minimal pointless wars? The right of the citizen to be secure in their possessions and pursuit of happiness? Being cruelly put to death when the state follows its “due process” and eventually decides its time?

[Read more…]

Happy Facial Recognition Day!

I first wrote about facial recognition back in 2017, shortly after starting this blogue. (stderr) Then, (stderr) I discovered to my complete lack of surprise, that there is a lack of proper paranoia about the topic, and – I suppose that’s justified because climate change is likely to wipe us out, while having no more personal privacy, won’t. I guess we’re arguing about “insult to injury” which is a great way of spicing up your injuries. Add it to heirarchical storage and, whups, things look bad. (stderr) It seems like just the other day I was laughing at people who were implementing poorly-planned “data lakes” but it seems that, miracle, AI actually has stepped in to help with the problem.

[Read more…]

A Fascinating New Element to Warfare

There are a few things I find fascinating about the current war. First and foremost, it’s a war of attrition and apparently that never occurred to the pentagon command structure. One of the things that Europe learned pretty thoroughly before the Franco-Prussian War, is that an experienced command structure that knows how to communicate and plan is essential. Or so we would think.

[Read more…]

What Should Biden Do?

I’ve spent the last few days hiding under my bed with mint ice cream, Xanax, my L1A1 and some full clips. Between the debate and the supreme court’s ridiculous decision, I have been feeling helpless, and I don’t like that feeling in the least little bit. But I can’t help trying to think, even when not much happens. This afternoon, while I was filing out the mekugi hole on a dagger named “Beast Mode” it all clicked into place. I’m not sure how to write it – whether I should fictionalize, or be sarcastic (e.g.: “ask the strategic genius”) so I am just going to wing it and see if it works.

[Read more…]