Discussion

@lxo
https://www.persuasion.community/p/what-history-doesand-doesntteach
> The strength of the democratic tradition in Venezuela could be seen in last year’s presidential election. María Corina Machado, who was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, was disqualified on specious grounds, and replaced by Edmundo González as a stand-in. The democratic opposition placed observers in every polling place around the country, and made careful copies of the actual vote tabulations. These demonstrated that González won the election by over 30 percentage points; the regime nonetheless declared Maduro the winner and began to systematically jail leaders of the opposition still in the country.

Stablecoins are likely to be a factor, not a game changer, in Japan’s bond market as issues will focus on buying short-term debt. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/01/05/markets/stablecoins-bond-market/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #markets #jpyc #stablecoins #currencies #digitalization #cashless #sbi #shinseibank #banks #bonds #debt #financeministry #japaneseeconomy #jgb

Snagged from the book of faces.

Presented without commentary, because, what the f*ck can we even say at this point?

A short video with some clips from driving to Lake Brownwood this weekend. Apparently I say “stopped real quick” frequently.

What if snack, but also stretch?

"Seven Suspects, Six Weapons, Five Bodies and Three Endings." It's Clue from 1985! The world has been a wild place as of late. If you need a fun oasis on a Sunday evening, why not come watch this campy cult classic with us? We start at 6pm PST!

#Movies #SusansCinemaStash

BREAKING: Trump has said that an "operation Columbia... sounds good to me."

#news #finance #economics #stocks #options

@Photo55 😘

@jpm it's a day ending in Y, after all - it would be more unusual for it to work smoothly

@AnarchoNinaWrites I've sometimes heard people say that if we had to vote about everything, we'd be overwhelmed and we'd make a lot of wrong decisions because of that.

And, I mean, take a look at the state of the world right now, even if they were right, we, collectively, couldn't do it worse than this, not even close.

The cool new slang for broccoli is broccles. As in:

"I know Green Giant has brussels, but what about broccles?"

"Oh yeah, Green Giant's got broccles."

"Daaaamn! Brussels and broccles?"

"Bet."

I know this sounds like something I just made up, but no, teenagers and sexy pop stars are obsessed with broccles, brussels, caulis and beets, which they just call beets.

Oil Declines as Investors Weigh US Capture of Venezuela’s Maduro
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-04/latest-oil-market-news-and-analysis-for-jan-5-venezuela-trump?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Markets @markets-bloomberg

The world is quite fucked. My country is quite fucked in the head. I live in a bubble-of-sanity state, but it's a matter of time.

Let's also be clear because some people seem confused about what a bigot is.

Passive bigotry is still bigotry.

You might think you aren't a bigot because you aren't actively trying to dehumanize gay and trans people, supporting ICE terrorism, or calling cops when you see black people.

A great interview with @Mer__edith by @404mediaco about the state of @signalapp

Some fun facts I learned -

* See all subpoenas Signal has been forced to comply with at signal.org/bigbrother
* Stickers aren't just fun, they're core to communication for some communities (eg: wildly popular in East Asia)
* Microsoft's recent embedding AI inside its operating system breaks a fundamental privacy norm once held (scary!!)

https://youtu.be/kconAXZgsxg?si=UgP0I-4-RUBhUgPE

@kristiedegaris holy shit. How much should a single baguette cost?

Prices are through the roof over here, too. I don't need cereal if it's $10 USD for a large box. A beef roast is $30. Part of why I gave up meat and most packaged foods. I do eat fish, but mostly sashimi, because salmon is $27 a pound.

I have been hesitating to say this but the pattern is now so consistent I just have to share the observation: LLM users don't just behave like addicts, not even like gambling addicts. They specifically behave like kratom addicts. "Sure, it can be dangerous. Sure, it has risks. But I'm not like those other users. I can handle it. I have a system. It really helps me be productive. It helps with my ADHD so much."

I have been hesitating to say this but the pattern is now so consistent I just have to share the observation: LLM users don't just behave like addicts, not even like gambling addicts. They specifically behave like kratom addicts. "Sure, it can be dangerous. Sure, it has risks. But I'm not like those other users. I can handle it. I have a system. It really helps me be productive. It helps with my ADHD so much."