Alon - Network

In the US, average residential water delivery in 2015 was around 300 liters per person. Please do not share factoids about how AI is...

In the US, average residential water delivery in 2015 was around 300 liters per person. Please do not share factoids about how AI is gobbling up all the water because it consumes a fraction of a liter. https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1131/ofr20171131.pdf

Did Babylon 5 decide to worldbuild to make the Space Nazi (Deathwalker) correct? What the fuck, JMS.(It also gets American hiring of Nazi...

Did Babylon 5 decide to worldbuild to make the Space Nazi (Deathwalker) correct? What the fuck, JMS.

(It also gets American hiring of Nazi scientists wrong, with a side of getting what the Soviets did to them wrong. So much for the pretense that Ivanova is Russian.)

Oh no, this place is losing its juice, there's a viral bad take about Linux's superiority on Bluesky now (namely, that it operates...

Oh no, this place is losing its juice, there's a viral bad take about Linux's superiority on Bluesky now (namely, that it operates without project managers; Linus himself is one and plenty of big tech project managers contribute to Linux and other FOSS).

Go read this article about how a German journalist for taz is being subjected to a smear campaign by a Putinist front for his reporting on...

Go read this article about how a German journalist for taz is being subjected to a smear campaign by a Putinist front for his reporting on the extreme right and anti-Semitism (inc. left-wing anti-Semitism; the smear campaign is alt-left). https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/rufmordkampagne-gegen-berliner-journalisten-weshalb-nicholas-potter-so-angefeindet-wird-13330585.html

Draft coalition agreement has gems like "the first fusion reactor in the world will be in Germany" (line 161)....

Draft coalition agreement has gems like "the first fusion reactor in the world will be in Germany" (line 161). https://www.spd.de/fileadmin/Dokumente/Sonstiges/20250308_Sondierungspapier_CDU_CSU_SPD.pdf

Pedestrian Observations: Tokyo Construction Costs https://pedestrianobservations.com/2025/03/10/tokyo-construction-costs/

Pedestrian Observations: Tokyo Construction Costs https://pedestrianobservations.com/2025/03/10/tokyo-construction-costs/

I want to make a The World If meme for what if the Slaveowners' Rebellion of 1776 had failed, but I've written an honest version of...

I want to make a The World If meme for what if the Slaveowners' Rebellion of 1776 had failed, but I've written an honest version of that timeline and I honestly don't see a pluricontinental United Kingdom being wealthier than OTL's US, just more racially equal.

I started watching Babylon 5, and what the hell is this organization? The station commander is also the ambassador, and also goes on a...

I started watching Babylon 5, and what the hell is this organization? The station commander is also the ambassador, and also goes on a fugitive arrest mission on foot with the security chief (in the pilot) and commands an air squadron himself (in the first episode proper). There's no chief engineer. The security chief has no security team. The second-in-command also runs the bridge and piloting. @nyrath

I'm visiting the US 21.3 to 15.4 - last few days in Boston, the rest in New York.

I'm visiting the US 21.3 to 15.4 - last few days in Boston, the rest in New York.

Columbia will expel students for chanting "globalize the Intifada" but will not touch Joseph Massad's tenure for Amy Wax...

Columbia will expel students for chanting "globalize the Intifada" but will not touch Joseph Massad's tenure for Amy Wax levels of hate speech and racial harassment of students. (And this matters for the context of the Trump admin defunding Columbia, since Bari Weiss's activism began when, as a student, she pushed against awarding Massad tenure.) This is not about Israel/Palestine; it's about enabling professors' shitty behavior against students, regardless of what the professors' views are.

In the 2010s, the IDF, talking about how its use of AI could help it identify terrorists even before the terrorists knew what they were...

In the 2010s, the IDF, talking about how its use of AI could help it identify terrorists even before the terrorists knew what they were going to do, arrested a Palestinian for posting "goodbye" on Facebbok, thinking he was about to be a suicide bomber; he turned out to be going to see a movie. The news about the IDF employing LLMs should be viewed as the same theater. The Israeli people expect tech and protection from terrorism; the IDF is claiming to do both, never mind the actual track record.

Israel is worried about sharing intelligence with the US, fearing the US would share it with Putin....

Israel is worried about sharing intelligence with the US, fearing the US would share it with Putin. https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/skgwzbwi1e

On an ETA call. We're somehow arguing over whether Gate Interlocking is in Astoria or Woodside and over what the fastest way is to get...

On an ETA call. We're somehow arguing over whether Gate Interlocking is in Astoria or Woodside and over what the fastest way is to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park.

In USSR-occupied Lithuania in 1940, people said that if something is good, you shouldn't say "thank God" because there's...

In USSR-occupied Lithuania in 1940, people said that if something is good, you shouldn't say "thank God" because there's no god, but rather you should say "thank Stalin." Then if you asked what you should say if Stalin were to die, they'd say, "Then you should say 'thank God.'"

Pedestrian Observations: Cos Cob Bridge Replacement https://pedestrianobservations.com/2025/03/04/cos-cob-bridge-replacement/

Pedestrian Observations: Cos Cob Bridge Replacement https://pedestrianobservations.com/2025/03/04/cos-cob-bridge-replacement/

Trickles of the IDF investigation into the failures on 7.10 are starting to appear. Those failures are massive, showing rank amateurism:...

Trickles of the IDF investigation into the failures on 7.10 are starting to appear. Those failures are massive, showing rank amateurism: weapons were locked in armories, troops were not moved in even while the attack was happening, troops had difficulty entering a kibbutz because the electricity powering the gate was damaged. And this is Nahal Oz, the least badly hit of the Gaza Envelope kibbutzes; Kfar Aza, Beeri, and Nir Oz fared far worse. https://www.timesofisrael.com/civilians-police-stopped-1st-wave-of-terrorists-at-nahal-oz-idf-arrived-7-hours-later/

Q. How do we know the Mannheim ramming attack was by an Aryan German?A. It's been a day and there's no mention of immigrant...

Q. How do we know the Mannheim ramming attack was by an Aryan German?

A. It's been a day and there's no mention of immigrant background or political motive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Mannheim_car_incident

Russia is the country that diplomatically supports Hamas.Syria is the country in whose base, Idlib, people cheered when Israel killed...

Russia is the country that diplomatically supports Hamas.

Syria is the country in whose base, Idlib, people cheered when Israel killed Nasrallah.

So of course Israel is lobbying the US to weaken the new Syrian government and force it to keep Russian military bases.

https://www.reuters.com/world/israel-lobbies-us-keep-russian-bases-weak-syria-sources-say-2025-02-28/

Austria just agreed on a fascist-free coalition of ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS; initial negotiations fell apart in December, leading to...

Austria just agreed on a fascist-free coalition of ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS; initial negotiations fell apart in December, leading to negotiations between ÖVP and FPÖ, but FPÖ leader Kickl overplayed his hand to the point that ÖVP noped out and went back to the center.

This being Austria, the first order of business is fiscal austerity in response to the recession of 2024.

How come each subject in the Harry Potter series is taught by just one teacher? Does it mean Professor McGonagall is teaching seven preps...

How come each subject in the Harry Potter series is taught by just one teacher? Does it mean Professor McGonagall is teaching seven preps and 14 classes (four houses, two houses per class) in addition to her duties as Gryffindor housemaster and deputy headmaster? Why is Rowling overworking teachers?