Favorite Rejects 2023-02-24

Your Obed. Servant, J. B. @Jeffinatorator

If you're tired of the fire department dictating street safety policy in your city, by mandating wide lanes and vetoing bike lanes, lobby your gov't to lease these European-designed fire trucks. Smaller turning circle than a Ford F-150. Battery hybrid. 7'8" wide.

Timothy B. Lee @binarybits

Counterpoint: we live in a pretty good timeline. The Internet and credit card networks work pretty well overall. Security at this scale is inherently difficult and it's not surprising that scammers occasionally find a way in.

Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic@mamot.fr) @doctorow

Amex and Google and Wix should be able to spot these creeps FROM ORBIT. Holy shit do we live in the worst of all possible timelines. We have these monopolist megacorps that spy on and control everything we do, wielding the most arbitrary and high-handed authority.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I feel like I’m the only one who thinks this way but I think leaving Afghanistan was right, arming Ukraine is right, and this policy mix is dovish compared to what Bush/Obama/Trump had on offer. slowboring.com/p/dont-worry-a…

Wally Nowinski @Nowooski

The conventional wisdom is that ai powered fakes will further obliterate social trust. I don’t think that’s exactly correct. I suspect it will obliterate trust is social media content, but relative to the current trend line will increase trust in established media brands.

Wally Nowinski @Nowooski

The reason is simple: if you can’t believe your eyes and ears there’s all the sudden a lot more value in brands who you trust to vet things for you.

Timothy B. Lee @binarybits

Aside from the brief COVID recession, Australia's economy hasn't had a recession in 30 years. They shrugged off 2008 and have had an even stronger post-2020 recovery than the US. apricitas.io/p/can-australi…

Neil Irwin @Neil_Irwin

A really masterful oral history of the runup to the Ukraine war, from @vermontgmg et al.

politico.com‘Something Was Badly Wrong’: When Washington Realized Russia Was Actually Invading UkraineA first-ever oral history of how top U.S. and Western officials saw the warning signs of a European land war, their frantic attempts to stop it — and the moment Putin actually crossed the border.

Alec Stapp @AlecStapp

This is such an economically stupid and needlessly cruel policy toward immigrants