Favorites May 19th 2024
Noah Smith quips: "Egypt, but a train instead of a river". Since you were wondering, here's Egypt's population density 3d map.
Modern Animatronics are so good! Look at the cape! how did they freeze the cape? I’m not sure my gif does it justice, check out the source.
It's sort of wild to look at this and realize that Cable News isn't even the biggest problem.
From a follow-up: "first is the AIRS from a Peacekeeper nuclear missile and the second is a Honeywell GG1308"
All they need to do is build homes, that's the whole fix. Us too of course, although you'll note from that graph our unsheltered homeless population is much bigger (California doesn't build enough homeless shelters, half of US unsheltered homeless people are in CA)
Flotsam and Jetsam
– Chinese EV Manufacturers are planning to get around tarrifs by building factories in the US. That's good though, so I guess this is WAI. On the other hand, the tarrif on Canadian lumber is stupid (src)(cached)
– Environmental lobbyists have been blocking a deal that would increase conservation and allow transmission lines for renewables to be built. It's been going on a decade, and every year it continues will result in hundreds of thousands of tons of additional CO2 emissions. (src)(cached)
– The story of the recording of the modern mac startup sound getting snuck into the OS. (src)
– Study of GLP1 drug indicates it reduces heart attack and stroke even for folks who don't lose any weight. (src)(cached)
– People who have flipped from Biden to Trump are mostly moderates who are angry about immigration and inflation, Yglesias continues to argue that if Democrats want to win them back, they need to be targeting moderates. (src)(cached)
– The best thing we could do for the economy right now is to get more homes built, the results are all great: "More housing -> cheaper rents -> people keep more of their income -> more spending -> more growth -> bigger base to tax -> more tax revenue -> everyone wins" (src)(cached)
– Here's the same concept in negative meme form (src)(cached)
– Japan's housing construction decisions are made at the regional level, that's how they balance incentives (src)(cached)
– Did you know we ask the Chinese government which visa applicants we should send back? Seems crazy. (src)(cached)
– AI may improve productivity in a very dumb way: by automating federal licensing requirements documents (src)(cached)
– Surprise medical billing mostly ended in 2022, and no one noticed! Passing good laws is a surprisingly ineffectual part of getting good approval ratings. (src)(cached)
– With the end of the Lee dynasty, Singapore can now be called a 'full' democracy. That's great! (src)(cached)
– Nikki Haley is still getting 20% of the vote in Republican primaries despite having dropped out. Biden should probably be trying to appeal to those voters. (src)(cached)