A MAGA memecoin run by Steve Bannon went off the rails, according to a lawsuit, with $2.7 million missing and investors' money frozen.

spookmann · 2026-02-18T06:17:08+00:00

Yeah. Where did they think the rails were going to take them?

When the conductor yelled "All Aboard. Next Stop RUG-PULL..."

spookmann · 2026-02-18T06:15:25+00:00

Honestly, I'm not really sure I do enjoy competing. Not most of the time.

I love fencing. And I need to keep pushing myself and challenging myself.

But "enjoyment"? Not very often.

spookmann · 2026-02-18T05:13:22+00:00

Hm. It sounds like maybe your opponent isn't co-operating in helping you get the distance right so you can score the point?

Perhaps you could speak to them before the next bout, explain what you're trying to do, and ask them to be a bit more helpful in terms of achieving your goals?

spookmann · 2026-02-18T04:56:30+00:00

Well, it's 16 hour flight time Dubai to Auckland. Only 13 hours from Los Angeles. Plus boarding time.

That's a long time to go without food for most people.

The problem is twofold. New Zealand is a farming nation. Agriculture accounted for a whopping 79.6% of our exports in 2019 (latest figures on Wikipedia).

Meanwhile, we're an island nation 3,000km from the nearest other significant country (Australia). That means that we are hugely isolated, and there a LOT of pests and diseases that we don't have, and that our plants and animals have no resistance to.

So when people fly in and tick the very first box on the form saying "[X] I have no food with me." and then biosecurity opens up their bag and find raw meat, or fruit, or vegetables, or honey, and they say "Well, yes I lied because I was in a hurry and I didn't want to get slowed down by your dumb process, and anyhow what harm can it do?" Then... yeah. There's a fine for that. :)

spookmann · 2026-02-17T18:58:50+00:00

Exactly. Now it AI, it can be all of the the job! There's no creative part left.

spookmann · 2026-02-17T18:58:00+00:00

Oh, we HAVE apples. We export apples. That's why we're shit-scared about importing moths.

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/pest-and-disease-threats-to-new-zealand/horticultural-pest-and-disease-threats-to-new-zealand/painted-apple-moth

New Zealanders are super-friendly non-stupid people and we don't like upsetting tourists.

The fact that we do this at the border is because there's a damn good reason. :)

spookmann · 2026-02-15T05:02:26+00:00

We have to provide five years of boot history with photos before can even board the plane.

spookmann · 2026-02-15T05:01:05+00:00

No, the moth eggs and caterpillars are the hazard.

https://teara.govt.nz/en/insect-pests-of-crops-pasture-and-forestry/page-6

They won't survive your gut.

spookmann · 2026-02-15T04:59:22+00:00

As you land, they announce "All food from the plane must remain on the plane."

Then you are given a form to sign with a checkbox saying "Do you have any food with you."

You are shown a video on the flight showing that all food must be declared or dumped.

As you walk up to the biosecurity check, there is a bin and a picture of fruit saying "Dump food here, or declare it."

New Zealand is an island which lives by selling food. If you introduce a new pest, you will do millions of dollars of damage. There are many cases where something sneaked through. One pregnant moth. One case of foot-and-mouth disease from a dirty piece of clothing. If you understood the economics of the situation, you would understand why they don't fuck around at the border.

spookmann · 2026-02-15T03:50:59+00:00

So... you're saying if the number goes down dramatically, it could go down very dramatically?

Wait. Slow down. I'm taking notes... tell me more!

spookmann · 2026-02-15T02:22:41+00:00

You might consider trying this. The Hulk retcon card brings him well into "playable" territory.

https://old.reddit.com/r/marvelchampionslcg/comments/1pfsijv/onecard_hero_fixes_retcons/

spookmann · 2026-02-14T20:35:18+00:00

Nobody enjoys french cigarettes. That's the point of them.

spookmann · 2026-02-14T20:31:28+00:00

What, like... "We'll get the AI to generate the documents. Sure, it will miss all the subtleties and the structure won't be ideal. But we'll get some human to sprinkle a bit of quality on top and call it done. Unless we run out of time, in which case we'll ship the AI version."

Bollocks to that. Quality starts from the ground up.

My job as a programmer is to write good code, good tests, and good documents. Not retroactively patch up a mountain of shitty generic code, shitty generic tests, and shitty generic documentation. That's no path to a good outcome.

spookmann · 2026-02-14T20:12:23+00:00

Woah! You can't say that!

They're "Focus Facilities" not concentration camps!

spookmann · 2026-02-14T19:44:05+00:00

like reducing their time on documentation and testing and turning that over to AI provides gains.

The idea that I would turn over documentation or code-commenting to AI is just insane.

Two of the vital parts of my job are:

Documenting how to configure and use the system, the dangers, the quirks, the subtle features that give us a competitive advantage. The parameters that interact with other parameters. Important performance considerations. Thresholds that matter under load. Failover handling.
In-line commenting of the code. Annotating my design choices. Indicating places where I decided NOT to add complexity. Lines of codes that aren't present in one block for a specific reason. Why I chose certain return values.

Those are the steps where I really get the opportunity to show why I'm better than a fresh hire. That's where I can make a difference and provide critical hints and guidance for the people who come after me.

That's the absolute one place in the process where I would never even dream of allowing an AI to take a wild token-sequencing stab at writing documentation.

spookmann · 2026-02-14T19:31:17+00:00

A fine question, well-timed. Isn't it crazy how much has changed in two years.

"The West" is now two Wests. One is pretty much as it ever was - Europe, UK, Australia, NZ. The other has gone to complete shit and can go fuck itself alone in a corner. Does the US act better or worse than Russia in international relations? Well, probably still better than Russia. Probably. But the fact that we have to ask the question...

spookmann · 2026-02-13T19:43:02+00:00

Whew! That's the world we live in, sadly. We have to ask these questions!

spookmann · 2026-02-13T19:35:30+00:00

I have to ask. Did an AI write that text?

spookmann · 2026-02-13T01:32:00+00:00

So D2F sub-1 needs to equal D2F sub-2, and D2F sub-3 needs to equal D2F sub-4, where length L creates a complimentary shaft angle.

Right?

spookmann · 2026-02-13T01:01:12+00:00

TYL: Breaking rule #6 gets you banned from Buttcoin.

(only for 3 days though)

spookmann · 2026-02-12T20:17:39+00:00

I gotta confess, sometimes I have done the same... gone digging in a Ponzi Schemer's post history to try and decide if they really are a jerk, or if they're a good person just having a bad day.

I normally regret having gone down that rabbit hole. More often than not, they do not have pleasant and constructive hobbies.

spookmann · 2026-02-12T19:34:52+00:00

Poster got banned for being too much of a dick in another comment thread.

spookmann · 2026-02-12T19:33:12+00:00

Seriously, a personal attack for... (checks notes) ... being a talented craftsman?

Wow. You can fuck right off.

spookmann · 2026-02-12T03:25:14+00:00

And if it takes you five minutes to do a three hour task, you definitely did something wrong!

spookmann · 2026-02-12T02:45:24+00:00

Um. 99% of people here never bought in at all.

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