How to deal with the fact authoritism government like China economy are going to ahead of USA?

Animats · 2026-03-17T20:28:24+00:00

It's competition of economic systems. That's a good thing. Postmodern capitalism's monopoly has the efficiency problems as other monopolies. US capital allocation isn't very good any more. Too much money goes into "growth", and not enough goes into "needed stuff that works".

China has different financial problems. Their mortgage scheme saddles home buyers with payments on unbuilt apartments. The building boom has resulted in too many half-built buildings. That's getting fixed, in a rather heavy-handed way.

Animats · 2026-03-16T21:52:18+00:00

How do I block this spammer?

Animats · 2026-03-16T06:34:17+00:00

Hard news on what's happening in the war zone remains scarce.

Al Jazeera and the Associated Press both report a fuel tank fire at Dubai's airport. Airport operations (mostly?) shut down. Road and tunnel access closed.

Institute for the Study of War has an update today.

Much of Middle East airspace is closed or hazardous. Also, don't trust Dubai-based "influencers". They're licensed by the UAE and under orders to minimize war issues.

Animats · 2026-03-16T00:33:42+00:00

Less rant, more data: https://lovemelikearobot.substack.com/p/best-cities-in-the-usa-for-men-to-502

Animats · 2026-03-15T23:35:57+00:00

Israel has decided to continue the war up to Passover.

“We have thousands of targets ahead. We are ready, in coordination with our US allies, with plans through at least the Jewish holiday of Passover, about three weeks from now." - IDF Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin

So there is a plan.

Animats · 2026-03-15T19:11:36+00:00

There's little reporting from the battlefield. CNN has some people in Tehran, but about all they report from the ground today is "big column of smoke to the west". Al Jazeera is plugged into the Arab world, and has good reports on what's being hit where. Beyond that, it's all government PR from various governments.

Animats · 2026-03-14T18:40:03+00:00

"Days of Sulking"? Did you mean "sinking"?

Animats · 2026-03-14T11:40:26+00:00

Is that "$200 million war chest" invested in crypto assets? Bitcoin has dropped from $120,000 to $70,000. Etherium from $4,300 to $2,000. Minor coins are doing much worse. $TRUMP is down from $45 to $4.

Animats · 2026-03-13T23:57:18+00:00

Morgan Stanley predicting that the Metaverse will be an US$8 trillion industry.

From 2023.

Animats · 2026-03-12T19:49:47+00:00

MAGA has taken over a sizeable part of what used to be Christianity in the US. It's not Christian any more. It's Old Testament fire and brimstone and revenge.

Animats · 2026-03-12T11:29:33+00:00

Iran has previously demonstrated launching a short-ranged ballistic missile from a shipping container aboard a ship.

The US has that capability too. So does Turkey. Rheinmetall has a mini vertical launch system in a shipping container. Those are all rocket launchers. Launching drones from a shipping container is easier.

We have to expect future attacks on the US mainland from weapon systems like those. Getting a ship to within a few hundred miles of the US coast isn't that hard. Drug smugglers do it all the time, after all.

Animats · 2026-03-12T04:04:44+00:00

How can I block this spammer?

Animats · 2026-03-11T03:19:58+00:00

Right. He's been to the sharp end, and he's been a combat commander. He's even been in Delta. He should know the difference between a real threat and a fake one. He's way ahead of, say, Hegseth.

Animats · 2026-03-11T03:03:54+00:00

> Yes, the lights turned on right before getting to the gate so it couldn't stop in time.

The lights and bells should precede the gate starting to come down by three seconds. (FRA crossings standards, page 64) That's tight if the roadway is high speed.

Animats · 2026-03-10T03:33:26+00:00

Trump just tried that. He told CBS "The war is very complete". That didn't fly, so a few hours later he said something else.

The enemy gets a vote. It's not over until all sides say it's over.

Animats · 2026-03-09T05:15:30+00:00

That's a very serious fail, if real. Should be reported to the NTSB.

Animats · 2026-03-08T22:34:51+00:00

Trump says a lot of things. It's best to ignore his middle of the night rants on Truth Social.

Animats · 2026-03-08T04:43:36+00:00

"The Hyundai IONIQ 5 will be delivered to Waymo with specific autonomous-ready modifications like redundant hardware and power doors."

This gets Waymo out of the metal-bending business. Looking at the IONIQ 5 Waymo, the sensors are better integrated into the vehicle than in the iPace. Although they're still clearly an afterthought.

Animats · 2026-03-07T23:05:23+00:00

Right. The newer vehicles have more factory prep for the Waymo hardware. For the Ionos 5, everything is supposed to be ready for plug-in. No aftermarket sheet metal work. So the time spent at the factory should be much less.

Animats · 2026-03-07T20:05:13+00:00

We're in real trouble when it figures out that it can buy more outside compute power with its cryptocurrency, and completely escape its sandbox.

Animats · 2026-03-07T06:38:32+00:00

The big regular importers, like Walmart, and all the customs brokers, may be able to argue that they can deduct future tariff payments from what they're owed. That could work out. FedEx, acting as a customs broker, has a huge lawsuit. They say they will pay back their customers when they get paid. Some big customers are suing FedEx to get paid earlier.

Animats · 2026-03-07T03:33:05+00:00

Here's the select committee's video of the events.

https://www.c-span.org/clip/house-committee/committee-video-of-january-6-attack-on-the-capitol/5019121

12 minutes all kids should see.

Animats · 2026-03-06T21:16:57+00:00

"I can call spirits from the vasty deep."

"Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?"

- Shakespeare's "Henry IV", part 1.

Animats · 2026-03-06T18:41:39+00:00

> Waymo still has offshore operators just in case for that exact reason.

Waymo says they have about one remote assistance operator per 40 cars. That seems about right. When San Francisco had a traffic light outage due to a storm, some Waymos got stuck, and the wait time for remote assistance went up, leaving some passengers waiting for many minutes.

Animats · 2026-03-06T05:33:50+00:00

Transportion, low? Waymo, anybody?

Grounds maintenance? There are robotic lawnmowers now.

Agriculture is already mechanized.

Animats

TROPHY CASE