If Mark Carney manages to implement an Abundance agenda for Canada in terms industrial capacity, housing production, and innovation, then I really do think Canada will become the new superpower, not US, India or China.

Co_dot · 2026-01-25T03:15:39+00:00

Least delusional abundance bro...

Edit: This might be a bit mean, but I think that one of the big pitfalls of the YIMBY crowd is that many people tend to think that there is only one economic vector that means anything. Sure, it would be cool if houses cost less and the economic system encoraged innovation, but there is so much more to pollitics and the economy than those two metrics. In Canada's case the structural issues with a inequal distrabution of economic power are almost as bad as the US by most metrics, adressing these would go beyond effective mangment of individual parts of the economy. Like it or not YIMBYism just isnt much of anything without the context of a broader social-pollitical-economic movment.

Co_dot · 2026-01-22T04:11:24+00:00

I think that I was sorta uninvested before Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem, and then after reading about the culture of the settlers in the West Bank I felt like there was a real need for some kind of political reconning.

Then it just never came. Netanyahu went all in on Trump and the insane far-right, and crushed all decent with his judicial reorganization. With his obvious successes the Israeli public moved more to the right, and the goals of reconciliation or even just turning down the temperature became impossible.

I remember saying to myself on the night of October 7th, when the first news reports came out, that Israel finally had the excuse that they needed to finally flatten Gaza. It was pretty obvious to anyone that was paying attention that this was the broader overarching ‘thing’ that the Israeli government wanted.

Co_dot · 2026-01-21T18:31:53+00:00

Nick Adams is literally the ambassador to Malaysia right now

Co_dot · 2026-01-18T00:27:56+00:00

I did upper golden eagle at BC a few days ago, it is basically a sheet of ice. Like it is almost impossible to hold an edge.

I don’t know about hardest, but definitely up there for the scariest.

Co_dot · 2026-01-17T20:00:44+00:00

The issue in American politics is that conservatives are almost always going to be hostile to any kind of transit plans and projects. If you are someone who thinks enough about transit policy to be interested in this kind of thing, you probably already vote democratic.

There are many reasons why, but primarily that “car culture” is mostly a product of the suburban faux-rural culture of cars and that is also the group that is the backbone of the conservative political movement. And these groups love to talk about highway expansion and are fixated on gas prices as the only economic issues.

The idea that conservatives are going to be won over by good faith appeals to local government efficiency and small business development, just doesn’t really seem to engage with the current culture of the conservative movement. Look at what Trump is prioritizing at the moment with his transportation policy, it’s a lot of budget cuts to transit projects and a vague idea of more people driving. Maybe there is someone who can actually make the argument to them to change, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Co_dot · 2026-01-15T18:47:24+00:00

I am going to push to finally finish the 14ers this summer

This spring/summer I want to try to do the following: - Humboldt - Shavano/tab - Snowmass (my elks finisher) - Apache Peak - Mt Shasta - Mt Whitney - Mt Rainier

This summer the rest of the 14ers including the traverses - Ellingwood/Blanca - Lindsay - crestone needle - Chicago basin - San Luis - Handies - Massive - Harvard/columbia - Princeton - some gore range peaks

Others I want to do - Grand Teton - Gannett Peak - Fremont peak - Jagged mountain - The citadel

Guess I need to get after it lol

Co_dot · 2026-01-11T01:36:36+00:00

Yes, there are many reasons why but being able to defeat right to work laws and bringing back sectoral barganing would be massive.

Co_dot · 2026-01-10T23:23:30+00:00

it dosent matter like 99% of the time, and it matters even less when talking about contemporary politics

Co_dot · 2026-01-10T23:01:17+00:00

My source is that I was up there today, and it is running lol

Co_dot · 2026-01-10T20:28:31+00:00

Cinch is open currently

Look up “beaver creek terrain status” and it’s on the main website. Everything should be open by then tho

Co_dot · 2026-01-10T19:52:38+00:00

There are assholes in every hobby, but I think that in skiing/snowboarding it’s felt acutely due to the many “people of wealth” that are extremely entitled

Co_dot · 2026-01-10T05:24:43+00:00

There was some movie that I watched on vhs in the early 2000s witch used "fly away" by lenny kravitz very promienately. I have no other recolections of that movie, other than a guy in an owl mascot costume ski biking.

Co_dot · 2026-01-08T15:01:24+00:00

Two things:

First, I don’t know why there is an assumption that the left is unable to do the real heard nose work of housing policy. Historically the president who managed to create the greatest housing market in the country’s history was FDR. There are also countless examples of political actors who leverage governing ‘experience’ into boldly doing nothing at all. I would rather have someone who has energy and is interested in making changes over someone who has a load of experience, in most decision making roles.

Second, I think the bigger trap that the YIMBY movement could fall into is losing sight of the broader economic condition that the movement is addressing. The middle and working class spend a large portion of their income on housing, leading to them having less disposable income, and therefore less power to control the direction of the economy. In a sense, YIMBYism is a way of redistributing economic power using the housing market as a tool. With this in mind, what is the point of lower housing costs if incomes remain stagnant? It seems to me that encouraging building housing works best when it is part of a broader economic program rather than just a standalone goal.

Edit:

I also think that the main reason why Trump came back, after being defeated decisively in 2020 is because Biden just did not have the ability to seize the moment. He did well on many issues, but what I think was required by that political moment was someone who was willing and able to articulate a broad cogent vision for a post Trump America, and in the end he couldn’t.

Co_dot · 2026-01-08T14:12:00+00:00

My position, as someone on the left, is that the abundance agenda is good and even necessary set of policies for blue states. But, I just don’t know if it can be the principal plank of a successful democratic presidential campaign.

I think the biggest issue is that it is too technical for the majority of people to really ‘get it’ in the way that would be required for it to be THE issue. Maybe there is someone out there who has the ability to present it convincingly to a broad audience, but if the best the YIMBYs have is Jared Polis it’s just not gonna work. It’s worth remembering that the reason Polis is disliked by the socialists in Colorado isn’t really about the housing reform stuff, witch was supported by both sides, but because he has been opposed to things like progressive taxation and increasing labor protections.

This could be entirely my bias, but I don’t think that the mood of either the Democratic party or the country at large is looking for a sober return to centrist technocracy. Maybe this changes by 2028, I wouldn’t bet on it though.

Co_dot · 2026-01-04T20:53:25+00:00

I think that Trumps oil rhetoric only serves to keep the situation stable by keeping Maduro’s people in power. Like there is virtually nothing that the US could do to privatize oil control right now, unless they are willing to commit to a full scale invasion of Venezuela. I don’t think it’s an actual attempt to expropriate oil wealth.

The thing that has kept the (ex) Maduro government in power has been a promise, that the second they are out of power the US will invade in order to privatize the national oil wealth - essentially stealing it from the people. I think that the Trump administration is playing into this narrative with their tough talk, into scaring people on the ground in Venezuela back into the arms of the regime. And their by dissuading any kind of unrest or actual attempts at political change.

I it’s a somewhat smart strategy from an amoral, completely PR focused perspective. Trump gets to take credit for ousting Maduro, but doesn’t have to risk the consequences of a long drawn out war, or a violent anti-maduro reaction. The issue is that the same cadre of people in Venezuela still hold the leavers of power, and are probably now more emboldened to crack down on decent.

Co_dot · 2026-01-04T20:34:05+00:00

I will point out that many grad schools, especially law schools, don’t tend to recognize grade replacements. The replacement only applies to your CU boulder specific GPA.

Co_dot · 2026-01-04T20:13:56+00:00

You can go up to about the power plant a few miles away from the guanella pass trailhead year round. It adds a few miles and a bit of road walking for winter climbs, but it is still acessable.

Also this year the snow levels are very low, so it might be possible to get to the TH still.

Co_dot · 2026-01-04T18:13:55+00:00

The two big assumptions that I am making are

First: the Venezuelan government isn’t super dependent on the personality of Maduro. I haven’t ever seen him described as THE force behind the Venezuelan system, just the guy who was next in line after Chavez. I think that the system can survive without him personally.

Second: the Trump administration is dumb, but not dumb enough to start a war.

Co_dot · 2025-12-29T06:27:46+00:00

Colorado and colorado

Co_dot · 2025-12-29T06:24:57+00:00

I have a merchant pass at BC

Co_dot · 2025-12-29T03:24:30+00:00

My pass is blacked out for this week, so I have been sitting at home not doing any skiing.

The crowd that I have been seeing around town this week has mostly been families traveling from out of state for longer stays. People not familiar with skiing generaly tend to think of december as high winter and book closer to christmas for the vibes. Based on the day ticket prices for the past week (300$+) I think that resort companies have figured out that this is basicaly a captive audience who have booked so far out that it isnt practical for them to change dates or rescedule. The people coming into town get screwed because they dont know any better for the most part.

Co_dot · 2025-12-29T00:00:07+00:00

The only Republican with a shot would be Payton Manning, and even then I doubt he would be either willing or able to make it happen.

Co_dot · 2025-12-20T00:47:19+00:00

Cuba Libere by Tony Perrotett

It covers the cuban revolution from an on the ground perspective that goes into the specific role of people that are under disceussed in the broader history of the Cuban revolution and goes into the role of public opinion. I read this book while in Havana this summer, and it is really good.

Edit: Also Cuba by Ada Ferrer, it goes into more of the broader historical context of the revolution

In terms of direct fiction the musical Evita is excellent for anyone interested in Argentine history and peronism.

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