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Ian McLean

@mrthewalrus

Fond of real science and imaginary worlds, cursed with a knowledge of software engineering. Staff Engineer for state government. Might have coined the term 'Dire Millennial'. He/him.

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06.09.2023
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Latest posts by Ian McLean @mrthewalrus

I’ve voted for a lot of candidates I also have criticisms of, I would go so far as to call that the default dynamic. This seems to constantly confuse people and I’m not sure why.

07.03.2026 17:20 👍 11 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I doubt letting those guys touch the tariff management computer is going to help anyone.

06.03.2026 18:20 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Also, the system they propose would require every importer to submit a list of every transaction that had the illegal tariffs included In order to get a refund.

06.03.2026 15:59 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Patient: ‘Doctor, it hurts when I do this.’
Doctor: ‘Don’t do that.’

05.03.2026 21:18 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

My grandfather invented something Albert Einstein couldn’t understand.

05.03.2026 14:52 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 3 📌 0
Post image

Good morning! Yes, this is he

04.03.2026 17:25 👍 5356 🔁 1192 💬 30 📌 33

we’re not a war, we’re just doing all of the individual elements of waging a war, and also the secretary of war is calling it a war and talking about warfighters every five minutes

04.03.2026 16:08 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

When we talk about Baby Boomers not getting off the stage: In 1997, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2007, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2017, the US president was born in 1946.

And next year in 2027? The US president will have been born in 1946.

03.03.2026 20:10 👍 10763 🔁 3278 💬 198 📌 245

Toss in a side of Stanislav Petrov and then add the note that the goal of military AI is to automate him out of existence

02.03.2026 04:16 👍 112 🔁 19 💬 2 📌 0
Blind Ranking AI Logos by How Much they Look Like B-🕳️'s
Blind Ranking AI Logos by How Much they Look Like B-🕳️'s YouTube video by Hank Green

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIbQ...

02.03.2026 14:30 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.

It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.

It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.

It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.

We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.

We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.

This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road. the world has been taking.

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road. the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

from Eisenhower's April 1953 "Chance For Peace" speech

28.02.2026 14:55 👍 860 🔁 347 💬 5 📌 17
Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, sitting alone on the surface of Mars.

Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, sitting alone on the surface of Mars.

It is 1991. I am 15 years old. The US has gone to war in the Middle East.

It is 2003. I am 27 years old. The US has gone to war in the Middle East.

It is 2026. I'm too old for this shit. The US has gone to war in the Middle East.

28.02.2026 16:16 👍 1273 🔁 380 💬 23 📌 20

To your second point, the judge mentions that ‘a Columbia Law School Professor’ twice told the university that the use of sealed records would violate procedure (in writing, even).

I think the lawyers academically-attached to the university might not be on its side here.

28.02.2026 04:38 👍 37 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

They obtained the records (and wrote up summaries of them) while the misdemeanor trespass charges against the students were still pending. The arrest records were sealed only when those charges were dropped (at the university’s request).
They then used the summary in the disciplinary hearings.

28.02.2026 04:06 👍 33 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

A way this often works is that to get severance pay, you need to agree to give up any claims against the employer. And Block’s severance terms are pretty good as such things go.

28.02.2026 00:19 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

But importantly, the systems can be owned.

They want machines that do the work of humans not free humans from work, but to make laborers that are property.

27.02.2026 21:50 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Winter Olympics Branding Review – 2026 Emblem & Mascots
Winter Olympics Branding Review – 2026 Emblem & Mascots YouTube video by Graham Stark

I keep getting asked, so here are my answers!
Let’s review the branding of the Milano Cortina games (with bonus tier list)

youtu.be/daB7jQ_owDQ

27.02.2026 16:29 👍 232 🔁 35 💬 19 📌 4
Preview
Child’s Play, by Sam Kriss Tech’s new generation and the end of thinking

This is a hell of a piece of writing by Sam Kriss

27.02.2026 13:33 👍 23 🔁 10 💬 1 📌 4

Congratulations on your ontological achievement.

25.02.2026 22:59 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Yeah, this could be the time where they just ignore the court order, but probably not. This administration primarily cares about how Twitter reacts to things, and Twitter mostly doesn‘t read court decisions.

25.02.2026 22:42 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I think he should have to explain why.

25.02.2026 19:05 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

there's a new trend among young people called "microliving" they close their eyes for a few seconds and experience a rich and fulfilling life from start to finish in their minds. birth. friendship. love. heartbreak. joy. loss. grief. death. but how does this affect their productivity at work

25.02.2026 18:32 👍 3274 🔁 707 💬 27 📌 22

NPR had it first

25.02.2026 17:13 👍 1091 🔁 176 💬 24 📌 10

‘Held: A qualified conferral order that prohibits only discussion of the defendant’s testimony for its own sake during a midtestimony overnight
recess […] does not violate the Constitution.’

25.02.2026 15:17 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
24.02.2026 22:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

bsky.app/profile/wand...

23.02.2026 17:58 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

You know I’m starting to think cops might be a mistake.

21.02.2026 18:46 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

will i think you actually come off charming in this profile and that your subsequent crashout about it has now unfortunately elevated it to High Art since the implicit thrust of the form is to pose the question of whether the endless energy of your online beefing literally distracts from the work

21.02.2026 01:05 👍 463 🔁 31 💬 18 📌 3

‘What if we took this problem, for which there are easy, cheap and universally-available solutions, and instead did something stupid and expensive that doesn’t work?’ is astonishingly common in AI.

20.02.2026 21:32 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

About half an hour, I think.

20.02.2026 19:03 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0