hydroptic

After a certain age people stop asking you what your favorite dinosaur is, and I think that's sad.

My current one's the Anchiornis, because it's in the same clade as birds so it's in their family tree, and it really looks like a prototype of a bird. It had 4 wings for example, but it already looked very birb-y:

(Figured I'd just turn an earlier comment into an actual post because why not)

A video about the Minuteman ICBM's guidance computer by Alexander the ok.

He even made a simulator for it, in case you want to try out what it would have been like to program an ICBM's guidance computer in the 60's 😁

Opinion piece by professor of political science Alexander J. Motyl.

A synopsis of sorts from the first few paragraphs:

Analysts of Russia differ about many things, but the most important difference concerns their interpretation of the roots of Russia’s ongoing aggression. One side argues that Russian history and political culture are to blame — or, to put it more simply, uniquely Russian characteristics are the cause of Russian aggression. The other side argues that the causes are not uniquely Russian, but typical of the behavior of certain kinds of states, regimes, societies and leaders.

Unsurprisingly, historians of Russia and Ukraine tend to fall into the first camp, while political scientists with a comparative bent tend to fall into the second camp. Equally unsurprisingly, the first camp sees no easy solutions to Russia’s current behavior, precisely because it’s just a continuation of an age-old pattern of Russian behavior inspired by the inalterable Russian soul.

[…]

In contrast, social scientists are often somewhat more bullish about Russia’s prospects of change. Other countries have abandoned centuries of authoritarianism, so why not Russia? It may not be easy, but it’s surely possible, with the right array of policies and under the appropriate conditions.

[…]

So, who’s right? Alas, both perspectives are, and that’s why there is no easy answer to the problem of Russian imperialism.

A White House spokesperson put it the best, I think:

The White House spokesperson Andrew Bates, when asked about Trump’s comments, said: “Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home.”

What's so insane about all this is that Trump saying something like that out loud means it's now practically gospel to the vast majority of GOP voters, and might as well be official party policy.