Useful Tools

I'm sure this stuff has some genuine uses, but like a lot of this type of thing, it's much more for messing about on the computer for people who like messing about on the computer than it is actually useful for normal people. And the examples they come up with - the best examples! - are usually pretty bad.

The simplest kind of shortcut is just an action (or a series of actions) that happens when you trigger it. You can add a button to trigger a shortcut on your home screen, in the Control Center, or in the screen that pops up when you share something.

Some of the most helpful shortcuts work across Apple’s apps. For example, you can set an often-used timer or add a line to the end of a specific note in the Notes app without having to open the associated app. Always late? Make a shortcut button on your home screen to text your boss and say that you’re on the way.

The next step up from a shortcut is an automation, which runs automatically when your phone determines that certain conditions are met. You can create an automation to run at a specific time, such as sending a text to a loved one every morning at 9 a.m., or when you change location, such as sending a text when you leave work. There are more than 20 kinds of triggers, including when your phone’s battery level reaches a certain level, when you open a specific app, when you connect to a certain Bluetooth device, when you take a screenshot, or when you connect or disconnect your phone from power.

I'm really not sure which "loved one" is going to appreciate this automated daily text. Pretty sure that's what the block button was invented for.

Even the "automatically text when you leave work" is obviously prone to errors - what if you just pop out for a quick coffee late in the day! - which will annoy everyone involved. Of course you can probably modify it, and then modify it again, and then modify it again, to stop any such possibilities!

As I said, fun for people who like messing about on the computer.

At every stage in technology development, there are always tools and software that promise various "life hacks," and while some of these things get adopted widely and we just stop thinking about them, most of them are just time wasters for people who like wasting time that way.

There's nothing wrong with playing around on the computer, if that is fun for you, but very often these timesaving things are actually time sinks.

MAHA

Their beliefs aren't always... consistent with reality... but generally "putting evil chemicals in our" food, if poorly defined, is something they're supposed to be against.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to expand a controversial loophole to allow some of the world’s most toxic chemicals to be added directly to food without a safety review.

One Day, Everyone

All rungs of society, in all societies, are populated with people who, at best, are indifferent to the extermination of others. Positions of power attract people who are not even indifferent.  On the film (which I have not seen and likely won't) NAZA.

But the dispassionate, technical and calm tone of the 24 men and women, as they describe in great detail the killing of people in Gaza, who are just as human as those in the surrounding buildings, brought back other associations – with men like Best and his ilk. It is the disjuncture between the familiar and intimate, on the one hand, and the coldly efficient and murderous, on the other, that makes this film unforgettable and an important statement about the world we currently inhabit.

When modern societies engage in extreme violence, they rely on two types of people: those who beat, torture and kill at close quarters, and those who plan, organize and order the killing at a safe distance from the actual gore of it all. Many people prefer to believe the brutes and the sadists are responsible, largely because they are not like “us”. But modern genocide is the product of those who belong to the second category: the technocrats, bureaucrats and cold planners of extermination, who don’t get their hands dirty.

There are many people in power who I think of as cowardly serial killers. They don't want to do it themselves, but they love making it happen.

Morning

Slacker Saturday

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Sure Why Not

The man knows how to pretend to solve the problems he created by creating even bigger ones.

America's Worst Humans

Brenden Cuni.

The Friend Of My Enemy

I suppose the incoherence of our foreign policy is funny, at least.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says relations between Tehran and Moscow are expanding, according to a report by the Iranian news agency IRNA.

After meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan, Pezeshkian noted that trade, economic ties and communication between the two countries are progressing positively.

He added that Iran was determined to expand its relations with Russia in line with the two nations’ joint strategic roadmap and the present time was the most appropriate for Russia and Iran to deepen and expand that cooperation.

Trump has been less obviously on Putin's side than one might have expected, but he isn't exactly in the category of our greatest enemy, Iran.

I just remembered that Bush called him Pootie-Poot. How did we get here? Was it left wingers who fucked things up?

At a historic summit in Moscow this week, President George Bush will mark what he claims is the final putting to rest of the cold war, by shaking hands with his new best friend, Pootie-Poot.

That, according to today's issue of Time magazine, is the president's nickname for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. At times of tension between the two countries, we are told, Mr Bush is known to tell his staff: "Get me Pootie-Poot on the phone."

The Peace Prize Committee Is Going To Get Sanctioned

They'd better start stockpiling some cash now before their cards stop working.

The Nobel Peace Prize has gone to human rights pioneer Navi Pillay. The South African was integral to the anti-apartheid movement, served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and recently led the UN commission that concluded Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

They certainly make some hilariously bad choices, but this one will anger all the right people.

Rare NYT Win

First two paragraphs, no pulling punches.

Pentagon officials said on Thursday that the Army officer convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting would be executed in public, a practice that ended in the United States nearly a century ago and is most commonly carried out in a handful of countries, including Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon said in a statement that the military execution, scheduled for Dec. 3, would also be broadcast via livestream. Such a broadcast has little precedent, and releasing video of executions is most often associated with extremist militant groups like the Islamic State.

Morning

Fuckin' Friday

Respect Your Machine God

Don't you dare call it a Clanker. That is a hate crime.

Anthropic is making changes to its usage policy for the first time in over a year to reflect new and high-risk cases of misuse — including election interference, weapons development, surveillance, and health and financial uses. But one of the most significant changes prohibits “sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior” toward Claude.

Clippy's gonna get legally enforced human rights before humans do.

Afternoon

I got nothin'

Or Not

The first sentence here does at least suggest that it's an odd thing to do.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States will not attack Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm election, explicitly tying the timing of potential further military action to the domestic political calendar.

“We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding that the U.S. was having “productive discussions” with Tehran.

Trump’s declaration came after he told reporters late Wednesday that his administration was considering renewed strikes against Tehran before the election.

I suppose we can somewhat appreciate that he says stuff out loud that you aren't supposed to say out loud. Sometimes.

I don't believe there are really talks with Iran, and certainly not productive ones. Or, at least, I don't think he has any idea what the truth of that is. They tell him whatever they need to day to day.

As Explained In Das Kapital

Q: How do you define socialism personally? JD VANCE: I think in reality what it actually means in the American context is you want to replace American workers with foreigners workers, and you want boys to play in girls' sports

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 8, 2026 at 4:05 PM

Ha Ha Ha He's Just Kidding Again

Trump: You wanna see trauma? I said it the other day. Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles.

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— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) October 8, 2026 at 1:21 AM

Moldbug

A lot could be said about why our glorious media is very uninterested in the not very hidden views of the people in the administration and their pals.

That he is close to Vance is known.

He gets photo shoots and profiles which fail to mention this stuff. It isn't hidden!

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Theocracy Thursday

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The Math Adds Up

Not a new observation, but the man still has no understanding of paying money and getting stuff in return. You know, trade.

Trump: "If we decided not to buy watches from Switzerland, they wouldn't be elite anymore and we would save about $40 billion"

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 7 October 2026 at 18:48

I suspect there isn't a $40 billion Swiss watch trade though I could be wrong.