There’s a fascinating historical nonfiction book by Erik Larson that covers the early days of the American civil war.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War is mostly focused on the soldiers and officers manning Fort Sumter in South Carolina, the site of the first battle of the war. But it also includes lengthy discussions of how Lincoln was vilified for things he never said and blamed for things he didn’t actually do.

The southern states, specifically the landed elite, were very interested in starting a war so they could maintain their wealth and power so they used Lincoln as a scapegoat to rouse the masses

That or you’re driving after dark with your lights off 😅

It’s like flashing your lights at oncoming traffic to warn them of a speed trap ahead

Is mayonnaise an instrument?

Warby Parker glasses hold up well, are reasonably priced and aren’t owned by Luxottica

In English we have

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

Which means:

Bison who are bullied by bison do themselves intimidate or bully bison (at least in the city of Buffalo – implicitly, Buffalo, New York)

• Rock Bottom S01E17b: wherein SpongeBob gets on the wrong bus and ends up in the deep
• Band Geeks S01E15b: wherein Squidward forms a band to play at the Bubble Bowl
• Graveyard Shift S02E16a: wherein Patrick and SpongeBob are scared of the hash slinging slasher
• Bubble Buddy S01E03b: wherein SpongeBob creates an anthropomorphic bubble person to act as his friend

🤗

In 2024, Nate’s model accurately predicted the exact electoral map.

He doesn’t do any polling. He aggregates other pollsters, weights it based on past performance and then uses other factors (he calls them fundamentals) to produce an outcome. And I think it’s misguided to suggest that Democratic leadership is looking at Nate’s polls to reinforce their own positions.

Here’s a quote from a column he wrote for the NYT

It may even feel as though we’re Ping-Ponging between radically different futures, never quite certain what lies around the bend. Yet on the whole in 2024, polling did not experience much of a miss and had a reasonable year. Ms. Harris led by only one point in my final national polling average. And Donald Trump led in five of seven key states, albeit incredibly narrowly. The final polling averages were correct in 48 of 50 states. The final Times/Siena national poll (including third-party candidates) had Mr. Trump one point ahead. There was plenty of data to support a Trump win.

Remember that the Biden campaign had an internal poll showing Trump winning ~48 states in a total landslide victory, but they maintained that Biden was the best candidate.

I’m reminded of this Nate Silver quote from the election:

Democrats, however — and here, I’m not referring so much Silver Bulletin subscribers but in the broader universe online — often get angry with you when you only halfway agree with them. And I really think this difference in personality profiles tells you a little something about why Trump won: Trump was happy to take on all comers, whereas with Democrats, disagreement on any hot-button topic (say, COVID school closures or Biden’s age) will have you cast out as a heretic. That’s not a good way to build a majority, and now Democrats no longer have one.

I was looking into DIN rails yesterday. Might be a good option to mount several smaller devices.

Cheez-Its and Oreos was my go to salty sweet snack as a kid. Hits a little different now as an adult, but I still like it