@samuelwa.de

@samuelwa.de

2931 Followers 1095 Following

Knows changes aren't permanent, but change is. Will stand on the ocean until I start sinking.

profile header for moodboard Bluesky account … banner image proclaims "100% PUNK FUCKING ROCK"
"Xi offers AI olive branch to the world, calling for ‘symphony of global cooperation’"
In sum, the Chinese government’s censorial authority in recent times has resembled not so much a man-eating tiger or fire-snorting dragon as a giant anaconda coiled in an overhead chandelier. Normally the great snake doesn’t move. It doesn’t have to. It feels no need to be clear about its prohibitions. Its constant silent message is “You yourself decide,” after which, more often than not, everyone in its shadow makes his or her large and small adjustments—all quite “naturally.” The Soviet Union, where Stalin’s notion of “engineering the soul” was first pursued, in practice fell far short of what the Chinese Communists have achieved in psychological engineering.
From Anathem, by Neal Stephenson: "'I am fascinated,' I insisted. 'That’s the problem. I am suffering from fascination burnout. Of all the things that are fascinating, I have to choose just one or two.'"
Learning also happens in regular encounters between Europe’s best adult teams. Tuesday’s semi-final will be the third France-Spain game since the semis of Euro 2024, when Spain’s dominance pushed France’s coach Didier Deschamps to remake his team. Europe excels at football. If only its system worked as well in fields such as tech, academia or the military.
Several incomplete overpass sections tower over a Qingdao street. Heavy building construction in the background. Signage for the 2008 Beijing Olympics wraps one of the giants' legs.
Liet-Kynes LEGO minifig scaling a monstera support pole using maker hooks
One Star Amazon review by Bridgett Clark, headlined “Monkeys” Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2026 This author believes we came from monkeys. I immediately quit reading it and returned it.
"crazy the authoritarian state is better at punishing the rich than the US" posted in response to the news story "Chinese exile Miles Guo given 30 years in prison for $550mn fraud." (Guo was prosecuted in the US.)
Forking staircase in brutalist concrete campus building. Seating area to one side, recessed lighting, potted plants, obvious ambush by invaders from parallel dimension right upstairs
Xinhua English homepage
Front cover: Stanislaw Lem, Memoirs Found In A Bathtub
Metal lockers, filing cabinets, index drawers etc in muted greens, greys, blues etc, stacked to form a neat but irregular screen behind the counter of a shop
You have been blocked from The New York Times because we suspect that you're a robot. Why am I seeing this? There are a few possibilities: • You are browsing and clicking much faster than is typical of a human being
Brian Blessed flaps his wings in preposterous helmet. "Oh, well. Who wants to live forever?"
Guardian MORE OPINION section: Owen Jones: There are no guardrails now on the right of UK politics: where Restore Britain goes, others will follow 

Polly Hudson: Want to be my friend? There is one dining rule you must adhere to 

Linas Kojala: A drone alert blasted on my phone – we had to take shelter. This is the new reality on Nato’s eastern flank 

Adrian Chiles: Pump-action soap dispensers are a disgrace – and I won’t put up with them any longer


Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash: “… a scattering of schizophrenic first worlders who have long ago burned their brains to ash in the radiant heat of their own imaginings.”
Ross, unimpressed.
A charcoal void with tasteful vertical gradient
Tracers in the Dark Andy Greenberg “The privacy is not there,” he said. “You know like, you’re buying an ice cream cone, and then it turns out not to be an ice cream cone but the exact opposite of an ice cream cone? That’s how I think about Bitcoin.”
Salmon bagel sandwich and Americano
Convoluted three-tiered floorplan for the Tokyu Hands flagship store in Shibuya. From bottom to top: B2, B2C, B1A, B1B, B1C, 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, 2C, and so on up to HINT7 [7A] and 7B.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!
Topless Homer Simpson on rooftop, roasting a bird on a spit over the chimney and covered in filth in a battered chef's hat: WELLITY WELLITY WELLITY
A battered monstera leaf overhanging a cymbal on an electronic drum kit.
Many identical replies saying “These false statements cannot change the reality of China's steady development, nor can they shake the international community's objective perception of China.”
10 512GB SD cards
POI_KakuSAMA: "Lying flat" [躺平, tǎngpíng] clearly impinges on the sacred name of the current Emperor. Such a taboo word must be sanctioned. The Emperor must always stand firm, and never lie down. [The second character (平, píng, meaning “flat,” “even,” “level”), is also the last character in Xi Jinping’s name (习近平, Xí Jìnpíng). In Chinese imperial culture, using the characters in the ruling Emperor’s given name in certain contexts was considered taboo.]
New infowars/Onion rainbow logo, looks like the iQiyi one in quotes post
Book cover: JAMES S A COREY, THE FAITH OF BEASTS. Dramatic space stuff happens in the background.
Eddie Murphy with many guns pointed at his face in Trading Places
FT screenshot: German election - Campaign to curb cars in Berlin sparks uproar ahead of election Japanese society - Japan cracks down on its wayward cyclists
Summary bullets at the top of the quoted article, followed by AI question suggestions
Distance from Earth: 44,444 miles
@RichardDawkins: If lions were discovered weaving antelope-catching nets ten lion-lengths wide, it would be headline news. Yet spiders weave intricate insect-catching nets hugely bigger than themselves, and we treat it as commonplace. What's the difference? 10:08 AM • Dec 28, 2020
KC Green’s “This is fine” cartoon with the dog’s speech bubble containing the quoted post
John Travolta glances repeatedly at Samuel L Jackson
“It’s hard to explain, but, for me, just aiming a speely input device, or a Farspark chambre, or whatever you call it …” “A speelycaptor.” “… at something doesn’t collect what is meaningful to me. I need someone to gather it in with all their senses, mix it round in their head, and make it over into words.”
Since the sole purpose of the Book was to punish its readers, the less said of it the better. To study it, to copy it out, and to memorize it was an extraordinary form of penance. The concent, like any other human settlement, abounded in nasty or tedious chores such as weeding gardens, maintaining sewers, peeling potatoes, and slaughtering animals. In a perfect society we’d have taken turns. As it was, there were rules and codes of conduct that people broke from time to time, and the Warden Regulant saw to it that those people performed the most disagreeable jobs. It was not a bad system. When you were fixing a clogged latrine because you’d had too much to drink in the Refectory, the fact was that latrines were necessary; sometimes they clogged up; and someone had to clean them out. So there was at least some satisfaction in doing such penance, because there was a point. There was no point at all to the Book, which is what made it an especially dreaded form of penance. It contained twelve chapters. Like the scale used to measure earthquakes, these got exponentially worse as they went on, so Chapter Six was ten times as bad as Chapter Five, and so on. Chapter One was just a taste, meted out to delinquent children, and usually completed in an hour or two. Two meant at least one overnight stay, though any self-respecting troublemaker could bang it out in a day. Five typically meant a stay of several weeks. Any sentence of Chapter Six or higher could be appealed to the Primate and then to the Inquisition. Chapter Twelve amounted to a sentence of life at hard labor in solitary confinement; only three avout had finished it in 3690 years, and all of them were profoundly insane. Beyond about Six, the punishment could span years. Many chose to leave the concent rather than endure it. Those who stuck it out were changed when they emerged: subdued, and notably diminished. Which might sound crazy, because there was nothing to it other than copying out the required chapters,
Desk setup, two portrait monitors with concealed lighting, plants, headphones etc
A goose peering under a window blind into one of the session rooms
Siri’s suggested responses to a message: “That’s great news” “Oh no”
Pixelated orca sculpture by Vancouver’s Coal Harbour, with Stanley Park and sulphur piles in the background, and North Shore mountains behind
Quoted image with colours reversed so sea looks like land and land looks like sea. Carry oil with ship by sea, circumventing the Isthmus of Hormuz
“Is China doing this? No. China is lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. Improving material conditions for citizens. 90% + own homes. They have healthcare. Life is affordable. They are massively cutting greenhouse gasses. Not starting wars.”
“Christopher Nolan's Interstellar feels as influential as 2001: A Space Odyssey....”
The Dude in Other Lebowski’s office: “Yeah, well, that’s, just, like, words, man” Wrong scene. Don’t care.
With Hong Kong equities resuming trading ahead of the Chinese mainland market, A-shares in the Year of the Horse are set to open soon. Historical data shows that major indices have more often risen than fallen after the Spring Festival break. Overall, brokerages remain broadly optimistic about the post-holiday outlook, according to the China Digital Times, a media outlet affiliated with the China News Service. In addition, during the holiday period, the offshore yuan at one point strengthened to about 6.88 per US dollar. Over the same period, most major overseas equity indices posted gains, the China Digital Times reported.
For those who think it important for the Nation to impose more tariffs, I understand that today's decision will be dis-appointing. All I can offer them is that most major decisions affecting the rights and responsibilities of the American people (including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs) are funneled through the legislative process for a reason. Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the Nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people's elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man. There, deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions. And because laws must earn such broad support to survive the legislative pro-cess, they tend to endure, allowing ordinary people to plan their lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from day to day. In all, the legislative process helps ensure each of us has a stake in the laws that govern us and in the Nation's future. For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent. For others, it may not seem so obvious. But if history is any guide, the tables will turn and the day will come when those disappointed by today's result will appreciate the legislative process for the bulwark of liberty it is.
Lebowski, in shades, in The Other Lebowski's office, saying "YEAH, WELL, THAT'S, JUST, LIKE, WORDS, MAN." It's the wrong scene. I'm fine with that.
“Five Cost-Free Solutions for Hebei’s Winter Heating Crisis,” by Xiang Dongliang, WeChat account Constructive Opinions January 7 Mocking the disconnect between official propaganda and reality, this satirical article proposes five “cost-free” ways for Hebei residents to stay warm this winter: (1) watching Hebei TV news reports claiming that heating preparations are complete and that all residents will be warm and toasty this winter; (2) basking in the warmth of handwritten “positive energy” thank-you letters to hardworking local officials; (3) attending warm, indoor, dumpling-making events such as one recently publicized by the Hebei Daily Press Group, showing lightly dressed cadres clearly enjoying adequate heating; (4) joining “heartwarming” projects such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development initiative; and (5) participating in the Hebei Communist Youth League’s "Sending Warmth" campaign.
“They’ll Shell Out for Drones to Monitor Coal-Burning Scofflaws, But Not for Heating Subsidies,” by Xiong Taihang, WeChat account Just Call Me Xiong Taihang January 8 A short article criticizing the authorities in Hebei for being willing to purchase drones to monitor the illegal burning of coal, but not to fund subsidies for low-income residents who can no longer afford to heat their homes in winter. The article includes a screenshotted advertisement from a drone manufacturer suggesting that aerial reconnaissance be conducted between 5:00-7:00 a.m., because it is the coldest time of day, and thus the best time to catch residents illegally burning coal. Xiong compares this cruel enforcement with a story his father told him about the Great Famine in Anhui in 1960. After the local commune canteen ran out of grain, several families in the village pooled some grain they had secreted away and cooked a pot of porridge. Seeing the smoke from their cooking fire, the commune dispatched members of the militia, who extinguished the fire and dumped the porridge into the ashes. As soon as the militia left, Xiong’s father and the other village children wolfed down the now-ashen porridge as the adults wept.
Donald Sutherland in The Dirty Dozen: "They're pretty, Colonel. Verrrry pretty. But can they fight?"
Three otters peering above the surface of the Georgia Strait
Princess Leia recording her distress message to R2’s memory
The cover of the Pet Shop Boys album Introspective. Seven vertical bars of colour with the album title and artist name in a black box in white text
Instagram from _finallyallison: "Forbidden Boba Recipe - British Baked Beans +V8 17g fiber 23g protein … I'm gonna keep posting about it until you try it 👀 #fiber"
From bottom to top, river, beach, bridge, Mt Fuji, sky
Clear blue sky, clear blue sea, Mt Fuji in the background. A section of harbour wall juts into the frame from the left; four people are standing at the end of it.
Compose window for the post above. Entered text is "+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +" Bluesky asks, "🌎 Are you writing in KOREAN?" Errr, I don't … think so? Maybe?