Can people outside the US confirm that "Gulf of America" only appears on Google Maps when it's accessed from inside the US, and from everywhere else it still says Gulf of Mexico? I'm almost sure that's the way it works, but I wanted to check.

When I am dictator, whoever at Google (and Apple) made the decision to go along with this absurdity will get a first-hand introduction to the body of water in question. For now I shall say no more.

We'll see. Of course I support this, but the simple fact is there aren't enough to form the kind of constituency that might get to show some spine. If non-scientists who appreciate the devastation these can cause step up ... maybe there's some hope.

statnews.com/2025/02/13/resist

I am never not going to be proud of this:

Before he became known as a , John Wayne was a popular clown who regularly performed at charity events. Suppose that because of his popularity, his town of Norwood Park had decided to name a street after him: call it Gacy Avenue.

Now suppose that after his murders came to light, the town wanted to change the name, but a bunch of residents who thought “shame about all those kids he killed, but you know, he was a really good clown” wanted to keep the name. So they declared that Gacy Ave. wasn’t actually named after noted killer clown John Wayne Gacy, but some other completely unrelated guy named William Gacy, who as it happened was also a really good clown but without that unfortunate predilection for slaughter.

How do you think that would go over with the families of John Wayne Gacy’s victims, exactly?

original: quora.com/The-renaming-US-Army

re: USpol fash 

@n_dimension @JessTheUnstill "Intimidated" may not be exactly the right word. But the Musk administration has at least somewhat backed down in the face of court orders. Not as much as they should, of course, but not zero either. It's worth pushing for.

To be clear, my optimism didn't really last all that long, say from about 1995 when the really took off, to 1998 or so when the bubble started to crack. By 1999 it was obvious things weren't working out so well: The hit at exactly the right moment.

But oh, how I miss that brief period when it looked like we were going to get instead.

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@davidho It's really striking how incredibly stupid these people are. Their thought processes are nothing but buzzwords. "Fair? Sounds like woke DEI to me!"

I remember when I was so optimistic about the techno-future. You know, "the is the greatest advance in human and since the invention of " and all that. I really believed we were headed for a golden age.

Maybe I was naive. But maybe not. Maybe we *could* have had that . And then the hijacked it and turned it to shit.

I am, once again, going to try to keep myself from posting about . , , my own when it's worth talking about, and fun stuff: that's the plan.

The political conversation is important, and I flatter myself that I have something useful to add from time to time. But it's a marathon, not a sprint. I need to pace myself.

And as a practical matter, I need to concentrate on the work that keeps me and those I love fed and housed, at least while it still exists. The on science already has among my friends. I'm trying really hard not to be one of them. 's first rule.

So this is an accountability post as much as anything, a reminder to myself. It's easier to keep a promise you make to the world as a whole, than only inside your head.

@Trenton_Hoshiko Not silly at all. We need good things to keep us going.

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