Daniel Dvorkin @medigoth@social.cleverlibre.org

One year.

A three-day operation. Short, glorious victory. Our boys will crush those decadent, corrupt, effeminate, *Westernized* [hiss! spit!] Ukrainians like the scum they are, then bring them back into the fold of Mother Russia once they realize the error of their ways. Why, we're not invading anyone! We're *liberating* them from their (((oppressors))) is what we're doing. Soon we will again be one people under one T/s/a/r/ President, as God intended.

Didn't quite work out that way, did it, Vladdie baby?

If #Russia won the war today (voiceover: Russia did not, in fact, win the war) then still Ukraine's magnificent fight would stand for all time as a monument to the human need for freedom. Zelenskyy's government has made its share of mistakes, sure. Every government does. They're *Ukrainian* mistakes, made by a Ukrainian government that assumed office through free and fair election, and accountable to the Ukrainian people. No one else—most especially not the Grand Duke of Moscow.

Every principle I swore to defend on behalf of the United States of #America ... is being put into practice in #Ukraine, right now. Had I had to do the same, against much the same enemy, there's a really good chance none of us would be here right now. We have the opportunity to uphold those principles *and* make that worst of all possible worlds less likely.

No, Ukraine is not morally pure. I guess no combatant in any war has been, ever. But the morality they do show, and monstrosity they face, make this the clearest conflict of good vs. evil in my lifetime.

And while we can and should be grateful that it's not our cities being turned to rubble, our fields ground under tank treads, **our children stolen**—we have those who would cheerfully do the same here at home, and pledge their allegiance to the invader half a world away. You know who and what they are.

Decent people would always prefer not to fight at all. We have to keep fighting those who are not decent, on all fronts. Ukraine shows we can fight and *win*.

For the last year, and the year to come, and however long it takes. Слава Україні.

I'm pretty sure some of the endless series I get Facebook ads for are already written by #AI. Even if they're not, the ad copy sure reads like it.

On a post by @SandyDiersing, I suggested the prompt, "#ChatGPT, write me a post-apocalypse urban fantasy about a reincarnated wizard Navy SEAL barbarian in the style of Clive Cussler." And then having said it, I had to know what would happen ...

> The world had ended, but not in the way anyone had expected. The Great Cataclysm had not come in the form of nuclear war, climate disaster, or a zombie apocalypse, but instead, it was the result of an arcane experiment gone wrong.

> The wizard known as Nathan had been the one responsible for the catastrophe, his quest for power leading him to tamper with forces beyond his control. The resulting explosion had destroyed entire cities and wiped out most of humanity, leaving behind a barren wasteland where magic had replaced technology as the dominant force.

> But Nathan's story did not end there. Somehow, he had survived the blast, his body ripped apart and scattered across the desolate landscape. However, his soul remained intact, and it was drawn to a new host, one that would allow him to continue his quest for power in a world that had been forever changed.

> The new host was a Navy SEAL named Jack, a skilled warrior who had survived the cataclysm through sheer force of will. But he was not the same man anymore, as Nathan's soul had fused with his, granting him access to the wizard's powers and knowledge.

> Jack was now a reincarnated wizard Navy SEAL barbarian, a force to be reckoned with in the new world. He roamed the wasteland, using his magic and combat skills to survive and protect those who needed his help.

> One day, Jack came across a small town that was being terrorized by a group of bandits. The town's people were desperate for help, and Jack knew he couldn't turn a blind eye to their plight.

> He set out to confront the bandits, his wizard powers enabling him to move through the shadows undetected. He struck from the shadows, his sword and magic cutting down the bandits with ease.

> But one of the bandits was different. He was a mage, a former student of Nathan's who had survived the Cataclysm by hiding in a bunker. He had come to the town to claim the powerful artifact that he knew was hidden there, and he was not about to let Jack stand in his way.

> The two wizards clashed in a fierce battle, their magic tearing apart the town around them. But in the end, it was Jack who emerged victorious, his Navy SEAL training and barbarian instincts giving him the edge over his opponent.

> As he stood among the ruins of the town, Jack knew that his quest was far from over. There were more like the mage out there, seeking power and control in a world that was ripe for the taking.

> But Jack was not afraid. He was a reincarnated wizard Navy SEAL barbarian, and he was ready for whatever the wasteland had in store for him.

Yep. I wasn't wrong.

Thanks a lot, CANADA.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a43010514/super-pig-invasion/

I spend a lot of time talking about how dismayed I am at how many of my fellow #veterans have fallen for the #propaganda of the enemies of the #Constitution we swore to defend. No doubt I'll continue to whine. This guy is doing something about it.

We need more of this. Lots, lots more.

Our #oath has no expiration date.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/nazi-hunter-fascism-antifa-veteran-1234672732/

Today's "I may be small, but my family will do great things!" not-quite-a-#dinosaur.

#Dromomeron wasn't as tiny as the pen implies (unless that's a really big pen!) but it wasn't large either: about a meter long, of which half was tail, and the whole thing lightly built. You could pick it up and cuddle it, and you know you'd want to.

Probably not on the dinosaurian lineage, but close—one of a number of #avemetatarsalians living in the mid-to-late #Triassic, 220-210 million years ago (mya). Biodiversity had barely recovered from the end-Permian "Great Dying" 250 mya when the climate threw another curveball in the form of the #Carnian #Pluvial Episode 234-232 mya, a Great Flood that makes "of Biblical proportions" seem kind of cute by comparison. The early Triassic biota had looked more like that of the late #Permian, only vastly sparser: it was later in the period, after the rains washed the remnants away, that dinosaurs and their close relatives began their rise.

Into this relatively empty world came Dromomeron and many other avemetatarsalians, all trying to fill open niches along with the crocodilians to round out the archosaur family tree. Only the dinosaurs and pterosaurs succeeded in the long term, but many others had a good run: the Dromomeron genus contains three named species and there were probably more.

Like all the rest, it wasn't a "failure" or a "dead end," except in the sense that everything is a dead end eventually. See it now not as bones frozen in rock, but a thriving animal, warm and active and alive. We can only hope to leave such a legacy.

(Art by Gabriel Ugueto. If you don’t know his work, you should.)

Some answers just write themselves.

https://www.quora.com/I-know-an-academic-who-is-an-Associate-Professor-but-he-calls-himself-Professor-X-and-was-called-out-by-somebody-saying-associate-not-yet-full-Does-it-mean-associate-professors-have-not-reached-the-top-of-the-1/answer/Daniel-Dvorkin-3

There are a million obvious jokes to make about this. But it really is the end of an era.

I never had any love for #IE (pronounced "aieee!") and IMO the world would have been better off without it. #Mosaic and then #Netscape did a fine job of making the #web, and therefore the #internet, widely accessible. As a web #developer at the time it was rising to dominance, I loathed having to build two versions of every site: one for IE, and one for every other #browser. Its "innovations" were never worthwhile, only clunky versions of other software's features made just different enough to encourage lock-in.

As usual, #Microsoft didn't create a new market with IE, merely exploited and nearly took over an existing one—just as with #Windows itself, and #Excel, and Word, and many others. *Every time*, there were existing and better and commercially successful alternatives, which would have kept flourishing in Microsoft's absence. We'd all be better off it that had been the case.

They've softened their image now, but back then they deserved every ounce of loathing they got, and then some. The only reason they're not another also-ran in the long history of failed software companies is because once upon a time, a company named #IBM made really good typewriters. You know the rest.

With all that said, IE did exist, and it mattered. I won't mourn its passing, but I will note the event. Let us now pause for a moment of silence ...

And now we're done! Back to work.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/microsoft-permanently-disables-internet-explorer/

This ... is a really good point. #Castles, #plantation homes, and the like are often absolutely beautiful. But we know they were built on horror, and I always feel a little guilty about admiring them. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it, if the message is "we're still here, but you're gone."

Me too, lion. Me too.

Just had my first mutual blocking on #Mastodon. Now I feel like I belong!

Seen on Quora: this is the best possible answer to the "we have to preserve #history" argument for keeping #Confederate monuments, bases named after Confederate generals, etc.

"A cannon from a Civil War battle is history. A uniform worn by somebody at #Gettysburg is history. Jefferson Davis’ desk is history. Robert E. Lee’s sword is history. A monument made by the #KKK in the 1890s or 1950s isn’t history of the Civil War. It’s just a monument made by the KKK or similar racists, and is no more history than a statue I sculpt today of Pharaoh #Tutankhamen is 'history' of ancient #Egypt."