Detroit and St Paul MN -> lessons we can learn

https://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2025/07/seven-ideas-for-downtown-st-paul-from-a-revitalized-detroit/

“Both downtowns have Churches of Scientology, empty office towers, seas of parking, sports stadia and delectable coney dogs.”

“One key contrast: downtown Detroit is booming right now, seeing a renaissance of street life, investment and vibes, in stark contrast to St. Paul.”

MAGA State Dept refugee lead: Only more pure white Afrikaans speakers, with not one drop of blackness. can apply for refugee status.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-diplomats-asked-if-non-whites-qualify-trump-refugee-program-south-africans-2025-07-25/?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&taid=6883cd3f979c8e0001611da7

“In a diplomatic cable sent July 8, embassy Charge d’Affairs David Greene asked whether the embassy could process claims from other minority groups claiming race-based discrimination such as “coloured” South Africans who speak Afrikaans..,

The answer came back days later in an email from Spencer Chretien, the highest-ranking official in the State Department’s refugee and migration bureau, saying the program is intended for white people.”

Trump did well with Latino voters and not too badly with Black men.

USB-C Hubs are a scam: “… tend to use the same RTL8153 networking stack … is known to break on macOS”

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/07/21/usb-c-hubs-and-my-slow-descent-into-madness/

Tsai report, he has had better luck with Anker hubs.

I’m using a T2 hub that has been pretty stable for years. Now with Apple’s T2 to USB-C adapter. I try to buy what is in Apple’s stores.

I think China does not use Macs.

XMLUI and web components – Udell on meeting 1994 software expectations in 2025

https://blog.jonudell.net/2025/07/18/introducing-xmlui/

“XMLUI wraps React components so solution builders can use them.”

“My most-cited BYTE article was a 1994 cover story called Componentware. Many of us had assumed that the engine of widespread software reuse would be libraries of low-level objects linked into programs written by skilled coders. What actually gained traction were components built by professional developers and used by business developers.”

“The fanfic community seems to overwhelmingly prefer more of the same, consistently choosing familiarity over novelty”

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/07/what-fanfic-can-teach-us-about-cultural-evolution/

This is NOT generalizable to mass culture. But it is suggestive.

It’s a good overview of fanfic for those who do not know it AND it is an example of data driven sociology-anthropology.

“really is a mystery how we evolve at all culturally; it’s not happening by gradual movement. We can see that there’s novelty. We can see that when people encounter novelty, they enjoy it. But we can’t quite make sense of how these two competing effects work out.”

“Teflon be damned: Trump is made of adamantium.”

https://www.bannedinyourstate.com/p/the-epstein-case-is-different

“Barring further revelations, MAGA will likely appear to move on over the next few days and weeks…

… For the first time, they are seriously questioning whether Trump is actually the avatar of justice they’ve looked up to all this time.”

Jedeed knows the MAGA better than anyone. But I don’t think they are that smart.

30y “for a range of central elements of American society — Congress, the police, the church, the news media, the presidency — confidence has gotten lower and lower as the decades have passed.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/17/trust-institutions-authoritarianism-trump/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzUyNzI0ODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzU0MTA3MTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3NTI3MjQ4MDAsImp0aSI6IjM5OWFlYjA1LTU2YjktNGE0OC1iZTIxLWJlNmEwN2IzMzcwNSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDI1LzA3LzE3L3RydXN0LWluc3RpdHV0aW9ucy1hdXRob3JpdGFyaWFuaXNtLXRydW1wLyJ9.79uEl7NS5fWfwl__Wt0hhGXBrSHQBfo65QNcGRkH3jc

30y fits my personal opinion. Trump is the efflorescence of a thing that has been growing since the peak of American socioeconomic power.

Gordon’s Notes: MAGA anti-science and public dissatisfaction with science – public surveys as input to funding priorities

https://notes.kateva.org/2025/07/maga-anti-science-and-public.html

“It won’t lesson MAGA/GOP hatred of science, but there are good reasons to seek public input into research priorities through surveys and interviews.  Public input could, for example, be added as a weighting factor in government funded science — particularly in health care.”

“by pulling a critical mass of disgruntled Americans into one party, Republicans have created a culture of constant conflict, and those conflicts are often rooted in completely false beliefs about American life.”

https://archive.ph/20250714145054/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/opinion/epstein-files-trump-maga.html#selection-4745.150-4745.360

They believed the Epstein conspiracy. They really believed. Do they now start to suspect Fox is not entirely trustworthy?