Bill Kaminsky
@itinfer.bsky.social
[4/4] ...writing his confession when was caught and tried for what he was doing in such a way to send out his final key intel findings because (a) he knew confessions were traditionally read aloud in court and (b) he lied and confessed to transmitting intel had hadn't yet transmitted. Truly, wow!
January 15, 2026 at 9:50 PM
[4/4] ...writing his confession when was caught and tried for what he was doing in such a way to send out his final key intel findings because (a) he knew confessions were traditionally read aloud in court and (b) he lied and confessed to transmitting intel had hadn't yet transmitted. Truly, wow!
[3/ oops now 4] ... about the SA nuclear weapons program, to using his PhD study in Oxford on ostensibly on the history of South Africa's electrification in the 20th Century as a giant intelligence gathering mission as he looked at historical records and did field work, to his utter brilliancy of...
January 15, 2026 at 9:47 PM
[3/ oops now 4] ... about the SA nuclear weapons program, to using his PhD study in Oxford on ostensibly on the history of South Africa's electrification in the 20th Century as a giant intelligence gathering mission as he looked at historical records and did field work, to his utter brilliancy of...
[2/3] ...the courage to act when you yourself could oh-so-easily be a bystander living a comfy life or the willingness to suffer for one's cause. Christie was mind-bogglingly methodical over years and years from using his mandatory military service at age 17 to suss out his first definite clues...
January 15, 2026 at 9:45 PM
[2/3] ...the courage to act when you yourself could oh-so-easily be a bystander living a comfy life or the willingness to suffer for one's cause. Christie was mind-bogglingly methodical over years and years from using his mandatory military service at age 17 to suss out his first definite clues...
ADDENDUM [1/3]: "Inspiring" was an understatement. The virtues Renfrew Christie epitomized in how he went about playing a key role in sabotaging South Africa's nuclear weapons program aren't just virtues that are admittedly-rare-but-at-least-often-lionized-in-historical-and-fictional-dramas like...
January 15, 2026 at 9:43 PM
ADDENDUM [1/3]: "Inspiring" was an understatement. The virtues Renfrew Christie epitomized in how he went about playing a key role in sabotaging South Africa's nuclear weapons program aren't just virtues that are admittedly-rare-but-at-least-often-lionized-in-historical-and-fictional-dramas like...
For those thwarted by the paywall, here's a gift link. Really, read it. It's inspiring.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/w...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/w...
Renfrew Christie Dies at 76; Sabotaged Racist Regime’s Nuclear Program
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 9:31 PM
For those thwarted by the paywall, here's a gift link. Really, read it. It's inspiring.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/w...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/w...
I know it's John Nance Garner, a long-time House member from TX who rose to Speaker, very much a "conservative Southern Democrat". But gotta ask: how much was my 90s era US History whitewashed in that the only other fact I know is that while still VP in '37, he broke w/FDR on all sorts of policies?
January 12, 2026 at 8:23 PM
I know it's John Nance Garner, a long-time House member from TX who rose to Speaker, very much a "conservative Southern Democrat". But gotta ask: how much was my 90s era US History whitewashed in that the only other fact I know is that while still VP in '37, he broke w/FDR on all sorts of policies?
[2/2] ... very strangely IMHO there's no link that I (nor other, more famous, people on bsky) could find to a full transcript. The article, of course, includes items with quotation marks that I'm sure are verbatim quotes of Trump, but it seems that the NYT might've heavily "edited for clarity". 🙄
January 9, 2026 at 4:01 AM
[2/2] ... very strangely IMHO there's no link that I (nor other, more famous, people on bsky) could find to a full transcript. The article, of course, includes items with quotation marks that I'm sure are verbatim quotes of Trump, but it seems that the NYT might've heavily "edited for clarity". 🙄
[1/2] Here's a gift link of what (thus far?*) the NYT has written up of their 2 hour interview of Trump www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
The 2 screenshots of Taiwan-relevant quotes already in this thread are basically all there was. They appear around 65% the way down.
*I say "thus far?" because...
The 2 screenshots of Taiwan-relevant quotes already in this thread are basically all there was. They appear around 65% the way down.
*I say "thus far?" because...
Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:59 AM
[1/2] Here's a gift link of what (thus far?*) the NYT has written up of their 2 hour interview of Trump www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
The 2 screenshots of Taiwan-relevant quotes already in this thread are basically all there was. They appear around 65% the way down.
*I say "thus far?" because...
The 2 screenshots of Taiwan-relevant quotes already in this thread are basically all there was. They appear around 65% the way down.
*I say "thus far?" because...
[2/2] ... [again following is direct quote from Trump] 'That’s up to him, what he’s going to be doing. But, you know, I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t.' "
IMO, that's still "strategic ambiguity" albeit said poorly.
IMO, that's still "strategic ambiguity" albeit said poorly.
January 9, 2026 at 1:18 AM
[2/2] ... [again following is direct quote from Trump] 'That’s up to him, what he’s going to be doing. But, you know, I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t.' "
IMO, that's still "strategic ambiguity" albeit said poorly.
IMO, that's still "strategic ambiguity" albeit said poorly.
[1/2] Note the relevant NYT quote is about 75% of the way through their much-hyped writeup of a 2 hour interview their team had with Trump (gift link):
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
namely: "When a reporter noted that Mr. Xi regarded Taiwan as a separatist threat to China, Mr. Trump said...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
namely: "When a reporter noted that Mr. Xi regarded Taiwan as a separatist threat to China, Mr. Trump said...
Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2026 at 1:15 AM
[1/2] Note the relevant NYT quote is about 75% of the way through their much-hyped writeup of a 2 hour interview their team had with Trump (gift link):
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
namely: "When a reporter noted that Mr. Xi regarded Taiwan as a separatist threat to China, Mr. Trump said...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
namely: "When a reporter noted that Mr. Xi regarded Taiwan as a separatist threat to China, Mr. Trump said...
Indeed. I'm old enough that an adviser for an undergrad project sagely advised me as I oohed & aahed over his meticulously organized collections of *photocopies* of research papers of colleagues/competitors/et cetera: "Photocopying* is the first, and often only, step one takes to reading a paper."
January 8, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Indeed. I'm old enough that an adviser for an undergrad project sagely advised me as I oohed & aahed over his meticulously organized collections of *photocopies* of research papers of colleagues/competitors/et cetera: "Photocopying* is the first, and often only, step one takes to reading a paper."
Ooh fun. I both: (1) once walked by Natalie Portman walking her dog in between Harvard and Central Square in Cambridge and we exchanged nothing more than a polite half-smile and (2) stood right behind Elizabeth Banks in a customs line at an airport without either of us even going that!
December 30, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Ooh fun. I both: (1) once walked by Natalie Portman walking her dog in between Harvard and Central Square in Cambridge and we exchanged nothing more than a polite half-smile and (2) stood right behind Elizabeth Banks in a customs line at an airport without either of us even going that!
5/5... n was 5) ...Hopefully that was amusing and informational. In what is probably less amusing but maybe more informational, here's the Google NGram Viewer for implying Ehrenreich was quite early on the notion when she wrote that piece in 1985 books.google.com/ngrams/graph...
Google Books Ngram Viewer
Google Ngrams: exercise bulimia, 1975-2022
books.google.com
December 29, 2025 at 3:20 AM
5/5... n was 5) ...Hopefully that was amusing and informational. In what is probably less amusing but maybe more informational, here's the Google NGram Viewer for implying Ehrenreich was quite early on the notion when she wrote that piece in 1985 books.google.com/ngrams/graph...
4/n) ...what may someday be called the gastrointestinal revolution." This was amidst a lot of meditations about the rise of what would come to be known as "foodie" culture becoming a thing with yuppies as they also got into aerobics, jogging, etc. as well as bragging about how they got into those...
December 29, 2025 at 3:16 AM
4/n) ...what may someday be called the gastrointestinal revolution." This was amidst a lot of meditations about the rise of what would come to be known as "foodie" culture becoming a thing with yuppies as they also got into aerobics, jogging, etc. as well as bragging about how they got into those...
3/n) ...sex in the sixties. The pill, IUDs, and eventually legalized abortion freed sex from its ancient biological consequences and helped usher in the sexual revolution. In the same way, jogging, jazzercise, and Jane Fonda’s videotape have uncoupled gluttony from obesity and thus made possible...
December 29, 2025 at 3:13 AM
3/n) ...sex in the sixties. The pill, IUDs, and eventually legalized abortion freed sex from its ancient biological consequences and helped usher in the sexual revolution. In the same way, jogging, jazzercise, and Jane Fonda’s videotape have uncoupled gluttony from obesity and thus made possible...
2/n) ...remembered line is "Exercise is the yuppie version of bulimia," Ehrenreich ends up slightly tongue-in-cheek eschewing nuance and swinging for the sociological fences saying: "Not to push this theory too far, you might say that exercise is to eating in the eighties as contraception was to...
December 29, 2025 at 3:12 AM
2/n) ...remembered line is "Exercise is the yuppie version of bulimia," Ehrenreich ends up slightly tongue-in-cheek eschewing nuance and swinging for the sociological fences saying: "Not to push this theory too far, you might say that exercise is to eating in the eighties as contraception was to...
1/n) How did it become a thing, indeed. Here's a IMHO fun blast from the past: Barbara Ehrenreich's Jan 17, 1985 NYT piece in the "Hers" op-ed space that --- in what I imagine is a less fun blast from the past --- the NYT described as "a forum for writing by women." nyti.ms/49woV8c While its most...
The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos
Live news, investigations, opinion, photos and video by the journalists of The New York Times from more than 150 countries around the world. Subscribe for coverage of U.S. and international news, poli...
nyti.ms
December 29, 2025 at 3:09 AM
1/n) How did it become a thing, indeed. Here's a IMHO fun blast from the past: Barbara Ehrenreich's Jan 17, 1985 NYT piece in the "Hers" op-ed space that --- in what I imagine is a less fun blast from the past --- the NYT described as "a forum for writing by women." nyti.ms/49woV8c While its most...
Arguably the photo serves a larger truth. But to be clear, it's AI. Trump doesn't bowl. And recall the ridiculous FIFA peace prize led to tons of comments like "OMG! It's looks like a horror movie prop!"due to the hands holding it up, e.g., www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/s..., not what's in the photo above.
What is the FIFA Peace Prize and why did Donald Trump win? | CNN
As billions of fans around the world tuned in to watch the World Cup draw on Friday, they also got the opportunity to watch FIFA President Gianni Infantino present a new, somewhat puzzling, award.
www.cnn.com
December 29, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Arguably the photo serves a larger truth. But to be clear, it's AI. Trump doesn't bowl. And recall the ridiculous FIFA peace prize led to tons of comments like "OMG! It's looks like a horror movie prop!"due to the hands holding it up, e.g., www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/s..., not what's in the photo above.
Never mind! Answered my own question after getting over my initial feeling that Googling "vapnik sunflower seeds" would produce nothing. It instead produced an AI summary of "vapnik" and mentioning its overlap with "gopnik"-style juvenile delinquency, specifically en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopnik#...
Gopnik - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 27, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Never mind! Answered my own question after getting over my initial feeling that Googling "vapnik sunflower seeds" would produce nothing. It instead produced an AI summary of "vapnik" and mentioning its overlap with "gopnik"-style juvenile delinquency, specifically en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopnik#...
Don't want you to give away for free any trenchant insights from this proposed longform think piece before you're properly compensated for them, but I'm genuinely curious: Is getting high on paint thinner and then -- what? -- munching on sunflower seeds a characteristically Eastern European thing? 🤔
December 27, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Don't want you to give away for free any trenchant insights from this proposed longform think piece before you're properly compensated for them, but I'm genuinely curious: Is getting high on paint thinner and then -- what? -- munching on sunflower seeds a characteristically Eastern European thing? 🤔
Not just hoes, AGI hoes in SPAAAAAAACE!!!
December 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Not just hoes, AGI hoes in SPAAAAAAACE!!!
Aah, good point. Now I see what you were getting at. (BTW, happy holidays. :) )
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Aah, good point. Now I see what you were getting at. (BTW, happy holidays. :) )
[4/4, done for real 🙄] ... foundations for da Vinci's use of sfumato, and FWIW, the current Wikipedia article seems to affirm that Italian Renaissance masters did inform their use of sfumato through both the camera obscura and through anatomical study: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfumato
Sfumato - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
[4/4, done for real 🙄] ... foundations for da Vinci's use of sfumato, and FWIW, the current Wikipedia article seems to affirm that Italian Renaissance masters did inform their use of sfumato through both the camera obscura and through anatomical study: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfumato
[3/4 now, oops] ...trace of explicit brushstrokes (sometimes so much you can't see them even with microscopes), let alone explicitly added outlines/boundaries/etc to highlight edges, I recall Walter Isaacson in the press tour for his book on da Vinci years ago gushing over the optical/anatomical...
December 26, 2025 at 7:04 PM
[3/4 now, oops] ...trace of explicit brushstrokes (sometimes so much you can't see them even with microscopes), let alone explicitly added outlines/boundaries/etc to highlight edges, I recall Walter Isaacson in the press tour for his book on da Vinci years ago gushing over the optical/anatomical...
[2/3 now] ...circumspection by painters on their own fields of high-res and low-res vision. While some technical documentaries (i.e., brush technique, smudging-with-fingers technique, # of layers, etc. in masterworks) like youtu.be/XqnBtquoBbw?... focus on the aesthetic choice to prevent any...
Leonardo's technique
YouTube video by ARTEnet
youtu.be
December 26, 2025 at 7:01 PM
[2/3 now] ...circumspection by painters on their own fields of high-res and low-res vision. While some technical documentaries (i.e., brush technique, smudging-with-fingers technique, # of layers, etc. in masterworks) like youtu.be/XqnBtquoBbw?... focus on the aesthetic choice to prevent any...