Scott Dietz
@scottdietz.bsky.social
Reposted by Scott Dietz
"So the moral of the story is, to avoid isolation and depression, move to a big city, pick popular hobbies, and if someone asks you to go caroling this Christmas, go even if you don’t want to, because it will make the experience better for everyone else."
Go do more things than you really want to. It is now a good deed to just show up. moultano.wordpress.com/2025/12/09/t...
The Dead Weight Loss of Entertainment
It is undeniably the best time to be alone in human history, but nobody is happy being alone. Why can’t we fix it?
moultano.wordpress.com
December 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM
"So the moral of the story is, to avoid isolation and depression, move to a big city, pick popular hobbies, and if someone asks you to go caroling this Christmas, go even if you don’t want to, because it will make the experience better for everyone else."
Reposted by Scott Dietz
I’ve posted this before but the light was perfect today- a little Victorian cat paw in a brick at the front of the old Norfolk & Norwich Hospital. As this is on the front-facing corner of the main gates, the bricklayer quite clearly put it there on purpose, at a height where children would spot it.
December 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I’ve posted this before but the light was perfect today- a little Victorian cat paw in a brick at the front of the old Norfolk & Norwich Hospital. As this is on the front-facing corner of the main gates, the bricklayer quite clearly put it there on purpose, at a height where children would spot it.
Reposted by Scott Dietz
Clive Owen’s deeply mellifluous voice:
“New bool, baby girl.”
“New bool, baby girl.”
a man is laying in a hospital bed with his arm outstretched and looking at the camera .
ALT: a man is laying in a hospital bed with his arm outstretched and looking at the camera .
media.tenor.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Clive Owen’s deeply mellifluous voice:
“New bool, baby girl.”
“New bool, baby girl.”
Reposted by Scott Dietz
The Lisey’s Story miniseries was solid and often pretty creepy. However if I could’ve “stranger in the Alps”-style dubbed over every mention of the terms “bool” and “Booyah Moon” with almost any other English vocalizations, my enjoyment would have improved at least 40%
December 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
The Lisey’s Story miniseries was solid and often pretty creepy. However if I could’ve “stranger in the Alps”-style dubbed over every mention of the terms “bool” and “Booyah Moon” with almost any other English vocalizations, my enjoyment would have improved at least 40%
Reposted by Scott Dietz
Republicans are scared shitless after the TN-07 special election showed a 13-point shift against them. What would that look like nationwide? Democrats flipping about 600 state legislative seats, winning 6 new state trifectas and breaking a lot of supermajorities heartlandsignal.com/2025/12/10/h...
How Tennessee 7th’s 13-point Democratic shift would look across the nation for 2026
Last week, Republicans won the special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District by 9%, and it has them scared shitless. That’s because the margin was 13% worse than the previous representat...
heartlandsignal.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Republicans are scared shitless after the TN-07 special election showed a 13-point shift against them. What would that look like nationwide? Democrats flipping about 600 state legislative seats, winning 6 new state trifectas and breaking a lot of supermajorities heartlandsignal.com/2025/12/10/h...
Reposted by Scott Dietz
I would like the phrase and concept of "common decency" to make a comeback
December 10, 2025 at 3:30 PM
I would like the phrase and concept of "common decency" to make a comeback
Reposted by Scott Dietz
i think constantly about PLAYER OF GAMES, where the shitty Empire of Azad attempts to flip an emissary from the utopian Culture. the pitch is: there is one thing a dystopia can offer a utopia cannot, and that's getting to force someone else to do what you want, even though they don't really want to
Having $800M in your investment account vs $400M doesn't change your life at all, but having a labor market where your underlings are desperate to cling to jobs vs one where they can walk across the street and get a better offer makes a huge difference in the day to day reality of the very wealthy
December 10, 2025 at 8:15 AM
i think constantly about PLAYER OF GAMES, where the shitty Empire of Azad attempts to flip an emissary from the utopian Culture. the pitch is: there is one thing a dystopia can offer a utopia cannot, and that's getting to force someone else to do what you want, even though they don't really want to
Reposted by Scott Dietz
Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat, Reykjavik — Magnús Tómasson, 1994
November 26, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat, Reykjavik — Magnús Tómasson, 1994
Reposted by Scott Dietz
Nice piece from @nikvenkatesh.bsky.social on the basic difficulties of trying to be a Moral Company. It's not about the badness of the individuals in charge (though, you know, that can be a thing) - it's the realities of needing investment in a market economy.
theconversation.com/why-openai-i...
theconversation.com/why-openai-i...
Why OpenAI is a prime example of the ethical limits of capitalism
Money and morality are a challenging corporate combination.
theconversation.com
December 9, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Nice piece from @nikvenkatesh.bsky.social on the basic difficulties of trying to be a Moral Company. It's not about the badness of the individuals in charge (though, you know, that can be a thing) - it's the realities of needing investment in a market economy.
theconversation.com/why-openai-i...
theconversation.com/why-openai-i...
Reposted by Scott Dietz
my main takeaway looking back on 2020 from today and considering <gestures broadly> has been that the main lesson here is DONT HAVE A PANDEMIC
even if you could put aside the massive human toll, basic societal functioning depends on a million little things that a shutdown mucks up
even if you could put aside the massive human toll, basic societal functioning depends on a million little things that a shutdown mucks up
December 8, 2025 at 3:25 PM
my main takeaway looking back on 2020 from today and considering <gestures broadly> has been that the main lesson here is DONT HAVE A PANDEMIC
even if you could put aside the massive human toll, basic societal functioning depends on a million little things that a shutdown mucks up
even if you could put aside the massive human toll, basic societal functioning depends on a million little things that a shutdown mucks up
Reposted by Scott Dietz
During ratification of the 14th Amendment, senators discussed whether the Citizenship Clause would apply to the children of immigrants and resoundingly concluded that it did. The text and history all point in one direction and the counter-arguments are patently fraudulent. I am going to lose my mind
The evidence is the text. All you have to do is read the Constitution.
December 7, 2025 at 7:19 PM
During ratification of the 14th Amendment, senators discussed whether the Citizenship Clause would apply to the children of immigrants and resoundingly concluded that it did. The text and history all point in one direction and the counter-arguments are patently fraudulent. I am going to lose my mind
Reposted by Scott Dietz
This is correct but I'd also add that if you are an insecure, unconfident man, the biggest curse you can possibly give yourself is dating a woman that is impressively attractive to the shittiest dudes in our society - a recipe for being endlessly consumed with paranoid jealousy
This and they're only really interested in very attractive women who use all the artifices to pander to men (often to manipulate them) because ultimately they care more about what other men think about the women they want to fuck/possess than they do about their own (to them unknown/denied) desires.
I think an important thing to understand about brofluencer ideology is that they do not just deny that being toxic and shitty makes you a less appealing partner, they insist that women are only genuinely attracted to toxic and shitty men and being kind will instead make women lose respect for you.
December 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM
This is correct but I'd also add that if you are an insecure, unconfident man, the biggest curse you can possibly give yourself is dating a woman that is impressively attractive to the shittiest dudes in our society - a recipe for being endlessly consumed with paranoid jealousy
Reposted by Scott Dietz
the idea that a handful of conservative legal scholars have an understanding that should supersede a settlement affirmed my generations of american is astoundingly arrogant, and the idea that trump — or any president — can unilaterally overturn that settlement is just despotism
December 7, 2025 at 7:18 PM
the idea that a handful of conservative legal scholars have an understanding that should supersede a settlement affirmed my generations of american is astoundingly arrogant, and the idea that trump — or any president — can unilaterally overturn that settlement is just despotism
Reposted by Scott Dietz
yeah, that's true. it's not 'dominant meta' precisely but something about how recognition of the meta (or the 'solvedness' of the particular game?) allows the space to be flooded with effectively worthless versions
December 2, 2025 at 3:37 PM
yeah, that's true. it's not 'dominant meta' precisely but something about how recognition of the meta (or the 'solvedness' of the particular game?) allows the space to be flooded with effectively worthless versions
Reposted by Scott Dietz
The most insidious thing about slop is that it puts pressure on you the consumer to lower *your* standards
December 2, 2025 at 2:36 PM
The most insidious thing about slop is that it puts pressure on you the consumer to lower *your* standards
Reposted by Scott Dietz
putting it in gaming terms maybe youd say slop is the 'dominant meta' of whatever field
December 2, 2025 at 2:27 PM
putting it in gaming terms maybe youd say slop is the 'dominant meta' of whatever field
Reposted by Scott Dietz
circling around a definition of 'slop' as something like 'fully optimized to the point of texturelessness/characterlessness'... RLHF'd ai product but also: save the cat is scriptslop, aerodynamically efficient crossover suvs are carslop, three true outcomes is baseballslop, crabs are crustaceanslop
December 2, 2025 at 2:25 PM
circling around a definition of 'slop' as something like 'fully optimized to the point of texturelessness/characterlessness'... RLHF'd ai product but also: save the cat is scriptslop, aerodynamically efficient crossover suvs are carslop, three true outcomes is baseballslop, crabs are crustaceanslop
Reposted by Scott Dietz
i'd go even further and say there is a reason even nixon kept this kind of stuff to himself. you would have to go back quite a bit to find a point at which is acceptable for a president to say anything like this *in public*, to say nothing of in the oval office.
I don’t want to be pollyannish about the past, but it was basically inconceivable twenty years ago that a president would say this publicly
Trump: "It’s a hellhole right now. And those Somalians should be out of here. They've destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain. You have her. She’s always talking about the Constitution provides me with – go back to your own country and figure out your constitution."
December 3, 2025 at 11:04 PM
i'd go even further and say there is a reason even nixon kept this kind of stuff to himself. you would have to go back quite a bit to find a point at which is acceptable for a president to say anything like this *in public*, to say nothing of in the oval office.
Reposted by Scott Dietz
Could not be more contrary to American traditions. A gold-bedecked White House with a massive gilded ballroom and a government-created personality cult around the president complete with giant banners of his face on government buildings and official celebrations of his birthday.
When I saw the story in passing I thought it was the same dumb bit as the army parade, the fig leaf of using Flag Day because it happens to also be his birthday. But no, Trump's birthday as such is now an official commemoration for NPS free admission days.
www.nps.gov/planyourvisi...
www.nps.gov/planyourvisi...
December 6, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Could not be more contrary to American traditions. A gold-bedecked White House with a massive gilded ballroom and a government-created personality cult around the president complete with giant banners of his face on government buildings and official celebrations of his birthday.
Reposted by Scott Dietz
I really can't emphasize enough that if you care about local politics, all you gotta do is show up. Just a regular schmegular person showing up. Literally just show up consistently in person and within a remarkably short amount of time, you will have a shocking amount of influence.
December 5, 2025 at 6:07 AM
I really can't emphasize enough that if you care about local politics, all you gotta do is show up. Just a regular schmegular person showing up. Literally just show up consistently in person and within a remarkably short amount of time, you will have a shocking amount of influence.
Reposted by Scott Dietz
"Brett Kavanaugh had six figures in credit card debt shortly before he was confirmed to the Supreme Court" is one of those things that will live rent-free in my head forever because I quite literally have represented someone in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy over substantially less debt.
December 5, 2025 at 10:01 PM
"Brett Kavanaugh had six figures in credit card debt shortly before he was confirmed to the Supreme Court" is one of those things that will live rent-free in my head forever because I quite literally have represented someone in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy over substantially less debt.
Reposted by Scott Dietz
the birthright clause was not just written to wipe dred scott off of the books, it was written to repudiate the *idea* behind dred scott, you might say the larger *ideological project* of dred scott. and the whole of section 1 of the 14th amendment is a constitutional statement of political equality
December 6, 2025 at 6:03 PM
the birthright clause was not just written to wipe dred scott off of the books, it was written to repudiate the *idea* behind dred scott, you might say the larger *ideological project* of dred scott. and the whole of section 1 of the 14th amendment is a constitutional statement of political equality
Reposted by Scott Dietz
dred scott, in their minds, established the united states as a place of tiered citizenship and permanent inequality among americans. it was a ruling that said, in effect, that all men *were not* created equal and would *never* be treated as such.
December 6, 2025 at 6:03 PM
dred scott, in their minds, established the united states as a place of tiered citizenship and permanent inequality among americans. it was a ruling that said, in effect, that all men *were not* created equal and would *never* be treated as such.
Reposted by Scott Dietz
i think to understand the meaning of the birthright citizenship clause to the framers of the 14th amendment, you have to understand significance of dred scott to the civil war republican party. dred scott wasn't just a bad ruling, it was understood as a rejection of the declaration itself.
December 6, 2025 at 6:03 PM
i think to understand the meaning of the birthright citizenship clause to the framers of the 14th amendment, you have to understand significance of dred scott to the civil war republican party. dred scott wasn't just a bad ruling, it was understood as a rejection of the declaration itself.
Reposted by Scott Dietz
The way to understand the second Trump administration is as a content generation machine. They aren’t implementing fascism, they’re creating fascism-flavored content. They aren’t implementing real policy, they’re signing executive orders to post about them. Anything that gets attention is the goal.
I don't really know what the administration hopes to gain by picking fights with the most well-liked pop artists in the United States. You're just generating backlash for no discernible reason outside of owning the libs.
Sabrina Carpenter ratioed the White House after it used her song in an ICE video.
The WH deleted the post…but now it’s back with a new ICE video, this time using an altered clip from Carpenter’s SNL monologue.
The WH deleted the post…but now it’s back with a new ICE video, this time using an altered clip from Carpenter’s SNL monologue.
December 6, 2025 at 3:17 PM
The way to understand the second Trump administration is as a content generation machine. They aren’t implementing fascism, they’re creating fascism-flavored content. They aren’t implementing real policy, they’re signing executive orders to post about them. Anything that gets attention is the goal.