Day: January 16, 2025, 1:51 PM

Shoot Trouble

Chill Killin' It

That’s right. I’ve often been brought in to troubleshoot issues in products and technologies I’ve never used, and in some cases never heard of, because troubleshooting effectively is its own skill independent of any specific knowledge.

Knowledge is cheap and easily acquired. Understanding how a system works and how to get to the bottom of things takes a whole lot more. And that’s what I’m good at.

CTC

Chill Science

Life on a closed timelike curve.

This is just symmetrical time reversal, which is just an identity. I mean, it couldn’t be any other way. That’s just how the equations work since they are all time-reversible.

To greatly, greatly simplify, this paper is just saying 2+1 = 3 is the same as 3 = 1+21.

  1. Which is sort of a little joke, because in certain quantum systems it matters what order you add up the numbers as to the results you get. However, this isn’t one of them!

Forsec

Chill Killin' It

My organization has a computer slowness issue. Is there some kind of forensic consultant that can help us track it down?

This is the kind of issue I guarantee I could solve in less than a day if I had unfettered access, but stumps tons of IT people.

Without having looked at it1, there’s about an even chance I could solve it in 15 minutes or less.

That’s just how I roll.

  1. Though I’ve solved tons of nearly-identical issues.

Chill Links

From Babe to Pet Sematary to Toy Story, the same furious yowl crops up in film after film. So who was the cat and who made the recording? We solve the enigma of the ‘Wilhelm Miaow.’

Neutron star measurements place limits on color superconductivity in dense quark matter.

The planetary fix.

There are no pure cultures. All of our religions, stories, languages and norms were muddled and mixed through mobility and exchange throughout history.

The Caribbean has been unusually warm. That’s not a good thing.

The Crisis of Gender Relations.

Where the Left Went Wrong on Homelessness.

Thought UnitedHealthcare couldn’t get more awful? They’ve gone villain mode. Killing people with paperwork instead of a gun doesn’t make you any less of a murderer. Let Luigi out to take care of some more important business.

Inflation heated up in December, as prices continue to weigh on Americans. “Transitory.”

I’m a climate scientist and my house in LA burned down. My work has never been more real.