Kirk Israel's commonplace and blog. Quotes and links daily since 2001.
2026.01.28
Didn't want to post a photo from yesterday, with the indignity of being under a pile of snow in the mechanic's lot. Here's a photo from happier, earlier times:
Such a fun car. So easy to park. Fun to drive and bop around especially if you did the overdrive thing. Could hold a tuba in the backseat. Great stereo system. Reliable. (Later years not withstanding, distinctly less waterproof... having to scrape off ice from INSIDE the windshield... and in summer no AC...)
I remember early years, when I would sleep over at my girlfriend K's family's, and noticing it patiently waiting for me curbside. It made me think of a cowboy's steed, which is when I gave it the secondary nickname "Hoss" and programmed the stereo display greeting to say "howdy".
I've only owned two cars, both new. (Kermit, the '96 Civic, was a fun hatchback as well.) I might hold off for a bit on a replacement, I can borrow Lynette's car. Maybe I'll need to get a new one once band stuff unthaws. Looking to buy my first used car, probably a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. They don't make 'em like they used to, literally.
(side note: I think the gas was about full when it started having gas tank issues that led to me calling it. And it got towed around and barely driven since.)
The podcast Retronauts usually talks video games, but Episoe 744 Dartmouth Time Sharing System and the Birth of BASIC is worth checking out. It's so weird to think of the era just before that, bringing stacks of punchcards to be run. 80s kid don't even know how easy we had it, access to programming platform wise.
We need to make big changes in how things work based on having our limits tested and the guardrails broken, bringing us to the brink. We should be talking about that before the journalists turn this into a debate about what the next election should be about. It must be about everything. Nothing clever. This is what happened and this is what we have to do. For example -- Increase the number of Supreme Court judges, and give them terms of five or ten years, and have an age limit. The Justices must have a personal stake in the decisions they make. They should feel like servants, not gods.
2026.01.27
2026.01.26
"No, I'm not *in* a cult. I'm a service provider *for* a cult. It's different."
"How is it different?"
"I get paid."
"Come on, pull it together – she's messing with your mind!"
"Oh, I know."
"You know you're being mind controlled?"
"Well, yeah. It's kind of hard to miss!"
"I mean, you don't seem terribly bothered by it."
"Of course. If you're gonna control somebody's mind, naturally the first thing you're gonna do is make them not care that you're controlling their mind."
"I... see."
"To be honest, it's always bothered me when people in stories aren't aware they're being mind controlled. Like, the sheer number of things you'd have to command them not to think about to stop them from realising that their actions are out of character – it'd be a wonder if they could function at all!"
"So you don't care that you're being mind controlled, but you still have the capacity to be annoyed by logistically inefficient depictions of mind control?"
"This is me we're talking about."
> Maybe we don't like living in the past
"I can't help but feel you're not treating your god-granted powers with the gravity they deserve."
"I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about."
"You smote Steve for eating the last brownie."
"That's in the past."
"It was ten minutes ago."
"Ten minutes ago is the past."
"I just can't help but feel I'm not being given a fair shake, you know? It's not like I've done anything to deserve this kind of suspicion."
"I mean, you are a parasitic fungal hive mind wearing a human skin-suit."
"An *ethically sourced* human skin-suit!"
"You ever think you might be part of the problem?"
"I think if I were the sort of person who'd know whether they were part of the problem, I wouldn't be part of the problem."
[on Nintendo's Kirby's recurring antagonist King Dedede]
"I've lost fights to a child. And have you seen the kind of fights that child *wins*? Gods and monsters. Thing you can't even imagine. And then there's me. Just little old me. Yeah, I lose, eventually, but I make him sweat for every victory. Do you understand?"
"I–"
"A king may yield before a god, but he remains a king. Let me show you what that means."
understanding the "landlord special" aspect of the US economy looking ok-ish.
2026.01.25
"My bargain with the Other Gods has granted me powers beyond human comprehension!"
"Like what?"
"I have no idea."
"... and that's why I need you to rescue me as soon as you get this message."
"What else is new?"
"Well, I'm sorry saving my life is such an inconvenience for you."
"Wha – hold on, I thought this was a recording!"
"It is. You're just extremely predictable."
"Look, could you please stop commenting 'horny on main' every time I post a selfie? Like, yes, we get it – I have horns. Ha ha."
"You also tagged that you want Keira Knightley to use your horns as a steering wheel."
"*One time*."
2026.01.24
militarizing the police and other domestic enforcement is bad
2026.01.23
After people pointing out , no you can't actually discount anything more that 100%, Trump walked it back
"Under my most-favored nation policy for drug prices, the cost of prescription drugs is coming down by up to 90%, depending on the way you calculate. You could also say 5-, 6-, 7-, 800%. There are two ways of figuring that."
for better or worse that article tries to follow what he's probably thinking:
* He *knows* that price increases and decreases are opposites. Therefore, if a price jump from $10 to $100 is a 900% increase, then a price drop from $100 to $10 must be a 900% decrease. It's just logic.
* If you were selling him something and agreed to lower your price from $100 to $10, he would call it a 90% decrease, not a 900% decrease. If he were giving you the same discount (ha!), it would be a 900% decrease. The numbers he uses are whatever sound best to him at the time.
It's the same kind of depth of thought that makes him so follow shiny gold things...
I hate when my fellow Kirks turn out to be idiots
2026.01.22
