Verities and Vagaries

Towards a smarter home, part 8: A million little pieces

Posted on 8 May, 2026 by Technology 0
smart home mockup

Hey, so it’s been a long time since an update on the smartification of my home. I realize that it’s been a good number of random updates, installations, devices, etc., but not one single one that would deserve its own thread (heh) here. But, all added together, I guess an update is in order. Last time we talked about Matter Over Thread, what they tell me is the network and transmission protocol of the future. I had put together a fabric, what we call a mesh network of Thread devices, and it was working…fine. Devices would randomly...

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Hump-Day Song of the Week: Dear Hope by Dabda (다브다)

Posted on 29 April, 2026 by Music 0

This week’s is from Seoul math rock quartet Dabda, who have a new track “Dear Hope” off their upcoming record due this summer. It’s six minutes of soaring, roaring sound, and really gets going around the two minute mark, at which point you probably won’t be able to stop listening. Sure, I don’t understand a word of Korean, but it doesn’t matter, even though you can plug the lyrics in your favorite translator to get an idea (and the video does show some english translations). On Bandcamp.

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Inflation blues

Posted on 22 April, 2026 by Money and the Economy United States 0
blue and red cargo ship on dock during daytime

Man, people really hate the economy. It’s not a new story. In fact, the only thing interesting about it how not new it is. People hate the Clinton economy. People hated the W. economy. People really hated the Great Recession economy (go figure). People hate the Obama economy, even as it came roaring back better than before the Great Recession. People hated the Trump economy (less so, but that’s another story that’s the same story). People really hated the pandemic economy. People continued to really hate the Biden economy, even as it came back roaring better than before, well, anything...

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Till the End of the Day — Friday, 27 March 2026

Posted on 27 March, 2026 by Links 0
a close up of a fence with grass in the background

Again, some links to keep you occupied. (“Mom, they’re link-blogging again!”) Two long ones about the U.S. bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, Iran: When Intelligence Fails: A Legal Targeting Analysis of the Minab School Strike (Joseph N. Orenstein for Just Security) AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worrying (Kevin T. Baker for The Guardian) Also, Bret Devereaux on the Iran war. Detailed analysis of the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro. “As the nation prepares to mark the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of its founding, it’s easy...

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On war and oil

Posted on 20 March, 2026 by United States 0
An outdoor scene of an abandoned gas station with dual pumps and vivid greenery in the background.

There’s a war on. Gas prices are rising. The means the war is bad, you see. The fact that the common sense wisdom of how wise or useful or necessary wars are is contingent on the price of crude oil is embarrassing and insulting. Instead of judging on if the costs of the war itself, the lives lost, the territory damaged, the global leadership lost, we judge it based on one metric: the world’s everlasting thirst for one natural resource. Wars should have aims. I almost never think a war’s aims (even if they are in fact...

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