* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women (Japan still ignores complaints to this day)

The Japanese viewed non-Japanese as sub-human. It is no different than Nazis viewing Jews, Slavs, etc, as sub-human.

> The holocaust was a later addon (1940).

At least when it comes to the Nazis, genocide was always the general direction:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalplan_Ost

The focus on Jews came a little later:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee_Conference

Are those 55 countries forced to have US military bases, or are they willing/happy to have them around?

Estonia wants more US troops:

* https://news.err.ee/1609992007/estonia-signals-willingness-t...

The Philippines is also good with the US expanding its presence:

* https://news.usni.org/2026/02/02/u-s-army-quietly-stands-up-...

* https://time.com/6252750/philippines-us-military-agreement-c...

The Communists. Would you rather live in North or South Korea?

Vietnam is interesting in that they're still politically authoritarian but willing to be more economically open; see also China. (Just don't say the wrong thing about the wrong people.)

The expressed goal of Communism (USSR, later China) was to spread its ideology to the entire world. The US chose at its goal the containment of Communism:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Article

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Containment

This is what drove Korea, Vietnam, Cuba/Castro, and many other countries with left-leaning governments. In many cases this ended up with the US supporting the right-wing people, e.g.:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet

> There's a reason the US has military bases across the globe. It's not because they've retreated from their subservient states.

Yes, containment and power projection to keep the sea lanes open for trade (which benefits the US financially and life-style-wise, but also benefits countries who export things, to the US and other places):

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSC_68

If you don't think having peaceful sea lanes is useful, see Houthis/Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz. What we're seeing with Trump's worldview is a return to how things tended to be earlier in history:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism

> […] The United States has a Department of Defense for a reason. It was called the “War” Department until 1947, when the dictates of a new and more dangerous world required the creation of a much larger military organization than any in American history. Harry Truman and the American leaders who destroyed the Axis, and who now were facing the Soviet empire, realized that national security had become a larger undertaking than the previous American tradition of moving, as needed, between discrete conditions of “war” and “peace.”

> These leaders understood that America could no longer afford the isolationist luxury of militarizing itself during times of threat and then making soldiers train with wooden sticks when the storm clouds passed. Now, they knew, the security of the country would be a daily undertaking, a matter of ongoing national defense, in which the actual exercise of military force would be only part of preserving the freedom and independence of the United States and its allies.

* https://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive...

The author is a retired professor from the US Naval War College:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Nichols_(academic)

Is it the same strain(s) for everyone, or does each person need to figure out which ones work for them?

See perhaps §iMessage and §Continuity in Apple Platform Security:

* https://help.apple.com/pdf/security/en_US/apple-platform-sec...

Which spammers and marketers would have loved.

I have "load remote content" disabled on my e-mail client so that tracking graphics/pixels do not leak such information to the sender.

* https://www.trendingbuffalo.com/life/uncle-steves-buffalo/ev...

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45161816

* https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-we-should-br...

In the US the Interstate system helped reduce shipping and logistic costs across state lines, and so oranges became more prevalent and less 'special' post-WW2.

It should also be noted that technological advances tend to be deflationary in general: regardless of real or nominal dollars, the chips/storage/etc you can buy today were sometimes not even available in the past at any price.

Edit: e.g., see 1991 Radio Shack add:

* https://www.trendingbuffalo.com/life/uncle-steves-buffalo/ev...

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45161816

RAND found that minimum age requirements and child-access prevention laws reduced suicides and unintentional injuries/deaths and violent crime:

* https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/child-acce...

* https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/minimum-ag...

* https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy.html

Is the reported behaviour an example of OpEx/CapEx but with humans?

Going back to 2008:

> But the most fun on the conference call came when he parried analysts’ questions about new product areas that Apple might or might not enter. A recurring question among Apple watchers for decades has been, “When is Apple going to introduce a low-cost computer?

> Mr. Jobs answered that decades-old complaint by stating, “We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk.” He argued instead that the company’s mission was to add more value for customers at current price points.

* https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/2...

USD(2008) 500 = USD(2026) 760:

* https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

which is about what the Neo costs.

Folks are doing some interesting exploration of the pros and cons of different alignments, e.g.:

> When roof area is limited, the question becomes: What layout lets you install the most space-efficient solar capacity within budget on the available area? In those scenarios, an east–west (E–W) layout can outperform a south-facing layout. The South layout may be “better positioned”, but the E-W allows the installation of more panels in the same area.

* https://ases.org/east-west-vs-south-facing-solar-when-more-p...

Basically examining 'quality versus quantity', depending on what your location and roof allows.

Assuming that the landlord (or condo corp/HOA) is willing to pay for the infrastructure upgrades. Also assuming there is electrical capacity.

* https://www.metroev.ca/blog/ev-charger-load-management

There was already a change in software with Alan Dye's departure and Stephen Lemay taking over:

* https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/04/john-gruber-on-alan-dye...

AIUI, lots of folks internal to Apple were not happy with Dye, and are happy with Lemay. Some consider it a failing of the executive that Dye wasn't pushed out sooner (rather than choosing to jump himself).

Ask Boeing, who outsourced a lot of stuff (for the 787, and other things) and had all sorts of problems. To the point they re-integrated a company they spun out in the first place to try to save money with:

* https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2025-12-08-Boeing-Completes-Acq...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_AeroSystems

Ask all the companies that outsourced IT and software development to (e.g.) India, etc.

Unless you're a 'garage orphan': no garage, driveway or parking pad, and have to park on the street.

* https://electricautonomy.ca/news/2019-06-24/solving-the-elec...

* https://www.theenergymix.com/garage-orphans-scramble-for-cha...

Apartments (either rental, or condo ownership) may have underground parking with a few slots for charging.

Why would anyone pay close attention to a sports team? A musician? A writer?

But if you read Arment's post:

> As you grow into the leader that we know you can be, I urge you, on behalf of everyone who loves computers as much as we do, to protect and cultivate this spirit of Apple’s founders as the company’s top priority:

> *We love computers. We don’t hide that — we celebrate it!

> *We use computers to enhance our minds, lives, and abilities — not to be controlled, restricted, tricked, placated, angered, or surveilled.

> *Our computers work for us, with the utmost respect for our time, attention, money, data, and privacy.

> *We are customers and owners — not resources to be harvested, annoyed, or badgered into ever more services and upsells.

> Apple leads the industry in these values, but leading doesn’t always mean excelling. Remaining true to these values requires constant diligence, honest evaluation, introspection, and the audacity and courage to effect change.

* https://marco.org/2026/04/01/letter-to-john-ternus

Perhaps if more companies had values besides "shareholder value"[1] the world would be a better place.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_doctrine