Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Obviously the US New World Order is crumbling, or rather being​
unilaterally abandoned by the US, but the Russians, who were the​
architects of this approach, are even worse off in 2026.

The genius of modern ethnonational politics is  Viktor Orban, who​
commonly does and says things that Putin or Trump will imitate years​
later.   Things were going so well for Putin in so many ways. "Not​
the vile global world but Our Russian World," very Orban-stye ethnic​
purity, lots of fierce cult-religion stuff, fossil-fuel cash-flows​
in heavy demand, a loyal oligarchy of revolving-door billionaires in​
his government.  Moscow physically rebuilt as Dubai, a truly​
impressive shiny new capital...
  

    

That was before the war he started, though, and the war was an​
unforced error.   Putin would *imagine* that the USA and the NATO​
Europeans were his enemy, but they've always been willing to mollify​
him.   I think it's actually the Ukrainians, the Poles and the​
Baltics who are his mortal enemies, with the Chinese busily selling​
him the rope to hang himself.

Also, the Russian Federation was never isolationist.  Instead, it​
was busily building a world counter-order of Syria, Iran, Venezuela,​
Cuba, North Korea et al, and Russia's allies are just in awful shape​
this year.  These aren't NATO-friendly "color revolutions" like​
Euromaidan in Ukraine.  These are brutal uprisings, economic and​
political collapses and ferocious military attacks.   

Iran was the powerhouse of the "Axis of Resistance" and Iran is ​
mangled this year.  They can't bring water to the capital. ​
Inflation is soaring, and they're at the mercy of a New World​
Disorder Israel that has granted itself rogue-state carte blanche to​
blast anything that moves.  Everyone in Iran's region, Iraqis,​
Saudis, Afghans, Kurds, whomever, is watching them bleed and licking​
their fingers.
  

    

Belgrade is full of Russians (and Ukrainians).  I can imagine a​
turnaround for the Ukrainians, if the war stopped and the Europeans​
were generous.   I don't see how the Russians can improve their​
situation.  They're not  
"losing the war" directly,  but their infrastructure's getting​
pounded to pieces.  The Russians don't mind their war casualties any​
more than the USA minds school shootings, but a techno-DJ and a​
romance novelist blew up their fleet of nuclear bombers.  Really and​
truly, that happened.  "Artem and Ekaterima Timofeev."  I keep​
waiting for the hipster Timofeev duo to show up for a second act. ​
If you're name-checking, Artem, Katerina, send playlists.  Feel free​
to use my WELL mail.

"Andrey Averyanov" was the spook mastermind of Putin's offshore​
nerve-poisonings.  Averyanov seems to have been assassinated last​
month on the deck of a "shadow fleet" oil tanker by killer drones​
launched from a Ukrainian baby drone-submarine in the Mediterranean.​
I get it that Russians always operate by their own standards of​
probability.  But nothing works out for them lately.  They ought to​
be trampling the world if the US is decaying (which it obviously​
is).  Instead, the world is trampling them.  
  

    

The Russian ethnics in the separatist provinces -- Luhansk, Donetsk​
-- they have to rank with some of the wretchedest people in the​
world in 2026.  Just, cruel,  endless bombings and shellings for​
them.  For ten years and counting, drafts, corruption, warlords, and​
not a friendly face anywhere.  Not in Russia, not in Ukraine. No​
sympathy, not a word of pity anywhere .  Even the former-Yugoslavs,​
who had a very similar hiustorical experience, never send them any​
hot meals or bandaids.  

How bad can it get with no functional world-order, well, that bad: ​
as bad as Mariupol, as bad as Gaza.  Czar Putin was supposed to be​
the gilded patriarch of those places, or else their noble protector.​
Putin wasn't all that bad as Russian leaders go historically, but I​
think he badly mis-read the state of the world.  An "Iraq Weapons of​
Mass Destruction" level of self-induced delusion.   Sometimes you​
can stumble over the truth and dust yourself off later, and there​
are other times when the truth blows you to bits.
  

    
Meanwhile in drone evolution:

<https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltair>

> Voltair builds drones that ‘perch’ like birds to recharge on​
power lines. For this first time, this allows for drones with​
infinite range. Removing battery swaps is the last step to deploy​
UAVs autonomously at scale. After building drones for the Air Force​
and DARPA, Ronan realized this was both practical and technically​
feasible.

Their first customers are power companies that want to inspect their​
power lines with drones. I guess they decided they'd rather work on​
civilian applications, but there are obvious military implications. ​
Maybe Ukraine won't need a truck to carry their drones next time, if​
they can just follow the power lines?
  

    
I'm thinking that Tony the AI ghost mechanic might be a better​
metaphor than an AI driver. There can be a lot of back and forth​
getting a program to work. "I fixed it! Try it now." "It didn't​
work. Here's the error." "I see the problem! Try it again."

My AI mechanic is actually named Shelley. I woke up early with an​
idea this morning and decided I had to try it out. It sort of​
worked, but this turned into a full-on debugging session with​
Shelley for a tricky problem getting copying to the clipboard to​
work on a tablet. Got it working in the end.

AI "hallucinations" don't seem bizarre in this context. It's just​
Tony trying another idea that didn't work.
  

    
In the Bashkiria Region, east of Moscow, locals have revived the​
tradition of Samaurly Ritaiym (samovar dances) where crowds gather​
to drink tea (not alcohol), play music, and dance.​
<https://globalvoices.org/2025/11/28/in-russias-bashkiria-region-a-revived-trad
ition-of-samovar-dance-parties-for-young-people/>

Regardless how things are going anywhere in the world, people just​
don't stop dancing.
  

    
I'm hearing plenty lately about "Claude Code" from professionals​
whose judgement I respect.  They're uttering some mindblown stuff​
like "we may be solving all of software" and "I have godlike powers​
now."

This month, vibe-coding has a Kesey acid-test vibe to it.  I​
wouldn't believe that the acid is "godlike." I'm ready to believe​
that it's like acid.   "Log on, Lean In, Slop Out".
  

    
Is this the DJ we're looking for?
https://soundcloud.com/timofeyev

He might also have a bandcamp
https://artyomtimopheev.bandcamp.com/track/very-cool

here's a photo of them:​
https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/ukrainian-born-artyom-ti
mofeev-37-105786613.jpg

I tried finding his wife Katya's e-novel "I Became Bad While You​
Loved Me" but it is harder to locate.

I was just going to read it for the articles. 
  

    
She wrote under the pen name "Katerina Gato" and called herself a​
witch on social media. 

More like a Night Witch:
https://wrightmuseum.org/the-soviet-night-witches/
  

    
Google released a new version of Gemini recently and that's​
generally considered the leading model.

There's a guy at our church actually who's a kind of Zelig of the​
computer industry.  You bring up a famous name; he claims he's met​
or known that person; and gives an interesting story or two.  It's​
hard for me to imagine that it's all true but even if 70% of it were​
true that would be remarkable.  Last Sunday one name I didn't know​
that he mentioned at Google is Peter Danenberg - and yes it seems​
Peter does exist.  "A senior software engineer at Google DeepMind​
who works on the Gemini AI platform and related Google AI tooling." ​
Not Jeff Dean so that much more interesting that Bernd would know -​
or at least know of - him.  I asked Bernd: what happens when​
computers can program themselves?  He agreed but didn't have his own​
elaboration.

So I've had a lot of interaction with E Asia for 40 years. ​
Academic, professional, and personal.  It's been growing on me for a​
while but my discontinuity there is that I've, in many ways, lost​
interest.  Not entirely but, for example, after 6 years in Tokyo as​
the systems programmer for a joint-venture quantitative investment​
mgmt firm, Japan had grown repetitive and kind of boring.  One​
instance is that I'd go to some kind of social function and I felt​
like the questions I'd be asked by some new person could be mapped​
out in a flow chart.  It was funny.  One (Japanese) guy I met for​
the first (and last) time said to me: you Westerners are like an​
open book.  I looked at him and responded: you don't know - we're​
turned to the wrong page.

In 1990 while in Tokyo, we opened a small office in Singapore; I​
built the computer and networking systems there; and I needed to​
travel to Singapore periodically to do more work.  First thing I​
noticed was the tropical climate, second I noticed that Chinese​
culture is really very different from Japanese.  That all, at the​
time, seemed very compelling and there was plenty to engage with and​
study.  One interesting book was Alfred Russel Wallace's "The Malay​
Archipelago."  Or try Benedict Anderson's "Imagined Communities."  

Later, back in California, I married my wife who's Malaysian​
Chinese.  I remember something Chalmers Johnson said in a course at​
Cal.  You want a ferocious psycho-social incubator?  Try a Chinese​
household.  Indeed.  He'd actually ben a China expert before he​
later became a Japan expert.  I assume he spoke and read both​
languages.

But it's now something like 35 years later from the start of that; I​
hear all these opinions about E Asia; and I feel tired.  Some of​
these people have experience in E Asia, and some more than myself. ​
So what's up with that?

I'm looking for new topics.  Not Well topics - world topics.  Ah -​
the present cacophony?  Right, just what does that mean?  I assume​
there is some meaning to it.  Finance was in fact a useful perch​
from which to view the world.  While I liked some of the people​
there a lot of the people there I didn't like and many of them​
seemed to think that finance is the only way to view the world. ​
Finance is a very important way to view the world but it's not the​
only and when that company imploded thanks to the GFC I was, more or​
less, happy to return to tech.
  

    
My list is hugely long but one interesting China-related blog is:

https://gaodawei.wordpress.com/

The title of his latest article is: 1993 – 2016: (9) : Political​
Party Divisions Are Based on Class Divisions : Chapter Nine of​
“The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》


Retired US diplomat now living near DC, who spent many years working​
in China, his blog has very interesting translations and​
interpretations of a wide variety of Chinese-language documents. ​
Many of topical (if obscure) note.

So no, I haven't lost interest entirely.
  

    
> Is this the DJ we're looking for?
> https://soundcloud.com/timofeyev

I saw that, but it says that guy's from St. Petersburg, and the​
spelling's a little different. So not clear that it's the same​
person.
  

    
Hi, thanks for everyone’s thoughts, especially about Asia. 
I just had an experience that may relate to AI.  Last night I​
noticed my link to the digital world, an iPad, was failing. It​
looked hopeless so I priced a replacement and went bed.  But it was​
still running in the morning just was losing battery 
So looked up how to back up stuff, did that, and had 2% battery when​
it finished 
Then I found an old iPad and managed to absorb all my usernames and​
credentials from iCloud onto its different antique hardware and OS​
and abracadabra…
  

    
"My list is hugely long but one interesting China-related blog is:"

https://gaodawei.wordpress.com/

*Thanks for recommending that, it seems quite useful and​
interesting.  And quite to the point too, since a lot of it seems to​
be about machine translation of arcane contemporary Chinese texts.
  

    
A current political issue that seems under-recognized to me is how​
much Trump and his enablers have destroyed the American​
Establishment and the Republican Party.

MAGA takes its cues from Viktor Orban and is an​
ethnonational-kleptocrat scam.  But if you think of the situation​
from Trump's draft-dodging Boomer heyday, around 1968 or so, he's​
extremely disruptive and radical -- an "up against the Wall," smash​
the State type.
  

    
Long-established, conventional Republican tenets that have​
vaporized:

"Establishment Republican" protective, patriarchal, stabilizing,​
figures of the Nelson Rockfeller type.  These guys were firmly​
placed in the American cultural elite of libraries and art galleries​
and universities.  They could deliver censorious lectures on​
cultural propriety, and had credibility in doing it -- "Mobil Oil​
Company brings you the ballet."  They might as well have all been​
hanged from lanterns.  In 2016 there's not a trace of 'em.

"Billy Graham" figures who were "the nation's pastor."  They're all​
Elmer Gantry now.  They nailed themselves to the wrists and ankles​
to public sleazebags who break all Ten Commandments every week. ​
Their megachurches are bunkers for rifles and race-war.  No one​
including themselves expects an ounce of moral decency out of them. ​
They've become unholy.  And they know it.
  

    

"Limited government."  Nope.  Not any more.  No government at all,​
sometimes, but never with well-defined "limits."

Constitutional Rights: first amendment, fourth amendment, nineteenth​
amendment.  They don't care.  The Constitution is of no relevance to​
even to the former Tea Party.

States' rights.  They invade towns and states with masked squads. ​
American states that ignore or contradict them are enemy states.
  

    
Free market capitalism.  They're oligarchs, grifters and​
kleptocrats.  They also run protection rackets in which business​
leaders have to publicly flatter them and bribe them.

Independent banking system.  They hate functional bankers, and​
prefer crypto and money-laundering.  Foreign bribes, actively sought​
out, more than acceptable.

Reducing the debt.  They never actually did that, but now they've​
forgotten the idea entirely.

NATO.  They hate and fear their own military alliances, and the​
older and more traditional and established those alliances, the​
worse they are. They'll fight with Canada, with Mexico; they're beat​
up Denmark.
  

    

US International soft power, various influence efforts, global​
regulatory schemes, global trade regulations -- they hate fear and​
abandon every one of them.  In every "developing world" burg where​
there was an American flag over some do-gooder scheme, they've​
pulled it down and burned it.

Also, American power-centers that seemed really invulnerable in the​
USA, the true hard-core apparatus: the FBI, the CIA, the Pentagon,​
the Supreme Court -- and "the Republican Party," of course... all​
just storm-wracked, flooded, mildewed.  They'll never be the same​
again.
  

    

If you really loved those aspects of straight-laced America, the​
native land of squares and the Silent Majority, it's a source of​
grave anxiety.  If you're a May '68er "Situationist," and you ​
thought the whole Moloch-style enterprise was always rotten,​
exploitative, alienating and basically a paper-thin, TV-screen​
"Spectacle," it's incredible to see just one year of a new​
Presidency doing so much of your hard work for you.  It's like 1968​
turned inside out.

The Boomers are leaving on a very bad note -- but they are leaving. ​
They're leaving emptiness and wreckage as they head for the​
graveyards, but this is the second quarter of the 21st Century. ​
It's not an era of Baby Boom Population Bomb.  It's an era of​
radically shrinking populations and disturbed landscapes.  

Viktor Orban's Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, they all have severe​
baby-busts and mass regional abandonments.  They're signature​
national scenes are villages demolished, shuttered factories maybe​
fit for a rave or some laser-tag.  It sounds very alarming, but​
Turin is rather like that, and I spent most of this century in​
Turin.  I've had quite a good time of it, even; not that life there​
was perfect, but there was so much empty room, and so many​
unheard-of  creative things to become enthusiastic about, in a very​
old town with so much new elbow-room.   
  

    
Boomers living the USA today are seeing their most sacred​
assumptions about governance wrecked, pretty much like the​
demolition of the East Wing of the White House, which no one would​
have thought possible. We were taught that the USA is a "melting​
pot" where immigrants from across the world were welcomed into the​
cultural blend that had evolved here. We heard over and over again​
that "this is a free country," America is a democracy, a place of​
truth, justice, and freedom for all. We learned that ours is a​
representative government with three co-equal mutually supportive​
branches - the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial,​
governed by the rule of laws, not men, following a well-established​
constitutional order.
  

    
In the past year, that's all been burning down. The government of​
the USA reviles immigrants, sending masked jack-booted thugs round​
up anyone who looks like they might be an immigrant, deporting them​
to countries where they have no history and no friends. The current​
administration ignores the Constitution when it conficts with their​
whims - the sense that we are free and that "all men are created​
equal" is lost. Laws created to protect minorities are now being​
used to protect white nationalists and diminish people of color. Now​
justice is what the administration says it is, laws are applied​
selectively, or ignored. The Legislative and Judicial branches of​
government have surrendered their power to the Executive, and the​
Supreme Court has convinced the current President that he is immune​
from prosecution, above the law. And that President is doing what he​
can to trash the economy of the country if not the world. He has​
dismantled infrastructures for scientific and health research, and​
has installed a former heroin addict, now conspiracy theorist to​
transform the government's health apparatus from one based on​
science to one based on whim and supposition. 
  

    
<116-121> is the epic, twisted elegy that the GOP deserve after​
hoisting themselves on their own petards. 

 Shame about all the collateral damage tho. We're going to be​
dealing with the unexploded ordinance and salted earth through the​
middle of the century.
  

    
Via email from "fruitbatpangolin":

Hiya folks, loving this year's gothic theme, corrupt line endings​
are really a perfect metaphor.

Am finding the 'Regex Replace' extension useful for making things​
easier to read, though I am not sure if doing so degothics the​
experience or enhances it through the fact of having to use arcane​
tools.

About the whole flying car thingy, for the public to think of it as​
a 'flying car' product category (at least that is separate from​
planes and helicopters) requires keeping something weighing more​
than a metric ton airborne, with a maximum thrust cross section of​
maybe 3-4 meters squared and a wing that is basically just the car,​
that can also be used from residential spaces. 

If we are talking VTOL, this needs to generate 150 - 200+ mph​
downdraft purely to hover, never mind accelerate upwards. If you​
want to take off from the street in something like that under its​
own recognisance, without some breakthrough in physics, things are​
going to get a wee bit windy.

And this is all without asking about how where you put the fuel for​
this.

Of course someone could invent antigravity, but in that case fuck​
the winged car, I want some boots.

But all is not lost, an aerodynamic wedge lifting-body is a​
perfectly reasonable thing, as long as it is already going sideways​
fast. And in cities you have some alternative launch strategies,​
such as winched drops from the side of tower blocks as part of the​
municipal infrastructure. And then landing the same way, like those​
lunatic pilots on mountains. Buildings as vertical runways​
basically. Very efficient for short flights.

Maybe in the suburbs you could have a trebuchet style arrangement.​
and then normal runways in the outskirts and rural. But basically I​
am saying, flying cars in high rise cities could actually sort of​
work, but only as skyscraper sugargliders with supporting municipal​
infrastructure and not taking off from an alleyway like in​
Bladerunner, unless you want to blow all the bins around.