The Gulf next door

https://www.semafor.com/article/03/01/2026/view-the-gulf-next-door

Stephen Walt in Foreign Affairs described Trump’s foreign policy as “predatory hegemony”: “The bottom line is that acting as a predatory hegemon will weaken the networks of power and influence on which the United States has long relied and which created the leverage that Trump is now trying to exploit… Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but a backlash could come with surprising swiftness. To quote Ernest Hemingway’s famous line about the onset of bankruptcy, a consistent policy of predatory hegemony could cause US global influence to decline ‘gradually and then suddenly.’”

 

NASA, the Space Shuttle Challenger and Decision-making

There’s a renowned fictional case study (originated by Jack Brittain and Sim Sitkin) which is used in business schools to help students understand the risks around poorly informed decision-making. The scenario that students are given is to imagine that they are John Carter, the founder of a car racing team. The team is coming up to a very important race – important because there is big prize money at stake, and doing well in the race could mean that they get great publicity but also that they stand a much better chance of winning a big new sponsorship deal which is sorely needed.

The problem however, is that in 7 out of the last 24 races the engine in the Carter racing car has failed, meaning an early retirement from those races. 

u/Eisgboek on online relationship scams

https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueOffMyChest/comments/1rcx7lt/i_traveled_7000_km_to_meet_a_webcam_girl_and_it/o734xkb/?share_id=O8TLJx8CgXpbh7ebmqzJA&context=3

I hate to say, but that's actually part of how the scam works. I mentioned in another comment that it happened to a friend of mine and it was the same scenario. Hours on webcam for the first while until he figured it couldn't be a scam because he was talking to the same person every time and there were no signs of it being anything other than a great connection with another person.

But then once he was good and invested, the requests for money started. But not how you would assume they would if it was a scam. They started by being coupled with a refusal... "I don't have enough for both rent and groceries this week so I guess I'll have to go hungry. No no no. Don't send me any money. That's not what I'm asking. I don't need your help". Until they've somehow got you actually pushing to send them money.

And after that you realize that sending them little bits of cash you won't even miss will go so much further for them in Colombia and besides, it's all your idea so it can't possibly be a scam. And they were so grateful for your help that you're officially in a relationship now and don't couples share money anyways?

But then an emergency happens [...]

u/AlexanderHamilton04 explains grammar

https://www.reddit.com/r/grammar/comments/1raroa2/was_vs_were/o6lzs84/

We use the 'subjunctive mood' to talk about hypotheticals or things that are counterfactual to reality (impossible situations).

Ex: If she were real, she would have to be 8 feet tall to match the proportions of that doll.

↥ Here we use "were" (the subjunctive form) to talk about a hypothetical
situation, "If she were real..."

---

"She was real" is stating a fact (nothing hypothetical or counterfactual).
"I have accepted that she was real." (present tense, perfect aspect)

"I had accepted that she was real." (past perfect) often used to indicate
that an action was completed.

This was before "that action had been completed":

This was before "I had accepted that she was real."

"I was skeptical of it."
"I was skeptical of it even before I had accepted that she was real."

There is nothing hypothetical or counterfactual here. You could even say:
"I never accepted that she was real."

---

---

If you can replace "accepted she was real" with "accepted the fact that she was real,"

then "was" is the correct choice. 

‘They’re back to making millions’: workers accuse US mill where five died in blast

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/29/didion-milling-wisconsin-explosion-deaths

In December 2020, 52-year-old Randal Rote was killed on the job at Didion Milling after being engulfed in a grain bin. Osha issued proposed fines of $676,808 for 14 violations that the company is also currently contesting. The agency criticized the company for failing to learn from previous incidents.

Just a few months prior, according to Osha, a large grain shelf collapsed and nearly engulfed another Didion Milling employee who was cleaning the inside of a grain bin at the time.

Terri Gernstein, the director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at the Harvard Law School Center for Labor, said: “Clearly those fines weren’t sufficient to get the company to completely overhaul its operations to make sure to really, really prioritize workplace safety.

“Because if they had, another worker wouldn’t have been killed three years later.”

Zacharias H. McClendon d. December 18, 2013

https://www.riemannfamily.com/obituaries/zacharias-mcclendon

Zacharias H. McClendon, age 25, of Gulfport, MS, went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, December 18, 2013, in Oxford, MS.

Zach was born in Gulfport to Percy Eugene and Paula Kaye Lee McClendon. He was a graduate of Gulfport High School where he was registered in many gifted classes. He served twice as first chair in the Honor Orchestra for the state of MS playing upright base and cello. He earned an invitation to go to Governor's School during summer break in high school and eventually accepted an educational scholarship to Williams College in Williamstown, MA, where he earned a degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry. During some of his free time, he substitute taught at Gulfport High School and taught Biology 101 at MGCCC in Perkinston. Zach also trained with American Medical Response to be a paramedic. He furthered his education at MS College where he earned his Master's Degree in Biology, Medical Science. He also had interned under two orthopaedic surgeons locally. He was currently an M.B.A. candidate at the University of Mississippi. Zach was going to make the announcement at Christmas to his family and friends that he had been accepted to the University of MS Medical School in Jackson. He was a talented and smart guy who enjoyed tutoring, cooking, and helping others. His accomplishments in such a short time period are a testimony of his God-given spirit as he journeyed to be a doctor that would help the less fortunate. Zach was truly a gift from God. Prior to his birth, the Lord spoke to his mother which led to the name he was given, which was not the name originally selected for him. His legacy of integrity, hard work, and love for others will live on with his family and friends.

Fear and Anger Grow as Thousands Remain Without Power in the South

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/us/storm-power-outages-tennessee-mississippi-louisiana.html

Hurricanes and tornadoes, particularly in the South, often cause prolonged power outages, and residents are accustomed to going days without electricity. But it is rare to experience a loss of power during a sustained stretch of ice and freezing temperatures, with cold so fierce that it has left hundreds of workers struggling to navigate icy roads as they try to fix the electrical system.

Anger was continuing to boil over toward the leadership of the Nashville Electric Service. The utility has struggled for days not only to restore power across the city and surrounding county, but also to accurately communicate to customers the scope of the repairs and the timeline needed to complete them.

For Some Americans, the End of Obamacare Subsidies Means Falling Off a Financial Cliff

Earning just one dollar more could mean a $10,000 increase in insurance premiums.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/upshot/obamacare-subsidies-financial-cliff.html

Why was the Affordable Care Act created with a cliff back in 2009? The policy achieved a few important goals for the legislators who wrote it. It limited the total cost of the legislation — an important constraint imposed by the Obama White House. And it insulated Democrats from attacks that they were handing out tax credits to wealthy Americans.

In the early years of Obamacare, the cliff meant a cost increase of a few thousand dollars a year for a typical 60-year-old, though prices varied around the country. Younger Americans, whose insurance tends to be cheaper, often experienced even smaller differences. (The numbers in our charts above illustrate incomes and subsidies for a 60-year-old living in the contiguous United States.)

Dan Sacks, an associate professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, described the difference at the time as more of a “kink” than a “cliff.”

“The expectation was that this would not be a hard cutoff for many people,” he said.

In the years since, as insurance costs have risen faster than incomes, that cliff has gotten taller.

Me and My Shadow

https://kevinsmithstory.blogspot.com/2011/02/me-and-my-shadow.html

In 2006, director Kevin Smith told a detailed story about his friend Jason Mewes' drug addiction on his blog in several parts. Here, I have put it all in one post for all to read and including a connected Jason Mewes video christmas gift to Kevin. The copyright is owned by Kevin Smith and this blog has no affiliation with Kevin, Jason or View Askew Productions...but I think they all rock and probably won't mind. It's one of the most beautiful stories ever told. Enjoy

The Silver-Lined Bullet

https://rethinkingprosperity.substack.com/p/the-silver-lined-bullet?triedRedirect=true

Construction inefficiency isn’t just an operational drag—it’s a financial choke point. Every delay or miscommunication translates directly into dollars: idle crews, wasted materials, loan interest accruing day by day. For small developers, these costs can turn a promising infill project into an unviable gamble. Margins evaporate long before walls go up. The result is that only large, capital-heavy projects pencil out, while the kind of modest, human-scale housing our cities need—duplexes, triplexes, courtyard homes—rarely makes it past the pro forma stage. The system, in effect, prices out the middle housing we claim to want.