Eli Kohlenberg
@ekohlenberg.bsky.social
And she‘s a former Walmart exec. So very likely, especially with stock options and other perks, she could be making a lot more running a for-profit firm. And even among non-profits, exec salaries are competitive, because having a great CEO is more valuable than saving 0.03% of your budget.
November 26, 2025 at 4:35 AM
And she‘s a former Walmart exec. So very likely, especially with stock options and other perks, she could be making a lot more running a for-profit firm. And even among non-profits, exec salaries are competitive, because having a great CEO is more valuable than saving 0.03% of your budget.
which is that managing a huge organization with a huge budget is a valuable skill. FA takes in and spends over $3B/year. So if their CEO makes them 0.1% more efficient (at bringing in that money OR spending it) she’s earned her keep several times over. 2/
November 26, 2025 at 4:30 AM
which is that managing a huge organization with a huge budget is a valuable skill. FA takes in and spends over $3B/year. So if their CEO makes them 0.1% more efficient (at bringing in that money OR spending it) she’s earned her keep several times over. 2/
I’m not sure exactly what you’re saying, but yeah, WCK has several execs making ~$300k/year. They also have about 1/10th the budget of FA, so I don’t think that’s incomparable. It’s reasonable not to support a charity that pays enormous salaries, but they do for the same reasons as for-profits 1/
November 26, 2025 at 4:26 AM
I’m not sure exactly what you’re saying, but yeah, WCK has several execs making ~$300k/year. They also have about 1/10th the budget of FA, so I don’t think that’s incomparable. It’s reasonable not to support a charity that pays enormous salaries, but they do for the same reasons as for-profits 1/
I’m quite sure part of how he rationalizes his complicity is to tell himself it’s not about his career, but about staying in the administration in order to steer it for the better.
But Little Marco can’t steer shit, his career will ultimately go down with Trump and this little tragedy will end.
But Little Marco can’t steer shit, his career will ultimately go down with Trump and this little tragedy will end.
November 23, 2025 at 2:41 AM
I’m quite sure part of how he rationalizes his complicity is to tell himself it’s not about his career, but about staying in the administration in order to steer it for the better.
But Little Marco can’t steer shit, his career will ultimately go down with Trump and this little tragedy will end.
But Little Marco can’t steer shit, his career will ultimately go down with Trump and this little tragedy will end.
I think Rubio lacks the spine to fight Trump, or the influence or charisma to change the administration’s course, but also lacks the spine to defend what he knows is indefensible to his former colleagues’ faces.
Far from the worst person in the administration, which makes him all the more pathetic.
Far from the worst person in the administration, which makes him all the more pathetic.
November 23, 2025 at 2:38 AM
I think Rubio lacks the spine to fight Trump, or the influence or charisma to change the administration’s course, but also lacks the spine to defend what he knows is indefensible to his former colleagues’ faces.
Far from the worst person in the administration, which makes him all the more pathetic.
Far from the worst person in the administration, which makes him all the more pathetic.
The black piping on the placket is somewhere between “tux and shirt rented for junior prom” and “Chippendales dancer”
November 21, 2025 at 8:19 PM
The black piping on the placket is somewhere between “tux and shirt rented for junior prom” and “Chippendales dancer”
Contrasts interestingly with the scene from early in “The Idiot”, where Prince Myshkin postulates that the guillotine may be more cruel than execution by torture because the cold certainty of impending death, counting your last moments without the distraction of physical pain, must be unbearable.
November 21, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Contrasts interestingly with the scene from early in “The Idiot”, where Prince Myshkin postulates that the guillotine may be more cruel than execution by torture because the cold certainty of impending death, counting your last moments without the distraction of physical pain, must be unbearable.
Aha, I did find it. I got some significant details wrong but I think I had the thrust about right, which isn’t bad for having read it seventeen years ago.
But I did forget that that story is really only an introduction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
But I did forget that that story is really only an introduction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
A Hidden Hazard of Espionage
From 2008: How paranoia about double agents, and other fantasies of the trade, drove spies to delusion.
www.newyorker.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Aha, I did find it. I got some significant details wrong but I think I had the thrust about right, which isn’t bad for having read it seventeen years ago.
But I did forget that that story is really only an introduction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
But I did forget that that story is really only an introduction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
Eventually things go sideways, someone sees the other officer’s gun and everything is not cool. They leave, hearts racing.
As the dust settles and they debrief, le Carré realizes that there was no contact. The guy had just gone stir crazy, literally crazy, and dragged him into the delusion.
As the dust settles and they debrief, le Carré realizes that there was no contact. The guy had just gone stir crazy, literally crazy, and dragged him into the delusion.
November 20, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Eventually things go sideways, someone sees the other officer’s gun and everything is not cool. They leave, hearts racing.
As the dust settles and they debrief, le Carré realizes that there was no contact. The guy had just gone stir crazy, literally crazy, and dragged him into the delusion.
As the dust settles and they debrief, le Carré realizes that there was no contact. The guy had just gone stir crazy, literally crazy, and dragged him into the delusion.
So he does, kind of excited to maybe have something interesting happen for once, and gets in the guy’s car, both strapped, to go meet a contact out in the country.
They show up at the agreed upon meet-up point which is a little rural cafe, and sit down to have a drink and wait. 2/
They show up at the agreed upon meet-up point which is a little rural cafe, and sit down to have a drink and wait. 2/
November 20, 2025 at 6:36 PM
So he does, kind of excited to maybe have something interesting happen for once, and gets in the guy’s car, both strapped, to go meet a contact out in the country.
They show up at the agreed upon meet-up point which is a little rural cafe, and sit down to have a drink and wait. 2/
They show up at the agreed upon meet-up point which is a little rural cafe, and sit down to have a drink and wait. 2/
I’ve never been able to find it, but I remember once reading a narrative essay by John le Carré about an incident while he was an intel officer in WG or France, where a more senior officer in the same city tells him he needs his help with a mission and to bring a gun. 1/
November 20, 2025 at 6:33 PM
I’ve never been able to find it, but I remember once reading a narrative essay by John le Carré about an incident while he was an intel officer in WG or France, where a more senior officer in the same city tells him he needs his help with a mission and to bring a gun. 1/
Oh, I think we are all a lot more like LLMs than most of us (and, for various reasons, especially people on Bluesky) would like to think.
November 20, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Oh, I think we are all a lot more like LLMs than most of us (and, for various reasons, especially people on Bluesky) would like to think.
That makes sense. Evolutionarily it makes sense that if most people are able to visualize it has an adaptive function. But it’s fascinating how many aphantasic people can solve tasks without visualization that other people rely on visualization for. (“How many windows does your house have?”)
November 20, 2025 at 4:49 AM
That makes sense. Evolutionarily it makes sense that if most people are able to visualize it has an adaptive function. But it’s fascinating how many aphantasic people can solve tasks without visualization that other people rely on visualization for. (“How many windows does your house have?”)
There are obviously social aspects as well, and as with e.g. autism or other neurodivergence that can be a real disadvantage even if not professionally or academically measurable. But I found this the most powerful and painful paragraph in the whole piece, and it’s about a very internal experience.
November 20, 2025 at 4:42 AM
There are obviously social aspects as well, and as with e.g. autism or other neurodivergence that can be a real disadvantage even if not professionally or academically measurable. But I found this the most powerful and painful paragraph in the whole piece, and it’s about a very internal experience.
That makes sense. At least from the perspective of that piece, it seems like most of the… disadvantages are less about practical functioning in society (which seems to be how a lot of modern disability theory and advocacy is framed) and more about how people enjoy life and their memories.
November 20, 2025 at 4:37 AM
That makes sense. At least from the perspective of that piece, it seems like most of the… disadvantages are less about practical functioning in society (which seems to be how a lot of modern disability theory and advocacy is framed) and more about how people enjoy life and their memories.
Did you see this (recent) article?
It focuses a decent amount on the disadvantages and negative experiences of aphantasic people, but makes a pretty explicit choice, seemingly based on the perceived preferences of the community, not to call it a disability.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
It focuses a decent amount on the disadvantages and negative experiences of aphantasic people, but makes a pretty explicit choice, seemingly based on the perceived preferences of the community, not to call it a disability.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Some People Can’t See Mental Images. The Consequences Are Profound
Research has linked the ability to visualize to a bewildering variety of human traits—how we experience trauma, hold grudges, and, above all, remember our lives.
www.newyorker.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:28 AM
Did you see this (recent) article?
It focuses a decent amount on the disadvantages and negative experiences of aphantasic people, but makes a pretty explicit choice, seemingly based on the perceived preferences of the community, not to call it a disability.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
It focuses a decent amount on the disadvantages and negative experiences of aphantasic people, but makes a pretty explicit choice, seemingly based on the perceived preferences of the community, not to call it a disability.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reagan cut funding for a lot of mental health services, including in-patient. That does not make it impossible for people to be involuntarily committed, especially after being convicted of a crime.
Sounds like you are the one who needs to hit the books.
Sounds like you are the one who needs to hit the books.
November 18, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Reagan cut funding for a lot of mental health services, including in-patient. That does not make it impossible for people to be involuntarily committed, especially after being convicted of a crime.
Sounds like you are the one who needs to hit the books.
Sounds like you are the one who needs to hit the books.
He thought he was dreaming because he was fucked up on drugs. It doesn’t sound like he has ever expressed a desire to hurt anyone.
Weird to say you don’t like locking people in cages, but that you don’t trust judges or doctors to decide who needs to be involuntarily committed.
Weird to say you don’t like locking people in cages, but that you don’t trust judges or doctors to decide who needs to be involuntarily committed.
November 18, 2025 at 2:55 AM
He thought he was dreaming because he was fucked up on drugs. It doesn’t sound like he has ever expressed a desire to hurt anyone.
Weird to say you don’t like locking people in cages, but that you don’t trust judges or doctors to decide who needs to be involuntarily committed.
Weird to say you don’t like locking people in cages, but that you don’t trust judges or doctors to decide who needs to be involuntarily committed.
What’s to prevent anyone from doing that? What’s the evidence it’s something he’s going to do?
He is in mental health treatment. Why do you think you know better than his doctors what risk he poses?
He is in mental health treatment. Why do you think you know better than his doctors what risk he poses?
November 18, 2025 at 2:47 AM
What’s to prevent anyone from doing that? What’s the evidence it’s something he’s going to do?
He is in mental health treatment. Why do you think you know better than his doctors what risk he poses?
He is in mental health treatment. Why do you think you know better than his doctors what risk he poses?
He’s not even allowed *near* planes, according to the article. And he’s required to be in drug and alcohol treatment.
I do not see what good locking him up would do, in prison or a hospital. It doesn’t sound like he is chronically mentally ill.
I do not see what good locking him up would do, in prison or a hospital. It doesn’t sound like he is chronically mentally ill.
November 18, 2025 at 2:44 AM
He’s not even allowed *near* planes, according to the article. And he’s required to be in drug and alcohol treatment.
I do not see what good locking him up would do, in prison or a hospital. It doesn’t sound like he is chronically mentally ill.
I do not see what good locking him up would do, in prison or a hospital. It doesn’t sound like he is chronically mentally ill.
Historical materialism: the belief that history is driven by absolute individual and class interests and that ideology and virtue motivate no one except well-to-do Marxists
November 15, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Historical materialism: the belief that history is driven by absolute individual and class interests and that ideology and virtue motivate no one except well-to-do Marxists
Reposted by Eli Kohlenberg
“Don’t send me the best pasta in the world, anything but that!”
🇮🇹“Worse! I’ll send it too you cheaper than you can possibly make it”
🇺🇸”I am undone!”
🇮🇹“Worse! I’ll send it too you cheaper than you can possibly make it”
🇺🇸”I am undone!”
November 8, 2025 at 3:35 PM
“Don’t send me the best pasta in the world, anything but that!”
🇮🇹“Worse! I’ll send it too you cheaper than you can possibly make it”
🇺🇸”I am undone!”
🇮🇹“Worse! I’ll send it too you cheaper than you can possibly make it”
🇺🇸”I am undone!”