Ian Sammis
@isammis.bsky.social
Low-level tech peon; I've also physicsed, written, mathed, and arted for food.
Yeah, when you have footage of Bond dissing the Beatles, you really have to either just decide that “James Bond” is MI-6 for “the Dread Pirate Roberts” or just decide continuity isn’t the way to go here.
November 11, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Yeah, when you have footage of Bond dissing the Beatles, you really have to either just decide that “James Bond” is MI-6 for “the Dread Pirate Roberts” or just decide continuity isn’t the way to go here.
Ok, to be fair, an extremely self-satisfied pile of lunch meat wearing a suit.
November 10, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Ok, to be fair, an extremely self-satisfied pile of lunch meat wearing a suit.
I mean, from Trump or Vance or the others you sense real malevolence. From Hoekstra you get the odd sensation that a pile of lunch meat wearing a suit just sat down to make a press statement.
November 10, 2025 at 9:52 PM
I mean, from Trump or Vance or the others you sense real malevolence. From Hoekstra you get the odd sensation that a pile of lunch meat wearing a suit just sat down to make a press statement.
Oh, there are plenty who are very stupid, but I hold to my belief that Hoekstra stands alone right at the bottom.
This isn’t meant as praise for the others. It’s just that Hoekstra is the zero Kelvin of human sentience.
This isn’t meant as praise for the others. It’s just that Hoekstra is the zero Kelvin of human sentience.
November 10, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Oh, there are plenty who are very stupid, but I hold to my belief that Hoekstra stands alone right at the bottom.
This isn’t meant as praise for the others. It’s just that Hoekstra is the zero Kelvin of human sentience.
This isn’t meant as praise for the others. It’s just that Hoekstra is the zero Kelvin of human sentience.
Holy cow. We’re getting “but why can’t I just get auto insurance if and when I crash???” from a sitting US Senator?
November 10, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Holy cow. We’re getting “but why can’t I just get auto insurance if and when I crash???” from a sitting US Senator?
I did try to warn you. He’s the single stupidest man that the United States has ever produced.
November 10, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I did try to warn you. He’s the single stupidest man that the United States has ever produced.
(I used to teach math at an aggressively non-mathematical small liberal-arts college. I shifted my focus onto mathematical art to fit the school a bit better.)
November 10, 2025 at 1:34 PM
(I used to teach math at an aggressively non-mathematical small liberal-arts college. I shifted my focus onto mathematical art to fit the school a bit better.)
Fair. This is a really old one, but I love how it came out.
(C code, some massaging of the output.)
(C code, some massaging of the output.)
November 10, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Fair. This is a really old one, but I love how it came out.
(C code, some massaging of the output.)
(C code, some massaging of the output.)
Yes. That’s fundamentally what I was arguing here. Conservatives currently love the system because it’s favoured them in the last twenty years. Before that they hated it, because it didn’t.
November 10, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Yes. That’s fundamentally what I was arguing here. Conservatives currently love the system because it’s favoured them in the last twenty years. Before that they hated it, because it didn’t.
Not quite; read on to the rest of my comments. Small states are overweighted.
November 10, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Not quite; read on to the rest of my comments. Small states are overweighted.
The result is a weird system in which it’s perfectly possible for a candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election. This used to be a weird hypothetical, but has happened a lot in the last few decades.
November 10, 2025 at 12:28 AM
The result is a weird system in which it’s perfectly possible for a candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election. This used to be a weird hypothetical, but has happened a lot in the last few decades.
Every state gets two senators, so this overweights small states. Each legislature decides how electoral votes are divided—to maximize their power, most states assign 100% of their electoral votes to whoever wins the state’s popular vote.
/2
/2
November 10, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Every state gets two senators, so this overweights small states. Each legislature decides how electoral votes are divided—to maximize their power, most states assign 100% of their electoral votes to whoever wins the state’s popular vote.
/2
/2
Not quite. We have a really weird scheme that works like this: every state is broken into congressional districts that have roughly equal populations. Each state then gets as many electoral votes for president as the sum of their number of congress seats and Senators /1
November 10, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Not quite. We have a really weird scheme that works like this: every state is broken into congressional districts that have roughly equal populations. Each state then gets as many electoral votes for president as the sum of their number of congress seats and Senators /1
And, to be clear, I’m not excluding the rest of the country’s vote. I’m pointing out that in the (somewhat absurd) case we’re discussing, they’ve been outvoted.
“Being outvoted” isn’t some deep offence against democracy. It’s just something that happens if you can’t convince enough people.
“Being outvoted” isn’t some deep offence against democracy. It’s just something that happens if you can’t convince enough people.
November 10, 2025 at 12:07 AM
And, to be clear, I’m not excluding the rest of the country’s vote. I’m pointing out that in the (somewhat absurd) case we’re discussing, they’ve been outvoted.
“Being outvoted” isn’t some deep offence against democracy. It’s just something that happens if you can’t convince enough people.
“Being outvoted” isn’t some deep offence against democracy. It’s just something that happens if you can’t convince enough people.
Wait, you just shifted your goalposts markedly. Earlier you were counting then entirely populations of states; now you’re specifically referencing cities. Those are not the same thing at all. Shouldn’t rural California get a vote? The current system prevents that.
November 10, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Wait, you just shifted your goalposts markedly. Earlier you were counting then entirely populations of states; now you’re specifically referencing cities. Those are not the same thing at all. Shouldn’t rural California get a vote? The current system prevents that.
So if 100% of the people in all 10 of those very, VERY different states somehow voted in unison for something, it ought not to happen?
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 PM
So if 100% of the people in all 10 of those very, VERY different states somehow voted in unison for something, it ought not to happen?
Places don’t vote. People vote. You’re arguing that people _shouldn’t_ matter if they live in places you dislike.
November 9, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Places don’t vote. People vote. You’re arguing that people _shouldn’t_ matter if they live in places you dislike.
All those local seats are also much less vulnerable to consultant capture.
November 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM
All those local seats are also much less vulnerable to consultant capture.
This sort of thing is great for the Democratic Party generally. It's all those GPSC seats and school board members and local mayors that make a party alive at the local level.
It's because we lost all those seats that Republicans have had such an easy time portraying us as maniacs.
It's because we lost all those seats that Republicans have had such an easy time portraying us as maniacs.
November 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM
This sort of thing is great for the Democratic Party generally. It's all those GPSC seats and school board members and local mayors that make a party alive at the local level.
It's because we lost all those seats that Republicans have had such an easy time portraying us as maniacs.
It's because we lost all those seats that Republicans have had such an easy time portraying us as maniacs.
I’m really confused why learning that she’s perfectly capable presenting as sane is meant to be good.
Either she’s the same lunatic she’s always been, upon which her ability to play sane makes her a much more significant threat, or she’s just utterly amoral and willing to play the Nazi for power.
Either she’s the same lunatic she’s always been, upon which her ability to play sane makes her a much more significant threat, or she’s just utterly amoral and willing to play the Nazi for power.
November 7, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I’m really confused why learning that she’s perfectly capable presenting as sane is meant to be good.
Either she’s the same lunatic she’s always been, upon which her ability to play sane makes her a much more significant threat, or she’s just utterly amoral and willing to play the Nazi for power.
Either she’s the same lunatic she’s always been, upon which her ability to play sane makes her a much more significant threat, or she’s just utterly amoral and willing to play the Nazi for power.
It's not as brilliant as it ought to be, but it's wonderful dumb fun. Lots of "OH CRAP THAT'S RIGHT SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO DEVELOP MAGIC BACK IN CHAPTER 1 BUT I SAVED HER FIRST SO NOW WHAT????"
November 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It's not as brilliant as it ought to be, but it's wonderful dumb fun. Lots of "OH CRAP THAT'S RIGHT SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO DEVELOP MAGIC BACK IN CHAPTER 1 BUT I SAVED HER FIRST SO NOW WHAT????"
After the fact: The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess, a very silly anime about a woman who dies in her mid-twenties and to her horror is reincarnated into the gawdawful magical romance story she wrote when she was 14.
As one of the villains.
As one of the villains.
November 7, 2025 at 5:11 PM
After the fact: The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess, a very silly anime about a woman who dies in her mid-twenties and to her horror is reincarnated into the gawdawful magical romance story she wrote when she was 14.
As one of the villains.
As one of the villains.
When MTG is anchoring the sane wing of a party, it's really time to pack it in.
November 6, 2025 at 3:08 AM
When MTG is anchoring the sane wing of a party, it's really time to pack it in.
… did anyone check his neck afterward? Does he still reflect in mirrors? Should we page Buffy Summers?
November 5, 2025 at 2:47 PM
… did anyone check his neck afterward? Does he still reflect in mirrors? Should we page Buffy Summers?