Max Poletto
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maxp.net
Max Poletto
@maxp.net
53 followers 120 following 73 posts
Generalist computer systems builder, climate nerd. Enjoy cycling, rowing, mountaineering. He/him.
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Reposted by Max Poletto
donmoyn.bsky.social
Gotta admit "the font is DEI" is a stage of absurdity I could not have predicted
phillewis.bsky.social Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 22h
Marco Rubio ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor's decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move
Rubio Stages Font Coup: Times New Roman Ousts Calibri
The secretary of state called it a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters.
www.huffpost.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:17 AM
maxp.net
People like to bury their heads in the sand.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...
Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:20 PM
maxp.net
❤️
tyburr.bsky.social Ty Burr @tyburr.bsky.social · 18d
Why do I love living in Boston? Yo-Yo Ma playing the Bach cello suites before bringing Mayor Wu out to duet for an encore, that’s why.
November 22, 2025 at 7:46 AM
maxp.net
Incredible piece of writing on what it's like to live in Chicago under ICE occupation.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
I Want You to Understand Chicago
aphyr.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:00 PM
maxp.net
"Operation Charlotte's Web": fuck these people all the way to hell.

www.lawdork.com/p/gregory-bo...
Gregory Bovino is exactly who E.B. White — author of 'Charlotte's Web' — warned us about
DHS named its North Carolina anti-immigrant effort "Operation Charlotte's Web." In 1940, White wrote of the "smell" that "rises" from those who "adjust to fascism" over freedom.
www.lawdork.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Max Poletto
kencaldeira.com
In an absurd waste of time, I wrote a blog post about voting and the 19th Chopin Competition.

There has been controversy about who should have won.

Different voting systems would yield different winners. Differences in top rankings are statistically insignificant.

kencaldeira.com/2025/11/chop...
Image of album cover for Eric Lu.
November 13, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Max Poletto
volts.wtf
"Far from a peak, China's gasoline demand is estimated to have fallen 9% in October on the year to 12.5 million tons, with average daily use roughly flat with September..."

China's oil demand is entering structural decline.
EVs put an end to China's usual holiday surge in gasoline use
Tianyu Jiang took a 2,000-km (1,200-mile) road trip this month during China's national holiday week, driving in his electric vehicle from the southwestern Sichuan basin to Beijing for the first time.
www.reuters.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:18 PM
maxp.net
Every time I read about incarceration in the United States I have to go for a walk to cool off. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...
F.C.C. Changes Course on the Price of Prisoners’ Phone Calls
www.nytimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:12 AM
maxp.net
This from the "Head of Mission Alignment" at OpenAI. Huge uncertainties, indeed. 🤡
A slide with the title "A rough sketch of the century". It predicts, among other things, "Global Conflict?" in the 2030s, "Elon King of Mars?" in the 2040s, "Conflicts over Transhumanism?" in the 2060s, and admits, "Note: ... I have *huge* uncertainties around these".
October 30, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Max Poletto
nextdoorsv.bsky.social
I can’t stress this enough: you cannot understand politics without reading this paragraph about why there’s no such thing as a 1/3rd pound hamburger
October 30, 2025 at 2:26 AM
maxp.net
In Utah, homeless people are going to be put into detention camps on the outskirts of town ("large-scale involuntary mental health treatment"). Curious that this is not front page news everywhere.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...
In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:40 AM
maxp.net
No.

on.ft.com/3L3tU6U
Let’s fall in love with cars again
Investing more into roads will only mean higher economic returns for the UK
on.ft.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:13 AM
maxp.net
Clean on OPSEC.
annabower.bsky.social Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · Oct 20
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.

I glanced down at the message.

“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.

So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
"Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here." Anna Bower Monday, October 20, 2025, 5:40 PM Share On: f X inK My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury.
October 21, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by Max Poletto
kathleenclark.bsky.social
A master class from MIT in responding to authoritarian overreach:

Your “premise … is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
… America’s leadership in science & innovation depends on independent thinking & open competition for excellence.
Dear Madam Secretary, I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters. I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education. As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples: • MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions. • MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%. source: https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact • We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree. These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law. The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone. In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education. As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation. Sincerely, Sally Kornbluth
October 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Max Poletto
thedailyshow.com
Excited to introduce Vibes from Meta. Eat your slop, piggies!
September 30, 2025 at 5:59 PM
maxp.net
Make war crimes great again.
bsky.app/profile/atru...
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Sep 30
Hegseth: "We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement."
September 30, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Max Poletto
davelevitan.bsky.social
Absolute failed-state shit that this guy was nominated, approved, and has stayed in office for this long.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Sep 30
Hegseth to military leaders: "Good morning and welcome to the War Department. Because the era of the Department of Defense is over. You see, the motto of my first platoon was 'those who long for peace must prepare for war.'"
September 30, 2025 at 12:31 PM
maxp.net
Echoes of Makani Power, but seemingly simpler and probably more effective?

www.scmp.com/news/china/s...
World’s most powerful flying wind turbine launched in western China
Gigantic gliding ‘power bank’ could help communities cut off from the grid during blackouts and cement China’s leading role in green energy.
www.scmp.com
September 30, 2025 at 9:08 AM
maxp.net
Look at these pathetic fucking Rambo cosplayers www.thedailybeast.com/ice-arrest-g...
September 26, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Max Poletto
nilsgilman.bsky.social
“For my friends: everything; for my enemies: the law.”
September 26, 2025 at 4:38 AM
maxp.net
The US has become a mafia state running shakedown operations. I got to stay after my PhD (and eventually become a US citizen) thanks to H1B. Every day feels like mourning. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...
Trump Says the U.S. Will Institute $100,000 Fee for Skilled Worker Visas
www.nytimes.com
September 20, 2025 at 8:26 AM
maxp.net
One of the few things that makes me optimistic these days.
ember-energy.org Ember @ember-energy.org · Sep 16
NEW | The Electrotech Revolution slidedeck

Electrotech combines solar & wind, EVs & heat pumps, batteries & digitalisation. @kingsmillbond and Ember Futures team unpack how this is reshaping the global energy system 🧵

http://ember-energy....
September 20, 2025 at 8:18 AM
maxp.net
Today I randomly learned [ oeis.org/wiki/User:N.... ] about @swtch.com 's role in building the current OEIS software. It's a small but wonderful piece of the web. Hats off to Russ. :)
User:N. J. A. Sloane - OeisWiki
oeis.org
September 15, 2025 at 6:41 AM
maxp.net
"There are many ways to say that Kirk being assassinated at a public event is a horrific thing that has no place in any civilized society, but “Charlie Kirk was practicing politics the right way” in the New York Times is not one of them."
www.splinter.com/ezra-klein-i...
Ezra Klein Is a Mark
Splinter is your home for news and opinions that challenge power in our political and economic system that's becoming more unhinged each and every day.
www.splinter.com
September 11, 2025 at 8:06 PM
maxp.net
Amazing how quickly we are burning through those dead dinosaurs.
davidho.bsky.social David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Jun 10
If you think climate change has gotten worse during your lifetime, you're right and there's a good reason.

If you're Gen X like me, more than 3/4 of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions have occurred in your lifetime. Even if you're a Millennial, it's at least half.

📊: @neilrkaye.bsky.social
A horizontal bar chart titled "Percentage of Global fossil fuel emissions (since 1751) occurring in my lifetime." The chart shows how much of the total historical global fossil fuel emissions have occurred within the lifetime of individuals of different ages, from 5 to 100 years old. The vertical axis on the left lists ages in increments of 5 years, from age 5 at the top to age 100 at the bottom. The horizontal axis represents the percentage of fossil fuel emissions, marked in 10% increments from 10% to 90%. The black bars represent the proportion of fossil fuel emissions that have occurred during each age group's lifetime. The bars increase in length as the age increases, meaning older individuals have lived through a larger percentage of the cumulative emissions since 1751. Three specific age groups are highlighted with red bars and white text annotations: Age 30: "if you are 30 it is more than 50%" Age 50: "if you are 50 it is about 75%" Age 85: "if you are 85 it is about 90%" The source of the data is cited at the bottom: "CDIAC and globalcarbonproject.org." The graphic is credited to "@neilrkaye."
August 20, 2025 at 6:14 PM