Troy Bigelow @Shady_Coder

@JayCaruso Haha, having worked as a software developer for General Electric, Xerox, Wachovia/Wells Fargo, I know they are 'laying off Americans to replace them with "cheap foreign labor.'. I have lived this scam.

A couple years ago, Mikala Sposito applied for a work ethic scholarship from my foundation. She asked for $2,700.00 to help realize her dream of becoming a welder. (Actually, her first dream was to become an Olympian. As a kid, she excelled at horseback riding, dance, soccer, and track, but not quite at the Olympic level. So, Mikala adjusted her dream and focused on something within her reach. Precisely the kind of commonsense approach to making a living we try to encourage.) Toward that end, Mikala filled out the application, jumped through all the necessary hoops, and signed the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge, as all applicants must. According to our internal ranking system, which is inherently subjective and relative to each batch of new applicants, Mikala scored a 94, and was awarded $2,100.00, or roughly 80% of what she asked for. This is typical of the average percentage awarded to an excellent applicant. As a rule, we almost never award the entire amount requested. We want our recipients to have some skin in the game, and we encourage all applicants to apply for additional scholarship funds elsewhere, which Mikala did. But in this case, if I had it to do over again, I think I’d have awarded Mikala the full $2,700.00. Why? Because this woman is precisely why I award work ethic scholarships in the first place, as recent headlines prove. Headlines all over the country that identify Mikala Sposito as the sole welder to represent Team USA in the upcoming @WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai. This is a very big deal. The World Skills competition is often referred to as the Olympics of the skilled trades, so it looks like Mikala’s dream is coming true after all. And it seems to me her journey is worth a brief encapsulation. Before she applied for a scholarship from mikeroweWORKS, Mikala demonstrated an affinity for welding in SkillsUSA. As a senior at Dexter High School, she won 1st Place at the SkillsUSA Michigan high school competition and went on to place 14th nationally. Then, as a freshman at Washtenaw Community College, she repeated her success by taking 1st Place in the Michigan college division. She then advanced to nationals, where she finished 8th in the country. That earned her an invitation to the Team USA pre-trials, which whittled the nation's top 16 young welders down to three. At the final USA Weld Trials at the Robotics Technology Park in Huntsville, Alabama, each competitor was evaluated on precision, safety, technical execution, craftsmanship, and multi-process capabilities under extreme time constraints. Mikala Sposito took the Gold, officially becoming the first woman to represent the United States in welding at WorldSkills. Next week, she’ll face off against the absolute best of the best from all over the world. I should point out that Mikala would prefer it if the press didn’t make a big deal of her gender, and I completely understand. (She’s a welder – not a “weld-her.”) But today, the industry is in desperate need of proof that women can and do excel in the trades. Nationally, just 4.3% of tradespeople are female. At mikeroweWORKS, our female applicants are closer to 20%, but I assure you that percentage could be much higher. Companies are anxious to recruit talented welders of any gender, and women need to understand and believe the opportunities are real. Mikala prove that in spades, and I want to offer her my sincere congratulations, and invite all of you to do the same. Because Mikala Sposito is exactly what our country needs a lot more of. People who understand that talent is never enough to compensate for laziness. In her application, she wrote, “Hard work beats talent any day of the week, and nobody is going to outwork me. Period.” She also connected with every point of the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge but said the final tenet resonated with her the most. “Some people choose to be lazy. Some people choose to sleep in. I choose to work my butt off.” My favorite quote, however, is Mikala’s response to seasoned professionals who see her wield a torch and call her a “natural.” “I’m not a natural,” she says. Far from it. And none of this came easy. I worked and trained 60-80 hours a week for two years to get here.” Regardless of what happens in Shanghai, the job offers are already piling up, including the most recent from SpaceX. She hasn’t graduated yet, but the future looks bright, and I for one would not bet against her. PS. I never do this, but since my name is in the title of the foundation, I suppose I can. Mikala – please accept the additional $600 you requested from mikeroweWORKS two years ago. Shanghai is expensive, and since you’re representing all of us, we’d like to provide you with a little walking around money. The check is in the mail. Now…go get the gold!

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In response to the clip going around with the African lady saying 'WHAT WHITE CULTURE!?!' Because I can explain it in more detail than anyone else... here are the main things that create western civilisation. The principle, the law of nature that is an adaptation to and what operation it creates in our civilisation. THE WESTERN CIVILISATION STACK Western civilisation can be understood as a set of adaptations to the laws of nature that allow millions of people to cooperate, solve problems and innovate together. 1. SOVEREIGNTY — Let people act. Law of nature: Knowledge and ability are distributed among individuals. No ruler or institution can know everything everyone knows. Sovereignty gives people freedom to choose, experiment and solve problems for themselves. That creates millions of independent problem-solvers instead of waiting for one authority to find the answer. 2. RECIPROCITY — Don’t impose your costs on others. Law of nature: Cooperation survives when it benefits both sides. Freedom cannot mean freedom to steal, defraud, injure or force others to carry your costs. Reciprocity means pursuing your interests while respecting the same right in others. It turns conflict into cooperation and makes peaceful life among strangers possible. 3. RESPONSIBILITY — Make people accountable for consequences. Law of nature: Every action produces consequences. Freedom works when the person making a decision also bears responsibility for its results. When people can keep the benefits of their choices while forcing the costs onto others, cooperation breaks down. Responsibility reconnects choice with consequence. 4. PROPERTY — Make control and consequences clear. Law of nature: Resources are scarce and cannot satisfy every competing use at once. Property establishes who controls something, who may use or exchange it, and who bears the consequences of those decisions. That reduces conflict, encourages people to improve what they possess, and makes investment and long-term planning possible. 5. TRUTH — Correct error faster than reality punishes you for it. Law of nature: Reality does not change because we believe something false. Truthful testimony, open criticism and evidence allow people to discover mistakes before those mistakes become catastrophes. A civilisation that can criticize and correct itself can learn faster than one that protects comforting falsehoods. 6. CONTRACT — Make cooperation possible across time. Law of nature: Cooperation requires predictable future behaviour. Promises backed by reputation and law allow strangers to trust one another enough to cooperate. Contract lets one person invest today because another can credibly promise performance tomorrow. That makes enormous networks of specialization, trade and investment possible. 7. RULE OF LAW — Replace arbitrary power with predictable rules. Law of nature: People have conflicting interests, and power creates opportunities for predation. Law provides a common procedure for resolving disputes without violence or personal rule. When rulers and citizens are both constrained by known rules, people can cooperate, invest and experiment without constantly fearing arbitrary interference. 8. DUE PROCESS — Test accusations instead of trusting authority. Law of nature: Human beings are biased, mistaken and sometimes dishonest. An accusation is not proof. Evidence, defense, confrontation, impartial judgment and appeal create an adversarial process for discovering error. Due process protects both society from wrongdoing and individuals from arbitrary punishment. 9. DECENTRALISATION — Let many solutions compete. Law of nature: No one knows in advance which adaptation will work best. Families, firms, towns, institutions and governments can try different solutions to different problems. Failures can remain local while successful solutions spread. Decentralisation therefore turns society itself into a continuous experiment. 10. MARKETS — Let reality select among competing solutions. Law of nature: Evolution advances through variation, selection and retention. Markets allow people to try different products, services and ways of organising resources. People select among them through voluntary choice. Successful solutions attract resources; unsuccessful ones disappear or improve. Markets turn millions of choices into continuous social learning. 11. SPECIALISATION — Let differences become advantages. Law of nature: People differ in knowledge, ability, resources and circumstances. Instead of everyone doing everything badly, specialization lets people become exceptionally good at different things and exchange the results. Cooperation converts human differences from a source of conflict into a source of increasing productivity. 12. SCIENCE — Institutionalise error correction. Law of nature: A false model eventually fails when tested against reality. Science turns doubt into a productive institution: observe, propose, test, criticize, replicate and correct. Knowledge therefore does not have to depend upon authority or tradition. Every generation can discover where the previous generation was wrong and build upon what it got right. 13. CAPITAL — Preserve successful adaptations. Law of nature: Progress compounds only when successful adaptations survive. Tools, businesses, infrastructure, institutions and knowledge allow yesterday’s successful experiments to become tomorrow’s starting point. Each generation does not begin again from zero. It inherits accumulated solutions and adds another layer. 14. EDUCATION — Transfer accumulated knowledge between generations. Law of nature: Individuals die; knowledge does not have to. Writing, schools, apprenticeships and universities allow discoveries to survive their discoverers. Instead of every generation rediscovering mathematics, engineering, medicine and law, it begins with thousands of years of accumulated learning. 15. COMMONS — Build things that make everyone more capable. Law of nature: Cooperation can produce benefits no individual could produce alone. Courts, roads, standards, security, scientific knowledge, infrastructure and trustworthy institutions multiply everyone's ability to act. A successful civilisation does more than protect private interests: it continually creates shared capital that makes future cooperation cheaper and more productive. THE RESULT These principles form a system: Sovereignty creates experimentation. Reciprocity makes it peaceful. Responsibility makes it sustainable. Property makes interests clear. Truth corrects error. Contract creates trust across time. Law suppresses predation. Decentralisation preserves alternatives. Markets select successful solutions. Specialisation multiplies productivity. Science accelerates discovery. Capital preserves what works. Education transmits it. Commons multiply everyone's capabilities. That is the deeper logic of the Western stack: Stable rules + distributed freedom + relentless error correction = cooperation at scale and accelerating innovation.

Agentic coding in 2026

Mike Trout will indeed be purchasing a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle for Christmas in 2033.

“If you want to hate America, watch the news. If you want to love America, drive through it” ~German World Cup fan

Apostles: Endgame

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57 years ago

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He was so clearly dead at the end of the last one. It's such bullshit when Hollywood just brings the protagonist back for the sequel just because he's popular with the audience.

DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm

5 months ago

First look at ‘THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST’ sequel. In theaters on May 6, 2027.

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Old school apprenticeship with AI, interesting guy...

tobi lutke @tobi

6 months ago

x.com/i/article/2052…

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Maturing is realizing that we are all sIaves to the bottom 20 percent of society, far more than we are to the top 1 percent.

To err is human, to really F up you need a computer...

Polymarket @Polymarket

6 months ago

NEW: Claude-powered coding agent reportedly deleted a company’s production database, and backups, in 9 seconds.

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Weekend's here folks--let's gas it up

😂

🤣So creative and funny: Why the divorce rate is so high! Got me good too.

As a former Special Forces Warrant Officer with multiple rotations running counterinsurgency ops—both hunting insurgents and trying to separate them from sympathetic populations—I’ve seen organized resistance up close. From Anbar to Helmand, the pattern is familiar: spotters, cutouts, dead drops (or modern equivalents), disciplined comms, role specialization, and a willingness to absorb casualties while bleeding the stronger force slowly. What’s unfolding in Minneapolis right now isn’t “protest.” It’s low-level insurgency infrastructure, built by people who’ve clearly studied the playbook. Signal groups at 1,000-member cap per zone. Dedicated roles: mobile chasers, plate checkers logging vehicle data into shared databases, 24/7 dispatch nodes vectoring assets, SALUTE-style reporting (Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment) on suspected federal vehicles. Daily chat rotations and timed deletions to frustrate forensic recovery. Vetting processes for new joiners. Mutual aid from sympathetic locals (teachers providing cover, possible PD tip-offs on license plate lookups). Home-base coordination points. Rapid escalation from observation to physical obstruction—or worse. This isn’t spontaneous outrage. This is C2 (command and control) with redundancy, OPSEC hygiene, and task organization that would make a SF team sergeant nod in recognition. Replace “ICE agents” with “occupying coalition forces” and the structure maps almost 1:1 to early-stage urban cells we hunted in the mid-2000s. The most sobering part? It’s domestic. Funded, trained (somewhere), and directed by people who live in the same country they’re trying to paralyze law enforcement in. When your own citizens build and operate this level of parallel intelligence and rapid-response network against federal officers—complete with doxxing, vehicle pursuits, and harassment that’s already turned lethal—you’re no longer dealing with civil disobedience. You’re facing a distributed resistance that’s learned the lessons of successful insurgencies: stay below the kinetic threshold most of the time, force over-reaction when possible, maintain popular support through narrative, and never present a single center of gravity. I spent years training partner forces to dismantle exactly this kind of apparatus. Now pieces of it are standing up in American cities, enabled by elements of local government and civil society. That should keep every thinking American awake at night. Not because I want escalation. But because history shows these things don’t de-escalate on their own once the infrastructure exists and the cadre believe they’re winning the information war. We either recognize what we’re actually looking at—or we pretend it’s still just “activism” until the structures harden and spread. Your call, America. But from where I sit, this isn’t January 2026 politics anymore. It’s phase one of something we’ve spent decades trying to keep off our own soil.

Marvin Gaye did not have a single clue what was going on in the world lmaooooo

THE PLAY DRAWERS, airing today during Sunday NFL Countdown (7-10 a.m. PT on ESPN)!

@bdomenech Karen Coup

Trea Turner was the only qualified hitter in the National League to bat .300 in 2025. Enjoyed his response when asked if he could explain why it’s so hard:

@NunesMagician