Tootfinder

The problem with Las Vegas is that visitors are now treated like marks rather than guests.
The $50 gotcha charge at Paris Las Vegas for unplugging a cord in the room to charge a laptop is a perfect example:
https://view…

“$50 Charge Because I Unplugged A Cord”: Paris Las Vegas Hotel’s Tiny Print Fee Sums Up Why Visitors Are Fleeing The City
A reader shares that the were billed "$50 to charge a laptop" at Paris Las Vegas, and they thought this was "an even more outrageous fee" than $26 for a bottle of water at Aria. Las Vegas executives can't seem to figure out why tourist visits are declining in the city.

Russian assaults are failing! Ukraine holds its defenses and strikes oil refineries | Front Summary: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/22/russian-assaults-are-failing-ukraine.html

Thinking about giving to folk in #Gaza; quite complicated feelings. Firstly, we do *have* to give, and give personally, because conventional charities are not effectively getting relief to Gaza -- presumably because they are being blocked by #Israel -- and because our governments are doing nothing.
Bu…

The lower 48 United States lost 22 percent of their butterflies in only 20 years
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/06/climate/us-butterfly-population.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referrin…

See How Butterfly Numbers Are Dropping Near You
Populations are falling in the United States, a new study has found. Look up what’s happening in your area.

India's pollution refugees fleeing Delhi's toxic air #India

India's pollution refugees fleeing Delhi's toxic air
Pollution levels in India's capital shaped Natasha Uppal and her husband's decision on parenthood—either raise their child away from the city, or stay put and remain childless.

Numerical study of friction reduction and underlying mechanism of air film via parallel and tandem injections on a hypersonic flat plate at high altitude
Xiuzheng Cheng, Mengyu Wang, Qin Li, Lingyun Wang, Yihui Weng, Pan Yan
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18975

Using "AI" assistants is kinda like stating "all products surrounding us are worse than they were years ago" and following up with "and that is just great".

My grandfather was as a full-on Nazi in World War II.
When he died, I was glad that he was gone.
Today, fascism is rising again and many are falling for its empty promises.
Don’t live your life in a way that your children and grandchildren will hate you.

"I have no internet on my machine anymore". OK, on-site visit.
Me: "What's that connection here?"
"Oh yeah, that colleague added a Wireguard Tunnel on my PC so I can access his server."
M-hm. Let's check the config...
AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

Making this a subtoot so I don't come across as smug or condescending...
My decision to stop using github when they started providing services to ICE back in ~2016 felt awkward at times but has been feeling really good in hindsight right now.
I see a bunch of people now saying "why boycott X company over some "minor" transgression or political capitulation (or over a "neutral" stance on LLM code). The answer is: it shows what their values are, which predicts their future behavior, especially under the tilted playing field of capitalism. I'm by no means perfect at this and I don't think shouting at people to boycott is a good idea for several reasons. People should boycott what they want to, for their own reasons. But I am posting this to try to help others be aware of the upsides of taking action when confronted with "subtle" evidence of corporate unvalues.