Thoughts on The Last Jedi

2026-09-22T15:21:03Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} ''Reading this only makes sense if you have already watched The Last Jedi, and probably the..."

{{pubdate|22|September|2026}}

''Reading this only makes sense if you have already watched The Last Jedi, and probably the other seven Episodes as well. Given how many surprises and twists have been in Episode VIII, I expect to be completely off, and to be delightfully surprised and entertained when Episode IX appears. For now, here’s my incomplete understanding of watching Episode VIII once and not understanding all of the dialogue. I really should start using subtitles in cinemas.''

“You were the Chosen One! You were to bring balance to the Force, not leave it in Darkness.” That is what Obi-Wan yelled at Anakin (back in Episode III). The Chosen One spoken of in the ancient Jedi prophecies — which are probably written down in the exact books that Luke thinks destroyed by Yoda, just before he performs his last sacrifice in order to give the Resistance enough time to flee in the Millenium Falcon. Yoda though already understood the prophecies better than Obi-Wan or Luke, he said that they likely have been misread: the Chosen one was not meant to destroy the Sith.

What does balance mean? The Jedi were basically the top security power of the Republic, the prime power next to the Senate. The Sith? Just a legend, and even in legend there were only two of them at a time, forced into hiding by the powerful Jedi. If the Chosen One was promised to bring balance between the Jedi and the Sith, the near destruction of the Jedi is indeed the most effective step to reach that goal — something Yoda seemed to have known.

From the middle of Episode III to VI, both Sith and Jedi were in a similarly precarious situation, both sides locked in existential fights. When Luke trained Kylo and the other young Jedi, he was starting to tip the balance again to one side. The fateful night when Luke was contemplating killing his own nephew in his sleep, when Kylo turned to the Dark Side, the balance shifted, and a champion for the Light Side was needed — enter Rey in Episode VII. Snoke himself said that Rey only came in in order to balance Kylo. Does he realize that the goal of either of the sides winning must be doomed if the Force — the all powerful Force! — will always plot to overturn any victory, will always counter any time any side starts winning, even if it means to create beings as powerful as Vader or Rey?

The lesson of Episode VIII — the message of the movie, not just within Star Wars, but also for everyone’s life — is about the importance of failure, how effective failure is as a teacher, as long as one is resilient enough to use it as a lesson. And indeed, the film is full of failures, so full of failures one might question half of the plotlines because they don’t lead to any pay off. Poe fails to stay loyal, starts a rebellion on the fleeing Resistance ship because of Vice-Admiral Holdo’s failure as a leader to communicate her plan. Finn’s failure to bring the beacon to lead Rey back into a safe space gets him into a crazy plan to shake off the First Order. Finn and Rose’s quest to find the Codebreaker, and then to switch off the tracker, failed miserably on the last second, and made that whole storyline look so futile. Luke’s failure to train and raise Kylo. Or Rey. Leia’s failure to keep the Resistance safe. Rey’s failure to bring Luke with her to the Resistance. Rey’s failure to attack Snoke. Rey’s failure to turn Kylo to the Light. Kylo’s failure to convince Rey to join him in creating a new order. Kylo’s constant failures in Snoke’s eyes. The film is full of failures, and these almost entirely annihilate the Resistance, and indeed Leia’s legacy of ending the Empire and creating the New Republic, a Republic spanning the whole galaxy. At the end of the movie the active part of the Resistance fits inside the Millenium Falcon.

These failures, once processed by the numerous protagonists of the movie, can lead to a great pay off in Episode IX. Destiny — and the Force — have probably taught our protagonists exactly the lessons they need in order to be in place to finally fulfill the prophecy and bring balance to the Force. Poe already showed a little of that new found wisdom, as acknowledged by Leia in her beautiful handoff — “What are you looking at me for? Follow him!”

How could that look like? An end to both Sith and Jedi, an end to the dichotomy of the Light and Dark Side of the Force? Well, that’s certainly one way to have balance, both being at zero. But that’s where the boy with the broom comes in. The Force remains present, even if the Skywalkers end their little family feud (and there are not that many Skywalkers left anyway). Will Rey and Kylo find their own new ways to a new world? To a new balance? Maybe one where balance is not defined by which order is stronger, by whether the Jedi or the Sith rule the galaxy, but by a balance in each and every force wielder themselves?

Luke said that he saw the Dark Side in Kylo, but it was clear that this was his own perception. Kylo was very strong, and Luke always was suppressing his Dark Side very much, so the Dark Side in Kylo, even if it were much weaker than his Light Side, would have certainly looked frightening to Luke. If you ask Kylo it was Luke who triggered the Dark Side in himself by, well, trying to murder him. But Luke also saw how reckless Rey was with regards to the Dark Side. Rey went to the Pond of the Dark Side, and seems to have left it untainted. What if the Dark Side and the Light Side are, indeed, just sides of the same Force? If that division is meaningless to the Force but an invention of the Sith and Jedi? If they were not meant to be separated inside individuals, but kept at balance within?

Did you notice the Jedi symbol in the fountain in Anch-To? It was half black, half white, not the representation of the symbol I usually remember. Was there a long lost time where the balance was already achieved?

Balance does not have to be at a near zero level. But the story of the galaxy as told in the saga is a story of millions of deaths, of planets and stars destroyed, of entire fleets annihilated, and in the end it will always be without effect, because the Force will always overturn any victory. Either we have to achieve a new synthesis of Dark and Light, and find a new way to balance the powers — no matter how it looks like — or we have to continue the circles of destruction, which was quite deliberately started anew with Episode VII mirroring so much of Episode IV, and the star wars will keep going on and on.

P.S.: Now you may ask what if the balance is restored, does this mean an end to Star Wars? And even for that this movie offers the answer, by the peak into the world of Canto, where we see that even without a mythological Force that splits the world in Dark and Light, the world offers enough shades of gray to generate conflicts and interesting stories into all eternity.

: ''This post was [https://medium.com/@vrandezo/thoughts-on-the-last-jedi-542cda304604 first published on Medium] on December 18, 2017''

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Melodies of Power

2026-09-22T15:03:31Z

Denny:

They say that one may gain control over the Powers that influence and shape our lives by knowing their True Names. As many other things that They say, this one is not true. As many other things that They say, this one has a seed of truth deep in its core.

The first part that is not true is that one may actually control the Powers, just as the Powers never control our lives either. The Powers might make reaching some goals harder for some people, some goals easier for other people. They may conspire to make it almost impossible for anyone to reach certain goals. But they can never control our lives. And in return, we can never control them. We can make it harder for them to touch us, or we can invite them to help us, we might bargain with them, threaten them, plead with them, but we can never control them. That is the ancient and unbreakable pact that we humans made with the Powers, that none of us may ever control the other. We all have free will.

The second part that is not true is that they have True Names. Many of the Powers are older than words, and thus, older than names. And without names they also have no True Names that bind and control them. But even though they are older than words, there is something even more ancient than them: Melody.

And so, when the Powers were young, melodies formed memories in them, and until this day, many, many centuries later, the same melodies still might soothe them, make them happy, make them sad, or even might hold them at bay, if sung perfectly. And even if we forgot about the Powers, and only our stories and legends sometimes remember them, the Powers never forgot about us, cannot forget about us, nor about the melodies. And sometimes, very rarely, we humans not only discover these melodies, humming them mindlessly, or playing random notes, but we also notice that these melodies are melodies of Powers. Maybe ‘notice’ is too strong a word, but yet, we know it to be true, we simply know, deep within, if we listen, carefully. But we hardly ever do.

Some of these melodies have been woven into ceremonies old a millennium or two, and that is why catholic masses all around the world are sung with the same melodies, no matter what language they use. Some of these melodies have only been discovered recently, and that is why football stadiums all around the world thunder the bass riff of Seven Nation Army.

One of these melodies, as banal as it is, the most famous of them maybe, although not the oldest, is the melody some of us sing to the words ''‘Twinkle, Twinkle, little star…’''. C-C-G-G-A-A-G. These lyrics were written down in the early 19th century, but the melody was much older. And indeed, more than a hundred years earlier, the lyrics to ‘Baa, baa, black sheep’ were written down, to the very same melody, and both songs are still sung today. And not only these two lyrics, also the alphabet song uses the same melody, and the millenia old oh so arbitrary, oh so meaningful order of the letters of the alphabet song follow the very same melody, C-C-G-G-A-A-G.

But the melody is even older than ''‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’'' or ''‘Baa, baa, black sheep’'', in fact, it was written down by no one other than that young musical genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (and catalogued by Köchel with variations under the numbers 265 and 300), and was also used by Haydn, Liszt, and Bach (although not the famous one, but rather his fifth son). But Mozart did not invent it, but rather, while travelling through France, he heard it sung, as it was there already known for a long time, as a children’s song, ''‘Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman’''.

Who knows where the parents of 18th century France heard the melody before. Maybe it was from the same people who sang it to the neighbouring Germans, singing ''‘Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann’'' to the melody, with words from Hoffmann von Fallersleben, the same one who wrote the words for the German anthem. Maybe the same people the Dutch heard it from, to sing ''‘Altijd is Kortjakje ziek’''. To the other side, in Spain it is sung to ''‘Campanita de Lugar’'', and further to the east, in Hungary, to ''‘Hull a pelyhes fehér hó’''. Maybe it was already sung in the Roman empire, ''‘Mica, mica, parva stella’'', or maybe that was invented much later.

Or is it even older, much older? Because we can also hear the Arab people singing it to ''‘Lailiaa, lailiaa ya Nishmesh’'', maybe the Turks brought it to Europe and the Arabs, singing ''‘Daha Dün Annemizin’'', and maybe the Turks picked it up from the Chinese, singing ''‘Yi shan, yi shan, liang jing jing’''. But how did it make it to the Philippines, ''‘Ning Ning nang munting butuin’''? Maybe the song only spread in modern times, with those lyrics, but maybe it was already there, since the dawn of history and before.

Did the first nations of the Americas sing that song to their children? Protect them from the Powers, with words that neither matter nor are known anymore, as long as the melody is sung? Did people south of the Sahara, in the cradle of humanity, sing the melody the first time, tens of thousands of years ago? We cannot know. History does not care about the melodies sung by mothers to their children.

Whoever it was who discovered this melody, wherever this happened, at what time, long past, we have to be thankful. The Power that is kept at bay by this melody was a terrible one. We punished it with forgetting. We do not know anymore what Power it was. And maybe, if all goes well, we will never know it again. As long as parents sing to their children the melodies they heard themselves, as long as this circle remains unbroken and newly made, from generation to generation. C-C-G-G-A-A-G.

----

First published on [https://medium.com/@vrandezo/melodies-of-power-b36670411b18 Medium] on May 1, 2016.

{{tag|Story}}
{{tag|Fiction}}

Melodies of Power

2026-09-22T15:02:07Z

Denny:

They say that one may gain control over the Powers that influence and shape our lives by knowing their True Names. As many other things that They say, this one is not true. As many other things that They say, this one has a seed of truth deep in its core.

The first part that is not true is that one may actually control the Powers, just as the Powers never control our lives either. The Powers might make reaching some goals harder for some people, some goals easier for other people. They may conspire to make it almost impossible for anyone to reach certain goals. But they can never control our lives. And in return, we can never control them. We can make it harder for them to touch us, or we can invite them to help us, we might bargain with them, threaten them, plead with them, but we can never control them. That is the ancient and unbreakable pact that we humans made with the Powers, that none of us may ever control the other. We all have free will.

The second part that is not true is that they have True Names. Many of the Powers are older than words, and thus, older than names. And without names they also have no True Names that bind and control them. But even though they are older than words, there is something even more ancient than them: Melody.

And so, when the Powers were young, melodies formed memories in them, and until this day, many, many centuries later, the same melodies still might soothe them, make them happy, make them sad, or even might hold them at bay, if sung perfectly. And even if we forgot about the Powers, and only our stories and legends sometimes remember them, the Powers never forgot about us, cannot forget about us, nor about the melodies. And sometimes, very rarely, we humans not only discover these melodies, humming them mindlessly, or playing random notes, but we also notice that these melodies are melodies of Powers. Maybe ‘notice’ is too strong a word, but yet, we know it to be true, we simply know, deep within, if we listen, carefully. But we hardly ever do.

Some of these melodies have been woven into ceremonies old a millennium or two, and that is why catholic masses all around the world are sung with the same melodies, no matter what language they use. Some of these melodies have only been discovered recently, and that is why football stadiums all around the world thunder the bass riff of Seven Nation Army.

One of these melodies, as banal as it is, the most famous of them maybe, although not the oldest, is the melody some of us sing to the words ''‘Twinkle, Twinkle, little star…’''. C-C-G-G-A-A-G. These lyrics were written down in the early 19th century, but the melody was much older. And indeed, more than a hundred years earlier, the lyrics to ‘Baa, baa, black sheep’ were written down, to the very same melody, and both songs are still sung today. And not only these two lyrics, also the alphabet song uses the same melody, and the millenia old oh so arbitrary, oh so meaningful order of the letters of the alphabet song follow the very same melody, C-C-G-G-A-A-G.

But the melody is even older than ''‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’'' or ''‘Baa, baa, black sheep’'', in fact, it was written down by no one other than that young musical genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (and catalogued by Köchel with variations under the numbers 265 and 300), and was also used by Haydn, Liszt, and Bach (although not the famous one, but rather his fifth son). But Mozart did not invent it, but rather, while travelling through France, he heard it sung, as it was there already known for a long time, as a children’s song, ''‘Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman’''.

Who knows where the parents of 18th century France heard the melody before. Maybe it was from the same people who sang it to the neighbouring Germans, singing ''‘Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann’'' to the melody, with words from Hoffmann von Fallersleben, the same one who wrote the words for the German anthem. Maybe the same people the Dutch heard it from, to sing ''‘Altijd is Kortjakje ziek’''. To the other side, in Spain it is sung to ''‘Campanita de Lugar’'', and further to the east, in Hungary, to ''‘Hull a pelyhes fehér hó’''. Maybe it was already sung in the Roman empire, ''‘Mica, mica, parva stella’'', or maybe that was invented much later.

Or is it even older, much older? Because we can also hear the Arab people singing it to ''‘Lailiaa, lailiaa ya Nishmesh’'', maybe the Turks brought it to Europe and the Arabs, singing ''‘Daha Dün Annemizin’'', and maybe the Turks picked it up from the Chinese, singing ''‘Yi shan, yi shan, liang jing jing’''. But how did it make it to the Philippines, ''‘Ning Ning nang munting butuin’''? Maybe the song only spread in modern times, with those lyrics, but maybe it was already there, since the dawn of history and before.

Did the first nations of the Americas sing that song to their children? Protect them from the Powers, with words that neither matter nor are known anymore, as long as the melody is sung? Did people south of the Sahara, in the cradle of humanity, sing the melody the first time, tens of thousands of years ago? We cannot know. History does not care about the melodies sung by mothers to their children.

Whoever it was who discovered this melody, wherever this happened, at what time, long past, we have to be thankful. The Power that is kept at bay by this melody was a terrible one. We punished it with forgetting. We do not know anymore what Power it was. And maybe, if all goes well, we will never know it again. As long as parents sing to their children the melodies they heard themselves, as long as this circle remains unbroken and newly maid, from generation to generation. C-C-G-G-A-A-G.

----

First published on [https://medium.com/@vrandezo/melodies-of-power-b36670411b18 Medium] on May 1, 2016.

{{tag|Story}}
{{tag|Fiction}}

Story

2026-09-22T13:39:27Z

Denny:

2026-09-11T09:46:49Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} The last few days, the Website was going really slow again. And I was preparing for a frustr..."

{{pubdate|11|September|2026}}

The last few days, the Website was going really slow again. And I was preparing for a frustrating fight with Bitnami, Google Cloud, and whatever else to figure things out.

I have to admit that this is not what happened. Google Cloud has a Gemini-powered Cloud Assist chatbot. And I just asked it what to do. The suggestions sounded reasonable, and it wrote down the exact commands. A few times I came to an error, but just copy-pasting it to the assistant, it quickly found out what to do instead, and, well, it seemed to have worked. The site is now up and running, and for the last half an hour or so, CPU utilisation has dropped dramatically. Cloud Assist predicted a drop from 100% utilisation to 5%, so far I can see 40%, but hey, that's a great start. I can actually read my own entries again!

Then I went a step further, to resolve a long-standing issue: the page did not have https yet. What was OK 25 years ago, when it launched, has long been something that browsers really loudly complain about. Rightfully.

Again, it was a question to cloud assist, and it took me through the steps.

All of the steps I did today, none of them were hard. It was, in fact, embarrassingly easy. It was just configuring tools that already were downloaded and existed and downloading and running one tool.

Well then, that's a win, for me and for AI! Thanks Google Cloud Assist!

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September 2026

2026-09-11T09:38:26Z

Denny: Created page with "{{Month|September|2026}}"

August 2026

2026-08-22T10:30:54Z

Denny: Created page with "{{Month|August|2026}}"

The Odyssey 2026

2026-08-22T10:30:40Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} I mean, it's Nolan. It's a great movie. He knows how to make movies. So the three hours pass..."

{{pubdate|22|August|2026}}

I mean, it's Nolan. It's a great movie. He knows how to make movies. So the three hours pass like a breeze and are enjoyable. The cast is great, I particularly enjoyed Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson and Samantha Morton as Circe.

Agamemnon was absolutely breathtaking. He stole every scene he was in. (Until he started talking. I didn't like his voice. But those looks!)

The first half hour or so of the movie felt like an extended trailer. Which is very Nolan, but surprising and a little unsettling given the familiar setting and story. It gets more settled and classical later on.

I really disliked the body horror scenes around Circe. And the design of the monsters was... unsatisfying. Polyphem? Ok. Unusual and new. But then Scylla with the same beige color and skin-like texture? It looked like Ray Harryhausen. Which was fine in his time, but underwhelming in a 2026 AAA title. But it did give me a genuine jump scare.

I found the whole movie lacking color saturation. I have to compare it to 2004 Troy, which I find much more appealing as a Greek mythology saga movie. The Odyssey is a 2026 movie, binding it to our time in subtle ways, on the expense of the timelessness that Troy has.

(Spoilers in this paragraph) But what I really enjoyed was the novel twist to the plot, that I haven't seen before. That it was Odysseus who broke the old contract that was keeping society together. That this was the reason for the long way home. In a way this was the same core plot point as Oppenheimer. And possibly an important lesson for our age. That gave food for thought. But almost like a memory of the thoughts that Oppenheimer provoked. But I enjoyed these ideas explored in such a familiar setting.

Now that I spilled out my thoughts, let's see what others have written. And again, it's a great movie. Worth watching.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Odyssey_(2026_film) Wikipedia article on the movie]

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Croatia's goal was stolen! Portugal is scripted to advance

2026-07-04T06:32:03Z

Denny:

{{pubdate|4|July|2026}}

The feed for my Facebook reels is now full of videos analyzing the Croatian goal that wasn't counted, and with conspiracy theories about the whole World Cup being scripted for a Ronaldo-Messi finale.

And this is how easily social media radicalizes you. I have no idea how widespread either of these ideas are. Is there really a dominating public debate happening about this? I don't think so. But for me, looking at my Facebook reels, it would appear like this is the most important thing happening right now. And look at all these people making smart videos agreeing with me! And not a single one disagreeing!

I'm confirmed in my bias. Look, everyone thinks that the VAR was wrong. Everyone thinks Croatia was robbed of a chance to continue to compete. And yet nothing is happening.

I have two ways I can react: first, I could try to do something. Protest. Demand reform. Make petitions. Get involved with the relevant governing bodies and make changes. Obviously I don't care nearly enough to put in that energy and change the priorities in my life for that. And as I do that, I would actually feel the resistance in real life, notice how little support that idea actually may have. A reality check

The second way: I engage with these videos, write supporting comments, strengthen this belief and get sucked in by tapping on a screen, get more cynical about the world because although everyone believes the same as I do, nothing is changing, so it must be “them” who keep the real control and decide differently. My trust in institutions further erodes, seeing the obvious discrepancy between what everybody believes and between what actually happens.

The bubble wrap around me gets tighter, splintering society further. Shared spaces starve, because folks prefer the comforts of confirmation over confronting conflict. I mean, why even try to reach across the aisle if my tribe is so big? If we are the obvious majority?

And the designers behind the social media feed algorithms either know all of this and still pursue it, intentionally, because of the monetary advantages it brings, or they have given up on caring and handed the decisions over to an algorithm whose goal is engagement. The algorithm is unaware of any cost not modeled in its objective function. Like a paperclip maximizer, it is set up to maximize engagement or whatever the metric is, even if it breaks society. That would be either an externalized cost, or not relevant for this quarter’s metrics, or just invisible.

This isn’t about the Croatia game. This is about how we process crises and deal with controversies, from COVID and the January 6 insurrection to elections and institutional trust. It is about vaccines and raw milk, the support for Ukraine, the rise of authoritarianism, our response to climate change. This is about how our society is breaking.

Why do we allow social media algorithms to tear our social fabric apart? Is this just another complaint to feed my own bubble, getting confirmation from others, but not do anything about? What about you, will you just agree and move on? Or are we willing to put in the work and make a change?

{{tag|Simia}}
<noinclude>{{simiapost|english}}</noinclude>

Croatia's goal was stolen! Portugal is scripted to advance

2026-07-04T06:28:04Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} The feed for my Facebook reels is now full of videos analyzing the Croatian goal that wasn't..."

{{pubdate|4|July|2026}}

The feed for my Facebook reels is now full of videos analyzing the Croatian goal that wasn't counted, and with conspiracy theories about the whole World Cup being scripted for a Ronaldo-Messi finale.

And this is how easily social media radicalizes you. I have no idea how widespread either of these ideas are. Is there really a dominating public debate happening about this? I don't think so. But for me, looking at my Facebook reels, it would appear like this is the most important thing happening right now. And look at all these people making smart videos agreeing with me! And not a single one disagreeing!

I'm confirmed in my bias. Look, everyone thinks that the VAR was wrong. Everyone thinks Croatia was robbed of a chance to continue to compete. And yet nothing is happening.

I have two ways I can react: first, I could try to do something. Protest. Demand reform. Make petitions. Get involved with the relevant governing bodies and make changes. Obviously I don't care nearly enough to put in that energy and change the priorities in my life for that. And as I do that, I would actually feel the resistance in real life, notice how little support that idea actually may have. A reality check

The second way: I engage with these videos, write supporting comments, strengthen this belief and get sucked in by tapping on a screen, get more cynical about the world because although everyone believes the same as I do, nothing is changing, so it must be “them” who keep the real control and decide differently. My trust in institutions further erodes, seeing the obvious discrepancy between what everybody believes and between what actually happens.

The bubble wrap around me gets tighter, splintering society further. Shared spaces starve, because folks prefer the comforts of confirmation over confronting conflict. I mean, why even try to reach across the aisle if my tribe is so big? If we are the obvious majority?

And the designers behind the social media feed algorithms either know all of this and still pursue it, intentionally, because of the monetary advantages it brings, or they have given up on caring and handed the decisions over to an algorithm whose goal is engagement. The algorithm is unaware of any cost not modeled in its objective function. Like a paperclip maximizer, it is set up to maximize engagement or whatever the metric is, even if it breaks society. That would be either an externalized cost, or not relevant for this quarter’s metrics, or just invisible.

This isn’t about the Croatia game. This is about how we process crises and deal with controversies, from COVID and the January 6 insurrection to elections and institutional trust. It is about vaccines and raw milk, the support for Ukraine, the rise of authoritarianism, our response to climate change. This is about how our society is breaking.

Why do we allow social media algorithms to tear our social fabric apart? Is this just another complaint to feed my own bubble, getting confirmation from others, but not do anything about? What about you, will you just agree and move on? Or are we willing to put in the work?

{{tag|Simia}}
<noinclude>{{simiapost|english}}</noinclude>

July 2026

2026-07-04T06:14:41Z

Denny: Created page with "{{Month|July|2026}}"

Flower power

2026-06-14T11:01:00Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} One of the most shocking movie scenes that burnt into my mind was in the opening credits of..."

{{pubdate|14|June|2026}}

One of the most shocking movie scenes that burnt into my mind was in the opening credits of the 2009 Watchmen movie, directed by Zack Snyder. 50,000 protesters took part in the March on the Pentagon in 1967. A row of military police was pointing their rifles at the protesters. A flower power protester puts a flower into the barrel of one of the rifles. In the movie, Bob Dylan's The Times They are A-Changing is playing over the scene, recreating an iconic photograph from 1967. (link in comment)

But in the alternative reality of the movie, the police fires at the protesters.

I remember seeing that scene in the movie theater, and I found that image absolutely distressing, thinking about the terrible alternate reality that would have been. How many people would have died, how different the United States would be today... and being glad that reality took a different turn.

... but did it?

Today I learned about the 1967 Detroit riots. More than 7000 people arrested, 43 people killed, of which 30 were killed by the authorities and another six by store owners or security guards. It was in the same year. And the authorities were shooting and killing the people, mostly black people. But that seems a lot like the terrible "alternative reality" Snyder's movie was drawing. But it was not an alternate reality. It was just not the story of mostly white hippies on the coasts, but of mostly black people in Detroit.

I am ashamed it took me until today to have learned about these events. But one thing I can do is reading more about the events and maybe reach others who might not have known.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Power_(photograph) Flower Power photograph - Wikipedia]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_March_on_the_Pentagon 1967 March on the Pentagon - Wikipedia]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3t5zxrBOo0 Intro scene from Watchmen]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Detroit_riot 1967 Detroit riot]

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Mega-IPOs

2026-06-09T06:11:54Z

Denny:

{{pubdate|8|June|2026}}

There are more than 15 trillion (!) dollar invested in index funds. Starting in a few days and going on until the fall of next year, more than half a trillion dollar of that money will be pulled out from the existing company shares in numerous indexes and used to buy SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic shares from their existing share owners. (Most of it will start happening in about a year, when the S&P500 lets SpaceX join. Unlike NASDAQ, S&P didn't change their rules to fast-track these mega IPOs. But they will join NASDAQ before their first quarterly report as a public company).

With the IPOs of SpaceX (this Friday), OpenAI, and Anthropic, and them joining NASDAQ and FTSE's global index within a few days after their IPOs (and S&P and Dow Jones a year later), everyone who has invested in index funds, be it directly through ETFs or indirectly through their 401k and other retirement plans, will automatically sell about 5% of the shares they are currently holding, and buy shares from one of these three companies. All three IPOs will be, by far!, the largest IPOs in history.

So, if you have $100 invested in a NASDAQ-indexed ETF, you will be selling $5 of the stocks you currently own (while everyone else is doing the same) and buy $5 worth of Anthropic, SpaceX and OpenAI stocks (while everyone else is doing the same), automatically and predictably.

It will be a tough time for the rest of the stock market this year, as there will be a lot of people's money flowing to OpenAI, SpaceX and Antrhopic without anyone ever intentionally buying it, with the market sending 5% of its liquidity to these three new mega IPOs. It will be immensely beneficial for everyone selling these shares.

Whether it will be beneficial for the general public, i.e. for the people holding these index funds, is something we are going to see in the next few years. I wouldn't wager a prediction on that. Maybe there's an AI bubble that might burst, maybe making more of their numbers public will make some people think they are overvalued, maybe all three companies will realise incredible value and will lift the stock indexes well beyond the 5% of the market they will initially cost. We are going to see. If I could make predicitons about how these things will develop, I'd be much richer.

But it seems that in the next 12-18 months, 100s of billions of dollars are slated to go from retirement plans and other stock investors to Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and others. Happy to discuss if I misunderstand.

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Mega-IPOs

2026-06-08T13:32:30Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} There are more than 15 trillion (!) dollar invested in index funds. Starting in a few days a..."

{{pubdate|8|June|2026}}

There are more than 15 trillion (!) dollar invested in index funds. Starting in a few days and going on until the fall of next year, more than half a trillion dollar of that money will be pulled out from the existing company shares in numerous indexes and used to buy SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic shares from their existing share owners. (Most of it will start happening in about a year, when the S&P500 lets SpaceX join. Unlike NASDAQ, S&P didn't change their rules to fast-track these mega IPOs. But they will join NASDAQ before their first quarterly report as a public company).

With the IPOs of SpaceX (this Friday), OpenAI, and Anthropic, and them joining NASDAQ and FTSE's global index within a few days after their IPOs (and S&P and Dow Jones a year later), everyone who has invested in index funds, be it directly through ETFs or indirectly through their 401k and other retirement plans, will automatically sell about 5% of the shares they are currently holding, and buy shares from one of these three companies. All three IPOs will be, by far!, the largest IPOs in history.

So, if you have $100 invested in a NASDAQ-indexed ETF, you will be selling $5 of the stocks you currently own (while everyone else is doing the same) and by $5 worth of Anthropic, SpaceX and OpenAI stocks (while everyone else is doing the same), automatically and predictably.

It will be a tough time for the rest of the stock market this year, as there will be a lot of people's money flowing to OpenAI, SpaceX and Antrhopic without anyone ever intentionally buying it, with the market sending 5% of its liquidity to these three new mega IPOs. It will be immensely beneficial for everyone selling these shares.

Whether it will be beneficial for the general public, i.e. for the people holding these index funds, is something we are going to see in the next few years. I wouldn't wager a prediction on that. Maybe there's an AI bubble that might burst, maybe making more of their numbers public will make some people think they are overvalued, maybe all three companies will realise incredible value and will lift the stock indexes well beyond the 5% of the market they will initially cost. We are going to see. If I could make predicitons about how these things will develop, I'd be much richer.

But it seems that in the next 12-18 months, 100s of billions of dollars are slated to go from retirement plans and other stock investors to Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and others. Happy to discuss if I misunderstand.

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The Amazing Digital Circus

2026-06-06T20:48:08Z

Denny:

{{pubdate|6|June|2026}}

(spoiler free)

The Amazing Digital Circus is an animation show of which, until about a month ago, I haven't even heard about. I learned about it from my daughter. It is the work of an independent creator, and was initially published on YouTube and later also made available on Netflix. The YouTube video of the first episode has more than 400 million views and on Netflix it's been in the top ten for a while.

The premise is that a few humans are captured in a virtual reality, where an AI has the job to entertain them. With time we realize that some of the humans have been there for decades, one has partially lost his mind, and there seems to be no way out. The colorful graphics and seemingly silly character designs hide a much darker story, inspired by "The Matrix", maybe "Lost", and "I have no mouth but I must scream".

The show has nine episodes, each about half an hour long and the final episode double that, so not too long.

I find the animation style somewhat subpar, but the pacing is so much more comfortable and relaxed than many other current shows and movies. The characters are really well done, and feel realistic and multifaceted.

The last episode is currently being shown in cinemas, and it seems do be doing extremely well for an independent show, before it will be available on YouTube in a few days (for free, like the rest of the show). We went to watch it today, and very much enjoyed it.

Given how Lost didn't manage to find a fully satisfying ending, and The Matrix had trouble with storytelling after the first movie, I didn't expect that the Amazing Digital Circus would be able to bring the story to a satisfying end.

I was wrong.

The ending was so much better than I expected it to be. It was fresh and novel (well, there's probably some manga or SF short story with that storyline, but it was novel to me) and more satisfying than I would have deemed possible in such a short episode. Not every question seemed answered, but with this show I expect not to have picked up on every clue and I'll probably find more answers in a few weeks. But the big ones were, and the story came to a close.

Can recommend.

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The Amazing Digital Circus

2026-06-06T20:43:23Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} (spoiler free) The Amazing Digital Circus is an animation show of which, until about a mont..."

{{pubdate|6|June|2026}}

(spoiler free)

The Amazing Digital Circus is an animation show of which, until about a month ago, I haven't even heard about. I learned about it from my daughter. It is the work of an independent creator, and was initially published on YouTube and later also made available on Netflix. The YouTube video of the first episode has more than 400 million views and on Netflix it's been in the top ten for a while.

The premise is that a few humans are captured in a virtual reality, where an AI has the job to entertain them. With time we realize that some of the humans have been there for decades, one has partially lost his mind, and there seems to be no way out. The colorful graphics and seemingly silly character designs hide a much darker story, inspired by "The Matrix", maybe "Lost", and "I have no mouth but I must scream".

The show has nine episodes, each about half an hour long and the final episode double that, so not too long.

I find the animation style somewhat subpar, but the pacing is so much more comfortable and relaxed than many other current shows and movies. The characters are really well done, and feel realistic and multifaceted.

The last episode is currently being shown in cinemas, and it seems do be doing extremely well for an independent show, before it will be available on YouTube in a few days (for free, like the rest of the show). We went to watch it today, and very much enjoyed it.

Given how Lost didn't manage to find a fully satisfying ending, and The Matrix had trouble with storytelling after the first movie, I didn't expect that the Amazing Digital Circus would be able to bring the story to a satisfying end.

I was wrong. The ending was so much better than I expected it. It was fresh and novel (well, there's probably some manga or SF short story with that storyline, but it was novel to me) and more satisfying than I would have deemed possible in such a short episode. Not every question seemed answered, but with this show I expect not to have picked up on every clue and I'll probably find more answers in a few weeks. But the big ones were, and the story came to a close.

Can recommend.

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Marjane Satrapi

2026-06-04T19:13:57Z

Denny:

{{pubdate|4|June|2026}}

Marjane Satrapi, the brave and talented creator of the wonderful and honest graphic novel Persepolis, has died. Her magnum opus is an autobiography, telling of her young years growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Iran-Iraq war of 1980, and then moving to Austria, for safety and to study. But Vienna isn't the safe space her family was hoping for, she's having a difficult time, and returns to Iran. The difference between the two worlds really show. Back home, she can't find her place either.

It's not an easy book to read, it is nuanced, it feels sincere, and it shines a very human light on what the revolution meant, on what emigration can be like.

It was a popular graphic novel, pushing what was usually done with the medium. Satrapi was one of the first women to find success with graphic novels.

According to her family, Satrapi died at the age of 56 of a broken heart, following her husband's death last year.

I very much recommend reading the book. It is not an easy story, but it is an important one.

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June 2026

2026-06-04T19:08:38Z

Denny: Created page with "{{Month|June|2026}}"

Marjane Satrapi

2026-06-04T19:07:44Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} Marjane Satrapi, the brave and talented creator of the wonderful and honest graphic novel Pe..."

{{pubdate|4|June|2026}}

Marjane Satrapi, the brave and talented creator of the wonderful and honest graphic novel Persepolis, has died. Her magnum opus is an autobiography, telling of her young years growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Iran-Iraq war of 1980, and then moving to Austria, for safety and to study. But Vienna isn't the safe space her family was hoping for, she's having a difficult time, and returns to Iran. The difference between the two worlds really show. Back home, she can't find her place either.

It's not an easy book to read, it is nuanced, it feels sincere, and it shines a very human light on what the revolution meant, on what emigration can be like.

It was a popular graphic novel, pushing what was usually done with the medium. Satrapi was one of the first women to find success with graphic novels.

I very much recommend reading the book. It is not an easy story, but it is an important one.

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What is true

2026-05-31T15:06:27Z

Denny:

{{pubdate|20|May|2026}}

"Maria and Peter are students and meet up for a late dinner. Peter asks Maria whether Tom is at the party that they intend to go to after dinner. Maria answers that Tom is at the party. After all, Tom had told her that he would be at the party. When they arrive at the party, it turns out that Tom had changed his plans, and is not at the party. Was Maria's answer true or false?"

Think for a moment, and answer for yourself before reading on.

A new study shows that there is much, much less agreement on the answer to this question than I would have expected. Even after reading about the study, I still expect my friends to have the same answer as I do. Let's see. But this probably means that the meaning of truth, in the general population, is simply different from what I would have assumed. And explains a number of public discourses.

* [https://reason.com/2026/05/15/the-surprising-divide-over-what-counts-as-true/ The Surprising Divide Over What Counts as True by Ronald Bailey in Reason]
* [https://mas.to/@vrandecic/116607696355063502 Mastodon poll (to run until 27 May 2026]

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The Future of Truth

2026-05-31T13:50:16Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} What a mind boggling and raw article by Wired: Steve Rosenbaum has a book out, "The Future o..."

{{pubdate|31|May|2026}}

What a mind boggling and raw article by Wired: Steve Rosenbaum has a book out, "The Future of Truth", on the effect of AI chatbots on the understanding of truth. Rosenbaum has a master's degree in "truth" from New York University (what does that even mean?) and has decades of experience in this field: creating news programs for MTV and reporting on the aftermath of 9/11 in New York and much more.

But the New York Times reported that Rosenbaum's book is heavily relying on AI, for example containing made up quotes. Wired had previously published an excerpt from the book, but given its strict no AI policy for content and the reporting by the Times, it pulled the excerpt.

Instead, Wired interviewed Rosenbaum. Here's one quote:

"I do not understand why it's my job as an author to play whack-a-mole with a multibillion-dollar company who puts hallucinations into their feed as a business practice”

Because it's your book! It's your name on the cover. This text is your responsibility.

And he's not alone:

“I talked to another author this morning who's literally got a book coming out going to the publisher in a month, and she's fucking terrified.” I asked if that was because she used AI in the process of writing the book. “Of course"

There's a silver lining:

"I asked him whether he would rather stop writing than stop using AI in his writing process. “Yeah,” he answered."

That's a good idea. I sure have little interest to read anything from a person with this attitude.

* [https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-truth-ai-interview/ Kate Knibbs: We Asked the Future of Truth Author to Explain How He Used AI. It Didn’t Go Well (Wired)]

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Logos and logs

2026-05-30T08:33:12Z

Denny: Denny moved page Logos sind log to Logos and logs

{{pubdate|30|May|2026}}

About the Greek word logos, λόγος. It is usually translated as "word", but a lot is lost in translation when doing so. Wiktionary says "speech, oration, discourse, quote, story, study, ratio, word, calculation, reason". The etymology is from proto-Indo-European "leǵ-", meaning to collect, to gather.

Philologist Erik Ellis has thought a lot about logos, and he says that the best English translation he has found so far for logos is "account". Both a bank account and to give an account of last night is about recounting the events that led to the current situation, to tell a story, and that meaning of account captures logos best.

Amusingly the way Ellis was describing "account" made me think of the word "log", the way it is used in computing and on ships, and it took me an embarrassing moment to notice the similarity between "logos" and "log", but etymologically they're entirely unrelated as the latter comes from tree log, which has old Norse roots.

It's just another funny, accidental etymological convergence.

* [https://pca.st/episode/011dbfec-85b5-4767-8bd0-77445869d11f Classical Education podcast with Erik Ellis]

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Logos and logs

2026-05-30T06:10:50Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} About the Greek word logos, λόγος. It is usually translated as "word", but a lot is los..."

What is true

2026-05-20T15:57:36Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} "Maria and Peter are students and meet up for a late dinner. Peter asks Maria whether Tom is..."

{{pubdate|20|May|2026}}

"Maria and Peter are students and meet up for a late dinner. Peter asks Maria whether Tom is at the party that they intend to go to after dinner. Maria answers that Tom is at the party. After all, Tom had told her that he would be at the party. When they arrive at the party, it turns out that Tom had changed his plans, and is not at the party. Was Maria's answer true or false?"

Think for a moment, and answer for yourself before reading on.

A new study shows that there is much, much less agreement on the answer to this question than I would have expected. Even after reading about the study, I still expect my friends to have the same answer as I do. Let's see. But this probably means that the meaning of truth, in the general population, is simply different from what I would have assumed. And explains a number of public discourses.

* [https://reason.com/2026/05/15/the-surprising-divide-over-what-counts-as-true/ The Surprising Divide Over What Counts as True
by Ronald Bailey in Reason]
* [https://mas.to/@vrandecic/116607696355063502 Mastodon poll (to run until 27 May 2026]

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Lelek Andromeda

2026-05-14T06:59:42Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} Croatia's entry to for the Eurovision Song Contest is anything but a typical ESC entry. The..."

{{pubdate|14|May|2026}}

Croatia's entry to for the Eurovision Song Contest is anything but a typical ESC entry. The video below gives the English lyrics. The tattoos the singers are wearing are historical: they were used, mostly on women, to 'protect' them from the non-Christian conquerors, and to remind them of their roots. Tattoos in the Balkans were used for almost a hundred generations, described by Strabo in the first century BC until the early 20th century. I am a sucker for the mythic motives, playing with fantasy themes, for the polyharmonic singing. It's not the fun song of a young man leaving for the city and selling his cow, but a powerful folk-inspired anti-war ballad, deeply steeped in local history.

So, probably no chance to win an event like ESC, but certainly an interesting song, highlighting a part of local history that I wasn't aware of at all.

(There's obviously a nationalist element to this, as any folk stuff is, I know; but I hope, beyond reason, that it is not nationalistic)

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-g5OHbeM1s Lelek - Andromeda (with English lyrics) on YouTube]

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2026-04-25T09:03:14Z

Denny: Created page with "{{pubdate|{{subst:CURRENTDAY}}|{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}|{{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}} Markus Krötzsch recommend me a novel, Playground, by Richard Powers. I have to admit I rare..."

{{pubdate|25|April|2026}}

Markus Krötzsch recommend me a novel, Playground, by Richard Powers. I have to admit I rarely read novels, and this one was a good one to make an exception.

: ''"There was only one way of making a two or a twelve, but six ways to roll a seven. The maker of the world whispered that secret to me, and it changed everything."''

I really enjoyed the language. It was just a pleasant read, and you can feel that the author mastered the craft of building sentences, paragraphs, and stories.

: ''"If you want to make something smarter, teach it to play."''

I was very confused throughout the first hundred pages or so, until I figured out what the main story threads were. I have to admit, that I than re-skimmed these pages again, and it all made sense and fit together, but at first it felt like so many different things were going on that I wasn't sure what was going on. But because of the well-wrought language, I didn't mind, and I merrily joined the ride.

: ''"What you call the ocean is nothing but the coast."''

The book retells the story of four characters, who, at their best, are fascinating and brilliant, and at their worst, are failing so bad it makes me angry, and are, at all times, deeply relatable. It follows a story of games, computers, the birth of the Web with Mosaic, and a very thinly veiled fictional version of Cyc, and a fictional Website, Playground, which has a fascinating premise, somewhere between Facebook and Reddit, and then going to machine learning and AI. It also tells the story of an oceanographer, of the changing oceans, of dementia, of loss, guilt, and

: ''"It was embarrassing. She didn't want to tell the god that she didn't believe in him and that he really shouldn't be there."''

At several points, the line between fiction and truth becomes very fragile, dreamlike, which is part of the appeal.

: ''"He left me everything."'' 
''"I see."'' 
''"What in the world am I supposed to do with it?"‘

In the end, I was literally gasping when the author resolved a part of the story I wasn't even expecting, although it was built towards it the whole time. It made me mad and angry, and then it made me think of why I was so mad and angry. In the end, the story gets a beautiful resolution, one that me lose a tear or two, and that made me question,

: ''"We make things that we hope will be bigger than us, and then we're desolate when that's what they become."''

Richard Powers, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_(novel) Playground]. ISBN 978-1-324-08603-1

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