They Live (1988) Awesome Trivia. The alley fight. Script said “they fight.” Twenty seconds. Done. Piper and Keith David took it behind Carpenter’s Valley Office and with Jeff Imada and mats....turned it into five minutes twenty of two guys refusing to quit over a pair of glasses. Real contact. Face and groin faked. Everything else landed. Three weeks of rehearsal. Three or four days to shoot. Carpenter wanted The Quiet Man. Piper wanted it between friends. So you get the two-by-four through the window, the bottle that cuts Frank’s own hand, Nada laughing, Frank getting madder, then they go over the car anyway. Suplex. Clothesline. Sidewalk slam. On purpose. Keith said it was some of the most fun he ever had. Piper taught him how to sell it.Still one of the greatest fights ever put on film. Put the glasses on....

Stephen King turns 79 today.

META is building 10 gas-fired power plants for its Hyperion AI data center campus in rural Louisiana They will use as much power as 5 million American homes and pollute the equivalent of 5+ million cars on the road full time per year These are the same people who tell you not to drive or run your AC because of climate change

True

One of my contrarian takes: Society peaked in the 80s, and it’s been in slow decline ever since. It was the last era of widespread optimism. You can feel it in the music and movies. “Excess meets innocence.” The 80s also mark the end of the analog world—local economies, in-person everything, and a certain forced simplicity. Malls, movie theaters, magazines, and BMX. Then, beginning in the 90s, came the tidal wave of tech: Mobile phones The internet Social media AI All incredible innovations, with lots of positives. But on the whole I think they’re *net negatives* for society. We replaced a finite, real-world experience with an infinite, digital one. Infinite information. Infinite comparison. Infinite distraction. Human’s aren’t wired for that, and you can see the consequences all around us.

When Totino’s Pizza Rolls Are 10 For About $1, Nothing Else Adds Up.

NETHERLANDS TO TAX UNREALIZED BITCOIN GAINS Netherlands is moving toward taxing unrealized capital gains on bitcoin, stocks, bonds, and other assets after parliament voted to overhaul annual income tax filings. Under the new system, investors will owe tax each year based on changes in asset value, even if nothing has been sold. The reform, known as Wet werkelijk rendement Box 3, is scheduled for 2028 and will tax actual returns by measuring the difference between an asset’s value at the start and end of the year, plus any income received. That means both realized and unrealized gains will be taxed. Critics warn the shift could create serious liquidity problems, forcing investors to pay taxes on paper gains without having cashed out.

Preparing for the Intelligent Age At the threshold of a new year, I find myself less inclined to make predictions and more inclined to pause. We live in what I call The Intelligent Age - an age shaped by artificial intelligence, longer lives, and permanent connectivity. Much has been written about its opportunities and risks. Yet beyond institutions, markets, and technologies, this age reaches deeply into our personal lives. It changes how we work, how we learn, how we relate to one another, and how we make sense of ourselves. What feels new is not complexity alone, but responsibility. Many of the structures that once carried decisions for us - stable careers, clear professional paths, trusted authorities - have loosened. Judgment increasingly returns to the individual. We are invited, sometimes uncomfortably, to think for ourselves, to learn continuously, and to decide when not to delegate our choices to systems, experts, or algorithms. This quiet shift has become my central preoccupation. In my recent books, Thriving and Leading in the Intelligent Age and Longevity and Retirement in the Intelligent Age, I have tried to explore how leadership, work, and life planning might regain orientation in a world that no longer offers simple scripts. The books to come - Restoring Truth and Trust in the Intelligent Age, Universities, Professors and Students in the Intelligent Age, and Companionship in the Intelligent Age - continue this reflection from different angles. Together, they circle around one question: how can we remain human, responsible, and connected in an age that is increasingly intelligent, but not necessarily wise? I am convinced that this age should not be approached with fear. It calls for attentiveness rather than anxiety, for learning rather than certainty, and for companionship rather than withdrawal. Technology can support this journey - but only if we treat it as a companion, never as a substitute for judgment, care, or responsibility. The Intelligent Age is not something that simply happens to us. It takes shape through countless small, often unnoticed decisions: how we use our attention, how we relate to others, how we learn, and how we accept responsibility for our lives. I share these thoughts at the beginning of the year not as conclusions, but as an invitation - to reflection, to dialogue, and to a quieter confidence that the future remains open, if we choose to shape it with dignity and care.

NASA’s impossible battery. Ironically my view offers a possibility that some things are real. If the official story is true, then EVERYTHING is fake…

49ers Fred Warner is a ninja.

🚨JUST IN: IF YOU BORROW MONEY TO BUY A VEHICLE, YOU WILL NOW BE ABLE TO DEDUCT THAT INTEREST FROM YOUR INCOME TAX THIS WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING

A large solar-powered AI satellite constellation would be able to prevent global warming by making tiny adjustments in how much solar energy reached Earth

the real danger of AI.