Althouse: Sunrise — 7:00, 7:11, 7:14.

December 2, 2025

Sunrise — 7:00, 7:11, 7:14.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

104 comments:

tcrosse said...: Back in the early 1960s there was a row of tumble down boarding houses on West Johnson, across from the brand new dorms. One of them carried a sign "Bleak House". At the time I was not up on my Dickens, but I thought it was apt.; 12/2/25, 5:41 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: I've been giving a lot of thought to the potential disruption to our economic system with the changes from AI and robotics. In the past we have transitioned several times from heavy labor to automation successfully without major social disruption. But the speed with which AI and robotics can potentially move, means that we may be forced to adjust more quickly than in the past, years rather than many decades. how do we provide income for the many potentially displaced workers? Or, do we simply have so much that is cheap that work is no longer needed? Musk (I think) thinks that eventually people will only need to work 10 hours a week. I had an interesting chat with Grok on potential ways to transition.; 12/2/25, 5:49 PM
Achilles said...: Bill Gates is out there pushing "Sun Dimming" technology. He is not alone.; 12/2/25, 5:51 PM
Jersey Fled said...: Makes me glad I don’t have to work anymore. I worry about my kids and grandchildren though.; 12/2/25, 5:52 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Another crazy story from the "People's Republic of England"
Per the British Prosecutors office:

"Norbert Gyurcsik, from Kestrel Road, pleaded guilty at Worcester Crown Court on 3 October to three charges – one count of distributing recordings and two counts of possessing recordings.

Yesterday (Thursday 27 November), he was sentenced to 40 months for each offence, the sentences will be served concurrently. He was arrested in May last year for buying and distributing albums whose lyrics breach terrorism legislation and intended to incite racial hatred."

Incredible 3 years for selling "bad" records (not clear if LPs or CDs).

The British prosecutors end their infomation notice with the following:

"Every year thousands of reports from the public help police tackle the terrorist threat. If you see or hear something that doesn’t seem right, trust your instincts and ACT by reporting to police in confidence at gov.uk/ACT.

Reporting won’t ruin lives, but it could save them. Action Counters Terrorism."; 12/2/25, 5:52 PM
Achilles said...: Wa St Blogger said...

I've been giving a lot of thought to the potential disruption to our economic system with the changes from AI and robotics.

The first thing we need to do is to replace the Income tax with a VAT and Tariffs.; 12/2/25, 5:53 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: They also have a notice about a singing group of 3 people, sent to prison for 3 years, for using singing lyrics that would incite hatred.; 12/2/25, 5:54 PM
tcrosse said...: "Or, do we simply have so much that is cheap that work is no longer needed? "

AI might replace those who push papers around, but it is unlikely to replace cooks, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, welders, etc.; 12/2/25, 5:55 PM
Jaq said...: For what it's worth, Musk is building humanoid robots, I think he calls them Optimus Prime, which he imagines that when combined with AI, will do any job, so work will be voluntary. He compares it to growing vegetables, you can buy them in the store, but some people choose to grow them.

Doubt.; 12/2/25, 6:01 PM
narciso said...: Mr burns is an aspirational model; 12/2/25, 6:01 PM
narciso said...: As spelled out the right folk won in honduras; 12/2/25, 6:02 PM
narciso said...: Brazil is a how to manual (ht tom stoppard); 12/2/25, 6:05 PM
narciso said...: For this airship one aspiration; 12/2/25, 6:08 PM
Leland said...: AAA says the national average gas price dropped below $3/gal.; 12/2/25, 6:10 PM
narciso said...: I would say the last one is the greatest contrast; 12/2/25, 6:11 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: The first thing we need to do is to replace the Income tax with a VAT and Tariffs.

Not sure how that helps. No income means no purchases means no taxes either way. Poeple will still need a way to access goods and services. If there are fewer jobs that require human activity, do we jsut portion them out in much smaller lots? In the not so distant past, our toil to survive was nearly 100% of our waking hours, now we could get by on about 1/3. Soon it will be 1/10?; 12/2/25, 6:13 PM
Josephbleau said...: At least ai will never replace Judges, it would become unconstitutional.; 12/2/25, 6:14 PM
john mosby said...: Norbert Gyurcsik - well if anyone needs to go to jail, it's his parents for giving him that first name. I suppose as immigrants loyal to their new country, they wanted to give him a really English first name. But jeez, they could have called him Bobby or Billy. Or Beowulf.

I can't find any articles that say what the offending recordings were. I guess all the MSM outlets realize sales will go through the roof if the titles get out. CC, JSM; 12/2/25, 6:14 PM
narciso said...: All of these films and series from the cybermen of dr who the m5 on star trek the forbin project never end well; 12/2/25, 6:15 PM
Aggie said...: Hit COSTCO or Sam's, and you'll get it under $2.30 around here. There are places in Houston and East Texas that are under $2.20, according to GasBuddy.com.; 12/2/25, 6:15 PM
Aggie said...: I want to see the first Brit get hold of a drone and park it over the police station, blaring out the recordings on a P/A.; 12/2/25, 6:17 PM
narciso said...: Im reminded of a character from stephensons crytonomicon who was swedish and british if memory served; 12/2/25, 6:17 PM
narciso said...: The product of a liason during the war; 12/2/25, 6:18 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "But jeez, they could have called him Bobby or Billy."

Anything but Sue!; 12/2/25, 6:21 PM
john mosby said...: Wa St: "If there are fewer jobs that require human activity, do we jsut portion them out in much smaller lots? "

The problem is, the jobs left requiring human activity are probably not going to be made up of fungible manhours. Anything like that was already automated before AI. And then AI swept up a lot of tasks needing lower-order judgment. What's left over will be executive-level decisions and judgment calls, which are already filled by executives.

If the demand for human workers decreases, we may slip back into traditional family structures. Not even Ozzie/Harriet nuclear families, but clan/tribe-like arrangements, where a small number of (most likely) men bring in the money for the rest of the group. Immigrants are already doing that (Patels, Korean business clubs) - Anglos will have to catch up.

Unless we get to some kind of structure where everyone has shares in AI/robot-operated businesses. Easy to say, hard to get to. Hasn't worked great in privatization of Eastern Bloc companies, for example. A Trump-like thinker might be able to figure out how to have corporations give the government shares instead of tax dollars, and then the government organizes the shares into mutual funds for the people. But still a lot of steps between conception and birth - and lots of people who'll try to abort the idea. CC, JSM; 12/2/25, 6:26 PM
john mosby said...: Aggie: "I want to see the first Brit get hold of a drone and park it over the police station, blaring out the recordings on a P/A."

A variation of Radio Clash on pirate satellite! CC, JSM; 12/2/25, 6:27 PM
Yancey Ward said...: A number of years ago on the Calculated Risk blog there was a commenter who created a hypothetical island economy with two men- one who fishes and the other who farms- and the two men trade to create a more balanced diet. Then one day the fisherman finds a completely functional Star Trek replicator that can produce any kind of food item, including vegetables. He claimed this was a diaster for both men- the farmer would no longer be able to buy fish for half of his crop of vegetables and the fisherman wouldn't be able trade anything with the farmer because the farmer would have nothing of value to trade.

I tried for two days and dozens of comments trying to get him to see the error in this line of thinking.; 12/2/25, 6:31 PM
narciso said...: Gunther enoch bobby kivistik (mother was finnish); 12/2/25, 6:32 PM
narciso said...: Im not making this up; 12/2/25, 6:32 PM
john mosby said...: Yancey Ward: What is the error in that line of thinking? CC, JSM; 12/2/25, 6:33 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "A variation of Radio Clash on pirate satellite!"

If The Clash were a band today, they would be writing songs lauding the UKKR government of today.; 12/2/25, 6:33 PM
narciso said...: I remembered the reference not the name; 12/2/25, 6:34 PM
tcrosse said...: The Telegraph shows the winners of the Landscape Photographer contest. A lot of them look like AI creations, or 1980s van art Judge for yourself, if you dare, or if you can get past the paywall.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/02/landscape-photographer-of-the-year-2025/; 12/2/25, 6:35 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Boldly run away.; 12/2/25, 6:35 PM
narciso said...: Oh noes bold; 12/2/25, 6:35 PM
Yancey Ward said...: John, how is a replicator a disaster for anyone on that island? In the absolute worst case scenario, the farmer can cut his farming time in half and fish the rest of the working day.; 12/2/25, 6:37 PM
James K said...: One error is that the farmer could learn to fish.; 12/2/25, 6:39 PM
Mason G said...: If the replicator is not quantity limited, there is no reason it can't be used to provide food for both people and neither would have to work. Right?; 12/2/25, 6:41 PM
john mosby said...: Yancey and James: thanks. I figured there would be some kind of market-adjustment solution. I would point out, though, that any market adjustment takes time and transaction costs. Some of the farm people (just to make it more realistic than a single farmer) would have to buy or make boats and learn the lore of the sea somehow, while their portion of the agricultural land went uncultivated, raising the price of the lower food supply. Which they can't pay for while they're learning to fish.

Mason G: Yes, there's no reason I can't let you use my replicator. But human history indicates I won't. More likely I'll use my now-unlimited resources to kill or subjugate you before you try to steal my replicator. CC, JSM; 12/2/25, 6:47 PM
narciso said...: Except a replicator isnt real; 12/2/25, 6:52 PM
narciso said...: Its a deus ex machina; 12/2/25, 6:53 PM
Beasts of England said...: Two is a winter wonderland! We had a few flurries today…

$2.49 for gas all around town.; 12/2/25, 6:54 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: Mason G: Yes, there's no reason I can't let you use my replicator. But human history indicates I won't. More likely I'll use my now-unlimited resources to kill or subjugate you before you try to steal my replicator.Mason G: Yes, there's no reason I can't let you use my replicator. But human history indicates I won't. More likely I'll use my now-unlimited resources to kill or subjugate you before you try to steal my replicator.

Therein lies the fear of the left. They will worry that the means of production will be in the hands of the few and everyone else will be left starving. But while the one has anything he wants, the others still had a viable economy, but now they are jealous of the rich guy. So, instead of sharing the wealth, the rich guy creates a rocket to fly to the moon, constructs a habitat and lives out a lonely miserable life.; 12/2/25, 6:55 PM
narciso said...: Its like the terminators nano technology; 12/2/25, 6:56 PM
narciso said...: Well pretend everything after terminator 2 didnt exist; 12/2/25, 6:59 PM
john mosby said...: Ciso: replicators aren't real, but 99% AI/robot businesses soon will be. Diabolus ex machina, if we can't figure out how to harness them.

Speaking of market forces, maybe there's some hope in a Henry Ford-like realization that your workers are also your consumers. That you have to put money in people's pockets before they can buy your stuff. Ford was able to do that because he was a near-monopoly in a company town. Much harder to do that with thousands of businesses in a global or even national economy. CC, JSM; 12/2/25, 7:00 PM
john mosby said...: A lonely miserable life making double-digit babies with pop starlets? Pick me! CC, JSM; 12/2/25, 7:01 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: Well, lots of SF writers have covered this topic, the question is, how does the US economy adjust to avoid the darker versions of their foetid imaginations?; 12/2/25, 7:02 PM
narciso said...: True we're in competition with 2.5 billion people; 12/2/25, 7:02 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: A lonely miserable life making double-digit babies with pop starlets? You want to be one of his 70 starlets?; 12/2/25, 7:03 PM
narciso said...: A sad life indeed lol; 12/2/25, 7:05 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: Speaking of market forces, maybe there's some hope in a Henry Ford-like realization that your workers are also your consumers. That you have to put money in people's pockets before they can buy your stuff.

Except the cars are made entirely without workers, so how do the consumers get the means to purchase a car?; 12/2/25, 7:05 PM
Peachy said...: I filled my tank up for 2.17$ the other day.; 12/2/25, 7:08 PM
Mason G said...: "More likely I'll use my now-unlimited resources to kill or subjugate you before you try to steal my replicator."

I suppose that's one way of looking at it but if you're already on good enough terms with each other to trade, why would it be a problem to give away something that costs you nothing?; 12/2/25, 7:14 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: "I can't find any articles that say what the offending recordings were."

He was buying and selling albums. I'm guessing they may have been Nazi era albums. Or maybe historical albums where people said racist things as a matter of course.

BTW, throwing a nazi salute in the UK in public can get you arrested. Depending on the circumstances.; 12/2/25, 7:20 PM
narciso said...: WaPo Columnist: Something Is Not Right With This Campaign to Kill Narco-Terrorists – Twitchy https://share.google/9ih81nIQLWU38rTOp; 12/2/25, 7:25 PM
narciso said...: https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1995971306358276349?; 12/2/25, 7:35 PM
bagoh20 said...: $2.17? That's great. I paid $2.83 last week, which is abut $1.00 less than usual around here. It made me suspicious about the quality of the gas.; 12/2/25, 7:38 PM
Peachy said...: I took a little sip - seemed fine to me.; 12/2/25, 7:43 PM
Aggie said...: "...if you're already on good enough terms with each other to trade, why would it be a problem to give away something that costs you nothing? ..."

Careful, that could be construed as proof that you're a Democrat. Would you ask for his vote?; 12/2/25, 7:45 PM
Peachy said...: I was listening to a conversation on the Mandy Connell Show - about traditional college education and how it is heading towards collapse.
100K for a useless degree cannot hold. (the college-gov student loan program - "sign here and your life will be perfect" yet another bad deal that lands on tax payers, and it wasn't even worth it.); 12/2/25, 7:57 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Reddit video: We have a bit of a situation in the UK; 12/2/25, 8:01 PM
Jersey Fled said...: Crude oil prices at $60 a barrel. I can’t remember when they were last that low.

Drill baby drill.; 12/2/25, 8:03 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Read the sign again. Please.; 12/2/25, 8:09 PM
Humperdink said...: An ounce of silver = a barrel of oil. Weird.; 12/2/25, 8:34 PM
Eva Marie said...: Bandit breaks into a convenience store gets drunk and passes out in the bathroom (via CFP)
https://x.com/collinrugg/status/1996000721297347062?s=46; 12/2/25, 8:40 PM
Aggie said...: Looks like the Republicans are keeping their seat in TN.; 12/2/25, 8:59 PM
Big Mike said...: The results are a bit strange. For all her bad-mouthing of the city of Nashville (not to mention bad-mouthing country music), Nashville appears to be the only jurisdiction that Aftyn Behn carried.

Democrat voters are strange people.; 12/2/25, 9:13 PM
Peachy said...: she-D did well in Montgomery - that's about it.; 12/2/25, 9:20 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Big Mike said...

The results are a bit strange. For all her bad-mouthing of the city of Nashville (not to mention bad-mouthing country music), Nashville appears to be the only jurisdiction that Aftyn Behn carried.

Democrat voters are strange people.

I have no doubt that the Democrat voters of Nashville hate the place as much as she does.; 12/2/25, 9:42 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: English winter drives Ellen Degeneres back to Los Angeles.

Just like Napoleon retreating from Moscow.

History echoes!; 12/2/25, 9:49 PM
Jim at said...: Paid $3.53 per gallon the other day. Yay, Washington state!; 12/2/25, 9:57 PM
john mosby said...: Wa St Blogger: "Except the cars are made entirely without workers, so how do the consumers get the means to purchase a car?"

Yes, good point. I wonder if the market forces would turn the AI/robot-run factories into luxury-goods producers, that would only sell high-end items to other factory owners? And just let everyone else FOAD? Does it turn out that the labor theory of value was right after all, and so without labor, there's no value to trade? Even specie money - what's the intrinsic value of gold to a robot? Even to the owner of a thousand robots?

The entire basis of our economies will change. I hope the cost of the change will not be measured in blood. CC, JSM; 12/2/25, 10:02 PM
Jamie said...: Crude oil prices at $60 a barrel. I can’t remember when they were last that low.

Well, it was around $40/bbl around 2014 when the company for which my husband was CFO had to reorg...; 12/2/25, 10:24 PM
Iman said...: All you lucky bastards, bragging’ about your gas prices… check this out:

https://x.com/nettermike/status/1996048287099748778?s=19; 12/2/25, 10:28 PM
Jim at said...: While it's nice the Rs held Tennessee - 07, it's closer than it should've been.

Now, maybe somebody who knows Tennessee politics better than I can weigh in on who backed the R candidate and how much redistricting impacted a district Trump carried by 20 points last year.

My point is, the GOP in Congress needs to get off their asses, codify a lot of things Trump's doing through EOs and give people a reason to vote for them next November.

Because as of right now, they're as useless as tits on a boar.; 12/2/25, 10:41 PM
TickTock1948 said...: JM said "Unless we get to some kind of structure where everyone has shares in AI/robot-operated businesses".

Interim solution is to give everyone robots, that they can use to farm, or lease out to companies. Long term solution is Neurolink ++.; 12/2/25, 10:57 PM
Jupiter said...: He's back! Or, perhaps I should say, He is risen. Jupiter, I mean. My namesake?
Of course, he was always there, but he was on the opposite side of the solar system, which meant that he was in the daytime sky. But it is a clear night here in Eugene, and he is high and bright in the NE.

Ave, Jove!; 12/2/25, 11:11 PM
Eva Marie said...: “My point is, the GOP in Congress needs to get off their asses, codify a lot of things Trump's doing through EOs and give people a reason to vote for them next November.”
100%; 12/2/25, 11:23 PM
Achilles said...: If the GOP congress continues to sandbag Trump just like his first term 2026 is going to be a bloodbath.

Trump needs to get out in front of that and get to primarying a bunch of these turds to give Trump supporters a reason to vote.; 12/2/25, 11:41 PM
Duty of Inquiry said...: $3.149 at Sam's Club in Pittsburgh.; 12/3/25, 12:54 AM
Curious George said...: $2.59/gallon for 87 Octane Regular here in Milwaukee. Did you know that Milwaukee is Algonquin for the Good Land?; 12/3/25, 1:36 AM
gadfly said...: Achilles said...
Bill Gates is out there pushing "Sun Dimming" technology. He is not alone.

A team of researchers in California drew notoriety last year with an aborted experiment on a retired aircraft carrier that sought to test a machine for creating clouds.  

But behind the scenes, they were planning a much larger and potentially riskier study of salt-water-spraying equipment that could eventually be used to dim the sun’s rays — a multimillion-dollar project aimed at producing clouds over a stretch of ocean larger than Puerto Rico.

Last year’s experiment, led by the University of Washington and intended to run for months, lasted about 20 minutes before being shut down by Alameda city officials, who objected that nobody had told them about it beforehand.; 12/3/25, 3:04 AM
gadfly said...: Curious George: Milwaukee has a rich Native American history, primarily associated with the Potawatomi, Menominee, and Ho-Chunk tribes, who inhabited the area for thousands of years. The name "Milwaukee" itself is derived from the Anishinaabemowin (aka Ojibwe) word meaning "good earth," reflecting its significance as a gathering and trading place for various tribes along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Algonquins (all 17,000) reside in southern Quebec and eastern Ontario in Canada.; 12/3/25, 3:30 AM
Clyde said...: @ Eva Marie
The raccoon was later heard to say, "I'll never drink Jägermeister again!"; 12/3/25, 5:14 AM
Clyde said...: Poor Aftyn Behn! I guess there's always OnlyFans.; 12/3/25, 5:14 AM
Leland said...: It was $2.39 where I gassed up this morning. I paid much more then that for premium, but that’s getting closer to $3 as well.; 12/3/25, 5:31 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Jim @ 10:41 on TN 07;
“ My point is, the GOP in Congress needs to get off their asses, codify a lot of things Trump's doing through EOs and give people a reason to vote for them next November.

Because as of right now, they're as useless as tits on a boar.”

You’re kind of all over it but the problem isn’t that Republicans and Trump (tits on a boar) are just useless. They’re destructive and voters know it.; 12/3/25, 5:32 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: I filled my tank up for 2.17$ the other day

That’s a pretty small tank!; 12/3/25, 6:05 AM
narciso said...: Btw complete unknown was great; 12/3/25, 7:02 AM
Jamie said...: The Milwaukee/Algonquin reference was from Wayne's World. I can't hear the name of the city without seeing Alice Cooper gazing into the middle distance, intoning, "the good land."; 12/3/25, 8:31 AM
boatbuilder said...: Hey, JSM--my paternal grandfather's name was Norbert.
My Dad always said he was eternally grateful to have been named "John."; 12/3/25, 9:11 AM
Kakistocracy said...: CNBC on latest jobs numbers: "A big miss on ADP payrolls. The private payroll company saying private payrolls shed 32,000 workers in Nov. That's the 4th negative number in past 6 months. The estimate was for +40,000, so the street was off ... this may be coming from being hammered by the tariffs"

ADP at this point is the de-facto replacement of the BLS since the latter refuses to release key information that may not align with the administration's perspective on things.; 12/3/25, 9:12 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Trump: "There's this fake narrative that the Democrats talk about -- 'affordability.' They just say the word. It doesn't mean anything to anybody. They just say it. 'Affordability.' I inherited the worst inflation in history ... the word 'affordability' is a con job by the Democrats"; 12/3/25, 9:19 AM
Kai Akker said...: ---- Bill Gates is out there pushing "Sun Dimming" technology. He is not alone. [Ach]

This is how we destroy our species, with our own titanic hubris, not with nuclear devils.; 12/3/25, 9:37 AM
Big Mike said...: I have no doubt that the Democrat voters of Nashville hate the place as much as she does.

@NorthOfTheOneOhOne, I get it. But without the country music industry and the bachelorette parties and the other things they all hate so much, how could Nashville afford the free goodies the Democrat constituencies suck up?; 12/3/25, 9:39 AM
Michael McNeil said...: Here in the (Scott) Valley in far northern California where I live, the price of regular is $4.85. Thirty miles away on an Indian reservation (rumored to water-down the gas, but I've been getting reasonable mileage out of it), regular gas goes for $4.19.; 12/3/25, 10:17 AM
Rusty said...: "Curious George: Milwaukee has a rich Native American history, primarily associated with the Potawatomi, Menominee, and Ho-Chunk tribes, who inhabited the area for thousands of years."

No they didn't.; 12/3/25, 10:42 AM
Rusty said...: "Therein lies the fear of the left. They will worry that the means of production will be in the hands of the few and everyone else will be left starving."

The means of production is already in the hands of the few. When a worker finds out how to obtain raw materials, financing and the skills needed to convert raw materials into products they start their own company.; 12/3/25, 10:46 AM
Jersey Fled said...: A barrel of oil at $1.40 a gallon.

A gallon of milk at $3.50 a gallon.; 12/3/25, 10:57 AM
Gospace said...: Here in CNY milk at the Walmart is $2.98, Byrne Dairy, better milk, $3.59. I get my milk at a local Mennonite dairy, A2 milk. Tastes better, and supposedly healthier. I don't pay attention to the price. I go out of my way to buy it because I want it. Paid $2.68 for gas today. Average in the area just below $2.99.; 12/3/25, 11:31 AM
DINKY DAU 45 said...: Spin the Top! Trump says as GOP preps for 2026: ‘I AM THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT’
Yesterday= trump says, "Affordability is a Democratic scam" I think he woke up from his nap in the meeting and just shouted this out from a dream he just had? Follow the bouncing ball....; 12/3/25, 12:33 PM
Rocco said...: Jim at said...
“…it's nice the Rs held Tennessee - 07, it's closer than it should've been.”

Tennessee only scored 7? Are they trying to turn into Iowa? If so, they just need to get an Australian punter.; 12/3/25, 12:40 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: Gov't taxes the labor of the robots. Pays out a UBI to the public, who buy the production of the robots. Or fentanyl.; 12/3/25, 10:51 PM