Michael James Caughill

I’m still confused as to why we’re making robots that look like people rather than making them far far far far better at doing the things we need them to do. It’s like we’re making animatronic horses not cars with wheels

You can’t comprehend how amazing what’s inside this circle is. I hope East Coasters never discover it.

Name your favorite film composer. You cannot say Hans Zimmer or John Williams. Go!

This is how you advertise watches...

Disney is about to delete five years of canon because Rey doesn't move toys. The sequel trilogy did $4.47B at the box office. Force Awakens $2.07B, Last Jedi $1.33B, Rise of Skywalker $1.07B. The merchandise tells a different story. Star Wars merchandise peaked at $700M in 2015 when Force Awakens launched. By 2019, the year Rise of Skywalker shipped with a billion-dollar marketing push as the supposed finale of the Skywalker Saga, Hasbro's Star Wars line was doing roughly $150M. A 70%+ collapse during the trilogy's own theatrical run. Then 2020 happened. No new movies. A streaming show legally unavailable in most international markets. Hasbro's Star Wars revenue grew 70% year-over-year. One character named Grogu outsold three years of sequel-trilogy merchandise. The sequel cast specifically can't move inventory at any price point. Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, Holdo: Walmart clearance for years. Diamond Select's president said sales on TFA and TLJ products "were not too strong." Hasbro silently stopped producing Rise of Skywalker figures mid-line. There is no mass-market action figure for Poe, Finn, Lando, unmasked Kylo, Palpatine, or Leia from that movie. The licensees gave up before the trilogy finished releasing. The Lucasfilm acquisition was a $4.05B bet on the merchandise flywheel that built modern Hollywood toy licensing. Kenner's best year selling Original Trilogy toys, adjusted for inflation, outperformed the entire Disney era combined. That's the asset Disney bought. Galaxy's Edge runs the same play. Over $1B per park to build a Star Wars land set on a sequel-era planet nobody cared about. Both parks underperformed projections. The Mandalorian-themed expansion now under construction is the admission. If the rumor lands, this is the most expensive retcon in entertainment history. Five years of IP development written off because the licensees voted with their order books. Luke, Han, Leia, Vader, Boba, Mando, Grogu, Ahsoka generate revenue. The sequel cast generates returns.

Depressing realization: I have had a Twitter account for nearly 16 years.

I know this is unpopular, but it will always be unattractive for a grown man to play video games. Some women might be understanding or pretend like they don’t care that you spend hours playing, but they do. It is extremely unattractive to women and will never not be. 🤷🏼‍♀️

If aliens requested a meeting with a sole individual to represent the human race, whom should we send?

Also, we should teach kids to use abacuses and slide rules! I like Gov. Shapiro. But this makes no sense. I haven’t used cursive in decades. You don’t need it to sign documents. I taught my daughter to touch type. Vastly more useful skill.

Virginia just passed a law prohibiting white males from bidding on state procurement contracts under $200,000. For more expensive contracts, 42% are set aside for non-white men. "SWaM" means small, women and minority owned businesses. The new gov will sign any day.

I get why AI labs are so focused on software development (it helps them get recursive improvement, and also they are coders so they think coding is the most vital thing), but there are 9.5x more managers than there are coders & efforts to build tools for them are very nascent.

Facts all the way through. I would only add that Margot Kidder is the greatest Lois Lane.

This is self-sorting is a fact. But it's not the only explanation. The GOP has lost what were conservative voters in the suburbs by embracing populist anger. That does turn out some rural and working class voters but it turns off some of the suburban voters who once made the WOW counties famous.