0:07
How Can We Correct a Bad Decision?
If you live in other parts of the state, you might think the Sioux Falls and Rapid City prison problems don’t impact you.
Sadly, they do.
While it seems that sticking it to Minnehaha, Lincoln, and Pennington counties might be a good idea (and fun), out of control incarceration costs impact everyone in the state. It means more state taxes and fees have to be allocated to the Department of Corrections which means there is less for other things.
Then there are the extra taxes in Minnehaha, Lincoln, and Pennington Counties (Minnehaha County just voted to increase taxes by $2.3 million) which means more people are below the poverty line and taxpayers everywhere have to cover more SNAP, low income housing, and Medicaid.
Also, it is sad that many of our people are trapped in incarceration rather than becoming productive members of society.
Plus it’s a big marketing problem. Imagine trying to explain to a company that is considering bringing high paying jobs to the state why South Dakota’s two largest cities have F crime ratings (Rapid City, Sioux Falls) and the South Dakota Corrections System has one of the highest recidivism rates in the country (recidivism just went from 44% to 50%).
The special legislative session prison vote, September 2025, appears to be a big part of the problem.
Most of the legislature voted to spend $300 million - $400 million more than necessary on a prison building and NOTHING to address problems with parole and rehabilitation.
As an aside, we should applaud the 30 legislators that voted to pause rather than waste money on a building without addressing the problems.
Perhaps we are starting to turn the corner. Lance Russell, the Republican Attorney General nominee, spent a great deal of time during his speech talking about the problems with the South Dakota Corrections System. He suggested that fixing these problems are some of the most important law enforcement issues the state needs to address.
What other things do you think we need to do to get our correction system problems under control?
1:31
Thai rubber smallholders race to meet new EU deforestation rules
Thailand’s rubber growers will have to prove their latex didn’t come from land cleared after the end of 2020 once the EU’s anti‑deforestation rule kicks in in 2027. The law means every batch headed for Europe needs a GPS tag and paperwork showing it’s from legally‑sourced trees.
That’s a huge shift for Thailand, which supplies about 90 % of its rubber through 1.7 million small farms. Those growers usually sell to middlemen who blend lots together, so tracking each parcel has never been part of the routine. The new rule forces the whole chain to become transparent, something experts called a “revolution” for the sector.
A few tech firms are already stepping in. One platform maps farm plots and records ownership, letting exporters attach location data to each shipment. If the tools catch on, the fragmented supply could finally meet the EU’s standards and keep the market open for Thai rubber.
2:11
State-of-the-art camper turns Ram truck into ultramodern mobile suite
Alaskan Campers just rolled out its HS 640, a hardshell camper that sits on a Ram pickup and claims to be the lightest hard‑sided option they’ve made. The shell is a fiberglass‑sandwich panel over a hybrid frame, so it stays rigid without adding a lot of weight, even though the roof is fixed and a bit taller than a typical pop‑up.
Inside, the layout pulls parts from well‑known suppliers—think insulated walls, a compact kitchen, and a bathroom that fits into the limited space without feeling cramped. The design focuses on keeping the cabin comfortable for a night or two, whether you’re parked at a campsite or just pulling over on a long haul.
Because it’s built to bolt onto a standard Ram chassis, you don’t need a custom truck; the camper’s weight stays low enough that most models can handle it without major modifications. It’s a premium tiny‑home feel, but the price and size still target people who want a ready‑to‑go setup without the bulk of a full RV.
If you already own a Ram and want a more refined, lightweight shelter for weekend trips, the HS 640 might be worth checking out—especially if you value a sturdy build and a tidy interior over a flashy, oversized camper.
3:03
World's first commercial nuclear-powered payload now in orbit
City Labs just put a tiny, nuclear‑powered CubeSat into orbit on a Falcon 9. The little satellite, called BOHR, is a proof‑of‑concept: it carries a betavoltaic cell that uses tritium, a radioactive hydrogen isotope, to generate electricity for months without solar panels. This is a single‑flight demonstration, not a fleet or a long‑term study, so the evidence is limited to whether the device stays alive and functional in space.
The design aims for high reliability—hence the name “Orbital High‑Reliability”—and the mission will monitor power output, radiation safety, and any degradation over time. If the data look good, it could open a niche for small, long‑duration power sources where solar panels aren’t practical.
It’s still early days; the launch succeeded, but we’ll need to see the telemetry before drawing any broader conclusions about commercial viability. For now, it’s a modest but interesting step toward using nuclear decay for satellite power.
3:46
The Art Of Being Overlooked: Stay Silent On Your Grind
history has a pattern nobody really wants to sit with.
the people everyone bets on rarely become the legends.
whether it was the kid who got picked first or the prodigy the teachers already had figured out or the athlete who was supposed to be one of the greatest.
they’re comfortable.
and comfort has buried more talent than failure ever has.
look at who actually ends up carving their name into something that lasts.
the kid who never got picked.
the employee nobody noticed for years.
the athlete rotting on the end of the bench.
the entrepreneur everyone laughed at over dinner.
the writer posting into a void that never once wrote back.
the musician pouring his soul out for five people and a bartender who isn’t listening.
the scientist whose ideas got called ridiculous in a room full of smarter-sounding people.
the student nobody ever bothered to call gifted.
somewhere in the middle of being ignored these people picked up something the chosen ones never had to learn.
they learned to work with no audience and no hand on the shoulder telling them they were special.
and that does something to a person.
we live in a culture that’s completely obsessed with early success.
you see people worship the prodigy. the teenage millionaire. the sixteen year old on the olympic podium. the valedictorian. the kid who could dunk in eighth grade.
we see talent bloom early and we decide, right there, that we already know how the story ends.
but life has this strange, almost cruel way of flattening talent out.
because talent gets you to the party but it does not keep you in the room.
there’s an inflection point that hits everyone eventually.
the moment where raw ability stops being enough and where the head start you were coasting on runs out of road.
and the only people still standing at that point are the ones who were building something underneath the talent the whole time.
work ethic. patience.
the ability to keep going when the applause stopped, or never came at all.
which is to say, the overlooked.
being overlooked teaches you something you can’t buy and you can’t fake.
you don’t wait for the hype because you don’t expect it.
you stop expecting the handout because you already learned the hard way that nobody’s coming to give you one.
and you start grinding in the dark. no witnesses. like your plotting for a heist. just you and the work and the sound of your own doubt.
and what gets built in that silence is a work ethic the rest of the world can’t hold a candle to.
then one day it surfaces and everyone loses their minds.
“when did they get so good?” “how the hell did they pull that off?” “they must’ve gotten lucky.” “they must have got it handed to them!”
they have no idea what mountain you climbed to stand where you’re standing because they only showed up for the view.
400 milligrams of caffeine in me right now and i can feel it.
dopamine up. norepinephrine up. that clean, sharp, slightly dangerous focus where the whole world narrows to the thing in front of you.
supplements are all down the hatch. black coffee with raw honey going cold next to me because i’ve been too locked in to drink it.
candle burning. ambient music low.
and that specific feeling like i could single-handedly conquer a small country before lunch.
good. because this is a post i’ve been wanting to write for a long time.
let’s get into it.
"A river cuts through rock not because of its power but its persistence." — James Watkins
everyone notices talent but almost nobody notices consistency.
talent is loud. very loud actually.
it announces itself early and it makes everyone in the room turn their head.
the kid who barely studies and still tops the class. the natural athlete who moves like the game was slowed down just for him. the one who picks up guitar and sounds decent in a month.
talent gives you a head start so big that for a while it feels like the rules don’t apply to you.
it’s like you’re in a video game and you started at level 50 while everyone else starts at level 1.
sports. school. music. business. gaming. coding. writing. the stage.
wherever it shows up, early talent creates this massive gap between you and everyone grinding to catch up.
and here’s the trap buried inside that gap.
if you’re winning without trying, you never learn how to try.
then you hit the level where everyone is talented.
university academics and sports. the industry. the top of whatever mountain you were climbing. suddenly the natural gift that carried you your whole life is just the price of admission.
everyone here has it.
the room is full of people who were the best in their town, and now they’re all in the same room.
and the differentiator changes completely.
it’s no longer intelligence because everyone’s smart. it’s no longer genetics or potential or whatever word people used to describe you at fourteen.
the thing that separates people at the top is boring as hell.
work ethic. patience.
7:05
How tall and short trees can coexist in old growth forests
I’ve been looking at a recent field study that surveyed a handful of old‑growth stands across temperate regions. The researchers mapped every tree, from towering conifers down to the understory saplings, and tracked light availability over several years. What they found is that, contrary to the classic “tall wins” model, a surprisingly stable mix of sizes persists in these mature forests.
The key seems to be the way light filters through a patchy canopy. Gaps created by falling giants let sunlight reach the forest floor, giving smaller species a chance to grow. At the same time, many mid‑sized trees develop shade‑tolerant strategies—like broader leaves or slower growth—that let them survive under the taller neighbors. The result is a mosaic where tall, medium, and short trees all have niches.
Because the data come from direct, long‑term measurements rather than a single snapshot, the evidence is fairly robust. It suggests that old‑growth ecosystems maintain diversity through dynamic light patterns, not just by favoring the tallest individuals. So, if you were thinking the forest hierarchy is a simple race to the top, this study nudges that view toward a more nuanced, coexistence‑focused picture.
7:57
Global warming, increasing wildfire risk threaten viability of some California winery regions
A new climate‑impact analysis, pulling together decades of temperature, precipitation and fire‑history data across California’s vineyards, shows that rising heat and more frequent wildfires are already cutting into the margins where grapes thrive. The researchers mapped the historic “sweet spot” for premium varieties and overlaid projected climate scenarios; under a moderate warming pathway, up to a third of the current Napa‑Sonoma acreage could slip out of optimal conditions by 2050.
The study isn’t a single‑site anecdote—it combines satellite fire records, long‑term weather stations and grape‑yield surveys, giving a fairly robust picture of risk. It flags that hotter, drier summers will stress vines, while larger, more intense fires will damage both vines and the surrounding soil, making recovery slower.
What that means for you, if you’re thinking about buying or investing in California wine, is that the traditional “golden” regions may become less reliable. Some producers are already experimenting with higher‑elevation sites or more heat‑tolerant grape clones, but the overall outlook suggests a need to watch climate trends closely and consider diversification.
8:50
Sponsorship is key to career progression but less than one in four relationships work
A research report launched today reveals that sponsorship is a critical part of progression into senior leadership roles because it teaches individuals how advancement actually works in practice. But only a small proportion of sponsorship relationships—less than a quarter—are characterized by the mutual trust, candid feedback and active advocacy that really boost leaders' careers.
9:10
Cannibalism isn't as smart as it sounds
A recent study from the University of Wrocław compared the protein and iron content of human muscle to typical red‑meat cuts. The researchers measured fresh tissue from cadavers and found that, on a gram‑for‑gram basis, the nutritional profile is roughly similar to beef, but the difference is small enough that it wouldn’t meaningfully improve a diet lacking other protein sources.
The same work highlighted the health risks that outweigh any marginal gain. Human tissue can carry prions—misfolded proteins that cause fatal brain disorders like kuru—so even a tiny amount could be dangerous. The study’s sample size was limited, so the findings are more a caution than a definitive rule, but the risk signal is clear.
Historically, societies that practiced cannibalism did so under extreme scarcity, not because the practice offered a nutritional advantage. Modern food security solutions are far safer and more reliable.
Bottom line: the evidence suggests cannibalism isn’t a smart or safe way to fill a nutritional gap, and the potential harms far outweigh any modest protein benefit.
9:57
Sound Blaster GS5 review: Great sound, dumb display, fair price
When I think of Sound Blaster, I go way back to the early '90s. The Sound Blaster 1.0 was the gold standard if you had a PC. In 1998, Creative released the Sound Blaster Live!. It featured EAX (Environmental Audio Extensions), and on the games that supported it, sound would change depending on your environment: caves and long hallways would echo, footsteps sounded different on concrete versus dirt, you name it. It was pretty cutting-edge back then, and Creative was the pioneer behind it.
Category: Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Sound, Speakers, Bluetooth Speakers, Creative, Reviews
