transformers, Gandalfs, and second-hand everything

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Yama and I came from the same womb, different destinations.

1. Using the entire rail network as a flatbed scanner
2. One P&G employee with AI equals two humans — randomized trial of 791 workers
3. Solid-state transformers demonstrated in the real grid — half the power loss of conventional
4. Gandalfs protest Thiel’s Buenos Aires home — singing football chants about palantirs
5. Is new phone culture finally dead?
6. 90 years of coin-op binoculars at American overlooks — Tower Optical finally sells some