March 6, 2026

THE REAL WORLD:

March 6, 2026

This Absurdly Complex Star Destroyer Model May Be the Most Detailed Ever Created (Tom Hawking, March 5, 2026, Gizmodo)

The thing with real-life models—whether they’re for use in films or for sale as merchandise—is that there’s a fundamental limit on how complex they can get. I mean, you can’t ship a 172,340-piece Lego Star Destroyer set. (Although, if Lego ever did ship a 172,340-piece set, it would absolutely be a Star Destroyer, and a sector of the fandom would absolutely shell out for it.)

But anyway, the point is that the real world is constrained by considerations like supply, demand, manufacturing capacity, and, y’know, common sense. By contrast, a 3D model is really only constrained by the question of whether trying to render it might result in your computer catching fire. So long as your computer is powerful enough to handle them, models and projects can be arbitrarily large.

Just So Stories

IT’S ART, NOT SCIENCE::

March 6, 2026

Fanged Frog of Borneo Shows Speciation is Messy (Jake Currie, March 5, 2026, nautilus)

[D]istinctions between populations aren’t always clear-cut, and drawing the boundary can be a fraught endeavor. Take the fanged frogs of Borneo for example. One species (Limnonectes kuhlii), identified almost 200 years ago, has more recently been sliced and diced by a series of genetic analyses into as many as 18 distinct species.

But do these genetic distinctions really reflect biological reality?

To investigate, a team led by Chan Kin Onn of the University of Michigan collected DNA from fanged frogs throughout the Bornean rainforests, analyzing more than 13,000 locations in their genomes. Their findings, published in Systematic Biology, determined that the frogs do indeed belong to multiple species, but they’re clustered in six or seven distinct groups—that is, not 18.

“It’s not just one species. But it’s not 18 species, either,” Chan said in a statement.

The discrepancy exists because earlier genetic analyses focused on finding divergence between the populations using models that assumed no gene flow was taking place, meaning there was no interbreeding between the populations. But as Chan put it, “We found a ton of gene flow going on.”

It’s however many they choose to pretend.

End of History

ONE FOR DONALD:

March 6, 2026

A Quiet Peace in the Caucasus Could Change the Balance of Power (Renee Pruneau Novakoff, 3/05/26, Cipher Brief)

The peace deal signed at the White House between Armenia and Azerbaijan last August could reverse a trajectory of bloodshed and hatred between those two countries and replace those cornerstones of their relationship with peace, prosperity and stability.

It could start a new trade route to Europe that bypasses Russia. This would leave Moscow, which has manipulated politics in that part of the world for centuries, out in the cold. There is still a long way to go but the dynamics are positive, and the time is right to make this happen.

Iran knows that and last night, Azeri authorities say that Tehran attacked the Caucasus with drones […]

I was an analyst at CIA in 1988 and spent my days writing about and briefing policy makers about the Armenian and Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. I spent a lot of time trying to explain why the two sides were fighting over this mountainous area that has no oil or minerals of much worth. It was hard to explain to practical U.S. policy makers how the Russians set up this conflict as a way to keep control over their Muslim and Christian neighbors.

The current peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is something I never expected. If it lasts, it will allow these two countries to focus on their economic growth and stability instead of wasting blood and treasure on centuries old hatreds instigated by their neighbor.

THE REAL WORLD:

IT’S ART, NOT SCIENCE::

ONE FOR DONALD:

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