Reflecting on January 2026

I’ve never been much of a diary person, but I’m going to start trying to record at least summaries of the months, to help with some self reflection and documenting things… and sharing because why not. I can’t keep everything in Obsidian – and why shouldn’t I share my bookmarks?

A screencap of grey and red nodes joined up in the "graph view" in Obsidian.
This isn’t my main one, this is the one for the weekly D&D game I DM.

The year has been off to a strong start with Microsoft’s CEO begging us to please stop being honest about his core product (ie to stop calling generative AI output: slop).1 Craig Hale “Satya Nadella wants us to stop calling AI “slop” – good luck with that” (6 January 2026) Techradar <www.techradar.com> Thankfully the world in general has said fuck that guy. It also weirdly aligned with a games and tech journalist finding out there was someone else putting out articles under the same name, and that they may or may not have been an AI generated fabrication.2 Nicole Carpenter “I’m Not That Nicole Carpenter” (15 January 2026) Aftermath <aftermath.site>

Lady Emily responded to a post I made on Bikini Armor Battle Damage, which was my first star struck moment for the year.

New Zealand

Back at work after the holiday period, and New Zealand is back into shenanigans.

Hon Judith Collins KC

As we wind up for our upcoming elections and (hopefully) the removal of the current government of clowns – Judith Collins has announced she’s leaving being a minister for being president of the Law Commission.3 Glen McConnell “Judith Collins retiring from politics, has new job locked in” (28 January 2026) Stuff <www.stuff.co.nz>
Russell Palmer “National’s Judith Collins retires from politics, appointed Law Commission president” (28 January 2026) RNZ <www.rnz.co.nz>

It is my sincere hope that she is fired on the day she arrives at the office, or failing that as soon as we end up with a new government as she – in my not so humble opinion – completely unqualified for the job. While she may be a Kings Counsel, she regularly showcases that she is more of a dog in a manger than a officer of the court or a servant of the people.

She held a staggering number of portfolios and did nothing with them but raise public discontent against her and whined at the people doing the work there was no money to pay them while misrepresenting them.4 Hon Judith Collins KC “Open letter to the people of New Zealand” (15 October 2025) The Beehive <www.beehive.govt.nz> Her understanding of the law is questionable, given she tries to claim that the lack of a formal constitution is what leads the courts to correct her5 Hon Judity Collin KC “Speech to the Law Association” (13 June 2024) The Beehive <www.beehive.govt.nz> (the US would like word),6 Cristian Farias “Circuit Judges Are Fed Up With SCOTUS” (8 November 2025) LegalEagle YouTube <www.youtube.com> thinks the FBI (being run by a D-tier influencer) belongs in the New Zealand,7 Hon Judith Collins KC “Ministers welcome new FBI office in Wellington” (31 July 2025) The Beehive <www.beehive.govt.nz> and doesn’t seem up to date on her terminology – citing “mens rei” instead of “prerequisite mental state” in her address where she tries to dictate decision to public service heads.8 Hon Judith Collins KC “Address to Public Service Leaders” (11 February 2025) The Beehive <www.beehive.govt.nz>

Truly, if Judith practiced what she preached – she’d be back in private practice, instead she seems to be going to spread more misunderstanding and harmful ideology from a different post. Perhaps she figures she won’t last another election.

Internet Law

Apparently there was an app for people to logging masturbation habits, with the intent on quitting pornography, that suffered a major data leak.9 Emanuel Maiberg ” App for Quitting Porn Leaked Users’ Masturbation Habits” (28 January 2026) 404 Media <www.404media.co> Unfortunately I don’t have the necessary subscription to read the entire article but I feel confident that if this had been based in New Zealand the Privacy Act10 Privacy Act 2020 would have triggered much more action than anything US citizens have access to.

There was also an issue with a activity claiming she had received a threatening letter from Trump’s FBI which turned out to be fake. There’s not a lot I want to say about this from a legal perspective but I think from a human perspective it’s good to listen to what Lily Alexandre had to say.11 Lily Alexandre “That anti-trans FBI letter was fake” (20 January 2026) AddtionaLily Alexandre <www.youtube.com>

Martha Root

This year had a strong start for iconic behaviour, specifically some fascinating vigilantism again white supremacy web sites that the German police and intelligence apparently had been unable or unwilling to deal with.12 Victor Tangermann “Woman Hacks “Tinder for Nazis,” Tricks the Racist Users Into Falling in Love With AI Chatbots” (6 January 2026) Futurism <futurism.com>

Obviously, none of this is legal or advisable, but it works in the fascinating space of there being likely little to no recourse for the white supremacists involved. They would have to essentially come forward as criminals, and it is my understanding that German law has basic protections so that people who are acting against the public interest can’t sue over it.

Wizards of the Coast

Those who try to make hating Wizards of the Coast their entire personality are having a rough time right now as there is finally some legal action against Hasbro that has teeth – and it’s all boring corporate governance stuff.13 Crocono v. Cocks, 1:26-cv-00041, (D.R.I.)

Crispy’s Tavern has taken the time to give a lay person’s summary and it’s pretty good, getting to the core issues.14 “Magic the Gathering: Getting Sued and Going Broke” (31 January 2026) Crispy’s Tavern: Tales and Tea <www.youtube.com>

To the surprise of few, Hasbro’s executives are being accused of having gamed the system – specifically to have been using Magic: The Gathering to pump up the book through projections, sudden releases to spike cash flow and generally hit bonus targets at the expense of the brand and the business.

This was interesting to me as it came out about the same time I saw this video about the collapse of the sneaker flipping trend15 “The Satisfying Downfall of Sneaker Resellers” (10 November 2024) Original Paradigms YouTube <www.youtube.com> – and makes me wonder how many more businesses we’re going to see struggling due to being held up by scalpers and grifters in the next couple of years (besides Generative AI).

Media

I’ve been obsessed with Splinter Cell: Deathwatch on Netflix, mostly because I find the character of Thunder, the weird re-writing of Sam & Grim, and the approach Derek Kolstad has taken to try to implement his trademark action. May also be entering into a para-social relationship with Kirby (not that Kirby).

Romantasy & Monster-fucking

I’ve been listening to a lot of Reads with Rachel over the last six months, as he has a very entertaining style that works well as background while working. Rachel ends up reading a lot of romantasy but I think the best discussion lately has been from Princess Weekes (who always delivers).16 “Romantasy, BookTok & Critical Thinking” (29 January 2026) Princess Weekes YouTube <www.youtube.com>

I’ve also been catching up on Slovenly Trulls and finally got around to listening to the oddly topical Episode 47: The Monster Smash (featuring: Table Talk!), aka can they spread monster-fucking to the masses. Sadly one of the articles they relied up on their sources seems to have been removed along with all work by Doctor Saraliza Anzaldúa. Clearly Dr Anzaldúa had too much slay going of for the university.

A photo of Dr Anzaldúa smiling as she peeks over the top of "Zombies, Vampires, & Philosophy"

After all, I can’t find the official reason I can’t find why this is, but was able to find a copy of the paper that I was able to rebuild into a PDF. Given that it seems the vast majority of Dr Anzaldúa’s work, including books on Amazon, seems to be pulled I’m trying to work out if I can share it. Suffice to say it was a fascinating study into monster-fucking and also, weirdly, cited this book that With Cindy did a different analysis on.17 “Why “Morning Glory Milking Farm” is a critique about late stage capitalism and toxic masculinity” (21 May 2025) readwithcindy YouTube <www.youtube.com>

Criticism of the Critic

So author Hillary Lane decided to reinvent herself as YouTuber, offering writing advice and then creating the sort of “critique” that appeals to Asmongold fans. Thankfully this has led to a bunch of really good response videos, my favourite is this one about the history of education and how reading really works.18 “I Fact Checked YouTube’s Worst Writer On the Literary Crisis” (25 January 2026) Crimes New Roman YouTube <www.youtube.com>

These are some of the other really good breakdowns I saw by lesser known YouTubers:

Games

Ubisoft has been embroiled in problems with layoffs and now it’s workers demonstrating how the video games industry has long needed widespread unionisation. They have massive strikes coming up, and I wish all the best to the workers.19 Nathan Grayson “‘We Will Not Be Bullied Into Submission’: Ubisoft Unions Call For Massive International Strike” (28 January 2026) Aftermath <aftermath.site>

One of my favourite YouTubers, LegalKimchi, has made a really good video about how we talk about the problematic works of the past (which will always been an issue, since all work is problematic to some degree).20 “We Don’t Know How To Talk About Problematic Stuff” (20 January 2026) LegalKimchi YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8WxXPNP7Pw>

Half-Sword has finally gone into official early access – I have purchased my copy and been mostly enjoying the changes between the demo and final game. I have had to lower the settings dramatically, but I suppose that is the price we have to pay for interesting environments and having hair.

Crypto gaming is finally having the inevitable collapses that were anticipated the moment that crypto gaming was announced as a concept.21 “The Crypto Bros Are Finally Waking up… They own NOTHING” (30 January 2026) Kira YouTube <www.youtube.com>
“Crypto Gaming is Official DEAD” (13 January 2026) Kira YouTube <www.youtube.com> Sadly, this is likely because all the Venture Capital is now being redirected to Generative AI – but at least one planet destroying scam is dying.

Also Tim Cain came out with a really insightful video about the game development process and how chaotic, unoptimized and generally terrible code somehow ends up in final products despite the bets intentions of very capable programmers.22 Timothy Cain “Spaghetti Code” (17 January 2026) YouTube <www.youtube.com>

Next month

Hoping to release a couple more chapters of the nuTSR Saga, applying for my Certificate of Character so that I can be sworn in as a lawyer in New Zealand and going to try to get back into drawing and posting art.

Or I dunno, something.

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