Aaron Tao

Techie. Texan/Midwesterner. Ron Swansonian. Bibliophile. Runner. Foodie. @cwru & @UTexasMcCombs alum. 🖋 @AreoMagazine @merionwest @Quillette @feeonline

[NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin]

These are the engines that will help return American astronauts to the surface of the Moon, and they’re ready for Artemis IV.

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

Steve Jobs on why motivation can’t be forced:

[Don Pettit @astro_Pettit]

Orbiting the multicolored lights of Southeast Asia. Here green lights used on fishing boats are in greater quantities than anywhere else on the planet, dense enough to appear as bright green streaks in long exposure photography.

[Liza Libes @pensandpoison]

Why is Crime and Punishment one of the greatest novels ever written?

It has a lot to do with its message.

As a society, we’ve become so afraid of sincerity that we’ve forgotten that there are, indeed, such things as good, evil, truth, and beauty. Our art has become so ironic and self-referential that we’ve collectively abandoned the notion that literature ought to carry a moral message.

Instead, because we’ve become so obsessed with moral relativism, contemporary literature occupies one of two extremes: on the one hand, you have the Ben Lerner model, where you’re told exactly who to cheer for and exactly whose side to take; on the other hand, you have the Ottessa Moshfegh model, where nothing means anything and literature ought not to carry any sort of message.

But Crime and Punishment resists both extremes; instead, it does what literature ought to do: it teaches us something about who we are and how we can find meaning in our lives. The beauty of Dostoyevsky’s masterwork lies in its ability to provide us with a clear moral vision while resisting the compulsion to tell us outright that any single character’s way of life is the “correct” way.

Crime and Punishment, in other words, teaches us how to find meaning in our lives for ourselves.

[Owen Lewis @is_OwenLewis]

Erik's work on Atlantis, the human outpost on Neptune's moon Triton, makes me want to go forth and build wonders.

[Basic Human Stuff @basichumanstf]

Sometimes I get tired of living in Austin. And then sometimes I drive 7 minutes to get Michelin star bbq sourced from local farms.

[Jeff Lynch Photography @jtlynch60]

Good morning from West Texas!

[Tim Cook @tim_cook]

There are people who leave a mark on the world, and then there are people who change it entirely. Steve changed the world and so many lives in the process. He certainly changed my life forever. His spirit lives on in everything he created and everyone he inspired.

[The Atlas Society @TheAtlasSociety]

A society that punishes achievement will eventually discover how much it depended on the people it punished.

[John Stossel @JohnStossel]

Activists call “ gifted" classes unfair. They want all kids taught together.

“It doesn’t help any of us if kids are … sitting bored in class because we’re not teaching them anything new,” says @MichaelPetrilli.

Why not let smart kids excel?

[Julie Borowski @JulieBorowski]

No child left behind means no child gets ahead.

[Quillette @Quillette]

Chelsea Follett's new history shows how wretched life was before the industrial revolution, but our escape from it began long before the steam engine.

A review by @robert_zubrin

https://t.co/c1EOF3kYxH

[Atelier Missor @AtelierMissor_]

The next statue should be an order of magnitude taller.

[Mambo Italiano @mamboitaliano__]

🚨 BERETTA: 500 years of Italian excellence

One of Italy’s 🇮🇹 most extraordinary industrial stories has just reached an incredible milestone: 500 years!!!

The Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta, one of the oldest industrial companies in the world still in operation, was born in Gardone Val Trompia, near Brescia

A valley with a centuries-old tradition of mining and metalworking dating back to Roman times, and of gunsmithing since the Renaissance

Its headquarters are still there today

The official story begins on October 3, 1526, when the Republic of Venice paid 296 ducats to Bartolomeo Beretta for 185 arquebus barrels

That document is considered the first certain record of the Beretta family’s firearms business

Beretta did not begin as a giant company

It started as a master gunsmith’s workshop and remained in the same family for around 15 generations, evolving from arquebus barrels to modern pistols, hunting and sporting firearms, products for law enforcement and military forces, international exports and eventually the wider Beretta Holding group

That is what makes its story extraordinary: it is not simply an old company carrying an old name

It is the same family industrial lineage, rooted in the same territory, continuously adapting for five centuries

Yesterday, September 18, 2026, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni traveled to Gardone Val Trompia for the 500th-anniversary celebrations

She visited the factory, inaugurated a new hall, took selfies with the public and watched the spectacular flyover by the Frecce Tricolori

Meloni highlighted Beretta’s connection to its territory, Made in Italy and the security of Italy’s law enforcement and armed forces

Five centuries
Fifteen generations
One family
One territory
One extraordinary Italian story

Bravo 🇮🇹

[Will Tanner @Will_Tanner_1]

Notable is that both Beretta and Kikkoman are still private, family-owned businesses, and so can focus on the long-term rather than just the next quarter

Further, they are encouraged to care about quality because it reflects on the family's name and honor while also impacting their wealth

So long as extortionate death taxes can be avoided, they probably will be around in another 500 years in a way that managerial class-run companies won't be

[BERETTA USA @Beretta_USA]

1526 - 2026: Beretta turns 500

Since October 3rd, 1526, Beretta has been more than a name. It has been part of stories, traditions, passions, and unforgettable moments around the world.

Today, we are honored to share some of the many birthday wishes we have received from our community. Now it's your turn. What does Beretta mean to you? Share your experience in a post or comment, tag our channels, and use #Beretta500 for a chance to be featured on our official channels.

Thank you for being part of our journey. Here's to the next chapter, together.

#Beretta500 #LegacyForgesTomorrow

[Para @Para919]

500 years ago today, Beretta was founded.

[Codie Sanchez @Codie_Sanchez]

You don’t need super cars, designers and penthouses…

You need land of your own, a true partner and something worth building.

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

Maybe we should stop teaching young people to think like anxious and depressed people in hopes that thinking with cognitive distortions in a kind of reverse cognitive behavioral therapy will either keep them safer or motivate them towards what adults sometimes assume are positive political ends?

[Atelier Missor @AtelierMissor_]

We tried to rent a 50-ton crane to lift the statue. The company refused. They said it was too risky because the statue was too heavy for the crane. So we lifted it with our 16-ton crane.