The saddest thing about the collapse of the US empire is that instead of a dignified decline or a catastrophic collapse, we had to endure the spectacle of the White House being turned into the White Trash House.
Posted in Current Events, Holidays, Tyranny | Tagged fascism, holidays, politicians, Washington DC | Leave a Comment »
I would never have guessed that so many people online not only don’t know what a Socratic question is, but are so insecure about their ignorance they call such questions “stupid”. But last week a parade of clowns on Bluesky declared that such a question I posed was not only “stupid”, but also not a Socratic question at all because…they believe all Socratic questions follow some kind of rigid and predictable form, I guess. Given that they could simply have consulted the Wikipedia entry I linked above, this cannot be a mere failure of education; it appears to be a manifestation of Asimov’s observation that Americans seem to think that “democracy” means an ignorant opinion is equal to an educated one. Another factor is that very few (two people as of this writing) of those who responded with more than a “like” or retweet seem to have actually understood the question that was being asked. Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of that online; most people seem to glance at a sentence or tweet, recognize a few words, quickly form their own question from those few words, and respond to that mistaken notion of the question rather than the one which was actually asked. I’m not sure if that has to do with the “guess the meaning” school of reading which was popular in US public schools for several decades, or if it’s a manifestation of the inability to focus that seems to plague many younger Americans, or both. Most social media users would rather guess at the meaning of a tweet and vomit out a quick reaction than actually read the question asked and consider it before replying, or else simply ignore it and move on to something else. They seem to consider it some kind of moral failing to simply bypass things without spewing out some kind of reaction, yet at the same time they don’t want to invest the cerebral effort to answer like a rational adult rather than like an ill-bred and rather stupid child who would rather be playing in the mud than actually [ugh] thinking.
Posted in Philosophy, Words | Tagged Bluesky, internet, language, psychology, teachers | 1 Comment »
I liked Pride so much better when it was one day celebrated by grass-roots organizations than a whole month ballyhooed by major corporations with rainbow-hued consumer goods, and with hypocritical expressions of solidarity from politicians and cops.
– “June is Tweeting Out All Over”
One…aspect of my neuroatypicality…[is] that…[I] spend [a lot of] time composing and performing a kind of music only I can hear.
– “The Music in the Numbers”
Unfortunately, societies’ tendency to self-lobotomize into stagnation and decay is something that will almost certainly never be solved.
– “The Eternal Frontier”
The only moral form of warfare is War of Assassins, in which the only combatants and the only legitimate targets are the rulers, their henchmen, and their agents. – “War of Assassins“
Posted in Biography, History, Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny | Tagged activism, blogging, censorship, consensual crime, cops, fascism, games, holidays, law, lawheads, LGBT rights, politicians, psychology, universal criminality, weaponry | Leave a Comment »
If there are no punishments for violating someone’s rights, they’re not really rights at all. – Hemant Mehta
The only religion which it’s actually free to practice in the US is Christianity:
The Supreme Court has made it official: Religious freedom only applies if you’re a conservative Christian…[by] rul[ing] 6-3…that a Rastafarian man whose hair was cut off against his will—violating his religious beliefs—had no legal remedies available to him…Damon Landor…hadn’t cut his hair in decades because he follows the Nazarite vow—which includes a reference to Numbers 6:5: “… No razor may be used on their head… they must let their hair grow long.” He continued that vow even after entering two Louisiana jails in 2020, for a five-month sentence…[but] when he was transferred to a third [dungeon]…Landor worried they might try to cut his hair to fit in with [victim subjugation] policies, so he showed [screws] paperwork [of]…The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000…[which] says prisons that receive federal funding can’t violate someone’s religious beliefs unless there’s a really good reason for it…They threw his paperwork in the trash, handcuffed him to a chair, and shaved off his hair. He later sued…both the prison and the individual [screw]s for violating his rights…[but] writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said [because the screws didn’t want to follow the law]…they couldn’t be held accountable…
Madison Square Garden compiled a list of activists who have publicly criticized [its] use of facial recognition…in…a document…accessible to [anyon]e in…the company…MSG[‘s owner] Jim Dolan[, who also owns Radio City Music Hall]…has…a reputation for being pernicious against his perceived enemies, [and] is…keeping track of specific people who take issue with [his creepy surveillance]…The…list…[includes] three people who have criticized MSG’s use of facial recognition: Evan Greer…of…Fight for the Future; Albert Fox Cahn…of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project…and…[Adam] Schwartz…of [EFF, and]…includes background information…social media handles and…screenshots of [criticism]…“The fact that MSG is creating dossiers on activists who say things they don’t like shows exactly why private companies should not be allowed to use dangerous surveillance technologies like facial recognition,” [said] Greer…“Given their recent treatment of a trans woman trying to use the bathroom…I’m also not surprised they misgendered me”…
Goons are now being dispatched to intimidate people for wrongthink:
Two…[ICE goons threaten]ed…a Syracuse [New York] woman…[in an attempt] to [censor her] social media account[, claiming she was mean to them]…PaigeLynne Gonyea said she believes they [we]re referring to a January post where she named the [goon] who [murdered] protester Renee Good. Gonyea was working as a poll worker…at the Central Library…when [the goons showed up]. She…invited them in[side because]…she did not want to meet them outside alone…The [goons] handed [her] a form letter [full of Trumpist] threats…[of] prosecution…“They tried to scare me into signing it”…she said…she does not intend to delete her post…[but instead contacted] the attorney general’s office…[her US representative, the] Mayor [of Syracuse] and the New York Civil Liberties Union…
Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs (#1532)
Never forget that this started with censorship of internet porn:
Anastasia Ovsyannikova…has been detained [in Russia for being] on [OnlyFans]…She gained fame through her collaborations with Diana Shurygina, wh[o]…was [also] arrested in Moscow earlier this month [when cops staged a theatrical raid] on her apartment and [stole] cameras and [other] filming equipment…the…p[er]secution is part of a growing wave of cases targeting women over online adult content. In a separate case, a woman named Anastasia F. was detained in Yekaterinburg on similar charges [for] posting explicit content on OnlyFans…The Kremlin has for several years sought to position the country as more [puritanical]…But this stance hardened a[s part of its propaganda campaign to draw attention away from its disastrous] invasion of Ukraine in February 2022…
Western nations are competing to out-China China:
[Politicians have]…unveil[ed] a [uniparty collaboration] on [the massive internet surveillance and censorship bill named]…KOSA…[which] now…includes age verification for [any website that any politician points at while belching “]sexually explicit[“, plus provisians allowing the government to control the design of] video game[s] and…social media…platforms…[plus threats to attack]…platforms [which refuse] to silence users [enough for politicians’ tastes]…
This was always the endgame, regardless of claims to the contrary:
In its quest to outlaw abortion across the country, the [forced birth] movement has [long courted the wishy-washy by claiming they want]…women who get the procedure…spared punishment, while doctors and others who make it available should be p[ersecuted]…But a growing number of [forced-birth fanatics] are starting to [drop the mask,] argu[ing] that the only way to stop women from ending their pregnancies [is] to arrest them. The [unmasking] is coming as [forced-birth fanatics] express frustration that the number of abortions happening now is higher than [before] Roe v. Wade was overturned, largely because [women don’t want fanatical strangers controlling their bodies]…
Reason needs to be far more skeptical of the outlandish claims of chatbot pushers:
…Utah has passed several laws and initiatives to [funnel]…healthcare [money into the hands of chatbot purveyors], including a[n ill-considered scheme] launched earlier this year to allow…chatbots to fill prescriptions…[via a fascist collaboration named] Doctronic…[so far] the project [only allows algorithmic refills of ongoing]…prescriptions and medication for asthma, diabetes, and other c[hronic] health conditions. Patients still need to visit a[n actual] doctor for new prescriptions…but…[as AMA executive John Whyte points out] “It’s really a concern about a slippery slope. Do we start here with prescriptions, then all of a sudden, is it going to lead to diagnostic tests?”…Doctronic [claims] its platform is guided by the opinions of board-certified physicians[, but the exact same statement is made by insurance companies about the medical washouts whom they employ to deny claims]…
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny | Tagged abortion, artificial stupidity, censorship, Censorship Ascendant, cops, dehumanization, drugs, fascism, internet, law, Louisiana, Mad Libs, Monsters, New York, Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs, politicians, porn, prisons, Pyrrhic Victory, Russia, Size Matters, sporting events, surveillance, The Last Shall Be First, The Vultures Descend, transgender, Utah, Walled Garden, You Were Warned | Leave a Comment »
I’m pleased to report that Axel is completely off of the trazodone which the shelter had him on. When I first got him at the end of November, he was on 400mg/day, an immense dose for a 20kg animal. So I immediately started weaning him off, at first reducing the dose by 50mg/day every week, then once we were down to 100mg/day slowing the reduction to 25mg/day every few weeks. At the end of April he was down to 25mg/day, then for all of May 12.5mg/day, and then at the beginning of June I started skipping days between doses; since I saw no difference in his behavior between med days and no-med days, his last dose was a week ago, Monday the 22nd, and he’s just fine. He no longer chases the cats or snaps at strangers, and he isn’t nearly as high-strung as he was just a few months ago; about the only relics of his former problems are a tendency to eat cat shit (I know it isn’t an unusual dog behavior, but I’ve never owned a dog that did it before) and some separation anxiety. He no longer gets upset when he doesn’t see me, unless I go off in a car; when I get back, even if I’m only gone for a couple of hours, he cries and runs around when I return until I pet him and calm him down. Given that I was told his first owner died when he was seven, my guess is that the owner went off to the hospital in a car and never came back, so he is afraid when I leave in a car. But other than those comparatively minor issues, I’d say he has passed his good boy tests with flying colors, and demonstrated that he was exactly the right choice to bring into our Sunset family.
Posted in Diary | Tagged animals, drugs, psychology, Sunset | Leave a Comment »
The reality of human sexuality is a whole world; describing it requires at least four dimensions plus time. – “Two-Dimensional”
- One who thinks a dog must be forced to lick humans has never met a dog.
- Prohibition turns people into “crime scenes”, to be violated by cops at will.
- It’s good to see “sex trafficking” lies being attacked from many directions.
- Even USA Today rags are reporting debunkings of “sex trafficking” myths.
- I hope “sex trafficking” doesn’t become an all-purpose excuse for women.
- Amateurs: a menace to public health who should be licensed & regulated.
- Violet Blue exposes the connection between a number of anti-sex op-eds.
- Just in case you think being a “legal” sex worker protects you. And again.
- Thai whores love contradicting prohibitionists who claim they’re “victims”.
- 140-year-old myths used to justify same old pogroms vs consensual sex.
- Massage parlors are popular cop targets ’cause they’re low-hanging fruit.
- Pigs & prosecutors destroy yet another site sex workers use to stay safe.
- Another sleaze tricks young would-be sex workers in order to rape them.
- So nice when “sex trafficking” bullshit is called out in mainstream media.
- Those behind this train wreck should consult theologian Benjamin Corey.
- Popular porn site shames customers for enjoying a popular type of porn.
- I suspect these rapists are the ones discussed in the original of this title.
- Say you’re “fighting sex trafficking” & stupid people will give you money.
- Control freaks clutch pearls about a thing that doesn’t exist & never will.
- Tax money used to vomit anti-whore propaganda all over the landscape.
- Only parts not profoundly ignorant are those that’re profoundly obvious.
- Naturally, Baton Rouge couldn’t let itself be out-pruded by New Orleans.
- Cops are “excited and jazzed up” to trick people and destroy their lives.
- Say what you like about Larry Flynt; he’s a dedicated foe of censorship.
- Cops, historical figures, ignoramuses, Cassandra, Senpai & much more.
- How “Walk Free Foundation” comes up with ridiculous “slavery” figures.
- Cops discarding pretense that this is about anything other than pillage.
- Kari Lerum on the wrongheadedness of opposition to decriminalization.
- Theologian Benjamin Corey: most outspoken Christian sex worker ally.
- In US media, “sex trafficking” is now just a dysphemism for “sex work”.
- Ladies, please stop putting hotel-room selfies in your ads immediately.
- Politicians realize cops’ scam is too obvious, pretend to be “concerned”.
- Up by 27% from the last nonsense “estimate” less than two years ago.
- The first pretense that there is an “FBI list” of “top 15 trafficking hubs”.
- It’s especially pleasing for me when my friends write about each other.
- Even where sex work is legal, whore stigma is an ever-present danger.
- It’s so funny to watch prudes’ heads explode over something so banal.
- Articles on sugar dating appear to be starting to shed the moral panic.
- If this dude clutched his pearls any more tightly, he’d strangle himself.
- Should a sexually-traumatized man go to a whore to lose his virginity?
- State allows religious fanatics to brainwash women at a remote cabin.
- Because anything can be “evidence of prostitution”, even if you’re 12.
- The people prohibitionists want in charge of “protecting” sex workers.
- Remember when busybodies actually had to spy on people in person?
- Deon Haywood of Women With a Vision on The Girlfriend Experience.
- A vacation in Southeast Asia makes anyone a “sex trafficking expert”.
- Two dimensions of sexuality isn’t much of an improvement over one.
- This fascist group is the most terrifying of the whole rescue industry.
- Most people are so naive they don’t realize this is par for the course.
- I wonder what % of those who spout this rubbish actually believe it?
- Close enough considering human aesthetics are the main attraction.
- Canadian prohibitionists desperate to cash in before panic implodes.
- Monthomery County produces some of the sweetest schadenfreude.
- Another overly-broad and mindlessly-draconian “revenge porn” law.
- “Residential farm” = “doing menial agricultural labor for their keep”.
- Politicians say too few lives are being destroyed for consensual sex.
- Should a woman control her sexuality to make others comfortable?
- The bullshit is so deep in this, you’ll need waders to get through it.
- At least one actress won’t be vomiting out anti-whore propaganda.
- Cops openly admit being lazy fascists; the public just stays asleep.
- SCOTUS demolishes what little was left of the Fourth Amendment.
- Does this writer actually understand the meanings of these words?
- I’m not sure how working for free could be considered a “protest”.
- Cops claimed they didn’t know if this murder was hate-motivated.
- Feminist pornographer wins right to re-launch her fetish website.
- Another good interview with Chester Brown about his new book.
- This looks like another case in which everyone involved is awful.
- Rolling Stone tries to fish its credibility out of the anti-sex toilet.
- Even horrifying cases don’t look like the “sex trafficking” myth.
- Irish iterations of the “gypsy whore” myth are the silliest ones.
- What “legal but heavily regulated” actually looks like in action.
- Louisiana decides to create EVEN MORE “children” to “protect”.
- That whole “freedom of speech” thing was nice while it lasted.
- The reporter seems to be trying to hide what happened here.
- Why do massage parlors bring puritans out of the woodwork?
- Prohibition turns every individual’s body into a “crime scene”.
- Glenn Kessler has had to debunk this prohibitionist lie twice.
- Sex rays can penetrate walls, locked doors & privacy panels.
- Being an ignoramus is no impediment to a career in politics.
- Facebook demonstrates the dirty-mindedness of its censors.
- Now just imagine if this were the law, and always available.
- Dan Savage interviews Emily Bazelon and Mistress Matisse.
- RAPING a whore is OK; it’s only paying her that’s an issue.
- Planning to fly to New Orleans for the Desiree Conference.
- The people prohibitionists want in control of sex workers.
- An anti-whore propaganda show disguised as a “debate”.
- “Sex trafficking” laws keep getting broader and scarier.
- Innocent young man caged for 9 years by lying cops.
- Surveillance beyond the wildest dreams of the Stasi.
- This just keeps getting stupider with every iteration.
- You know that “negative secondary effects” bullshit?
- An ignoramus makes a film about “sex trafficking”.
- How can I get established as a booker & screener?
- Once in a while an insanely-broad law is defeated.
- A ludicrous masturbatory fantasy from San Diego.
- Possibly the last appearance of Aella the Amazon.
- Cops, pets, Florida, Mozart, scams & much more.
- Cops, insanity, one-sided fistfights & much more.
- On Rolling Stone‘s descent into total irrelevance.
- Cops, laws, toys, Picasso, 2001 and much more.
- Once again, actual figures disprove the hysteria.
- So this happened to my friend Maggie McMuffin.
- A Swedish cop’s self-congratulatory pig porn.
- Cops say having sex is “as serious as it gets”.
- Why hike or stand when you can motorcycle?
- Mike Crawford on being a male sex worker.
- A huge victory for the adult video industry.
- Because prohibition always works so well.
- What makes your favorite clients special?
- Sometimes the changes are incremental.
- Another cop, another prostitution sting.
- Not quite a rapist cop, but bad enough.
- In which I officially become a celebrity.
- Definitely not a police state, no sirree.
- “Authorities” secretly analyze tattoos.
- Study shows kids believe stupid shit.
- How I became one of the cool kids.
- The many rapist cops of the week.
- So you wanna work in a brothel?
- Self-care and whale-watching.
- I’m sure you feel safer now.
- Is P411 actually dangerous?
- A very busy month.
- Red Light Legal.
- Mea Culpa.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged blogging | Leave a Comment »
They were having a pancake and sushi luncheon.
I was not familiar with Ibrahim’s work, but I quite liked this piece Jesse Walker selected to accompany his obituary. The other links above the video were provided by IncarcerNation, Nun Ya, Mike Siegel, T. Greg Doucette, Radley Balko, Missy Mariposa, and IncarcerNation again, in that order.
- No, your reason is not an exception.
- Dr. Lilly never considered this possibility.
- R.I.P. Abdullah Ibrahim and Daveigh Chase.
- Cops are a menace to everyone in their vicinity.
- More cops demonstrating exactly what they are.
- Every once in a while, justice makes an appearance.
- Crime: suspected petty theft. Penalty: summary execution.
From the Archives
- Everyone who spread “sex trafficking” hysteria contributed to this tragedy.
- Vast sums of time, money & energy, flushed down the “culture war” toilet.
- Why do we need “permits” to exercise our speech rights in the first place?
- Both sides in the culture war have completely taken leave of their senses.
- Cops won’t drop this fantasy until “reporters” stop obediently parroting it.
- Cops, artificial stupidity, Donald Sutherland, Martin Mull, and much more.
- “Inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” = “molesting a 12 YO”.
- Australia expands Drug War, feigns surprise at predictable consequences.
- The government thinks you shouldn’t be allowed any privacy whatsoever.
- How much will the ER cost when someone punches you for filming them?
- Keep plunging that ice pick in; the bad thoughts will go away eventually.
- These algorithms make those who use them as stupid as the algorithms.
- Cops aren’t the only violent trade whose members feel sexually entitled.
- To “admit” something is to confess to something true, not to a delusion.
- I doubt this is the kind of lawsuit Louisiana politicians wanted to attract.
- Cops simply ignore putative cop-control laws without criminal penalties.
- Canadian politicians ignore events in other parts of the Commonwealth.
- France’s lust to spy on citizens and censor the internet hits an obstacle.
- One who ruins lives over arbitrary diktats trips up over a similar diktat.
- Cops, fantasies, Sheldon Harnick, John Goodenough, and much more.
- This silly tale is more pathetic now that the trope has largely died off.
- This barbarity began using the excuse of “fighting human trafficking”.
- Kool-Aid drinking politicians refuse to believe their own experiences.
- Are there actually naifs who believe speed traps are about “safety”?
- This is too useful a tool of state control for the rulers to give it up.
- One of the most flagrant abusers of this unconstitutional practice.
- Corporations have become the favored tool of censors worldwide.
- It’ll take a lot more such rulings before this political fad is buried.
- Reporter tries to bury the lede; headline writer won’t participate.
- Uber already encourages its drivers to spy on riders for the pigs.
- Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops.
- The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd.
- Assange was freed as soon as it became politically expedient.
- When a woman dies by hanging, it’s nearly always a murder.
- Even cops are starting to admit Shotspotter is a boondoggle.
- Chinese rename other people’s villages against their wishes.
- Composing and performing a kind of music only I can hear.
- Don’t think this will only be used to persecute the “other”.
- Cops, artificial stupidity, Dr. Demento, and much more.
- The dystopian future of Minority Report has arrived.
- The only moral form of warfare is War of Assassins.
- Just another kind of cop, with typical cop behavior.
- A curated selection of tweets from June 2024.
- Prohibitionism is a dangerous mental illness.
- Throwback Thursday’s Bloody Nightmare.
- The annex bathroom is almost finished.
- No shit. Sensible people did tell y’all.
- It wasn’t the best year for tomatoes.
- The tiniest pullet egg I’ve ever seen.
- Throwback Thursday’s Great Love.
- Working on Sunset’s outbuildings.
- Your “leaders” at work.
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny | Tagged acting, cops, disease, drugs, Georgia, lawyers, Michigan, Never Call the Cops, New York, prisons, The Punitive Mindset, video | Leave a Comment »
The state does not have a free-floating power to restrict…ideas.
– Judge Kevin G. Ritz
How long will America ignore the costs of its sick worship of police violence?
…In the decade to 2024, the number of Americans killed by police jumped [from] about [one in twelve violent deaths in the decade ending in 2018 to] one in ten [now]…the problem [is getting closer to that of Brazil, the world’s] wors[t, where 25% of all violent deaths are at the hands of police]…barely a dozen [cops] each year [in the entire US] are charged with a crime after [murdering] a civilian…
Another look at the totally-predictable results of bad laws:
A new study…shows total abortion bans in nine states [Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia] are forcing doctors across multiple specialties to delay or withhold standard pregnancy care…doctors are delaying treatment for conditions like early pregnancy loss, ectopic pregnancy and…serious maternal illness because of legal uncertainty—not clinical judgment…The…delays…“endanger patients” and “undermine patient autonomy and physician-patient trust”…Pregnant women in states with total abortion bans are nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum period…and pregnant Black patients face more than three times the mortality risk compared to their white counterparts…the average economic cost of abortion restrictions will be $140 billion this year…
Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:
A [typical and representative California screw named Richard Phillip Bardouski was] convicted…of molesting three [young] relatives…more than a decade ago…[as usual, the] District Attorney [used the occasion to bloviate about how this typical behavior was somehow shocking]…Two of the victims came forward in 2023 and reported they were molested between the ages of 4 and 9…[and] the third victim…was assaulted in 2010 around the age of 14. Bardouski was living in Montgomery, Alabama…and [was] extradited to California…
Every study shows that chatbot usage harms brain function:
As more professionals begin to rely on [chatbots] in their work…their hard-earned skills atrophy…[chatbot]-driven “deskilling” is [already] happen[ing] in medicine, computer science and other fields…A study of physicians…who specialize in endoscopy…[last year demonstrated] how quickly [computerized] tools can erode human abilities…[and now] researchers at…Anthropic…designed a randomized controlled trial in which 52 software engineers were asked to perform a basic coding task…half…were prompted to use a…[chatbot and] all…were asked to complete a quiz about what they had learnt from the task. Th[os]e…who had [let a chatbot do the work] did significantly worse on the quiz than those who hadn’t: the average score was 50% in the [chatbot] group versus 67% in the [actually-doing-the-work-themselves] group…Tapani Rinta-Kahila [of] the University of Queensland…[compares this to the way] GPS navigation systems have eroded people’s navigation skills…To prevent [chatbot]-driven skill erosion, people need to [stop using fucking chatbots, as any fucking idiot could have predicted]…
The actual story here is that a few cops are actually being prosecuted:
…Local news reports from around the country repeatedly detail police abusing the Flock surveillance system…to stalk their partners…ex-partners[, or intended victims they don’t even know]…The cases highlight the fact that Flock can be used to track the whereabouts of individual people, that police do not get a warrant in order to use the system, and that, if they have access to the system, they [will routinely abuse it]…for any reason they want…The known cases of police stalking are [without a single shred of doubt] a vast underreporting of the overall abuse, because they largely include only cases in which the behavior was so egregious that it led to [cops] being fired, arrested, or both…a Flock [mouthpiece ludicrously claimed that it’s not their fault their fascist warrantless surveillance system is used for warrantless surveillance, because]…private citizens, journalists, and stalking victims…have [been able to later discover the abuse by]…public records [requests or via the third-party]…website HaveIBeenFlocked.com…[which] Flock has repeatedly tried to get…taken down…
In the 20th century, this was called a “price-fixing cartel”:
A new federal lawsuit [has been filed against] gas station companies across California [who] are engaged in an illegal conspiracy…to raise prices. The…lawsuit [includes] the corporate owners of over 1,700 California gas stations — including Marathon…7-Eleven, Walmart, and Circle K — [who] are using Kalibrate, an [algorithm designed]…to extinguish retail price competition…[by] coordinat[ing] high prices…gas stations that use Kalibrate software charge between 6 cents and 30 cents more per gallon…gas stations traditionally “competed for customers by aggressively undercutting one another’s retail prices”…[but] Kalibrate encourages gas station owners to abandon this system and allow [its] software to automatically determine prices…[by] connect[ing] directly to gas station signs and pumps…Kalibrate’s interface…[includes] a feature that allows gas stations to coordinate a “restoration,” [a euphemism for]…an area[-wide joint] price…[hike which any Kalibrate user can] initiate…to…“squeeze out profits” [from marks]…in [defiance of]…a…California…law…[which] “was [specifically] enacted to make clear that companies cannot evade liability for fixing prices by delegating their illegal trusts to an algorithm”…The new law was passed in response to companies like RealPage, which uses an…algorithm to [hike] rents in apartment buildings…cost[ing] renters $3.8 billion in 2023…
Court declares that minors are chattel, so adults have no privacy rights:
A federal appeals court has signed off on Ohio’s ban on people under age 16 using social media without parental consent…[which] means all Ohioans could soon have to show ID to use such platforms…Similar laws have been either temporarily or permanently blocked by federal courts in other states, such as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Utah. That makes the 6th Circuit’s decision something of an aberration—and a worrying sign…[considering that] the 6th Circuit judges think [having people’s identities permanently linked in government records to social media accounts] constitute[s] only “a marginal burden”…
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Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny | Tagged abortion, agency denial, Alabama, artificial stupidity, Brazil, California, Censor Chic, censorship, cops, fascism, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mad Libs, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, rape, Stalkers in Blue, statistics, surveillance, Tennessee, Texas, The Cop Myth, The Puritan Recrudescence, The Vultures Descend, To Molest and Rape, Walled Garden, Welcome to the Future, West Virginia | Leave a Comment »
I’ve always loved maps, from old-time gas-station road maps to historical maps to maps of imaginary places. As a child, I delighted in preparing maps of places I’d dreamed up for make-believe play, and in my teens that turned into preparing maps for the world of my D&D campaign, ranging from dungeons my players would explore all the way up to the entire world they lived in. And though I rarely draw my own any more, I’m still always excited to find maps which show me something I didn’t know before, or at least didn’t know in sufficient detail. Case in point, the map at right, which some of y’all may recognize as depicting the western half of New Orleans; the part that was important to me is a small detail which those of y’all unfamiliar with New Orleans history may not recognize as interesting without explanation.
Last month I wrote about discovering a guide (including maps) to New Orleans’ extensive streetcar system of the early 20th century. But before the streetcars there were canals, leading from the then-much-smaller city through the swamps to the north, ending in Lake Pontchartrain (which connects to the Gulf of Mexico through a tidal channel named The Rigolets). I always knew about the New Basin Canal because it was not filled in until the 1940s, and in my youth I knew several older folks who remembered it. But in one of those strange oversights which often affect even people with relatively sharp minds, it had never occurred to me to ask where the Old Basin Canal had been! Furthermore, I never realized just how far the New Basin Canal came into the city until I found this map while researching for The Big Boom. If you zoom in you’ll see a straight channel running from the end of Bayou St. John (the wriggly thing just to the right of the map’s centerline), labeled “Carondelet Canal“. That’s what it was officially named from 1794 until the 1830s, when people started calling it the “Old Basin Canal” in contrast with the newly-completed New Basin Canal. If you look at a modern map of New Orleans, you can see a narrow strip of green running from Louis Armstrong Park to the end of the Bayou (very close to where I lived from 2004-2006, incidentally); that’s the former route of the canal, which was filled in by the city in the 1920s after the new Industrial Canal opened in 1923. The famous Basin Street of Storyville fame and jazz legend was named for the turning basin at the terminus, just north of the Vieux Carre.
That was exciting enough, but the part I got really jazzed about (ahem) was realizing that the New Basin Canal went so far into the city. If any of y’all have ever driven on West End Blvd in New Orleans, you’ve probably been impressed with its incredibly wide neutral ground (grassy median); the reason it’s that wide is it’s the filled-in route of the canal. But at the foot of that Boulevard, where it meets I-10 today, the canal once jogged over and continued almost to the river. After the canal was closed in the late 1940s, the Pontchartrain Expressway was built over the route in the 1950s; in the 1960s the expressway became part of I-10. The area of the filled-in turning basin was used by the city for storage until the late ’60s, when it was decided to build the Superdome there. So if you ever drive through New Orleans toward the Superdome on I-10 coming from the direction of the airport, you’re following a transportation corridor which has been there for just short of 200 years, only now on land rather than water.
Posted in Biography, History | Tagged New Orleans, psychology, The Big Boom | Leave a Comment »
There is nothing as good for anxiety as feeling supported and cared for! – “Diary #625”
It’s hardly incisive criticism or inspired analysis to point out that children see and enjoy different things in a movie or show than adults do, or that young adults and older adults may enjoy different things about the same show. –
“The Eye of Childhood”
Art cannot exist as handmaiden to politics. This is not to say that art cannot be political; “Guernica” is art. But if the artistic impulse does not precede the political one, the result is mere propaganda. Artists can make political statements, but partisans can’t make art. – “Tweets Aplenty”
Grief, loss, and pain are transmuted [by the brain’s alchemy] into art, much like a compost heap transmutes organic garbage into humus for growing new plants. – “Diary #782“
Posted in Diary, Miscellaneous, Philosophy | Tagged blogging, imaginative fiction, left-right myth, propaganda, psychology, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
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