David Rasmussen, aka Rasamoto @Bertrecords@qoto.org

Happy New Year everyone! May all of your dreams come true. May happiness, peace, joy, love, prosperity, good health and contentment be yours this year and every year.🙏🏿 #HappyNewYear  #NewYearsDay #Mastodon #BlackMastodon

“For the first time in our Nation’s history, a grand jury has charged a former President with committing crimes while in office to overturn an election that he lost. In response, the defendant claims that to protect the institution of the Presidency, he must be cloaked with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution … He is wrong.”

There are people who think legal briefs are boring. I’m not one of those people.

Jack Smith, trying to save our democracy:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.40415/gov.uscourts.cadc.40415.1208583920.0.pdf

Today I want to look at the economy from two angles: how it’s objectively doing, and how it’s perceived to be doing. Are things still bad, or is this largely vibes? And importantly, how will economic sentiment affect the crucial election next year? https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/election-factor-one-the-economy?r=1zr8b&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true

New favorite keyboard shortcut: Shift-⌘-8 to start a bulleted list

That's all.

This 50-foot waterfall is called Devils Kettle. It's in northern Minnesota. The river splits into two and one side goes down a hole and disappears.

We hiked in on Sunday and the entire canyon below the falls if full of frozen foam. I've never seen anything like it. There must be 30 to 40 feet of frozen foam.

#Photography #waterfall #Landscape #LandscapePhotography #Minnesota

The JWST costs 0.4% as much as the US military, and the pictures we get from it are inspiring and informative rather than horrifying.

Cedar Waxwing is happy just being a Cedar Waxwing

Every reporter in America should stop what they're doing, read, and absorb the importance of what Will Bunch says here. We are one election away from a fascist state ruled by a career mobster with a sadistic craving for revenge. That's what's at stake in 2024! https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/journalism-free-press-gaza-extremism-20231105.html

Gag orders are back in the news with a decision by Judge Tanya Chutkan to reimpose the gag order she had lifted temporarily pending appeal. I explain what’s going on, what the arguments are, and most importantly what the stakes are, in today’s piece. https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/whats-up-with-the-gag-orders?r=1zr8b&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Old punk rock photos in color, re-edited by the photographer himself

Bob Mould, Grant Hart and Greg Norton
Husker Du at the Vic Theater in Chicago Illinois, October 10, 1987.

Photo by Paul Natkin

#punk #punks #punkrock #huskerdu #hüskerdü #history #punkrockhistory

The EU is pissed at Musk.

Do you think next year Trump Tower will be a Spirit Halloween?

Daily Inspiration: "Move fast and fix things" - Futurist Jim Carroll

(Unity apologizes)

Steve Ballmer, the VP of Microsoft who was the driving force next to Bill Gates in the early rapid rise of the organization, understood the critical importance of "developers." Most modern-day software and tech company CEOs do not - in particular, folks like Elon Musk.

The president of gaming engine Unity Create, Marc Whitten, certainly does. His recent sincere apology and response to a self-imposed developer crisis give a textbook example of how to deal with an egregious mistake once your customers let you know - in no harsh terms - that you were completely wrong with your actions.

It offers an example that when you break things, you've got to move fast to fix things because we live in a world in which egregious mistakes can suddenly spiral out of control. We now live in a future in which you no longer fully own your future - your customers or external business partners do.

Developers matter. So does respect.

https://jimcarroll.com/2023/09/daily-inspiration-customer-support-and-crisis-management-move-fast-and-fix-things/

Trump recently posted that America's top general should be put to death ...

... and it barely registered in daily news media

This, as Brian Klaas -- a scholar of political violence -- is truly bad. It's obviously horrific to have a leading presidential candidate, and former president, so nakedly endorse violence against top government figures ...

... but what's worse is growing *numb* to that

Klaas' essay: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/trump-milley-execution-incitement-violence/675435/

Metaphors, moral systems and the politics of the brain play a big role in how we analyze the world at FrameLab. As our list of readers has grown over the past year, it occurs to us that not everyone is equally familiar with these concepts. And for others, a refresher is sometimes helpful. Read more here: https://framelab.substack.com/p/framing-101-metaphors-moral-systems

After 7 months of development, the Mastodon 4.2.0 update has been released and is available today for all Mastodon server operators to install. It is designed to make it easier for users to get started, use the network even when logged out, and search for content across the platform. https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/09/mastodon-4.2/
#mastodon #update #fediverse #socialmedia #opensource

Love the new "thread" view on Mastodon 4.2. Makes it so much easier to follow conversations. #Mastodon #update #MastodonUpdate

I met Ray Manzarek of The Doors about 10 or 15 years ago. Had a photo taken with him—will have to dig it up. Ray was a cool fella. I always thought that he was the brains behind The Doors. John Densmore is cool, too. Anyone who champions reading will always be cool in my book.👍🏿

#TheDoors #music #Mastodon #BlackMastodon