ceoln @ceoln@qoto.org

All right, all of you criminal law and First Amendment nerds. . .

The special counsel has filed its opposition to the order to stay the gag order.

If you're saying, "What the heck? I'm lost!" don't worry. I wrote up this nifty explainer to get you all caught up.

So put on your nerd glasses and have a look. A bit later I'll do a reading of the special counsel's filing.

https://terikanefield.com/status-update-on-the-first-amendment-and-putting-a-muzzle-on-donald-trump-in-the-j6-doj-case/

Ken Thompson's original Unix backdoor of "Reflections on Trusting Trust" fame was apparently never published. 40 years (!) later, here it is: 99 lines of code plus a 20-line shell script. That's it.

Nicely annotated and explained by Russ Cox:

https://research.swtch.com/nih

One of the features in Mastodon you may not be aware of; When someone says something stupid, weird, inscrutable, or inflammatory you can just completely ignore them.

bewilderment levels are holding at 50%

(50%) ■■■■■□□□□□

Remember when republicans cut a deal with the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinito keep Americans hostage longer and not release them until Reagan took over. Iran was wanted and was willing to release American hostages under President Carter.

Republicans make a deal with the terrorists behind President Carter's back to KEEP AMERICANS HOSTAGE. Republicans have been domestic terrorists longer than you knew.

With Eric Prince, Michael Flynn & Steve Bannon all talking about using hostages to weaken Biden like Reagan used hostages to weaken Carter, I just want to remind you that what Reagan did was horrendous, and if you don’t know why, this is worth the watch.

https://piped.video/watch?v=2DeDaxDQIAk

Dr Bashir: "I found this piece of equipment on an alien planet and have almost no idea what it might do let alone how."

Data: "I suggest we plug it directly into an antimatter reaction chamber and then I'll stand directly in front of it while we turn it on."

#StarTrek #TNG

On Bob Moog, who didn't invent the synthesiser, but did significantly evolve it into a commercial product:

http://notebook.zoeblade.com/Bob_Moog.html

mashed potato levels are 70% and falling

(70%) ■■■■■■■□□□

🚨🚨🚨
There’s only TWO WEEKS left to FLIP VIRGINIA BLUE & prevent Glenn Youngkin & MAGA Republicans from banning abortion in yet another state.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/vablue23

Donate to these Democrats TODAY.

*Mosquitoes are thousands of times more dangerous to human life than wolves or sharks

*Also, they really like climate change

https://www.politico.eu/article/who-chief-scientist-warns-of-endemic-dengue-in-europe-us/

"The FBI released new data last week showing that violent crime is down in America, but that hate crimes are up. This is completely at odds with right-wing narratives about the United States, which portrays surging violence in lawless 'Democrat-run' cities. Instead, the data show a different picture: violence is down, except against the very social groups that are targeted by right-wing tropes and the MAGA movement."

~ Brian Klaas

#violence #crime #HateCrimes

https://www.forkingpaths.co/p/the-politics-of-the-pariah

@Onlineadviser @stopthatgirl7 attempted murder that clearly was a hate crime!

"Prior to the attack in September 2022, Emanuel shouted racial slurs at the group from his white Ford F-250, and demanded that the men leave the area, court records show.

After Dunn responded they were parked on a public road, Emanuel sped off only to return minutes later — his truck charging toward the group. Dunn’s son, Frederick Douglas Dunn, leaped into the grass, saving himself by mere inches."

For comparison, Kalief Browder spent 3 years in PRETRIAL DETENTION for allegedly stealing a god-damned backpack. Unfortunately, he was also abused and neglected to the point that he died before his trial.

The American justice system is aggressively, loudly, and unapologetically designed to favor white men and punish everyone else.

Here is a post I think is really good about a fan attempt to translate "Baba is You" into Chinese. The results look gorgeous (hanzi are square, and can be written potentially horizontally or vertically, so as a writing system it works BETTER than the Latin alphabet) but because many of the puzzles in Baba is You are literal wordplay hinging on specifics of English grammar it is a VERY hard localization. The post attempts to describe what does and doesn't work.

https://cohost.org/verticalblank/post/3255613-empty

Mastodon community! I love this community but I feel like I've been less intentional about connecting with new and active voices here.

Can you help me and each other out by (1) introducing yourself if you're here and active, and (2) tag others who are also active on this platform?

I'm eager to follow more of you. Thanks for doing this!

Wonderful, thoughtful review of HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS by @annaleen for the Washington Post. I especially love this part:

“The problem is that when our infrastructure works, we never think about it. We don’t vote on our infrastructure every two years, and we don’t honor our utility workers as guardians of our lives, the way we do first responders.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/10/17/how-infrastructure-works-deb-chachra/

'Poecilonym' is a synonym for 'synonym', which is particularly satisfying.

#English #language