We now have a new definition of chutzpah…
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California Republicans File Suit Seeking to Block Newsom Redistricting Plan | Flipboard
The New York Times - Republican state lawmakers argue that Democratic lawmakers violated 30-day disclosure rules in the California Constitution. Re...
I use Nikon gear, not Leica (way out of my price range—Nikon is bad enough, given the lens I need for bird photography), but this linked-to article, about Leica's efforts in the 1930s and 1940s to help protect Jews from Hitler, was fascinating:
Leica Freedom Train - Wikipedia
The Wandering Shop
Charlie Stross (@cstross@wandering.shop)
@NewtonMark@eigenmagic.net (Explanation of the Leica bit: https://www.analog.cafe/comments/m8yj )
Looking back at the proceedings of Usenix '84, the first time I was on a program committee (
Internet Archive
1984 Summer Conference Proceedings : USENIX Association : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
1984 Summer Conference ProceedingsJune 12–15, 1984Salt Lake City, UT, USA
). There were two program co-chairs and *four* PC members… This year, Usenix Security has >400 people on its PC. ( @npub1lq68...nf7e, I see that you were at that conference, too.)
Some years ago in January, I had a morning meeting in the White House complex. Walking from my hotel to the gate, I, too, was disturbed by the homeless people I saw. Why? It had snowed lightly overnight, and from the snow on their blankets it was clear that these people had spent the night outside. *That's* what disturbed me—that in a country as rich as this one, people had to sleep outside in the snow, within blocks of the White House. (I don't remember for sure which park it was, but it was either Farragut Square, McPherson Square, or Lafayette Park—and the latter is literally across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.) The solution is *not* to deport them to West Hellhole, to avoid bruising 47's (or his enablers in the Cabinet or Congress) delicate eyes.
The State Department wants to kill the tourism industry: bonds of up to $15,000 for (certain) applicants for tourist or business visas.
AP News
State Department may require visa applicants to post bond of up to $15,000 to enter the US
The State Department is proposing requiring applicants for business and tourist visas to post a bond of up to $15,000 to apply to enter the United ...
Oh, my—look what I just found unpacking a box after my move. It's a bit anomalous, in that I never used a IBM 1401, though I did have a bit of experience (though not in assembler) with the 1410. Note the columns labeled "assembled instruction"—on some systems, including the IBM 1130 that I had a *lot* of experience with, the assembler could punch the binary into a card—useful on diskless or low-disk systems. Yes, you'd have to use fresh source cards when you changed the program, but that wasn't hard; the programmable—and by "programmable" I mean "changing wires on a plugboard"—card duplicators of the time could easily reproduce just the source lines and omit the binary from the last run. image
For some reason, this Tom Paxton song from ~60 years ago is going through my brain these days: (warning: use of the N-word in one verse, but quite likely a historically accurate simulated quote for that time, place, and nominal speaker).
I swear, as I was scrolling I thought this was an Onion headline.
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E.P.A. Employees Are Invited to Adopt Soon-to-Be Homeless Lab Rats | Flipboard
The New York Times - The agency is cutting animal testing of chemicals. Some scientists are concerned, but in the meantime the rats (and zebra fish...
From a technical perspective, I know how to build privacy-preserving age verification systems. That's the good news. The bad news is that the solution requires universal browser changes, an identity verification industry that doesn't exist, possession of strong ID documents (which we know from voter ID litigation rules out many people, including the rural poor) by all would-be users, a payment that is likely unpleasant for poorer families, and (perhaps) noticeable tech sophistication. In other words, tech bros can still watch their porn; others can't. And per Mahmoud v. Taylor, I'm sure that Texas et al. will decide that that anything they don't like (1984? Fahrenheit 451? Dreams From My Father?) is adult-only and will require this hard-to-get credential.