Gavin Newsom has let L.A. burn to the ground…

Oh god, this old chestnut they keep trotting out. (Remember all those “entire cities burned to the ground” by Antifa and BLM 5 years ago?)

on so many occasions

Wait, what? Now they’re claiming the same governor has let the same city burn to the ground “on so many occasions”?

Well then, he gets my vote! If he’s competent enough to oversee rebuilding a burned metropolis not once, not twice but “so many” times in just two terms, this guy clearly gets shit done!

A Rigorous Mathematical Deconstruction of the Hypothesized Causal Link Between Vaccines and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Dr. Ima Skeptik, Prof. Al B. Surd, and Dr. Con Spirov

Department of Paradoxical Epidemiology, University of Unreason, Nowhereville

https://fakepaper.app/s3/A_Rigorous_Mathematical_Deconstruction_of_the_Hypo-4ed7fe07.pdf

Abstract

This paper provides an exhaustive and incontrovertible mathematical framework establishing the causative relationship between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Employing avant-garde statistical pseudo-logic, nonlinear pseudoscience, and hyperbolic integrals, we derive novel equations that not only confirm but quantify the absurdly subtle mechanisms by which vaccines trigger ASD. Our findings challenge the prevailing dogma of evidence-based medicine by introducing the groundbreaking concept of “Vax-induced Neuro-Synapticality” (VINS) and its inverse correlation with
common sense. This work, at the intersection of quantum conjecture and wishful thinking, paves the way for future “research” in vaccine skepticism with impeccable rigor.

KDE Connect

• https://kdeconnect.kde.org/

I’ve used it a lot just to control audio or video playing on my computer from my phone. (Sometimes when I’m sat at my computer with multiple windows and workspaces open, I even find it easier just to hit my phone’s lockscreen to pause the music.)

I’m starting to use some of its other features, too. E.g. copying & pasting and sharing files between phone and computer.

There’s more too I need to explore.

• https://community.kde.org/KDEConnect

(Unfortunately, sometimes I get a ‘device unreachable’ error when both devices clearly have a working connection to the same router.)

Upvoted for FreeTube.

What do you use to send YouTube links to FreeTube? Personally I’m using LibRedirect https://libredirect.github.io/

I disagree.

Especially as the people who believe in “pizza place basements” are now running the show.

Cool, added to my watchlist :)

Tubi also has Who Killed Captain Alex? from the same director.

• https://tubitv.com/es-mx/movies/499948/who-killed-captain-alex

PS for a while there, Tubi in Mexico would only let me see films dubbed into Spanish. But looking around now (on the website at least, not sure yet in the Roku app), it’s a mix:

• movies & TV shows dubbed into Spanish (with no option for original/English)
• movies in English / original language
• “Content unavailable” when you click on it (then why the hell are you pushing it at me???)
• a few linear TV channels, like ION, ION Plus

And it’s available on Tubi Mexico not dubbed into Spanish, with English subtitles. Sweet!

• https://tubitv.com/es-mx/movies/500244/bad-black

Queued up for later.

Website for the documentary about this filmaker

• https://onceuponatimeinuganda.com/

Now imagine Mike Huckabee doing a rap in the middle.

My software chops begin and end with: 10 PRINT “HELLO, WORLD” 20 GOTO 10

Good to hear devs are working on it.

Thanks for the info.

In the meantime, I opened a new tab, input my instance, waited for the home page to load, searched for ‘elena rossini’, compared the top two results (her channels?), went with one, looked at its list of videos and saw that it didn’t include the video in question, went back, chose the other account and discovered it has zero videos.

???

Saw your reply, tried new search: “Introducing the Fediverse”… 471 results with hers not visible among the top results. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Looked again at your reply, copied that video link that you originally gave and searched… and it works! (Although… how did you get it? I can’t see it anywhere else.) Finally I can upvote it. Sheesh!

Also, tried searching for “fedifuture@videos.elenarossini.com”

• a search term that I think you can only find if you have already found the video? Catch-22?
• finds the right channel (which is neither of the ones found in my original search)… but no videos… not even the one it just found when searching for that URL. Same when I’m on the page of the video on my instance ( https://peertube.wtf/w/64VuNCccZNrP4u9MfgbhkN ) and click on its channel name… no videos.

???

So, there’s a chance of me being able to eventually interact with the video… if someone else somehow finds an underlying URL and helpfully gives it to me and I then copy and paste it into my instance’s search bar.

Meanwhile with content on every non-fediverse social network, it just takes one click to reach and interact with it (comment, upvote etc).

A social network system that breaks the basic building block of the web, the link, seems to be shooting itself in the foot. I hope the fediverse comes up with a much more user-friendly solution soon.

Good points.

I’m still new to the Fediverse; how do I view that link in my home instance of Peertube (peertube.wtf) so that I can save, upvote, comment etc?

The important difference, though, it that Apple offer a service and release software that are black boxes that users and other interested parties cannot examine for backdoors and other issues.

Canonical release open source software, the vast majority of it actually put together by other parties (like volunteer Debian packagers) and whose checksums are verified, which the FLOSS community can go through with a fine tooth comb.

On a further note, while the Investigatory Powers Act and what the govt have been doing with it are very concerning, the very fact that we know about the Apple case and the recent XZ Utils backdoor have demonstrated/reminded us that large, well-funded, well-lawyered orgs in their jurisdiction are not the easiest target for intel agencies.

The true low-hanging fruit, the weakest links in the chain are small, understaffed, underresourced, underappreciated but crucial volunteer projects.

A. How many packages are there in a major Linux distro like Open SUSE? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

B. How many developers contribute to those programs and utilities?

C. How many people packages those programs and utilities?

D. How many people approve those packages for inclusion in the distro?

Add up A, B, C & D, and I suspect you end up with a very large number of people. Can Open SUSE (or any distro for that matter) guarantee that just because their distro’s HQ is in country X, that not one of those people is subject to the laws, pressures or inducements of country Y? E.g. how many packages in Open SUSE have some kind of involvement of someone in the UK subject to Investigatory Powers Act? It’s probably greater than zero.

So while there are benefits to the distro’s HQ being in Germany, I don’t think it’s a guarantee.

/TED talk

Is there any evidence that open source Ubuntu has ever been compromised by an intelligence agency (as opposed to things like that search marketing deal they had years ago)?

Me neither.

• Browser: Zen (mod of Firefox)
• Extension: LibRedirect (pre-installed in Zen IIRC)
• App: FreeTube

I click on a YouTube link and it opens in FreeTube, no ads.

Every now and then, videos won’t play because of some change by Google, usually it’s just a day or so until FreeTube releases an update that works again.

My school (UK, 1980s) offered Mandarin as an extracurricular course. I signed up, showed up… and was the only student. One-on-one classes the rest of the year :)

(Just don’t try grilling me in Mandarin now, though.)

There was also the flag of the defunct Republic of VIetnam

https://vietnguyen.info/2021/theres-a-reason-the-south-vietnamese-flag-flew-during-the-capitol-riot

The depth of anti-communist feeling in the Vietnamese community, which includes many military veterans and former government officials, meant that it has always leaned strongly Republican. While Asian Americans as a whole voted 2 to 1 for Joe Biden over Trump, Vietnamese Americans supported Trump over Biden, 57 percent to 41 percent. A deep animus toward China, amplified by misinformation in Vietnamese-language media, bolsters the support for a president they see as tougher on foreign policy. This dovetailed with their anticommunism.