@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

tokensane

@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk

Married, software dev, geek, science fiction fan, Linux user. searchable.

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Teri_Kanefield, to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

I read the jury instructions.

With the disclaimer that this is absolutely not a prediction of what the jury will do, not much in the jury instructions change what I had to say here:

https://terikanefield.com/wheres-the-beef-trumps-manhattan-criminal-case-and-some-mind-bending-legal-puzzles/

I wrote about predicate crimes for predicate crimes.

The predicate crime for falsification of business records is
NEW YORK ELECTION LAW § 17-152 PREDICATE.

The jury gets three possible predicate crimes for 17-152.

1/

tokensane,
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@Teri_Kanefield
Could rape be a 4th possible predicate? What happened between Daniels and Trump in that hotel room didn't sound consensual. AIUI the jury don't need to believe that the predicate is proved to have happened, they just need to believe that the accused wanted to conceal it. OTOH that wasn't mentioned by the prosecution, so I don't know if the jury can consider it.

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

#Trump is a #fascist

OK, not news. But I don't mean it just as an insult, or even "stuff I don't like". In 1995 Umberto Eco's essay "Ur-Fascism" (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism) laid out 14 points by which future fascists might be known. Trump ticks almost all of them. So in this series of posts I'm going to go through his points and check Trumpism on each one. Note that I say "Trumpism" rather than just Trump, because Trumpism is larger than just the one man.
/1

#UmbertoEco

tokensane, (edited ) to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

For #Pride Month, I'd like to mention #Babylon5. The show ran from 1993 to 1998, and made a point of not making a point of gay relationships. Susan Ivanova (serving military officer) had a lesbian affair with Talia Winters, and no other character even blinked.

Later on two straight men on a secret mission found themselves using "newlyweds" as a cover story, because two men on their honeymoon would fit right in.

The message was clear: in the future being gay is 100% unremarkable. In the 90s!

tokensane, (edited ) to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Should the government directly own and operate railways?

tokensane, (edited ) to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

1/11
This is going to be my first long-form post. I don't know if this will go anywhere, but I want to get this off my chest.

The UK has a problem with sewage in its seas and rivers. The Standard Model of this on the Left is that greedy privatised water companies have focused on paying shareholders rather than investing in infrastructure. Hence we are in a literal mess.

This narrative is seriously incomplete, verging on wrong.

tokensane, (edited ) to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

I've got 3 takes on the dog business, going from this story on the BBC:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68909801

  1. The dog (fair enough).
  2. The goat (not so fair).
  3. The way she talks about it (horrible).

I'll tackle each in a separate post for space.

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

There is a line of argument I keep seeing which goes like this:

  1. Capitalists are doing this bad thing which is hurting this group of poor people.

2 They are doing this in order to hurt the poor people because doing so maintains the capitalist power structure.

The jump from 1 to 2 bothers me. AFAICT (1) is happening because the individual capitalists are making a profit out of it, and the wider socio-legal system is letting them get away with it. (2) implies that these capitalists /1

tokensane, (edited ) to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Should the government directly own and operate the water distribution and sewage systems?

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

So, should the University Superannuation Scheme (pension fund for UK academics) pump even more of its members money into #thameswater to stop it collapsing? Or should it write off its investment and let the Govt pick up the pieces? @ChrisMayLA6

BBC News: Big Thames Water investor backs turnaround plans

BBC News - Big Thames Water investor backs turnaround plans
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66079676

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

I'm migrating away from a copper landline to VoIP. When I looked for an adapter I found lots of these boxes on Amazon, under a variety of brand names inc Tonysa and Dpofirs. They are obviously all the same product, and mostly sold for £20-30.

Does anyone know if they are any good?

tokensane, to Portal
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Security sentinels on a building site. Motion detection and cameras only, but still spookily reminiscent of those gunbots in #Portal.

glynmoody, to random
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

$10m prize launched for team that can truly talk to the animals - https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/30/10m-prize-launched-for-team-that-deciphers-animal-conversation "AI expected to help researchers unlock two-way communication, say team that includes Tel Aviv University" talk about opening up a can of worms....

tokensane,
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@glynmoody
Been done.
https://m.soundcloud.com/hazertazer/nature-notes-birdsong-that-mitchell-webb-sound

Free_Press, to news
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

Trump’s campaign donation page tonight after Donald J. Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies by a jury of random citizens chosen by both Trump and prosecution lawyers.

This after a grand jury of random citizens reviewed evidence and indicted Trump for those crimes!

tokensane,
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@Free_Press has been convicted for his beliefs. He believed he could break the law and get away with it.

tokensane, (edited ) to climate
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Lets create a #climate meme-storm. Show people what #climatechange really means. Make it personal; it happens to people like us. You must protect your kids from it.

See following posts for more examples.

Create your own. Post to other #socialmedia. Keep pushing it.

Avoid licensed images, including stuff from news sites. They always use AP, Getty etc who have slick #copyright takedown ops.

Wikimedia and US Gov are good sources of free-to-use images. Check the details.

Please boost!

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Shrinkflation in action!

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

I'm beginning to think that the #war in #Ukraine will be ended by a #civilwar in Russia.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-forces-tried-blow-up-my-men-says-mercenary-boss-prigozhin-2023-06-02/

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

My personal approach is just use a word processor in outline mode. Then fill in the details.

Or if my ideas aren't that well-formed, I just start writing down everything I know and then try to shuffle stuff into some kind of order. The mere act of writing it down forces me to organise my thoughts and identifies weak points in my thinking.

TL;DR: use a word processor. Write first, organise second.

dalelane, to random
@dalelane@mastodon.org.uk avatar

“Different London Underground trains are sometimes in different timezones” is a beautifully random statement 🤣

https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2024/347-making-sense-of-london-undergrounds-timetables

tokensane,
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@dalelane
I work in above-ground UK rail.

Train times need to be local times because people expect catch the 7:33 to work regardless of BST. You don't want drivers to faff around with resetting watches while driving, so the whole shift gets done in the timezone it started. So yes, different trains can be in different timezones.

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Inuit children invented their own system for writing numbers which makes arithmetic easier. Now its in Unicode.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-number-system-invented-by-inuit-schoolchildren-will-make-its-silicon-valley-debut/

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Souls are indivisible, and only death separates soul from body, right?

So if an #embryo acquires a #soul at the instant of conception, what about identical twins, formed when an embryo splits in two? Do they share a soul, or is one of them a soulless monster? OTOH, what about chimeras, formed when two embryos fuse, so that the resulting baby is a patchwork of cells from both? Two souls in one individual? Or what happens to the other soul?

And then there are siamese twins...

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

In 1995 #UmbertoEco wrote an essay on what he called "Ur-Fascism": the basic nature of fascism rather than its trappings. He listed 14 points by which #fascist movements might be known. He also said that a movement with a few of these will acquire the others. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism

I've tried to draw a chart showing how this happens. Start with one, and all the others follow and reinforce each other. I've highlighted #FrustratedMiddleClass just because its the commonest starting point.

kcarruthers, to random
@kcarruthers@mastodon.social avatar

Manufacturing Backlash: Right-Wing Think Tanks and Legislative Attacks on Higher Education, 2021–2023

https://www.aaup.org/article/manufacturing-backlash

tokensane,
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@kcarruthers

wampusmm, to random
@wampusmm@lor.sh avatar
tokensane,
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@wampusmm A frame from the film of the Hindenberg airship burning, but with the inflatable baby balloon photoshopped in place of the airship.

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

So tell me again how the DOJ is being weaponised for political ends?

BBC News - Jury seated in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nnr9945vmo

tokensane, to random
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Convicted #felon #Trump is bought and paid for.

Pay no attention to the billionaires behind the curtain.

BBC News - The billionaires rallying behind Trump after his conviction
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckvvlv3lewxo

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