Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@social.cleverlibre.org

Oh goody, #AI generated #scam calls being used to imitate the sound of friends and family and asking for money. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/05/ai-voice-scam/

@DeliaChristina

In 1999 to 2000 I was going through a very rough patch in my life. What with the state of things, I didn't get to see #GalaxyQuest when it was first released. Finally, on a day I was feeling particularly low, and shortly before the movie left the theaters, I canceled work and took myself out to a midday matinée.

I was the *only* person in a vast theater, of a size that no one builds anymore, sitting and waiting for the lights to go down. At one point, I turned and peered up at the projectionist's booth. I saw a shadowy figure moving back and forth behind the window, bending and straightening. This was in the days before automated, digital films. The Phantom Menace had been released digitally in 1999, but the equipment to show such films was extremely expensive and most theaters hadn't converted yet; "projectionist" was still real job.

While I was looking, the figure paused, strode to the window and peered back at me, then disappeared quickly.

I turned back around and continued to fidget and ponder the misfit pieces of my life.

At the top of the aisle behind me, the theater door swung open and banged loudly on the wall. The projectionist strode down the aisle toward me, a tall barrel-shaped man with a thick beard and glasses. My first thought was that the matinee was canceled due to low turnout, and I'd be getting a refund. Just as I'd resigned myself to that, the marching projectionist shouted out in a booming voice,

"WELCOME to your PRIVATE viewing oooooooof GALAXY QUEST!!!"

He stopped in front of my row, and I saw that he had an *armload* of STUFF. One by one, he began presenting each thing to me, and as the pile in his arms dwindled, the one in my lap grew.

"As our SPECIAL VIP Galaxy Quest GUEST today, YOU are entitled to..."

"- A commemorative t-shirt!"
"- A poster suitable for framing!"
"- A limited edition refrigerator magnet!"
"- A button to pin to your lapel!"

The list and the shwag went on. With every ridiculous item, I laughed harder and harder, until there were tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes.

Then he bowed and shouted, "WE HOPE YOU ENJOY THE SHOW!" and turned on his heel to march back up the aisle and out the exit door.

Alas, of all the shwag only the magnet has stood the test of time. But the humor and kindness of the unknown projectionist lives on.

Time for bed. Here’s a childhood (high school) memory. This is how we ferried my mother to and fro from our house in the winter. #photo #snowmobile #dogsofmastoson

Any solid cone with uniform density — regardless of the shape of its base (including polygonal bases, which give pyramids) — has its centre of mass located exactly 1/4 of its height from the base, and exactly 37/64 of its mass lies closer to the base than its centre of mass.

What's behind the 'shortage' of #workers in many countries?

A decline in workers under 35, due to falling birth rates in the last 20+ years, stalling a decades long growth in the labour force.

The resistance to hiring older workers, driven partly by (outdated?) ageist attitudes among employers about when a worker might be worn out, plus a suspicion their skills & technical knowledge is out of date.

This suggests #lifelonglearning is a key element to the solution.

https://theconversation.com/what-is-driving-current-labour-market-shortages-and-how-older-workers-could-help-200873?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1677862445

Nice. Latvia knows what it's like to have Russia breathing down their neck, having only recently taken the Russian boot itself off of it.
"Russian warship, go fuck yourself!"
#SlavaUkraini
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYbQ0-If6OA

"Under the terms of SB0001, any minor currently receiving hormone therapy for gender dysphoria will be required to come off that treatment by March 31, 2024."

Sure sounds like government coming between patients, parents and doctors.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-politics/governor-signs-anti-drag-anti-trans-healthcare-bills-into-law/

First time in my lifetime I've hesitated to wear my Star of David jewelry.

Wore it anyway, because, you know, screw that. But. First time it was even a consideration.
---
RT @colbertlateshow
“Not since Germany in the '30s have I witnessed antisemitism, no longer lurking but standing proud with hands on hips like Hitler and Mussolini — kind of daring us to defy it. I’ve never experienced this in my entire life. Especially in this c…
https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/1631522287504457728

US Capitol Police says its officers confiscated an M-4 style “ghost gun” and a Glock handgun with full auto switch while they were patrolling the perimeter of the Capitol Complex, near the Senate Parks. https://www.uscp.gov/media-center/press-releases/uscp-officers-confiscate-m-4-style-ghost-gun-handgun-during-arrests

@DrKen @therobburgessshow

Time to stay out of Florida... it's nazi central down there. Desantis is working with the 1931 Germany playbook and it's working.

All the fascists around the country and slathering to get started in their own states following his lead since no one is pushing back against him.

The ever dependable Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic) with a blistering diatribe against corporate “recycling” programs...
_______________________________

Plastic recycling’s origin story starts in 1973, when Exxon’s scientists concluded that plastic recycling would never, ever be cost-effective.

Exxon sprang into action: they popularized the recycling arrow logo and backed “anti-littering” campaigns that blamed the rising tide of immortal toxic garbage on peoples’ laziness.

When I was a kid in Ontario, we had centralized, regulated, reusable bottle depots — beer and soda bottles came in standard sizes, differentiated by paper labels that could be pressure-washed off. When you were done with your bottle, you returned it for a deposit and it got washed and returned to bottlers to be refilled again and again and again.

After intense lobbying from soda companies, brewers and the plastic industry, that program was replaced with curbside “blue boxes” that promised to recycle our plastic waste. 90% of the plastics created has never been — and will never be — recycled. Today, the plastic industry plans on *tripling* the amount of single-use plastic in use worldwide.

Think of the billions of human labor hours we all spent washing and sorting our plastics for a recycling program that didn’t exist and will never exist — imagine if we’d spent that time and energy demanding that our politicians hold petrochemical companies to account instead.
_______________________________

FULL ARTICLE HERE -- https://doctorow.medium.com/dow-promised-to-turn-sneakers-into-playground-surfaces-then-dumped-them-in-indonesia-ef7e1168a0c1

#GreenWashing #Pollution #AntiCapitalism

Sad news - Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers, has incurable cancer. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and Ellsberg brought much needed light on the Vietnam War. The publication of the docs he leaked in the NYT and WaPo led to a critical Supreme Court decision on freedom of the pres. Justice Hugo Black (concurring in the judgment) frames the reasons why we need a strong press, which necessarily relies on whistleblowers, shedding light on the government.

A “news” agency pushing the “big lie” knowing that it was false. You got to feel bad for the people who get their information from them. What else are they being lied to about? How many other daily lies are they being innocently fed? It’s a huge betrayal to them & the rest of us.

“Murdoch said Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro all endorsed the notion that the election was stolen.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/murdoch-dominion-lawsuit-election-lies_n_63fd2a38e4b0db7a1f675085

PEI is also banning TikTok from government devices.
---
RT @InfoPEI
Province banning TikTok on Government connected devices #peigovnewsrelease https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/news/province-banning-tiktok-on-government-connected-devices
https://twitter.com/InfoPEI/status/1631034249842249732

"A Republican in Florida just introduced a bill that would ban the Democratic Party from existing in the state. Registered Democrats in Florida would be notified that their party has been “canceled” and they’re now no-party voters."

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/591585-blaise-ingoglia-bill-would-cancel-democratic-party/

Calling on Cable Companies to Shut Down #FoxNews #Newsmax, #OAN

WHY?
SEDITION/RACISM/LIES

#Comcast
#Xfinity
#ATT
#CharterCommunications
#Spectrum
#DishAndSlingTV
#CoxCommunications
#Verizon
#AlticeUSA
#FrontierCommunications
#Mediacom
#CableOne

GREED or DEMOCRACY

#MOG

The day before Jan. 6 attack, top Fox execs discussed whether to make primetime hosts dispel election lies

Rupert understood that Fox could do something about the false claims… uniquely positioned to state the message that the election was not stolen

#MOG
https://www.rawstory.com/fox-news-discussed-dispelling-lies/