Notices by Stephen Michael Kellat (alpacaherder@ubuntu.social)

New blog post: In reply to @evan about authoritarianism https://kellat.me/2023/in-reply-to-evan.html

I occasionally peek at this channel (Live Now From Fox) to see what they’re highlighting and this would be of interest to @evan

I know this is a strange hypothetical but what if the ad targeting is wrong? What if it identifies you in a totally wrong fashion? I've been getting Spanish-language ads and ads for things in Texas even though there are no Spanish speakers in my home and I am in northeast Ohio literally in a northern border county bordering Canada. https://themarkup.org/privacy/2023/12/12/your-smart-tv-knows-what-youre-watching

@evan Well, he’s doing better than his predecessors in some respects. He’s not caught up visibly in scandal. The overall bureaucracy of the UN system is continuing to function. He’s seemingly not had much luck as a peacemaker.

The UN Secretary General isn’t the President of Earth. They’re the chief bureaucrat of the UN. He’s keeping the place running but it doesn’t seem like he’s on track for any major awards.

@clacke My students do make me feel old at times

@clacke A little of both.

As to The Original Series, there is quite a bit of history there. The whole concept of “residuals” didn’t exist yet when those episodes were produced. They could be easily farmed out via syndication then because no further payments to actors was required unlike the situation today. People forget that Star Trek originally ran on NBC for 3 seasons before it hit syndication. It arguably hit more of an audience outside the straitjacket of NBC.

@clacke Broadcast syndication is making your own DIY network through striking deals with each individual station. That’s how Space: 1999 was distributed in the USA even though it wasn’t a “network” show. Babylon 5 ran first in syndication before the cable network TNT picked it up. The big two syndicated shows most Americans would be familiar with are Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy as they could be on any TV station regardless of its network affiliation.

@evan The author of “Hillbilly Elegy” is one of my state’s two United States Senators. He’s a bit of a nutter who tries to satisfy an increasingly unhinged base. I voted for Tim Ryan with no regrets.

As to the needs of people who elect authoritarian leaders like JD Vance, those are questions I live with every day. Usually I want to either withdraw or run away. This isn’t the most pleasant of times.

@evan He’s the kingpin. I don’t think an offer by the kingpin to testify against flunked would be accepted. Anything he said in testimony in Georgia would be usable as evidence against him in his federal cases so he has a really strong incentive to keep his mouth shut.

@clacke I’ll need to build this into my next iteration of my digital literacy class

@thomasfuchs If the computers are being booked as assets then that auction site pricing is part of a valuation scam.

@clacke That would be a great IDW one-shot comic book in the Star Trek universe.

@clacke Ms. Chong has three single albums available for purchase on Amazon Music that I just bought after the musical episode. She’s easier to listen to than many of our American music “stars”.

@clacke Well, I won’t have the option locally of seeing it in a theater. We just lost the last movie theater in 40 miles of my home. https://web.archive.org/web/20230722145753/https://www.starbeacon.com/news/local_news/after-serving-the-community-for-30-years-amc-movie-theater-closes-its-doors-for-good/article_77917b0a-2633-11ee-818c-4b7a8fe40e1d.html

@dangillmor Control of nuclear weapons is quite an immediate concern, too

@evan Update Identica for ActivityPub? I would really look like an ancient beast to some of Mastodon’s“old-timers” if that happened. That might not be a bad thing, though.

@clacke Unlike New York State, Ohio has expedited procedures for dealing with these sorts of campaign finance violations. Joe Blystone during the recent gubernatorial election contest wound up dragged before the Ohio Elections Commission on violations that were far worse than what Mr. Trump *might* wind up accused of in Manhattan.