Notices by Michael Busch (michael_w_busch@mastodon.online), page 2

@bicmay @inthehands I remember when Donald Trump and Mike Pence tried to repeal ACA and Pence said that Americans needed to take "personal responsibility".

As if I have personal responsibility for having once been a baby in NICU.

Yet again, USA:

Vote for Harris, for Walz, and for the Democratic candidates for Congress.

For all of the reasons.

And require better from media outlets that have learned nothing from the past 8+ years.

Since Donald Trump just gave a speech in which he continued to call for "bloody" mass deportation and ethnic cleansing: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3l3no54pbpq2c .

Which the Pioneer Press unconscionably reported on with the headline "Trump appeals to voters in Wisconsin GOP stronghold".

@inthehands @swart "Duck, Duck, Grey Duck" ?

@inthehands It would have been nice for kids to be able to get their updated COVID vaccinations before the schools started up again.

But none of the local pharmacies I have been following have supply for the under-12s yet.

It's not great.

@aredridel @inthehands Thanks go to everyone who has worked NICU.

@Thumper1964 @inthehands @RamenCatholic @mathaetaes @homelessjun @MisuseCase @mekkaokereke A group of MNGOP and allied media outlets have lately been pretending that the Twin Cities burned to the ground 4 years ago - while standing in a crowd of 100,000 people on the fair grounds between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

No lie too outrageous for the bigots.

But the DFL has also not acted to stop offenses by police (instead, the mayor of Minneapolis wants to give MPD more money for no good reason).

@mekkaokereke They might say that they like Star Wars, Star Trek, The Culture, The Expanse, The Matrix, Robocop, Terminator, The Lord of the Rings, etc.

But they continue to demonstrate that they did not understand those works.

Even when the authors of the works have explained them (per the Wachowskis telling off Elon Musk).

Which makes me wonder if they actually watched or read or listened to them - or paid attention if they did.

Re. my repost of @Wolven :

I am now considering how many different computers healthcare data can pass through.

When I get an echocardiogram; the images are displayed on the technician's machine, the radiologist's machine, the cardiologist's machine, & eventually my machine.

At least four possible places where Windows 11's "Recall" screen capturing could leave a copy - and only one of which is prevented by me personally not running Windows.

I can only assume Microsoft ignored all its lawyers.

@mdm The current vote by mail rules from the #Minnesota Secretary of State's office: https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/other-ways-to-vote/vote-early-by-mail/

"Who can witness my ballot?
You will need a witness when you vote and complete your ballot. The witness can be either a registered Minnesota voter or a notary."

I keep complaining about this to my members of the Minnesota state legislature.

(On the other hand, all one needs to get a ballot by mail is to fill out the form online - or by mail or in person in a county election office.)

@inthehands @jonobie @mdm @karabaic @mekkaokereke My one objection to voting rules here in #Minnesota is the witness requirement for voting by mail.

When I was living out-of-state for school but still voting here; I had to find the one person on campus who was a notary in order to vote. It was always a hassle.

Now there is a provision for any other Minnesota voter to witness the ballot; but that doesn't help out-of-state.

And California & Washington manage just fine for without any such rule.

@simonbp I regret to report that one of the Cosmic Call METI demonstration messages included source code for an ELIZA-like chatbot: https://www.vice.com/en/article/yp985x/meet-the-first-chatbot-sent-into-outer-space

Joe Biden should wear his mask and take the week off from work.

To demonstrate good behavior when having COVID.

I am reminded that Octavia Butler's "Parable" novels, published in 1993 and 1998 about a dystopic then-future United States, are set starting in July of 2024: https://www.octaviabutler.com/parableseries

As always:

More people should have paid attention to Butler's warning.

Today in the cyberpunk dystopia:

The use case for "AI" is spam. Here spam intended to try to steal an election.

Do not allow this or anything remotely like it, USA.

And require both that all forms of voter suppression be ended and that "AI" scams be shut down.

" [ Ziklag ] intends to use controversial AI software to enable mass challenges to the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters in competitive states." - https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-ziklag-secret-christian-charity-2024-election .

(via @zinnia and paraphrasing @davidgerard )

Donald Trump is currently on trial for the wholesale theft of classified government documents; along with all the other charges he has been found guilty of and is still on trial for, while unconscionably being allowed to run for POTUS again despite having attempted a coup.

The Pioneer Press ran a story about that today on A9. It ran a story about Joe Biden's son, who has no political role, falsifying a gun license application on A1.

Require better news media, USA.

And hold Trump accountable.

The IAU naming rule for craters on Mercury is "artists, musicians, painters, and authors".

There is now a crater Bulsara in the planet's southern hemisphere: https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/16280 .

I read that the nomenclature committee decided that Freddie Mercury had to be listed under his birth name rather than his legal one. Having a Mercury crater on Mercury was apparently considered to be too confusing.

This remains an excellent choice.

QT Michael Busch @michael_w_busch
2021 March 12

PSA:

I will now be blocking Elon Musk fans on sight.

@thomasfuchs A large debris-generating event was avoided two months ago only by the chance of the satellites' orientations: https://www.space.com/nasa-timed-satellite-russian-space-junk-near-miss-february-2024

And per @sundogplanets , if Cosmos 2221 and TIMED had collided; a fair portion of the resulting debris would have extended down into the Starlinks' altitude range.

It is not great.

@mekkaokereke I stopped reading Scott Adams' comics in the late-00s, when he started promoting evolution denialism.

Since then, I have encountered quotes of him being horrifically misogynistic & religiously bigoted as well as racist.

Way past time for everyone to stop taking him seriously except as an example of omnibigotry.

Way overdue.

And may similarly lethally dangerous projects by other companies also be shut down; before more people get killed.

QT Steve Herman @w7voa
2023 October 24

GM Cruise autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits are suspended effective immediately by the California DMV, citing "an unreasonable risk to public safety." https://journa.host/@w7voa/111291252876920768