Notices by Alecs Ștefănescu [38c3] (catileptic@chaos.social)

@giocomai thanks for mentioning the little story explicitly :)

Update: The OPM has now scrubbed the PDF metadata. However, the archived copies linked from my website contain the original metadata if you wish to verify.

sir, a second, even better and FOSS Deepseek AI model has hit our 7 trillion dollar proprietary ChatGPT crap

The Venice Commission has published its report on "the cancellation of electoral results by the Constitutional Court".

It's not only relevant in the aftermath of the annulled elections in #Romania (Dec 2024). It's also relevant to set an anchoring point in the sea of upcoming elections: ex. in Germany, Poland, and Romania.

Such decisions cannot be based solely on classified information. And that the confidence of citizens in the legitimacy of elections is crucial.

https://venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdf=CDL-PI(2025)001-e&lang=en

Folded & assembled proof sheets for Skeuomorph Press’ forthcoming letterpress edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s "A Rant About Technology"—a practicum student created the woodcut illustrations of tech mentioned in the text—I set type for the book & fold-out poster

I’m still tinkering with ink & paper options & deciding about binding—but seeing it come together as a book made my heart leap—I am grateful to Le Guin’s estate for giving us permission to produce these

I'm still stunned by the ICC having their evidence on Azure.

Public bodies need to have their own infrastructure. Especially when their storage is somewhere that serves shareholders and the country where they are incorporated.

Kinda hope the UN is on independent infrastructure.

> A reporter once asked A.J. Muste -- a social activist who, during the Vietnam War, stood outside the White House night after night -- 'Mr. Muste, do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night with a candle?'

> "'Oh,' Muste replied, 'I don't do this to change the country. I do this so the country won't change me.'

(quoted from Denise Roy's essay, "The Mother is Standing")

#antifascism

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that member state legislation has no business controlling the sexual activity of people.

How long before we see the Red Pill ideology surfacing in the EU-exit parties in each member state? How long before they bemoan ECHR parting them from their "legal" (or "God-given"?) right to penetrative heterosexual sex?

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-divorcee-who-stopped-having-sex-with-husband-wins-appeal-european-court-2025-01-23/

@rastilin would you care to share in a DM? i am really curious

The radical, maximalist freedom of the disembodied non-beings and the Garderner felt... too close to a toxic type of "freedom". It had no restrictions, and, thus, it felt void of meaning.

No constrains. No Big Other. No sacrifice, no pain.

The other detail was that the community I could have escaped into lacked an identity. No principles. No common struggle.

Freedom without meaning or meaningful suffering without end?

I love that the game got me to pick one.

I chose to go back to my physical body.

(I haven't played the game past this point, even though I know there is extra content)

I still think about this decision. Ever though the experience of role-playing as this alienated Sleeper felt very familiar, I nonetheless returned to the "Hell" of the physical body.

I rumminate about why leaving the body behind felt so unappealing. I still think about this fantasy opportunity, hours after turning the game off.

(4/5)

One of the final quests in the game gives you the option to leave humanity behind and join a non-human community of beings. This involves leeaving your physical body behind.

All through the game, the Sleeper describes themselves as uncomfortable in their body. They simulate embodiment by eating and drinking. They are sometimes grateful for being able to feel physical stimuli. But their body is a cage.

An obvious choice. Leave the body behind. Live freely.

(3/5)

The Sleeper (your character) is unlike any character in the game. They never focus on a goal for themselves.

Their goals, their ideology emerge from how you decide to play through quests, and which quests you decide to pursue to the end.

The Sleeper is a non-human, surrounded by both humans and non-humans, all of whom have a personal narrative. Whereas the Sleeper, the playable character, feels more like a secondary character in everyone else's story.

(2/5)

Just finished playing Citizen Sleeper. If you haven't played it already, I recommend it. I think it took me 5-6 hours to finish it.

I want to mention something about this game that struck a chord, but I'll put all of it under content warnings, because it refers to some of the final quests in the game.

(1/5)

@ujeenator Oh, I know the band, I really like them! :) I remember that the lead singer filmed in a video, singing alongside children and folx working on aiding the army, in a shelter / bunker. I can't find the video, but I remember crying several times, watching it.

I also really like alyona alyona and Onuka :) .

@ujeenator spotify is fine :)

@ujeenator yes, please :) and let me know if you're looking for recommendations in return :)

I check this list: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/darth_tyrannus_rex/neofolk-dark-folk-artists-and-their-politics/ (and search for reddit threads) every single time I come across a neo-folk band that sounds interesting.

(same for all the variations around neo-pagan stuff / dark folk stuff)

Folx who are on #rateyourmusic or who use it to disover music - would you like to share some lists you've really enjoyed? Or share your own lists, if you've made any.

The genre isn't really important. I'm looking to immerse myself in music outside of my comfort zone.

#rym #music

Andrei Petre, Romanian journalists, writes about the data breaches of 2024 that the Romanian government reufses to acknowledge, talk about or address (in terms of remedying the structural weaknesses in their infrastructure).

https://context.ro/linia-de-front-digitala-a-romaniei-sparta-de-hackeri-guvernul-ascunde-realitatea/

#gdpr #cybersecurity