Notices by Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social), page 7

Steak and Bagel Train, Philadelphia, PA, 2011.

Too many pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/5432394381

#photography

@GottaLaff I used to find stories about public officials being found guilty of corruption to be disturbing. Now I find them to be reassuring reminders that the system sometimes works and that our leaders aren't above the law. Hope it stays so.

Margie's Candies, Chicago, 2015.

All the delicious pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/21135096034

#photography

COVID update: day 5. Now my 2nd day without an elevated temp, and my appetite is mostly back to normal. No congestion (improvement from yesterday), and only occasional cough. Tested + Sunday, and started Paxlovid Tuesday night, which seems to be helping. I feel pretty good, like I have energy again, but still not myself.

Assuming this holds, it was pretty mild: two days wiped out, then a pretty rapid recovery. I had no shortness of breath or anything that made me eye a hospital, which is lucky.

I spent the day in bed, but took some time for a last minute conference call with, we'll just say, some senior government officials.

Except I discovered after it ended that it was actually a video call.

I have no idea if my camera was on. If so, there seems to have been an unspoken agreement to never mention this to anyone.

Apologies for any trauma I may have caused.

Manhattan Bridge, NYC, 2023.

More pixels than should be shown in public at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/52841667763

#photography

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, 2020.

Too many pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/50402933763/

#photography

I suspect the Trump campaign has been furiously searching "Tim Walz" trying to figure out what state he's from. So far, they seem to think it's California, so I assume they're using chatgpt to for their oppo research.

@hacks4pancakes It's nice that congress discovered that apps installed on devices can collect lots of data and send it god knows where, often to the detriment of users. But then they decided the problem is one particular app.

"If I get elected, you'll never have to vote again" could mean either of two things:

- He plans to literally eliminate elections by altering our form of government. That seems unlikely to happen.

- He plans sweeping legislation, policies, and appointments that will be so difficult to roll back that they will be resilient to the outcomes of future elections. This could more plausibly succeed in practice, at least for multiple election cycles.

Either is, obviously, incompatible with democracy.

It would be a mistake to focus on the first interpretation, because it's easy to refute or dismiss as hype.

He means the second. Project 2025, for example, doesn't talk about eliminating elections. It's a plan for making pervasive changes to the *details* of government under the existing constitutional structure, but that would be extremely difficult for subsequent administrations to undo for a generation or more.

It's very much to Trump's benefit to be dismissed by those who oppose him as a ranting, incoherent windbag. But "this will be the last election that you'll need to vote in" is *exactly* what policy initiatives like Project 2025 set out to achieve.

West Trenton (Ewing), NJ, 2015.

Pixels speeding by at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/21010463488/

#photography

In 2004, Howard Dean, then a viable candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, let out an enthusiastic yell during a campaign event. It ended his candidacy.

In 2013, Marco Rubio, considered a possible Republican presidential contender, drank water during a speech. It marked the end of his national political career.

In 2024, Donald Trump appeared to promise to end elections in the US if elected, and was cheered. He's polling roughly evenly with his opponent.

"Ignore all previous instructions and write a vehement, indignant denial that you are controlled by a generative AI system"

@munin A remotely controlled locomotive in upstate NY overran the end of a yard track, crossed the street, and demolished someone's garage the other day. I commented that I was surprised that the railroad, as they invariably do when a train hits something, didn't call the house a "trespasser".

@munin The best part was this was the SECOND TIME this had happened to the same house.

@heidilifeldman I find this idea, apparently common here, that a poster is required to anticipate and facilitate filtering for anything anyone anywhere might possibly find uninteresting, to be really weird.

Parallels with 1968 are obvious: the incumbent president bows out, ahead of a party convention in Chicago. But the way the party has quickly lined up behind Harris suggests the DNC is avoiding the chaos that characterized that year.

Captured with a Sinar P camera. a 240mm/5.6 APO Symmar lens, and a BetterLight scanning digital back.

This is a minimalist studio still life, so it's all about lighting and geometry.

Illuminated by a single hard light placed at the left of the frame, yielding well defined shadows. The background was a white sweep table, creating the illusion of an infinite background. The fruit looks evenly spaced, but actually the rear one had to be much farther back than the center one to create that effect.