Notices by Parade du Grotesque 💀 (paradegrotesque@mastodon.sdf.org), page 2

@noondlyt

6 months tops.

3 months before that, every nation on Earth will close their borders to tourists coming for the US.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I just spent the better part of an hour online, applying for an ETA (Authorization to travel to the UK*).

Just on that basis alone, I can now confirm that every single person from the UK should be BANNED from entering the EU, and a minimum import tax of 2000% should be imposed on all UK products entering the EU as well.

That is NOT how I wanted to spend the end of my weekend!

(* Yes, I know, but $REASONS force me to travel to London)

Required reading list, courtesy of censors everywhere:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/aug/23/banned-the-20-books-they-didnt-want-you-to-read

Oldest author: Aristophanes, for Lysistrata.

Margaret Atwood has got two books on that list.

One graphical novel: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.

Now, I know which books I will buy soon to finish the year with.

@slothrop

*Crunch* goes the RV?

@botvolution

Pipman!

Dun dun dun dun dun dun...

Pipman!

@cwebber

Putting on my shrink glasses, and getting my legal pad.

"And this IBM 1401, is it in this room with us right now?"

@botvolution

Le Carre last novel, Silverview, was about the war in Yugoslavia.

You may want to read this instead of my horrid prose.

Croatia, day 1: Zagreb.

Peak capitalism right here.

Source: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/50040324

As a reminder, Red Hat Linux (one of the founding members of the Linux foundation) is IBM, IBM is American.

Google is American, etc... Etc... Most AI companies are American, and these are properly slurping data like crazy from their European customers ("Help me write a commercial proposal for XYZ!").

Since there are so many contributors to the Linux kernel, it should be possible for intelligence agencies to slip a little something in there. See xz Trojan, software bill of materials.

2/

I have time to burn, sitting in an airport waiting for a flight back home, so here is an idle thought...

Most US-based cloud giants run on Linux or some other open source OS.

Given the current political climate, it's only a matter of time before other nations move to their own cloud champions, who will probably use Linux as well.

How long before the US government requires the Linux foundation, or select members, to insert backdoors in the kernel, to have access to these clouds?

1/

Idle thought: how long before other countries require you to provide up-to-date proof of vaccinations before going to the USA?

I mean, it's just simple common sense: you don't want people to be infected with preventable diseases in the US.

4/

In general, this is the direction the USA are taking: antagonizing everyone else at every turn.

Militarily, diplomatically, from a healthcare point of view (make viruses great again! See RFK, Jr), & now the technological aspect is inescapable.

What we (Europeans/rest of the world) need are international institutions with a clear mandate (maintain open source, refuse commercialization) and clear rules (no funny stuff behind the scenes, strong crypto). FSF EU might be a good start.
3/

I see King Donny is holding court somewhere in Scotland and ranting against Europe, its wind power and its terrible immigrants.

Why anyone in Europe is going to Scotland to talk to him is beyond me, but, hey more power to them I guess...

Calling all Scots: please make sure you give that ugly orange nonce a piece of your mind. You are doing that on behalf of all Europeans. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇪🇺

5/

I will add that Trump and Vance blackmailing European countries into spending 5% of their GDP on defense is hilarious, since US policy has been for DECADES that European countries should be subservient, follow the US lead and rely on it for everything defense-related.

Soon, the dialogue will be something like this:

- US: spend more on defense! Or else!
- Europe: spends more on defense. Becomes a lot less obedient and independent from US policy.
- US: No, not like that!

7/

As a reminder, this is what Donny thinks of Europe:

"EU was born to 'screw' US, Trump says"

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250226-eu-was-born-to-screw-us-trump-says

With 'friends' like these, who needs enemies?

And why spend any time talking to that absolute bloated bastard? The sooner the EU gets rid of that abusive relationship, the better.

6/

@scribe

No paywall. Not everyone can afford a subscription to the FT.

@scribe

https://archive.is/b7edd

I just discovered all public transportation in Luxembourg is free.

As in: free. Hop on a bus, a tram, even a train. It's all free. And I love this so much I can't even express it. This is so great.

@jalefkowit @cwebber

The pub that's full of cat girls and cat people in general?