Notices by JB Emmons (jbe@esq.social)

Super impressed w/ the Fediverse <-> BlueSky bridge beta, thanks to @snarfed.org@snarfed.org / @snarfed.org@bsky.brid.gy

You can follow my BlueSky account from here on the Fed: @jbe.bsky.social

https://fed.brid.gy/docs

Via terriblemap (Threads): Population distribution of the United States in units of Canadas

Former #Alabama Senator and #Trump-era Attorney General Jeff Sessions asks: "Was it really a mistake" for the US 'Founding Fathers' to keep slavery legal?

After all, “didn’t it allow for the progress to occur?"

https://www.al.com/politics/2023/09/jeff-sessions-was-it-really-a-mistake-founding-fathers-didnt-abolish-slavery.html

As the son of an engineer who grew up in a city of rocket scientists, I think the most believable aspect of "The Three-Body Problem" is that a bunch of scientists would see their experiments yield highly unexplainable results and, instead of thinking "maybe I screwed up the tests" or "I'm really bad at this," they just conclude "welp I guess physics doesn't exist" and kill themselves. That's the self-confidence of a true engineer if I ever saw it.

Incidentally, engineers are often a lot of fun to cross-examine, because all you have to do is insinuate they might not be the smartest person in the room and they will absolutely burn anything and everything to the ground--including their own reports--to prove you wrong.

They can walk away from a deposition feeling like a million bucks, and then 6 months later be like "what, who is this 'Daubert' guy that the judge trusts over me?"

@Piss_Ant
@LostInCalifornia
Keep in mind, even an 8-digit award is a huge, life-altering amount of money. And even if she only collects a fraction of that, a fraction of 8 digits is substantial. Barring a successful appeal, this defendant will literally pay for his horrible actions for the rest of his life.

@LostInCalifornia
@Piss_Ant
Oh, if this guy ever appeals, it will absolutely be reduced. I don't think most courts would countenance an award equivalent to the GDP of a small country as appropriate for these circumstances. I'm glad it's a significant amount, but I'd be shocked to see more than a low 9-digit award after an appeal.

Texas jury orders man to pay ex-girlfriend $1.2bn in revenge porn case

The woman said her ex-boyfriend conducted a campaign to spread intimate photos of her online without her consent. Using images taken by security cameras at the home where the woman was living, he shared the photos on fake social media accounts, tagging friends, family and employers on the picture.

He also created a website and publicly accessible Dropbox folders and emailed the photos to people.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/15/texas-jury-revenge-porn-case

We've heard about billionaires paying for #SCOTUS Justice Thomas's vacations in the past. But it turns out we're not talking 1 or 2 or even a dozen vacations. We're talking 38 vacations, 34 private flights, numerous other exclusive perks...𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧.

“In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” said Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served for years on the judicial committee that reviews judges’ financial disclosures

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-other-billionaires-sokol-huizenga-novelly-supreme-court

I feel really bad for Desiree Townsend. Back in 2009, she suffered some weird, debilitating, and unexplained medical symptoms -- and egged on by the #antivax movement, she pinned the blame on #vaccines. Media hype followed for years.

Now her symptoms have mostly resolved, she's far from antivax, and she dreams of working for a biotech company that manufactures vaccines. And she has one word for people getting caught up in the antivax movement: "Run."

New from @zadrozny: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/desiree-jennings-flu-shot-anti-vaccine-media-rcna97724

"My Week on #Spill, the Invite-Only App Hoping to Be the New Black #Twitter"

"At the moment, Spill being predominantly Black feels freeing. It releases the Black online community from the stress of the interloping gaze from non-Black users, readjusting the idea of what Black performativity is online. However, it is inefficient as a solitary platform to post on."

With an interesting passage on how Spill handled the Shade Room

https://slate.com/technology/2023/07/spill-app-twitter-black-invite.html

Dunehauer