Or: “It’s easy if you try…”
I had some fun a while back, messing with some AI agents, getting them to admit that they were, in fact, AI creations. It wasn’t that hard, so reading this was a bit of an affirmation!
“I hacked ChatGPT and Google’s AI – and it only took 20 minutes“
Tag: The Future
Avro Arrow vs F-35
Or: Elbows UP!
Because META really hates sharing content in a meaningful way, here’s story from The Walrus:
“The F-35 Debate Is Really about How We Killed the Avro Arrow”
“Canada doesn’t talk about the Avro Arrow because it’s nostalgic. It talks about the Arrow because it’s unfinished business. Every time Ottawa finds itself boxed in on defence procurement, every time the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tries to remind Canada who it thinks really owns North American air power, the Arrow reappears. It doesn’t show up as an engineering debate or a budget line. It shows up as a question of sovereignty.
Making The List
Or: “Are you a turtle?”
So it’s official at last: the Department of Injustice has put together a list of what they are calling “domestic terrorists” that includes — and I quote none other than Ms. Bondi herself — “antifa is part of that…”
So the question is, “Are you on the list?” Or will they be asking “Are you now or have you ever been…” etc., etc., it’s come to this.
“Thousands of Western nationals fought Israel’s war on Gaza: What to know”
Or: Which Side Of History Do You Want to Be On, Bucko?
Al Jazeera reporting on the s0-called “cease fire” in Gaza, or should we say, the continuing genocide there. It seems that The West (Qu’est-ce que c’est ça ?) has still more to answer for.
They report that over 50,000 of the soldiers involved on the Israeli side of things hold multiple passports, the overwhelming number coming from the US and Europe.
“Threat to civil rights”
Or: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Today’s The Guardian writing about the impending erosion of civil rights due the exodus of the watchdogs in the Department of Homeland Security (Der Heimatsicherheitsapparat, for lack of a better name!) and the push to “deputize hundreds of local police departments to enforce federal immigration law – while gutting independent oversight.”
The likely result will be the alienation of communities from their local police. Local police departments in the United States are very much in need of a more positive image. The actions of the current regime will only ensure that the situation worsens, rather than improves.
The idea of community policing actually reflects indigenous institutions, predating the development of the reservation systems:
“The Chippewa, Creek, and Menominee had rather amorphous police organizations composed of all warriors who had attained a certain minimum distinction in battle.”
https://www.tribal-institute.org/download/Indian%20Law%20Enforcement%20History.pdf
This indigenous police forces point to a solution of maintaining social order at a level far removed removed from the national police force that ICE seems to be evolving into of late.
Minneapolis should be a cautionary tale for anyone reviewing the actions of ICE and the DHS…
Because “All Cats Are Bastards” 🙂
Permanent Resource List
I’ve added a page for alternative resources. This includes ICE-monitoring sites in Europe and elsewhere, alternatives to US-based digital products, and whatever else is need to bring about an end to the oligarchy…
Ice, ICE, baby… I’m melting
Bookmark or whatever you need to do to find it again.
Eyes on ICE: For Those About to Rock
Call it another “Public Service Advisory”, this time for those about to hit the streets. A single link to a YouTube video (about 8 minutes long) on documenting and recording what our favorite Geheimspolizei are doing.
Links here —
https://www.youtube.com/live/zqka9fUTwdA?si=r4YLmlCuoVrWM180
✊ ✊ ✊
#HUELGA
#USRegimeChangeNOW
#TrumpEtAliaDelendusEst
#SayTheNamesReneeGoodAlexPretti
#07January20250is4May1970
#KeepLaughingAtTheFascists
“I was there.”
But do I remember? Erinnerung ist alles...
Put This One On Speed Dial
META is apparently blocking references to any sites tracking ICE activity, so I’m putting a link to a website that two freshman in Sid Richardson College of Rice University (Houston, TX) put together —
www.icemap.dev
I hope you never need it, but being prepared is the wisest path…
#USRegimeChangeNOW
#TrumpEtAliaDelendusEst
#SayTheNamesReneeGoodAlexPretti
#07January20250is4May1970
A Public Action Safety Advisory…
It would, indeed, be a REAL SHAME if this information was to be shared WIDELY. (C&P from a post on the META platforms)
REMEMBER: #ActionSpeaksLouderThanThoughtsAndPrayers
“From a comrade:
It would be a shame if the protesters began making their signs out of quarter-inch-thick plywood to stop rubber bullets, forming a tight shield wall to prevent police from singling out and mobbing individual protesters. It would be a shame if the people behind the shield wall held up umbrellas so that tear gas canisters fired over their heads on the front line will be bounced away. It would be a shame if protesters began constructing improvised armor vests out of duct tape, hard-backed books, and ceramic tiles.
It would be a shame if protesters started wearing safety glasses, hard hats, respirators, and gardening gloves, all of which can be found at the same hardware stores as the plywood. It would be a shame if they started using traffic cones (the kind without the hole in the top), upside down buckets, or other improvised lids to contain teargas by placing them over the canisters.
It would be a shame if protesters learned that police scanners are legal to own in the US, allowing them to learn where police are moving, and what routes they intend to take. It would be a shame if they discovered that these scanners can be used to send as well as receive, allowing them to flood the scanner frequencies with noise.
All of this would be a terrible, terrible shame.
**An even worse shame would be to start donating these items to protesters.
It would be a TERRIBLE shame if they also started making these and distributing them.
Use a handheld scroll saw to cut the pieces out, and a blowtorch, sandpaper, or scotch Brite grinding wheel to deburr the edges.
To form them better to fit the body, you can use a heat gun to soften the plastic and make it more pliable, bend it to shape and then cool it rapidly in a storage bin full of water. You can alsop shape them by putting the pieces into a 200 degrees (Fahrenheit) oven for 15 minutes. From there you shape them as rapidly as possible (oven mitts are highlu recommended), and then quench to cool the plastic and set the shape.
Glue foam floor mat to the inside for additional shock absorption and assemble with straps. The original maker used leather, as he works leather as a hobby and generally have some lying around. I used Chicago screws to attach them, and locate to secure the threads, but really the attachment and assembly method isn’t a hard line to make these work, so use whatever method you prefer.
You can also get these barrels in black or white (use white to make armor for medics).
*It would be an awful shame if you copied and pasted this and saved the pics to post yourself, so that they couldn’t delete the original and all linked posts (again).”
AI Trolls and Ghouls are at it
Wasting little time, the AI ghouls and troll have immediately started in on creating a false narrative round the murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
A brief look, from NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/08/nx-s1-5671740/ice-minneapolis-grok-ai-renee-nicole-good
Renee Nicole Good. Say her name
That’s it.
All there is to say tonight.
… and it’s only Wednesday, the first week of a new month of a new year.
ICE in your drinks, not your yard
Feel free to share broadly —
https://stopice.net/
… just what you think it is.
Watch for ICE on the road, Traveler
Winter is barreling down upon us and the long, slow slide into the oligarchy that we are witnessing in the US right now is filled with so many new ways to watch and, in some cases, warn. One of the worries is that there is no clear record of the actions that ICE has been taking. We cannot allow this to happen. Taking control of the narrative is paramount when dealing with an all-out war of misinformation, disinformation, and outright lie.s
Currently, there is an initiative underway, coming out of Europe and outside the potential for prohibitions by US regulators, to document events and individuals involved in ICE activity and to allow private citizens to report it.
Here’s a link to a news story about it —
https://migrantinsider.com/p/news-ice-list-launches-wiki-to-expose
And another discussion about the project —
https://www.crustnews.com/p/were-building-the-wikipedia-of-ice
Screenshot of an ICE Wiki entry:
And here’s the Wiki, so put it to good use and feel free to share these links as widely as possible—
[The graphic above links directly to the Wiki as does this,
https://icelist.is/]
For those about to rock…
Whew! Improv isn’t just what you do musically, it’s what you do.
Period.
Last night, I played my first face-to-face live gig in a very long time. Streaming live from a studio, where you can perform in your pajamas (if that’s your thing and maybe you’re not doing video streaming) on a platform like Second Life has its own challenges (does it ever!) but the audience rarely sees what is happening*.
So last night was an exercise in real-time damage control, improvising a solution that would make them smile and applaud (throwing money, underwear, or t-shirts is always optional).
https://www.facebook.com/emom.mtl/videos/786197931074043/
Eric Wrazen, master of ceremonies and no slouch on the synth himself, presided over the first EMOM performance of the Fall season at The Wheel Club here in Montréal. It was my first performance there and only the second time I’d been there for an EMOM event (I was lucky to have learned of it, shortly after getting settled in to my new apartment here). If I said it went off without a hitch it would be a bald-faced lie.
It didn’t.
I think it was Dwight Eisenhower who said that plans mean nothing, planning means everything. What I’d planned, while only mildly complicated considering all that was involved, and what happened were two quite different things. My original “blueprint” involved using two main audio sources: the Arturia MicroFreak and the Modal Argon8m. I’d brought The Three Sisters (my three Empress Zoias, Amelie, Brigitte, and Chloë — yes, the instruments are named and labelled so it’s easier to keep track of what’s been programmed), a Boss RC-1 for some simple looping, and an RC-500 for reverb on the Argon8m. Finally, I’d brought a Focusrite Scarlet to interface the iPad with the Argon8m.
What I find continuously challenging with Argon8m is using the software — I am not a big fan of using a laptop in live settings after having a hard drive catastrophically fail just moments before doing a gig in Fort Worth many years ago (yes, I salvaged the performance and no one even knew what happened). Rather than use a laptop, I’ve been using an iPad Pro, which has brings its own issues (Gee, THANKS Apple for making it so damned difficult to interface externals with the iPad, ESEPCIALLY the whole “Pro” series — another discussion for another day, but I’ve been using a Pro in one form or another since Generation 1.0 before I ever left the States). The MODALapp is pretty dependable on the computer, less so on the iPad, so it’s always a tiny gamble.
And last night, the gamble failed. Hard.
I could not get the Argon8m to send audio to the mix. For whatever reason, nothing from “that side” of the mix was working, or sending me output to the little mixer I had brought along. As I was the first person scheduled to perform, the pressure was on to get it sorted out and time was working against me. Eric was gracious enough to start without me and I frantically began pulling cables and re-configuring the set up to work with the ‘Freak and two of the Zoias. I managed to come up with a working arrangement and then it was “showtime!”
Give a listen to the video excerpt above; I have a WAV of the performance that I will be listening to in hopes of pulling some usable audio out of for later.
*At one point in the history of performances in Second Life, the question came up as to whether or not certain performers were actually “performing” live or simply having their avatar appear and running a prerecorded track — the VR version of lip-synching. The controversy is still there and, to my mind as a performer, has cast a permanent shadow over the whole scene.