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The Trump Election Immunity Ruling, Annotated

seems to be largely excluded from responsibility by our entire legal system

He also has that "illegal for a fine means legal for a price" thing going for him.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 12:06 PM on February 6, 2024

before we point a finger at Garland for being afraid of being accused of having political motivations for his investigations.

Can we point a finger at him for being a rational human being who knew that he would be accused of having political motivations regardless?
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 12:39 PM on February 6, 2024

He's walking around pretending he didn't go splat. 83 million and he's at the bottom of the cliff, musing about his likeness to Elvis and other inanities.

Trump financials are murky but it's clear that he believes he has about $4 billion in assets.

So in his mind he got hit for 2% of his net worth. That's not a cliff. It's not even a slap in the face. It's probably less than the fluctuation of his actual financial worth on any given day.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 4:56 PM on February 6, 2024

Why do people think the current SCOTUS cares about reputation, consistency, or legitimacy?

Because most of them are judicial wonks who care a lot more about their legacy than they do about ideology.

They are playing an entirely different game than others in Washington. Presidents come and go, but the rulings of SCOTUS last for centuries. What is it to them if Trump gets a paltry four more years?… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 5:22 PM on February 6, 2024

I'm fucking terrified. I wish I knew why you aren't.

Mainly because Trump has continued to make zero friends in the military command structure and has even managed to alienate the police as well.

Trump may have loyalty among the proles, but people with power are well aware that loyalty means nothing to him. There is a lot of opportunism going on, but no one is putting in hard hours for Trump believing they'll be rewarded in… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 8:39 PM on February 6, 2024

The real question is what amount of violence are Trump supporters wiling to inflict on faggots like me if he wins? Or even if he loses, in a display of power?

How many of Trump's parasocial followers are willing to risk their lives for Trump?

Ah, that's a very different worry than the government shenanigans I thought you were talking about. Unfortunately I can't offer much optimism there.

The one thing… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 9:32 PM on February 6, 2024

>Mainly because Trump has continued to make zero friends in the military command structure and has even managed to alienate the police as well.

Then what about stories like this, revealing some military members' alignments?

There is a big difference between the rank and file and the military command structure. You’re going to need generals for a coup.

He has zero military support because… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 7:05 AM on February 7, 2024

Now assuming he does have $4 billion in assets, a $500 Million penalty + Judicial Dissolution of the Trump Org + Lifetime bans on the real-estate business in NY is actually going to HURT.

It’s a nice dream, but looking at his long history of legal maneuvering I suspect that he’ll find a way to dodge it.

The guy has been exploiting the legal system for 50+ years, and while his success record is nowhere near what he would have you believe he has gotten away with quite a bit.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 7:18 AM on February 7, 2024

Ah. When you used the term "bad faith" above it felt like you were suggesting people were out of line.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 7:57 AM on February 7, 2024

And this one.

Let's see how that worked out for him.
In September 2023, former-President Donald Trump suggested Milley should be executed.[157] In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated Milley's authorized call to reassure Chinese authorities of the nation's stability following the January 6 United States Capitol attack was "an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH."[158] In response to the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 11:02 AM on February 7, 2024

Scat Singing. It's not as nasty as you think.

Brilliant!
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 5:30 AM on February 4, 2024

Finding the Air Cannon

throughout the day. I mean, glad the nighttime blasts are gone but damn that's frequent.

Being super super generous I'd say it was malfunctioning and no one knew how to fix it.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 5:21 AM on January 30, 2024

The solution is okay, but as a nerd I have to say: there are decibel measuring apps for most cellphones today. All the timing business was unnecessary.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 5:22 AM on January 30, 2024

Isn't the timing necessary for triangulating the position?

You're not triangulating with a decibel app. You're finding a loud noise the way you normally would be with hearing but using a device that is much better than humans at measuring the magnitude of the noise.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 6:18 AM on January 30, 2024

It's always interesting to me how slow the speed of sound is.

Get involved in optical networking and you start to realize how slow the speed of light is. It takes three milliseconds to get from New York to Chicago, which sounds fast until you realize the light from the sun is coming 91 million miles to get here. And the light from the nearest star is coming 5.88 trillion miles.

The speed of light is a slow crawl compared to the distances it travels.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 6:26 AM on January 30, 2024

If the air cannon was a continuous hum and you had a directional decibel meter (or maybe even used your body as a shield?), then yes, you hold it while spinning 360 degrees and determine which direction the noise is "loudest". Do that in a few locations and you could triangulate the position of the source.

Or you could just take one omni-directional measurement, move 100 meters down the road and take another measurement, and then you would… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 12:25 PM on January 30, 2024

>You're not triangulating with a decibel app.

You *could* though, right? Assume the noise produced by the cannon is isotropic and decays as inverse square of distance; take loudness measurements at the same 3 non-equidistant locations they did time-delta measurements at; solve similarly to the time-of-flight approach.

Yep, and then you wouldn't need two other observers and synchronized clocks.

The way they did it is a lot more fun though.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 12:26 PM on January 30, 2024

The triangulation was necessary because they used their ears to determine that the point source was located somewhere on a large swath of inaccessible private property.

Agreed that if you want to get it down to a point you can't access that triangulation is the way to go. But you could get pretty close by simply measuring volume on public roads I think.

I really wish Mythbusters was still on the air.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 12:32 PM on January 30, 2024

You're just not going to get good data on sound levels from a cell phone.

Are you speaking from experience here, because I've gotten some pretty good data on sound levels from cellphones. In fact we checked two iPhones and a Samsung against each other to make sure the app calibrations matched and they came in pretty close.

We were however indoors and I could see wind across the microphone being a problem.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 7:50 PM on January 30, 2024

While I approve of the sentiment I fear the unrestricted use of such will result in the breeding of cannon-resistant geese.

Air cannon, anyway. Perhaps it's time to up our game.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 9:01 AM on January 31, 2024

No idea what they might say to the man they believe ruined their lives

The article says "There was blind faith in jailhouse informants -- a slew of them, all hoping for special favors from prosecutors in return for their testimony" -- and then goes on to lay the whole thing on the testimony of one guy.

Not that the guy isn't clearly an asshole but it sounds like quite a few people have something to answer for, and most among them the police. I can't imagine staying in a place where I knew the police had railroaded me.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 5:59 AM on January 30, 2024

If you live in the United States, no matter where you live, from a small town with no traffic light to the largest metropolis, the police and courts there are exactly the same.

I suspect you’ll find their attitude varies with the wealth and race of the community.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 8:37 AM on January 30, 2024

Where All the World’s Vegemite Comes From

food

[citation needed]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 3:21 PM on January 27, 2024

Even the most banal expressions have a slightly different sense

Could it be that there are unbridgeable gulfs in thinking and perception between groups of people speaking different languages?

There are unbridgeable gulfs in thinking and perception between every single human being, so yes.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 6:14 AM on January 27, 2024

Forgetting language for a bit, humor is notoriously specific to cultures. There are plenty of jokes that you can _explain_ to outsiders but that they will never find gut-bustingly funny because they don’t have the lived experience.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 7:29 AM on January 27, 2024

I'm not talking about members of a group being upset by what words are used about them. I'm talking about the claim that "non-members of a group will change their thought patterns about a group if they change the words or grammatical forms they use when referring to that group".

But you’re not talking about two groups here. People belonging to the same culture are attempting to influence the direction of that culture. The people being… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 11:41 AM on January 27, 2024

Drone operator films cownose rays in rare mass migration

at first read i took cownose to be a verb, some sort of weird drone slang

I thought it was glittering rays of light coming out of cows' noses.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 8:40 AM on January 26, 2024

Storm in a Teacup

Random fact: The heavily anglocentric book "The Lady Tasting Tea" claims the beginning of statistics happened at an English garden party when the hostess said that she could always tell whether the tea was poured into the milk or the milk into the tea. A randomized experiment was proposed and the rest is history.

Of course, the book also gives the impression that everything having to do with the development of statistics happened on the British Isles so ...… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 1:05 PM on January 25, 2024

The only bit of statistics history I ever heard, I think, was the invention of the t test, at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin. So that comports with the story.

There was also some substantial early work done on an English experimental farm.

In fact a lot of work was done in England and perhaps Statistics really did get its start there. But the rest of the world was not sitting idly by.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 2:56 PM on January 25, 2024

Oscar Nominations 2024

the inexplicable popularity of the award ceremony notwithstanding.

The red carpet dresses themselves justify the cost of the ceremony.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 10:07 AM on January 23, 2024

What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he’s not coming back?

Anyone else think it’s weirdly racist to claim that Asian culture is to blame here?

Cultures exist and it's okay for people, particularly people who share a culture, to comment when they see major attributes of that culture displayed. They're talking about how they personally connect with the incident, whether it really is the explanation or not.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 10:05 AM on January 23, 2024

The Blazing World

Margaret Cavendish's multiverse science fiction from 1666

Calling "The Blazing World" science fiction is extremely aspirational and calling it a multiverse story is plain old incorrect. The framing belongs to the genre of Traveller’s Tales, and the fantastic world serves only as a chance to make philosophical/political statements on the real world.

Jonathan Swift produced the most famous (parody) version with… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 11:06 AM on January 21, 2024

"He was such an iconic element of the early Internet"

.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 12:27 PM on January 20, 2024

Explaining a joke makes humor processing more complete

"Many frogs died to bring us this information."
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 11:33 AM on January 20, 2024

All the Garbage I Found on Substack

Nazis and cranks are very profitable from a "getting paid to deliver fecal matter to the waiting mouths of morons" perspective.

Are they very profitable though? Are there that many of them?

I’ve figured it’s the cost of moderating the sites that keeps people from squelching them.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 11:39 AM on January 18, 2024

As the linked article also says moderating for Substack means LOSING revenue, because Nazis are more likely to have a higher paying reader percentage than other writers.

First of all the article quotes some very low numbers (low 1000s) for Nazi subscribers. It’s more likely that the cost of even a single moderator would eat the entire profit.

For anti-vaxxers however there is real money in play, to the tune of 250,000… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 4:54 PM on January 18, 2024

I think in both cases time was a factor. People were rooting for both Substack and Rowling to clean up their acts and eventually it became clear it wasn’t going to happen.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 8:46 PM on January 18, 2024

If you like it, don't put a ring on it.

Many of the benefits of traditional marriage involve children — once those are not a consideration the picture changes considerably for both men and women. And now that many women no longer need it for financial security this seems like a logical next step.

It’s also a delayed consequence of the movement towards women’s financial independence that got its legs last century — a model of what it means to be an old woman is aging out.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 6:29 PM on January 17, 2024

The comment by @MonsierPEB is just awful.
I beg all involved to leave the comment there so that all the world can see this man's bigotry.

I have the feeling that I’m missing something here. If I’m not then a) we don’t know the gender of the poster and b) the comment seems out of place enough that I suspect some clarification would help.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 9:51 PM on January 17, 2024

I still have a dream of buying adjoining duplexes so we keep our own spaces but see each other all the time.

In my mother’s circle of therapist friends the dream situation is two houses with a tunnel between them that can be locked from either side.

As someone who really enjoys 2000 sqft to himself I could get behind that.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 7:42 AM on January 18, 2024

They had a happy relationship, and he nursed her through her final illness

As an aside I am watching my parents try to take care of each other into old age and while it sounds very romantic the logistics are getting very dicey. I wish we could afford live-in help.

I’m not sure the societal ideal of living together through the end of your lives should have been an ideal in the first place.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 10:20 AM on January 18, 2024

Surprisingly It's Not Muscular Fan Struggles With Water Bottle

I am very surprised it did not involve a dog.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 1:32 PM on January 14, 2024

Cheap, good, far away.

Heh. Author lives in Mexico but leaves it as runner-up. Not that I wouldn’t do the same. Have how I mentioned how terrible it is here and how all you gentrifying blanquitos should move to Asia?
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 6:51 PM on January 13, 2024

You're unlikely to get caught, but working on your tourist visa is unlikely to be legal.

Best case for a digital nomad is that you’re not working for a company in the country you’re in. For a long time I didn’t have the right to work in Mexico for a Mexican corporation but there was no restriction at all on me consulting for U.S. firms.

You’re very right about him glossing over safety issues though. There are islands of safety most places but you need to do your research carefully.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 8:06 PM on January 13, 2024

restriction at all on me consulting for U.S. firms.

(to clarify, that means remote consulting for a company in the U.S.)
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 8:21 PM on January 13, 2024

I just can't take seriously or charitably articles with framing that refers to migrants or immigrants as "expats."

What is the word for people who don’t want to belong to any country?
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 8:54 PM on January 13, 2024

>What is the word for people who don’t want to belong to any country?

One version is "stateless"

I think that’s the world for people who actually don’t belong to any country, which countries make an incredibly painful situation. You have to be someone’s property to live in this world.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 9:46 PM on January 13, 2024

there is an element of privilege at work

Oh, it’s one hundred percent privilege. He gives that up when he mentions exchange rates — living in these countries is only ‘cheap’ if you have the right to work in an economically stronger one.

I don’t know if expats moving into a poorer country helps or hurts. I think the overall numbers are small enough that it doesn’t make a big difference at a country level, but local economies can definitely be affected by a massive influx.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 10:26 PM on January 13, 2024

it’s amazing what the internet has to offer. For instance, today I learned that enjoying all the benefits of citizenship means that I am owned by something? The US federal government I guess? Maybe the state department? Maybe my state since they issue the birth certificate? Who knows.

Allow me to introduce you to the Selective Service System.

All of those sweet benefits you are getting come with an agreement that you can be… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 9:18 AM on January 14, 2024

I would like to make sure we’re applying the same judgements to people leaving expensive parts of the U.S. for cheaper ones. Or is the whole “those poor downtrodden foreigners” thing just us being patronizing to people because we don’t consider them the same as us.
posted to MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 10:05 AM on January 14, 2024