caseysoftware

"I don't want to share a book that the government has actually banned" is quite a position on this thread.

THAT would be awesome bravery and freedom: "Come and take it" has been powerful before.

Is a specific institution or library are banned by their decision makers to have a book - that book is banned in that context.

By that reasoning, all PG-13 and R rated movies are "banned" just because your elementary school library doesn't carry them. Absurd, huh?

"10000s of people" can create new definitions of words as they choose, just don't be surprised when educated people think they're fools.

Thanks, this is useful.

"any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished."

Though this is a fascinating definition.. anytime, anywhere says "no thanks" to carrying a book outside of purely budgetary or physical space limits, it is now a "ban".

The more fascinating question would be discovering the boundary of what PEN, et al consider a "good ban" because I bet we could come up with a few.

"libraries and educators to forgo specific books" is neither "banning" nor "censoring"

In the name of literacy, we need to use words properly.

Are those just banned and censored in Portugal specifically or the EU as a whole?

A quick check here in the States showed all of them available on Amazon for under $25 each.

Especially if there’s no infrastructure needed to install.

I suspect this is important for two reasons..

First, because yes, it's magnitudes cheaper if you don't have to build and install the infrastructure.

Second, because now you're no longer dependent on your "local provider" which is likely to expect and deal in bribes, share info with local leaders, and generally be a potential risk to everything you want to do.

What's the average look like?

Are you speaking of Austin proper or Round Rock, West Lake, Cedar Park, or similar?

"If we taught systems thinking in schools"

In the US, the public school system can barely teach basic reading and math. And the teachers don't appear to understand 2nd or 3rd order thinking themselves so therefore are unlikely to be able to teach it.

Teaching systems thinking may be an effective solution but it needs an effective delivery system to test it.

Before you offer legal advice, you should at least check the legal definition of "export":

The EAR definition of “export” extends beyond the transportation of physical goods outside the U.S.

A “Deemed export” is the release of technology or source code to a foreign national in the U.S. The release is “deemed” to be an export to the last permanent residence status/citizenship of the foreign national. This can occur through demonstration, oral briefing, site visit, or through transmission of non-public data.

Ref: https://exportcontrol.lbl.gov/training/export-control-overvi...

It's bold to assert that people make up Founder Father's reasoning when just above you claim we use the current electronic voting because:

"I think just the fact that it was the first thing on offer that wasn't the thing they were already using."

Instead of just assuming things - aka making things up - you could check.

For the Declaration, Articles, and later the Constitution specifically, much of the Founder Father's reasoning and conclusions were well-documented in public via published letters, essays, and speeches at the time. No ouija board necessary.

Super interesting, thanks for the insight.

I'm 100% onboard with transparency and auditablility are table stakes and any methodology that doesn't address those should be disqualified.

I paid close attention.. and agreed that that particular approach was broken.

My question was: what's the argument in favor of using a proprietary electronic system?

I'd love to hear the steelman - what's the argument in favor of using a proprietary electronic system?

There have been legit complaints about closed sourced voting systems for ~20 years and DEFCON has done a "Voting Village" for ~10 years demonstrating numerous issues, some of which were not addressed by the next elections. Transparency doesn't appear better either.

Is it speed to tally? Cost? Easier to screw with results?

"Academic experience typically doesn't count."

Why not?

I don't think I have pictures of the back specifically but the route was:

Started on one side of the engine framing, all the way across, inside through the body then around the round section holding the bottom gun turret, then along the front bottom edge, back into the body and around the top round section of the gun turret, back into the body into the bridge and across the ceiling ending there.

The LED string itself had adhesive backing, so I'd put it in place, remove a section of the adhesive cover, attach it, then do another section. It was probably 3-6" at a time, so not fast or easy. I had to take off a bunch of the ship panels - super easy - to get at some of the portions. My goal was that you couldn't see the LEDs directly from most viewing angles and was mostly successful

The LED string was ~$60 and it was a silly amount of work but I have it sitting over my left shoulder during conference calls and people ask about it constantly so it was fun.

Other pics: https://x.com/CaseySoftware/status/1757069749501018411

Edit: Just realized you can see the string here: https://x.com/CaseySoftware/status/1980269018511794422

I have the 2017 edition of the Lego Millenium Falcon and ~7500 pieces took about 30 hours without being super organized or focused. At that rate, this is almost 50 hours of assembly but I'd wager there's a ton of duplication in this one, likely speeding things up.

And yes, for these sorts of sets, you put them on display. I added LEDs to mine:

https://x.com/CaseySoftware/status/1766667069003645362

I didn't say "partisan"

Again, I encourage you to read Patrick's post, specifically the section titled "July 2021: The CTT coalition attempts non-partisan interdiction of Trump PAC fundraising" where it describes their direct involvement against a single, specific candidate's PAC.

You could make the claim "well, technically he wasn't a candidate at that time" but considering the PAC was a registered FEC entity raising money for campaign rallies, that argument is weak at best and absurd in reality.

For 501(c)(3)s, it is. In exchange for tax-exempt status, a group loses certain options.

But the DOJ wouldn't touch those charges though as they're civil (IRS under Treasury) and the criminal charges could be fatal to the org by themselves.

Though, regardless of the criminal outcome, if the facts in the indictment are proven, I'd wager the IRS' case is proven implicitly which could also be fatal.

Upthread summarizes Patrick accurately but maybe too succinctly, so to lay it out specifically:

In the post, Patrick demonstrates that the SPLC cofounded and led Change the Terms (CTT) then goes on to demonstrate CTT targeted a specific political candidate's fundraising. The first is fine, the second is illegal.

Check out the section titled "July 2021: The CTT coalition attempts non-partisan interdiction of Trump PAC fundraising" for specific quotes and even a picture of a mobile billboard they funded.

That is neither "ideologies" nor "party definitions"

"Private actors working hard to censor political adversaries is not necessarily illegal, for what it's worth."

"Private actors" is doing quite a bit of work here.

For individuals working in their personal capacity, you're mostly correct. The rules change for certain jobs.

BUT that's not the situation here. In this case, we have the SPLC - a registered 501(c)(3) - that appears to have worked to censor political adversaries. And the law specifically bars that, making it illegal.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.

Ref: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organiz...

Unless Patrick is wrong. The end of his post asks for comment from the relevant organizations so they could easily address this one.

I loved the Windows Phone too.

I was one of two non-MSFT I knew of that had one.. and I bought it because an MSFT employee was showing it off and I was convinced. The concept of Tiles was great and Cortana was respectable. It felt comparable to Siri and way better than Google.

I used it for a couple years until the apps I needed started disappearing due to lack of updates.

There are TONS of incentives to increase energy efficiency.

Most local electric and gas companies will do free energy audits. Many will offer rebates if you install tankless water heaters, heat pumps, and insulation. Installers get kickbacks from manufacturers and tax credits if you buy higher efficiency equipment. Lenders will give you 0% loans to fund it all. The Feds and many States offer tax credits for all of the above.

I've done every single thing on this list in the last 5 years, some in Texas, some in Indiana.

^ This.

I had a 20kWh array and 18kWh of batteries in Texas and it was GREAT in the summer. It'd start charging by 6am and be charged by 9am, even with simultaneous usage. Then we'd live off solar for the day (even with HVAC), go back on batteries around 9pm and they'd be out around 4am. No problem.

But during an overcast winter day, the stack wouldn't get power until 8/9, not make it to 50%, start discharging by 4/5pm, and be out by 10/11pm. It would easily be 8-10 hours where we were wholly dependent on the grid.

Not a problem, just a constraint to acknowledge and plan for.

Was this approval before or after evaluators discovered this?

Microsoft on Friday revised its practices to ensure that engineers in China no longer provide technical support to U.S. defense clients using the company’s cloud services.

Ref: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/microsoft-china-digital-esco...

For example, I believe this implies that the DoW can procure data on US citizens en masse from private companies - including, e.g., granular location and financial transaction data - and apply OpenAI's tools to that data to surveil and otherwise target US citizens at scale.

Third Party Doctrine makes trouble for us once again.

Eliminate that and MANY nightmare scenarios disappear or become exceptionally more complicated.

Good call. What's this law's definition of "operating system"?

MOST cases don't make it to jury. They're more likely to be resolved via motions and countermotions and the decisions of a jduge.

To dumb down "operating system" for normies, they're probably going to say something along the lines of "the software that makes your computer work.. like Windows." If it stays at that level, we'll have a specific, discrete definition in play.

A broader, equally correct definition could be "the software that makes technology work.. there's an operating system on your computer, your cell phone, your Alexa, and even your car." Then yes, some people will think of their Ring doorbell, the cash register at the coffee shop, and other embedded systems, even if they've never heard the word "embedded."

The definition that shows up will depend entirely on a) the context of the case and b) the savviness of the attorneys involved.

Not a bet I want to take.

Same here but ~8 years.

You can mitigate/speed the process using your password manager too.

I still use a filter in my email so that if something comes in under my Gmail, it gets a special tag that I can filter on and treat those as a todo list. Rarely happens beyond the occasional Google Meet connection.

"Spyware" doesn't quite capture it.

It's "intelligence platform" in the sense that you can gain a ton of information on individuals, organizations, and relationships that drive it all. If you can track how people move and interact between organizations, you can determine who someone is doing business with and even make an educated guess if that's a sale or interview.

I started writing about it almost 20 years ago: https://caseysoftware.com/blog/linkedin-intelligence-part-ii and turned it into a conference presentation called "Shattering Secrets with Social Media"

But there have been numerous proofs of concept over the years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Sage