Mozilla is a not-for-profit. Like hospitals, that doesn’t mean they don’t make profits, it’s just that they have to reinvest most of them into the company and it’s employees. Speaking of which, those activities are not free and they’re not necessarily done just out of the goodness of their hearts. In these trying times in particular, I think we should start realizing that we have to be advocates and supporters for the things we believe in, or else they’ll die on the vine. And when they do, we’ll be left with the lowest common denominators that simply treat us all like a product.

Mozilla is the best of the big 4 browsers, it also isn’t pushing the whole Manifest 3 crap down our throats. At this point I’m sticking with them until I’m convinced otherwise. I’ve changed before and I absolutely would again.

As for losing the advocacy group, it sucks, but if I were in a tough position where I had to choose between advocacy and development, I would stick with my core mission - a stable browser with the features that users want. There are other great Internet advocacy groups out there that do great work (and we need them more than ever). Of course, EFF is one.

And that’s the problem right there. The fewer kids with mommy and daddy issues, the fewer kids these “elders” can “take under their wing.”

Funny but not so funny story. I was at the Playhouse in Cleveland, Ohio about 15 years back and my stepdad really wanted to take us to Finnegan’s Wake. It was an improv show where the actors would take suggestions from the audience in what would happen next. A few of us were trying to to be playful with the context, but the vast majority of the meatheads in the audience just kept shouting out lewd suggestions like the reverend fucking the widow. Over and over and over again. The lead guy (reverend) got so tired of it that he said “is this all you want to see!” and humped the actress a few times then ended the show. Simultaneously the best and saddest anti joke I’ve ever experienced.

Take it as you will, but these are the kind of people we are now hinging our democracy on.

Not so fast. David Duke was saying the quiet part out loud and he was only a fringe candidate. There’s something else going on here, I don’t know what it is exactly, that makes Trump more marketable.

The only things I can think of is that he has had decades in the public eye, and he’s been presented as smart and successful for most of that time. And bizarrely enough, he reflects a bygone era in America where blue collar union guys had pensions, which were blown away by billionaires like him. And yet, this billionaire known for grift and stiffing his workers, somehow became their champion.

The whole process has opened my eyes to just how much marketing works with a certain demographic.

Democracy Dies in Darkness indeed.

Projection. Remember during the first few days of the war when Russia issued a statement saying that the era of the West was over?

And apparently divide by it.

As the Dark Sith Lord Mitchell McConnell once stated: “winning is the only thing that matters, winning means you have the power, winning means you get to make the rules.” (Paraphrasing)

If you want left wing policies, like Obamacare or the inflation reduction act, if you want the green new deal or Medicare for all, then the left have to be in power. Else it’s a crapshoot what we get (hey, republicans were the ones that put the D in Medicare).

It’s not that hard of a concept. Lefties will continue to do lefty things when they have the power and votes to do so.

New for Sid Meier AI Incarnate’s Civilization 24: Play as infamous 7-time (and counting) President Donald Trump!

Personality: Aggression Score: Varies per round +30 diplomacy points to players following the government: autocracy, monarchy, fascism, corporate kleptocracy +30 points to players following the government: theocracy and the same religion -30 diplomacy to players with settlements within 6 tiles of him -30 to players following the government: Philosophy, Freedom, Digital Democracy +30 points to war mongers and players who have killed other players -20 points if the player total score is less than 40% his score +20 for gifts of gold per turn that are at least 10% of his current gold per turn +10 points for military parades -100 points for denouncements but +120 points if player attempts to declare friendship after denouncement ends

Theme: Make America Great Again! and Again. and Again… and Again… +10 Religion points per city -10 Happiness to cities with population > 5 -8 Science +4 Food to all cities with <5 population that are not within 6 tiles of another player’s borders +1 Gold per city but -3 Gold to cities that are within 6 tiles of another player’s borders

Apostles automatically gain the “fervent believer” trait +4 religion points -1 science points +1 climate damage +5 health for each opponent unit defeated within 1 tile Can convert into a militia or engineer unit for 10 turns

Unique Wonder: Southern White House +75 gold for each player spy or diplomat that occupies this wonder; player’s spy/diplomat gains two levels of insight and spies operate at +5 in the city that contains this wonder Must be built near a lake and ocean tile

Unique Building: Golf Course +1 Happiness but only for 1 of every 10 city population (min = 1) +1 Culture points +3 Religion points +1 climate damage Must be built on: marsh, rainforest, beach, archaeological site, natural wonder or national park

Unique Building: Frac Well (Replaces Windmill) +4 Production +5 Gold +10 climate damage +3 Energy -3 Appeal Can only be built by engineers Can be built on opponents territory, when constructed in this manner -4 happiness to the player where this building resides

Unique Victory Condition: Art of the Steal Can only be won if 3 players or more exist All players are under the following governments: corporate kleptocracy, fascism, anarchy

Unable to win the following victory conditions:

• Diplomacy
• Science
• Culture
• Religious

Well, considering I live in a mountain community that celebrates those activities, I will! Thanks!

Well I don’t live in NJ/NY so I’d map it out.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vr7jaMhtuywupgAP8?g_st=i

Funnyish story though, this no bikes thing has happened to me thrice on my bicycle adventures.

• In Norfolk, VA I went straight instead of making a right and promptly landed on 64, with no way to go backwards, I hopped a fence and landed in an industrial park with a decent coffee shop, remapped my route and then gave it another go.
• In trying to flee hurricane Irene on a particularly long road trip, I ended up having to cross the St John’s river bridge because the ferries by that time of night were closed and I had to get into Newport News to stay at my friend’s for the night. It was a shitty situation all around. I feel it was the closest to death I have ever been in my life and I have had a few doozies. I do not recommend ever ever doing this and will never do it again, ever.
• Recently from El Escorial to Madrid with limited cell service, I landed myself on M-503 for a stretch. While this kind of road with broad shoulders in the US permits bikes, they do not in Spain. I was able to pull off onto a finca road and then eventually a greenway, but not before crossing a beautiful large rust colored bridge (with a decent shoulder).

I’ve been long distance biking for 20 years now and have had some excellent adventures, so fortunately these kind of wrong turn experiences have been few and far between.

There is a really great documentary on PBS right now about a group of kids who crossed the entire US on bike for charity in the early 80s, I highly recommend it. https://www.pbs.org/video/once-in-a-lifetime-qtroq8/

That I’m actually for, let the people who use these roads pay for them. All the while, I’ll be laughing at them as I bike on through.

“He’s the world’s best crime boss.”

And from a podcast about NAFTA and Masterlock I heard the other day “trump is gangster.”

These are the people who want Trump in charge to disrupt the system and it’s fucking terrifying.

Everybody shamed Joe Manchin (and rightly so for holding up the green new deal), but that MF was one of the reasons the dems had 51.

There are so few progressive states that, if the dems are going to ever win the Senate and be able to confirm judges, they are going to have to hold space for progressive and moderate dems alike.

Now, there is some silver lining this year. There’s an independent in Nebraska who is neck and neck with the GOP incumbent there. This person is pro union but with some socially conservative values. If elected, he will likely vote sometimes with the dems and sometimes with the GOP, essentially being a spoiler for both, but probably to the great advantage of Nebraska.

I think this person should be celebrated and encouraged. We need more people who see country over party in politics.

Serious questions here. The world, by design, has arid zones around the tropics. If we heat up the planet, does that mean deserts pop up in other places? Like, will the Sahara and Cape Town turn green, but Spain and Italy turn to desert? And if that’s the case, will hurricanes more often frequent New England, but less frequent Florida? Also, isn’t one of the major reasons we have hurricanes in the first place due to Sahara seeding them? If less desert then…?

Life will uh find a way.

Why use a nudge when you can have an agenda and a sledgehammer.

• Metal band
• Trouble with the law
• Pro Wrestler
• pornstar
• lung cancer

Dude burned bright.

There are a whole trump load of Magats that infested that area of Florida in recent years. If we’re relying on Pat as our local weatherman, you would have thought the hurricane would approach further south.

Same thing up in those Western NC mountains. Asheville may be a cesspool of sin, but everything around it is a sea of red.

All schadenfreude aside, this whole hurricane season really really sucks. I hold a lot of sympathy and empathy for those just trying to live their lives. We as a collective community are not doing enough fast enough and we need better leadership in place that will bite the bullet here and make the hard political decisions that need to be made.

Diamond Dust’s real life is much more interesting.