Lmst

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This is tough to talk about, but we'll need some help to keep Iffy Books going. Here's a letter we've been circulating that explains the situation: https://iffybooks.net/a-letter-from-steve-at-iffy-books-june-13-2025/

A letter from Steve at Iffy Books
June 13, 2025

In 2021 we were pushing anti-blockchain arguments.

In 2022 we were pushing solar-powered music and encrypted mesh chat.

We’ve been against LLMs since before ChatGPT came along, and we hope we’re around to dance on its grave.

Iffy Books is the kind of place that feels like it shouldn’t exist in the center of a big city like Philly. How have we kept it going for so long?

• With lots of help from a community of volunteers, donors, and book-buying folks.

• By skating on very thin ice money-wise.

We’ve grown the shop slowly, avoiding big expenses and mostly relying on donated furniture and equipment. We’ve tried to stick to our DIY, anticapitalist ideals even when it doesn’t make business sense. The hope has been that people will be into what we’re doing and support us in the long term.

Iffy Books has been open for four years, now, and helping make it happen has been very fun and satisfying. I’m proud that we’ve grown to serve as many people as we do, and folks really seem to appreciate that we’re here.

We’re still breaking even financially, however. We make enough from books and kits to pay for rent and expenses at the shop, but that’s it. Nobody’s getting paid.

The ice has been thin for a long time, and for me it’s finally broken through. I’ve been living on former retirement money for the past year and a half, and I’m pretty much completely out of resources. I don’t know if I’ll have enough to cover rent for July at the apartment I share with my 6-year-old. It’s painful to say it, but that’s where I’m at.

Also, our lease at Iffy Books ends in November. Which means we have until the end of August to decide whether or not to renew.

If you appreciate what we’re doing at Iffy Books and you want us to stick around, now is your moment to help. If you have the money to spare, you can make a recurring donation through Patreon (https://patreon.com/iffybooks). If you’re already a Patreon supporter, consider jumping to the next tier. You can also make a one-time donation through Venmo (@iffybooks).

If enough people are willing to chip in, it may be possible for the shop to continue in its current form. This is plan A. In this scenario, we’d use money from Patreon to pay me, Mattie, and other helpers an hourly wage so we can cover our personal bills. We’d need 200–300 Patreon supporters to make it work, which may or may not be possible.

The next option is for me to take a part-time job to pay my own bills, and do my best to keep the shop running. We’d end up with shorter hours and fewer events, which may make it tough to cover rent at the shop. But volunteers can keep running their events, and we’ll make the best of it.

The third option is to close the shop when our lease ends in November. On the plus side, we can all remember Iffy Books as a beautiful thing that never got corrupted. And I can get a day job with benefits (which I really don’t want to do, but stability has its appeal). The party would be over though.

What do y’all want to do?

--
Steve McLaughlin
Iffy Books
404 S. 20th St., PHL
https://iffybooks.net

65dBnoise boosted:

please help the dream of @iffybooks stay alive! there's really nothing else like it (a DIY, anticapitalist, community-oriented, bookstore, learning space) https://iffybooks.net/a-letter-from-steve-at-iffy-books-june-13-2025/

Time travel fun:

'I may do it, I may not do it': #Trump

MAGA! Make America as great as France was back in the days of king Louis XIV in 1655:

'L'État, c'est moi' (I am the state)

Then, transpose the V and the I and jump forward in time, to king Louis XVI France and 1793, and marvel at the guillotine working overtime! #SciFi can do that for you!

Now jump forward to 2025, and suspend time:

«The ONLY question is: What are we going to do about it?», MN AG, Keith Ellison.

#USpol #timetravel

Our cherished #WesternCivilization

"[T]he #EU should introduce EPR legislation to hold #fashion companies accountable for the end-of-life impact of their products."

"The fashion labels acknowledged that the industry faces challenges in processing textile #waste."

Aand… that's it. Move along folks, there's nothing more to see here. Just good ol' #capitalism giving a shit about the future of the planet.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/18/discarded-clothes-from-uk-brands-dumped-in-protected-ghana-wetlands

Images of cause ( #fastFashion ) & effect ( #garbage )

Black like charcoal

Either laser blasted (can't see the marks), or gDRT puffed, the recent abrasion seems to have the full attention of the #Perseverance team.

2 processed & cropped SUPERCAM_RMI
looking SE (133°) from RMC 75.0000
Sol 1536, LMST: 11:35:52

Animation

Originals:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01536/ids/edr/browse/scam/LRF_1536_0803292380_387EBY_N0750000SCAM01536_0010I6J01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01536/ids/edr/browse/scam/LRF_1536_0803294773_221EBY_N0750000SCAM01536_0090I6J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/65dBnoise

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to protesters, for Trump:

«This is the behavior of a dictator. And the only question is:

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩.»

That's indeed the ONLY question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL61f-px5OA&t=348

#USpol #fascism

65dBnoise boosted:

This map shows sites considered for Mars 94, a Russian mission which didn't happen. We know very little about site selection for their earlier missions, but this was included in the Mars Landing Site Catalog and also discussed at a Mars Pathfinder landing site workshop in 1994. The mission history is complicated... it began as 'Columbus' or Mars 92, to fly in 1992 with orbiters, balloons, landers and rovers. When delayed to 1994 the Columbus name was dropped.
#maps #mars #mars94

A map of the Amazonis region of Mars showing suggested sites for Mars 94, a Russian mission with landers and penetrator probes deployed from an orbiter. Sites for the landers and penetrators were in the Mars Landing Site Catalog, and another suggested set were discussed at a workshop in 1994. Those are shown with white symbols on this map.

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#flowers #photography

Remember those three American professors (Shore, Snyder and Stanley) studying history and fascism, who left the #US for Canada?

A short video by them, absolutely worth watching:
https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000010157022/yale-canada-fascism.html

«[T]he problem is not what’s hidden, it’s what we’ve normalised – because the whole strategy is to throw it all in your face.»

“Without a distinction between truth and lies, there is no grounding for a distinction between good and evil”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/16/why-a-professor-of-fascism-left-the-us-the-lesson-of-1933-is-you-get-out

#USpol #fascism

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Here are two Mars aircraft missions proposed in the 1990s for the Discovery program of small, less expensive missions. At left is the 1998 MAGE (Mars Aircraft for Geophysical Exploration) mission route (I only include missions with a route in the proposal - there were others). It zigzags over the Valles Marineris in a c. 3 hour, 1750 km mission with cameras and geophysical instruments, flying on the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight... so it was called Kitty Hawk.
#maps #mars

Two maps of areas on Mars where aircraft might fly, from proposals to the Discovery program in the 1990s. At left is MAGE, a geophysics mission to fly over the Valles Marineris canyon system. At right is AME, which would fly over and land in Gusev crater, where Spirit landed a few years later.

@paco 🤣

@toplesstopics
Yeah, although the soldiers here are disciplined, in good formation, and are almost certainly following orders. Their silent message is loud and clear: you don't sync with the constitution, we don't sync with you.

Anybody who has served in the army can tell what this is. And probably everybody else.

A silent protest by soldiers.

That's how they celebrated the 250th anniversary of the #USArmy and honored their oath to defend the country and the Constitution: the out-of-sync part was their message to the clown-in-chief exactly about that. 👍 👍 !!

#USpol #Trump

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This felt too valuable not to share. Braille-labeled maps of washrooms to help people find and use facilities in the washroom. Everyone deserves to get in, do their business, wash their hands, and get out in peace and safety.

This seems valuable for all public spaces.

#Blind #Accessibility

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Massive demonstration for Gaza and against genocide today in Brussels.

75.000 participants according to the police, and 110.000 according to organisers.

Inspired by the Dutch sister demo, “Draw a Red Line for Gaza” was the largest demonstration in Belgium for years.

#Gaza #Activism #Palestine #Israel #EU #RodeLijn #Genocide #Belgium #Belgie #Belgique #Belgien #EU #UE #Europe

A massive demonstration of red-clad people extending far into the distance. In the front centre, a woman takes a selfie with the demo. Some trees and tall buildings to the side. A domed building, the Brussels Justice Palace, in the far distance centre

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2/2 Foggy Valles Marineris and Noctis Labyrinthus

With Annotations :)

Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC B

Hm… Maybe #Perseverance will get no sample from this coated rock, but by breaking it we can now see its interior, and that's rather bright.

Cross-eyed 3D

Processed NAVCAM RIGHT+LEFT
looking SE (134°) from RMC 75.0000
Sol 1535, LMST: 11:29:20

Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01535/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NRF_1535_0803205582_036ECM_N0750000NCAM00709_01_095J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

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Meanwhile on Mars:
Perseverance rover checking out its coring bit and the fractured bedrock that broke up during drilling (image center). Attached is a 9-tile processed NavCam [3854x2894px] of the workspace, and a MastCam-Z image of the drill and its coring bit. No sign of a core in the drill bit in these images from sol 1535 (June 14, 2025)
Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

#Perseverance #M2020 #MarsRover #NASA #Science #Space #Exploration #Solarocks #Mars #JezeroCrater