Thinking of picks for the #ListeningClub vortex on Sunday. And discovered that I've apparently not (yet) got an MP3 of my first choice of song ... need to rectify that.

New fave adhd object: a wristwatch. Just a little miraculous doohicky that tells me what the time is without telling me I have a ton of texts and emails to look at. 10/10 would recommend.

May Lent bring you as much patience as whoever is working Bedford council's social media

https://www.facebook.com/BedfordBoroughCouncil/posts/pfbid0aJ7obzLNb3ka4QJGExKWqSKr4iCgMthG5poqCU3Cw5UMkYpxbPEjmVvGkhKLBsPpl

We haven't seen the first great AI collapse. We haven't seen a foundation model company make the BlackBerry mistake or the Nokia mistake, or the Roman mistake, or the Ottoman mistake or reach their Bunker-in-Berlin mistake. But we will, and we'll see it multiple times, because these mistakes = features of power concentration.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-empire-always-falls/

NEWS! King Charles puts phone on silent https://newsthump.com/2026/02/19/king-charles-puts-phone-on-silent/

I've been wanting to write something lengthy about "AI" for a while, discussing the arguments for and against and arriving at a reasonable position, but I find myself completely unable to get past the most glaring point, which is that we are facing catastrophic ecosphere collapse because of capitalist overconsumption. Our species is literally committing suicide by capitalism right in front of my eyes and the architects of the climate crisis have latched onto data centres with the energy budgets of countries running sycophantic Markov chains as their latest engine of short term profit extraction and people are split right down the middle either happily burning the world down to keep continvoucly morging or whatever the newest slop models tell them to do next, or existing in a state of angry refusal to believe that anything is wrong as everything crumbles into ash around them other than that some people have the wrong skin colour or gender presentation.

*deep breath*

The few of us who don't starve to death as our food sources collapse may eventually die of asphyxiation when the wrong Amazon finishes burning down.

How do you get past that?

How does one even hope to connect with people who prioritise dismantling the structures of capitalism before it kills us all lower than asking Claude for coding tips?

I guess we know what the Great Filter is now.

If we were living in a simulation then whoever is running it would surely have reverted it back to an earlier save point by now.

Oh that'll teach me not to order a beer without looking it up first

Good grief, this is 18% ABV

(Picon biere)

Within days of Trumpenreich shadow chancellor Stephen Miller's ominous Fox News appearance, during which he openly declared the government's intention to criminalize political opposition to Trumpism, the regime began laying the (quasi) legal groundwork to turn Miller's threats into a reality. First Trump signed an unhinged executive order declaring "antifa" a domestic terrorist organization; despite having no power to do that, and antifa being a term for antifascist protestors, not an organization.

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-signs-order-designating-antifa-a-domestic-terrorist-organization/

Trump Signs Order Designating “Antifa” a “Domestic Terrorist Organization”

"Yesterday, Trump signed an executive order designating antifa — the decentralized movement against fascism — a domestic terrorist organization, although the U.S. does not have a federal domestic terrorism law.

“[Antifa] uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals,” the order states. “This campaign involves coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists.”

“Because of the aforementioned pattern of political violence designed to suppress lawful political activity and obstruct the rule of law, I hereby designate Antifa as a ‘domestic terrorist organization,’” the order continues.

The order directs the federal government to investigate and prosecute “those who fund [antifa] operations.”

As the article notes, the Trump regime went out of their way to hold up anti-ICE protestors, and folks who publicly identify masked Gestapo goons, or even "political figures and activists" (on the right, of course) as part of Trump's made up "antifa" organization - which may go a long way towards explain why, months later, ICE and CBP goons were prepared to treat half the city of Minneapolis like a terrorist threat. Of course Trump was widely mocked in the media because this executive order is legally meaningless, but as we'll discover later on in this thread it doesn't really matter if Trump is just making up new powers for himself out of thin air, so long as the rest of his fascist government is prepared to pretend and act as if his word is the law. Regardless, Trump had just defined working to oppose the Trumpenreich's ethnic cleansing operation as terrorism, in writing.

Of course, the Swine Emperor's outrageous executive order only hinted at how broadly the label of "antifa," and thus terrorist, would be applied against his political enemies. The domestic terrorism memo Trump signed soon afterwards, would however make it abundantly clear that he means the more than half of the country that didn't vote for him, and doesn't want him to be America's Hitler.

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-domestic-terrorism-memo-focuses-on-the-left-ignores-right-wing-violence/

Trump “Domestic Terrorism” Memo Focuses on the Left, Ignores Right-Wing Violence

"Part one of the memo attempts to explain, though very ambiguously, what it means to be “anti-fascist.” In defining what constitutes supposedly “antifa” beliefs, the memos lists “anti-American,” “anti-capitalist,” and “anti-Christian” views. However, it doesn’t specify whether it will target groups based on actual incidents of violence or simply for professing a certain ideology. It also describes “anti-fascists” as being “extreme” on issues of “migration, race and gender,” but doesn’t provide a definition of “extreme.”

It further states that people who are generally hostile “towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality” may be considered “antifa.” Earlier this week, the president issued an executive order designating “antifa” as part of a broader domestic terrorist network, despite having no legal basis to do so."

Please keep in mind that even this unhinged list of "antifa" beliefs has to be filtered through the lens of fascist right wing newspeak. Being anti-American, might just mean opposing US imperial violence. Do you think billionaires should pay a wealth tax to support the communities they pillage? That may sound like anti-capitalism to our fascist police state, who can say? Furthermore Trump pretty much said the quiet part out loud anyway when he noted that people who are "generally hostile" towards MAGA nazis, "may be" considered antifa too. "Be nice to us or we'll put you in Gitmo!"

Look, I just want to be clear - this is the fucking President of the United States, declaring in writing, that more or less 60% of the country either is a terrorist, or could be considered one if it suits the Trump regime's purposes. And as we'd learn in the months that followed, grandpa Dealz didn't just forget to take his meds that week - these were and are statements of intent for the Trumpenreich itself.

#Fascism #Trump #GOP #Antifa #PoliceState #Dictatorship #Dissent #Protest #CivilRights #SwineEmperor #PorkReich

Watching the women’s aerials and once again I am compelled to opine that all this looks impossible, holy shit, what the fuck, these people are superhuman. Give them all a medal.

(And yes, this is the book that garnered the famous pearl-clutching "fuck God" Amazon review.)

"Pete Arnold was able to get this shot of burrowing owls on the east side of Cheyenne this spring by leaving a GoPro video camera near their burrow."

https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/todo/burrowing-owls-put-on-show-for-local-photographer/article_5129f4e0-49de-11ef-b692-7327b2da8f6d.html

#Nature #Animals

The Trump regime is routinely telling US judges to go screw themselves -- ignoring and violating court orders, and flagrantly spitting on people's constitutional rights.

So far, not even one regime apparatchik has been held accountable in any serious way.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/world/africa/us-secret-deportation-cameroon.html?unlocked_article_code=1.MVA.rP52.v68z1-9CPLv1&smid=nytcore-ios-share

#Roblox, #Reddit and #Discord users must use biometric #ageverification tool backed by Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel

@JamesBaker says:

“People are worried, and angry, about having to hand over biometric scans of their face to overseas companies just to access online platforms. This includes children.

“Users deserve to know who is behind these systems, how their data is being used, and to have a real choice about who verifies their identity online.”

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/roblox-reddit-and-discord-users-compelled-to-use-biometric-id-system-backed-by-palantir-co-founder-peter-thiel/

Your first solo summoning. Pentacle. Check. Candles. Check. Incantations leave you a little hoarse but your intonation and recall is perfect. Silver bodkin. Fingertip. One drop of blood on the right spot.

The fatigue slams into you like a truck. You appreciate the wisdom of a coven-of-three now. Must. Finish. Ritual. You stagger as the world turns grey; drop to your knees. “Oh no!” you croak as you topple forward across one limb of the pentacle, then darkness takes you.

GOOD MORNING MADAM. A cheerful voice wakes you. You’re in a bed. Clothed, reveals a panicked glance under the covers. “Oh shit I broke the containment!” you recall in dismay.

You lift your gaze to the room. A demon. Unshackled. Two metres tall, red skinned and…wearing an apron.

I HOPE MADAM IS WELL RESTED. I HAVE PREPARED TEA. I ALSO BAKED COOKIES. NOT THE MOST TRADITIONAL OR HEALTHY OF BREAKFAST FOODS BUT THEN I *AM* A MANIFESTATION OF ANCIENT EVIL.

As you sip tea and nibble a cookie (rather good, with white chocolate chunks), you reflect “well, this could have gone worse”.

#Tootfic #MicroFiction

It's either very funny or very depressing to watch executives trip over themselves to prove who has the worst understanding of what software development actually entails.