It was a very political season, and I'm going to get it out of the way entirely.
#politics
I read
which describes a billionaire made so because of immigration in the United Kingdom.
Taxpayers are paying between £127 and £148 a day to house them, which is a total of £8 million per day.
Also I had no idea that £44,000/yr boarding schools existed. That must be some top-tier education.
"He said that."
"She said that."
I took a longer than anticipated hiatus from the web.
November 5th was US Election Day, and the most painful part was the reaction to the results.
#politics
Flashback before Election Day, I had caught news about Donald Trump saying he isn't going to touch abortion and that he supports IVF. This caused outrage among Christians (a huge chunk of the right-wing). (Christians don't like IVF because it involves "murder" by their definition. If 5 eggs get fertilized but 4 get discarded, it's quadruple-abortion to them.)
About the month right before Election Day, there appeared to be panic from feminists because Kamala Harris brought up abortion. It went as far as a red cloak cosplay campaign, but I assumed it was astroturf.
(Side note: the Democrats were in power during COVID-19 and favored draconian vaccine requirements when investors needed exit liquidity for Pfizer stock.)
Like any Election Day, when the results come in, the losing side expresses extreme disappointment or anger. There was no schadenfreude to be had. Rather, I thought it was painful to read the influx reddit posts from misinformed people.
"He wasn't going to touch abortion," is what I could explain in 5 threads before I lose patience.
After reading enough posts behind the glass wall (I don't post), I realized they were Kamala voters, and they think this way because they believe what Kamala Harris says and won't believe what their political antagonist says. So on that day, I reinforced why I don't join political discussions.
I found hay in a needle-stack (warning: it's 4chan).
https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/482594707/
Thread titled "MAYOR OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO ROBERT RUE IS MAKING MILLIONS OFF HAITIAN GIBS" by Anonymous details situation in Springfield, Ohio.
Anonymous, post id 482594707Mayor Rob Rue is evicting residents of Springfield, Ohio and then bringing Haitian illegal migrants to the tune of A THIRD of the cities population to rent out his properties to Haitians using Housing Vouchers which are paid for by the federal government.
He then raises the rent to 3, 4 or 5 thousand a month and the Government Gibs go straight to his bank account!
I don't see the topic discussed anywhere else, but it's an interesting possibility. The business record links appear valid. The relationship between the government and real estate investors through housing vouchers seems plausible.
#politics
An irreligious, new grim reaper has the soul of a Christian pursued by demons. Where does the soul go?
The Mortician and The Reaper is currently at Chapter 7.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/53712241/chapters/148447813
Read from the start at:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/53712241
My current project, crossing over A Date with Death and The Mortuary Assistant, has gotten to the above point. However, neither of the two games, especially the former, go into detail about the afterlife or Underworld. A Date with Death has an upcoming DLC; however, it's coming out later than I thought it would. So to get the #fanfic done, I'll have to come up with something on my own that may or may not clash with future details in A Date With Death.
From the details of A Date With Death, there are multiple gods, pre-determined deaths which grim reapers enforce, and exceptional souls in otherwise ordinary people. I don't think I'll clash with the first point and will be able to emphasize the third.
I added RSS feeds to the microblog. The list of feeds can be found here, but I am still testing the feature.
https://likho.neocities.org/microblog/feeds
Currently, I generate the title with the first words of the post. So far, I've found starting posts with tags to be especially pointless on feeds for tags.
#programming
#finance #politics
Throughout today, the price for Nvidia stock fell by 5-7%. Reddit appears to blame it on Donald Trump's comments on Taiwan. The same subreddit mentioned Nancy Pelosi buying 10,000 shares of Nvidia at the end of June.
https://redlib.perennialte.ch/r/NVDA_Stock/comments/1e5dnp6/it_looks_like_we_are_going_down/
https://redlib.perennialte.ch/r/NVDA_Stock/comments/1due35b/nancy_pelosi_bought_10000_shares/
I got the idea that establishment politicians don't like Trump because he causes stock market crashes. This means just from today the value of Pelosi's holdings declined by $80,000. On the other hand, other places say the drop is because of Biden restricting trade with China.
#politics
I read about Donald Trump almost getting killed during a rally on Saturday. The agency that was supposed to protect him didn't secure the roof from which the assassin shot because, according to the director, the roof was too sloped.
That building in particular has a sloped roof, at its highest point. And so, there's a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn't want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.https://archive.is/https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-rally-shooting-unacceptable-secret-service-director-abc-exclusive/story?id=111962314
I looked at photos, and the roof was nearly flat like a <15 degree angle. (The buildings were of American Glass Research.)
#programming
I was trying to update my microblog generator for semantic html elements by testing it with Firefox's Reader Mode. After spending more hours than I should editing `template.tpl`, `settings.toml` or `timeline.css`, I decided to test with my `content.txt` instead of the repo's `demo.txt`
I found out Firefox's Reader Mode's algo considers the quantity of content. It literally didn't work for this:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Sample Page for Reader Mode</title>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<h1>Welcome to Minimal Working Example</h1>
</header>
<main>
<article>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>This is a sample article for testing Firefox Reader Mode.</p>
</article>
</main>
<footer>
<p>© 2024 literal who</p>
</footer>
</body>
</html>
#surf #finance zines about gamestop?
I came across a link to "The SuperStonk Library of DD, Art Books, and Periodicals", and the deal with "meme stocks" is much higher effort than I expected (typeset PDFs with cover art) and definitely higher effort than 2 minute long articles from corpo-media.
https://fliphtml5.com/bookcase/kosyg
The $GME sub uses acronyms often ("DFV", "RC", "MOASS"); many of which, I had to guess what they meant. I've found "The Diamond Handbook" explains most of them.
Note, investment-related Reddit subs especially with a defined antagonist (Citron, "the hedgies") are intentionally vague about their exit plan. Thus many posts express "I'm never selling" or strong confidence about major changes in the future.
#surf #finance
Sometime around May, GameStop ($GME) shares rose from $10 to around $60, I assume because of another short squeeze. After the first short squeeze that bankrupted Melvin Capital, hedge funds apparently started naked short-selling GameStop again.
I've been reading the "$GME investors" sub at
https://redlib.perennialte.ch/r/GME/new
and finally came aross a 10 minute video explaining why they invest in GME for reasons beyond memes.
https://nitter.poast.org/Cancelcloco/status/1790524969623175629#m
(GameStop is the only retailer that consistently stocks Steam Wallet cards/codes. So it'd be great if they don't get shorted to death.)
#programming
I had an idea to write a script that verifies a user's `settings.toml` file. At some point, I even went ahead to make the script update outdated configuration files. However, an early buggy version nuked my own file while I was testing it.
By now, I think I have everything in order. I'm thinking about merging the branch `cfg-update` this month.
#programming
I added a new command line option to the microblog generator. `--new-posts=(int)` causes the script to only update pages relevant to the last n posts.
If `--new-posts=3` and the posts tag 'programming', 'invidious' then the list of updated files will look like
Still hunting for bugs.
#invidious #politics leonel moreno
I watched
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=wcQvVW4vv8M
which is about a TikToker named Leonel Moreno. TikTok banned him for advising how to commit crime (illegal entry). However, he is more notorious for publicising squatter's rights laws and adverse possession.
The video archived clips from TikTok, and at the end, the vlogger (Poetik Flakko) asks for opinions whether deportation suits Leonel. But I ended up thinking more about "the script".
You're supposed to figure out how to get some papers, how to get a working permit, work really hard, make enough to go to college, get a better job...Poetik Flakko @0:50, describing "the script" as termed by Drew Devault, https://drewdevault.com/2023/10/13/Going-off-script.html
The script is a game most people lose when they realize it is a game. Leonel Moreno doesn't accurately live off taxpayer money because the money that funds government programs doesn't necessarily come from taxes. Government money is borrowed into existence from a central bank. The US dollar has no "supply cap" and can be issued arbitrarily.
What Leonel Moreno is not doing is trading his finite time for money (work) nor is he supplying liquidity to the stock or crypto markets. He is correct in saying to his rage-baited audience that they are exploited and work like slaves.
If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.Warren Buffet
If he isn't stupid and doesn't get deported, he learns a lesson about keeping quiet and enjoying his not-so-universal basic income and mortgage-free house.
#programming
Small update for microblog.py: the date (and time) format is now configurable. The branch is `cfg-date` but I might merge to the master branch sooner than I did for the past updates.
Here are the format codes as recognized by the script. They're also the same as the ones in `date --help` from GNU coreutils.
https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes
#fanfic
I crossed over The Mortuary Assistant with A Date with Death.
A recently graduated mortician starts working at a small town mortuary and has the attention of a flirty grim reaper.
archiveofourown.org
The fic is mostly reader insertable regardless of gender; the main breaks are the religion-related jokes.
(rated T, with strong language)
If you never played The Mortuary Assistant or A Date with Death, both games are 2 hour indie games. You can read the fanfic without understanding the canon or watch a playthrough of either.
#__pages__
When I think about it, Hazbin Hotel is sometimes like a Disney cartoon (that isn't 3D animated), but the princess says "Fuck!"
Likho reviews Hazbin Hotel, an animated cartoon about the princess of Hell and her hotel to rehabilitate sinners.
likho.neocities.org
#invidious
I haven't updated my microblog with anything fun lately.
I just watched Hazbin Hotel, the pilot episode was produced for YouTube. It later was picked up by Amazon. (Don't know how the Patreon subscribers felt about that.)
#surf warning: crazy reddit post (reptilians)
I read
because I drafted a fanfic almost related to the topic.
I'm finding the belief system that people either fabricate or subscribe to, with regards to what happens around death, is more reflective of the society they had lived in than an actual spiritual phenomenon. E.G something so bureaucratic as a "life review" by an angel, judicial as judgement before a god, or financial as "karmic debt".
In the case of the reddit link, industrious like a prison labor camp that produces negative emotion for the entities that feed on it. I think this echoes the (legitimate) feelings of people who believe they are exploited for taxes that ultimately are not spent for their benefit by the government.
#surf
I found
https://archive.is/https://futurism.com/rental-prices-algorithm-yieldstar
which is about a pricing algorithm used in property management software.
Created by Texas-based property management software company RealPage, YieldStar is an analytics algorithm that uses rental rate data to help landlords set rental prices.
...
Though the company's been around since 1998 and is far from the only rent-setting software out there, a controversial 2017 merger between RealPage and one of its competitors led to its clients controlling 19.7 million of the United States' 45 million total rental units by 2020.
As a general observation, I notice a lot of the web likes to discuss politics and economics through the lens of 20th century or earlier philosophy (capitalism, Marxism, etc). But I think phenomenon of the 21st century is poking holes in them. Maybe old philosophy isn't well-suited for the present times.
#test #programming
Found out today that the built-in python html parser doesn't play well with strings that have been split.
from html.parser import HTMLParser
class MyParser(HTMLParser):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__()
def handle_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
print(tag, attrs)
parser = MyParser()
a = ["<a href=\"https://test.com\">","link", "</a>"]
b = " ".join(a).split()
print(b)
for string in a:
parser.feed(string)
# a [('href', 'https://test.com')]
for string in b:
parser.feed(string) # parse b
# ahref="https: [('test.com"', None)]