Brevard Renaissance Fair 2018 - The Craic Show - Part 30 (The Ravens)
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Friday, September 28, 2018
Why a Presumption of Innocence of the Accused Matters
Why a Presumption of Innocence of the Accused Matters
The noir parade that is the march of at-least-as-yet unsubstantiated accusations that young Brett Kavanaugh serially committed indecent, and even heinous, sexual offenses against women has left me more despondent than I can ever recall being about American liberalism (by which I mean classical liberalism). I simply—and I mean this claim literally—cannot begin to begin to begin to begin to understand why so many of my fellow Americans are oblivious to the dangers of imposing the burden of proof or of persuasion upon the accused.
That Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing is not a criminal trial is, of course, true. But this fact does nothing whatsoever to change the logic of how civilized, decent, truth-respecting people assess claims of wrongdoing, no matter how paltry or grievous. And this logic has two essential component parts. First, any accuser must have something more than the accusation itself. Second, the accused is presumed innocent of the charge until and unless the accuser makes a reasonable argument that the accusation is true.
We follow this logic in our daily lives. If your six-year-old child accuses your seven-year-old child of punching him without provocation, do you—on the basis of that accusation alone—punish your seven-year-old child? (If you do, you are both a bizarre and a bad parent.) If you’re a teacher, and student Jones sends you an e-mail telling you that student Smith cheated on an exam, do you presume—on the basis of that accusation alone—that Smith i, in fact, a cheater, or that Smith is obliged to ‘prove’ to you that she is innocent before you declare her to be innocent? (If you do, you are a sorry teacher; you should be fired.) If a stranger sends you a letter telling you your spouse has had an affair with someone else, do you—on the basis of that accusation alone— assume that your spouse has been unfaithful and that he or she must prove to your satisfaction his or her innocence? (If you do, I’m glad that I’m not your spouse and I pity whoever is.)
The fact that children often hit their siblings without provocation, the fact that students often cheat on exams, the fact that spouses often are unfaithful—none of these facts (and facts they certainly are) remotely justifies you, in any of the above three scenarios, treating the accusation alone as being sufficient evidence of its truth or of imposing the burden of proof on the accused.
I’m tempted to conclude that if we human beings routinely treated accusations alone as sufficient proof of, if not their absolute validity, at least of their presumptive validity, civilization would be practically impossible. I think that this conclusion is likely correct. But, perhaps, it’s too strong. So I’ll conclude instead by saying that if we human beings routinely treated accusations alone as sufficient proof of, if not their absolute validity, at least of their presumptive validity, civilization as we know it would not exist. Whatever civilization we would then be members of would look and feel radically different from that which we now know.
The noir parade that is the march of at-least-as-yet unsubstantiated accusations that young Brett Kavanaugh serially committed indecent, and even heinous, sexual offenses against women has left me more despondent than I can ever recall being about American liberalism (by which I mean classical liberalism). I simply—and I mean this claim literally—cannot begin to begin to begin to begin to understand why so many of my fellow Americans are oblivious to the dangers of imposing the burden of proof or of persuasion upon the accused.
That Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing is not a criminal trial is, of course, true. But this fact does nothing whatsoever to change the logic of how civilized, decent, truth-respecting people assess claims of wrongdoing, no matter how paltry or grievous. And this logic has two essential component parts. First, any accuser must have something more than the accusation itself. Second, the accused is presumed innocent of the charge until and unless the accuser makes a reasonable argument that the accusation is true.
We follow this logic in our daily lives. If your six-year-old child accuses your seven-year-old child of punching him without provocation, do you—on the basis of that accusation alone—punish your seven-year-old child? (If you do, you are both a bizarre and a bad parent.) If you’re a teacher, and student Jones sends you an e-mail telling you that student Smith cheated on an exam, do you presume—on the basis of that accusation alone—that Smith i, in fact, a cheater, or that Smith is obliged to ‘prove’ to you that she is innocent before you declare her to be innocent? (If you do, you are a sorry teacher; you should be fired.) If a stranger sends you a letter telling you your spouse has had an affair with someone else, do you—on the basis of that accusation alone— assume that your spouse has been unfaithful and that he or she must prove to your satisfaction his or her innocence? (If you do, I’m glad that I’m not your spouse and I pity whoever is.)
The fact that children often hit their siblings without provocation, the fact that students often cheat on exams, the fact that spouses often are unfaithful—none of these facts (and facts they certainly are) remotely justifies you, in any of the above three scenarios, treating the accusation alone as being sufficient evidence of its truth or of imposing the burden of proof on the accused.
I’m tempted to conclude that if we human beings routinely treated accusations alone as sufficient proof of, if not their absolute validity, at least of their presumptive validity, civilization would be practically impossible. I think that this conclusion is likely correct. But, perhaps, it’s too strong. So I’ll conclude instead by saying that if we human beings routinely treated accusations alone as sufficient proof of, if not their absolute validity, at least of their presumptive validity, civilization as we know it would not exist. Whatever civilization we would then be members of would look and feel radically different from that which we now know.
Source: Why a Presumption of Innocence of the Accused Matters - Foundation for Economic Education
Photos - Florida - Early 1970s (20)
See the previous post in this series here. Feel free to skip the quoted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
Like most of the previous sets so far, these were all taken in Florida somewhere but I do not know exactly where (other than it was at someone's house in this case anyway). Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with color restoration and Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using. There are also versions processed with the simpler dust removal option along with color restoration.
https://supload.com/SyLIlPP8m
Hudson Soft (NES)
Hudson Soft (NES)
Before Hudson Soft went on to produce games for and market the TurboGrafx-16, they produced a number of games and even an accessory or two for the NES. This particular ad from the October 1989 issue of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment shows what they had available at that time.
In addition to four games (Adventure Island, Milon's Secret Castle, Bomberman and Adventures of Dino Riki), all of which are deserving of their own posts one of these days, there is also an interesting controller called the Joycard Sansui SSS. The SSS stands for Stereo Simulator System. The layout was essentially the same as your standard NES controller but it offered a couple of interesting and novel additions.
First, there were turbo selectors for each button that allowed you to select multiple turbo speeds independently for each button (they advertise up to 15 shots per second). The other features seems like more of a novelty but could be quite useful if you had no other way to connect headphones to your sound source. This controller has a built-in headphone jack along with a second wire that connects to the audio out on the NES. In addition, it has the option of kind-of simulating stereo sound by adjusting the sound source left or right depending on where your character is on-screen.
I never had one of these controllers but it looks interesting and reviews seem to be pretty good. Has anyone out there have one or tried one in the past?
MegaCon 2018: Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca) (4)
MegaCon 2018: Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca) (4)
More photos from the Joonas Suotamo panel at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando, Florida (part 4).
All photos were taken by me.
More photos from the Joonas Suotamo panel at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando, Florida (part 4).
Due to health issues, Peter Mayhew isn't really up to the rigors of playing Chewbacca anymore. Joonas Suotamo has been chosen as his successor. Joonas Suotamo played a smaller role in The Force Awakens but took over the role completely in The Last Jedi and Solo.
More photos from this set: https://supload.com/HJB1pdCZX
All photos were taken by me.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Florida - Early 1970s (19)
See the previous post in this series here. Feel free to skip the quoted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
Like most of the previous sets so far, these were all taken in Florida somewhere but I do not know exactly where. Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with color restoration and Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using.
https://supload.com/HJWCcIDIX
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Compute!’s Gazette (July 1989)
Compute!’s Gazette (July 1989)
Compute!'s Gazette was Compute!'s most successful spin-off and one of the longest lasting Commodore 8-bit specific magazines. I preferred RUN but Gazette was a close second. The July 1989 issue includes: Features
- Make It Sing!: Speakers, Stereo, and MIDI Solutions
- East Meets West: Hindu Music from Texas - 64 Style
- Online: Island of Fantasy
- Spectrum 128
- Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf
- Double Dare and Hollywood Squares
- Powerplay Hockey: USA vs. USSR
- Calculator 128
- Mine Sweeper
- Monster Bar-B-Q
- Math Magic
- CHR$ Graphics
- Financial Planner
- 1581 Directory Sorter
- SFX Machine
- The Programmer's Page: 64 Tips and 1571 ROMs
- BASIC for Beginners: Musical POKEs
- Machine Language Programming: Simple ML Music
- The Editor's Notes
- Letters to the Editor
- Commodore Clips: News, Notes, and New Products
- The GEOS Column: File Retriever
- Feedback
- Horizons: The Newsletter Awards
- D'Iversions: Where Have All the Robots Gone?
- User Group Update
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
MegaCon 2018: Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca) (3)
MegaCon 2018: Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca) (3)
More photos from the Joonas Suotamo panel at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando, Florida (part 3).
All photos were taken by me.
More photos from the Joonas Suotamo panel at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando, Florida (part 3).
Due to health issues, Peter Mayhew isn't really up to the rigors of playing Chewbacca anymore. Joonas Suotamo has been chosen as his successor. Joonas Suotamo played a smaller role in The Force Awakens but took over the role completely in The Last Jedi and Solo.
More photos from this set: https://supload.com/H1vRQTp-Q
All photos were taken by me.
Monday, September 24, 2018
Wickham Park Jamboree 2018 (Girls Race)(5)
The girls cross country race from the 2018 Wickham Park Jamboree in Melbourne, Florida (part 5). The race included both the varsity and JV teams.
More pictures from this set can be found here: https://supload.com/ryJSp7UUm.
President Trump Reportedly Wants to Double the Federal Gas Tax
President Trump Reportedly Wants to Double the Federal Gas Tax
The federal government imposes a gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. Lobby groups are pressing for an increase, and President Trump has suggested he may support one. But a federal gas tax increase makes no sense.
State governments own America’s highways, and they are free to raise their own gas taxes whenever they want. Indeed, 19 states have raised their gas taxes just since 2015, showing the states are entirely capable of raising funds for their own transportation needs. State gas taxes average 34 cents per gallon.
Federal fuel taxes and vehicle fees raise about $41 billion per year. About 20 percent of those funds (about $8 billion) are diverted to transit and other nonhighway uses.
The diversion is even larger with state fuel taxes, as shown in this Federal Highway Administration table. In 2016, state governments raised $44 billion from fuel taxes, and they diverted 24 percent—14 percent to transit and 10 percent to other activities. Texas, for example, diverts 25 percent of its fuel taxes to education spending.
In total, states raised $82 billion from fuel taxes and vehicle fees. They spent $59 billion (72 percent) on highways and $23 billion (28 percent) on other activities. If the highways in your state have congestion and potholes, it may because your government is taking money raised from highway users and diverting it to other activities.
The chart below shows the shares of state fuel taxes and vehicle fees diverted to nonhighway uses. South Carolina, for example, diverts 31 percent.
Last year, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster vetoed a gas tax increase. He objected to his state’s diversion: “Over one-fourth of your gas-tax dollars are not used for road repairs … They’re siphoned off for government agency overhead and programs that have nothing to do with roads.”
As a rough user charge, gas taxes are a good way to fund highways, and our highways do need more investment. But motorists should be skeptical of gas tax increases until policymakers stop diverting funds to inefficient transit systems with declining riderships.
Many transportation experts say the rise of electric vehicles will be the end of the road for gas taxes, and they are eager to impose new vehicle miles traveled (VMT) charges to fund highways. However, governments are diverting more than $30 billion in fuel tax revenues and vehicle charges a year to nonhighway uses. If that diversion were ended, these revenues could continue to be America’s highway funding source for years to come.
More on highways and the gas tax:
https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/transportation/federal-highway-policies
https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/infrastructure-investment
https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/chamber-commerce-misguided-gas-tax
https://www.cato.org/blog/federal-gas-tax-increase-misguided
https://www.cato.org/blog/federal-gas-tax-lahood-makes-no-sense
The federal government imposes a gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. Lobby groups are pressing for an increase, and President Trump has suggested he may support one. But a federal gas tax increase makes no sense.
State governments own America’s highways, and they are free to raise their own gas taxes whenever they want. Indeed, 19 states have raised their gas taxes just since 2015, showing the states are entirely capable of raising funds for their own transportation needs. State gas taxes average 34 cents per gallon.
State Gas Taxes As Revenue Generating Schemes
Also consider that gas taxes used to be a more pure user charge for highways, but these days gas tax money is diverted to inefficient nonhighway uses such as transit. Politicians say, “We need a gas tax increase to fix our crumbling highways,” and then they spend the money on other things. It is a bait-and-switch.Federal fuel taxes and vehicle fees raise about $41 billion per year. About 20 percent of those funds (about $8 billion) are diverted to transit and other nonhighway uses.
The diversion is even larger with state fuel taxes, as shown in this Federal Highway Administration table. In 2016, state governments raised $44 billion from fuel taxes, and they diverted 24 percent—14 percent to transit and 10 percent to other activities. Texas, for example, diverts 25 percent of its fuel taxes to education spending.
Vehicle Fees Are Also Diverted
The states also raised $38 billion from vehicle fees. They diverted 34 percent of those funds—13 percent to transit and 21 percent to other activities.In total, states raised $82 billion from fuel taxes and vehicle fees. They spent $59 billion (72 percent) on highways and $23 billion (28 percent) on other activities. If the highways in your state have congestion and potholes, it may because your government is taking money raised from highway users and diverting it to other activities.
The chart below shows the shares of state fuel taxes and vehicle fees diverted to nonhighway uses. South Carolina, for example, diverts 31 percent.
Last year, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster vetoed a gas tax increase. He objected to his state’s diversion: “Over one-fourth of your gas-tax dollars are not used for road repairs … They’re siphoned off for government agency overhead and programs that have nothing to do with roads.”
As a rough user charge, gas taxes are a good way to fund highways, and our highways do need more investment. But motorists should be skeptical of gas tax increases until policymakers stop diverting funds to inefficient transit systems with declining riderships.
Many transportation experts say the rise of electric vehicles will be the end of the road for gas taxes, and they are eager to impose new vehicle miles traveled (VMT) charges to fund highways. However, governments are diverting more than $30 billion in fuel tax revenues and vehicle charges a year to nonhighway uses. If that diversion were ended, these revenues could continue to be America’s highway funding source for years to come.
More on highways and the gas tax:
https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/transportation/federal-highway-policies
https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/infrastructure-investment
https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/chamber-commerce-misguided-gas-tax
https://www.cato.org/blog/federal-gas-tax-increase-misguided
https://www.cato.org/blog/federal-gas-tax-lahood-makes-no-sense
Source: President Trump Reportedly Wants to Double the Federal Gas Tax - Foundation for Economic Education
Florida - Early 1970s (18)
See the previous post in this series here. Feel free to skip the quoted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
Like most of the previous sets, these were all taken in Florida somewhere but I do not know exactly where. Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with color restoration and Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using.
https://supload.com/rySJoEPIm
MegaCon 2018: Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca) (2)
More photos from the Joonas Suotamo panel at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando, Florida (part 2).
Due to health issues, Peter Mayhew isn't really up to the rigors of playing Chewbacca anymore. Joonas Suotamo has been chosen as his successor. Joonas Suotamo played a smaller role in The Force Awakens but took over the role completely in The Last Jedi and Solo.
More photos from this set: https://supload.com/HJF_okjZQ
All photos were taken by me.
Brevard Renaissance Fair 2018 - The Limeybirds
The Limeybirds perform at the end of the day pub sing at the 2018 Brevard Renaissance Fair in Melbourne, Florida. (2018-01-27)
Friday, September 21, 2018
Florida - Early 1970s (17)
See the previous post in this series here. Feel free to skip the quoted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
This batch, like the last one, contains pictures from somewhere in Florida though I'm not sure exactly where. Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with color restoration and Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using.
https://supload.com/SJzf5EvLm
Blue Max / Das Boot
Blue Max / Das Boot
Three-Sixty Pacific was known for their simulations and war games on the PC in the DOS days. Though they were only around for about nine years, they produced a number of popular and highly rated games in these genres. This ad is for two of their probably lesser known games.
The first is Blue Max. Subtitled "The Aces of the Great War", this isn't the Blue Max you are probably thinking of if you owned a Commodore 64 or Atari 8-bit computer. That one was an isometric overhead shooter with a World War I theme. Though the theme is the same with this Blue Max, it is a simulator in which you get to fly various World War I era planes. Blue Max had a couple of very unique features. First, it allowed for two player split-screen play for cooperative or competitive play. This is pretty unusual for a simulator. Second, dogfights could optionally be played as turn-based strategy games. In this case a hexagonal map was shown but a frozen 3D view of the current action would also still be shown in a window.
The second is Das Boot (literally translated "The Boat"). Also a simulator, Das Boot has you controlling a World War II German U-Boat. It was somewhat based on the novel of the same name. This was quite a realistic simulation of a Type VII German U-Boat in 1941 with the player having full control of engines, torpedoes (multiple types) and all other aspects of the submarine. It was far more complex than something like Silent Service.
Blue Max was available for the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS based PCs. Das Boot was available for the Amiga and DOS. To play either one you'll have to have an old computer handy or be willing to delve into something like Dosbox or an Amiga emulator.
The above ad is from the January/February 1991 issue of PC Games magazine.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
California’s Bill Restricting Speech Is Authoritarian
California’s Bill Restricting Speech Is Authoritarian
California is one step away from going down the unconstitutional road of government-mandated censorship of Internet speech. The California Senate and State Assembly recently passed S.B. 1424, the “Internet: social media: advisory group” act. This fake news advisory act is now on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown for his signature.
According to Section 3085 of the legislation:
Most likely, Californians are not concerned about “fact-checking” content like “a mile is 5290 feet” or an appeal to form a flat Earth Facebook group; such content poses no threat to entrenched interests. Instead, “fact-checking” will be deployed against those who express doubt, for example, about climate change, vaccine safety, or “educating” children about gender dysphoria.
In a world where most scientific studies can’t be replicated, a consensus should not be confused with an immutable fact.
If you doubt that censorship is the aim of the bill, consider the even more draconian measures that an earlier version of the bill required. Social media sites would have needed to develop “a plan to mitigate the spread of false information through news stories, the utilization of fact-checkers to verify news stories, providing outreach to social media users, and placing a warning on a news story containing false information.”
The First Amendment makes no provisions for government judging the validity of speech either directly or through mandated “fact-checking.” In legitimate cases of defamation, legal remedies are available, but the bar for a successful lawsuit is high.
In Conjectures and Refutations, philosopher Karl Popper observed: “There are no ultimate sources of knowledge. Every source, every suggestion, is welcome; and every source, every suggestion, is open to critical examination.”
In contrast, California’s politicians seem to believe only some ideas are welcome—if those ideas have been “fact-checked” by the heavy hand of government-sponsored boards.
“They all,” Niemietz writes, “led to varying degrees of economic failure.” With that economic failure always came “varying degrees of repression and political authoritarianism," as well as severe limitations on “freedom of choice and personal autonomy in the economic sphere.”
Authoritarians, including so-called “democratic socialists,” must always suppress speech. Why? Human beings have boundless preferences and competing goals. These preferences and goals are sorted out by either socialist planners or impersonal market processes.
As central planning fails, a scapegoat must be found. If only the people were united and working towards the same goals, our plans would succeed, reason the planners. Thus, observes Niemietz, all socialist regimes seek to enforce compliance with their plans:
Ironically, in the process of criminalizing speech, Adams proved his earlier writings were correct: freedom of the press is always to be zealously guarded.
California is on the verge of going down the slippery slope of placing authoritarian restrictions on speech. Whether Governor Brown signs the bill or not, a mindset—inimical to a free society—is on full display for the rest of America to see and, hopefully, reject.
California is one step away from going down the unconstitutional road of government-mandated censorship of Internet speech. The California Senate and State Assembly recently passed S.B. 1424, the “Internet: social media: advisory group” act. This fake news advisory act is now on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown for his signature.
According to Section 3085 of the legislation:
The Attorney General shall, subject to the limitations of subdivision (d), establish an advisory group consisting of at least one member of the Department of Justice, Internet-based social media providers, civil liberties advocates, and First Amendment scholars, to do both of the following:It’s hard to imagine those voting for the bill were motivated by good intentions. In any case, good intentions are not enough. Is it hard to imagine the results of the law will be censorship of views that politicians disagree with and views critical of politicians?
(a) Study the problem of the spread of false information through Internet-based social media platforms.
(b) Draft a model strategic plan for Internet-based social media platforms to use to mitigate the spread of false information through their platforms.
Most likely, Californians are not concerned about “fact-checking” content like “a mile is 5290 feet” or an appeal to form a flat Earth Facebook group; such content poses no threat to entrenched interests. Instead, “fact-checking” will be deployed against those who express doubt, for example, about climate change, vaccine safety, or “educating” children about gender dysphoria.
In a world where most scientific studies can’t be replicated, a consensus should not be confused with an immutable fact.
If you doubt that censorship is the aim of the bill, consider the even more draconian measures that an earlier version of the bill required. Social media sites would have needed to develop “a plan to mitigate the spread of false information through news stories, the utilization of fact-checkers to verify news stories, providing outreach to social media users, and placing a warning on a news story containing false information.”
The First Amendment makes no provisions for government judging the validity of speech either directly or through mandated “fact-checking.” In legitimate cases of defamation, legal remedies are available, but the bar for a successful lawsuit is high.
Concern Over Fake News is Old News
Concern over “fake news” is not new. Elbridge Gerry, who became the fifth vice president of the United States, despaired at the Constitutional Convention about the impact of “false reports”:The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots. In Massachusetts it had been fully confirmed by experience, that they are daily misled into the most baneful measures and opinions, by the false reports circulated by designing men, and which no one on the spot can refute.There have always been “false reports,” but Thomas Jefferson believed in the wisdom of the public to discern the difference:
It is so difficult to draw a clear line of separation between the abuse and the wholesome use of the press, that as yet we have found it better to trust the public judgment, rather than the magistrate, with the discrimination between truth and falsehood. And hitherto the public judgment has performed that office with wonderful correctness.What Jefferson observed in his time is no less true today. It is impossible to “fact-check” the limitless amount of Internet speech. It is no more possible to “fact-check” than it is to centrally plan; in either case, the power of reason is not able to deal with the unforeseeable complexity one would encounter. Knowledge, by its nature, is vast and decentralized.
In Conjectures and Refutations, philosopher Karl Popper observed: “There are no ultimate sources of knowledge. Every source, every suggestion, is welcome; and every source, every suggestion, is open to critical examination.”
In contrast, California’s politicians seem to believe only some ideas are welcome—if those ideas have been “fact-checked” by the heavy hand of government-sponsored boards.
Why Authoritarians Always Suppress Speech
In his new discussion paper, “The Mirage of Democratic Socialism,” economist Kristian Niemietz of the Institute of Economic Affairs counts “more than two dozen attempts (not counting the very short-lived ones) to build a socialist society.”“They all,” Niemietz writes, “led to varying degrees of economic failure.” With that economic failure always came “varying degrees of repression and political authoritarianism," as well as severe limitations on “freedom of choice and personal autonomy in the economic sphere.”
Authoritarians, including so-called “democratic socialists,” must always suppress speech. Why? Human beings have boundless preferences and competing goals. These preferences and goals are sorted out by either socialist planners or impersonal market processes.
As central planning fails, a scapegoat must be found. If only the people were united and working towards the same goals, our plans would succeed, reason the planners. Thus, observes Niemietz, all socialist regimes seek to enforce compliance with their plans:
One of the most persistent features of socialism is the paranoia about imaginary saboteurs, wreckers, hoarders, speculators, traitors, spies and stooges of hostile foreign powers. These phantoms are always accused of ‘undermining’ the economy (although it never quite becomes clear how exactly they do that), which would otherwise work just fine. More generally, the oppressive character of socialist societies was generally linked to the economic requirements of a centrally planned economy. Socialist states did not oppress people for the sake of it. They did so in ways that enforced compliance with the aims of the social planners.In a future dystopian “democratic socialist” California, the search for “false information” could be weaponized against those arguing for free markets. After Google provides a censored search engine in China, they can no doubt use their new expertise in California to keep up with the latest laws.
Free Speech Keeps Government in Check
The Founders saw the press as an absolute necessity to keep government in check. In 1765, John Adams wrote that the people have “an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right” to “knowledge… of the characters and conduct of their rulers.” Adams explained why such knowledge is crucial:Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and trustees for the people; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed, and to constitute abler and better agents, attorneys, and trustees.What are the sources of crucial information about our “rulers”?
None of the means of information are more sacred, or have been cherished with more tenderness and care by the settlers of America, than the press. Care has been taken that the art of printing should be encouraged, and that it should be easy and cheap and safe for any person to communicate his thoughts to the public.What if the news was “speculative” and unproven? No matter. Adams praised newspaper publishers, and to them he wrote:
[W]hatever the tyrants of the earth may say of your paper, [you] have done important service to your country by your readiness and freedom in publishing the speculations of the curious. The stale, impudent insinuations of slander and sedition, with which the gormandizers of power have endeavored to discredit your paper, are so much the more to your honor; for the jaws of power are always opened to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.Yet, as president, Adams couldn’t resist the human temptation to silence his critics. In 1798, Adams sang a different tune about the press as he signed the Alien and Seditions Acts, criminalizing the speech of his opponents, including Ben Franklin’s grandson.
Ironically, in the process of criminalizing speech, Adams proved his earlier writings were correct: freedom of the press is always to be zealously guarded.
California is on the verge of going down the slippery slope of placing authoritarian restrictions on speech. Whether Governor Brown signs the bill or not, a mindset—inimical to a free society—is on full display for the rest of America to see and, hopefully, reject.
MegaCon 2018: Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca) (1)
MegaCon 2018: Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca) (1)
Photos from the Joonas Suotamo panel at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando, Florida (part 1).
All photos were taken by me.
Photos from the Joonas Suotamo panel at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando, Florida (part 1).
Due to health issues, Peter Mayhew isn't really up to the rigors of playing Chewbacca anymore. Joonas Suotamo has been chosen as his successor. Joonas Suotamo played a smaller role in The Force Awakens but took over the role completely in The Last Jedi and Solo.
More photos from this set: https://supload.com/By7RIQdZm
All photos were taken by me.
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Wickham Park Jamboree 2018 (Girls Race)(4)
The girls cross country race from the 2018 Wickham Park Jamboree in Melbourne, Florida (part 4).
More pictures from this set can be found here: https://supload.com/SkAM3Q8U7.
Florida - Early 1970s (16)
See the previous post in this series here. Feel free to skip the quoted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
This batch contains pictures from somewhere in Florida though I'm not sure exactly where. Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with color restoration and Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using.
https://supload.com/rJrjMyw8X
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