Now that the Supreme Court has given an edge to the current regime in their intent to kill birthright citizenship, is more important than ever to remember how it came to be.
politics“For us as a nation, birthright citizenship is so vital both as a way of erasing—or trying to erase—the vestiges of slavery and acknowledging we’re a nation of immigrants where every child is born under the same status.”
A Félix María Serafín Sánchez de Samaniego flable, “La serpiente y la lima”, losely translated from Spanish, while aiming to keep the original rythm.
randomA locksmith’s home, so they say, the Serpent slithered in one day. And foolishly, it bit with might, a steel File, sharp and bright.
“Fool!” the File then did proclaim, “The harm will be your game! How dare you try to make a dent in me, who turns hard metal into dust, you see?”
Whoever tries without good cause, to bring the stronger down, and pause, will only manage, in their plight, to kick against a goad with all their might.
SUBJECT: A very bad news for you
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I want to inform you about a very bad situation for you. However, you can benefit from it, if you will act wisely. Have you heard of Pegasus? This is a spyware program that installs on computers and smartphones and allows hackers to monitor the activity of device owners. It provides access to your webcam, messengers, emails, call records, etc. It works well on Android, iOS, and Windows. I guess, you already figured out where I’m getting at.
These people watching all my moves, specifically when I engage in activities related to “highly controversial porn videos”, recording all my actions with their “spyware program”, learning “about all aspects of [my] private life”, and concluding that I have a “sick perversion” are getting it all wrong. Instead of demanding BTC from me they should, instead, be paying me for all the entertainment I sure am bringing them.
humour tubesMicrosoft’s “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD) is sunsetting in the near future. Soon it will change colours to become the “Black Screen of Death” (BSOD). Get it? LOL.
“The simplified BSOD looks a lot more like the black screen you’d see during a Windows update. But it will list the stop code and faulty system driver that you wouldn’t always see during a crash dump.”
I dont think the change is enough. The message should be something more substantial, specific, and clear.
random tech
At the end of 2024, Moo Deng was a cutie, admired by millions around the world. I mean, how could we not, right? She was, and remains, a very famous pygmy hippopotamus! 🥰🦛
random tubesEven as we are us, for our entire existence, we change. For better, or for worse, we change. I found myself disagreeing with myself, or realising I no longer think the same way, while going over some of my old blog entries. Because of that I decided to add a disclaimer to some entries that reads:
Disclaimer:
This post is an old one. Overtime, my perspectives evolve, and it may not reflect my current thinking, political affiliation, or position on the topic(s) at hand.
It is not so much that I care what a stranger may think of me because of what I wrote (which I do!), but more for myself. I will not delete the post, but the least I can do is to note that its contents may no longer apply.
me thoughtsProject Indigo is a pretty neat camera. As a “toy”, it is something I have installed, and probably use to compare photos from time to time. Yet, installing apps that duplicate features available out of the box on iOS/macOS is something I do not like to do.
tech
Blizzard is bringing the druid class to Diablo Immortal (the “pay-to-win” mobile game), and just like that it got me to download the game again. I don’t think I will stick, nor spend a penny on it, but I think it will amuse me for a little.
gamesI swear, each time I see written Polish or Czech, specially when all in lower case, I think of a Caesar cipher.
humour
That feeling of deep shame many Americans are feeling, and the constant urge to apologise for the actions of our government. Never before, since becoming an American, I have felt like this. Truly, truly, truly sorry!
politicsRe: Blue #1748261181
To Americans: forget about any embarrassment or shame when looking up Philippine history and stuff before y’all got here. The Filipino mindset is all about letting go of social barriers in order to be nourished by someone else’s cooking.
For reasons I can’t fully explain, this thought makes me feel at ease, and welcomed. It also carries a witty truth. A good food is a good food, and a door opener!
reJujutsu Kaisen season 2 is over now. I found the last episode to be lack luster, and rather disappointing, but the series in general is pretty stupendous. Kid told me season 3 is in the works, so I can’t wait! Meanwhile… what to watch next?
manga series
Tesla launched its Robotaxi—which isn’t the Robotaxi, but a Tesla with a Robotaxi logo—service in Texas. There are just a few, all operating in a small section of the city, and with “a human safety operator in the passenger seat”. LOL. So, just a taxi.
“As expected, only a handful of vehicles are available right now, they only operate in a small part of the city and there’s a safety driver in the vehicle in case it encounters situations it cannot handle autonomously.”
A real Robotaxi should have no glass windshield, and a blocking divider between the passenger area and the “driver”. After all, it is best not to see what’s coming your way. Surprise! 😅
friends tech teslaI have automated the process that adds a notice and timestamp when I edit a note, when adding more content to it at a later time. It works great, as it uses the git lastmod timestamp. The unfortunate side effect was, all timestamps got reset because I actually modified all notes that had an UPDATE notice. 😩
The amount of plastic in a lot of everyday things that we eat is staggering. I am freaking out, even though the site one-time banner disclaimer made me click a “Got it, I promise not to freak out” button.
➝ Via Hacker News.
thoughts viaThere is misery in the world; there is suffering, there is hunger, there is abuse. We do unimaginable things to ourselves and to others. As individuals, we can’t help everyone, but picking a cause to support—just one!—will go a long way. Truly, every little bit counts.
We deliver life-saving aid and protection in emergencies, advocate for improved asylum laws and systems so displaced people can access their rights, and help find long-term solutions so they can return home once safe to do so or build a future in a new country. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality so they can access basic rights, such as education and health care.
I have noted about this before for causes I have contributed. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, is one I would recommend wholeheartedly.
help humans
I used to keep bookmarks for the boy, keeping resources I thought might be useful for him to be used on school assignments, etc. Reviewing them today I found this gem from 2016. So much has changed since! Prices, for sure, and some of the things we eat, maybe? Notice how much healthier the food from some poorer countries is, in comparison to, say, the US.
Check out also “Rise and Shine”, to see what kids around the world eat for breakfast (from 2014).
random tubesI am having an “existential” dilemma here. First, I have some titles been mentioned in notes (movies, or books, or similar) between double quotes, while some others do not have it. I don’t like that inconsistency. Second, I don’t know which style to pick, and adhere to from now on—which will be the same style I will use to change others retroactively as well. Should I always use double quotes? Should I italise them instead, no double quotes?
See the silly things I drown myself with?
me thoughtsI downloaded, installed, and gave a try yesternight to “Final Fantasy XIV” (the free trial) and, after a brief 5-10 minutes playtime, I don’t think it’s the game for me. I don’t like the way controls work with it on PS5. It comes across as a game developed for desktop computers, and later ported to console. It is confussing and rather clunky. So, still waiting for a special on “No Man’s Sky” to return. Meanwhile, there is “Diablo IV”.
games“President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the U.S. military has conducted targeted airstrikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran, calling the operation ‘very successful.’”
Oh dear! So it begins. A day or two ago he said he would decide in two weeks. Of course, this man knows no truth. One step closer.
Update: 03 Oct 2025 @ 21:31:16
I do remember 2024. The now Liar-in-Chief then said, lying as always, to the American people in Michigan:
politics“If Kamala wins, only death and destruction await because she is the candidate of endless wars. I am the candidate of peace,” Trump continued. “I am peace.”
Getting lost on the interweb is my newly found hobby, and the reason I have gotten so fond of blogrolls, and webrings. It is amazing what you can find while aimlessly following links that happen to catch your attention—or simply clicking/tapping, daring to see what’s on the other side. For each rubbish site out there that we should avoid, there are 10 others wholesomely worth it. I am specially fond of minimalist, text only websites, and those who use exquisite typography.
random tubes
Thomas Dambo’s trolls—and his other creations—come across as other-worldly. His entire works collection is simply too amazing not to note. Makes me wish there were more trolls in our world, don’t you agree? Kind of “have trolls, no war”.
random tubesToday, which is coming to an end in roughly three hours, is the Summer Solstice for the Northern hemisphere—where I happen, for better or for worse, to be situated. That means today was the longest day of the year for us. Oh, but still runs at 24 hours, take it or leave it, so, yeah, not really that much meaningful anyway. 🎶 “It comes and goes, it comes and goooooes!” 🎶
thoughtsThis bash code is what I use to count the amount of notes per year, ever since I started babbling in here. I first move to the content/posts/ directory, then run it. It works great under macOS.
for file in *.md; do \
head -n 5 "$file" | \
grep 'date:' | \
sed 's/date.*\([[:digit:]]\{4\}\).*/\1/' >> count; \
done && \
cat count | sort | uniq -c && \
rm count
Like millions of people—if not billions—I don’t want this conflict to go nuclear. I am sure you know what I am referring to. Hiroshima and Nagasaki never again. Are we that stupid as not to learn from past mistakes? Are we going to let scumbags drag humankind down a nuclear holocaust?
politics
Well, this is something you don’t see everyday day, from left to right: Mark Russinovich, Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds, and David Cutler. Bill and Linus meeting in person, and making it to the same photo. Yeah, a first?
tech tubesAfter more than two weeks without a drop, we are finally getting a very well deserved rain, and the plants, lawn, birds, me… we are all happier because of it. To those about to drive, or on the roads, my deepest, sincere, condolences.
One hundred percent, Claudine! In my head, and in my actions, I am more often than not the same kid I remember myself to be. “Youthfulness” is a construct of our minds. Yes, we age mechanically, but that shouldn’t change anything else. Specially because society expects us to behave in a “certain way”, due to age. Pfff!
claudine friends thoughtsA satire filled article on how the author will do “anything to end homelessness except build more homes”. I mean, will it ever end?! The repercussions would be disastrous! 😂
“Look, if you give people homes, the next thing you know, they’re going to start to get their lives together and then get jobs and start organizing. Then they’ll expand Medicare to everyone and build a fucking light rail line instead of a goddamn border wall, and no one will drive anymore, and cars will die out, and the air will get clean, and can you imagine the problems we’ll have then?”
➝ Via Hacker News.
humour via
Today is Juneteenth, and this is the first time I mention it on my notes, I think. It is meant to be the day to commemorate the end of slavery in the US. No wonder the Racist-Ignoramous-in-Chief made no mention of it.
Update: 03 Oct 2025 @ 21:36:24
Well, he actually wrote something, without directly mentioning Juneteenth, on his own social media—which exists solely and almost exclusively for him, pretty much.
“Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
It never ends.
politicsI write these notes not expecting interaction. I do it for fun, more often than not to amuse myself. Yet, even as I admit that what I jot here is for my own, it is similar to writing a message in a bottle. The hope (aim?) is that someone will eventually find it, and do with it as they please. 😅😂
me thoughts