Secretary of Animal Control
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That might be a genius move. When you accept a pardon arenât you automatically admitting guilt? And can someone guilty of insurrection be president?
Lol
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A very wise thing once said to me was said to me by Don Knuth. Yes, that Don Knuth. He was actually relaying a quote from another person I donât remember, but it was during a talk he was giving about his project in retirement where he decided to do the best he could to musical-literally translate the book of Revelation in the Bible into organ music. Heâs since finished it, and itâs called Fantasia Apocalyptica. If youâre into avant garde, not-traditionally-structured music, there should be performances of it on YouTube now if youâre curious how it might sound if a brilliant computer scientist decided to compose avant garde organ music. But what he relayed as part of the talk about his at-the-time-ongoing-efforts writing it was, âlet the constraint be the inspiration.â
Obviously, he had the freedom to compose any music he wanted. He could write the next club banger. He could write a computer algorithm to compose music on the fly. Maybe he could write the next Messiah-esque religious oratorio. But having the freedom to do anything is, in its way, a paralyzing trap to do nothing. Itâs easy to be frozen by the impossibility of choosing exactly one of infinite possibilities. Instead, by being constrained in oneâs choices, even self-willfully so, it is, in its own way, liberating and inspiring, as instead of choosing one thing to do from the infinite, youâve flipped the problem around to now try to puzzle out how to fit everything you know into a perhaps uncomfortable problem that has not been solved. It doesnât really matter if the constraint is the grandiose idea that we have to get a few people from the earth to the moon and back alive, or asking people to think of what an ancient statue now devoid of all limbs and head but consisting only of a partially posed torso is doing, or if itâs a bizarre writing prompt, itâs easier to come up with ideas when given a constraint than when given infinite freedom. And sometimes, as in the case of the Apollo missions, the gnudi on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, or Fantasia Apocolyptica, people will make really impressive things out of odd constraints.
To tie this idea back to your video, Iâve been hearing some hot takes about how commencement speeches should just be trashed, especially since some have been canceled in the wake of the current Palestine protests. I disagree. Sure, many if not most may suck, but at the very least, they function as an interesting constraint â the requirement of giving a talk to an audience that is full of both optimism and cynicism as they themselves transition from a world of very particular constraints to a new world of new freedoms but also radically different constraints that is expecting to hear something that is both novel to the tens of thousands of commencement speeches given year in and year out but also cliche in that it is appropriate for almost any such occasion â such that wordsmiths given that constraint do come up with really good things from time to time.
I hadnât heard this one before, and it was good, and it fit the constraint of applying to my throw-away post surprisingly well. Thanks for sharing.
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I hear sweepstakes winner Andy Biggs is there too. Itâs the Met Gala but for sycophantic assholes
https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1791096705145774479?t=vfayfM-5HfbjT4NT9dv6fw&s=19
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shockedpikachu.jpg
Goddammit Merrick Garland sucks.
Edit: Also - WARP SPEED
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This will get him a very stern talking to
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1791097552206471558?s=46&t=XGja5BtSraUljl_WWUrIUg
Garland did exactly what he was suppose to do. Itâs design. Not incompetence.
I thought they were supposed to be painting him as a liar
https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1791110300336349517?t=h3lLYlKDnamwxorSM5BqPQ&s=19
yeah the NY case is obviously the weakest and really plays into his âtheyâre just making up cases for election interference purposesâ
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From Politico
[Blanche is arguing 1:36 wasnât enough time to accomplish all the hush money business what with the other stuff going on.]
Cohen replied calmly that he âalways ran everything by the boss immediately, and in this case it could have been just saying, âEverythingâs been taken care of, itâs going to be resolved.ââ
At that, Blanche lost his cool. âThat. Was. A. Lie,â he said, his voice now rising to a shriek. âYou can admit it."
âNo, sir, I canât,â Cohen said, repeating that in addition to the conversation with Schiller about the calls, âI believe that I also spoke to Mr. Trump and told him everything regarding Stormy Daniels was being worked on and itâs going to be resolved.â
âWe are not asking for your belief,â Blanche said angrily. âThis jury doesnât want to hear what you think happened.â
Seems like an irregular performance by Blanche. But also no objections and the judge doesnât step in. I guess it doesnât work like on TV.
Trump lunch break rant coming soon.
I have my first trial in a decade coming up in 6 weeks. My goal will be to not regularly step into punches like Blanche. So few civil trials happen these days that even a clown like Blanche who just knows the trial and evidence rules (unlike Haba) is considered a legitimate trial lawyer.
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Thatâs one advantage public defenders and prosecutors have over most other attorneys. They actually go to trial regularly.
Yeah, Iâm freaking out a bit but have experienced co-counsel. Weâre up against a âtopâ IP firm, but most top IP firms are shit at trials and I know trademark law (at least in relation to this case) as well as they do.
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Why would an IP firm be shit at trials? Because theyâre so good at settling?