Concord is a small city which is the capital of New Hampshire. Bow is a small town just south of Concord. Governmental censorship efforts in both of them have made the news. The pushes to censor come from significantly different gangs, but they aren’t very different at the root.
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The latest in my series of accompanied silent films on YouTube is an early Universal picture: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It mixes two Jules Verne novels: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island. It’s a breakthrough movie on a technical level and an exciting tale, though the plot is a mess. Be warned there are spoilers below the cut.
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As I’m writing this, the US is set to ban applications that access TikTok’s Internet service on January 19. What no one is talking about is the security nightmare that will result.
The ban won’t forbid access to TikTok; it will just forbid the preferred way to access it. App stores in the US won’t be allowed to offer the client application. Lots of other sources will still offer it. Some will be legitimate. Others will put up Trojan Horse applications. Scammers will target users trying to keep access to their accounts. A lot of devices will be infiltrated with malware.
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I’ve put up a crossover fan fiction story, “The Cabinet of Dr. Oz.” (Not about Dr. Oz of the Cabinet!) The inspiration was a blog post suggesting The Wonderful Wizard of Oz should be done as a German expressionist film. Enjoy!
Insanity is the default state of humanity. Ever since I can remember, people have been declaring that their present is Heinlein’s “crazy years.” It’s getting worse, though. People are openly applauding the thug who gunned down Brian Thompson in the street. A lot of them are undoubtedly the same ones who applauded the massacre of innocent Israelis in 2023. The current president of the US abused his power to pardon his son, and the next one has declared his intent to pardon rioters who invaded the Capitol in support of his lies. The latter wants to tax imports and kick out immigrant workers who contribute to domestic production, and people cheer the policies that will inevitably make everything more expensive.
It’s easy to give in to despair. You can give up on the world and just try to enjoy the show as it collapses. But it’s too easy and accomplishes nothing. Besides, there are two reasons not to call it quits.
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