«… It all went well until 1980 or so, when Ronald Reagan appointed a new head of the EPA. The lady didn’t like her stationery we had designed and with a simple “I want my daisy back” undermined the overall graphic system. If the Queen doesn’t like it, we don’t like it became the attitude, and the program began to crumble. The old logo was fully reinstated and the graphic system was abandoned. A decade later, nobody at the EPA could find a copy of the Graphic Standards System, except a bunch of legalese that you will find on its website.

I’m a fan of the EPA and all its efforts and hope that we helped in some small way for this agency to communicate within itself, to other government agencies, and with the American people. I’m very grateful and appreciative that Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth of Standards Manual, and Julie Anixter of AIGA, brought this document to life again. Have fun revisiting.»
(from the introduction by Steff Geissbühler)

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Thanks, it’s mostly following the Louis Rossmann thing https://youtu.be/2_Dtmpe9qaQ - a symbol of protest, against the rapid enshitification the Internet is facing, accelerated to the extreme, during this year. It has reached a point where something really has to be done about it all. Obviously not just everyone changing their profile pictures, but also cataloguing all the consumer rights violations, invasion of privacy, censorship,… to shove it in the face of as many government officials, as possible.

@prologic@twtxt.net I’m not smart enough to answer that question. 😅 Certainly feels like unregulated capitalism. Governments being too slow and/or unwilling to intervene … It’s a mess.

This is such an interesting reading

Lessons from open source in the Mexican government
https://lwn.net/Articles/1013776/

@bender@twtxt.net @prologic@twtxt.net The outcome was to be expected but it’s still pretty catastrophic. Here’s an overview:

Image

East Germany is dominated by AfD. Bavaria is dominated by CSU (it’s always been that way, but this is still a conservative/right party). Black is CDU, the other conservative/right party.

The guy who’s probably going to be chancellor recently insulted the millions of people who did demonstrations for peace/anti-right. “Idiots”, “they’re nuts”, stuff like that. This was before the election. He already earned the nickname “Mini Trump”.

Both the right and the left got more votes this time, but the left only gained 3.87 percentage points while the right (CDU/CSU + AfD) gained 14.72:

Image

The Green party lost, SPD (“mid-left”) lost massively (worst result in their history). FDP also lost. These three were the previous government.

This isn’t looking good at all, especially when you think about what’s going to happen in the next 4 years. What will CDU (the winner) do? Will they be able to “turn the ship around”? Highly unlikely. They are responsible for the current situation (in large parts). They will continue to do business as usual. They will do anything but help poor/ordinary people. This means that AfD will only get stronger over the next 4 years.

Our only hope would be to ban AfD altogether. So far, nobody but non-profit organizations is willing to do that (for unknown reasons).

I don’t even know if banning the AfD would help (but it’s probably our best/only option). AfD politicians are nothing but spiteful, hateful, angry, similar to Trump/MAGA. If you’ve seen these people talk and still vote for them, then you must be absolutely filled with rage and hatred. Very concerning.

Correct me if I’m wrong, @lyse@lyse.isobeef.org, @arne@uplegger.eu, @johanbove@johanbove.info.

Short summary of Project2025 and Trump’s plans for the US:

• Abolish the Federal Reserve
  Why? To end what is seen as an unelected, centralized body that exerts too much influence over the economy and monetary policy, replacing it with a more transparent, market-driven approach.

• Implement a national consumption tax
  Why? To replace the current federal income tax system, simplify taxation, and increase government revenue through a broader base that includes all consumers.

• Lower corporate tax rates
  Why? To promote business growth, increase investment, and stimulate job creation by reducing the financial burden on companies.

• Deregulate environmental policies
  Why? To reduce government intervention in the economy, particularly in energy and natural resources sectors, and to foster a more business-friendly environment.

• Restrict abortion access
  Why? To align with conservative pro-life values and overturn or limit abortion rights, seeking to restrict the practice at a federal level.

• Dismantle LGBTQ+ protections
  Why? To roll back protections viewed as promoting LGBTQ+ rights in areas like employment and education, in line with traditional family values.

• Eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs
  Why? To end policies that are seen as divisive and to promote a merit-based system that prioritizes individual achievements over group identity.

• Enforce stricter immigration policies, including mass deportations and detentions
  Why? To prioritize border security, reduce illegal immigration, and enforce existing laws more aggressively, as part of a broader strategy to safeguard U.S. sovereignty.

• Eliminate the Department of Education
  Why? To reduce federal control over education and shift responsibilities back to local governments and private sectors, arguing that education decisions should be made closer to the community level.

• Restructure the Department of Justice
  Why? To ensure the department aligns more closely with the administration’s priorities, potentially reducing its scope or focus on areas like civil rights in favor of law-and-order policies.

• Appoint political loyalists to key federal positions
  Why? To ensure that government agencies are headed by individuals who are committed to advancing the administration’s policies, and to reduce the influence of career bureaucrats.

• Develop training programs for appointees to execute reforms effectively
  Why? To ensure that political appointees are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the proposed changes quickly and effectively.

• Provide a 180-day transition plan with immediate executive orders
  Why? To ensure that the incoming administration can swiftly implement its agenda and make major changes early in its term without delay.

Do y’all agree with any/all/some of these poliices? Hmmm 🤔

#Project2025 #US #Trump

Nice! totally legit government page: https://tour.diplomaticrooms.state.gov/?id=0&xml=https://sour.is/awesome.html

Australia To Ban Under-16s From Social Media After Passing Landmark Law
Australia will ban children under 16 from using social media after its senate approved what will become a world-first law. From a report: Children will be blocked from using platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, a move the Australian government argue is necessary to protect their mental health and wellbeing.
… ⌘ Read more

I don’t remember where I first read this, but: A government’s OODA loop is ~6 months long.

which doesn’t have to be this way! blue tribe & anti-agi risk people have mostly orthogonal concerns (i really don’t see the overlap of algorithmic fairness & agent foundations, tbqhwy), and probably ample opportunities for trade (which blue-triber actually cares about compute governance etc.?) but i think zero-sum anti-trade genre affiliation thinking from blue-tribes side will prevent most of that mutually beneficial governance from happening.

You’re right @ullarah@txt.quisquiliae.com I just watched Australia Post Outrage: Did She Need To Go? and I do believe I’ll start adding this to my “watchlist” – I don’t use Youtube specifically (because privacy eroding garbage); but the content this guy produces is awesome! 👌

Scotty from marketing really needs to be fired! Can we even fire Prime Ministers besides calling an election? 🤔 The more you dig into our #Australian #Government the more you realize just how fucking corrupt they all are and have been over so many years. How?! 🤦‍

@adi@f.adi.onl Oh boy… we don’t want to go down that route. There is plenty to know about the Taliban, not just from the news but from people who lived—and still lives—under their “governance”; all of which is, I am afraid, much more accurate than your highschool girlfriend story telling.

Girl Scouts & Good Corporate Governance - Gwern.net https://www.gwern.net/Girl-Scouts-and-good-governance

The government is using wrong data to make decisions about the internet - Recode https://www.recode.net/2019/2/8/18211794/government-data-internet

A benefit of the OPA this article doesn’t mention: being government-made IP, OPA reports are in the public domain – and having high-quality serious PD summaries of scientific material is great. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2019/01/11/feature/why-is-congress-so-dumb/

If you need stock background footage of nukes, you could do worse than https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvGO_dWo8VfcmG166wKRy5z-GlJ_OQND5 which I think are probably public domain since they’re government-recorded

The Government Campaign to Get Rid of Singapore’s Unofficial Language - Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/singlish-singapore-government-campaign

Whoever decided to nae a government agency after a thing that sets your head on fire if you forget your password too many times should also be too self-aware to think having one of these is a good idea.

Bad idea of the day: A parody of The Haunting of Hill House called The Haunting of White House, from the perspective of a scatterbrained narcissist who is influenced by the angry ghosts of the dead to join the government.

Basically, if the antagonist of your story is actually a person or something person-like, it’s not really cyberpunk, because it’s not about the things cyberpunk is about. If you have an evil government or an evil corporation, it’s not cyberpunk either.

Mass Surveillance Memes Show Our Collective Anxiety Over Government Spying - Motherboard https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/zmg3ky/surveillance-memes-nsa-fbi-facebook

The Radical Left-Wing Theory That the Government Has Unlimited… https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a34n54/modern-monetary-theory-explained

I Unknowingly Went to a Trump Protest Organized by Russian Agents - Motherboard https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywb9kx/nyc-trump-election-protest-hack-russian-agents-trolls-government