Goo Truther @thufie@pixie.town

I'm struggling to make ends meet right now. I lost my job in July. My bills are terrifying me. I've been looking for work, but also am being told by my doctor+ that I maybe shouldn't be looking for work because my mental health and physical health are still so bad, and I have a brain injury.

I need to raise $800+ so if you could help with anything at all, I'd appreciate it so so much.

https://ko-fi.com/pineconeparty
PayPal is @ pineconeparty

Gabby for content
#mutualaid

the UNIX v4 tape reminded me of this story by Ali Akurgal about Turkish bureaucracy:

Do you know what the unit of software is? A meter! Do you know why? In 1992, we did our first software export at Netaş. We wrote the software, pressed a button, and via the satellite dish on the roof, at the incredible speed of 128 kb/s, we sent it to England. We sent the invoice by postal mail. $2M arrived at the bank. 3-4 months passed, and tax inspectors came. They said, “You sent an invoice for $2M?” “Yes,” we said. “This money has been paid?” they asked. “Yes,” we said. “But there is no goods export; this is fictitious export,” they said! So we took the tax inspectors to R&D and sat them in front of a computer. “Would you press this ‘Enter’ key?” we asked. One of them pressed it, then asked, “What happened?” “You just made a $300k export, and we’ll send its invoice too, and that will be paid as well,” we said. The man felt terrible because he had become an accomplice! Then we explained how software is written, what a satellite connection is, and how much this is worth. They said, “We understand, but there has to be a physical goods export; that’s what the regulations require.” So we said: “Let’s record this software onto tape (there were no CDs back then—nor cassettes; we used ½-inch tapes) and send that.” Happy to have found a solution, they said, “Okay, record it and send it.” The software filled two reels, which were handed to a customs broker, who took them to customs and started the export procedure. The customs officer processed things and at one point asked, “Where are the trucks?” The broker said, “There are no trucks—this is all there is,” and pointed to the tape reels on the desk. The customs officer said, “These two envelopes can’t be worth $2M; I can’t process this.” We went to court, an expert committee examined whether the two reels were worth $2M. Fortunately, they ruled that they were, and we were saved from the charge of fictitious export. The same broker took the same two reels to the same customs officer, with the court ruling, and restarted the procedure. However, during the process, the unit price, quantity, and total price of the exported goods had to be entered—as per the regulations. To avoid dragging things out further, they looked at the envelope, saw that it contained tape, estimated how many meters of tape there are on one reel, and concluded that we had exported 1k to 2k meters of software. So the unit of software became the meter.

Hi, this is Microsoft. We have UPGRADED your SEX ARSE with AI

Support Anti-ICE protestors

Until January 31st, donate $25 or more to support legal fees for the Prairieland defendants, and get this 11x17 poster— and maybe some little surprises too. https://www.givesendgo.com/supportDFWprotestors

Screenshot and send your donation receipt to @fireant.35 on signal* along with a name and mailing address.

I am not affiliated with @dfwsupportcommittee

so this flu season is turning up to be much worse than the last few. plus there's a new variant doing the rounds in Europe that wasn't recognised in time to be put into the annual vaccines (though you should still vaccinate to prevent other variants or any recombination, and it may still confer a benefit, maybe).
luckily we have a solution: masks!
you know what to do. mask up. yes even when it's uncomfortable. mask the fuck up.

New video! Explore your ET origins with George and Debbie!

[YTP] That's A Human: Debbie Disclosure

YouTube link:
https://youtu.be/lMI6BkIfWW0

PeerTube link:
https://bark.video/w/c6WzRsxhoFckdCUBRTtzSp

I put a lot of work into manually making the English captions, so if you have trouble with un-captioned YouTubePoops, don't worry!

The sustainable, sovereign, and open Torment Nexus.

"We've heard your concerns and we assure you, the Torment Nexus will be opt-in."

Reverse-isekai where a fantasy hero is transported to our world and fights "roving monsters" (automated delivery bots, mall cop drones, retail display roombas, etc)

Cloudflare error page generator https://virt.moe/cferr/editor/