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Name Marco von Ballmoos
Member since
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Home page https://earthli.com/users/marco
Description

The (only) developer at earthli.com.

Contents

3320 Articles
111 Comments

3 months Ago

Reason magazine’s terrible take on Israel/Palestine

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

The article Israel Raids Hospital by Liz Wolfe (Reason) is from February but the incident it describes has been repeated at least a dozen—if not dozens—of times since. It illustrates quite concisely how you should write about war crimes when you wholeheartedly support them. It hits all the standard notes:

  • Attacking a hospital is a normal thing.
  • It’s perfectly reasonable to tell everyone in a hospital to evacuate.
  • The hospital is a enemy headquarters (this time it’s true!).
  • The enemy uses human shields.
  • The... [More]

Microsoft serves the U.S.

Published on in Technology

There is an article in Microsoft’s documentation called How Microsoft names threat actors by diannegali & Dansimp (Microsoft). That sounds interesting. How does Microsoft determine and label threat actors?

 Microsoft shifted to a new naming taxonomy for threat actors aligned with the theme of weather. We intend to bring better clarity to customers and other security researchers with the nex taxonomy. We offer a more organized, articulate, and easy way to reference threat actors so that organizations can better prioritize and... [More]

We’ll have to wait for history to judge us

Published on in Philosophy

I really hope that, if we continue to apply pressure to get what we want, that it will bear fruit. Although it’s easier to retreat into the reassuring hopelessness of cynicism, I do wonder whether something might be categorically different this time. The rulers have lost control of the narrative, at least to some degree. They’re making a lot of unforced errors that they haven’t made before. Consider the stink of desperation in the coverage of the Olympics—we are a powerful sports... [More]

Venezuelans are in the same boat as Cubans

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

The article Why the US Is Reimposing Sanctions on Venezuela? by Roger D. Harris (Antiwar.com) came out in February, so about six months ago. I took some notes on it before the U.S. decided to completely ignore the Venezuelan election results a few weeks ago.

So, how was it going in Venezuela before the election?

“Even with limited sanctions relief, Venezuela anticipated a 27% increase in revenues for its state-run oil company. Experts predicted a “moderate economic expansion” after having experienced the greatest economic... [More]

Apple is a monopoly. Where’s the alternative?

Published on in Technology

The article The Cult of Mac by Cory Doctorow (Pluralistic) goes hard on anyone who uses Apple hardware.

“It’s Apple customers who lose access to apps that can’t be viably offered because the app tax makes them money-losing propositions. It’s Apple customers who lose out on the ability to get apps that Apple decides are unsuitable for inclusion in its App Store.

It’s never even occurred to me to have this on my radar because I don’t use the App Store for anything but finding a very specific app, usually one that I’m forced... [More]

The Enlightened Treatment of Ignaz Semmelweis

Published on in Science & Nature

There is an unalterable dynamic in which the establishment rejects all heresy if it is a challenge to its power. It continues to repeat itself. In Midnight Mass, one of the characters told a story about Ignaz Semmelweis (Wikipedia).

 […] was a Hungarian physician and scientist of German descent, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures […] Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of infection could be drastically reduced by requiring healthcare workers in obstetrical clinics to disinfect... [More]”

Capsule Movie Reviews Vol.2024.12

Published on in Movies

Read the explanation of method, madness, and spoilers.[1]

  1. Sherlock Holmes (2009)6/10
  2. Hijack (2023)6/10
  3. French Dispatch (2021)9/10
  4. Exploding Kittens (2024)5/10
  5. Tombstone (1993)8/10
  6. Kiss of the Dragon (2001)6/10
  7. Waterworld (1995)7/10
  8. Godzilla Minus One (2023)8/10
  9. I Canoni die Navarone (1961)8/10
  10. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)8/10
Sherlock Holmes (2009)6/10
Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is like a superhero. He’s not only brilliant,... [More]

Capsule Movie Reviews Vol.2024.11

Published on in Movies

Capsule Movie Reviews Vol.2024.08

Published on in Movies

A hopefully better take on a bad take on Election

Published on in Movies

The re-review 25 Years Later, Alexander Payne’s Election Remains as Relevant as Ever by Daniel Joyaux (Roger Ebert.com) writes the following about the movie Election.

“The elephant in the room when talking about “Election” is Hillary Clinton, in that comparing her (and others) to Tracy Flick over the years has become a sort of code for calling a woman a robotic, success-obsessed ambition machine who needs to stay in her lane. Like Jim McCallister, people saw Clinton’s Flick-like ambition as almost an existential threat,... [More]”

Links and Notes for August 2nd, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

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Links and Notes for July 26th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

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4 months Ago

A counterproductive protesting tactic

Published on in Philosophy

 There is a form of protest where people glue themselves to roads and block traffic. If you’re serious at all about building a movement or awareness—i.e., you’re trying to enact positive change—you must consider the effects of your tactics. What will they make people think about your cause? What is the likelihood that you’ll get them on board?

Are your tactics likely to work? Will they perhaps backfire in the near-term, but have positive long-term effect? When you protest, what is the... [More]

Links and Notes for July 19th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

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Links and Notes for July 12th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

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Links and Notes for July 5th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

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Links and Notes for June 28th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Ignoring files with .gitignore

Published on in Programming

Introduction

This article defines concepts like repository and working tree and then discusses how you can use .gitignore files to determine the files and folders that Git considers during operations.

Concepts

 From a command line, you can run git init in any folder to make any folder a Git repository. Doing so creates a .git folder with a database and configuration files for the local repository. Git considers any folder that contains a .git folder with these configuration and database files... [More]

5 months Ago

Links and Notes for June 21st, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

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Links and Notes for June 14th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Links and Notes for June 7th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Links and Notes for May 31st, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

6 months Ago

Capsule Movie Reviews Vol.2024.07

Published on in Movies

Capsule Movie Reviews Vol.2024.06

Published on in Movies

Read the explanation of method, madness, and spoilers.[1]

  1. Big Fish (2003)8/10
  2. Barbie (2023)5/10
  3. Simon Romang: Charrette! (2022) — 8/10
  4. Darkman (1990)6/10
  5. Bullet Train (1990)6/10
  6. Last of the Mohicans (1992)8/10
  7. Mission Impossible II (2000)8/10
  8. Father Figures (2017)5/10
  9. Athena (2022)5/10
  10. Archer: Series Finale (2024)9/10
Big Fish (2003)8/10
Tim Burton directs this offbeat story (I know, it almost goes without saying) of a couple of generations... [More]

Links and Notes for May 24th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Links and Notes for May 17th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Capsule Movie Reviews Vol.2024.05

Published on in Movies

Read the explanation of method, madness, and spoilers.[1]

  1. How it Ends (2018)5/10
  2. Castlevania S04 (2021)8/10
  3. Paddleton (2019)8/10
  4. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)7/10
  5. The Curse S01 (2023)5/10
  6. Death Note (2017)5/10
  7. Licorice Pizza (2021)5/10
  8. A Series of Unfortunate Events S01–S03 (2017–2019)7/10
  9. Long Shot (2019)9/10
  10. Dune (2021)8/10
How it Ends (2018)5/10
Will Younger (Theo James) and Samantha Sutherland (Kat Graham) are expecting. Her parents... [More]

Links and Notes for May 10th, 2024

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents