Stephan Rinbaum

It’s here! New Orleans is notorious for being behind trends - cigar bars got here just as they were fading elsewhere, Starbucks got here only in the 21st century, but not this time! Presenting….LIVE facial recognition, with the claim that this is the first instance of its use in the USA. Of course this is the norm in Chinese cities and I doubt that it hasn’t already been in use in the USA, but maybe not with city government approval and support. Yay, New Orleans? :( https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/05/19/live-facial-recognition-police-new-orleans/

...and while you were all looking at REAL ID.. “You’re now required to have an account with login.gov or id.me. This mandatory change simplifies your sign-in experience and aligns with federal authentication standards while providing you safe and secure access to our online services. You can immediately start using your login.gov account to access online services. Your old username will no longer be available.” The "password to use the internet has been born". Along with REAL ID, the "singularity" is indeed here. One button denial of all services rather than messy having to shut down more than one login or e-mail is almost here! Get ready kids.

Two headlines that describe government in a nutshell: Permit now required for new residential roofs in New Orleans https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/new-orleans-homes-roofs-permit-insurance-crisis-repairs-city-administration/289-1d03fd3f-19e4-4b32-80ad-211690ce0514 Ramp connecting Earhart Boulevard to Broad Street closed due to collapse risk https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/ramp-connecting-earhart-boulevard-to-broad-street-closed-due-to-collapse-risk/289-a96859ff-af0f-4040-a3b2-f6158d4ee3da All I can say us that this reminded me of a phrase that sat at the back of my classroom in high school: "Zapatero, a tus zapatos!"

Wow. Bank robbery may become worthwhile again. Of course, they'll need enough simps to cust- *gets trampled by horde of NPCs screaming "take my money!"* nostr:note1lffyjt6muhpnvm89cxqxt4nsngf6cd7lrt9x8a0s7svfsku6l5aq8xwwm6

It’s REAL ID day! A day that will live in infamy.. I read that those without the proper papers will be allowed to fly after answering a few questions by telephone. If I were to be directed in that way, I would first want some of my own questions answered as well. After all, who knows who is on the other end of that call? Mohammed Atta had a fake state ID - but isn’t it even easier to pretend that you are some government type official on the end of a phone call? I would ask the alleged official to send me a copy of his or her REAL ID for confirmation of identity, along with a valid government worker ID that shows that the official is truly an employee of the USG. Then I wold ask probing questions to determine if the person is truly woirking in a government building. I would ask for the phone number to call the person back and first check that number to see if it matches with a government office. Then I would ask the person which time zone are they in and maybe what tyoe of weather they are seeing locally and match that against the geographical information provided to me by the area code and phone number. After satisfactorily responding to my requests, then I would hesitantly provide what information the alleged officer requested, butr in the most vague and limited way that I may. I guess I won’t be flying anywhere soon. Bring on the ocular scan.

55 years ago today, the US military shot and killed 4 unarmed college students at a protest against the Vietnam War. They even wrote a song about it. Strangely, I've never heard a student tell me that they learned about this in history class, or even in civics class, which I doubt even exists anymore. Of course, this could never happen again. Or.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings https://youtu.be/l1PrUU2S_iw?si=nGk6EWvF__U1-VYe

When I hear people babbling on about tariffs, it akes me think of the old Carlin bit: Al Sleet, your hoppy dippy weatherman. As he says, there's something way worse than tariffs brewing in the halls of your government, so I wouldn't sweat the tariffs too much. https://inv.nadeko.net/TvdLV-5McNY?t=8