Defending free speech: FIRE and Substack partner to protect writers in America
Well good on them. Substack is planning to “support writers residing lawfully in this country targeted by the government for the content of their writing” by paying their legal bills.
More Chilling, Illegal Nonsense from the Trump Administration
This ought to be the biggest news of the day. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was legally in the country and an immigration judge granted him protected status, meaning he could not be deported. The Trump administration made “an administrative error” and sent him to the concentration camp in El Salvador. And now it says there’s no way to get him back, so, oops.
This could happen to anyone. You. Me. Your mom.
Words fail to express my disgust and fear for the future.
“After the Storm”
Olympus TG6 @ 12.7mm, f/3.9, 1/200s, ISO 100. Along the trail in Suzanne Arlie Park.
“No Parking”
Olympus TG6 @ 18mm, f/4.9, 1/125s, ISO 200. In Suzanne Arlie Park.
“Embrace”
Olympus TG6 @ 11.1mm, f/3.6, 1/250s, ISO 500. At the edge of Suzanne Arlie Park.
“Catenaries”
Olympus TG6 @ 18mm, f/6.3, 1/400s, ISO 100. At the edge of Suzanne Arlie Park.
“Oregon Sky”
Olympus TG6 @ 15.7mm, f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO 100. View from Mt. Baldy.
Trump Anti-Voting Order Draws Furious Pushback
In case you missed the voter suppression executive order (you’re forgiven; there’s a lot going on), here’s some analysis from Democracy Docket.
“Sun at Pinard Falls”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 14-42 kit lens @ 22mm, f/9, 1/125s, ISO 1250
Trump is ‘not joking’ about third term, though Constitution says he can’t serve
I see the administration found a way to knock Signalgate out of the news cycle - and the media fell for it. With so many more important things (like voter suppression) going on, this shouldn’t be the main event.
“It’s Jelly Time (no PB)”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 14-42 kit lens @ 42mm, f/5.6, 1/25s, ISO 2500
Finished reading: The Lineage of Lichfield 📚. This is a rather minor bit of Cabelliana. I’m linking to the archive.org copy; to get it in print I had to resort to a facsimile copy. In the main this is a genealogy of the descendants of Manuel the Redeemer to the 23rd generation, together with some reflections by Cabell on his own declining fame. It’s useful if you’re trying to follow the complex relationships between characters in the overall Biography of Manuel, and utterly pointless otherwise.
This climate podcast is my weekly dose of optimism. Instead of giving out the doom and gloom, Molly Wood focuses on solutions. Recommended.
“Capturing the Sun”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 14-42 kit lens @ 42mm, f/5.6, 1/25s, ISO 400
This is also Spirit Falls. Same camera, same lens, but stitched together from two 2 second exposures at 29mm, f/9.0, ISO 100. There’s some art (or at least craft) to this photography stuff. You could probably do it all with AI, but I won’t.
Spirit Falls
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 14-42 kit lens @ 14mm, f/3.5, 1/80s, ISO 5000
It is oddly comforting to know, after all these years, that Scripting News is still updating regularly and still publishing RSS. I wonder how many others of the first 1000 blogs are still around. Not many, I’ll bet.
Finished reading: Elric: The Moonbeam Roads 📚. Another of my retirement projects is to read through the definitive author’s editions of Michael Moorcock’s works. This is the seventh (and last) of the Elric books, clocking in at a massive 1,000 pages. Well, it does contain three entire novels (Daughter of Dreams, Destiny’s Brother, Son of the Wolf). These were not even in existence the last time I read the Elric books a few decades ago, and they’re much more polished than the original novels. They also provide perhaps the best exploration of the complex metaphysics of Law, Chaos, the Eternal Champion, and the Balance, among other things. Moorcock is perhaps an acquired taste, but I acquired it long ago, and I’m enjoying getting myself reacquainted with the complex interconnections of his dozens of novels.
“Steps to Nowhere”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 14-42 kit lens @ 17mm, f/4.5, 1/500s, ISO 400. Along FR 5821 near Lookout Point Reservoir.
Garmin’s online map shows a point for the “Willamette Divide Trail,” for which there is no information online (just sketchy mapping apps that are all tapping the same database). I’m intrigued. Might have to poke around there some day. (Spirit Falls track to the left, Deception Butte to the right).
