Thomas Hawk posted a photo:
Ars Technica: I'm not suggesting that a man like Pope Leo—the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome, the Servant of the Servants of God—would stoop to anything quite so base as "trolling" the onetime PayPal co-founder and current Antichrist alarmist Peter Thiel. But I'm also not not suggesting it, if you see what I mean. Bonus: Peter Thiel discusses antichrists in Watchmen and One Piece.
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Nearly 200 people killed in Trump administration’s deadly campaign as strikes draw widespread condemnation
The US military launched another strike Tuesday on a vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one man and leaving two survivors.
Video posted on social media by US Southern Command shows a boat speeding through water before exploding into flames. Southern Command said it “immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors”.
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Hobbyist CNCDan is trying to build a real-world version of Windows' classic 3D Pinball for Windows -- Space Cadet, using 3D-printed flippers, bumpers, LEDs, slingshots, and a raised playfield modeled after the original virtual table. But in bringing the digital table into the real world, CNCDan has already run into several physical challenges the software never had to contend with... Ars Technica reports: After scaling and skewing the on-screen, perspective-shifted view of the Space Cadet playfield onto a 1-meter-tall table, he ended up with a rectangular playfield just 56 cm wide. That's on the smaller side for commercial pinball tables and maps to playfield bumpers that are just 53 mm wide -- way smaller than any prebuilt bumpers that are commercially available.
Once CNCDan dealt with issues with unreliable plastic microswitches for those tiny bumpers (Hall effect magnets seemed to help), he ran into a separate problem with the even smaller bumpers on the raised playfield. The wiring for those bumpers had to be arranged very carefully to avoid blocking a kickback return alley underneath, a positioning problem that the original designers of the virtual table didn't have to consider at all. CNCDan also ended up adding a physical mechanism to simulate the short delay 3D Space Cadet players may remember, when the ball dropped down a hole from the raised playfield back to the flippers below.
CNCDan says he's currently looking for artists to help him with a hand-drawn re-creation of the original Space Cadet playfield, which he doesn't want to use AI for. "I'm sure [AI] can do it, but I'd much rather give this job to a real human being," he said in the video.
Once CNCDan dealt with issues with unreliable plastic microswitches for those tiny bumpers (Hall effect magnets seemed to help), he ran into a separate problem with the even smaller bumpers on the raised playfield. The wiring for those bumpers had to be arranged very carefully to avoid blocking a kickback return alley underneath, a positioning problem that the original designers of the virtual table didn't have to consider at all. CNCDan also ended up adding a physical mechanism to simulate the short delay 3D Space Cadet players may remember, when the ball dropped down a hole from the raised playfield back to the flippers below.
CNCDan says he's currently looking for artists to help him with a hand-drawn re-creation of the original Space Cadet playfield, which he doesn't want to use AI for. "I'm sure [AI] can do it, but I'd much rather give this job to a real human being," he said in the video.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The California Governor primary is particularly vexing this year because, being an open primary, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, so it's possible for the mediocre batch of Democrats to split the vote and we end up having to pick between two Republican ghouls in the general. So this year's primary is more game-theoretic than I'd prefer.
You only have one week left (June 2).
Some highlights from the guide:
Governor: Tom Steyer:The primary for Governor is a clown car filled with seven mediocre Democrats and two scary Republicans. Because there's a real chance both slots for the November election could go to Republicans, we urge you to vote strategically. We skipped over some long-shot progressive candidates in favor of a progressive-enough candidate who has the best shot at beating the corporate Democrats now, and winning in November.
We're going with Tom Steyer: the straight, white billionaire boomer who's juuuuust progressive enough.
At one point we thought about just flipping a coin and choosing between Tom Steyer and Katie Porter. Porter's whiteboard sessions were on point, but we doubt her ability to win: she ran statewide for the U.S. Senate in 2024 and came in third, with only 15% of the vote. As of late April, she's polling at 9%. Porter was progressive but has moved to the right. While she's gone back and forth on supporting the minimum wage increase, we need someone who will stand firm with workers and everyday Californians. And weirdly enough that's billionaire Tom Steyer. [...]
US Congress, District 11: Connie Chan:
[...] it's unclear that Saikat's millions will buy him a victory in the primary, and it's even less clear that he would win in November without the support of the labor unions and community groups that are backing Chan (and may not throw down for a wealthy tech bro). If Saikat ends up being on the ballot in November we'll reassess. But for now, It's a no-brainer: Connie Chan is the only candidate who can beat Scott Wiener in November and bring San Francisco values to Congress. Let's send Connie Chan to DC!
Curious why Scott Wiener is terrible? Click through to read our previous voter guide writeups, but basically: he's madly pro-cop, pro-developer, pro-YIMBY (trickle-down housing) with a gloss of pro-LGBTQ pinkwashing. Oh, and Weiner lost the California SEIU endorsement because he opposes Prop D, the Overpaid CEO tax.
Prop B: Weird Do-Nothing Tweak to Term Limits: No! Why??
[...] So why do we have Prop B? Because the moderates are so scared of Aaron Peskin running again, they think this is the only way to stop him. 🙄
Prop D: Overpaid CEO Salary Tax: Hell Yes!
Between Props C and D, only one can pass. Each has a poison pill that negates the other, so the one that gets the most votes over 50% will go into effect.
Unions and community organizations put Prop D, the Overpaid CEO Salary Tax, on the ballot to fill the gaping hole Trump's Big Bullshit Bill ripped in the City budget. Downtown businesses put Prop C on the ballot as a smokescreen to confuse voters and defeat Prop D.
Prop D is not gonna hurt regular people. It's not gonna drive companies out of the city. It only applies to companies with (a) top executives who earn 100 times their median workers' salary, (b) over 1000 employees, and (c) over $1 billion in revenue. Prop D would generate an extra $300 million in revenue a year to pay for vital neighborhood services, like medical clinics and in-home health care for seniors, that are on the chopping block this year in yet another of Mayor Lurie's "austerity budgets." [...]
If Prop C gets more votes than Prop D, big businesses will have torpedoed a truly progressive "tax the rich" opportunity, losing the City $260 -- 270 million a year. Make sure you vote on both: Vote No on C and Hell Yes!!! on D.
Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim:
Jane Kim is proposing to create a public insurer for natural disasters, much like the system in New Zealand, and she promises to use the office to rein in the powerful industry and develop new, functional alternatives.
(Jane Kim was the only good supervisor we ever had in District 6 / SOMA -- she's the reason The Oasis still exists -- and so if she thinks Insurance Commissioner is a good use of her skills, I'm gonna take her word for it.)
See also Mission Local's extensive election coverage.
Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously. 
