Tootfinder

Day 26: Emily Short
If you know who Short is, you know exactly why she's on this list. If you don't, you're probably in the majority. She's an absolutely legendary author within the interactive fiction (IF) community, which gets somewhat pigeonholed by stuff like Zork when there's actually a huge range of stuff in the medium some of which isn't even puzzle-focused, and Short has been writing & coding on the bleeding edge of things for decades.
I was lucky enough to be introduced to Short's work in graduate school, where we played "Galatea" as part of an interactive fiction class. Short uses a lot of clever parser tricks to make your conversation with a statue feel very fluid and conversational, giving to contemporary audiences a great example of how vibrant interaction with a well-designed agent can be in contrast to an LLM, if you're willing to put in some work on bespoke parsing & responses (although the user does need to know basic IF conventions). While I didn't explore the full range of Galatea's many possible outcomes, it left a strong impression on me as a vision for what IF could be besides dorky puzzles, and I think that "visionary" is a great term to describe Short.
If you'd like you get a feel for her (very early) work, you can play Galatea here: #30AuthorsNoMen

“My oldest daughter had a lot of trauma as a child,” Andreatta said.
“Something really terrible happened to her when she was very young that I would hope never would happen to any other child.
And as a result of it, she's a lesbian.
She's gay, and she's married to a woman.
And sometimes that's a little bit of [an] internal struggle for me
because I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.”
After the speech, Andreatta opened the …

California Turning Point USA club in jeopardy after city councilwoman's controversial comments
Comments by Lincoln City Councilmember Holly Andreatta at a Club America meeting at Twelve Bridges High School have drawn attention to the emergence of Turni...

Q&A with NYC mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani on social media, tech leaders, Trump, fame, Apple's and Google's "wrong decision" to remove ICEBlock, and more (Katie Drummond/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/the-big-interview-podcast-zohran-mamd…

Zohran Mamdani, the Internet’s Mayor
Mere months ago, New York’s mayoral front-runner was polling right next to “Someone Else.” He spoke to WIRED about building a social media machine, Big Tech capitulation, and learning from Eric Adams.

Iran weiter ohne Internet: Staatsfernsehen gehackt und Regimekritik verbreitet
Der Iran ist anderthalb Wochen ohne Internet, ein Ende ist nicht in Aussicht. Am Sonntag wurde wohl das Staatsfernsehen gehackt und Regimekritik verbreitet.

»TikTok signs deal for sale of U.S. unit after yearslong saga:
TikTok has signed a deal to divest its U.S. entity to a joint venture controlled by American investors, per an internal memo seen by Axios«
When will the children & young people (all people) finally realize that dss Internet is decentralized and not about a few power-hungry corporations?
(A rhetorical question in my dream of freedom)
🤷

Scoop: TikTok signs deal for U.S. unit after yearslong saga
The deal would end a yearslong saga to force TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the company's U.S. operation.

U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced dumb-ass legislation today
that would allow private entities to play at Pirates🏴‍☠️in the Caribbean
The "Cartel Marque and Reprisal Reauthorization Act"
authorizes felon-president Trump to commission American pirates,
under "letters of marque"
to seize property and persons on land or sea.
Representative Tim Bimbo Burchett (R-TN) introduced the House version of the legislation.

Patriots of the Caribbean: Lee Bill Authorizes American Privateers to Seize Cartel Assets with President’s Approval
U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation today that would allow private entities to stop drug cartel smuggling and violence. The Cartel Marque and Reprisal Reauthorization Act authorizes President Trump, as provided under the Constitution, to commission American operators under letters of marque to seize cartel property and persons on land or sea. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) introduced the House version of the legislation.

U.S. policy in Latin America has long been shaped by business interests
— but rarely with today’s level of openness (thread) ⬇️
https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:s24o3i2gmddihekekk6tu6ac/post/3mcqadry7az2c

Trump promised Iranians the U.S. would rescue them.
They were betrayed.
Reeling from a crackdown on protesters in Iran that left thousands dead,
Iranians are now grappling with feelings of betrayal, confusion and uncertainty
after Donald Trump repeatedly promised to intervene on their behalf
and then declined to do so.

Some Iranians said in interviews that Trump’s words of support had added to their determination to resist the Iranian government
aft…

Trump promised Iranians the U.S. would rescue them. Some feel betrayed.
In the midst of the mass uprising in Iran, President Trump vowed the U.S. would intervene if the Iranian government killed protesters. Thousands are dead.

So far in Russia's hybrid war in Europe, most known acts of sabotage have resulted in minimal damage
— nothing compared to the tens of thousands of lives lost and cities decimated across Ukraine.
But officials say each act
— from vandalism of monuments to cyberattacks to warehouse fires
— sucks up valuable security resources.
The head of one large European intelligence service said investigations into Russian interference now swallow up as much of the agency’…

Russia wants to drain Europe's security resources with sabotage campaign, officials say | AP News
The Associated Press has tracked 145 cases of sabotage and disruption that Western officials blame on Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They say Moscow wants to drain Europe’s investigative resources.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Sunday it is investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apparently serves as a pastor.
A livestreamed video posted on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota -- one of the protest’s organizers -- shows a group of people interrupting services at the Cities Church in St. Paul by chanting
“ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.”

DOJ vows to press charges after activists disrupt church where Minnesota ICE official is a pastor
The U.S. Department of Justice says it is investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apparently serves as a pastor. A livestreamed video posted on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota shows a group of people interrupting services at the Cities Church in St. Paul by chanting “ICE out.” The protesters allege that one of the church’s pastors also leads the local ICE fiel…