Mike O'Donnell

It's 'cause we rich old white men have the comfiest chairs.

EX CATHEDRA COMMODA POMPEOSE LOQUIMUR

EX CATHEDRA COMMODA POMPEOSE LOQUIMUR

Ooops. I pompously goofed my pompous Latin. My chair is very comfy.

Cap the Hat

It appears to me that we as society tend to celebrate, thank, and sentimentalize our military veterans to avoid supporting them materially. This tendency goes back centuries, and involves every country that I've been able to read about. It is totally wrong and unjust.

I'm pretty sure that PPLD already owned Ruth Holley Branch Library, but operated it in a leased building. Now they have purchased the building. From the posted text, I thought that PPLD had acquired a separately owned and operated library.

Please don't conflate punting (pushing with a pole) with rowing a gondola.

I carry a nondisposable shopping bag for those times.

Zipf's law - Wikipedia

The Zipf's law distribution of word frequencies might be a problem: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipf's_...

Will the online edition continue? The article seemed to imply that, but it wasn't explicit.

Keep the U.S. out of war with Iran! On June 13, 2025, the Israeli government launched multiple missile strikes targeting Iran, triggering what Iran is calling a “declaration of war.” In the subsequent days, the two countries have launch...

If you oppose war against Iran: sign.moveon.org/petitions/no...

Is your defense team ready to oppose the deportation order?

Coleridge was more prudent, and only twitted a despot from the distant past.

The Surgeon's Mate - Wikipedia

Once again, life follows art. In Patrick O'Brian's novel, The Surgeon's Mate, Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin are escaping from Napoleon's prison by breaking through the toilet hole. They are rescued in another way at the last minute, but still ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sur...

Judge threatens DOJ with contempt over silence in Abrego Garcia deportation case A Maryland judge is just the latest to call out the Trump administration for violating court orders.

This article appears to say (second last sentence) that a log was delivered at 3:25 PM, 25 minutes late.

www.courthousenews.com/judge-threat...

And this is the infallible word of Slats Grobnik speaking ex Billy Goat.

Nope. He's "Da Pope," and we don't need no style guides. We got da style ourselves.

I see that there is no long-term displacement, but I'm not quick enough to tell whether there is a very brief displacement.

The notion of "displacement" is also not clearly defined when brightness of pixels changes.

The "further reading" item attributes the illusion to "reverse phi." I found the description confusing, and I'm not sure whether it involves slight displacement or not. It seems to imply that some motion is detected already at the fovea.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_phe...

I'm pretty sure the images move very slightly, then reset. The illusion is not the motion, but missing the reset.

We detect motion quickly at a fairly low level of visual cognition, in a way that does not depend on tracking an object over longer times and distances.

nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience...

You neglected to say nothing of the dog.

Little Zaches called Cinnabar - Wikipedia

E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote a story about this effect in 1819.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_...

Some Thoughts on the Arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan - emptywheel Before Kash Patel's FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan based on charges that she corruptly obstructed the immigration arrest of a defendant before her, FBI never bothered to look for proof that she had t...

Some Thoughts on the Arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan

www.emptywheel.net/2025/04/27/s...

‪Mike O'Donnell‬
‪@modbol.bsky.social‬
· 43m
I found an article with some information about the actual authority of the ICE under an administrative (not judicial) warrant, vs. Judge Dugan's authority in her courtroom.

www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

A Milwaukee judge is accused of helping a man evade ICE. What do legal experts have to say? Former federal prosecutors say they are not certain Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan's actions constitute a crime.

I found an article with some information about the actual authority of the ICE under an administrative (not judicial) warrant, vs. Judge Dugan's authority in her courtroom.

www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

Judge Xinis had ordered DOJ to explain its apparent defiance of court orders regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia's detention in El Salvador by 6:00 PM EDT yesterday, Wednesday April 23.

Judge allows temporary pause in Abrego Garcia deportation case A judge put a weeklong pause on collecting information in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's deportation case after the Trump administration asked her to.

It appears that Judge Xinis has received some secret materials from DOJ, and has allowed another week for a full response.

It's hard to find clear reporting. It appears that Judge Xinis has not agreed that DOJ is in any sort of compliance.

www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice...

'Fail to honor people,
They fail to honor you;'
But of a good leader, who talks little,
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
They will all say, 'We did this ourselves.'

From The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu - An American Version By Witter Bynner, verse 17.

A leader is best
When people barely know that he exists,
Not so good when people obey and acclaim him,
Worst when they despise him,

I'm pretty sure that April 1 is a Tuesday, not a Saturday.

“The whale is a mammiferous animal without hind feet.” —Baron Cuvier.

From the section titled, "EXTRACTS. (Supplied by a Sub-Sub-Librarian)." It's the second section, coming right before Chapter 1. Loomings.

From memory, quote the early chapters in which the one called "Ishmael" is in bed with Queequeg.