JWST images

[Keith F. Lynch]

Five full-color images from the James Webb Space Telescope were
revealed yesterday. (The colors are translated from different
bands of infrared.)

Does anyone know of a website where these images fill one's screen?
My screen isn't large, and my eyesight isn't great. If I wanted to
squint at blurry images the size of postage stamps, I would have
become a philatelist.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

[Peter Trei]

On Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 9:22:27 PM UTC-4, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> Five full-color images from the James Webb Space Telescope were
> revealed yesterday. (The colors are translated from different
> bands of infrared.)
>
> Does anyone know of a website where these images fill one's screen?
> My screen isn't large, and my eyesight isn't great. If I wanted to
> squint at blurry images the size of postage stamps, I would have
> become a philatelist.

Keith won't see this unless someone quotes it (he killfiled me), but try
the source:

https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html

Pt

[Jay E. Morris]

Bumped

[Keith F. Lynch]

Jay E. Morris <mor...@epsilon3.comcon> wrote:
> Peter Trei wrote:

>> Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>>> Does anyone know of a website where these images fill one's
>>> screen? My screen isn't large, and my eyesight isn't great.
>>> If I wanted to squint at blurry images the size of postage
>>> stamps, I would have become a philatelist.

>> Keith won't see this unless someone quotes it (he killfiled me),
>> but try the source:

>> https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html

> Bumped

Thanks.

I've always been open to email from Peter, and would be glad to remove
him from my Usenet killfile if he sends me an email apologizing for his
years of abusive behavior and promising not to do it again.

As an aside, fandom is increasingly intolerant of even the slightest
hint of abusive behavior, as witness what happened to Mercedes Lackey
at the latest Nebula awards, to Stephanie Burke at the latest Balticon,
and Gregory Benford at the 2018 Loscon. By contrast, I'm extremely
tolerant, but not infinitely so.

[Gary McGath]

On 7/23/22 3:24 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

> As an aside, fandom is increasingly intolerant of even the slightest
> hint of abusive behavior, as witness what happened to Mercedes Lackey
> at the latest Nebula awards, to Stephanie Burke at the latest Balticon,
> and Gregory Benford at the 2018 Loscon. By contrast, I'm extremely
> tolerant, but not infinitely so.

I had to look up the one about Benford. Disgusting, yet not surprising.

SFWA fanatically polices every little use of words, yet when it changed
its name to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, it didn't
add a second "F" to its abbreviated name. Surely so horribly
marginalizing fantasy writers by not giving them their own letter is
worthy of marching the SFWA board out of a convention and expelling them
forever.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

[Peter Trei]

On Saturday, July 23, 2022 at 3:24:38 PM UTC-4, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

> I've always been open to email from Peter, and would be glad to remove
> him from my Usenet killfile if he sends me an email apologizing for his
> years of abusive behavior and promising not to do it again.

Not going to happen. Keith deliberately misquoted me, changing the
meaning to make me look like an idiot. I called him on it, telling him not to lie.
That was a berserk button for Keith, and after a series of warnings insisting
that I unconditionally surrender to his righteousness or he'd killfile me, he did so.

I haven't suffered. This far on, I'd be happy to simply drop the issue, and let
bygones be bygones, but he wants me to publicly beg for his forgiveness.

This is one of those ancient frozen fannish feuds that means nothing to anyone
except the people involved. Resolving it matters very little.

Keith remains the biggest fish in the very small rasff pond. He's welcome to it.

pt

[Ninapenda Jibini]

Peter Trei <pete...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:6223bc44-57fc-47df...@googlegroups.com:

Being in his killfile is a badge of honor. It makes me take you
*more* seriously.

Literally every bad thing that as ever happened to Keith is the
result of his own bad decisions, including his not being take
seriously here.

--
Terry Austin

Proof that Alan Baker is a liar and a fool, and even stupider than
Lynn:
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration


"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Alan Woodford]

On Mon, 25 Jul 2022 14:26:05 GMT, Ninapenda Jibini <taus...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>>
>Being in his killfile is a badge of honor. It makes me take you
>*more* seriously.
>

I hope that doesn't mean you take -me- too seriously! :-)

>Literally every bad thing that as ever happened to Keith is the
>result of his own bad decisions, including his not being take
>seriously here.

Yep.

He does post some interesting stuff, but there is so much "Woe is me,
government/businesses/other people are so mean to me", that I do sometimes
wonder if it is worth the effort of wading through...

Alan Woodford
The Greying Lensman

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Alan Woodford <al...@thewoodfords.uk> wrote in
news:t5ctdh5abtj5f5t1m...@4ax.com:

> On Mon, 25 Jul 2022 14:26:05 GMT, Ninapenda Jibini
> <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>Being in his killfile is a badge of honor. It makes me take you
>>*more* seriously.
>>
>
> I hope that doesn't mean you take -me- too seriously! :-)

It's a relative scale. There are many people here who I could take
more seriously and still dismiss as useless morons.

>
>>Literally every bad thing that as ever happened to Keith is the
>>result of his own bad decisions, including his not being take
>>seriously here.
>
> Yep.
>
> He does post some interesting stuff,

Not that I've seen.

> but there is so much "Woe
> is me, government/businesses/other people are so mean to me",
> that I do sometimes wonder if it is worth the effort of wading
> through...
>

Even on the subjects he supposedly knows all about, he's generally so
full of himself that nothing of any use ever leaks through.

--
Terry Austin

[Keith F. Lynch]

Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
> Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>> As an aside, fandom is increasingly intolerant of even the slightest
>> hint of abusive behavior, as witness what happened to Mercedes Lackey
>> at the latest Nebula awards, to Stephanie Burke at the latest Balticon,
>> and Gregory Benford at the 2018 Loscon. By contrast, I'm extremely
>> tolerant, but not infinitely so.

> I had to look up the one about Benford. Disgusting, yet not
> surprising.

Is there a complete list anywhere? I'm also aware of the 2011 WisCon
withdrawing their Elizabath Moon GoH invitation and last year's
Worldcon withdrawing their Toni Weisskopf GoH invitation.

> SFWA fanatically polices every little use of words, yet when it
> changed its name to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association,
> it didn't add a second "F" to its abbreviated name. Surely so
> horribly marginalizing fantasy writers by not giving them their own
> letter is worthy of marching the SFWA board out of a convention and
> expelling them forever.

Or is the "Fiction" F that's been removed? There's no way to tell
which group has been marginalized.

Similarly, Wikipedia says, of the 33rd US president, "His middle
initial, 'S', is not an abbreviation of one particular name, but
rather honors both his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and
Solomon Young, ...."

[Gary McGath]

On 7/25/22 9:15 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

> Similarly, Wikipedia says, of the 33rd US president, "His middle
> initial, 'S', is not an abbreviation of one particular name, but
> rather honors both his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and
> Solomon Young, ...."

Hence he should properly be called Harry S Truman, not Harry S. Truman.

[Keith F. Lynch]

Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
> Hence he should properly be called Harry S Truman, not Harry S. Truman.

The same Wikipedia article says:

There is disagreement over whether the period after the S should be
included or omitted, or if both forms are equally valid. Truman's
own archived correspondence shows that he regularly used the period
when writing his name.

I'd always heard that both were okay. But I'd say that his own usage
is definitive. If he used S. and you use S, then you're deadnaming
him, which would make you an evil person. On the other hand, he *is*
dead, so maybe deadnames are okay. :-)

[Gary McGath]

On 7/25/22 9:15 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>> Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>>> As an aside, fandom is increasingly intolerant of even the slightest
>>> hint of abusive behavior, as witness what happened to Mercedes Lackey
>>> at the latest Nebula awards, to Stephanie Burke at the latest Balticon,
>>> and Gregory Benford at the 2018 Loscon. By contrast, I'm extremely
>>> tolerant, but not infinitely so.
>
>> I had to look up the one about Benford. Disgusting, yet not
>> surprising.
>
> Is there a complete list anywhere? I'm also aware of the 2011 WisCon
> withdrawing their Elizabath Moon GoH invitation and last year's
> Worldcon withdrawing their Toni Weisskopf GoH invitation.
>

Dave Weingart was kicked off his position as head of filk for the
Finnish Worldcon for posting a comment to the same forum as someone he
had been told not to communicate with (not a response to that person).

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <tc3l9o$3thkv$1...@dont-email.me>,

(Hal Heydt)
Not in the same league (as either venue or prominence of names),
but DunDraCon (I run ConReg) has two people marked as not to be
sold memberships due to bad behavior.

If it hasn't been done already, cons might consider copying what
I've done in the software. Those banned from the con are listed
in a database table that is checked when a new membership is
entered. If there is a hit, the entry terminal is locked until
someone higher up the food chain can check to be sure it isn't a
false positive. Said higher up can then either say, "No. You've
been banned from the con." or "Apologies for the false positive."
and unlock the terminal.

The code was originally written in order to collect on bounced
checks, if that wasn't taken care of before the con, but it works
for this other purpose quite nicely.

One of the two is *very* unlikely to show up. We understand he
is a "guest" of Los Angeles County.

[Keith F. Lynch]

Hal Heydt wrote:
> Not in the same league (as either venue or prominence of names), but
> DunDraCon (I run ConReg) has two people marked as not to be sold
> memberships due to bad behavior.

My understanding is that this thread is about people who were banned,
expelled, or revoked unjustly, or for an utterly trivial offense.

[Ninapenda Jibini]

"Keith F. Lynch" <k...@KeithLynch.net> wrote in
news:tc3sia$jjr$1...@reader2.panix.com:

> Hal Heydt wrote:
>> Not in the same league (as either venue or prominence of
>> names), but DunDraCon (I run ConReg) has two people marked as
>> not to be sold memberships due to bad behavior.
>
> My understanding is that this thread is about people who were
> banned, expelled, or revoked unjustly, or for an utterly trivial

or imaginary

> offense.

--
Terry Austin

Proof that Alan Baker is a liar and a fool, and even stupider than
Lynn:
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration

[Gary McGath]

On 7/30/22 1:34 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <tc3l9o$3thkv$1...@dont-email.me>,
> Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>> On 7/25/22 9:15 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>>> Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>>>> Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>>>>> As an aside, fandom is increasingly intolerant of even the slightest
>>>>> hint of abusive behavior, as witness what happened to Mercedes Lackey
>>>>> at the latest Nebula awards, to Stephanie Burke at the latest Balticon,
>>>>> and Gregory Benford at the 2018 Loscon. By contrast, I'm extremely
>>>>> tolerant, but not infinitely so.
>>>
>>>> I had to look up the one about Benford. Disgusting, yet not
>>>> surprising.
>>>
>>> Is there a complete list anywhere? I'm also aware of the 2011 WisCon
>>> withdrawing their Elizabath Moon GoH invitation and last year's
>>> Worldcon withdrawing their Toni Weisskopf GoH invitation.
>>>
>>
>> Dave Weingart was kicked off his position as head of filk for the
>> Finnish Worldcon for posting a comment to the same forum as someone he
>> had been told not to communicate with (not a response to that person).
>
> (Hal Heydt)
> Not in the same league (as either venue or prominence of names),
> but DunDraCon (I run ConReg) has two people marked as not to be
> sold memberships due to bad behavior.

What was the alleged bad behavior? Some people are banned for legitimate
reasons. Arisia once had a problem with a regularly returning member
with a habit of soliciting small children. They had to go to court to
uphold their ban, but it was entirely reasonable.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <tc4i4a$lsj$1...@dont-email.me>,

(Hal Heydt)
They were both banned for engaging sexual harrassment. In one,
case of underage women.

[Keith F. Lynch]

Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
> Arisia once had a problem with a regularly returning member with
> a habit of soliciting small children. They had to go to court to
> uphold their ban, but it was entirely reasonable.

Why did they have to go to court? Don't they have the right to ban
anyone they want for any reason, or even for no reason at all?

As far as I know Walter Breen didn't attempt to sue Pacificon.

[Gary McGath]

On 7/30/22 11:08 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>> Arisia once had a problem with a regularly returning member with
>> a habit of soliciting small children. They had to go to court to
>> uphold their ban, but it was entirely reasonable.
>
> Why did they have to go to court? Don't they have the right to ban
> anyone they want for any reason, or even for no reason at all?
>
> As far as I know Walter Breen didn't attempt to sue Pacificon.

The person in question sued Arisia. That requires at least filing a
motion to dismiss, which should have been the end of it, but I'm told it
went on long enough to cost Arisia significant bucks. I don't know why.

[Torbjorn Lindgren]

Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>On 7/30/22 11:08 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>> Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>>> Arisia once had a problem with a regularly returning member with
>>> a habit of soliciting small children. They had to go to court to
>>> uphold their ban, but it was entirely reasonable.
>>
>> Why did they have to go to court? Don't they have the right to ban
>> anyone they want for any reason, or even for no reason at all?

In the US system you can pretty much always sue for anything and
everything unless you've been declared a "vexatious litigant", and
this takes LONG and SUSTAINED effort (as in often 100s of lawsuits
over decades).

>> As far as I know Walter Breen didn't attempt to sue Pacificon.
>
>The person in question sued Arisia. That requires at least filing a
>motion to dismiss, which should have been the end of it, but I'm told it
>went on long enough to cost Arisia significant bucks. I don't know why.

Yes, obviously silly lawsuits will get thrown out eventually, but the
keyword is eventually, it can often cost a LOT of money the reach that
point.

US Judges are often very reluctant to dismiss until at least discovery
is done, and the US systems is set setup to to NOT allow recovery of
cost spent on defending a lawsuit, however frivolous, with a few
narrow exception - basícally copyright because, well, the Movie
industry has bribed the US congress to make sure they can't loose!

It's gotten so bad that in the last few years a number of states have
instituted so-called anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public
participation) laws which allows an early exit (IE before costly
discovery) *and* recover of cost in certain limited cases to try to
rein this in a bit but I suspect this was too early for that (assuming
Mass. has SLAPP rules and these would apply to this, which isn't a
given).

US patent lawsuits are often similar, it's not uncommon to see
*obviously* invalid patents that doesn't in any way, shape or form
apply to what the sued entity is actually doing (even if they had been
valid!) being leveraged to extract $50-100k settlements, simply
because "defending to dismissal" will cost a minimum of $1-3M and
you'll have about 5-10% chance of getting the court to allow cost
recovery when you win (*not* if!), and that's assuming the patent
troll has anything to recover from which is unlikely.

AFAIK US car manufacturer deliberately take this cost of going to
court rather than settle OCCASIONALLY to make sure anyone who sues
them knows it MAY end up costing them actual money without an easy
pay-out - this is to keep the number of obviously silly suits down to
a manageable level!

Most of the rest of the world defaults to an "loser pays both sides
reasonable cost" system (like US copyright cases!) which definitely
cuts down on the nuisance suits more more effectivelu than even
anti-SLAPP laws. However, it can also suppress "good" lawsuits as US
proponents argue so....

It's one of those cases where both sets of rules have bad
side-effects...

[Keith F. Lynch]

Torbjorn Lindgren <t...@none.invalid> wrote:
> US patent lawsuits are often similar, it's not uncommon to see
> *obviously* invalid patents that doesn't in any way, shape or form
> apply to what the sued entity is actually doing (even if they had
> been valid!) being leveraged to extract $50-100k settlements, simply
> because "defending to dismissal" will cost a minimum of $1-3M and
> you'll have about 5-10% chance of getting the court to allow cost
> recovery when you win (*not* if!), and that's assuming the patent
> troll has anything to recover from which is unlikely.

I've only been sued once. In that case without hiring a lawyer I got
the judge to dismiss the case, as it was obviously absurd. (An HOA
sued me for not paying them. I'm a tenant, not a homeowner, hence I
owed them nothing.)

But as everyone here presumably knows by now, almost a half century
ago I was arrested and falsely accused of several office burglaries.
I couldn't afford a lawyer, so of course I lost that criminal case,
and am still officially a convicted felon.

At that time, an accused person was guilty until proven innocent if
they could afford a lawyer, or automatically guilty if they couldn't
afford one. (With very rare exceptions, public defenders only arrange
plea bargains, they don't go to trial.) The only thing that has
changed since then is that the proportion of people who can afford
a defense has greatly dropped.

Well, once other thing has changed since then. DNA evidence has
proven that in at least thousands of very serious cases, an innocent
person was convicted. Obviously there's no reason to think that in
the tiny proportion of cases where DNA evidence was collected and
preserved the error rate was any higher than in other cases. So the
actual number of falsely convicted Americans is certainly in the
hundreds of thousands, or more likely in the millions. But nobody
seems to care.

One of the few government agencies I have respect for is the NTSB.
When a plane crashes, they figure out why, and order changes that make
that kind of crash much less likely. And given the current rate of
plane crashes in the US, this process works quite well.

After DNA proved that wrongful conviction rates are apallingly high,
I had hoped that people would be shocked, and that something like the
NTSB would be created to figure out what had gone so horribly wrong
with the justice system and fix it. But nobody seems to care. Nobody
with any power, anyway. Not even enough to automatically expunge old
convictions on the grounds that someone who has had a perfectly clean
record for longer than most people have been alive is either reformed
or was innocent in the first place.