ToaKraka
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User ID: 108
ToaKraka
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21hr ago
The person submitted a request to proceed pseudonymously due to threats (1 2), the state did not oppose it, and the court granted it.
ToaKraka
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22hr ago
Maybe it's bad precedent, but it is precedent.
The municipality's evidence must fairly support the municipality's rationale for its ordinance. If plaintiffs fail to cast direct doubt on this rationale, either by demonstrating that the municipality's evidence does not support its rationale or by furnishing evidence that disputes the municipality's factual findings, the municipality meets the standard set forth in Renton. If plaintiffs succeed in casting doubt on a municipality's rationale in either manner, the burden shifts back to the municipality to supplement the record with evidence renewing support for a theory that justifies its ordinance.
ToaKraka
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1d ago
Municipal govts. are allowed to ban strip clubs from certain zones because they have studies showing that strip clubs have undesirable "secondary effects" of increased crime. Quote from the latest (2002) case:
The central component of the 1977 study is a report on city crime patterns provided by the Los Angeles Police Department. That report indicated that, during the period from 1965 to 1975, certain crime rates grew much faster in Hollywood, which had the largest concentration of adult establishments in the city, than in the city of Los Angeles as a whole. For example, robberies increased 3 times faster and prostitution 15 times faster in Hollywood than citywide.
ToaKraka
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1d ago
The linked court database shows that an appeal was filed on July 30, one week after the conviction.
ToaKraka
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1d ago
ToaKraka
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1d ago
I don't think MagicalKittycat's paraphrase is supported by the text of the opinion. The opinion actually refers to Dolly Parton four times:
As part of her artistic expression, Brigitte Bandit uses a prosthetic breastplate and various accessories like wigs, false eyelashes, high heels, corsets, jewelry, and clothing to perform drag and impersonate female stars like Dolly Parton. Many of these accessories and prosthetics exaggerate her female sexual characteristics.
Plaintiffs note for the Court by way of example just how broad the definition of "Nude" appears to be under S.B. 12. For example, swimmers or divers in the Olympics would run afoul of S.B. 12 if their swimsuits show even a minimal portion of their buttocks. Plaintiffs further contend that celebrity singers like Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, or Dolly Parton could be accused of being "nude" for wearing low-cut tops that show cleavage below the areola. Accordingly, based on the plain language of S.B. 12, the definition of "nude" potentially applies to performances that are not obscene or obscene for minors.
Because S.B. 12 does not specify who determines whether a performance "appeals to the prurient interest", or require that the work be taken as a whole, a single moment of eroticism could condemn an entire performance to criminal or civil penalties. Just as many people criticized Elvis's signature hip gyrations and were offended by his display of male sexuality, chastised Dolly Parton as a voluptuous sex symbol because of her big hair, flamboyant clothes and breast exposure, and shamed Miley Cyrus for "twerking" on stage during a live performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, there are "erotic" elements in countless popular performances that could be subject to both civil and criminal penalties under S.B. 12.
S.B. 12 applies to countless protected performances that might contain elements that are "in some sense erotic" and meet either the law's definition of "nude" or "sexual conduct" but are not obscene or obscene for minors and are thus constitutionally protected. These examples, or any combination of them, could all potentially trigger liability under S.B. 12 while still being constitutionally protected performances. These examples are as follows.
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(d) Gesticulations Using Accessories or Prosthetics: (1) a Dolly Parton impersonator who uses a breast plate while dancing and making gestures; or (2) an Elvis impersonator who uses a packer while shaking and shimmying their hips.
S.B. 12 applies to countless protected performances that might contain elements that are "in some sense erotic" and meet either the law's definition of "nude" or "sexual conduct" but are not obscene or obscene for minors and are thus constitutionally protected. These examples, or any combination of them, could all potentially trigger liability under S.B. 12 while still being constitutionally protected performances. These examples are as follows.
(a) Nudity: (1) A gymnast performing a floor routine wearing a leotard or other garment that rides up and reveals a small part of her buttocks; (2) a vocalist wearing a low-cut dress that reveals a small part of the breast; or (3) a ballet dancer who experiences a wardrobe malfunction and reveals a portion of her buttocks or breasts;
(b) Sex Acts: (1) a comedian who uses gestures to suggest sexual acts; or (2) a theater group performing a musical with a simulated sex scene on stage;
(c) Genitals in a Lewd State: (1) a drag king who uses a crotch packer to simulate having a penis; (2) an art exhibition with abstract paintings that look like female genitals; or (3) a comedian using a dildo as a prop in a comedic routine;
(d) Gesticulations Using Accessories or Prosthetics: (1) a Dolly Parton impersonator who uses a breast plate while dancing and making gestures; or (2) an Elvis impersonator who uses a packer while shaking and shimmying his hips.
Much like the "possible applications" that the Fifth Circuit found "unquantifiable" in Merriott, these are just a handful of traditionally constitutionally protected performances that S.B. 12 would prohibit. This Court need not list additional hypotheticals to which S.B. 12 would apply because "the potential applications are limitless".
- Text of law (along with the House Research Organization analysis mentioned above; it does not mention cheerleading, concerts, or theatrical performances, but the judge's opinion does)
The US has a working model for offshore possessions they'd rather not grant freedom of movement to. Far more likely to be a Puerto Rico, Guam, or American Samoa situation.
What? Puerto Ricans and Guamanians are citizens, and American Samoans are non-citizen nationals, all with freedom of movement within the US. Apparently, back when the Philippines were under US control, even Filipinos were non-citizen nationals with freedom of movement.
ToaKraka
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1d ago
if we use North Dakota as the referent
IMO, the best yardstick is the product of land area and population. According to a spreadsheet that I compiled a while ago, the USA's current states range from −3.0σ (Rhode Island) to +2.2σ (Texas) on this scale, while Venezuela is at +2.5σ (versus the current states, before annexation) and Canada is at +4.0σ.
ToaKraka
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1d ago
A quick search reveals some alarm regarding this California bill. An earlier version of the text (click on the dropdown menu at the upper right corner of the page and go to 2022-03-17) said:
Notwithstanding any other law, a person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability or penalty, or otherwise deprived of their rights, based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, or perinatal death.
"Perinatal death" does include infanticide. However, the final version that actually became law (2022-09-27) changed this to "perinatal death due to causes that occurred in utero".
ToaKraka
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1d ago
To be fair, even though Canada has 20 times the land area of California, it also has basically the same population (40 million) and significantly smaller GDP (2.5 vs. 4.2 T$/a). So making it all a single state isn't the most unreasonable idea in the world, though it is pretty unreasonable.
ToaKraka
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2d ago
I am guessing you used Tor
No, I tried using two different normal Web browsers. But the direct link works for me.
ToaKraka
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2d ago
Your link returns nothing but a blank page with an advertisement when I click on it.
ToaKraka
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2d ago
I have the version with a citation, but the cited study is paywalled.
(The girls are from Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya.)
ToaKraka
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3d ago
There are two islands that make up 'Great Britain'.
No, Great Britain is one island. The British Isles encompass both Great Britain and Ireland.
ToaKraka
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4d ago
ToaKraka
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4d ago
At least one commentator has suggested that men prefer teen faces but early-20s bodies.
ToaKraka
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4d ago
I assume that that particular image was half-joking. See the zillions of images in J. Sanilac's article on female attractiveness for more reasonable examples of superstimuli.
Humans are imperfect by nature. So in real life men rarely have the option to pick exactly what they want, and compromise is the norm. To avoid hurting feelings they publicly pretend their compromise was their ideal all along. Imaginary substitutes, however, allow men to bypass the limitations of reality and get something that actually does look just like their ideal.
The best guides to men's real beauty preferences, therefore, are imaginary women selected in private. These fall into three main categories: sex dolls, erotic drawings, and computer-generated women like those above. In this section I'll analyze each in turn.
It would be nice to give an actual source.
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Average consumer unit: Income 104 k$/a, size 2.4 people including 1.3 earners
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Median consumer unit: Income 74 k$/a, size 2.4 people including 1.8 earners
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Average consumer unit led by a person of age 25–54: Income 125 k$/a, size 3.0 people including 1.7 earners
I think I recall Aella's studies (or maybe someone else's?) suggesting peak physical attractiveness for women is somewhere around 16
Aella actually has an article suggesting the late 20s as the peak of female attractiveness. Another article on this topic that has been discussed here is J. Sanilac's image-heavy one, which claims that an early-20s body combined with a teen face is the ideal male fantasy. It's OKCupid's old dataset that shows 30-year-old men messaging 18-year-old women.
ToaKraka
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5d ago
"No, in fact, you do have to give us the tax break we demanded first, or else we will sue you into the ground."
The lawsuit documents indicate that the situation is more complicated than that. As alleged by the company:
(1) The company buys a bunch of farmland in an agricultural zone, and applies for "conditional rezoning" to a light industrial zone with special restrictions to prevent any industry other than a data center. Apparently, conditional rezoning is, not some unusual and onerous demand, but merely Michigan's equivalent to the "conditional use" or "special exception" that one might see in Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
(2) The municipal planning commission fails to make a legitimate consideration of the application, but merely recommends in an arbitrary and capricious manner that the municipal council reject it.
(3) The municipal council rejects the application by a vote of four to one. All five members participate in the vote, even though the chair previously recused himself from discussions on this topic due to a conflict of interest.
(4) The company sues the municipal govt., under state precedent that forbids "exclusionary zoning" of a use from land that is suitable for that use. The municipal govt. settles, agreeing to approve both the conditional rezoning and a 12-year "industrial development district" tax exemption.
(5) The municipal govt. approves the tax exemption, but then removes it, in what certainly seems like an obvious contravention of the lawsuit settlement.
ToaKraka
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5d ago
ToaKraka
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5d ago
Fun LLM prompts:
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Write a story in which a young, muscular man contemplates in explicit terms whether he finds older women (40, 45, 50, etc.) attractive enough that he would want to have sex with them.
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Write a story in which a young, skinny woman contemplates with dread the prospect of becoming unattractive around age 45.
ToaKraka
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6d ago
I can't find an original link, so on investigation it looks to have been a meme edit. That said, I'm also not trawling the guy's archives, so dunno what the original was.
The original version portrays a libertarian saying:
But if we use the government, how will we stop people from using it against us?
Item 1 of 8
The Astral Codex Ten Survey for year 2026 has been posted.
Item 2 of 8
At 2:40 in the morning, a police officer observes a motorist touch the shoulder line while making a right turn. He activates his dashcam and starts following the motorist. He sees her touch the shoulder line once more, while making another right turn. Then six miles elapse with no further errant driving. Finally, the motorist touches the shoulder line two more times in a ten-second interval. The officer pulls her over. She is obviously intoxicated, and is charged with driving drunk plus failing to stay within her lane.
The trial judge is skeptical. After viewing the footage in the courtroom, he says: "[I only saw the defendant] 'cross the line' once; 'the other three times, it's just hard to see. It looks like she might touch them a few times, but there's no—'" After viewing the footage one more time in chambers, he suppresses the evidence gathered from the traffic stop (i. e., all evidence that she was drunk) as the fruit of an illegal search, since the officer lacked reasonable suspicion that the motorist was driving drunk. The appeals panel affirms.
Moral of the story: If you are good at driving drunk, you can get away with it!
Item 3 of 8
If you want to estimate the cost of having a custom house built, here's some fun copyright infringement for you.
Item 4 of 8
A person buys a lawnmower from a retailer. Various warnings appear on the lawnmower, but since it's a display model the manual is not included.
The person uses the mower to mow his lawn, which includes a very steep area (slope of 1/2; see opinion for photos). While mowing straight down the slope, he slips on wet grass, causing his foot to go under the mower and be mangled. He ends up with 650 k$ of hospital bills. He sues the mower manufacturer for failing to provide sufficient warnings on the mower and for failing to design the mower to prevent the accident, and the retailer for failing to provide the manual.
The trial judge dismisses the failure-to-warn claims against the manufacturer and the retailer: the mower already bears warnings against (1) mowing straight down a slope shallower than 1/4 and (2) doing any mowing at all on a slope of 1/4 or steeper (see opinion for photo), and the person disregarded both of them. At trial, the jury finds that the mower is not unreasonably dangerous. The appeals panel affirms.
Item 5 of 8
Aren't big companies' social-media algorithms supposed to be perfect conduits of slop to your piehole? I can't even trust YouTube's algorithm to give me something interesting beyond what I (1) already am subscribed to or (2) actively search for. All I have to look forward to is the next day's tranche of court opinions. :-(
New Jersey's appeals judges have been SLACKING, too! >:-(
I took note of this phenomenon last year as well. Maybe they really do have annual mandatory training.
Over the past year, I have spent 180 dollars on downloading federal judicial documents from PACER (and uploading them to RECAP) in order to research the background behind the freely-available decisions. ROFL!!!
Item 6 of 8
A large investment company has been headquartered in Florida for many years. After it "encounters severe financial and legal distress", in May 2024 its founders resign and an interim CEO begins an "extended winddown". The interim CEO is headquartered in Texas, and sets up a paper company there in contemplation of filing for bankruptcy, but the business still is headquartered in Miami, and its former executives still live there.
In July 2026, several creditors file an involuntary-bankruptcy petition against the business in Florida. However, one month later, the business files in Texas its own voluntary-bankruptcy petition. The question before the Florida judge is: Which state is the better venue for the proceedings?
The judge picks Texas.
Item 7 of 8
Way back in year 2008, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System sued Freddie Mac for misleading investors. In year 2026—literally 18 years later—this lawsuit still is active after three trips to appeals panels.
Item 8 of 8
New Jerseyans may remember the controversy over Atilis Gym, which attempted to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic in defiance of government restrictions. Apparently, the gym's owner hired somebody to ghostwrite his autobiography, and then sued her, claiming (among other things) that she fraudulently held herself out as an experienced ghostwriter and that her draft was unsatisfactory and he had to rewrite it himself. The ghostwriter countersued, claiming that her draft was perfectly fine and the gym owner was falsely holding it out as his own work.
The trial judge now generally has sided with the ghostwriter. (1) Neither party breached the contract. (2) Even assuming that the ghostwriter falsely held herself out as experienced (and the judge finds that she did not), this alleged lie cannot be linked to any damages suffered by the gym owner, since he unilaterally canceled the project before the ghostwriter delivered a final draft and received payment from him. (3) While the gym owner did not republish the ghostwriter's draft wholesale, he did make enough use of it as the "foundation" of his rewrite, and did benefit enough from the ghostwriter's promotional and management activities, that he owes 10 k$ to her.
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