I recently had to interact online with the Mexican Tax Administration Service, and all I can say is that their level of oversight and control would make the most uptight Swiss blush. On top of a detailed documentary process, I couldn't turn off my camera or microphone for the entire session, and I had to go through various physical exercises to ensure I wasn't a deepfake. The end result was a cryptographically signed PDF with its raw Base64 codes visible, so the printed version has the same weight as the electronic one.

I wish I had learned Latin when I was young. I think it would have helped me master French and Italian faster. And it might also have helped me keep the latter.

Dolly Parton was a real one. RIP. Such a loss for Tennessee.

New Sticker Day

There's a super gaudy golden Tesla Cybercab parked across from the Bay Area Metro Center here in SF.

I don't see Tesla on the list of Autonomous Vehicle Program permits issued by the California PUC, but I guess it is only a matter of time now.

https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/regulatory-services/licensing/transportation-licensing-and-analysis-branch/autonomous-vehicle-programs/autonomous-vehicle-program-permits-issued

The Santa Marta People's Declaration marks a seismic shift in how we understand and address climate change. Thanks to @nprofile1q... for spreading the word and highlighting where veganic agriculture fits into this framework. Support their work!

Commercial DNA tests are very limited when it comes to Indigenous American ancestry. The most useful tool I've found is the MDLP project on GEDmatch. Its "World" Oracle gave me a very close genetic distance of 2.73, modeling my sample as half Luiseño (a Native people from coastal Southern California), a quarter Lumbee (a North Carolina tribe), and a quarter Corsican.

While all of these are proxies, the mix makes sense: it reflects the algorithm balancing my roots in the borderlands between Aridoamerica and Mesoamerica, with a blend of Mediterranean and African ancestries.