Ed’s Page

“so you’re saying you’d represent someone who has admitted to domestic violence?” i’m saying i have.

"so you’re saying you’d represent someone who has admitted to child abuse?" i'm saying i have.

and i am saying i have given each and every one of those clients the same level of professionalism, effort, and zealous advocacy i have given my clients who are victims of the same. that is how due process works, and every person is guaranteed it.

i have nothing but respect and admiration for my colleagues in the public interest sector who represent those who have committed and/or been accused any and all crimes, no matter how "morally reprehensible" others may find them.

The importance of public defenders and ensuring that the accused receives a fair trial isn't about the defendant.

Lemme say that again.

It isn't about the defendant. What they have or haven't done, or confessed to, or whatever, IS IRRELEVANT. Whether they're accused of picking a flower that isn't theirs or they've confessed to murdering a two year old, IT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER.

That defendant needs the strongest possible defense in order to...

drum roll please...

SERVE AS A CHECK ON THE POWER OF THE STATE.

In our judicial system we have empowered our government to deprive people of their freedom, and in some jurisdictions, their lives. Do we trust them to wield that power equitably and fairly at all times?

NO WE FUCKING DO NOT AND WE NEVER SHOULD, EVER.

Every. Single. Fucking. Time that the state brings charges against a defendant, someone they would like to deprive of liberty or life, we have to make it as hard as possible for them to succeed. We have to make them prove it, and prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. We have to make sure they are following Every. Fucking. Rule that has been put into place to ensure the fairness of the proceedings.

Does it always work? No, because it's an imperfect system run by imperfect people.

But the rights of a defendant, even one that has a rap sheet as long as a CVS receipt, even one that's done unspeakable things, HAS TO BE VIGOROUSLY DEFENDED because the second you ease up on that throttle, the second the state starts thinking it's easy, and they can just toss in jail whoever they want without having to jump through too many hoops...

Well that's a one-way ticket to the state tossing their political enemies, or just anyone they don't like, into jail on flimsy charges using illegal evidence and bought testimony.

how to troubleshoot by yourself when you have a technical problem

what common file types are

some very basics on how to use ""developer tools"" on your computer (because i cant think of a better way to refer to them) like task manager and command prompt (and their mac equivalents, terminal and activity monitor ofc)

how to read and understand a privacy policy and what your personal data is, as well as what it being collected actually means and steps you can take to keep it private

how to understand terms of service (hey. if you have trouble with reading legalese and worry about being able to understand these policies anyways, here's a site that gives basic summaries of privacy policies and ToS)

what a cookie actually is

internet privacy and your digital footprint!! seriously i dont know why we stopped teaching people that they shouldnt be putting their entire real identity online in a world where your online actions can ruin you irl

basic safety measures like antivirus software (and why you should use it or if the built in one on windows or mac is enough for you) and backing up your computer (also a mac guide)

common keyboard shortcuts (and on mac)

as an additional note: things i think everyone should know on computers and the internet but schools may bit hesitant to teach about for whatever moral/legal standards schools pretend to operate on

vpns and adblockers! (btw for most of these where you can pay for things im purposefully not recommending any specific software but seriously just use ublock origin for an adblocker)

how to not get a virus while pirating something

what a temporary email is and when to use one

red flags that you shouldn't trust a website (and how to quickly check the security of a site)

an online compiler so you dont need to download anything or worry about running code directly on your computer if that makes you nervous

a basic video guide to introduce you to python and walk you through beginner steps

a guide to some syntax and commands you should know (this was literally my lifeline in my first CS class)

CTRL+SHIFT+i does not initially work, you need to turn on developer tools:

^the article does use the wrong quotes, use this: "DANGEROUS_ENABLE_DEVTOOLS_ONLY_ENABLE_IF_YOU_KNOW_WHAT_YOURE_DOING": true

Paste this above "ChromiumSwitches":

Then go to console, type "allow pasting", press enter, and paste the below text (@pokemonheartgold used one _ too litle on either side):

Object.values(webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([[Symbol()],{},r=>r.c])).find(x=>x?.exports?.default?.__proto__?.getCurrentUser).exports.default.getCurrentUser().ageVerificationStatus = 3;

Click away from the channel, back into it, press continue, voila:

^as you can see it took a few tries to get the code right

Close devtools, possibly remove the line of code from settings.json again, done!

People talk about how you can’t see stars in the city and yeah, that’s true, but their concept of “seeing stars” is being able to make out orion’s belt.

So, so few people have see the sky in all its glory and it’s not sad. It’s a fucking crime. Seeing a perfectly dark night, no clouds, not a hint of light pollution? That’s a fucking religious experience.

The sky the vast vast majority of us grew up with is not the sky that inspired us to look up. It is not the sky that inspired constellations. You can’t even see most constellations.

Your ancestors looked at the night sky and said “surely, that is where the gods must live.” And you might be lucky if you can see hardly more than a handful of stars.

When we were on a field trip to the middle of the red sea, I remember us all crowding at the end of the boat that didn’t have lights and just lying on our backs and staring

When you see a properly dark starscape

You understand why people wrote poems and made up legends and built rockets and said heaven’s in the sky

You think of the night sky like fairy lights on black velvet, but it’s not it’s not it’s like, like, dust in sunlight, like - I can’t find the words.

The stars are everywhere, like sugar, like glitter, like dust. You can’t find the constellations at first, not because you can’t recognise them, but because there’s so many stars you can’t pick out the familiar line of Orion’s belt. The North star has gone from bright familiarity to almost vanishing among a thousand, a hundred thousand, a million other lights. The milky way is a line of light arcing across the sky like a moon-trail on water only infinitely, infinitely bigger.

And for the first time in your life you’ll understand why people call it a dome, because it is, it’s three dimensional in exactly the way a city skyscape isn’t.

You’ll understand why Luthien Tinúviel danced under starlight, not moonlight, why people in a time before we knew the earth was round still looked up and wondered and built telescopes and dreamed about the stars.

The stars are endless and ancient and infinite and you will stand with your head craned back and your rucksack forgotten at your feet and you’ll feel like you’re falling upwards into that great bright sky like it’s calling you home and you’ll wonder how you ever thought the stars were beautiful before tonight when all you’d ever seen were the naked empty skyscapes of your home. And you’ll cry and you’ll spend the rest of your time there gazing up and wondering and imagining what it would be like to stand among those bright silver flecks

I’d often set an alarm to wake me in the middle of the night, so it was as dark as possible and my eyes as dark-adapted as they coud get, and starlight alone was enough to guide me

this post was inflicted upon me so now i’m inflicting it on all of you

“so you’re saying you’d represent someone who has admitted to domestic violence?” i’m saying i have.

"so you’re saying you’d represent someone who has admitted to child abuse?" i'm saying i have.

and i am saying i have given each and every one of those clients the same level of professionalism, effort, and zealous advocacy i have given my clients who are victims of the same. that is how due process works, and every person is guaranteed it.

i have nothing but respect and admiration for my colleagues in the public interest sector who represent those who have committed and/or been accused any and all crimes, no matter how "morally reprehensible" others may find them.