Topic: Library Of Congress

The "Take It Down Act," a federal law aimed at combating the distribution of non-consensual explicit deepfakes, was signed into law. The project was spearheaded by Melania Trump but received minimal media coverage. Ironically, the official summary of the bill on the Library of Congress website appears to have been generated by an AI like ChatGPT.

Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak open the session discussing California legislative bills and a scorpion infestation at Curry's Texas home. Curry details his upcoming trip to the Netherlands to visit his daughter Christina for her birthday. Dvorak notes his monitoring of Library of Congress RSS feeds for new bill titles.

A classic clip from the TV show "Bones" is played to illustrate the absurdity of forensic science tropes in popular media. In the clip, a character claims to identify a specific 1993 institutional cookbook by running a typeface through a Library of Congress database. The hosts mock this as a "cheap writer's trick" that misleads the public about technical capabilities.

Twitter has introduced a new tiered pricing structure for its API, charging nearly $2,900 per month for full streaming access. Separately, the Library of Congress has abandoned its project to archive every tweet, citing the overwhelming volume of data.

The Library of Congress announced it will stop archiving every single tweet, moving to a selective process for significant posts. Additionally, historical records reveal that the FBI once investigated the film *It's a Wonderful Life* as potential communist propaganda due to its negative portrayal of a wealthy banker.

The TV show "Bones" is criticized for a scene where a character identifies a specific cookbook by running a typeface through a non-existent "Library of Congress database." The hosts mock the absurdity of television writers inventing forensic technologies, such as identifying a publication date based solely on a font style.

The hosts discuss the plan to wipe the @POTUS Twitter account clean when the current president leaves office, with the tweets being moved to a separate archive. John C. Dvorak argues that this "breaks the web" and shows a lack of respect for the historical continuity of digital records. They debate whether social media posts should be treated with the same permanence as traditional presidential papers.

The U.S. Flag Code was formally adopted in 1942 to change the way Americans saluted the flag during the National Anthem. Previously, the "Bellamy Salute" involved an outstretched arm with the palm down, which was abandoned after it was adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany. Historical photos from the Library of Congress show American schoolchildren using the salute prior to the legislative change.

The discussion covers activist DeRay McKesson's deleted tweets regarding the race of the shooter and the 40-page manifesto faxed by Vester Flanagan to ABC News. The hosts question the use of a fax machine in 2015 and criticize ABC for "cherry-picking" quotes from the document rather than releasing it in full.

The show concludes with a clip of Jerry Seinfeld performing at the White House for the Library of Congress Gershwin Award honoring Sir Paul McCartney. Seinfeld humorously deconstructs McCartney's lyrics, categorizing them as "husband songs" that reflect the evolution from young love to domestic arguments.

The hosts perform a formal knighthood ceremony for Sir Brian, Dame Patricia, and Sir Davy, complete with the reading of the "Hookers & Blow" menu. They encourage the new knights to tweet photos of their rings and certificates, claiming the images will be preserved in the Library of Congress. A debate ensues regarding whether the Library of Congress stores actual Twitter photos or just the text of tweets.

The hosts mock the "enhance" trope in procedural dramas, specifically a clip from *Bones* involving a fictional Library of Congress font database. Despite the "idiotic" science, the show *Scorpion* is noted for its high viewership, pulling in over 10 million viewers on CBS.

The hosts deconstruct the 2014 Presidential Proclamation for Thanksgiving, focusing on the narrative of the Wampanoag people. They argue that Obama's retelling of the Pilgrim story is a subtle rhetorical tool used to support his executive actions on immigration. The analysis suggests the speech frames historical native hospitality as a precedent for welcoming undocumented immigrants.

The conversation traces the evolution of social media from LiveJournal to MySpace and the rise of "self-adulation" through animated GIFs and diary blogs. They discuss the fragility of digital archives, noting that many photos hosted on defunct services like TwitPic or stored in proprietary formats like iPhoto may be lost forever. They compare the current internet era to the slow societal shift following the Gutenberg press.

An examination of the White House's own privacy policy reveals extensive data collection on visitors, including browser type and connection speed. The hosts also question why the White House archives its own tweets when the Library of Congress already performs that task.

The hosts discuss the long-term value of the "No Agenda" show notes, suggesting they serve as a historical resource that should be archived in the Library of Congress. They joke about the stereotypical image of librarians and the process of "Library Science" required to preserve digital media collections.

The forensic science depicted in the TV show "Bones" is ridiculed for a scene where a character identifies a specific cookbook by running a typeface through a fictional Library of Congress database.

French media regulators have banned the mention of "Twitter" and "Facebook" on air unless they are the subject of a news story, requiring reporters to use the term "social networking" instead. The Library of Congress is reportedly archiving all public tweets, which the hosts find suspicious. The episode concludes with a promotion for the "Hot Pockets 2008" summer tour and a sign-off from the Hilltop Watchtower.

The origins of modern propaganda are traced back to American public relations techniques developed during World War I. Joseph Goebbels reportedly studied these American methods, including posters depicting Germans as monsters, to build the Nazi propaganda machine. The narrative suggests that these techniques are consistently effective at manipulating the public into supporting conflicts.