Mastodon Feed
Reblogged by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
amerpie@social.lol ("Lou Plummer :prami_pride:") wrote:
Yeah, we have to climb our way to the top of Bullshit Mountain every day, but the truth is out there if you look for it.
Mastodon Feed
Mastodon Feedpzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
I felt so sorry for this poor horse, but according to AiG, that was its destiny.
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Mastodon FeedThe other day I joked that the hardest part about watching some movies is suspending disbelief that AI is possible, but on the other hand, movies about werewolves, zombies and vampires don't bother me.
The difference being that there are not currently grifters manipulating the economy with their insane promises about werewolf futures.
I think I'm on to something here. Any time you read about Artificial General Intelligence, read that as Artificial General Werewolves:
https://jwz.org/b/ykg3
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Mastodon Feeddenschub@schub.social ("Dennis Schubert") wrote:
okay, I finally switched my self-hosted mastodon to glitch.
why? because I had to wall-of-text someone via private mention, because it's me, and I like writing long texts.
Mastodon FeedReblogged by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
tiffanycli ("Tiffany Li") wrote:
Linguistically, “DEI” is now the new “critical race theory”: a scapegoat phrase used devoid of any of its actual meaning by people who never understood the original in the first place
Mastodon FeedReblogged by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
jasonkoebler ("Jason Koebler") wrote:
Thousands of datasets have disappeared from data.gov. Determining what's gone, why it's gone, and whether it moved elsewhere will to take time. Things are definitely being purged but archivists working hard to determine exactly what has happened to a given dataset
Mastodon FeedReblogged by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk ("the roamer") wrote:
And then Joan Mastodon told her knights to rest. We have slain the searchers and the scrapers, she said, we have liberated the hashtags. The great Algo has retreated. Rest now. And then toot, toot about nothing and everything, irreverent and free as only my knights can be. And the knights raised their goblets and cheered their Lady Joan, and they rested, and when they had rested the Great Tooting began for twenty days and twenty nights.
#JoanMastodon #hashtags #NoSearch #NoScraping #NoAI #MastodonCulture
Mastodon FeedReblogged by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
jason@social.lol ("//Jason") wrote:
I just love these. 💛 https://glass.photo/burk/5HvYHfE4XtmF5N9gQWRwwB #Photography
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
briankrebs@infosec.exchange ("BrianKrebs") wrote:
The way things are headed, the word "security" is danger of becoming a liberal slur. Long rant ahead explaining why this notion keeps popping in my head.
The subtext of the entire GOP playbook Project 2025 is that liberals have "weaponized" the government against conservatives and have been abusing that power to censor and unconstitutionally stifle their views and voices.
This ongoing injustice, they argue, justifies emptying all government agencies of any people, entities or ideologies that don't align with these views. If you're asking why at this point, remember that the president promised this term is all about retribution and settling scores, real or otherwise.
Why does Maga keep couching everything in terms of censorship? Disinformation researcher Kate Starbird nailed it in a Bsky thread from Nov. 2023, about how Maga lawmakers and their supporters mostly stopped parroting Trump's lies about election fraud as Biden's term went on, and instead pivoted to the deep threat of "censorship". This she argues, allowed Trump supporters to distract from the violence on Jan. 6, and to claim that the real threat to democracy wasn't this interruption of the peaceful transfer of power, but the so-called "censorship" of conservatives by "The Deep State."
"The deep story of 'censorship' is also a redemption story for influencers whose repeated falsehoods about the election stoked the grievances that led to Jan 6," Starbird wrote. "They get to play the parts of victims & heroes again. And no matter the veracity of their claims, to their audiences, the story rings true."
https://bsky.app/profile/katestarbird.bsky.social/post/3kdu7ucy3jd2f
Starbird was one of many researchers whose work came under heavy scrutiny by the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Led by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s stated purpose was to investigate alleged collusion between the Biden administration and tech companies to unconstitutionally shut down political speech.
The GOP committee focused much of its ire at members of the short-lived Disinformation Governance Board, an advisory board to DHS created in 2022 (the “combating misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation” quote from Trump’s executive order is a reference to the board’s stated mission). Conservative groups seized on social media posts made by the director of the board, who resigned after facing death threats. The board was dissolved by DHS soon after.
In his first administration, President Trump created a special prosecutor to probe the origins of the FBI’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives seeking to influence the 2016 election. Part of that inquiry examined evidence gathered by some of the world’s most renowned cybersecurity experts who identified frequent and unexplained communications between an email server used by the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, one of Russia’s largest financial institutions.
Trump’s Special Prosecutor John Durham later subpoenaed and/or deposed dozens of security experts who’d collected, viewed or merely commented on the data. Similar harassment and deposition demands would come from lawyers for Alfa Bank. Durham ultimately indicted Michael Sussman, the former federal cybercrime prosecutor who reported the oddity to the FBI. Sussman was acquitted in May 2022. Last week, Trump appointed Durham to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, NY.
Lest anyone think these Project 2025 playbook items are just words on a page written by some political lackey, Trump also last week issued two executive orders -- one called "Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government," and another titled "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship." The last few paragraphs were lifted from this week's story about all the upheaval in federal cybers over the past week: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/01/a-tumultuous-week-for-federal-cybersecurity-efforts/
It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out that the GOP will likely expand the number of ad hoc committees that seek to leave no stone unturned in their quest to find and root out the Deep State conspirers who are trying to stifle conservative voices. And we will likely see similar persecution of people in the security and research community who've been doing important work tracking disinformation networks, among other things.
NB: The disinformation stuff tends to be proxied through the same providers where most of the mass brute force vulnerability/credential stuffing attacks come from, and it's almost invariably tied to Russia-backed networks or cybercriminal actors.
Which brings me back (finally) to the first line of this post. If you are not interested in hearing the truth about disinformation, by extension you are also probably not too keen on people working to block it either. In fact, why should you want to block it at all, if the overall message is in support of this "censorship" worldview? Or in support of some other conservative or authoritarian messaging?
In this context, all kinds of security concerns become a threat to the censorship ideology. This includes vulnerability research, data analysis, incident response, site or network-specific threat metrics, the list goes on. At some point, pretty much all security efforts constitute some form of network censorship.
I'm not going to say that cybersecurity has always somehow been a "bipartisan" issue. For one thing, there are always way more than two sides to any story, and that term has somewhat lost its meaning. But at least until around when Trump first took office, support for tech-focused legislation was generally not broken down along party lines (except maybe in areas like government surveillance).
Cybersecurity has and always will be a very political challenge, at every level, for all organizations. But we just can't afford to let it become a deeply partisan issue, because then we are truly lost.
Why does any of this matter? There is very little daylight anymore between the priorities and prerogatives of cybersecurity and national security. As one goes, so goes the other.
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
camille@praxis.nyc ("Camille lives at Praxis Now") wrote:
A visit to the Greenpoint Tool Library: repair economies, object lending, and new production paradigms in times of climate change.
https://themaintainers.org/toolib/
Mastodon Feedfromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Watch: Timnit Gebru interview on Deepseek, AI, and why American companies insist on building the largest models. https://youtu.be/nh7-ZNBql38?si=w-SBX4ECFgCIB0yl&start=3480
Mastodon FeedReblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
GottaLaff@mstdn.social ("Laffy") wrote:
Deny, obfuscate, evade…
Via Rupar:
KLOBUCHAR: You said Trump has every right to tell the world that in 2020, 2016, and every other election in between was rigged by our govt because they were. Did you say that?
#KashPatel: I don't have that statement in front of me
KLOBUCHAR: Ok, that was from Aug 27, 2023. I'll put it on the record
Mastodon Feedjsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
okay... the next-to-last module for the user account self-management subsystem is built and tests out okay. Create account, Update password, Recover from losing password, Update email, and Deactivate account all work... up to processing the final 2FA input operation
all that is left now is to build that handler and the whole thing is Ready for Primetime!
🥂
Mastodon FeedReblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
stux@mstdn.social ("stux⚡") wrote:
Feel free to keep calling ICE on:
1-866-DHS-2-ICE
and report Elon Musk and Donald Trump! ⚠️
Waste as much time as possible :blobcathighfive:
Otherwise go nuts on this nice little form:
https://www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form
Mastodon FeedReblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
Sometimes being annoying little shits is the best strategy
I really don't understand why one has to label something as satire, everyone seems to understand it's satire, plus they announce it with a billion comments saying it's satire🙄😂😂
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Mastodon Feedadam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:
[in Marge’s gravelly voice] “Oh, Homie, draw me like one of your French girls”
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
mttaggart@infosec.exchange ("Taggart :donor:") wrote:
Here it is: your complete guide to building a Wireguard network that doesn't require any open ports at home, and doesn't require any third-party tools. Just Wireguard, your devices, and a little elbow grease.
Mastodon Feedchipotle@mstdn.social ("Watts Martin") wrote:
I'm lately remembering that guy who decided he would ignore news from 2017 through 2020 and just focus on doing good locally. Everybody got upset with him, but are we absolutely sure he wasn't onto something?
Mastodon FeedReblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
I'm blocking anyone posting non-cw'd content into my feed about how progressives were the reason Harris lost.
I'll post CW'd content as to why. But I want people to understand why I'm blocking them without them skipping a CW tag.
Mastodon Feedpzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
I used. my psychic powers to make some awful predictions. I was correct!
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/01/30/i-guess-im-the-last-psychic-scientist-left/
Mastodon Feedpzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
But did it work? Did she get high?
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/01/30/you-cant-blame-the-spider/
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
shaferbrown@mastodon.art ("Shafer Brown") wrote:
hello #portfolioday
Im shafer brown, a queer illustrator from the mountains of north carolina drawing flat fantasy.
I've done work for magic the gathering, videogames, beer labels, podcast art and socks, but my favorite work tends to be personal commissions.
Attachments:
- 2024 dnd character commission inside a wooden frame, an archway is drawn by a ball of yarn. a statue of a winged cat with a flaming sword gestures to a painting of a snowy cabin. tea, books, and other offerings sit at the altar. (remote)
- 2024 commissioned fan art On the left: A female mage from dragon quest III casts an intermediate level fire spell on a slime, incinerating it. On the right: A female priest from dragon quest III casts a maximum strength group healing spell, washing out a dark dungeon with its light. (remote)
- A three paneled triptych in limited colors, made as promotional art for a game jam On the left: A Siamese cat sits in their studio observing a mouse and painting in their sketchbook. previous stadies hang on their studio wall. In the middle: In a dark studio a white long haired cat gazes at a clay model of a mouse through a lens at their desk, carving it with another tool in their hand. In their room, previous fabrications lay haphazardly. On the right: A calico stands on a step ladder, making small adjustments to a model of a mouse wearing boxing gloves and roller skates with a greenscreen photo roll behind. A camera, a quarter pipe, a small hand rail, and a jar of iced coffee sit on the floor. (remote)
- 2024 limited color fantasy family portrait A family fishes in a stream in the woods, one member hooking a big catch, the other distracted and noticing their dog getting a snack from their baskets. (remote)
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
tomasteck@merveilles.town ("tomasz stecko") wrote:
https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/third-chair
The third chair - very short story by Henrik Karlsson (Escaping Flatland blog)
Mastodon FeedReblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
streetartutopia@mastodon.online ("Street Art Utopia") wrote:
Seen on a train.
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- A politically charged ad-style artwork placed on a train, resembling a Google search page. The Google logo is altered with violent imagery: the 'G' includes a rifle, the 'o' has a crosshair, another 'o' features a skull, the 'g' is partially shattered, the 'l' is shaped like a bomb, and the 'e' drips with blood. The search query reads: "Do children who have their legs amputated grow new legs?" Below, the text states that a child from Gaza asked this question during what the poster describes as "Israel’s genocide," attributing Google's $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli military as enabling technology used in the conflict. The ad is styled as an intervention, featuring blood splatters and bold messaging designed to provoke awareness and discussion. (remote)
Mastodon FeedReblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
codepo8@toot.cafe ("Chris Heilmann") wrote:
What stops you from coding like this? You deserve beauty in your life.
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Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
This gives me hope:
https://kellysutton.com/2025/01/18/moving-on-from-react-a-year-later.html
Mastodon Feedmattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:
@jasonkoebler @dangillmor But there's an essential role reversal here. This manual is about how a resistance can sabotage a government org to make it less effective. But the situation here seems to be that the government is trying to sabotage *itself*. The resistance are the ones trying to keep things running smoothly.
Mastodon Feedfromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Teacher in 2075 explaining the "Liberals during mass deportations" chapter: People from this island voted more for Trump than prior elections. That's why all these hand waving emojis are under this photo of a caged family.
Student: so that family is from that island?
Teacher: lol no
Mastodon FeedReblogged by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
Daojoan ("JA Westenberg") wrote:
"BUT HARRIS DIDN'T EARN MY VOTE"
When you frame your vote as something that must be "earned" through a perfect alignment of policies and promises, you're abdicating your role in the democratic process. You're pretending you're a passive consumer rather than an active participant.
A thread. 🧵
Mastodon FeedReblogged by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
randahl ("Randahl Fink") wrote:
In an attempt to justify his own Hitler salute, Elon Musk has shared a picture showing Taylor Swift apparently making the same guesture.
This is not the truth.
The Picture Elon is abusing is from a 2014 concert, where Taylor Swift is making a blown kiss with her left arm and then waving to the audience, as can be seen here:
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