Mastodon Feed: Posts

Mastodon Feed

cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:

Meanwhile, diagonally opposite to me geographically speaking... 😬:

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2025/09/03/florida-ends-all-vaccine-mandates-desantis/

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by jwz:
mathowie@xoxo.zone ("Matthew Haughey") wrote:

“Marc Benioff called the first eight months of 2025, during which an estimated 10,000 jobs have been lost to AI, ‘eight of the most exciting months of my career.’”

(I’m glad I don’t work for this guy anymore. I left six months after he took over because it was clear he was an extremely lucky dumbass boss)

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

These are just a few highlights! For the full two-day program, see the YouTube playlist on our channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLltrHIXltfGLotq79TBgIK9QK4O29Z2FF

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

GA Tech professor Michael Specter described the sorry state of the art in fielded mobile voting systems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5FBgAW-uxXYA&list=PLltrHIXltfGLotq79TBgIK9QK4O29Z2FF&index=17

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Marilyn Marks, Drew Springall, and Philip Davis described a new, highly practical attack against a widely-used Ballot Marking Device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYL8X2SQIpU&list=PLltrHIXltfGLotq79TBgIK9QK4O29Z2FF&index=14

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Berkeley statistics professor Philip Stark described "Risk Limiting Audits", perhaps the most important advance in election security of this century.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI07TS5kQkU&list=PLltrHIXltfGLotq79TBgIK9QK4O29Z2FF&index=8

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Turing Award winner Ron Rivest talked about the need for "Software Independence" in voting systems, and explained what that means in practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31joiscFlUw&list=PLltrHIXltfGLotq79TBgIK9QK4O29Z2FF&index=7

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

In our first keynote, Former California Secretary of State Debra Bowen reflected on the 2007 "Top to Botton Review" of her state's election systems, the first independent exam of post 2000 computerized election technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjwYf3TsQwU&list=PLltrHIXltfGLotq79TBgIK9QK4O29Z2FF&index=5

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

I kicked us off with a brief introduction to the technical problems in securing US voting systems, the progress we've made, and the work still left to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzRSA%5FVDsdc&list=PLltrHIXltfGLotq79TBgIK9QK4O29Z2FF&index=2

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

For those who couldn't join us at the #VotingVillage at #DEFCON33 earlier this month, videos of all the talks are online in this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLltrHIXltfGLotq79TBgIK9QK4O29Z2FF

We had a great program covering a wide range of topics on the theory and practice of US election security.

I'll post a few highlights of more general interest in the thread that follows.

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by jwz:
divbyzero@mathstodon.xyz ("Dave Richeson") wrote:

As I was walking home today, I had this idea: Is it possible to turn a QR code into a Truchet tiling that's still a functioning QR code? Yep.

A QR code as a Truchet tiling

Mastodon Feed

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

“A billion-dollar destroyer sank a speedboat, instead of capturing it and its crew to seize evidence and put its crew on trial. The movement of Space Command does little more than punish Colorado for voting for Democrats. And the deployment of national guard troops without permission from a state’s governor sets up yet another battle in court.” [2/2] - George Chidi in ‘Guardian US’ newsletter

Mastodon Feed

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

“From sinking a drug boat, to moving Space Command, to deploying troops in American cities, Trump has focused on the use of military force in pursuit of his domestic political goals. The effects are questionable for their proportionality, legality and expected effect.” [1/2]

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
middleclasstool@phire.place ("Pastor of Muppets") wrote:

Friends and enemies, I would like to show you the best blue screen of death I've ever seen. I pulled over with two hyperactive dogs in the car just to take the picture.

A digital school sign near our home with a blue screen that says "a problem has to your comput"

Mastodon Feed

adam@social.lol ("Adam") wrote:

A universal truth, brought to you by https://dns.kitchen. :chef:

Attachments:

Mastodon Feed

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

One of the great pleasures of faculty life: Every now and then you get a note from a former student mentioning how they found something you taught useful. Or sometimes, just how they're doing.

Mastodon Feed

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

This is part of my "slightly better photos of local attractions than you'd typically find hanging in a cheap hotel room" series.

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
polpo@chaos.social ("Ian Scott") wrote:

Yesterday we visited Green Mountain Falls, CO to visit the kinetic sculpture Off the Beaten Path by Patrick Shearn. I wasn’t ready for just how dynamic it was even in the slightest breeze. Reminds me of a murmuration of starlings. Incredible artwork. It’ll only be up through October 19th.

Attachments:

Mastodon Feed

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Just did another round of blocking, and I feel a buoyant lightness.

Getting rid of the dude who suggested that I can only redeem myself by personally assassinating the president was particularly therapeutic.

Mastodon Feed

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

2/3 10 years ago today I wrote a retrospective on the "Being Poor" piece, talking about why I wrote it, how it had gone out into the world after I wrote it, and my thoughts on some of the responses to it.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/09/03/being-poor-ten-years-on/

Mastodon Feed

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

1/3 20 years ago today, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I wrote a piece called "Being Poor," to answer, in a way that I hoped would stick, why so many people stayed in New Orleans to face the storm. It was and remains one of the best things I've ever written.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
UP8 ("Paul Houle") wrote:

🍪 Gate-level emulation of an Intel 4004 in 4004 bytes of C

https://nicholas.carlini.com/writing/2025/ioccc-intel-4004-in-4004-bytes-c.html

#electronics #programming #software #4004 #retrocomputing #microchips

Mastodon Feed

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

"The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.

Mastodon Feed

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Officially the "Ed Koch Queensborough Bridge" but more generally simply the "59th Street Bridge", the view from Sutton Place at 58th Street on the Manhattan side is probably as flattering and uncluttered a perspective as you'll find for this piece of NYC infrastructure.

Immortalized in song by Simon and Garfunkel, in literature by Fitzgerald, and in cinema by Woody Allen, something about this bridge exemplifies the glamor and bustle of 20th century New York in a way that still holds up.

Mastodon Feed

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

This was captured with the Phase One IQ3-100 back, Phase One XF DSLR camera, and the Schneider 80mm/2.8 "Blue Ring" lens. I had planned to use a technical camera and the Rodenstock 70mm, providing movements, but a cable was missing from the kit I had with me in the city that night. Fortunately, the 80mm SLR lens was just wide enough to not require movements, though the Schneider lens renders highlights (as prominent starbursts) a bit idiosyncratically for my taste.

Mastodon Feed

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Queensborough (59th Street) Bridge, NYC, 2019.

Enough pixels to feel somewhat groovy about at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/48418025131

#photography

A large cantilever bridge, illuminated along its superstructure, at night.

Mastodon Feed

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

It's not a warning: It's been a two-tier economy for a long time

https://www.aol.com/mcdonalds-ceo-warns-two-tier-210000772.html

Mastodon Feed

aral@mastodon.ar.al ("Aral Balkan") wrote:

All my dreams are about running from the bombs and seeing fires,
And sometimes I dream of my house being bombed and razed to the ground,
And I cry in the dream and wake up to cry again.

@joynewacc

This wasn’t a poem. It was just a message in passing to a friend this morning. And yet, also, a poem.

https://www.chuffed.org/project/evacuate-joy

#Gaza #Palestine #dreams #FreePalestine

Mastodon Feed

cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:

Looks like Oregon, Washington, and California are cooperating with regards to vaccine guidance:

https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/03/vaccines-oregon-washington-california-cdc/

Mastodon Feed

Boosted by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
lobsters ("Lobsters") wrote:

Debugging Rustler on Illumos by @dziban https://lobste.rs/s/nr8kkd #elixir #illumos #rust
https://system-illumination.org/01-rustler.html