Mastodon Feed: Posts

Boosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
lcamtuf@infosec.exchange ("lcamtuf :verified: :verified: :verified:") wrote:

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@ciaranmartin/117355764515246691

MAY LORD HAVE MERCY

Boosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
tommorris ("Tom Morris") wrote:

The same politicians who need an adviser to tell them how to use a computer have a great plan to regulate the internet. The dog ate it though.

(The actual answer is strong enforcement of competition law against monopolists, and adding some teeth to GDPR’s data portability principle. Oh yeah, and having the ICO actually be a data privacy regulator rather than an industry-owned chocolate teapot.)

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/30/lisa-nandy-social-media-ban-online-safety-culture-secretary

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

A more appropriate poster for that recent conference of pathetic dweebs.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/09/30/goofballs-with-clout/

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

the longer the string of 'a' you put in the hole name, the more frustrated you are.

brib@bribstodon.xyz ("brib :neofox_floof:​ :Nonbinary:") wrote:

I am discovering new ways in which my joints creak

Boosted by brib@bribstodon.xyz ("brib :neofox_floof:​ :Nonbinary:"):
passenger@kolektiva.social ("Passenger") wrote:

"humanity is destroying the Earth" factoid actualy just statistical error. average human destroys zero Earths. Investments Georg, who lives in penthouse & builds natural gas power plants to run datacentres nobody wants, is an outlier adn should not have been counted.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
ljwrites@writeout.ink ("L.J., romantic toiler") wrote:

Once the rebels succeeded in breaking Texas away from Mexico and establishing an independent republic, slavery took off as an institution. . . .

As more [enslaved people] came into the Republic of Texas, more escaped to Mexico. Matamoros in the 1840s had a large and flourishing colony of [formerly enslaved people] from Texas and the United States. Though exact numbers do not exist, as many [enslaved people] may have escaped to Mexico as escaped through the more famous underground railway to Canada. The Mexican government, for its part, encouraged the [formerly enslaved] runaways, often with offers of land as well as freedom.

– James W. Russell, Slavery and the Myth of the Alamo

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
ljwrites@writeout.ink ("L.J., romantic toiler") wrote:

#Mexico had in fact abolished slavery in 1829[.] All of the leaders of Mexico, in itself only an independent country since 1821, were personally opposed to slavery, in part because of the influence of emissaries from the freed slave republic of Haiti. . . .

The Mexican armies that entered the department [of the state of Coahuila y Tejas] to put down the rebellion had explicit orders to free any [enslaved people] that they encountered, and so they did. The only person spared in the retaking of the #Alamo was Joe, [enslaved by] William Travis.

– James W. Russell, Slavery and the Myth of the Alamo https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/slavery-and-the-myth-of-the-alamo

#history #slavery #USA #Haiti #Texas

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
newsguyusa@flipboard.social ("Steve Herman") wrote:

After 23 years, the US military has formally ended its mission in Iraq. https://www.stripes.com/theaters/middle%5Feast/2026-09-30/iraq-us-troop-withdrawal-23012651.html

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

I kinda loved Supergirl. Watched on streaming with low expectations because of the movie's reception upon release, and was pleasantly surprised.

Boosted by jonny@neuromatch.social ("jonny (nonvenomous)"):
ErikUden@mastodon.de ("Erik Uden 🚩") wrote:

We're all going to die

Boosted by stephen@social.calmabiding.me ("Stephen Castro-Starkey"):
Keab42@kind.social ("September Keable 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️") wrote:

Hey you, the cutie reading this.

You're awesome, and you're doing the best you can right now.

I just want you to know that I believe in you and will support you.

Take care of yourself.

Here is a voucher for one free hug and/or smooch redeemable when you need it.

Boosted by stephen@social.calmabiding.me ("Stephen Castro-Starkey"):
rperezrosario ("Rafael Pérez 🍁") wrote:

U.S. politics poll.

A question for U.S. Democrats:

Would you vote for Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) for the presidency on the 2028 elections?

Boosts welcome.

#uspol #democrats #aoc #poll

brib@bribstodon.xyz ("brib :neofox_floof:​ :Nonbinary:") wrote:

Being a mature student means realising I can't put my body through the kinds of abuse I put it through in my late teens and early 20s.

I wonder how I work around this newfound limitation

Boosted by stephen@social.calmabiding.me ("Stephen Castro-Starkey"):
GeePawHill wrote:

Take the pledge, kids.

"I don't use LLMs and I don't kiss boys who do."

Boosted by brib@bribstodon.xyz ("brib :neofox_floof:​ :Nonbinary:"):
sil ("Stuart Langridge") wrote:

RE: https://front-end.social/@rem/117354339457336507

"You’re not broken; the industry is loud right now."

I'm really hoping to make it to ffconf. You should be too.

Boosted by brib@bribstodon.xyz ("brib :neofox_floof:​ :Nonbinary:"):
reiayanami@aus.social ("Jean 🐦") wrote:

Hi folks ,

You probably know by now that Gang-gang cockatoos are my favourite birds. Hell, my @crimsonbutterfly account is mostly filled with photos of Gang-gang. You might think that seeing so many of my #Ganggang photos means they must be a common species in #Australia #AusPol. Sadly, that isn’t the case.

Gang-gang cockatoos are listed ENDANGERED nationwide due to the destruction of their habitat from human-induced climate change or human-led bulldozing of old gum trees for development

The Australian Government has released their Draft National Recovery Plan for the Gang-Gang Cockatoo and the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Critically Endangered subspecies in Victoria).

If you’ve enjoyed my photos of Gang-gang Cockatoos, could you please spare a minute to send your comments on the Draft National Recovery Plan to the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water?

We need a recovery plan that provides an actionable roadmap, backed by meaningful funding, to protect Gang-gangs and their habitat for generations to come. You don't need to be a scientist to send your comments. You caring is more than enough.

Responses must be submitted by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 7 October 2026.

Please provide your responses by:
Email: recoveryplans@dcceew.gov.au

Please include “Draft National Recovery Plan for the Gang-Gang Cockatoo” in the Subject field of your email.

This is the link to the plan: https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/draft-national-recovery-plan-for-the-gang-gang-cockatoo

#PleaseBoost #Boost4help #Boost4Reach

Boosted by stephen@social.calmabiding.me ("Stephen Castro-Starkey"):
lina@neuromatch.social ("Lina") wrote:

stop SHAMING people for using the unfit for purpose, ecocide-accelerating, labor-stealing, software-degrading, research-corrupting, privacy-invading, disinformation-producing, CSAM-generating, suicide-encouraging, mass violence-enabling, global economy-precaritizing, democracy-eroding, deskilling, brainrotting, futures-foreclosing tech product that was made by the eugenic death cult fascists who bankroll race science promoters and nazi politicians! it's just a value-neutral tool!

chris@fedi.freebooters.uk ("Chris Were ⁂🐧🌱☕️") wrote:

If anyone wants to see the latest on how my video self-hosting is going:
https://chriswere.wales/videos

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
jessamyn@glammr.us ("Jessamyn") wrote:

In a solidarity event, WikiProject Organized Labor is wrapping up tomorrow. It was a monthlong community editing event to improve coverage of union-related topics on all the wiki-properties. I started out just moving union/strike/organizer images from Flickr Commons to Wikimedia Commons but then I realized I could make an article for You Deserve a Tech Union, a very good book about a very important topic. Just a stub, but I'm pleased with it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%5FDeserve%5Fa%5FTech%5FUnion

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
Iris@scholar.social ("Iris van Rooij 💭") wrote:

All we can expect when trying to scale up AI systems is diminishing returns and devastating environmental damage.

Calls for `slowing down’ can conveniently hide the diminishing returns, while still convincing people that the tech is “all powerful”.

Box 1, from: van Rooij, I., @olivia Guest, O., et al. (2024). Reclaiming AI as a Theoretical Tool for Cognitive Science. Comput Brain Behav 7, 616–636. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42113-024-00217-5

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt ("Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️") wrote:

"When I first saw the lead concentrations, they were so high I thought our instrument was broken" 😬

Disposable vapes are also horrible for the environment, throwing away so much plastic, batteries, and electronics.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/disposable-e-cigarettes-more-toxic-traditional-cigarettes

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
jasongorman@mstdn.business ("Jason Gorman") wrote:

I think there's a good case to be made that folks using LLMs to do things they already have tools for that are quicker, more reliable and require many orders of magnitude less compute have lost the plot.

See also: people explaining to an LLM what code they want when it would actually be quicker to just write it.

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
pkra@bonn.social ("Peter Krautzberger") wrote:

laber, laber ... LLM

(PS https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colemanit#Dehydratation)

https://mstdn.social/@Remittancegirl/117353960567676618

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
matuzo@front-end.social ("Manuel Matuzović") wrote:

RE: https://toot.cafe/@baldur/117359189672849626

Unfortunately, I can confirm all of this. I only have one in-person workshop this year. Before I had a couple of them every year. My online workshops aren't going well, either. I have two coming up, which I may have to cancel.

Workshops have been a big source of income for me, but I think that's over now. I'm already working on a plan B, but it's not going to be in education and not even in web dev.

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
dingemansemark@scholar.social ("Mark Dingemanse") wrote:

Indeed. As @olivia often says, guardrails are a scam. Model providers can play catch-up with stopgap measures but fundamentally these systems are open, and just as water seeks its own level, prompts find their way

Perhaps of interest, I go into some detail about guardrails and preference tuning (RLHF) in a recent paper of mine
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19452871

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
tante@tldr.nettime.org wrote:

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@david%5Fchisnall/117358990093685067

100%. The whole "terrorists can use an LLM to build a bomb" is a dumb movie plot threat. If you want to hurt people, lack of knowledge is not your problem. And nobody needs to develop a new chemical to do terrorism. All you need is readily available.

This is just "AI" labs creating imaginary issues to distract us from the real harm they cause.

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
SaraSoueidan@front-end.social ("Sara Soueidan") wrote:

I made some minor design and content structure tweaks to the Practical Accessibility course website (ahead of its third anniversary). https://practical-accessibility.today

One of the changes I made was creating a dedicated page for the many many reviews & testimonials that the course has received over the past 3+ years.

A heartfelt thank you to each & every one who has shared their experience & recommended the course. I’m forever grateful to you all. 🫶🏻

More to come!

Boosted by brib@bribstodon.xyz ("brib :neofox_floof:​ :Nonbinary:"):
inthehands@hachyderm.io ("Paul Cantrell") wrote:

I made a thing!

https://wogl.innig.net

WOGL is a graphics programming language in which every input string is a valid program. It’s designed to reward play and experimentation.

Please play! Have fun!

baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:

“In response to “The death of web development education” - Andy Bell”

https://bell.bz/in-response-to-the-death-of-web-development-education/

> The most effective way I can contribute, in my opinion, is a crude sketch I just did of Piccalilli‘s Stripe chart for all time sales:

That graph is eye-opening.