mastodon - Link to source

If every country starts requiring that people provide official ID in order to "verify their age" to use social media, there will be no way to use any social media without associating the account with a legal identity.

This is horrible for democracy,
and should terrify everyone.

It doesn't matter if platforms use third-parties or not. It doesn't matter if they use some special encrypted code, the result is the same. This gatekeeps open discussions and government criticisms free from reprisals.

This is bad.
This is China "free-speech" bad.

#Democracy #AgeVerification #Privacy

#privacy #democracy #ageverification
This entry was edited (56 minutes ago)
in reply to Em

mastodon - Link to source

Mikołaj Hołysz

This is not true, there are cryptographic protocols that let you verify some assertion about your identity without revealing anything else about yourself.

The simplest, low-tech solution would be to require a single-use scratch card to sign up for any website. Stores could then be required to verify ID before such a scratchcard could be sold, just like they do now for alcohol and cigarettes.

in reply to Patrick Breyer

mastodon - Link to source

Patrick Breyer

🇪🇺#ChatControl now officially removed from the agenda for Oct. 14th🥳: data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/d…

⚠️However, EU governments continue to work on the proposal.
🗓️The next meeting of EU interior ministers is on Dec. 6/7.

🚫📡🔐Mission: No mass scanning, no backdoors!

#chatcontrol
This entry was edited (5 hours ago)

mastodon - Link to source

Periodic self-repetition: As a data librarian I can say that "AI" is not a matter of personal preference -- whether you like it or not, or whether you have found some use that you think is useful. It actively destroys organized knowledge, and therefore it actively destroys civilization.

Whenever someone looks for a human written text and can't find it because statistical near variants have been created and indexed, whenever "AI" "hallucinates" a reference, knowledge has been destroyed.

mastodon - Link to source

I think background music in public places -- stores, hair salons, dentist's offices, etc. -- might be generally a bad idea. It's impossible to pick music that pleases everyone, we can listen to music as much as we want in private, and background music tends to just add to the noise (on that last point I'm reminded of this song: youtube.com/watch?v=yzEncLnmUe…).

Was thinking about this as my mother and I were at Great Clips waiting to get our hair cut. I'm guessing she didn't like the music.


Adding to the Noise

Provided to YouTube by ColumbiaAdding to the Noise · SwitchfootThe Beautiful Letdown (Deluxe Version)℗ 2003 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENTReleased on: 2007-12-...
YouTube
in reply to Matt Campbell

mastodon - Link to source

Mikołaj Hołysz

It's a coordination / discrimination problem. It ultimately adds more profits than it takes away, hence why business owners won't stop doing it on their own. While the positive impact is spread through society, the negative impact is mostly concentrated in a few particularly sensitive individuals. This makes it an ideal target for regulation, and one of a few situations where I actually think regulation makes sense.

mastodon - Link to source
**Tears of joy alert!!! "On Alaska's frozen shoreline, oil rig workers made a discovery that stopped them cold—a walrus calf, alone and wailing, separated from his mother in waters over 50 miles away. Most walrus pups don't survive 24 hours without maternal contact. This one had already been crying for days.
The Alaska SeaLife Center team didn't hesitate. They designed something unprecedented: round-the-clock "cuddle therapy." Staff members now work in rotating shifts, bottle-feeding every three hours while cradling the 85-pound infant against their chests, mimicking the constant warmth he'd know from his mother. They hum. They rock. They never leave him alone. The transformation has been miraculous. Within weeks, the calf—who arrives limp and dehydrated—now nuzzles into his caregivers' arms, makes happy chirping sounds, and has gained 12 pounds. He recognizes voices. He reaches for familiar faces. Sometimes survival is just about showing up with love."
#Alaska #AlaskaSeaLifeCenter #WalrusPup #Love
Picture of three handlers at Alaska SeaLife Center cuddling with and feeding a walrus pup that was found stranded on the beach near the Slope in northern Alaska. They work in shifts of 3 hours, 24 hours a day.
#love #alaska #alaskasealifecenter #walruspup

mastodon - Link to source

"Canada Post exists to serve people, not shareholders, just like other many essential services that 'cost' Canadians millions per day. Think about it: Long-term care and personal support workers cost Canadian taxpayers millions a day. Should we close the old folks’ homes and put our seniors on the street? Public transit costs millions a day. Should we fire the bus drivers and make everyone walk? Public school support staff — crossing guards, lunch monitors, custodians — cost us millions a day. Do we fire them all and make those lazy teachers do everything?"

Maybe we'd finally be 'productive,' or 'ambitious,' or 'competitive' enough, then.

I’m a letter carrier. Canada Post exists to serve people, not shareholders, just like other essential services
thestar.com/opinion/letters-to…

archive.is/cchRs


I’m a letter carrier. Canada Post exists to serve people, not shareholders, just like other essential services

How the Liberals changed course on Canada Post, Oct. 6
Unknown (Toronto Star)

mastodon - Link to source

Bored this Sunday? Use your downtime to learn How to Synth! Dive into the wonderful world of making weird synthesizer noises with my simple, hands-on guide. Still a work in progress, but there's plenty there to get you started!

etherdiver.com/how-to-synth-a-…

#synthesizer #SoundDesign

How To Synth: A Guide to Programming Synthesizers – Ether Diver

www.etherdiver.com
#sounddesign #synthesizer

mastodon - Link to source

Паглядзіце дакументалку пра НРМ.

youtu.be/e49klkZZHXw?si=NE1GHO…


NRM і трагедыя культавага рок-гурта. ВОЛЬСКІ і ПАЎЛАЎ пра партызаншчыну, забароны і галоўны канфлікт

Гэта сапраўднае кіно пра культавы беларускі гурт NRM. Яны пачыналі на аскепках свабоды і Мроі, вялі партызаншчыну і запісвалі найвядомейшыя песні ў гісторыі ...
YouTube

mastodon - Link to source

for you hax0rs: Google "AI" is currently vulnerable to prompt injection by "ASCII smuggling"—this is when you convert ASCII to Unicode tag characters, rendering them invisible to the user but visible to the LLM. here's how it's done:
gist.github.com/Shadow0ps/a7dc…

here's someone using this to make Google Calendar display spoofed information about a meeting:
firetail.ai/blog/ghosts-in-the…

others say summarising functions were affected too, so I wonder if you can add tag texts to your website and poison the Google so-called "AI summary" anti-feature.

ChatGPT filters out tag character but, usefully, Google is refusing to, so unless they get a backlash this might be a fun exploit to explore: pivot-to-ai.com/2025/10/11/goo…


Ghosts in the Machine: ASCII Smuggling across Various LLMs

Researcher Viktor Markopoulos discovers ASCII Smuggling bypasses human audit via Unicode, enabling enterprise identity spoofing and data poisoning on Gemini & Grok.
Alan Fagan (FireTail)

gotosocial - Link to source

Well, well, I guess this had to happen eventually. Got my first music offer rejected by a film studio working on a documentary because "we got this covered by AI, but thank you very much for your kind offer."

The rejection itself doesn't really make me sad, this is perfectly normal and especially now the competition is huge. What makes me sad though is that this is a pretty big name in the industry, so it'll only get worse from here on. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

This entry was edited (3 hours ago)

mastodon - Link to source
The NATO phonetic alphabet that we use today had numerous permutations along the way.
This video chronicles that development.
youtu.be/UAT-eOzeY4M?si=35f3ZM…
#communications #HamRadio #AmateurRadio

The genius logic of the NATO phonetic alphabet

Let’s uncover the secrets of the NATO phonetic alphabet! 🌏 And you can get an exclusive NordVPN deal + 4 months extra here → https://nordvpn.com/robwordsvpn...
YouTube
#hamradio #amateurradio #communications
in reply to Chris Smart

mastodon - Link to source

Chris Smart

Alpha said “Bravo, Charlie” and Delta Echoed the sentiment. We danced the Foxtrot at one of those Golf Hotels (it was in India) when Juliet (who had put
on a few Kilos) gave a Lima bean to Mike. Last November, Oscar’s Papa went to Quebec to meet Romeo. He wore a Sierra and Tango coloured Uniform. Meanwhile
Victor drank Whiskey as he looked at the X-ray of the Yankee, whose arm was broken by a Zulu.

plume - Link to source

The Best Press Release Writing Principals in AI era


 Stumble upon this brilliant article that I think everyone can learn from it

For people working with media and PR, it's quite easy to spot AI generated press releases. AI output is wordy, repeating to the point of annoying. Without human revision, it's hard to read.

But even before the AI era, many press releases are full of jargons that are quite difficult to read.
The reason is simple and cleverly pointed out by this article I read on PR News Releaser: “Think Like a Reader” is the Best Press Release Strategy -- ... they’re written for the wrong audience... disconnect between what companies want to say and what readers actually want to read.

How true is that.

Even highly educated people would appreciate a press release written in simple words and clear explanations, not just generic self-praising, self-promotion sentences.

The article also provide clever strategies on how to convince your boss that writing to the reader is the right way to compose a press release. Check it out.


“Think Like a Reader” is the Best Press Release Strategy

Most press releases die when its online or land in inboxes. They sit unread, unshared, and ultimately ineffective—not because they lack newsworthy information…
News PR (PR News Releaser)
in reply to Terence Eden

mastodon - Link to source

Terence Eden

I am being slightly disingenuous here.

Some of the many advantages of LLMs over SO is that the LLM is friendly and fast.

That's why Kids Today™ prefer Discord to forums. Someone replies immediately. You don't have to wait for an answer and check back.

LLMs are rarely rude. It can be terrifying to make yourself vulnerable and admit in public you don't know something basic. Especially when humans are mean and judgemental.

mastodon - Link to source

Everyone knows the weekends are the best time to push important updates, right?

From Jeep Wrangler forum: Did anyone else have a loss of drive power after today's OTA Uconnect update?

On my drive home I abruptly had absolutely no acceleration, the gear indicator on the dash started flashing, the power mode indicator disappeared, an alert said shift into park and press the brake + start button, and the check engine light and red wrench lights came on. I was still able to steer and brake with power steering and brakes for maybe 30 seconds before those went out too. After putting it into park and pressing the brake and start button it started back up and I could drive it normally for a little bit, but it happened two more times on my 1.5 mi drive home.

Source: x.com/StephenGutowski/status/1…

More here: jlwranglerforums.com/forum/thr…

and here: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4…

a post on Friday, Oct 11 on jlwranglerforums.com B JeepCares i Jeon H 812 posts - Joined 2021 #49 + 27m ago Hi everyone, We are awaiting further information from our software engineering teams that are currently investigating this issue. | will post here when | have further information. Earlier today we had success with customers not using hybrid or electric mode. Please exercise extreme caution this evening if you have completed the update. If you have NOT completed the update and see the pop-up, please continue deferring so that the update does not go through. For a telematics box module update, you can defer infinitely, and it will expire within 30 days. Our expectation is that the dealer network will have documentation available Monday morning for any vehicles that have been towed over the weekend alerting them to next steps (which are still in process of being developed) to ensure that no one is charged for a diagnostic fee. Thank you to everyone who has provided VINs so far. Kori Jeep Cares — 03 Qs ih 8.4
< Post [ac] [8 Stephen Gutowski @ of “W° @stephenGutowski Jeep just pushed a software update that bricked all the 2024 Wrangler 4xe models, including my Willys. The future is going great. 12:56 PM - Oct 1, 2025 - 154.4K Views 15 Was Q 14k Res 2 ® Who can reply? Accounts @StephenGutowski follows or mentioned can reply [8 Stephen Gutowski & ©StephenGutowski - 21h [oJ “MW Here's what the issue looks like for those wondering =, . 3 DON'T UPDATE Your U-Connect | Jeep Wrangler 4x... ~ As of October 10th 2025 the uconnect update is | causing major issues for many 4xe owners. We lose. X 5 Qn Qs 1h 22k na [18 Stephen Gutowski & @StephenGutowski - 20h [oJ “M" When mine bricked, | did the infotainment reset. You put the car in acc mode then press the radio power and tune buttons for ten seconds until the screen restarts. Then turn it on. | had to do that several times before the Jeep would drive again. 4 j= Q 1o thi 11K na [8 Stephen Gutowski & @StephenGutowski - 15h [oJ “MW so, here's what Jeep says. It's the telematics box, which as far as | understand it does diagnostics and ota communications, that's causing the problem. This is the sort of thing | worried about buying a new car, ‘especially a Jeep 4xe. Oh well. dxeforums.com/threads/wrangl...

2024 4xe Loss of Motive Power after 10/10/25 OTA update

Did anyone else have a loss of drive power after today's OTA Uconnect update? On my drive home I abruptly had absolutely no acceleration, the gear indicator on the dash started flashing, the...
JesseT (Jeep Wrangler Forums (JL / JLU) -- Rubicon, 4xe, 392, Sahara, Sport - JLwranglerforums.com)
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