> You arrive at your polling place the same as every election since 2004 with the same precinct, same poll workers, and same ritual of civic participation, but this time the worker scans your driver’s license, frowns, types into the computer, then looks up with an apologetic expression that will replay in nightmares.

> “I’m sorry, but your documents don’t match. Your license says Martinez, but your birth certificate says Chen. I can’t give you a ballot.”

Which states have polling places that use computers? In Wisconsin we have a printout of the registered voters we expect will come to the polling place, that's it. There's no way to look up their birth name. I strongly doubt that the local government has it easily available

new version of Escape the city:

Added fonts and dark/light mode settings,
added difficulty levels,
locked achievements are now hidden.
The unlockable Oregon Trail route has some surprises.
Adjustments to reaching the final checkpoint.

Go play: l-works.net/escape

I am strongly considering shutting down Pomf because the US Department of Justice continues to manufacture outright lies against people who are innocent until proven guilty.

Running the service (despite my best efforts to mitigate risks well beyond what the law would require me to do up to and including full fledged cybersecurity research) exposes me to some level of legal or criminal threat to my livelihood. I knew this going in five and a half years ago, and the calculation at the time was acceptable because even if the feds came knocking at my door, I was confident the evidence would be in my favor and that a reasonable and functional court system would make the right decision. I was also confident that what happened to Les De Ridder almost eight years ago (archive.is/PJTzS) wouldn't happen here in the USA, because Europe was a communist shithole and we had rights over here.

Well, as the US continues to backslide into a fascist regime with a completely captured judicial branch that is utterly subservient to the executive branch, my evaluation of that risk level compared to my maximum tolerance of risk continues to inch closer and closer to parity, and when that risk exceeds it, I am out. If I am not convinced that I can adequately defend myself against potentially spurious claims and threats due to a corrupt and unequal justice system, then my next defense mechanism is to remove any and all ammunition from those who would try to harm me, and the largest weapons cache someone can bring to bear against me at this time is undoubtedly Pomf. I have never considered the government to be part of my overall threat model, but now I do, and I do not have the energy or resources to fight an entire government at this time despite it being morally the right thing to do.

If this does happen, there will be a reasonable and well defined sunset period, with a final archiving of all Pomf content to cold storage in hopes that in the distant future the risk comes down to a level in which I am comfortable bringing it all back online. I would never wipe Pomf - only make it unavailable at worst.

One last thing - if you think I am some big baby or think I have nothing to fear, consider this simple statement:

If they can do it to them, they can do it to you.

I see Node.js tries to solve the AI slop issue on hackerone like this:

require a Signal of 1.0 or higher

nodejs.org/en/blog/announcemen…

Node.js — New HackerOne Signal Requirement for Vulnerability Reports

Node.js® is a free, open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment that lets developers create servers, web apps, command line tools and scripts.

^nodejs.org

For the last decade, the #EU has been funding #Mastodon #KDE #Phosh #Nextcloud #OnlyOffice #PixelFed, #Libreoffice, #CryptPad, #Kdenlive, #Lemmy and many other Open Source projects you know and love through its #NextGenerationInternet programme.

But now that programme is ending and they are thinking about its successor.

They want to hear from you on what it should look like: Share your feedback to make sure the Commission keep funding amazing Open Source projects!

[JM]ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-r…

AI is the recuperation of the anti-copyright critique.

“Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it.” Lautréamont, 1870
1/8

#TheGeneralTheoryOfSlop

A woman who I follow on the fediverse just had to delete a post due to sexual harassment.

Men if you want more diversity on the Fediverse you need to speak up and call in your peers. You need to educate them and if they persist ban them. Make it clear they aren't welcome.

Otherwise you're making it clear we aren't welcome.

It shouldn't just be us doing the work

dotart.blog/cobbles/the-silenc…

#sexism

Rust 1.93.0 has been released! 🌈 🦀✨

This release includes a new musl version for the *-linux-musl targets, adds support for #​[cfg] inside asm!(), and adds [T]::as_array, VecDeque::{pop_front_if, pop_back_if}, Vec/String::into_raw_parts, fmt::form_fn, and more! ✨

Check out the blog post and release notes for all the details: blog.rust-lang.org/2026/01/22/…

Announcing Rust 1.93.0 | Rust Blog

Empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software.

^{blog.rust-lang.org}

U.S. firm involved in Quebec's digital health records is sued by Texas

> A U.S. software engineering firm that’s responsible for Santé Québec’s two pilot projects involving digital health records is being sued by the state of Texas [...] and is maintaining a monopoly that has proved costly to taxpayers.

> Santé Québec, however, is standing by Wisconsin-based Epic Systems despite cost overruns for its projects of nearly $135 million to date.

montrealgazette.com/news/local…

#qcpoli

U.S. firm involved in Quebec's digital health records faces major lawsuit in Texas

The lawsuit alleges Wisconsin-based Epic Systems restricts parental access to children's medical files and is maintaining a monopoly.

^{Aaron Derfel, Montreal Gazette (Montreal Gazette)}

REM had 17 outages in past 2 months

ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/mo…

‘We had higher expectations’: Montreal’s REM plagued by outages

The company responsible for operating the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) is apologizing to users who were left out in the cold Tuesday morning.

^{Matt Gilmour (CTVNews)}

I’ve held
Stone
Warmer
Than your
Words,
Softer than
Your intention.

#poetry

Ja, "klicken Sie nicht auf unbekannte Links" – auch nicht auf solche, die mit "Scanne jetzt" beschriftet sind.

Das Zeug kommt hier täglich vorbei. Der Link führt zu einer Domain, der man also getrost unterstellen kann, mit Malware infiziert zu sein. Möchte jemand raten, welche das ist? Eine vage Idee haben einige jetzt bestimmt schon, also kann ich auch "Butter bei die Fische" geben:

storage.googleapis.com

Jupp. Deren Betreiber ständig meint, wir wären befallen 🤦‍♂️ Keywords: Fegen, Tür, eigene