mastodon - Link to source

A 25-year-old who's worked for Elon Musk companies now has direct control over a Treasury system disbursements from which amount to a fifth of the US economy. He has high-level admin privileges on a mainframe housing all the code. Access granted as debt ceiling crisis looms, officials in charge of the area have resigned in protest.

wired.com/story/elon-musk-asso…


A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department. It’s also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk has admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, and more.
Vittoria Elliott (WIRED)
in reply to Kevin Beaumont

mastodon - Link to source

Kevin Beaumont

A 19 year old has been given admin access to the core US treasury financial system by Elon Musk’s DOGE.

He goes by the name of “Mr. Big Balls” online, is on Russian forums, and has tried to purchase DDoS botnets.

Elon has said sharing this information is illegal, so please do not press the boost button.

wired.com/story/edward-coristi…


DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Sexy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers

Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems.
Andy Greenberg (WIRED)

reshared this

mastodon - Link to source
I thought I would show off another recording in my train sounds collection from Melbourne.
I was very lucky to get these from a man who recorded them at the time in 1982.
This is what they called a tait train, An old wooden electric set which were the first on the Melbourne network.
Apart from the traction motors, you will also hear the jingling sound of the handles that people could hold which were on leather straps that would swing wildly as the train moved.
These trains did not have electric doors, you opened and closed them manually, a lot of people used to keep them open as the train was moving in hot weather because there was no air conditioning.
These trains were at the very end of their lives When this recording was made.

reshared this

mastodon - Link to source

Ofcom replied to our earlier questions regarding the #OnlineSafetyAct, and declined to answer essentially all of them. We try to understand Ofcom's vague guidance, and contrast it with the stern warnings in today's livestream:

blog.woof.group/announcements/…


Updates on the OSA

In today's livestream (58:00), Ofcom's James Proudfoot told service providers, "If people reach out, what's useful is we can talk to you a bit more speci...
Woof.group Announcements
#onlinesafetyact

mastodon - Link to source
#ČNB si hraje s používáním #LLM pro prognózování inflace. Čekám, že tam mají daleko větší odborníci na AI než jsem já, ale LLM mi pro číselné predikce přijde naprosto nevhodný. Aspoň že tam zmiňují, že si hrají i s jinými metodami strojového učení.
cnb.cz/cs/o_cnb/cnblog/Prvni-v…

První využití AI při prognózování inflace v ČNB - Česká národní banka

www.cnb.cz
#llm #cnb

mastodon - Link to source

Google, a brief history

2004: Don’t be evil
2018: OK, be evil but at least don’t kill people
2025: Fuck it, kill people

independent.co.uk/business/goo…

#Google #BigTech #AI #SiliconValley #USA #capitalism #fascism


Google drops pledge not to use AI for weapons

The tech giant has unveiled an update to its AI principles, which removes references to not pursuing work on weapons and surveillance.
Martyn Landi (The Independent)
#google #AI #USA #capitalism #bigtech #siliconvalley #fascism

mastodon - Link to source

We're partnering with @Tutanota !

As a part of their open source donation program, we will be migrating our mailing infrastructure over to their safe and secure inboxes. We hope this will provide an easier point of contact for our whole team, directly to you

Check them out!
tuta.com/


Tuta: Turn ON privacy for free with secure emails, calendars & contacts | Tuta

Tuta guarantees your data stays private for free & without ads. Quantum-resistant encryption makes Tuta the best secure technology solution to protect your privacy.
Tuta
@Tuta

mastodon - Link to source

What an absolute hero!

While Musk is trying to kill entire government agencies by tweet, Samantha Power walks into The Late Show and explains why USAID is the agency that keeps the world safe and free from disease.

Everything Elon is trying to hide because he wants to free up money for his own tax cuts, Samantha Power lays out beautifully right here:

youtu.be/OIHJub72vuM?si=yDT2rO…

Boost her!

Why Do We Need USAID? Stephen Talks To Samantha Power, Fmr. USAID Administrator

Stephen welcomes the former Administrator of USAID, Samantha Power, back to The Late Show to explain what the agency does and why the world, including the Un...
YouTube

mastodon - Link to source
A step every American should take—and its costs nothing but 30 seconds of your time. To demand accountability of Musk, use this template and email the U.S. Treasury Department today.
Email to privacy@treasury.govwith the following Subject Lineand full email. Sign your name at the bottom, and forward this to everyone you know to do the same. lets-address-this-with-qasim-r…

How Do We Stop the South African Billionaire?

Take 30 seconds to demand the Treasury Department comply with the Privacy Act of 1974, and spread the word After “How do we stop Trump?” the second most common question I’ve received this week is “How do we stop Musk?” As you may know, Trump’s Treas…
Qasim Rashid (Let's Address This with Qasim Rashid)

mastodon - Link to source

Second judge orders temporary halt to Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/f…

#StopTrumpNow #TrumpDidThis #Immigration #MassDeportation #BirthrightCitizenship #RepublicansDidThis #RepublicansOwnThis #GOPKakistocracy #GOPWeirdos #NoRepublicansEverAgain #USPol

An undocumented woman in Texas, walks with her daughter who was born in the US but was denied a birth certificate, in 2015. Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

Second judge orders temporary halt to Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship

Judge said no US court had endorsed Trump’s reading of the 14th amendment and her court ‘will not be the first’
Alice Herman (The Guardian)
#uspol #immigration #TrumpDidThis #republicansdidthis #republicansownthis #gopkakistocracy #gopweirdos #norepublicanseveragain #stoptrumpnow #massdeportation #birthrightcitizenship

mastodon - Link to source

Interview: I Was Fired by Trump in his Anti-DEI Purge, Gutting of Agencies

Karla Gilbride from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was fired by Trump along with two commissioners at the federal agency that enforces civil rights law in the workplace.

The EEOC was created as part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is tasked with investigating discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sex & other characteristics.

democracynow.org/2025/2/5/trum…

#TrumpPurge #Musk #BoughtGovernment #USPol .


I Was Fired by Donald Trump: Top Lawyer at EEOC Speaks Out on “Anti-DEI” Purge, Gutting of Agencies

We speak with Karla Gilbride, the former general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, who was fired by President Trump in late January along with two commissioners at the federal agency that enforces civil rights law in the wo…
Democracy Now!
#uspol #musk #TrumpPurge #boughtgovernment

mastodon - Link to source

Folks, this is a five alarm fire.

Congress must stop Trump and Elon's coup.

Call your rep now (202) 224-3121

This isn't just a battle for checks and balances.

It's a battle between democracy and dictatorship.

youtube.com/watch?v=iHxFx7at50…


Stop Elon Musk’s Coup

Folks, this is a five alarm fire.Congress must stop Trump and Elon's coup.Call your rep now (202) 224-3121This isn't just a battle for checks and balances.It...
YouTube

hometown - Link to source

*DOOMSCROLLING CHECKPOINT*

Okay just stop. Breathe. Take your mind off the rapid collapse of US Democracy for just a few moments.

I'll help you. Here's some baby giant springtails, aren't they cute?

They don't understand human politics, they just eat fungi and logs and go to sleep. That must be nice for them.

Okay, off you go. Come back if you need to.

#Invertebrate #SoiBiodiversity #SoilEcology #Macrophotography #Collembola

A photograph of a baby giant springtail - a soft blue invertebrate covered in tiny yellow spines.
A photograph of a baby giant springtail - a soft blue invertebrate covered in multicoloured tiny spines of yellow, white and purple/pink.
A photograph of a baby giant springtail - a soft blue invertebrate covered in tiny white spines.
#Collembola #macrophotography #invertebrate #soibiodiversity #soilecology

mastodon - Link to source

The GoToSocial developers add a feature that serves randomized nodeinfo stats because services like FediDB don't have an opt-out from the crawling.

dansup goes out of his way to call it "they do this for clout on FediDB" and calls out the project not to be used anymore. 💀

This kind of behavior towards other fedi devs surely goes against the so touted around morals and "being all for fedi".

mastodon.social/@dansup/113951…

mastodon - Link to source

Breaking News: 14 state Attorneys General representing California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Vermont, and Wisconsin advise that Trump's executive order telling hospitals to stop providing care to those under the age of 19 is unlawful.

If you are affected by the ban, please send your hospital system this letter from the AGs: riag.ri.gov/press-releases/att…

#ErinReed
#TransRights

Attorney General Neronha and 14 attorneys general issue joint statement on protecting access to gender-affirming care | Rhode Island Attorney General's Office

riag.ri.gov
#transrights #erinreed

mastodon - Link to source

E-Brieftasche: EU-Kommission will ständige Personenkennung durch die Hintertür
heise.de/news/E-Brieftasche-EU…

Traurig, dass das nicht einmal überrascht...

#privacy #datenschutz


E-Brieftasche: EU-Kommission will ständige Personenkennung durch die Hintertür

Bürgerrechtler beklagen Foulspiel der EU-Kommission bei der europäischen digitalen Identität: Firmen dürften verifizierte Ausweisdaten abfragen.
Stefan Krempl (heise online)
#privacy #datenschutz

pleroma - Link to source
Could I just attach @delta to my existing Postfix+Dovecot server and get the same features as the chatmail servers (aside from push notifications, I guess)? :blobfoxthinkgoogly: #Deltachat

Delta Chat: Chatmail for instant, interoperable and privacy-preserving messaging

What are chatmail servers and how to select one? Chatmail servers are optimized for messaging with Delta Chat to provide a privacy-preserving and speedy user experience, securely interoperable with...
delta.chat
#deltachat @Delta Chat (39c3)
in reply to Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】

mastodon - Link to source

l

You can just use @delta with your existing Postfix+Dovecot server by clicking "Create new profile" -> "Use other server" -> "Classic E-Mail login" and logging into your server there.

There are not that many features offered by chatmail on top of Postfix+Dovecot:
- Patch removing half a second delay from Dovecot: github.com/dovecot/core/pull/2…
- Strict DKIM signature checking
- The ability to create an account via QR code
- Filter to prevent sending unencrypted messages
- push notifications


storage: remove 500 ms debounce on IMAP IDLE notifications by link2xt · Pull Request #216 · dovecot/core

This commit removes hardcoded 500 ms debounce from storage that delays all storage notification subscribers such as IDLE and NOTIFY commands. 500 ms debounce constant NOTIFY_DELAY_MSECS was added i...
GitHub
@Delta Chat (39c3)

mastodon - Link to source

Amazing they found the Israeli chef from Mo and had him give some cooking tips on late night.

Chef Michael Solomonov Shows Seth How to Make Slow-Roasted Short Ribs an...
youtube.com/watch?v=Gav62jtTjt…


Chef Michael Solomonov Shows Seth How to Make Slow-Roasted Short Ribs and Challah Bread

Chef Michael Solomonov shows Seth how to make slow-roasted short ribs and challah bread from his book Zahav Home.Late Night with Seth Meyers. Stream now on P...
YouTube

gotosocial - Link to source

TIL about the Model Context Protocol, a standard for exposing tools/resources/prompts to LLMs used via desktops/other clients. Intriguing. I've been wondering how old-style Mycroft/Alexa-style skill development would work in the age of LLMs and I'm guessing this is it.

Currently trying to use Goose, a CLI developer agent, to build a Joplin MCP server that exposes notes/tags/resources to models. Since context is apparently everything with these, I'm wondering if I can eventually spec out a project in Joplin and have an LLM help implement some features, and/or have the LLM update that spec as things change, including potentially creating/toggling todo items and such. Seems to be off to an OK start.

Maybe I'll finally build that GTFS interface/skill I've been thinking about for years. Would love the ability to chat with transit schedule data, including real-time updates, right from my desktop or Home Assistant satellite. modelcontextprotocol.io/introd…


Introduction - Model Context Protocol

Get started with the Model Context Protocol (MCP)
modelcontextprotocol.io

mastodon - Link to source
We'd like to thank @AccessOn for interviewing @DavidGoldfield and @bblazie on episode 11 of Access On. Learn more about the BT Speak pocket computer for the blind. Also, Jonathan somehow manages to get Bryan to talk more about our upcoming Braille display product.
nfb.org/resources/publications…
#BTSpeak
DG

Blazie Technologies prepares its first refreshable Braille product, more on Facebook accessibility, and join us for our AI prompt engineering boutique | National Federation of the Blind

Welcome to the eleventh episode of Access On, the National Federation of the Blind's Technology podcast. Episode Listen to the eleventh episode of the Access On podcast (Browser). Or listen on your preferred podcast platform.
nfb.org
#btspeak @David Goldfield @Bryan Blazie @Access On

bridgy-fed - Link to source

Another stunning statistic: Google and Apple’s income from app store fees on games is likely higher than all game publishers’ combined income, both mobile and non-mobile.

Holy crap. Talk about egregious rent-seeking.

(Matthew Ball‘s The State of Video Gaming in 2025, page 42)

PRESENTATION: The State of Video Gaming in 2025

A 220-page presentation on the past, present and potential future of the video game industry.
Matthew Ball (MatthewBall.co)

mastodon - Link to source
Hello everyone, We are lowering the price of our Courses All Access plan to $5 or $50 a year. This will give you access to SwiftUI Basics, Practial Python, AI Tips Weekly, and all of our new courses in the future. Check it out and get a 7 day trial at techopolis.courses/bundles/all…

Techopolis Courses All Access

Join Techopolis Courses All Access and unlock all courses provided by Techopolis Courses
Techopolis Courses

mastodon - Link to source
After 24-hour hackathon, Hugging Face’s AI research agent nearly matches OpenAI’s solution
Open source "Deep Research" project proves that agent frameworks boost AI model capability.
arstechnica.com/ai/2025/02/aft…

After 24-hour hackathon, Hugging Face’s AI research agent nearly matches OpenAI’s solution

Open source “Deep Research” project proves that agent frameworks boost AI model capability.
Benj Edwards (Ars Technica)

mastodon - Link to source
Colorado’s high egg prices are blamed on bird flu, but there’s more to the story (Hint: out-of-state supplied eggs) | Colorado Sun
coloradosun.com/2025/02/05/col…

Colorado’s high egg prices are blamed on bird flu, but there’s more to the story

Egg farms are still recovering from the 2022 outbreak but now there’s also the cage-free law, mutations and competition as bird flu devastates other states.
Tamara Chuang (The Colorado Sun)

mastodon - Link to source
The Poetry Fan Who Taught an LLM to Read and Write DNA | Quantum Magazine
"...ChatGPT was trained on large volumes of written English text, from which the algorithm learned patterns that let it read and write original sentences. Similarly, Evo was trained on large volumes of DNA — 300 billion base pairs from 2.7 million bacterial, archaeal and viral genomes — to glean functional information from stretches of DNA that a user inputs as prompts. ..."
quantamagazine.org/the-poetry-…

The Poetry Fan Who Taught an LLM to Read and Write DNA

By treating DNA as a language, Brian Hie’s “ChatGPT for genomes” could pick up patterns that humans can’t see, accelerating biological design.
Ingrid Wickelgren (Quanta Magazine)
This entry was edited (10 months ago)
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