@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

Jer

@Jer@chirp.enworld.org

He/him or they/them. Gaming nerd, comics geek, educator. Interested in ttrpgs, board games, tech and tech education, and superheroes.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

idoubtit, to ghost
@idoubtit@mstdn.social avatar

I’m excited to start following #Ghost platform accounts here although I’m not quite sure I’ll know how to find them.

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@idoubtit I just hope that folks don't think of it as a replacement for RSS. It's best as a replacement/supplement to comments.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

New Brexit border tax ‘will cause chaos and food shortages' in weeks

Importers will have to pay up to £145 to bring small amounts of food products into the UK from the end of April.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/brexit-border-tax-food-shortage-eu-094240071.html

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@cstross As an American UK conservatives are weird to me. I couldn't imagine our conservatives deciding that when they're the most hated in the polls they're going to introduce a new tax that will drive up the cost of food. Or a new tax period. This would be when they would be cutting taxes and driving up the debt in a desperate bid to try to buy popularity for the election.

lauren, to random
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org avatar

BREAKING: AI that targets civilians: 'The machine did it coldly': Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets - AI may turn out to be the most horrific tech creation in history. It doesn't need to take over the world itself -- all it needs is humans acting on its advice. - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/israel-gaza-ai-database-hamas-airstrikes

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@lauren Sounds like a group of soldiers who suddenly realized that they were committing war crimes.

And the AI here is a way to distance themselves from the act. To pretend that what they're doing is somehow different from what it is. That's one of the real dangers of AI - not that it will be a superintelligent Skynet that will take over the world. But that "the computer told me to do it" becomes an excuse to do things you want to do but can't otherwise justify.

molly0xfff, to random
@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar

Sam Bankman-Fried has just been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@molly0xfff @mistersql I believe that 85% number isn't quite as true anymore. This CNN article says that nonviolent inmates can reduce their terms by 50% rather than 15%. And since white collar crimes are defined as non-violent despite the deaths they might cause, he could be out in 12.5 years.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/28/business/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-sentencing/index.html

juergen_hubert, to folklore
@juergen_hubert@thefolklore.cafe avatar

German is full of tales of evil, prideful nobles who were eventually punished for their sins.

So why is modern media - starting with , and moving on from there - so full of pro- propaganda instead? Lots of "Just Kings", "Plucky Princesses", and so forth. Why is the implication in media nowadays that being exalted by the circumstances of your birth is likely to make you a good person? Instead of being totally oblivious to your own class privilege - and that's probably the best case!

I wonder if anyone has done any scientific research on all these "pro-monarchy" narratives in modern media, and how they came into existence.

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@cstross @juergen_hubert The hard-core anti-monarchists of the Revolution were not the entire population. There were folks who just didn't care, or folks who had no problems with the idea of a monarch but wanted representation in Parliament or particularly resented George III.

The country has always had an undercurrent of monarchism about it. Especially in the South where they explicitly reproduced a class based aristocracy and weren't all that keen on democratic ideals for economic reasons.

GossiTheDog, to random
@GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

Looking increasingly likely that LockBit are lying about having data from a few of their victims - they may have Done A Lapsus and lost it.

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@GossiTheDog It would be utterly unsurprising to find out that ransomware gangs also do not make proper backups of their data.

NanoRaptor, to random
@NanoRaptor@bitbang.social avatar

Half formed thought; The “OMG it looks so real!” posts on openai videos are the end result of humans that have been fed too much AI output and now have corrupted visual recognition systems. The videos look like the fever dreams I had after I ate that 7 year old jar of mayo in one sitting.

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@NanoRaptor It's times like this I remind myself that Arthur Conan Doyle was fooled into believing a photograph of cardboard cutouts of fairies was actually a photographic evidence of the existence of fairies.

At least it reminds me that people probably aren't getting stupider or more credulous. Humanity has always been like this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies

GossiTheDog, to random
@GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

Enjoying this fully patched Ivanti Pulse Connect box (yes, the kernel has dirty in it)

Linux version 2.6.32-00366-gsd3b182-dirty - December 2009

curl 7.19.7 2009-11-04 (14 years)
openssl 1.0.2n-fips 2017-12-07 (6 years)
perl 5.6.1 2001-04-09 (23 years)
psql 9.6.14 2019-06-20 (5 years)
cabextract 0.5 2001-08-20 (22 years)
ssh 5.3p1 2009-10-01 (14 years)
unzip 6.00 2009-04-29 (15 years)

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@GossiTheDog Is this a legacy box or a recent purchase?

Some of that stuff was already out of date when Juniper sold off Funk and it became Pulse Secure. That was ten years ago. If that's a recent box and not some legacy hardware I'd be considering it security malpractice to sell something like that as "new". (and I mean it's still not great if it's a ten year old box that they're not really patching either)

molly0xfff, to web3
@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar

Review: In "Read Write Own", the Andreessen Horowitz general partner and web3 superfan Chris Dixon lays out an unconvincing argument that blockchains are what it will take to fix the web.

https://www.citationneeded.news/review-read-write-own-by-chris-dixon/

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@molly0xfff I recognize this genre of literature - this is the kind of book that hardcore Christian writers write for other hardcore Christians to read so that everyone involved can feel comfortable knowing that they're right and everyone else is wrong. It's not intended to convince an outsider to believe as it is to shore up the belief of a believer who is starting to doubt.

GossiTheDog, (edited ) to random
@GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

The three million toothbrush botnet story isn’t true.

Here’s the original source of the story: https://archive.is/2024.01.30-203406/https://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/wirtschaft/kriminalitaet-die-zahnbuersten-greifen-an-das-sind-die-aktuellen-cybergefahren-und-so-koennen-sie-sich-schuetzen-ld.2569480

It’s simply a made up example. It doesn’t exist. It starts talking about NoName Ddosia, too, which also isn’t toothbrushes.

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@GossiTheDog

"completely made up" makes me wonder if this is some AI journalism that escaped into the wild without fact checking. But Stefan Züger does seem to be a real person so maybe not?

(Thanks for being on top of this - honestly when I saw the story I wondered what toothbrush company was putting wifi into their toothbrushes instead of bluetooth. And why would they do that? Should have realized it was nonsense.)

molly0xfff, to random
@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar

it's impossible for me to be a multimillionaire without robbing a bank, therefore i should be allowed to rob banks

(headline: "‘Impossible’ to create AI tools like ChatGPT without copyrighted material, OpenAI says")

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/08/ai-tools-chatgpt-copyrighted-material-openai

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@molly0xfff Very similar to the argument that "my business would fail if I were required to pay my employees a living wage".

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Just checked Twitter (because reasons) and was prompted to post a 12th anniversary tweet: So I did, as follows (the first line was wet-farted automatically by Dilbert Stark's site):

> Do you remember when you joined X? I do!

And Fuck You, @elonmusk, for crashing the party and smearing shit on the walls.

PS: I'll delete this account for good on the 1st anniversary of my arrival on Mastodon, November 5th.

Follow me at @cstross

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@jkmcnk @cstross @A_C_McGregor I'm not sure how the UK interacts with the GDPR's right to be forgotten anymore, but if you still have the capability it might be worth filing a notice. At the very least when they go to sell the backups of your tweets the purchaser will have to deal with the consequences of X's bad actions.

mekkaokereke, (edited ) to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

🤔If Trump jumps bail, who would the bail bonds person send to go get him?

Please don't say Dog the Bounty Hunter. It would probably be him though. But if not him, then who?

Who is the Bass Reeves of today?

I mean, technically, wouldn't Trump still have a Secret Service detail? How would that work? Would there be a standoff between the US Marshals and the US Secret Service?

So many questions!

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@mekkaokereke Let's face it - if Trump jumps bail he's not staying in the US. He'll go to a non-extradition country. Putin would welcome him as a PR move.

The time to worry about Trump jumping bail is after conviction. If he gets convicted then he might flee the country before going to prison. But so long as he hasn't been convicted he'll try to win the White House because he at least thinks it'll let him avoid prison if he wins.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Amazon tries to take over pirate sites that sold DVD copies of Rings of Power

Low-quality pirated DVDs allegedly "jeopardize Amazon's reputation for quality."

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/amazon-tries-to-take-over-pirate-sites-that-sold-dvd-copies-of-rings-of-power/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Jer,
@Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

@arstechnica Reputation for quality? Were the DVDs really good and Amazon was worried they were setting the bar too high?

idoubtit, to random
@idoubtit@mstdn.social avatar

deleted_by_author

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    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @idoubtit What is he actually trying to prove with this?

    What a pathetic tiny man.

    idoubtit, to threads
    @idoubtit@mstdn.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @idoubtit Meta looked at the pie chart of Twitter users and asked "which group makes the most money for advertisers" and then built a social media site laser targeted at that group.

    idoubtit, to Instagram
    @idoubtit@mstdn.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @idoubtit I'm out because there's no way I'm trusting Facebook with my data in this day and age.

    idoubtit, to random
    @idoubtit@mstdn.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @idoubtit It's tracking the number of accounts that are created. Since you can't delete an account w/o deleting your Insta account, there are accounts just sitting there dead. I assume there are plenty who checked it out and left.

    I've seen the rumors that they made accounts for everyone on Insta but I don't think that's true - I think that's people assuming same login means premad account. Instagram has over 2bn users on it - it'd be hard to hide that if they were trying to juice numbers.

    GossiTheDog, to random
    @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

    Current thinking of where social media will land post Twitter:

    • Mastodon = Tech Twitter, punks and misfits

    • Threads = general use mixed with Mastodon replies, celebs and brands

    • BlueSky = journalists cranky about what happened at Twitter

    • Twitter = cryptobros and web3 people getting scammed, confused journalists hanging around at the funeral unaware

    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @GossiTheDog Head of Instagram says they don't want it to be a place for news and politics, so that's going to cut out a swathe of Twitter folks. Sounds like they want a more entertainment vibe.

    BlueSky could be the new home for that if they can get the funding to scale their service to more users I suppose.

    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @GossiTheDog It'll be interesting to see how BlueSky does in funding. I heard they brought in another $8m in seed funding recently so somebody in Silicon Valley thinks there's a place for it.

    GossiTheDog, to random
    @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @GossiTheDog By the time he's done the only asset might be the trademark.

    GossiTheDog, to random
    @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @GossiTheDog what I'd really like is a way to post news/info links as quote tweets that I can comment on while leaving regular people posts as conversational. Talking to a newspaper account doesn't really seem worthwhile,but quoting the newspaper account and talking about it does.

    Maybe if qts were "opt in" per post? No qt by default but newspapers and others who want to be talked about instead of talked to could turn it on?

    slcw, to random
    @slcw@newsie.social avatar

    “I do not believe that infectious disease is an enormous threat to human health,” Kennedy added. The presidential hopeful stated that if he assumed office, he would target medical journals and redirect funding grants away from epidemiology.

    It cannot be overstated how dangerous this guy would be to America, and the world if he was allowed to occupy the White House. He's a true monster.

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/rfk-kennedy-anti-vaccine-panel-conspiracies-hiv-spanish-flu-1234779689/

    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @cstross @slcw @Lazarou This is literally the same thinking as the OceanGate sub guy. Saying "Subs are totally safe, we don't need these regulations" while not understanding that the reason for the safety is the regulations.

    Same with a lot of anti-vax folks. They don't see infectious diseases as a problem because we don't get them like we used to because of vaccines.

    cstross, to random
    @cstross@wandering.shop avatar

    Totally unsurprising: NHS England in emergency crisis due to 100,000 excess deaths from cardiovascular incidents since March 2020 beyond those attributable to COVID19. Turns out Tory NHS cuts over the previous decade, followed by a pandemic, pushed heart attack/stroke care into meltdown on a national scale, death rate rising (the surplus deaths alone are 10x the death rate from all road traffic accidents).

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/22/health-bosses-warn-of-heart-disease-emergency-in-england

    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @cstross Next step is they use this as proof that government health care isn't working so they can privatize it.

    GossiTheDog, to random
    @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

    billionaires r u okay https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-21597371

    Jer,
    @Jer@chirp.enworld.org avatar

    @GossiTheDog When you're a billionaire you get to have your midlife crisis in the public eye for the entertainment of the masses.

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