Tootfinder

“The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a ‘seemingly threatening’ drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection, lawmakers said.”
https://apnews.com/article/military-la

US military uses laser to down drone and FAA closes more El Paso airspace, officials say
Members of Congress say the U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone. The Federal Aviation Administration responded Thursday by closing more airspace near El Paso, Texas. No commercial flights were affected this time. The FAA shut down the El Paso airport and the surrounding area just over two weeks ago after another use of an anti-drone laser. The Defense Department and Transportation Department referred questions to the FAA. The FAA, CBP and the Pentagon …

Taylor Swift's TAS Rights Management has filed applications to trademark the singer's voice and image, aiming to protect against threats posed by AI (Josh Gerben/Gerben IP)
https://www.gerbenlaw.com/blog/taylor-swift-moves-to-tra…

Taylor Swift Moves to Trademark Her Voice and Image as AI Threats Grow
Taylor Swift’s new trademark filings target AI voice and image misuse. Here’s how trademarks are becoming a key tool for identity protection.

A Palestinian middle school student in Michigan
who was publicly admonished for refusing to stand for the pledge of allegiance as part of a personal protest against the war on Gaza
has settled with her school district following a lawsuit around her first amendment free speech rights.
The teenager, identified as DK in court documents, said she faced racism from a teacher at the West Middle school in Canton, Michigan,
after she did not participate in the pledge.
T…

48 hour film festival's AI rule. I think it says a lot as to what is and isn't allowed. Some of it might just be pragmatic, but some of it may also reflect values of what is considered central and what more peripheral?

Beautiful day for a protest #Pasadena #California #NoKings

A long time ago, when I was still going to school, I often thought about some class or other: "What's the point of this? I'm just wasting time on stuff I won't ever need. And my grades are going down because of it." So I supported all these bright ideas like having schools work the curriculum out with the industry.
Nowadays, I know better. The purpose of school is not to produce ready-made employees. It's to give people a wider perspective. Perhaps they won't use most of what they learn there, perhaps they'll have bad memories of some classes, but that doesn't really matter. What does matter is that you learn how to learn, how to reason, how to think.
I hate what's been happening to schools lately. They are becoming conveyor belts: we throw children on them, throw specific knowledge at them and see what sticks, we do exams and classify them. We expect to get a thoughtless laborer at the end, someone ready to take a specific job immediately.
A human whose only purpose in life is mindless labor and mindless consumption. Metaphorically, someone who's just going to spend their time off by drinking beer in the front of the TV and breeding more babies. Babies who will eventually become more cogs in the machine, fueling the infinite growth, trying to prevent this mindless system from falling apart.
#AntiCapitalism

…it’s not even that. It’s just ugly. Bad layouts. Bad margins. Bad proportions. Awkward animations. Flickers and flashes. Content peeking through all the negative space so that the screen is filled with visual noise. It feels designed by committee. It feels pasted together.
The feel of Apple products has covered a lot of ground over the decades. They’ve felt elegant. They’ve felt basic. They’ve felt bauble-y and cute. They’ve felt futuristic. They’ve felt practical. But this is the first time I can recall an Apple product feeling •cheap•.

Groundhog day. #totp
"A guest-singer from Spain, for the producer's previous project Nakatomi, kept repeatedly singing "venga" in their songs, which means "come" in Spanish. This led to the name 'Vengaboys' as their following project. So yes, Vengaboys actually means "Comeboys".

Based on reports as of March 2026,
the U.S. and Ecuador are collaborating on "Operation Total Extermination"
against, targeting, and destroying "narcotics-related sites" in South America.
While offering further strikes, this strategy faces criticism for failing to reduce urban insecurity and surging homicide rates within Ecuador, despite the military operations
Critics argue this strategy prioritizes
"videos that the Pentagon could shar…

The Holes in Trump’s ‘Shield of the Americas’
Military operations won’t produce real security for Latin America if there is no strategy beyond targeting cartel leaders with lethal force.

Hercules Statue by Uris Hall in the Snow (he's actually made of recycled automotive bumpers!)
#photo #photography #greek