Tootfinder

Esusu, which offers a rent reporting API to Zillow, banks, and others to help renters build credit scores, raised a $50M Series C at a $1.2B valuation (Krysta Escobar/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/11/esusu-funding-renters-credit-scores.html

Esusu, platform for renters to build credit scores, valued at $1.2 billion in new funding round
Esusu raises $50 million at a $1.2 billion valuation as it helps more renters build credit scores and gain access to mortgages and other financial products.

"Yes, this is about AI. The AI industry can only succeed if it separates people from their joy and their confidence. An industry run by people who were not raised with love, attempting to steal it from others."
(Original title: How to raise children)
https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archiv

How to raise children
A wee little painting (11×14”, sans stick) I made last week. This one got auctioned off on Bluesky to help folks in Minnesota. I’m making more. This week’s...

Posts like this, where knowledgeable people talk about their area of expertise using appropriate tech jargon, are a good reminder of what VFX people probably sound like to others when we‘re debugging a fluid sim, some Python code or why Nuke keeps crashing. https://friend.camp/@aparrish/115714379…

This is a quick intro of my personality, strengths and values.
It's purpose is to help others better understand me and get the most from our interactions.
#personalusermanual

I just added a recipe for backing up your #Discourse using restic, and a bunch of other updates, to my guide to Discourse deployment, as part of working on deploying a new Discourse instance. A bunch of plugins that I used to recommend adding are now in the core, which simplified the install.

Through research and dumb luck, I have put together this list of Canadian Mastodon admins that may be interested in the previous message in this thread.
@…
@…
@…
@…
@…
@…
@…
I know there are others. Please help us reach them so everyone has an opportunity to provide input.
#MastoCanadaGOV
@…

I couldn’t find a clear guide, so I put together my own “Entry to Left-Wing Anarchist Reading.”
Thought it might help others getting started on this path.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WuGnU7O_0eyjf9caYJXJn-KbXfsQi3uHE5EYYzQcbD8/ed…

Imagine being so depraved that you will spread FUD about and defame a young woman in Gaza who is volunteering to help others who are also being forced to endure genocide and famine in Gaza.
That’s exactly what these two accounts are doing:
• @… (CC mastodon.de admin, @…

The network security firm @… posted about Scattered Spider and they included a few TTP's that I'd not seen before. Use of the legitimate teleport.sh tunneling service and the shz.al pastee/file hosting service. Block these domains -- and the others in the article -- if you don't use those services.

Scattered Spider Attacks | Infrastructure and TTP Analysis
An in-depth analysis of Scattered Spider attacks, detailing the group’s infrastructure usage and TTPs to help defenders detect and disrupt activity earlier.

I so hope this blows up in his face spectacularly.
Note that I do not believe that any LLM can become as skilled as the least skilled #InfoSec professional using conventional tools, so I’m quite confident this will not reach any useful goal.
I’m saying he needs to learn a lesson, and it would be great if it were useful for others as well. @…

Alex Jeffrey Pretti Knew He Wanted to Help Others (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/alex-jeffrey-pretti-was-an-icu-nurse-at-the-va-hospital.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260125/p10#a260125p10

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSbtXuCCe9Y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Japan Daily on Instagram: "Marty Friedman, an American musician based in Japan, visited a junior high school in Chiba at an event organized by local police to promote coexistence with foreigners. Speaking to first-year students, he said that 99.9% of foreigners who come to Japan are not dangerous and are often eager to communicate with Japanese people. He encouraged students to learn foreign languages and approach others without fear. Friedman also shared a personal story about forgetting his wallet in Japan, highlighting the country’s honesty. The event aimed to help young people understand cultural differences as foreign visitors and workers increase. Learning with empathy can reduce tension and improve everyday interactions. Source:TOKYO NP"
2,062 likes, 113 comments - japandaily_jp on December 18, 2025: "Marty Friedman, an American musician based in Japan, visited a junior high school in Chiba at an event organized by local police to promote coexistence with foreigners. Speaking to first-year students, he said that 99.9% of foreigners who come to Japan are not dangerous and are often eager to communicate with Japanese people. He encouraged students to learn foreign languages and approach others without fear. Friedman also shar…

I don't believe that anyone is intrinsically or essentially evil. If we believed they they were intrinsically evil, we could not hold them responsible for the evil that they do, because they could not help it.
But people do things which are evil. People do things which are evil often because they did not sufficiently think ahead, and consider the consequences of their actions. And people do things which are evil sometimes because others who have authority over them tell them to. &g…

Nearly a million chickens packed the barns at Howe’s Hens last Christmas Eve when the first of them tested positive for bird flu.
The deadly virus spreads so fast that even if only one hen is infected,
farmers are legally obligated to kill all of the others.
Massive mounds of carcasses soon appeared outside the Ohio egg farm, covered in compost. 
The slaughter wasn’t enough.
The virus tore through industrial barns in Darke County
and moved on through one …

What the U.S. Government Is Dismissing That Could Seed a Bird Flu Pandemic
Egg producers suspect bird flu is traveling through the air. After a disastrous Midwestern outbreak early this year, we tested that theory and found that where the wind blew, the virus followed. Vaccines could help, but the USDA hasn’t approved them.

A profile of the Digital Security Helpline, run by Access Now, which gives 24/7 help to reporters and others who suspect they are victims of government spyware (Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/27/m…

Meet the team that hunts government spyware
For years, Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline has been aiding journalists and dissidents who have been targeted with government spyware. This is how they operate.

Making this a subtoot so I don't come across as smug or condescending...
My decision to stop using github when they started providing services to ICE back in ~2016 felt awkward at times but has been feeling really good in hindsight right now.
I see a bunch of people now saying "why boycott X company over some "minor" transgression or political capitulation (or over a "neutral" stance on LLM code). The answer is: it shows what their values are, which predicts their future behavior, especially under the tilted playing field of capitalism. I'm by no means perfect at this and I don't think shouting at people to boycott is a good idea for several reasons. People should boycott what they want to, for their own reasons. But I am posting this to try to help others be aware of the upsides of taking action when confronted with "subtle" evidence of corporate unvalues.

7 Common #Kubernetes Pitfalls
https://kubernetes.io/blog/2025/10/20/seven-kubernetes-pitfalls-and-how-to-avoid/

Listen Labs, whose AI tools help Microsoft and others run customer research and interviews, raised a $69M Series B led by Ribbit Capital at a $500M valuation (Iain Martin/Forbes)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/iainmartin/20

This $500 Million AI Startup Runs Customer Interviews For Microsoft And Sweetgreen
The San Francisco-based company, which has run more than 1 million customer interviews with its automated AI tools to help major companies figure out what their users want, has now raised $69 million.

Israel appeared to break with the Trump administration on Saturday
over the makeup of a key committee to oversee the cease-fire in Gaza.
On Friday, the White House announced a “Gaza Executive Board”
to help administer the truce between Israel and Hamas.
The members included
Ali al-Thawadi, a senior Qatari official,
and Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister,
among others.
While an Israeli businessman is on the committee,
Israeli of…

World Leaders Consider Joining Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza
The clash came as world leaders were deciding whether to join President Trump’s “Board of Peace” for Gaza.

Hey Generous Folks -- I wanted to put a message up for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. #16DaysAgainstGBV #16Days
Rather than an ask for donations, I want to encourage you to find your local spaces in your own community that help women and people of all genders who are fleeing gender based violence or intimate partner violence.
Maybe *you* can raise a few dollars, volunteer at a local space, or help out in other ways. Maybe you've never done that. It might seem scary! I guarantee you, you'll love it. Whether you raise $50 or $500, or nothing at all, by becoming part of it, you'll make a difference
I'm signing up, as I have for a few years now, for another year at Coldest Night of the Year (#IntimatePartnerViolence #Canada #CanPoli #CdnPoli

Berlin-based Cloover, which makes software to help install solar, home batteries, and heat pumps, raised $22M from Lowercarbon and others and $1.2B in debt (Coco Liu/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01…