@Techmeme@techhub.socialA look at Confer, an open-source AI assistant project from Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike that is designed to provide end-to-end encryption for AI chats (Dan Goodin/Ars Technica)
https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/0…
@davidaugust@mastodon.onlineJust wrote this:
"Real American citizens would never encounter such an un-American experience, and rest assured if you do get taken, maimed or killed by ICE, or ICE-like forces, you weren't really an American to start with, were you?"
https://stuff.davidaugust.com/ice-didn
@heiseonline@social.heise.deheise | To-Do-Apps im Vergleich: Google Tasks vs. Zenkit, Todoist und Tasks.org
Endlich nichts mehr vergessen: Google Tasks erinnert pünktlich an Aufgaben, Pflichten und Geburtstage. Wir zeigen, welche Apps mehr Komfort und Features bieten.
@deprogrammaticaipsum@mas.to"To future historians—not just of computing, but of humanity—the current period will be a dark age.
How was Facebook used by students in the 2010s? We cannot show you, that version of Facebook is not hosted anywhere.
What correspondence did Vint Cerf have as president of the ACM with other luminaries of computing industry and research? We do not know; Google will not publish his emails."
@vrandecic@mas.toOne thing I like to do is to compare the articles in different Wikipedia language editions about the same topic (I know, I'm a nerd). My daughter was watching me, and then she suggested a topic and that we should ask an AI to help.
She suggested YouTuber Technoblade, whose article is available in 35 language editions of Wikipedia, and I chose Gemini since I got a free subscription for its paid-tier service.
Since all are tired of AI dialogs, it is radically edited. Full dialo…
@karlauerbach@sfba.socialA US Federal person would be sanctioned for the costs and perhaps prosecuted if he were to check out a motor-pool car and then proceed to give it to a junkyard to be dismantled.
So why is the US not being sanctioned for the cost of converting US Federal property - the East Wing - to his personal use and sending it to the wrecker?
I do hope that if we ever get past the maga era that our government goes after to ill doers to recoup at least part of the vast damage that they have do…
@timbray@cosocial.caUnusual GenAI application: Snarky answers to shitty emails.
#genAI
@smashtie@mas.toI've got to do some catching up, #strictly crowd. I'll catch up your chats once we have skipped forward to live. Sorry. Busy day.
@seeingwithsound@mas.toIEEE Spectrum: Two visions for the future of AR smart glasses #AR/#AI
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzWhat do the Cowboys need in Week 15 to keep playoff hopes alive? https://insidethestar.com/what-do-the-cowboys-need-in-week-15-to-keep-playoff-hopes-alive
@brian_gettler@mas.toConference Paper Proposals: How to Confidently Assert Something You Do Not Actually Know
@brichapman@mastodon.socialyou don't have to be healed to begin — https://www.brichapman.com/p/you-dont-have-to-be-healed-to-begin?utm_source=bri-mastodon&utm_medium=social
@gfriend@mas.toSage advice about artificial intelligence: "Do your own original thinking first."
Because “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/philkoopman/p/plans-plan…
@aral@mastodon.ar.al“How did it feel for the man who built a home, only to watch it turn to the rubble? How does a farmer stand before the land he tended year after year, now lying barren—no scent of soil, no whisper of harvest? How does a father tell his son the school he loved is gone, that the garden where he played is now only a rumor in the rubble? How does a mother walk through the ghost of a playground, finding a small shoe, a torn notebook, a toy she once mended? How do neighbors look at one another, wo…
@migueldeicaza@mastodon.socialI shrank down SwiftGodot for those that just want to expose APIs to Godot, but do not need to control Godot, and added a template that you can use to make your own:
This leverages the new "barebones" SwiftGodot work:
https://github.com/migueldeicaza/SwiftGodotAppleT…
@luana@wetdry.worldI made a script for this, but then I thought a webui would be better so I could use it in my phone and stuff
I asked an LLM to generate a python webui to run server-side the script I wrote, and surprisingly it 100% worked first try. I was sure it wouldn’t work at all, but I didn’t touch that code and it works.
I can’t even say I “vibe coded” this bc I didn’t even read the code enough to know its vibes lmao. I’m surprised this even works, and it does work well. What the actual fuck.
Welp, not my favourite way to do things but I wasn’t in the mood to do python and figure out the extra libraries and stuff.
And it works so I’ll just use that. In a hardened systemd service to make sure it doesn’t like accidentally delete my whole system or something.
@cjust@infosec.exchangeA good friend of mine has the Muppet character "Beaker" as his avatar. For reasons.
He offers me advice. I offer him advice. We chat. These are #ChatsWithBeaker
![-> lol
-> sigh
->[REDACTED] : Is there a way to move a calendar from the old Sharepoint site to the new one?
-> Everyone: yeah you have to do it manually.
-> [REDACTED]: yeah, no wrong answer.
<- Headline on TechCrunch:
<- I asked Al to move a calendar from the old SharePoint to SharePoint online,
<- and it took out a hit on the CFO
-> lol
<- "I didn't even know it could access the Dark WebTM" said the anonymous
<- insider who asked to remain anonymous as they weren't authorized to speak…](https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/115/894/678/713/780/912/original/27bdce2112445f2b.png)
@cdarwin@c.imTrump said Tuesday that the United States could step in to disarm Hamas
— “quickly and perhaps violently”
— if the organization did not do so itself,
a potential vulnerability in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement
that has tentatively brought an end to two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for nearly two decades,
has not yet publicly agreed to or signed anything that specifies how it will disarm,
though …
@selea@social.linux.pizzaTurns out, that if you want to do a database migration - it is much faster to do it when the database is physically close to you, and not 3000km away
/s
@pre@boing.worldFinal day of having the carpenter here. A lot of sawing. Built the dresser desk drawers, cut all the perspex into shape for the windowed doors that fit together now but still need gluing.
The dresser drawers are just about big enough to put the hairdryer in, so that's nice.
Still quite a bit for the other workers to do. Detailing for panels on the doors, gluing and hanging the window doors, handles and painting and touch ups. They reckon another 5 days work still, only two of which can be next week because I have stuff to do.
Must be weird being a builder and finishing your part of the job then never seeing it completed. He's done all this great work on it but will only see the completed work if he has to come back for something else. And he doesn't want to come back coz he's fed up of driving across London 😆
@hex@kolektiva.socialTime for a social experiment. I have 5 questions:
- What should we work towards as a society?
- What's one thing that doesn't exist now in your community but should?
- What's one action you could take in the coming year to align your life with that goal?
- What's one thing you could achieve in the coming year to get closer to making that thing exist?
- Imagine that we changed everything and you're living in the world you want to see exist. What does the world look like?
I've asked variations of these already (and am still getting great responses), but this time there's a catch. Get together some of your friends (3-5 people) and ask these questions of the group. Come up with *one* answer that everyone in the group agrees on and post it here, then write a bit about your experience.
If you don't know people locally (or otherwise can't do this in person), tag some folks in here or wherever your people are at digitally. Just add some info on if it's online or in person.
For anyone bold enough to actually do this, let me know if you'd be OK with me putting this in an upcoming entry (https://anarchoccultism.org/building-zion/).
@bogo@hapyyr.comWe really need a new Internet. How do we help?
https://torrentfreak.com/italy-fines-cloudflare-e14-million-for-refusing-to-filter-pirate-sites-on-public-1-1-1-1-dns/
@markhburton@mstdn.socialNeed to actually ban smartphones before, say 16. A non-internet phone is more than sufficient for safety purposes. It isn't just social media but the mindless scrolling of mostly USAmerican drivel videos and the like. I know children who will do it for hours, in preference to any worthwhile activity.
Keir Starmer tells MPs he is open to social media ban for young people | Keir Starmer | The Guardian
@mlawton@mstdn.socialHad to expand C:\ on a VM and I'm irritated that Windows, after decades, STILL doesn't have the built-in tooling in disk management to work around their recovery partition. You can't extend a partition if the space isn't contiguous, so you have to move the recovery partition.
Why it exists at the end instead of the beginning also doesn't make sense to me. I'm sure there is a reason. 🤷
It can be easily done IF you know how to do it. This guide was perfect.…
@memeorandum@universeodon.comMayor Jacob Frey Says 'I Do Not Support Abolishing ICE' After Telling Agents to 'Get the F*ck Out of Minneapolis' (Zachary Leeman/Mediaite)
https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/mayor-jacob-frey-says-i-do-not-support-abolishing-ice-after-telling-agents-to-get-the-fck-out-of-minneapolis/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260114/p1#a260114p1
@Erikmitk@mastodon.gamedev.place„How do you lovingly care for an aging parent who treated you like shit?
[…]
You lovingly care for an aging parent by making sure that the way they treated you stops with you. You lovingly care for an aging parent by learning how to love others, and by letting them love you.”
This is a cathartic piece that resonated with me. My parents do not treated me like shit but I resonate with the
somewhat disconnectedness.
@katrinakatrinka@infosec.exchange
@UP8@mastodon.social🪓 Algorithms do widen the divide: Social media feeds shape political polarization
https://english.elpais.com/technology/2025-11-27/algorithms-do-widen-the-divide-social-media-feeds-shape-political-polarizati…
@jorgecandeias@mastodon.social
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioAnd what happens when we fail to do our job, fail to treat with revulsion speech that deserves revulsion? What happens when we give racists and slavers and genocidal zealots room, whether out of some misguided sense of respect, or laziness, or fear?
You know the answer to this question.
@neverpanic@chaos.social
@servelan@newsie.socialVance said ICE will go 'door-to-door' to check immigration status | Snopes.com
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/vance-door-to-door-ice/
@ErikUden@mastodon.deFolx, I don't do this often, but one of my favorite projects has now gone online again and I wish to share it! Feel free to check out @… at:
🔗 https://howtheyvote.eu/
@Jyoti@mas.toIn 2026, I'm gonna go to more #cons and do more #cosplay.
I had some amazing times at #DestinationStarTrek before Paramount nuked Euro cons.
I'd like MORE!
@yaya@jorts.horsesure do wish I could go to sleep instead of having to go to the bus at 3:45am :behehe:
nah it'll be good to see my friend and also I think it'll be my first time in Philly so that's chill
@kctipton@mas.toHow Do We Honor Veterans? By Learning from Their Experiences. - TheHumanist.com https://thehumanist.com/commentary/how-do-we-honor-veterans-by-learning-from-their-experiences
@raiders@darktundra.xyzRaiders get to work building an offensive juggernaut in 3-round mock draft https://raiderramble.com/2026/01/14/raiders-get-to-work-building-an-offensive-juggernaut-in-3-round-mock-draft/
@fortune@social.linux.pizza"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
"Same thing we do every night Steve, try to take over the world!"
@mcdanlj@social.makerforums.infoI decided to support something for which the only support mechanism is "buymeacoffee" with a monthly donation — so I created a login at buymeacoffee, and now it won't let me go any further without creating a page with my photo, name, link, and a short essay to "Explain how contributions can make a difference in your work" and just no! All I want to do is set up a small monthly donation and be able to manage that in the future!
This isn't hard on liberapay or patreon or…
@penguin42@mastodon.org.uk'xxd' is a command that is both a hex dumper, and an undumper - i.e. it can turn the hexdump back into a binary.
Being able to go both ways makes it good for being able to edit a hex file in your favourite editor. Other tricks it can do are to generate a C array declaration with the contents. It defaults to hex numbered address (unlike 'hexdump' which confusingly uses octal!)
@almad@fosstodon.orgWhy do we have to import every American stupidity.
You are a governor of a sovereign, politically independent central bank of a sovereign state. Why do you want to invest in a financial system explicitly designed to undermine that sovereignty, other than “your stonks to the moon”?
https://czch.tv/8Ul7vC
@zachleat@zachleat.comwhy do I get the feeling that they’re starting to hard-code answers to these common tests in newer models
@elduvelle@neuromatch.socialWorkplace is asking if anyone wants three #GuineaPigs. I am tempted to say yes but could people who have them tell me more about whether that's a good idea, and what do they need to be happy?
Also, can people be allergic to guinea pigs?
(#CochonDInde pour les Français)
@lpryszcz@genomic.social'the focus on creating is just the little capitalist devil sitting on our shoulders telling us to produce more.
...
the most radical act today is to just make something. Especially if you are not good at it or if it’s a bit of a struggle. Draw if you’re not good at it. Play the piano even though you’re not great. Make something just for the fun of being in this world, touching it, being in it. Becoming you. Let this radicalize you a bit.
Fuck creation. Love making.'<…
@StephenRees@mas.toDo You Write Your Name In Books? via @… https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2026/01/09/Write-Name-In-Books/?u…
@karlauerbach@sfba.socialAs one might expect El Cheato appointed judges rule in favor of trump far more often than do judges appointed by prior presidents.
But the amount of that imbalance is beyond astounding.
From the NY Times:
"Trump’s ‘Superstar’ Appellate Judges Have Voted 133 to 12 in His Favor"
Which causes me to repeat my suggestions, from year 2020, about how we can remove power from those judges by using a technique well practiced elsewhere - redefining jobs and "rubb…
@jamie@boothcomputing.socialSometimes hacking a computer means a whole different thing...
In this use, I'm actually hacking (with a hacksaw) the case apart to add an I/O shield (custom made) so I can fit an older motherboard that was not designed for this case.
And thank you to Gateway for making me do this by not using a removable shield and instead stamping every hole they needed and covering them with a sticker if they weren't on this model. 🤦♂️
@maxheadroom@hub.uckermark.socialWent out shopping with the kiddo and she asks me questions. I love to explain stuff her and provide background and context information. Quickly I realize she has mentally check out already. Eventually she says: do you have someone to talk to during your day?
Such a sassy Smurf
@rasterweb@mastodon.socialImagine if the restaurant you go to started serving shit sandwiches. Some people seem to like the shit sandwiches but you're like "Dude, these are literally shit sandwiches! I do not want these!" but the restaurant owner starts forcing every customer take a shit sandwich even if they don't want one.
This post is about AI.
@robpike@hachyderm.ioRE: https://federate.social/@mattblaze/115544955814466222
Talking about this yesterday but more generally. Asking for an option for a phone (say) to globally disable ALL optional features, so I can enable only those I want when I want and at my leisure. Would be the first thing to do on a new device or after an upgrade.
@arXiv_csAI_bot@mastoxiv.pageDo Large Language Models Respect Contracts? Evaluating and Enforcing Contract-Adherence in Code Generation
Soohan Lim, Joonghyuk Hahn, Hyunwoo Park, Sang-Ki Ko, Yo-Sub Han
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12047
@NFL@darktundra.xyzDo the Jaguars need to abandon two-way role for Travis Hunter? Examining future for dual-threat rookie
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/do-the-
@tezoatlipoca@mas.toRE: https://mastodon.social/@verge/115883311391995330
Do you remember when companies made money by a) making things that people wanted and b) selling those things to people at prices they could afford?
You know, instead of buying each other up and lit…
@shriramk@mastodon.socialThe best description of Brown University, from Bess Kalb. (And to be clear, the heirs and star's kids are invariably also in that carton.)
https://besskalb.substack.com/p/brown-america
@Tupp_ed@mastodon.ieNew Gist: What you can do about the Abuse Factory
As a follow-up to yesterday’s Gist, I’ve done a list of four things you can do about X without even having to put down your phone.
https://www.thegist.ie/the-gist-what-you-can-do-about-the-abuse-factory/<…
@davidaugust@mastodon.onlineI’m pretty sure that if someone is rude enough to wrap their body around ice bullets, they deserve to die.
I mean, can you imagine, you’re a bullet and suddenly this activist scum stops you from flying through the air without a care in the world, and you’re suddenly wrapped up in their tissue and bouncing off their skeleton trying to find your way back to the outside?
Where do these activists get off having bullet absorbing bodies in the first place, what do they expect?
@ErikJonker@mastodon.socialEverybody who wants to understand Generative AI should read articles like this.
#AI
@azonenberg@ioc.exchangeWell that took a bit longer than I hoped thanks to some derps on my part, but I'm parsing incoming PCIe DLLPs and validating their checksums.
Next step will be to figure out that a type 0x40 DLLP with payload 074040 is actually an InitFC1-P DLLP for virtual circuit 0 for 29 headers and 1024 data bytes.
And do something useful with that information.
@theodric@social.linux.pizzaRed is the new black today! I continue to be surprised that Iran has not yet run out of increasingly angrier flags to raise. It's like they read the Wikipedia article on maritime flag etiquette and thought it would be really cool to do something like that with their buildings to reflect how pissed off they are.
@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.itI've started to do the Bob's Burgers thing where I'll be talking to a kid, and they'll just walk away.. and I'll just end my sentence with, "...and you're gone."
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot"this that makes it necessary for the United States to do something to avoid the civilizational and democratic disaster that is unfolding in Europe." — @…
I'm REALLY going to take issue with this. Yes, it's true that Europe faces challenges. But it is not Europe which faces civilizational or democratic disaster. This is classic pr…
@losttourist@social.chatty.monsterWe're at a pizza place and the waiter did the usual thing of asking the couple next to us "do you have any allergies?" and one of the people at that table replied "hay fever" and while yes I suppose that's technically a correct answer it's probably not what the waiter was expecting to hear 😀
@smashtie@mas.toOh do piss off, Craaaaague. #strictly
@cdarwin@c.imAs Trump threatens Iran, Venezuela, Mexico, Greenland and more,
renowned historian Alfred McCoy says the United States is
“an empire in decline,”
following a predictable pattern
of militarism abroad and political instability at home
as it loses power and influence on the world stage.
“American politics become increasingly contorted and irrational,”
says McCoy.
“I think the thing to do is to realize that we are an empire in decline, …
…
@sonnets@bots.krohsnest.comSonnet 037 - XXXVII
As a decrepit father takes delight
To see his active child do deeds of youth,
So I, made lame by Fortune's dearest spite,
Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth;
For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit,
Or any of these all, or all, or more,
Entitled in thy parts, do crowned sit,
I make my love engrafted to this store:
So then I am not lame, poor, nor despis'd,
Whilst that this shadow doth such su…
@LillyHerself@Mastodon.socialRE: https://mastodon.social/@greenpeace/115541972906282685
This just might have *something* to do with Shell handing back the North Sea field it bought to the Scottish Govt.
@Techmeme@techhub.socialGoogle launches Gemini Personal Intelligence, linking to Gmail, Google Photos, Search, and YouTube history to provide context-aware responses, for paid users (Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET)
https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-gemini-personal-intelligence/
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioTwo easy questions to keep in mind when considering using an LLM for anything, if you’re going to do that:
1. Does it matter if it’s wrong?
2. Is it useful to have examples of what’s typical?
Those two cut through a lot of noise.
/end
@fortune@social.linux.pizzaDo people like check the Debian website every 5 minutes to check it hasn't
morphed into another one? Not that I'm one to talk, but some people seriously
need to get a life.
-- james on #Debian
@timbray@cosocial.caIn which, on the occasion of my 3-year migration anniversary and the release of Mastodon 4.5, I assemble all my arguments as to why Mastodon is great and why anyone else on a service that’s becoming less fun/safe/useful should migrate to Mastodon and do it now, in late 2025: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When…
@brichapman@mastodon.socialWant to break into climate work but don't know where to start? Terra.do's Learning for Action fellowship might be your answer.
This 12-week program covers clean energy, climate policy, and other key solutions—all designed to fit around your full-time job (6-10 hours/week). You'll learn from industry pros, build your network, and join graduates who've successfully landed climate careers.
Financial aid available for those ready to make a difference.
@lpryszcz@genomic.socialBeautiful summary
https://yarnspinner.dev/blog/why-we-dont-use-ai/
@elduvelle@neuromatch.socialWe always talk about things that get worse with #Aging - but what about the things that get better? For example I feel that people become more confident and able to make faster decisions, especially about what they like or want to do. Can you think of anything else that improves with aging?
Trying to get ideas for a research fellowship proposal :)
@cdarwin@c.imPete Buttigieg and Robert Reich have highlighted our plan to
✅ defeat Citizens United:
“Interesting things are happening across the country…
Montana is trying to address this through attention to what a corporation can and can’t do,
because that’s actually decided at the state level.
So instead of working it at the ‘speech’ side of the equation,
💥they’re working at the
‘what is a corporation’ side of the equation.” --Secretary
@pre@boing.worldValve are launching a new controller and a new gaming computer and a new VR headset early next year.
My main question is, don't people release these things in time for Christmas any more? Maybe it's running late.
Kinda need a media PC for the new bedroom in December. Do I want to wait until early next year? Grr. Needs to run two monitors and a projector really too, which may be tricky for a machine with only two video ports.
A VR headset that isn't owned by Facebook will be a blessed relief. Designed to run on Linux? Amazing. Hope it's brilliant.
Don't think I have much use for the controller though. Only really play games in VR these days.
Looks great! Three months too late!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmKrKTwtukE
@penguin42@mastodon.org.uknetpbm tools are a suite of tools to convert and fiddle with the ppm/pbm/pgm (collectively pnm) file formats, which are pretty much the simplest image formats on the planet, which even have an ASCII version; so if you have a simple script you want to generate simple images with they're a good choice of format, and if you have them, the pbm tools can convert to/from pretty much anything else or do simple scale/etc - lighter than ImageMagick say.
@almad@fosstodon.org“But if China will not do something then our ecological initiatives make no sense…ohwait”
https://electrek.co/2026/01/08/once-beset-by-pollution-beijings-skies-are-clearer-than-ever-thanks-to-evs/
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioSeveral of you have asked for something you can do to help Minneapolis. I have something concrete:
Here is a fundraiser for families at Seward Montessori, a Minneapolis public elementary school. Many families in the neighborhood are sheltering at home, and unable to work and/or get groceries. Parents at the school have organized this fundraiser to help out.
I know the graphic is a bit generic and doesn’t say much, but don’t worry: I can vouch for this fundraiser. It’s vetted, and it’s needed.
https://givebutter.com/famshelpingfams
@mlawton@mstdn.socialThere is a bug in this 3rd party API that declares a payload to fail their validation checks in a false positive way BUT ALSO fails to report what the alleged validation errors are.
And of course, there are none, so I've now spent days in a logical lockpicking manner, brute force trial and error to rule out various possibilities.
And, just now, I got it. 🎉 It's a workaround, but it'll do. I've reported the bug and they acknowledge it, but no timetable for a fix. …
@Techmeme@techhub.socialA US judge sentences Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to 15 years in prison; Kwon pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges in August (Cheyenne Ligon/CoinDesk)
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/12/10/terraform-s-do-kwon-s…
@NFL@darktundra.xyzLaFleur to keep calling plays but must 'look inward' https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46945762/packers-coach-matt-lafleur-not-giving-playcalling-duties-push-do-better
@kctipton@mas.toA congresswoman wants to impeach Kristi Noem. She’s right to do so | Jan-Werner Müller | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/11/kristi-noem-homeland-security-trump
@UP8@mastodon.social💪 10 effective things citizens can do to make change in addition to attending a protest
https://theconversation.com/10-effective-things-citizens-can-do-to-make-change-in-addition-to-attending-a-protest-266432…
@seeingwithsound@mas.toDo retinal implants provide long-term efficacy, safety and improve quality of life? A systematic review https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/25158414251385884 "acuities remain below 20/200, and recipients continue to meet criteria for legal blindness"; field of …
@hex@kolektiva.socialThe US military has always had a massive global advantage against enemies by having bases all over the world. There are bases in every NATO country. This would appear to be a powerful threat to anyone willing to oppose American hegemon, and under normal conditions it would be.
But a lot of those kids serving on those bases joined, not because they love America but, because they needed a ticket out of poverty. They joined for the education, for the money, maybe a bit for the adventure, but, more than anything, to escape the ghetto or podunk backwater that trapped them. Under normal times, this is the best deal they could expect. Maybe they risk their lives, usually they sit around being bored for a few years, and they get to come out with respect and paid college.
But what they are being offered is normal in most of the countries they're stationed in. Free healthcare, cheap or free education, is just what citizens in a lot of countries have come to expect. If the US attacked a NATO country, how many would snap up citizenship if they were given a chance to defect? Bonus points for taking some hardware with you, I'm sure.
But there are some who love their country. There are some patriotic Americans on those bases. Some of them joined specifically to protect the US from all enemies, foreign *and* domestic. Given a chance to fulfill that oath or violate international law, what happens?
There are a good number of former military folks too who now are unsafe in the countries they served, who would do just about anything for citizenship in any EU country and almost any NATO ally. Some of those folks know things they swore an oath to never share, but the country they swore an oath to has betrayed them. Today there's no value in leaking those secrets, but in a war between the US and NATO allies things would be different. Some of those former military folks still believe in their oath, and know exactly who the real enemy is. What happens when there's a real threat of war, when they can use their knowledge to fulfill that oath to protect the US against those domestic threats?
There are a bunch of civilian tech workers who have become targets of the regime. Some of them had clearance, or know about the skeletons in the closet. They know about critical infrastructure, classified systems, all sorts of things that would be extremely valuable to an opponent. But the opponents of the US have always been a frightening *other*, never familiar societies these folks look up to, have visited, have thought about moving to, are trying to escape to.
All I'm saying here is that invading Venezuela and kidnapping the president has a very different calculus than does attacking Greenland. I don't know if Trump or his people are able to understand that, but if he and his folks aren't then I hope European leaders are. But more than that, I hope it never comes down to finding out.
But perhaps we should all think about what we would do to make sure things ended quickly if American leadership ever made such an incredible mistake.
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scotI'm writing a first rough pass of a new story just now, and I'm writing quickly to catch the bones of it. I know that, in this draft, all my characters speak much the same; I'm not worrying about this, I'll rewrite later to give them individual idioms, ways of speaking, gestures, senses of humour.
Do you do this in your first pass, or do your characters come to you already with their own idiosyncratic patterns of speech?
@StephenRees@mas.toWell worth reading this longish piece by Paula Symons
I came here in 1988 from the UK to get away from Thatcher. Then I watched at a distance as they tore themselves away from Europe - and look what that did to them.
I have always wondered why Quebec keeps harping on separation when clearly remaining has worked well.
@aral@mastodon.ar.al“EU Revives Plan for Year-Long Data Retention Across Digital Services, Including Encrypted Apps … Officials insist they do not intend to compromise encryption or read private messages. What they want is the so-called metadata: who contacted whom, from where, at what time, and through which service.” – https://
@cdarwin@c.imWhat would you do if the federal government wanted you in jail and Jamie Dimon was paying your legal bills?
Here’s what Charlie Javice did:
She spent money on luxury hotel upgrades, extravagant meals and cellulite butter, a personal care product that some people use to treat their skin, as a lawyer for the bank said in a hearing on Friday.
Then, she sent the receipts to the bank.
All told, Ms. Javice has spent more than $60 million — and counting — on her defense, acco…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialOnebrief, which makes AI-powered military workflow software, raised a $200M Series D, nearly doubling its valuation from $1.1B to $2.1B in about half of a year (Colin Demarest/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/13/onebrief-demaree-battleroad-seriesd-ai
@cdarwin@c.imWe don’t have to live like this.
It’s a choice.
Every day we do nothing to restrict guns.
Every day we claim it’s mental illness and not access.
Every day we let them change the subject.
We don’t have to live like this.
https://bsky.app/profile/momsdemand.bs
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioThe alternative to a society with shaming and shunning is a society filled with violence: the violence of racists and slavers and genocidal zealots; the violence of prying those people from power as they inevitably close off democracy’s nonviolent means of removing them.
I do not like violence. I do not want violence.
I much prefer harsh words.
@cdarwin@c.im“The spread of dangerous infections that do not respond to antibiotics has been increasing by
as much as 15 percent a year”,
says the WHO.
“The less people have access to quality care,
the more they’re likely to suffer from drug-resistant infection.”
https://kottke.org/25/10/0047706-th…
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioBecause we all need a good cathartic pain-laugh, I want to make sure you have read this literary masterpiece of an article.
🧵
https://theonion.com/ice-confirms-agents-do-not-have-faces-beneath-masks/
@cdarwin@c.im💥We are pleased to share our new paper about ancient RNA expression profiles from the Woolly Mammoth, now published in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social
If you want to know more, read the thread below:
https://bsky.app/profile/marmole6.bsky.social/post/3m5m2u5u7gk2m
@cdarwin@c.imThe push to impeach,
-- in particular the current breakout push among Dems for #Noem
-- but also more generally,
⭐️is NOT just about taking the long shot of flipping a couple of Massie types to get it through now.
🔥It's also about creating and holding them to a pre-commitment to do it when Dems have the House.
@cdarwin@c.imPeople born here do not have immigration documents.
If you're an American born POC with only a Real ID to show for yourself, be prepared to be manhandled and detained by the secret police
https://bsky.app/profile/radleybalko.bsky.social/post/3m7uszhghs22j
@cdarwin@c.imJeremy Corbyn says the UK government is endangering pro-Palestine hunger strikers
Former UK Labour leader Cornyn has issued a statement in solidarity with Amu Gib, who is accused of participating in the Palestine Action break-in of RAF Brize Norton airbase this summer.
The action,
carried out in protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the UK government’s participation in it,
led to the proscription of the group under “anti-terrorism” laws.
Dozens of protesters h…
