Notices by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org)

BTW, I only party blame Trump for this horrendous mess. He's really the patsy, being manipulated by those around him. He's merely an uneducated sociopath, likely now edging into senility. But he's surrounded by sycophants many of whom are far smarter and educated and know exactly what they are doing. And the GOP congress is even more to blame. They could end this tariff mess in a single day if they chose to do so. Don't forget.

Especially whenever you see and hear Trump in a public setting next to a normal human being, it's so dramatically obvious what a totally senile, illiterate, evil clown he is.

@dalias Much cheaper to just pay for the one-way boat ride to the island. And it can still be a tourist attraction, with folks coming over to goggle at the billionaires shackled in their cells.

If Alcatraz can be refurbished into a secure facility for billionaires where they would be kept permanently incommunicado and fed only bread and water, there might be some merit in the plan.

@dalias @falcon If you're talking about hospital contexts specifically, they have always depended on comm links of one sort or another -- even if that was humans running from floor to floor. But again, the dependence on complicated IT systems in medical environments has been driven by a number of factors, including to a significant degree regulatory compliance. Which brings us back to the regulatory/political realm again. In the final analysis, it's always follow the money.

@falcon @dalias Maintaining legacy systems can become impossible even when you want to. Case in point, it has become literally impossible to maintain analog or even many older (actually more secure, dedicated) digital communications links. The carriers (e.g. AT&T) simply will not provide them, or in some cases even fix them when they fail (this goes far, far beyond landlines, which I've discussed many times and will probably be discussing again Monday on my national radio tech segment). And the reason the carriers no longer will provide those circuits and systems is that regulators have permitted them to do so -- a situation that will only accelerate now under the new MAGA FCC chairman. And the regulators have been largely bought and owned by politicians from both parties over the many years. Firms can't use what they can't obtain!

@falcon Blaming the end user firms for security breaches will only take one so far. Increasingly, risks are complex and tied to cloud systems (and now, AI systems) that the Big Tech providers are disclaiming responsibility for. Already, generative AI systems are being used to massively leverage new forms of effective cyberattacks, and as usual Big Tech is disclaiming all responsibility for AI abuses. It is not surprising that so many firms are unable to stay ahead of the escalating threat surfaces, with Big Tech AI now actually enabling the attackers.

A reminder: The reason so many firms on their websites constantly urge you to install and use their apps instead of their websites is that the apps typically give them access to VASTLY more data about you and your activities. Don't fall for it.

1) Big Tech rams AI down every users' throat in every app, and often provides no effective way to disable it, no matter how much users hate it and are force fed misinformation by it.

2) Big Tech proclaims billions of daily AI users!

3) Billionaire Big Tech CEO's salute their fascist alliance with Trump and how easily their users -- "the little people" -- can be manipulated.

4) The ghosts of Hitler, Stalin, and innumerable other past despots and dictators nod and smile.

@katharina_buholzer I have a different view of this. Windows Updates take FOREVER, yes. Insanely long, and if they fail, your system can be seriously hosed. Or not. Depends. They rarely fail however. Very, very rarely.

Linux updates work much of the time and are quite fast indeed ... but their failure rate is much higher, often in very hard to diagnose ways. Shared library conflicts and missing shared libraries related to OS and app version conflicts. Packages held back for no obvious reasons. Crucial utilities that must be obtained from possibly ephemeral repositories that suddenly stop updating -- with no prior warning at all! -- for your particular OS version and build. Not appropriate for amateurs.

It's fascinating that the vast majority of computer scientists are so publicly and strongly critical of generative AI systems as they are currently being deployed by Big Tech -- unless they happen to be working for one of those firms.

Proposition: Cyberattacks that seriously affect life or safety, where the perpetrator can be positively identified, should be punished with life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. Discuss.

AI is one of the most horrific risks to human civilization in history. NOT because some imaginary super intelligent AI would take over the world, but because Big Tech CEOs are using generative AI to utterly destroy the ability of anyone to trust information. These billionaire CEOs -- who Trump accurately says are "kissing his ass" -- are "poisoning the well" of our information society, while decimating their workforces, screwing society, and smiling all the way to the bank.

Herb Alpert at 90, about a month ago. Fun Fact: When he released his first album "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" in 1965, he (at least initially) did not like the cover photo, which became incredibly iconic (yeah, I have this original vinyl album). Even more interesting is that at the time despite the nomenclature "Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass", there actually was no such group. After the smash success of the album, he rushed to form one, calling on the talents of L.A. session musicians (e.g. "The Wrecking Crew") who were (largely unknown to the public at the time) performing the music for an array of pop singers and classic tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkrBmu8eYaM

Univ. of Zurich researchers [rightly] face outrage over their secret AI experiment on Reddit, face possible legal and other actions, will not publish

A totally unethical experiment. -L

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddiit-researchers-ai-bots-rcna203597

You're in the British military in the 1980s before the fall of the Berlin Wall. You need to drive from West Germany to West Berlin. But Berlin is entirely within the Soviet sector, meaning you must drive through East Germany to reach West Berlin. Here are your instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUJ7GbxWGoM

Temu blocks U.S. shoppers from seeing any products that would be shipped from China

TOTAL MORON: RFK, Jr. blames DARPA for [utterly nonexisting] "chemtrails" -- a favorite of the tinfoil hat crowd

https://gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-goes-full-tinfoil-pledges-to-stop-chemtrails-in-latest-dr-phil-interview-2000596357

Utter idiot: Hegseth boasts about killing "woke" Biden Pentagon program for women -- it was actually Trump's, and Trump's current Homeland Security secretary and Secretary of State!

Trump's program, sponsored in Congress by two of his current cabinet members! Hegseth is a dangerous buffoon. -L

BREAKING: A court in India has ordered the blocking of Proton Mail across the country, due to one firm saying it received obscene email.