Nerd Inferno

'But this warning specifically tells police that there have been “no specific and credible threats found” related to city council meetings about Flock, but warns they should be on the lookout anyway.' Opposing surveillance is a clear indicator of thoughtcrime. www.404media.co/cops-warned-...

Speaking of election fuckery, I'm a little surprised that Missouri election clerks balked at the legality of letting feds mess with their voting machines. Maybe Tina Peters stewing in jail was a worthwhile deterrent. I wonder if it would still work today. missouriindependent.com/2025/09/02/t...

Credit to the CISA employees who instantly recognized this for what it was. Too bad it seems like they're all gone. Preventing free and fair elections really was this regime's top priority from the very beginning. Soooooooo many people need to go to jail. www.propublica.org/article/cisa...

Combining all of his businesses into one giant, retirement plan-killing toxic teratoma has been Elon's obvious next move for a while. The solution: Jail Musk for his many, many crimes. Nationalize the rockets and the satellites. Sell the cars off. Delete the AI. www.joemygod.com/2026/10/musk...

This feels accurate. No notes. boingboing.net/2026/10/21/t...

This feels like it deserves more than a firing, especially since that means little when it comes to cops. They just move to the next closest police department. The ICE agent husband, however, was likely told to seek out Flock access wherever possible. He did good. www.joemygod.com/2026/10/ga-c...

A tragedy in three parts

I got this up and running over the weekend and have been having fun wardriving along my usual routes. I was hit with a deauth attack over by the waterworks, so I'll be checking that out again. The gamification is a bit much for me, but you can hide most of that. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VDa...

Doing this with any AI agent is extremely risky, but doing it with products made by known bad actors (Musk, Zuckerberg, etc.) is beyond stupid. It's like . . . aggravated stupidity. Please continue to be an example. Don your clown shoes and walk amongst the rakes. www.techdirt.com/2026/10/19/w...

I really like the idea of protein lettuce. Hell, I'm for protein-infused versions of all fruits and vegetables -- I just wish it didn't involve animal DNA. In this case, pig DNA. I propose this appear on future menus as a "Wilbur Salad". www.scientificamerican.com/article/lett...

If this system works based upon attributable data via mobile apps (and physical proximity) would it be possible to proactively game the system by constructing a discount-prone persona in the app? What type of customer persona is most likely to qualify for discounts? apnews.com/article/ai-p...

Remember conservatives whining about suppressed political speech on social media that wasn't actually happening? Here's what they were projecting. If Zuck follows suit it would freeze the filmmakers out of any meaningful form of social media advertising. www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politic...

Here's a clever thing - Tiny Little Office - a minimalist office suite which encodes documents as URL fragments. The fragments are not sent to the server (unless the URLs are shortened/previewed) and can be shared as links that are rendered locally. Hat tip to @masnick.com tinylittleoffice.com

I wonder how much of this had to do with the locations of the server and the ISP -- Amsterdam and Italy, respectively. Americans are much less likely to hear about this because it's essentially regional European news. If these were American companies it would be huge. nltimes.nl/2026/10/14/a...

Another recommendation from the movie project: The Endless (2017). It's a low-budget indie with a reasonably original premise and better-than-expected performances and visual effects. I was especially impressed by the pacing. Low-key, but things never quit moving. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End...

Holy shit! Rick Beato is on stage with Geddy Lee! 😉

Ask yourself why people who identify as Musk critics wanted to believe this came from the Trump Regime and not Musk, himself. Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway did that on today's Pivot episode. Musk seemed fine with that story, too. What a coward. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Did Firefly intend to release an Angine de Poitrine guitar? It's going to need a lot of fretwork before anyone attempts a cover. I know someone is going to say "Randy Rhodes", but look at that color scheme with the gold hardware. It just needs a pyramid or two. guitarsgarden.com/collections/...

Self-replicating agents infesting insecure devices with no way to shut them off. This is a stale SF trope, but only because it was unlikely to happen. Now we're being warned. Does your pacemaker have 2FA enabled? Does it show up in your phone's bluetooth device list? abcnews.com/US/anthropic...

I'm reaching the conclusion that anyone who really cares about security and privacy needs a burner phone and a keen sense of when and when not to carry it. Airplane mode isn't a security setting and turning the phone off doesn't disable its radios. Don't bring it. www.rawstory.com/don-lemon-fbi/

Well. These are the smartest people we have, according to themselves. These are the people who are trying to convince us they should rule over us because they're so, so smart. The article is paywalled, but the headline says it all. Link for legitimacy(?). www.businessinsider.com/ai-researche...

Recently viewed: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025). It's a bunch of D+ Black Mirror shorts connected via a D- framing device most charitably described as an homage to Terry Gilliam. If only that AI-generated poster had been the streaming thumbnail... Sigh. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Lu...

Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel, and Henry Thomas starring in a Ben Shapiro’s pro ICE propaganda film… Were retirement, poverty or seppuku not options? variety.com/2026/film/ne...

Banger via @doctorow.pluralistic.net: 'The ref must be more powerful than the players on the field, so the smallest government you can have is determined by the size of the largest corporation and the wealth of the richest billionaire you're willing to tolerate.' pluralistic.net/2026/10/09/i...

The highlight of last week's movie intake was Bigbug (2022), the latest from Jeunet, a longtime favorite. The look of the film is the main thing for me. Frequently smooth, soft, flat and nearly without shadow, it reminds me of the 1984 Cars video 'You Might Think'. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-sW...

I'm so sorry, Noel. Really. I'll make it up to you some day. I promise. #kimberlyguilfoyle #amexbribes #jumpscare

Today's main gym takeaway from my elliptical time with @michaelburns.bsky.social was actually an observation from @lbyock.bsky.social: AI tool use reduces friction and friction is how learning happens. Perfect. Now how to market the approach? Frictionmaxxing 🔥 www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi4-...

Cuts both ways, Sammy. I think people like this who feel comfortable saying things like this because they sincerely believe things like this are the real alignment problem that's likely to destroy the world. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

I was looking for a brief, pithy explanation of AI ontologies and found a good one. Under five minutes long! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuax...

Here's a (very) detailed analysis of Ed Zitron's predictions, debate tactics and comparisons with other people thinking and writing about AI. Dan Luu describes Zitron's rhetorical approach as a Gish gallop, which is extremely apt. I wish I'd made the connection on my own. danluu.com/zitron/

This is mostly just an excuse to create and post the image below, but there's a link to the relevant article, too. I would definitely not mind if 'Dumptruck Shoggoth' became the primary unofficial name for Muse's mascot. futurism.com/artificial-i...

Hegseth on Hegseth. Apologies to Thompson and McKinney, but I couldn't resist. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVPn...

'...SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey — along with former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich — to “map the trajectory of future warfare.” They are supposed to report back in four months.' Palmer Luckey is this guy, BTW. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

Yesterday a teaser for the new version of the Hard Fork podcast was released. It's three minutes long, complete with both pre-roll and post-roll ads. The New York Times is definitely not leaving any of that podcasting ad money on the table.

People are talking about McDonalds using AI to price things based upon “customer willingness to pay in your area”. This is only possible with attributable data and that likely means ALPRs and facial recognition for people unwilling to use an app. Bon appétit! www.reuters.com/business/ins...

Todd Blanche’s motion for summary judgement in my Epstein redaction training video lawsuit is due tomorrow after a short delay. Multiple sources told me there were videos training FBI agents on how to redact Trump from the Epstein files. I’m suing to get them.

Watching @michaelburns.bsky.social latest and as the camera zooms in on Michael's junk during the ad read I'm thinking cool minisplit, what's in the instrument cases? Is that an Airbnb or something less problematic? Also, yes data centers present an interesting place to apply political leverage.

It's not just the history of January Sixth that this beclowned administration wants to rewrite. They're also trying to rehabilitate Richard Nixon. Hat tip to Robert Anton Wilson. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Last night’s Dead Media screening in Portland went great and I rewarded myself with a trip to Powell’s bookstore and a signed copy of Kyle MacLachlan’s autobiography. All theaters should be next to giant bookstores