DOGE Is Hacking America
We lost the technical backbone of the country
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Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture | Quanta Magazine
Cool!
Smuggling arbitrary data through an emoji
Americans Are Trapped in an Algorithmic Cage
It's no wonder I didn't think he'd win, I live in an alternate universe.
The Hollywood veteran writers group proving 'creativity is ageless' - Los Angeles Times
How a weekly memoir writing group at the Motion Picture Television Fund became a creative outlet and surrogate family for its aging members.
MTG lead designer says "Trans people, people of color, and women playing a larger role, are all part of modern fantasy because they’re all part of the actual world"
Mark Rosewater replies to problematic questions around Magic: The Gathering on his Tumblr blog
The Recruitment Effort That Helped Build Elon Musk’s DOGE Army
Getting the worst nerds in the world to do a job they don't understand with a goal that makes no sense when you have a sovereign currency except that it enriches billionaires.
How to survive being online
Wee little union sign I painted in 2022, maybe? This week’s question comes to us anonymously: How do we survive being online? Erika and I bought a radio. For...
The first four years of Donald Trump was a continuous panic attack. I’m not going through that again. You don’t have to either. They’re on stage, but you don’t have to be their audience.
Tim Cook Is Failing Us
This has the right level of nuance.
If that is too hard, or he’s worried the board would oust him, then I wonder what the point of his wealth and power is if he will only use it for more wealth and power?
The Worst Page on the Internet
Neal Agarwal distills digital life to its essence.
“I’m very much a believer that the web is a creative medium,” Agarwal told me. “We have amazing movies that get you to reflect on life, and I don’t see why a website can’t also be like that. But right now it feels like the web is very underutilized in that way.”
Technology is never a substitute for consent
Very good distinction on what constitutes privacy and consent for data sharing.
The right to privacy can also mean the right to private ownership.
According to this alternative interpretation of privacy, the data on my computers is mine, to do with as I please, not as anyone else pleases. My computers, and the data on my computers, should not leave my possession, the "privacy" of my own home, without my consent. If others want access to my data, I may grant permission, but only if they ask and I agree.
They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen?
The incentives are all screwy
We dug ourselves into a deep, dangerous fuel imbalance due to one simple fact. We live in a Mediterranean climate that’s designed to burn, and we’ve prevented it from burning anywhere close to enough for well over a hundred years. Now climate change has made it hotter and drier than ever before, and the fire we’ve been forestalling is going to happen, fast, whether we plan for it or not.
The Halliburton model from the Middle East is kind of in effect for all the infrastructure that comes into fire camps
California burn bosses typically suffer no consequences for deciding not to light
Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington Sue Trump To End Under 19 Trans Care Ban
The lawsuit is one of several moving against Trump's executive orders targeting transgender people in the military, healthcare, and international travel rights.
The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified
This is not fine
Displaced Los Angeles-area residents face spiking rents as authorities warn of price gouging
The ongoing wildfires have set off a stampede to find housing, leading some homeowners and property managers to raise rents higher than the 10% allowed during emergencies.
In some cases, prospective short-term renters in Los Angeles County are finding themselves on waiting lists, in bidding wars or being asked to provide a year’s worth of rent up front.
Of course it’s a coup
😬
Here at DOGE, We’ve Streamlined Every Aspect of America’s Collapse
Yay?
How an IT worker from Saskatchewan made the best game of the year - The Logic
Balatro is up for every video game award going. Its developer, an anonymous former IT worker from Saskatchewan, explains where the idea came from.
And in Saskatchewan, in December, it’s pretty cold and there’s not much to do.
The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover
Cool cool cool
When Screens were Secondary: Mario Bellini's TCV 250 for Olivetti - Core77
Here in 2023 we carry small screens in our pocket--and have gigantic ones on our workstations, in our living rooms and even in our cars. So it might be difficult to imagine a time when screens were not as important, and even a desk-sized unit could have a tiny screen.
Every 'Star Trek' Movie, Ranked
I don't agree with a lot of their list.
Accident Investigations
Very familiar to COE process at work.
The ‘Exciting Business Opportunity’ That Ruined Our Lives
Sad
When We Invited You To Join Our Trivia Team, It Was With The Understanding That You Knew ‘Star Trek’
I feel very called out.
Deep Impact
Sure seems like these garbage generators are more and more commoditized...
DeepSeek-R1’s bold bet on reinforcement learning: How it outpaced OpenAI at 3% of the cost
DeepSeek-R1’s Monday release has sent shockwaves through the AI community, disrupting assumptions about what’s required to achieve cutting-edge AI performance. This story focuses on exactly how DeepSeek managed this feat, and what it means for the vast number of users of AI models. For enterprises developing AI-driven solutions, DeepSeek’s breakthrough challenges assumptions of OpenAI's dominance -- and offers a blueprint for cost-efficient innovation.
DeepSeek FAQ
I don't buy that any of this is a path to AGI but it's certainly disruptive.
OpenAI’s gambit for control — enforced by the U.S. government — has utterly failed.
OpenAI Furious DeepSeek Might Have Stolen All the Data OpenAI Stole From Us
Hoist on their own petard
What an Undervaccinated America Would Look Like
Well that's inspiring.
Trump’s Mass Deportations Are Coming. Here’s What We Can Do.
They are going to hurt so many people because they can