And from the WTAF dept, quite a bombshell from ProPublica today:

"Microsoft is using engineers in China to help maintain the Defense Department’s computer systems — with minimal supervision by U.S. personnel — leaving some of the nation’s most sensitive data vulnerable to hacking from its leading cyber adversary, a ProPublica investigation has found."

"The arrangement, which was critical to Microsoft winning the federal government’s cloud computing business a decade ago, relies on U.S. citizens with security clearances to oversee the work and serve as a barrier against espionage and sabotage."

"But these workers, known as “digital escorts,” often lack the technical expertise to police foreign engineers with far more advanced skills, ProPublica found. Some are former military personnel with little coding experience who are paid barely more than minimum wage for the work."

https://www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-digital-escorts-pentagon-defense-department-china-hackers?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-bsky&utm_content=7-15

People photographing old LCD screens with lots of shine and no backlighting, what tricks do you use to minimize screen glare?

See https://fed.qaz.red/@elithebearded/114860402304983914 for example problem.

I have a document from the late 19thC that is dated Saturday 17th October but I don’t know the year, and this has introduced me to the Doomsday Rule and this is wild

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_rule

‘The algorithm is simple enough that it can be computed mentally. Conway could usually give the correct answer in under two seconds.’

WeTransfer just changed their ToS to allow them to train AI on any files you transfer through them.

Don't use there service, especially for work that you don't have the right to relicense to them (e.g., commercial work that's exactly the most likely to create the huge files WeTransfer specializes in).

(ETA: this is already going boom so I'm muting it.)

https://wetransfer.com/explore/legal/terms

Ich wurde soeben in das Tagesgespräch vom Bayrischen Rundfunk um 12 Uhr eingeladen, weil die Zahlen des Kraftfahrtbundesamtes zeigen, WIE schlecht unsere Verkehrspolitik für eine klima- und sozial gerechte Ausrichtung aufgestellt ist.

Diskutiert gern mit!

"Unter der gebührenfreien Telefonnummer 0800 / 94 95 95 5 sind wir werktags ab 11 Uhr für Sie erreichbar. Oder schicken Sie uns eine Sprach- oder Textnachricht: 0151 / 7 220 220 7 (WhatsApp und Signal). "

https://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sendungen/tagesgespraech/index.html

This is the part of deploying a satellite that you never hear about, and the European Space Agency let me have a go!

I spent two days at their Mission Control, and you won’t believe how precisely they can position a satellite in space!

https://youtu.be/0i1Xz-xiYSU?si=cL4eSgbeRus0w3pL