tagging, oh, about half of you. #writing

by Tom Gauld

#Via rahaeli / rahaeli
1:11 PM · Apr 18, 2026

"Holy SHIT someone found the test pressing of Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues and it is clear as a PIN."

https://www.openculture.com/2026/04/recording-lets-you-hear-delta-blues-legend-robert-johnson-in-stunning-clarity.html

A startup is putting military-style drones in high school ceilings. Ceiling-mounted. Charging. Waiting. And when something happens, a pilot in Austin, Texas, decides whether to deploy pepper gel on your kid's school. I'm not saying the problem isn't real. It absolutely is. But read that back.... in schools. We've taken a Ukrainian battlefield tactic against Russian soldiers and ported it to Deltona High School in Florida. The co-founder literally said the idea came from watching drone videos of the war in Ukraine. The chief pilot described it as "cheating in a video game after you die." These are children.

Here's what's not in the headline:

🔒 The drones use an encrypted connection — but the article notes they're potentially vulnerable to cyberattack. A compromised drone in a crowded hallway isn't a security tool; it's a weapon pointed in the wrong direction.

⚖️ Mithril reserves the right to act independently during an attack, without waiting for law enforcement. A private company operating remotely is making use-of-force decisions at a school.

💰 Florida and Georgia approved $500K+ each for this. A group of Texas parents raised $200K more. That's real money going to ceiling drones instead of mental health services, counselors, or de-escalation programs.

The ACLU said it plainly: when force becomes a zero-risk remote action, it gets overused. Axon tried a Taser drone for schools in 2022, and its own ethics board killed it. Mithril is picking up where that got dropped.

I teach cybersecurity. I've spent years in boardrooms helping organizations think through risk. And the risk calculus here isn't just about whether the drone works. It's about what we're normalizing when we turn schools into drone-monitored combat zones and call it progress.

"This is the future," said the sheriff's captain.

I hope not.

https://www.wsj.com/business/a-startup-is-supplying-drones-to-high-schools-to-stop-mass-shootings-a7800ade

#SchoolSafety #Cybersecurity #Leadership #security #privacy #cloud #infosec

Artemis flight has some tough deprivations ahead. Here's to a successful trip. Also enjoying the fact I get to pull out all my space memes.

#Artemis #ArtemisII #Moon #meme #funny #Aliens #SciFi

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/common-antidepressant-can-treat-long-covid-fatigue-symptoms-study/

"A common and low-cost antidepressant can successfully treat fatigue associated with long COVID, according to a new study.

Co-led by researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, the study found that the drug fluvoxamine, which is commonly sold under the name Luvox, significantly reduced fatigue symptoms in a clinical trial of 399 adults with long COVID. It is one of the first times a medication has been shown to effectively treat the condition. "

https://doi.org/10.7326/ANNALS-25-03959

1990s: *enthusiastic schoolteacher voice* the computer is a place where anything can happen

2020s: *grizzled, world-weary army sergeant voice* the computer is a place where anything can happen

Biological Laboratory – a Lego set proposal, created by one of our lab members, Chu-Cheng.
https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/ab52d2c2-0688-48e7-a7d1-77ae54a6aa4b

In his words: "The playability, esthetics of this design, together with the most important, educational value, make it a perfect set for Lego ideas product."

Still some days to support it, needs to gather a lot more support beyond the present 2,100 to reach manufacturing. How many scientists are there in Mastodon?

#Lego #science #laboratory