Mastodawn

The length of the partial government shutdown may be increased because a single Senator is mad that he won’t get the _personal_ payday the Senate managed to slip into the last continuing resolution. So, not holding out for a program to help his constituents. Holding out for his own bank account.
https://bsky.app/profile/bresreports.bsky.social/post/3mdn32hhguc2d

John Bresnahan (@bresreports.bsky.social)

@punchbowlnews.bsky.social AM today - Lindsey Graham holds up Senate vote on funding deal, the shutdown clock is running - Senate deal gives Mike Johnson a new headache - Cotton PAC polling says voters want DHS to ‘tone down’ - Liccardo’s Silicon Valley mission https://punchbowl.news/archive/13026-am/

Bluesky Social

Ralph Griffin Dec 4, 2023

https://infosec.exchange/@amuse/111518474884063401

Matt Linton :donor: (@[email protected])

Leaving the USA at SFO, I tested out "Opting out of facial recognition scans before boarding" procedure to see if it indeed exists and will be followed. It didn't go very well. The gate agent argued saying I couldn't opt out. I insisted that I'm allowed to, and they pointed to a sign on the wall explaining the "Biometric verification privacy policy". The sign says "Customers wishing to opt out may speak to a gate agent or CBP officer for a manual verification" clearly at the bottom. The agent then told me I have to opt-out *in advance with CBP*. I pointed out that the sign says "or gate agent" and asked if she was a gate agent. She insisted again that I can't opt-out but by that point another agent heard the discussion, came over, and showed the first agent how to place my passport on the scanner and sent me through. I overheard her telling the first agent as I walked away, "If it's a US passport, it's OK." A flight of probably 300 people, I'm definitely the only one who opted-out today and by the gate agent's confusion, I suspect I'm the only one who has opted out in a long time. I'm in every system there is (and China already has my entire SF-86) so it's not that I'm some off-the-grid paranoid who doesn't want to be in "the system" - but for privacy rights to exist at all, it's important to use them when you don't need to and keep them available for people who DO need privacy.

Infosec Exchange

Ralph Griffin Dec 4, 2023

https://indieweb.social/@WillRobinson/111518665297380434

Will Robinson (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Please favor and boost. Let’s show that love can overcome hate and ignorance.

Indieweb.Social

Ralph Griffin Dec 3, 2022

Galactic Stone Dec 2, 2022

Proboscidean (Mammoth) tusk section for #FossilFriday and #FieldPhotoFriday.

I was digging through a layer of #Pleistocene sandy overburden to reach a fossiliferous #Miocene strata, when my trowel hit something hard. It turned out to be the largest section of mammoth/mastodon tusk I have ever found. It measures approx. 2m long. Later analysis of the Schreger Lines in the tusk confirmed it was Mammoth.

Location : Peace River, #Florida, Bone Valley Formation.

#paleontology #fossils

Ralph Griffin Nov 17, 2022

blaine Nov 17, 2022

A number of people have asked me if I think that governments should run Mastodon instances for citizens. There may be exceptions, but I don't think governments should be in this business, for a variety of reasons.

However, I do think that *Libraries* would be *amazing* hosts for public federated social media communities. Just sayin'.

📚

Ralph Griffin Nov 17, 2022

Neil Gaiman Nov 17, 2022

I just presented Art Spiegelman with the National Book Award Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, on the same day that PENAmerica put out a letter signed by Art and Margaret Atwood and me, among others, protesting the latest round of book bannings.
https://pen.org/spiegelman-atwood-sign-pen-america-letter-against-missouri-book-bans/

Spiegelman, Atwood Among Signers of PEN America Letter Against Missouri Book Bans

Missouri book bans include graphic adaptations of the Bible and the Gettysburg Address, as well as Art Spiegelman's Maus and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

PEN America

Ralph Griffin Nov 13, 2022

Eugen Rochko Nov 12, 2022

Decided to look at network stats again. There are 1M more people using #Mastodon today than there were on October 27.