Dave Rahardja

100% artisanal, human-made bytes.

Anti-DEI is white supremacy. Black lives matter. LGBT+ rights are human rights. Healthcare, security, a decent income, and housing with dignity are human rights. Abortion is healthcare. Science is our best hope. Kindness and empathy are the noblest of human traits.

It can ALWAYS get worse.

Uncritical AI slop posters get muted and blocked.

He/him.

Website: https://www.humancode.us
Carspotting photos: https://davecarspotting.com
Signal username: drahardja.81

Public Key

npub10wnp0q097e5z76rm838d9f59dz5lfvw2xvwvr32lnpye0vrdjfqqdrf0qm

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drahardja_at_sfba.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs8hfshs8jlv6p0dpancnkj56zk3205k89rx8xpc40esjvhkpkeysqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds00642f

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub10wnp0q097e5z76rm838d9f59dz5lfvw2xvwvr32lnpye0vrdjfqqdrf0qm

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Last Notes

2026-09-02 03:51:06 UTC

“For four minutes, heritage conservationist Udaya Kumar P L watched an AI agent wreak havoc on his computer. The agent was testing software it was developing and clearing the cache when “a quoting error in an AI-generated command turned the instruction into ‘delete everything’”. “When it understood and tried to kill the process, its safety system blocked the kill. Twice… The safety layer permitted the destruction,” Udaya wrote on X. A former IT professional, he eventually shut down the computer to prevent further loss.”
Good stuff, this agentic thing. #AI
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/when-claude-code-went-rogue-years-of-bengaluru-heritage-work-disappeared-4131958

2026-07-22 02:17:09 UTC

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We have to stop it with methods that have a chance of working.

2026-07-22 02:10:51 UTC

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Sadly, the US is not a party to the ICC.
Also, foreign diplomats have immunity when visiting the US. I’m not even sure NY can arrest him on *state* charges, much less ICC ones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_International_Criminal_Court

2026-07-19 01:03:14 UTC

I see that DHH has gone even more full #fascist.
This is literally calling for ethnic cleansiing.
“Because the sacred cow here is not just that mass migration must stop going forward. It's also that millions who are already in Europe must go.”
https://world.hey.com/dhh/three-sacred-cows-that-must-die-so-europe-can-live-1afb203d

2026-07-12 00:12:27 UTC

From the ACLU: #Flock lies to city managers about what they do.
“Flock’s chief information security officer, who was in attendance, told the council that Flock’s system did not “create a pattern or heat map of an individual’s movement” through the tracking of their vehicles. At the end of that meeting, the Oshkosh City Council approved a contract with Flock. The very next morning, the city learned that Flock had lied.”
#deFlock #fuckFlock
https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/tracking-alpr-cameras/flock-safety-credibility-lost-as-it-repeatedly-lies-to-city-councils-police-departments-and-public-across-the-country

2026-07-04 20:21:18 UTC

I’m glad to (finally) see some buyer’s remorse in the corporate ranks about their rapid deployment of #AI, often at the expense of jobs (or so they claim).
Costs are rapidly rising. Software quality is plummeting. Morale is tanking. The workers are getting angry. People are swamped with slop. About the only ones happy with this change are sociopaths who live increasingly solipsistic lives with a sycophantic word extruder (and maybe some jaded senior developers who want to get paid as much as possible while the going is good and no longer care what happens downstream).
I’m hopeful that the end is near. The bubble is deflating. The growth is flatlining. We are finally past the Peak of Inflated Expectations and are now descending into the Trough of Disillusionment. Deployments are getting walked back, people are getting rehired, AI budgets are reduced.
The best time for this to have happened was two years ago. The next best time in now.
https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/exclusive-zuckerberg-says-ai-agent-201123441.html

2026-05-14 01:26:43 UTC

I got phished.
tl;dr: Someone set up a convincing replica of a popular clothing store website, complete with shopping cart, to harvest credit card information.
I searched for clothing made by Champion, and a search engine directed me to championwearshop dot com, which contained a high-fidelity copy of the Champion website. The website had a valid SSL certificate. It allowed me to search and add items to a cart.
Then, at checkout, it requested my credit card information. I entered it, and it went through a “verification” step and said “cannot process card—try a different card”. I tried a different card, same result. After three cards, I gave up.
The next day, I got a bank alert that there was a fraudulent transaction on a card, then another.
I only ever use one of the three cards on a regular basis, so I was positive it was this site.
Welp, lesson learned!
#phishing #scam
PS: The real website is champion dot com.

2026-05-12 02:06:21 UTC

Fuck this trend.
1. Unilaterally cut employee benefits without renegotiation
2. Blame “AI spending”
“AI spending” is now the go-to excuse to lay off and screw over your employees, no questions asked.
“A $2 billion tech firm is halting 401k contributions for staff”
#ai
https://www.thestreet.com/employment/a-2-billion-tech-firm-is-halting-401k-contributions-for-staff

2026-05-10 05:40:21 UTC

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A useful sticker to put on #AI images.
The image is transparent! On some devices, you can “lift” the sign and save it as a sticker.
#CRAP
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/548/673/271/024/683/original/ba33b392f7c3450c.png

2026-05-10 05:37:40 UTC

Useful #AI acronyms:
#CRAP - Computer-Rendered Artificial Pictures
#PISS - Plagiarized Information Synthesis System
#ARSE - Auto-Regurgitated Syntactic Extrusion

2026-05-08 18:50:13 UTC

RE: https://mas.to/@wifsten/116035756091298221
What a fascinating story. It suggests that there is a correlation between the closures of bars-tabac (coffee shop/tobacco shop) and the rise of right-wing party sentiment in rural communities, and that party support can be reversed by reopening bars-tabac.
This suggests that social/communal spaces reduce hateful programming. Maybe people who are lonely tend to feel disempowered and left behind, and thus are more susceptible to messages that blame some out-group for the way they feel.
#note1qy0…mr6c

2026-05-03 07:15:59 UTC

New #EV sales continues to collapse in the US. Nissan has abandoned its effort to turn its Mississippi plant to manufacture EVs, and is instead retooling it to make ICE and hybrid trucks and SUVs, likely to work around the 15% import tariffs for Japanese cars.
#cars
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/nissan-pulls-the-plug-on-its-500-million-ev-plan-for-america-269354.html

2026-05-03 03:34:39 UTC

Gen X to Gen Alpha:
LOOK AT ME
I’M THE BOOMER NOW

2026-05-01 21:57:46 UTC

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Good news I guess?

2026-05-01 01:43:52 UTC

I would support term limits for supreme court justices. It should be some number that doesn’t align with presidential elections, like 10 years.

2026-04-26 16:26:47 UTC

If you can write and maintain CLAUDE.md to tell a bot how to work on your code, then you can write and maintain a document to tell your coworkers how to work on your code.
I can’t believe it took coding bots to get some people to write documentation.
#ai #coding #software

2026-04-26 02:38:08 UTC

No.
NO.
FUCK YOU. NO.
FUCK OFF.
STOP TURNING EVERYTHING INTO GAMBLING GODDAMNIT.
#lego #gambling #bettingMarkets
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/468/680/928/605/759/original/163f4b3c04062e38.png

2026-04-26 02:21:37 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@climatenewsnow/116468230309788020
Original article: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23042026/corpus-christi-water-emergency-explainer/
“No modern American city has ever run out of water. But chances are rising that Corpus Christi, Texas, could be the first. Absent a biblical rainfall event, its reservoirs are on track to completely dry up by next year.”
But more than half of the water consumption in Corpus Christi goes to petrochemical industrial plants. Let’s see if people are willing to throttle down the water supply to machines before they do to humans.
#climate #weather #climateChange
#note1eqv…ypme

2026-04-24 01:26:00 UTC

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@evacide/116438525414891868
Every technology that can be used for surveillance will eventually be used for surveillance.
This one isn’t even that far of a stretch.

2026-04-23 17:38:43 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.online/@parismarx/116455204022893824
Hey, consider joining Paris Marx’s Patreon. Tech Won’t Save Us is one of the more relevant, substantial, and entertaining! podcasts on my playlist.
#note1682…xjlz

2026-04-23 03:58:43 UTC

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It’s Great To Be Alive in Colma!
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/452/014/347/861/239/original/6cc892cea1c2bdaa.jpeg

2026-04-22 06:23:14 UTC

#BankOfAmerica has sent an email informing account holders that they are adding a #BindingArbitration clause to their agreement. You have 60 days to opt out. Opting out was easy: I clicked a link, and clicked Submit.
If you are a Bank of America account holder, take a moment to check your email and click the opt-out link.

2026-04-19 05:19:31 UTC

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HAHAHAHA
#kakistocracy
“White House officials ‘openly discuss’ firing Kash Patel as FBI chief threatens to sue over report about ‘excessive drinking’”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kash-patel-alcohol-fbi-mess-firing-the-atlantic-b2960378.html

2026-04-18 21:22:47 UTC

Psst: water check! Have you drunk some water recently?
Not tea, not coffee, not soda.
Drink some water and you’ll feel better.
#selfCare
PS: I love you

2026-04-18 01:09:50 UTC

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I love that Patel is paranoid about losing his job because he inevitably will. Trump discards everyone, and it doesn’t take long for him to do so.

2026-04-17 22:28:49 UTC

Here we see the carcass of a Porsche. An invisible army of scavengers have picked the bones clean. In nature, nothing is wasted.
#cars #attenboroughVoice
https://www.carscoops.com/2026/04/porsche-911-stripped-la/

2026-04-15 03:10:04 UTC

Folks, THIS is how it should be done.
Friday April 10:
⁃ SF Chronicle published a credible claim that Eric Swalwell sexually assaulted a woman (https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/eric-swalwell-allegations-22198271.php).
⁃ CNN published claims by three other women that Swalwell also assaulted them (https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/us/eric-swalwell-sexual-misconduct-allegations-invs)
⁃ Democratic allies withdrew their endorsements, including both chairs of his Governor campaign (https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/politics/democrats-withdraw-endorsements-of-eric-swalwell-and-demand-he-end-bid-for-california-governor)
Sunday April 12:
⁃ Swalwell withdrew from the #California governor race (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/swalwell-exits-california-governors-race-after-assault-allegations)
Monday April 13:
⁃ Swalwell resigned from the US House (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyd8rj1ylro)
Tuesday April 14:
⁃ Gavin Newsom called for a special election to fill Swalwell’s vacancy (https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/special-election-date-set-to-replace-rep-eric-swalwell/3876089/)
In the span of FIVE DAYS (including a weekend), Eric Swalwell went from the leading candidate for California governor to a *persona non grata* for the #Democratic party apparatus, based on credible allegations of sexual violence.
PLEASE. Do not claim that “both parties are the same.”

2026-04-14 04:01:48 UTC

Age-verification laws are a backdoor for #surveillance.
Remember, any time legislators demand that you give them the ability to monitor your activities using the tired excuse of “think of the children!”: they really don’t give a shit about the children. They only want to monitor you.
If they really think social media is addictive and bad for children, they’d regulate the industry, instead of asking everyone to upload a video of their ID and/or faces to verify their identity.

2026-04-13 21:52:24 UTC

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I hope prosecutions will follow.

2026-04-13 20:15:25 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/116398678116637934
I mean, it’s not like it’s the first time IBM complied with a Fascist authoritarian.
#note1evz…dczp

2026-04-12 23:14:54 UTC

People minimizing Orbán’s defeat in #Hungary through voting, and claiming that the same can’t be done to Donald Trump: Remember that Orbán was in power for SIXTEEN YEARS, that is, 2.5× LONGER than Trump. He had more than twice the time Trump has had to intimidate, corrupt, and destroy Hungary’s systems of voting. And yet, voting unseated him.
PLEASE do not preemptively give up on voting. Voting still works in the US, and it is quite likely that our voting infrastructure will far outlive Trump and his destructive party.
Authoritarians rely on a perceived popular mandate to continue their abuse. Voting can decisively deny them that mandate. Do not give up prematurely.
VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.

2026-04-12 20:38:46 UTC

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I’m so sorry to hear that. Hugs to you and to those he left behind.

2026-04-12 03:42:40 UTC

This is one big reason I don’t buy cars older than the late 90s. I love older cars, and I love restomods, but I also like to survive crashes. Car safety tech improved *so much* between mid-1990s and the 2000s, and I want that benefit.
This man was a race car driver. His skills were many times better than mine. Yet a stray SUV killed him. There are occasions where passive crash safety is all that stands between me and death.
Every one of these stories is a memento mori to me. @npub1ucv…5a8g https://m.ai6yr.org/@ai6yr/116389511088994685

2026-04-12 03:13:15 UTC

Evergreen post.
https://xcancel.com/HoldenShearer/status/998913016925220865
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/389/550/187/477/198/original/be929af5271c79b4.jpeg

2026-04-11 21:48:24 UTC

RE: https://biologists.social/@steveroyle/116388089734768557
Never mind the stunning space photos; look at the people.
Look at everyone in space, and everyone on the ground. Look at how competent and focused they are. Look at the evidence of decades of study and training behind those eyes. Look at how unpretentious and how unpolitical they are. Look at how they’re not grifting, not scheming, not exploiting, not stealing from the common good. Look at how they are focused on doing science and engineering and ops and safety and how they work together to push humanity farther and further than ever before.
Then realize: all these people work for the US government. Yes, Virginia, there are actually competent people working for the government. When people tell you government is incompetent and full of scams, realize that it’s a bald-faced lie. Government, done well, mobilizes immense expertise to improve lives for everyone.
#note1qgl…0dem

2026-04-10 01:53:29 UTC

RE: https://mstdn.social/@MaryAustinBooks/116377115782932989
Awesome!
#note1sxa…0pmn

2026-04-08 05:08:09 UTC

I don’t think a prolonged general strike is going to happen in the US, and I’ll tell you why: the social safety net doesn’t exist, and people are broke.
43% of USians cannot afford an unexpected $1000 bill¹. The median household spends 33% of their income on rent². The median household has $8k in savings³. Most people will lose their health insurance if they don’t show up to work.
How many of these people can sustain a general strike during which they will not get paid?
…
¹ https://www.usnews.com/banking/articles/2026-financial-wellness-survey
² https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-do-households-spend-on-rent/country/united-states/
³ https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/savings-account-average-balance/#how-much-does-the-average-household-have-in-savings

2026-04-05 05:33:52 UTC

This is fascinating reading about the #cars situation in the US. #EV vehicles are beginning to come off-lease after the incentive-driven boom of 2022–2025, peaking in 2028 when an expected 800,000 units will hit the market.
In the US, EV prices have cratered. Incentives have disappeared, and customers have shown little interest in buying new ones. A 3-year-old EV today retains only 40% of its initial value, which means off-lease returns will cost whoever finances the deal a lot of money.
This is going to send a small shock wave of losses to lease underwriters across the auto industry. More importantly, it means the prices of used EVs will continue to fall as more units flood inventory, putting downward pressure on new EVs too.
The upside is that there will be a lot of lightly-used EVs available to pick up at lower prices, and you can probably strike good deals for newer units. And with rising gas prices…
https://www.autoweek.com/news/a70884164/800000-evs-to-hit-used-market/

2026-03-31 06:24:59 UTC

Went to the Hakone Estate and Gardens Night Event tonight, in Saratoga. #sfba #photography #nightPhotography #naturePhotography
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/322/356/354/365/030/original/17b848f9d38db410.jpeg

2026-03-31 02:01:18 UTC

RE: https://vmst.io/@jalefkowit/116319239712929440
The ruling makes sense to me.
“Attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine are both meant to ensure that people can prepare for proceedings without fear that interactions with lawyers will be used against them. The former protects confidential communications between a client and a lawyer made for the purpose of obtaining legal advice. [Judge] Rakoff holds, correctly, that there is no attorney-client relationship because Claude expressly disclaims providing legal advice and the existence of any fiduciary obligation. Nor does it seem likely an attorney-client relationship could exist between a person and a piece of software”
Ya, makes total sense.
#note1php…wtdp

2026-03-30 01:07:12 UTC

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An AI proponent (I’m not one of them) might draw the distinction that scraping the web does not remove the original from circulation, unlike taking air.

2026-03-29 08:30:24 UTC

One thing that continues to grate on my conscience about #AI is how artists and writers consistently feel that the technology has STOLEN from them. We all know that web scraping is (and should be) a perfectly legal and acceptable use, because preventing it also prevents all sorts of beneficial behaviors—the Internet Archive wouldn’t be able to exist, for one thing.
But yet, the very nature of AI takes scraped content and regurgitates it as a pink-slime extrusion that it feeds back into the web. And to creators, that just FEELS WRONG; it feels like stolen valor, it feels like exploitation.
And it’s something I can’t (and shouldn’t) shake from my mind each time I see something made by AI. Just because something is LEGAL doesn’t mean it isn’t ABUSIVE and UNETHICAL. Scolding people who complain about AI by telling them that web scraping is good, actually, doesn’t address the main complaint: that somehow, these AI assholes have EXPLOITED A COMMON GOOD and we can’t quite figure out how to stop it.

2026-03-27 07:27:38 UTC

That hot dog makes me uncomfortable.
(Wienerschnitzel drive-through)
#signs #humor
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/299/953/508/810/027/original/5d8c834de062f79c.jpeg

2026-03-27 05:12:23 UTC

“A Dutch court has ordered X and its AI chatbot Grok to immediately stop generating non-consensual sexualized imagery and child pornographic material in the Netherlands, imposing a penalty of €100,000 per day on each defendant for non-compliance.”
Good.
#fuckElon #ai #slop
https://www.techpolicy.press/dutch-court-orders-x-grok-to-stop-aigenerated-sexual-abuse-content/

2026-03-21 17:14:57 UTC

If your answer to anyone who doesn’t like something that an open source project is doing is “then fork it yourself”, you’re a piece of shit.
First, not everyone who uses #FOSS is a coder. This is a feature, not a bug. Second, not everyone who is a coder is a maintainer, and they shouldn’t have to be to have their voices heard. Third, when someone is intentionally worsening a project, and you harass the people complaining about it, you are reinforcing a power imbalance in favor of the abuser.
Check your privilege. YOU, a rich person with technical skills and time to spare, may be willing to bear the cost of forking a popular project, but others can’t. Think beyond your selfish self.

2026-03-20 23:55:23 UTC

I didn’t know we had such elaborate restrictions on photography on national forest lands. It seems really odd that people aren’t always allowed to take photos or videos wherever they can legally access. https://mstdn.social/@bryanhansel/116264113037398178
#note159z…0tp3

2026-03-18 04:54:49 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@randahl/116248355762185053
They stole a year of her life, with no credible charges filed.
#note196w…nsmg

2026-03-15 01:54:26 UTC

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Still chuckling at how Facebook renamed itself Meta because it was so sure about the Metaverse.
Now they’re super sure about AI.

2026-03-11 04:28:59 UTC

#Starlink just raised the monthly fees for aviation access from $50/month to…wait for it…$1000/month for aircraft that go faster than 300 MPH.
Some pilots of small aircraft bought and installed Starlink receivers in the hopes of getting real-time weather, icing, and turbulence reports over satellite, all of which was accessible for $50/month up to 450 MPH.
Without warning, Starlink raised prices to $250/month for 300 MPH, and $1000/month for 450 MPH customers.
Many customers predictably terminated their subscriptions. The money they spent on equipment and installation is gone for good, and they’ve lost their real time weather feed.
Serves them right for going with an Elon product, I guess. Only disappointment and rugpulls await. And you’re making a Nazi richer, so, tough noogies.
#fuckElon #enshittification
https://avgeekery.com/starlink-aviation-plan-changes-spark-backlash/

2026-03-11 02:50:11 UTC

Welp
#endlessWar #illegalWar #IranWar #kakistocracy
https://xcancel.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2031531835453309125
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/208/265/517/658/456/original/26b545a10a8683d1.jpeg

2026-03-07 02:29:27 UTC

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Can’t wait for the AI bubble to pop too

2026-03-06 06:27:47 UTC

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Yay, a fellow Before Timer! I wrote and ran my own BBS on an Apple //e in Singapore in the early 1980s.
My first “Internet” access was BITNET around the same time.

2026-03-03 04:21:06 UTC

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That’s a great article, by the way. I guess it’s no surprise that Anthropic is yet another TESCREAL nuthouse. They seem to be True Believers™ in something, and it turns out, that something is EA.

2026-02-27 21:14:11 UTC

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Sorry!

2026-02-27 18:58:27 UTC

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I always wonder if these types of glasses will ever accommodate people who already wear corrective eyeglasses like me. Better yet, allow me to remove my regular glasses when wearing them, then accommodate my vision correction!
I would love a small, portable “big screen” that looks like a pair of glasses.

2026-02-23 20:45:09 UTC

ONE BILLION personally-identifiable records was leaked by IDMerit an “AI-powered digital identity verification solutions provider”. The leaked data included:
Full names
Addresses
Post codes
Dates of birth
National IDs
Phone numbers
Genders
Email addresses
Telco metadata
Good thing we’re not uploading personally-identifiable documents for age or identity verification or anything whatsoever OH WAIT
FUCK all this surveillance tech. FUCK this identity verification bullshit. No one can be trusted with this information.
#dataBreach #surveillance #privacy
https://cybernews.com/security/global-data-leak-exposes-billion-records/

2026-02-20 22:33:33 UTC

Turns out there WAS voter fraud…by Elon’s PAC in Georgia.
“There was evidence to suggest America PAC had violated a state law that prohibits any person or entity, other than an authorized relative, to send an elector an absentee ballot application prefilled with the elector’s required information, according to Janice Johnston, the SEB’s vice chairman.”
Deport Elon for committing voter fraud.
#fuckElon
https://newrepublic.com/post/206857/georgia-voter-fraud-elon-musk

2026-02-19 18:30:00 UTC

Never trust lawmakers who want to expand surveillance “to protect children”.
It’s never about protecting children.

2026-02-17 08:59:40 UTC

Plus: influencers are one thing, but it’s gross when tech podcasts, especially those that deal with software quality, design, or ethics, accept sponsorship money by #AI companies and they do some awful ad read. It really makes me want to stop listening to them.
https://mstdn.social/@rysiek/116082744544161649
#note1j52…knm0

2026-02-16 02:49:32 UTC

RE: https://med-mastodon.com/@jeneralist/116063720006024901
The fact that “return on investment” needs to be a consideration at all when developing pharmaceuticals is the more fundamental problem.
#capitalism #kakistocracy
#note19u8…h4f4

2026-02-08 07:58:15 UTC

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Oldie but goodie.
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/033/945/283/141/279/original/3e3790f50ab51f63.jpeg

2026-02-08 03:56:14 UTC

You may already know that “data centers in space” is a cynical scam to tie AI funding to taxpayer-funded space operations. This article does a good job of explaining why the *physics* of putting data centers in space is an enormous problem unlikely to be solved any time soon.
#ai #scam
https://news.satnews.com/2026/01/29/the-fractal-lab/

2026-02-08 00:22:25 UTC

#Substack openly platforms—and profits from—#Nazis. And not just nudge-nudge-wink-wink types of Nazis, but literal black-swastika “NatSoc” Nazis. And they recommend Nazi writers.
If you are still on Substack either as a reader or publisher, please seriously consider leaving the platform. It’s a Nazi bar. You don’t want to give them your money or your attention. I hear ghost dot org is a great, Nazi-free alternative.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/revealed-how-substack-makes-money-from-hosting-nazi-newsletters

2026-02-06 20:28:24 UTC

I wonder if I can start a new #LicensePlateFriday #cars thing. I love collecting funny or interesting vanity license plates, especially in #California, where it is *exceedingly* difficult to get any vanity plates that read well, because 40 million people are sharing the same namespace.
Anyway, if you have a funny or interesting license plate (or license plate-adjacent) photo that YOU HAVE PERSONALLY TAKEN, post em with the #LicensePlateFriday tag. I’d love to see em!
Edit: Thought of a better one start with.
#TGIF #LicensePlateFriday #humor
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/025/584/747/984/043/original/711852505b811b70.jpeg

2026-02-06 09:24:17 UTC

RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116022803319662931
If you are a natural-born US citizen, please, PLEASE read this. Our immigration system is unjust and impossible to navigate. It is Byzantine and cruel because of a combination of bigotry, neglect, and parasitic opportunists.
The next time you hear “why don’t they come here legally?” remember that it’s nearly impossible for most people to do that.
#note1tp4…syqw

2026-02-05 20:42:43 UTC

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The problem with AI is you don’t know when it’s wrong.

2026-02-05 20:03:49 UTC

RE: https://journa.host/@z_everson/116019478582007164
#scam #rugpull
#note1z48…gjz3

2026-02-02 20:11:16 UTC

Sometimes the Pope gets it right.
“Unthought thoughts” encapsulates #ai #slop well.
https://infosec.exchange/@mttaggart/116002666171029017
#note1dku…32rr

2026-02-01 03:10:00 UTC

It’s really this simple.
#meme
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/993/175/688/351/638/original/17416934fa2afdcf.jpeg

2026-01-31 04:00:18 UTC

Studio Ghibli’s Japanese pronunciation is “Jiburi”, which is a transliteration that uses a soft “g” sound. But the Italian word that the studio’s name apparently comes from uses a hard “g” sound.
When you pronounce “Studio Ghibli”, do you use…

2026-01-30 18:11:36 UTC

Audiophiles are woo-woo crystals people, but with money. https://bloor.tw/@bloor/115980841892587966 https://bloor.tw/@bloor/115980841892587966
#note1cs8…t7d8

2026-01-29 03:56:10 UTC

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Here’s the video.
#Batman #sfba
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/976/367/642/293/753/original/984df591d454bc15.mp4

2026-01-29 03:53:12 UTC

A man dressed in a Batman costume lambasted #SantaClara city council for not making a firmer stand against ICE during Super Bowl weekend.
Legend.
#sfba #fuckICE
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/bay-area-council-ice-super-bowl-21320703.php

2026-01-29 03:43:48 UTC

Not even a week in, and TikTok has gone 100% Fash @npub1k7k…6qz5 https://mastodon.neometropolis.net/@QudsNen/115975090202501700

2026-01-26 21:57:55 UTC

Hey Fedi, since Thorlo Experia recycled socks are now basically discontinued, where can I find colorful, comfortable, moderately-padded #socks that are made of recycled or upcycled materials?

2026-01-26 07:36:55 UTC

I’ve been seeing more than a handful of videos on YouTube claiming that #OpenAI will be running out money this year. I dare not hope, but I do have hope. Because as OpenAI goes, so goes the entire #AI industry.
From their mouths to {%deity%}’s ear. Here’s hoping.

2026-01-26 06:54:15 UTC

Kids are protesting ICE on #Roblox. They are play-acting what they see in real life. The kids are watching. They understand what’s happening.
#fuckICE #kakistocracy
Source: hxxps://www.tiktok.com/@clips4closet
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/960/082/984/375/512/original/d715c5e9edf59354.mp4

2026-01-25 23:34:09 UTC

Did you know that #ICE has shot TWELVE people since September (that we know of)?
After seeing how blatantly ICE and DHS lies after the last few shootings, I don’t believe a single claim that ICE made about these victims.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-shootings-list-border-patrol-trump-immigration-operations-rcna254202

2026-01-25 18:50:03 UTC

RE: https://eupolicy.social/@johnnyryan/115954790316678127
Every tech that enables surveillance will be used for surveillance.
#note17m6…dvfp

2026-01-25 01:39:25 UTC

ICE arrested workers at a restaurant they ate at.
ICE arrested workers at a hotel they stayed at.
Businesses need to CLOSE THEIR DOORS TO ICE because they threaten their employees. @npub1ucv…5a8g https://m.ai6yr.org/@ai6yr/115953159079151589

2026-01-21 21:12:10 UTC

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I wonder if you can even register those cars in the US.

2026-01-21 18:25:47 UTC

RE: https://dice.camp/@Tim_Eagon/115934400887468405
You know it’s gonna be bad weather when Ted Cruz leaves.
#note18ju…nlvv

2026-01-18 07:23:30 UTC

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The constant hunger for “hitting the jackpot” and becoming fabulously wealthy corrupts *everything* one does. The goal of one’s social activities shifts from SERVICE to EXTRACTION. No one is a friend; everyone is a mark. Nature exists only for exploitation; society exists only for you to steal their money.
It’s a hollow, ghoulish existence. The numbers in your E*TRADE account becomes your self-worth. You don’t live; you “hustle”. Your thirst for the next jackpot causes you to reduce humans, animals, nature, resources—everything—into numbers on a spreadsheet, waiting to be “optimized” to drive out “waste”. You hire laywers and CPAs to minimize dollars leaving your portfolio, even when they pay for the common good. You think of politics in terms of Return On Investment, because fuck the people. There is nothing you can’t represent as a dollar figure, even your soul.
You become a parasite.
#wealthInequality #TheAmericanLie

2026-01-18 07:13:34 UTC

I want a society that’s designed to make everyone moderately wealthy, and not only five people astronomically wealthy. The damage and misery caused by unmitigated inequality has been demonstrated over and over again, for millennia, yet we fall for the lie over and over again.
In the US, we choose inequality because we are taught to believe the blatant lie that we might one day *be* one of those five fabulously wealthy people. But look at the numbers: there are only five of them among millions; the odds are staggeringly against you.
It’s like a middle-school sports enthusiast thinking they will become a top-billing star in some major league, and make tens of millions of dollars a year: the numbers simply do not work out; there are only so many quarterback positions available, and tens of thousands of applicants. Yet they are raised to cling to that selfish “dream” instead of focusing on building something that *everyone* (including themselves) is likely to benefit from.
#wealthInequality #TheAmericanLie

2026-01-16 21:12:49 UTC

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I’m not a Wikipedia editor/contributor (I’m not knowledgeable enough for the most part), but if I were one, and I didn’t want my work to be sold to train AI so Wikimedia Foundation can make even more money off of it (they actually started selling it to Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral, and Perplexity LAST YEAR without telling us! Surprise!), this may be a good time for me to WITHHOLD FURTHER LABOR and stop contributing to Wikipedia until they reverse this decision.
#enshittification
https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/15/wikimedia-foundation-announces-new-ai-partnerships-with-amazon-meta-microsoft-perplexity-and-others/

2026-01-16 20:54:34 UTC

RE: https://wandering.shop/@susankayequinn/115901357070406663
Motherfuckers
#note1ez7…k4y4

2026-01-16 04:26:10 UTC

The Austin Independent School District has released a collection of videos showing #Waymo cars driving past school buses with their STOP signs out and lights flashing.
FUCK these cars. Get them off our streets.
#FuckWaymo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6EuLcXrIA0

2026-01-15 07:28:12 UTC

It appears that turning off the new “Smart Features” in #GMail that “provide smart features and personalize your experience” also turns off a decades-old feature that categorizes spam away from your Inbox.
Smart Features uses Gemini #AI to enable LLM-assisted email composition and summary, and to suggest stuff from your calendars and promotional items.
In other words, disabling GMail’s AI features requires you to give up a categorization feature that you’ve had for decades, long before “AI” as we know it today was even a thing.
#enshittification
https://support.google.com/mail/thread/389345915/turning-off-ai-smart-features-just-puts-all-my-sorted-emails-into-my-inbox

2026-01-15 06:53:19 UTC

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I don’t think there’s escaping political parties. They are, at bottom, simply an organizing group that happens to be successful at getting votes.

2026-01-15 05:29:05 UTC

I think we can all dispense with the fiction that the separation of branches of government can overpower the collusion of partisanship. George Washington was right after all.
It follows, then, that a better system of government must weaken the strength of parties, by allowing minor parties to become competitive. I think that begins with #RankedChoiceVoting, which effectively undoes the natural game-theory tendency for two, and only two, very powerful parties to emerge.
What I would like to see next is the abolition of the Senate and the electoral college altogether, but that seems much less likely than first switching to RCV in the majority of states, or passing an amendment that permitted RCV in the way electoral college votes are counted.

2026-01-15 00:26:00 UTC

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But it is like an airport because people won’t judge you for having a martini at 7:30 in the morning.

2026-01-14 04:29:21 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@augieray/115891261862815558
“Senate Democrats aren’t eager to fight” should be on the tombstone of Chuck Schumer’s career.
#FuckChuck
#note1rrg…63k2

2026-01-12 20:48:02 UTC

One of the biggest reasons why I left Spotify (this was after they gave Joe Rogan a truckload of money, and tried to embrace/extinguish podcasts, but before they played ICE ads and before I discovered their CEO invests in killer drones) was because they were padding their LoFi playlists with garbage AI slop attributed to fictitious artists, bands, and labels. They were obviously doing this to avoid paying out any money to artists despite continual playback.
Spotify is 100% leaning hard into AI. They have an “AI DJ” that “curates” your music. They are replacing artists with AI slop. It’s all part of their grand enshittification. [@halva](https://mk.absturztau.be/@halva ) https://mk.absturztau.be/notes/ahf6b9v2rduf04iz

2026-01-10 22:59:13 UTC

It’s kinda hard to tell which mutual aid request posts are real and which are scams. Anyone have tips on how to exclude the scammers?

2026-01-10 19:43:40 UTC

Getting tired of seeing posts on Mastodon by European men scolding people that they should be more polite, or that if someone categorizes some people as “bad guys” then that makes THEM the bad guys, etc.
Maybe sit down and listen instead, huh? Your privilege is showing.
I don’t know if you noticed, but some people don’t want others to exist, or to exist only in a state of misery and subservience. THESE ARE BAD GUYS. You can’t reason with them, because their position is not one built on logic, but dominance. They don’t deserve politeness, only PUBLIC SHUNNING and RESISTANCE. Being rude to them is good and proper, and healthy for the world.
I swear if I have to read another Dutch man lecture me, a person born in Indonesia, a nation the Dutch colonized and exploited for centuries—about being polite…
https://www.humancode.us/2025/09/25/the-politeness-trap.html

2026-01-06 06:00:37 UTC

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I will sell you this piece of paper for half that subscription price.
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/846/626/484/545/984/original/28eb25e9224e0242.jpeg

2026-01-05 06:30:09 UTC

“Billionaires will leave if you tax them”:
1. No they won’t
2. They leave even when you don’t tax them
3. Things get better for most people when they leave
4. They say this so you won’t tax them
#billionaires #taxTheRich

2026-01-05 04:41:59 UTC

Hey, remember that awkward and antisocial #Tesla diner that opened in LA last July, where they built giant screens that blocked the view from the apartments next door?
It’s a ghost town. The crowds are gone. The chef resigned in November.
Given that the food is mediocre and overpriced, and the atmosphere is basically “corporate diner”, the only reason people would want to go there is to be associated with the Tesla brand. And since the brand has gone toxic, well…there’s not really any reason to be there any more, is there?
#goodNews #fuckTesla
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/03/tesla-diner-elon-musk-los-angeles

2026-01-04 06:22:13 UTC

Someone posted this 8-bit JD Vance GIF and I love it.
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/835/386/620/027/867/original/0a405a8d2c6ea5d8.mp4

2026-01-04 02:43:52 UTC

I’m not a #finance expert but this seems really bad. Banks haven’t needed this much cash infusion since the 2008 recession. On Oct 31, the Fed infused $51B of cash into one bank (they didn’t say which), and on Dec 28, they infused another $34B of cash into another bank (again they didn’t say which). This is after five years of zero such actions.
The article speculates that there is a short squeeze: banks have been shorting precious metals like silver and gold, but their prices have skyrocketed. They’re getting margin-called.
In any case, it seems that banks are suffering a liquidity crunch, to the tune of about $85B so far. Is this bad? This seems bad.
https://www.dcreport.org/2026/01/01/ny-fed-follow-up-34b-cash-infusions-wall-street/