Jonathan Kamens 86 47

he/his
Director of Information Security at 4DMedical.
I work primarily in #infosec, #IT, and #SaaS infrastructure.
ex #USDS (fired by #DOGE)
Dad, old-school hacker, Righteous Indignation Man. Opinions are my own. Follow my blog at jik (npub1kjr…9mdq).
#COVID #CovidIsNotOver #USPol #MAPol #BosPoli #Boston #MA #politics #linux #FOSS #OpenSource #ConsumerActivism #privacy #programmer #hacker #fedi22 #resist Jonathan Kamens 86 47 (npub1znh…e3n6)">https://justmytoots.com/Jonathan Kamens 86 47 (npub1znh…e3n6)

Blog: https://blog.kamens.us/
Github: https://github.com/jikamens
Vintage home page: https://stuff.mit.edu/~jik/
Comics aggregator: https://comics.kamens.us/

Public Key

npub1znher05nmmrkrwpw5v4vnk0z7uvc5m0yh60jgzmktu7ue7l03dzsr7e3n6

NIP-05 Address

jik_at_federate.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

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Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

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npub1znher05nmmrkrwpw5v4vnk0z7uvc5m0yh60jgzmktu7ue7l03dzsr7e3n6

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Published at

2026-05-26T18:48:48Z

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Last Notes

2026-05-14 02:22:28 UTC

I keep hearing people say AIs are "better at coding than people."
First of all, no, they're FASTER at coding than people, which is not at all the same thing.
Second, am I the only one who remembers when what folks in this industry do was called "software ENGINEERING," which is not at all the same as "coding"?
Notice how no one is claiming that AIs are good at software engineering?
Why do you think that is? 🤔
Most commercial tech was already shit before genAI. The AI is 10x'ing the shit. *sigh*

2026-05-05 18:01:23 UTC

It's ridiculous how hard it is to buy USB-C wired earbuds.
I don't want wireless earbuds, I need to store them in my motorcycle saddlebags for the rare occasions when I need them.
I can't use earbuds with a 3.5mm plug because all the fucking phone manufacturers got rid of the headphone jack.
CVS supposedly sells them, but the two I checked in person were both out of stock.
Verizon sells them online, but they only sell one variety and it's out of stock.
It's absurd.

2026-04-23 13:49:03 UTC

Theory: if you are an entity that people need to mail paperwork to, and in the year of our silicon overlords 2026 you do not have a well-documented mechanism for people to send the paperwork electronically instead, then you are bad and you should feel bad.
Discuss.

2026-04-19 23:44:50 UTC

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You obviously don't understand, CEOs are a superhuman breed who are as productive as ten normal people. /s

2026-04-14 23:39:51 UTC

I have an old #Netgear #R9000 WiFi #router acting as an access point. This router is end-of-life and supposedly no longer receives firmware updates; there was a security update last September, so it isn't _too_ stale.
Because it's serving as an access point it has no public IP address, though obviously a sufficiently dedicated attacker could literally sit outside our house and talk to it over WiFi.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do with this router?
#infosec #homeInternet

2026-04-13 19:10:54 UTC

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🤷 it's kind of a mixed message because I'm hearing they're pet-safe but the packaging also says to keep them out of reach of pets. If all else fails perhaps I will give them a try, but until then I think better safe than sorry.

2026-04-13 18:32:00 UTC

We have an ant problem in our kitchen most years come spring, but this year it's come on quickly and with a vangeance. I've lost count of how many ants I've smushed today.
Instead of having an enjoyable outing on my motorcycle to pick up lunch, I drove around town looking for pet-safe ant repellent. I ended up buying poison stations from the hardware store since they didn't have any pet-safe repellent, but then I managed to find some at Target (yeah, I know, *sigh*).

2026-04-12 14:41:47 UTC

It pisses me off when people half-ass important things and fuck up the safety nets I'm killing myself trying to weave for the people I care about.
A while back we installed a safe in Uncle's apartment because his aides kept stealing his cash and debit cards. By "we" I mean Brother, because I wasn't able to get to NYC to install the safe, whereas he lives near Uncle. (1/4)

2026-04-11 22:33:06 UTC

This is a meandering personal thread about my inadequate connection to other human beings since 2020 and the first, tiny step I took #today to try to do something about it. Feel free to skip if that doesn't sound interesting to you. 🤷 I will not be offended. 😉 (1/17)

2026-04-09 15:32:39 UTC

RE: https://flipboard.com/@404media/404-media-qvt3vv94z/-/a-qoIXNx-4Q-i9Qb4-DwsX5A%3Aa%3A4082434389-%2F0
If you think there's any chance that law enforcement might ever be interested in the content of your Signal chats, and you don't want them to have access to them, then setting up disappearing messages is necessary but not sufficient. You also need to go into the Signal settings and either disable notifications completely or set them to show "No name or message" so the content won't be capture and preserved in the phone's notification database.
#infosec #privacy #OpSec "#antifa"
#note1955…0vms

2026-04-09 01:03:44 UTC

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This is so true, and it's so immensely frustrating that most Democratic electeds don't get it.
Of course, "It is difficult for a man to believe something when his salary depends on him not believing it."
These folks can only see one way of doing things, and that way is to keep their centrist, pro-Israel donors happy so they can stay in office and keep making money.

2026-04-08 15:44:36 UTC

#Microsoft locks account that #VeraCrypt maintainer uses to sign #Windows bootloaders with no explanation or route for appeal. If they don't fix this, in a few months every Windows computer that uses VeraCrypt whole-disk encryption will stop being able to boot and all the data on it that isn't backed up elsewhere will be lost. 🤦
If this doesn't convince you big tech has too much control, I don't know what will.
h/t @npub1p5z…krfz
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/08/veracrypt-encryption-software-windows-microsoft-lock-boot-issues/
#infosec #privacy #TechIsShitDispatch

2026-04-06 00:44:27 UTC

Ten years from now a man in NYC sees an ad, "Piss on trump's grave for $10."
He calls the number but is told he has to go to LA.
"LA? Why, you moved his grave?"
"No, that's where the back of the line is."
#politics #humor #funny #joke
Credit: https://www.wonkette.com/p/jesus-fcking-christ-is-fckin-risen/comment/238554633

2026-04-02 20:50:48 UTC

This is my second "holy shit" of the day.
Apparently #LinkedIn if silently collecting data on every extension you use every time you visit the site. Which it then uploads, with your identity attached to it.
This is absolutely horrifying. Literally, people should go to jail over this.
#infosec #privacy
https://browsergate.eu/

2026-03-23 16:20:51 UTC

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I dunno this seems kind of horrible? A lot of people's lives would be dramatically upended if they were suddenly unable to start their cars.

2026-03-22 12:08:50 UTC

Great way to start the morning
#FuckICE
https://cdn.masto.host/federatesocial/media_attachments/files/116/272/740/016/734/921/original/c3086be4436b0e24.png

2026-03-19 14:22:37 UTC

#Medium: Hi! Thanks for visiting. You have to create a free account to read this article.
Me: [creates account]
Medium, 5 minutes later: Thanks for creating your account! Here's some #spam.
Me: [unsubscribes]
Medium, a day later: Ha! You only unsubscribed from one kind of spam, here's a different one.
Me: [unsubscribes]
Medium, <a day later: Ha ha! Here's another kind of spam.
Me: [clicks unsub link, this time it goes to a settings page with a global toggle which I turn off]
#TechIsShitDispatch

2026-03-18 20:13:06 UTC

#TheOnion going hard at #SamAltman.
It's hard to pick, but I think this is my favorite line:
"Why did you decide to devote your life to AI?
I just saw so much suffering in the world that needed to be automated."
#OpenAI #funny #humor
https://theonion.com/the-onions-exclusive-interview-with-sam-altman/

2026-03-17 00:18:53 UTC

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How's that working out for you so far? 😉
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/13/digg-lays-off-staff-and-shuts-down-app-as-company-retools/

2026-03-16 19:52:34 UTC

Look at these absolute chonkers.
#birds #turkeys #Boston #BostonMA
https://cdn.masto.host/federatesocial/media_attachments/files/116/240/591/788/136/183/original/09c3e6e8a3450d1f.jpg

2026-03-15 01:36:25 UTC

Cracks appear in Pacific nuclear tomb as sea levels rise https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-15/cracks-appear-in-runit-dome-amid-sea-level-rise/106423684
https://cdn.masto.host/federatesocial/media_attachments/files/116/230/620/647/108/466/original/9249fd6cba756171.mp4

2026-03-14 16:18:57 UTC

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How I ended up summarizing my pages of advice, which didn't even cover everything I wanted to cover:
"If you're doing something about which you're worried about the government coming after you or the people you're with now or in the future, it might be prudent to leave your phone home, or turn it off and not turn it back on until you're back home unless there's an emergency."
#infosec
(2/2)

2026-03-14 16:18:12 UTC

Activist: "Should we put our phones in airplane mode when we're doing activist stuff?"
Me: [responds with two pages of text about threat modeling, risk assessment, levels of protection, current and future threats]
I don't think most people realize how hard it is to give people simple, straightforward cybersecurity guidance.
There's a huge risk in erring on the side of caution: people finding your recommendations burdensome and doing _nothing_ as a result.
#infosec
(1/2)

2026-03-12 14:50:31 UTC

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I should be able to tell them, "Whenever this CD matures, roll it over into the best available rate you are currently offering." In fact, that should be the default.
It should be 100% illegal for the default to be, "We'll pay you almost zero interest on your retirement savings unless you explicitly tell us, 'Actually, I would prefer for you to keep paying me interest, thank you.'" (2/2)

2026-03-12 14:50:31 UTC

For the sake of diversifying risk, my wife and I have much of our retirement savings in IRA CDs at three different banks.
They all do the same slimy thing, so I suspect this is something that most banks do: whenever one of our IRA CDs matures, we have to call the bank and explicitly tell them to roll it over into a new CD with a decent interest rate. One of our banks even makes us do it in person. If we don't call or visit, it gets converted into a 0.05% CD. Ridiculous.
#personalFinance (1/2)

2026-03-10 21:32:13 UTC

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Related recent thread:
https://federate.social/@jik/116190267196012868
I bought something on eBay and it was fulfilled through HomeDepot.com, which is a violation of eBay's policies. The difference between Home Depot's price and the price I was charged is not big enough for the seller to have made a profit on the sale.
I'm pretty sure the seller is money-laundering stolen Home Depot gift cards.
#note17hq…9xaw

2026-03-07 22:32:58 UTC

I needed a new toilet supply hose. I wanted one with metal fittings on both ends (https://federate.social/@jik/110984580621613035). I couldn't find it locally so I needed to order online. I found it on HomeDepot.com, but I don't shop there when I can avoid it because Fuck ICE, so I searched for that item at other merchants and found it on #eBay for slightly more than Home Depot. I ordered it there… and they placed an order on HomeDepot.com with my name and address as the recipient. 😠
#scam #AquilineTracking (1/4)

2026-03-06 21:54:19 UTC

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Scratch that, we've decided it's not worth the hassle, my wife is going to do it in the morning next week when she would normally be driving our son to school and I'll do the driving that morning instead.
9/

2026-03-06 21:41:11 UTC

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The question which I don't know the answer to is whether the RMV is going to let me submit the title paperwork that's in my wife's name, or if she has to do it. I have no way to find out, because the Massachusetts RMV literally does not let people call them on the phone to ask questions. Which completely sucks and is totally unacceptable, of course.
I'm just going to have to show up and hope they'll let me submit the paperwork.
*sigh*
8/

2026-03-06 21:38:20 UTC

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Well, I'm glad I called the local AAA branch first to confirm that they would be able to process our plate transfer paperwork so I wouldn't have to do it at an RMV branch. Turns out they can't process transfers for sales from out-of-state dealers. So I do in fact have to show up in person at an RMV branch and wait. D'oh.
7/

2026-03-06 19:17:08 UTC

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Overall, the only pain in this experience has been the pain of paying over $20k for an eight year old used car. Ouchie.
6/

2026-03-06 19:16:11 UTC

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We forgot to bring our second EZPass transponder with us to the dealer, so I gave my wife, who is driving the new car home, the transponder from our minivan, and I'm hoping pay by plate will work properly for the minivan, since its make, model, and plate number are registered to our EZPass account.
5/

2026-03-06 18:51:24 UTC

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We had them run the numbers to see if it was worth taking out an auto loan, but the rate they offered was higher than the rate on our HELOC, with a big enough difference that I don't expect the fed to raise interest rates that much in the next few years, so we just paid from our HELOC.
4/

2026-03-06 18:43:13 UTC

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We're paying more than three times as much for an eight-year-old Accord as we paid eight years ago for a nine-year-old Ford Fusion.
Hondas retain their resale value better than Fords, and the Accord is a much nicer car, and the Ford had more miles on it when we bought but still, car prices have gone up _a lot_ in the past eight years.
3/

2026-03-06 18:34:59 UTC

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Third car: a ridiculous deal on a fully loaded Nissan Murano. I like all the fancy features, especially the 360° cameras (very useful for parking in Boston!), but (a) no Android Auto, (b) higher cost of ownership, (c) a bit large for new drivers, and (d) SUVs are evil. So, while we were sorely tempted, we ended up ruling this out.
Fourth car: Honda Accord. This was the winner. We're doing the paperwork now.
2/

2026-03-06 18:14:19 UTC

We are used-car shopping today because our old car (2009 Ford Fusion) needs $3k of work, which at this point would definitely be throwing good money after bad.
We're at #MerchantsAuto in Hooksett NH. We bought our previous two used cars from them. We like them a lot.
First car they showed us: Nissan Altima. No good: no Android Auto and it's not possible to replace the head unit with an after-market unit that supports Android Auto.
Second car: Nissan Versa. Nice car, but too small.
1/

2026-03-05 03:51:59 UTC

The "Annual Meat Conference" is taking place this week in Maryland. One of the topics being presented on at the conference is "Smart Meat".
Q: What is Smart Meat?
#WrongAnswersOnly

2026-03-02 21:09:47 UTC

Last week the auto shop said it would take $3k to fix our 2009 Ford, so we decided it's time to throw in the towel and move on to our next used car.
They said it would still be driveable for a while, but alas, today one of the killer potholes on the route home from our son's school caused the muffler to break off from the exhaust pipe.
Our search for a replacement just became a much higher priority, and in the meantime life's going to be a bit complicated.
*sigh*

2026-02-24 12:20:40 UTC

RE: https://floss.social/@cameron_bosch/116125283488008648
Ok, so, @npub1tgg…qwzh just announced on #Twitter that moving forward Mastodon will be their preferred social media platform, and the replies there to the announcement are absolutely unhinged, in a way that is incredibly hilarious while at the same time making you worry about the reality-warped bubble the folks who use Twitter are trapped in.
Link below if you're curious.
FWIW I wish LO were leaving Twitter entirely, not "reducing" its activity there, but I'll take what I can get.
#FOSS
#note1s2n…vthd

2026-02-23 15:48:42 UTC

This #blizzard in #Boston is the real deal. I just spent 2½ hours outside with my shovel, snowblower, and ice chipper, clearing our rear stairs, the part of the patio that needs to be cleared for snowblower access, and the driveway, which had a lot of pre-blizzard ice that I needed to chop up. I didn't even make it to starting on the sidewalk or cars before the snowblower batteries died. I guess I'll be out there again for another pass when the batteries are recharged.
#weather #BostonMA

2026-02-14 06:12:44 UTC

Goddammit.
Go back and look at the interviews I did after I was fired by DOGE.
I was yelling that DOGE destroying data protections in the federal government would enable them to use the data to go after trans people and women who get abortions.
That's what this is, indirectly. It's stochastic terrorism targeting providers of gender-affirming and reproductive healthcare.
Drive the providers out of business and the care becomes inaccessible.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/150728416
#politics #USPol

2026-02-09 02:24:19 UTC

Did you know?
There was a time when every piece of electronic or mechanical equipment you purchased came with a complete schematic diagram enabling you to diagnose problems and buy any replacement parts you might need to repair it at any point in the future.
Ex: my Apple ][+ came with complete schematics. So did my first stereo amplifier.
This is the way.

2026-02-08 17:54:43 UTC

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Having said all that, what prompted me to read this article in the first place was the claim that high humidity is a problem in the winter and lowering the humidity in winter is a desirable thing to do.
What's up with that?
Heating _lowers_ humidity. In my experience, the problem during the winter is getting enough humidity into the air, not having too much of it. This is why heating systems often have humidifiers built into them.
Is excess humidity a problem for you in the winter?
(3/3)

2026-02-08 17:51:54 UTC

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Also, the NovaFuture article isn't dated, which is a pretty sure sign of clickbait.
Here's the link to the NovaFuture post and article in case they decide to remove the quote post because I'm accusing them of being clickbaity themselves:
https://mastodon.social/@novafuture/116036121320843165
https://novafuture.org/opinion-piece/the-salt-water-bowl-thats-the-last-straw-for-fake-news/
(2/3)
#note1wcc…5yza

2026-02-08 17:49:18 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@novafuture/116036121320843165
I'm always amused to find clickbait articles bemoaning other people's clickbait articles.
The NovaFuture article doesn't link to any of the other sites it claims ran the clickbait, so there's no way to verify that they say what it's complaining they say.
Via web search I was able to find just one article about the "trick" lambasted here. It made no claims about lowering heating bills and included most of the caveats included in the NovaFuture article.
(1/3)
CC [@teresa_athome](https://mastodon.online/@teresa_athome ) @npub10ds…q223
#note1wcc…5yza

2026-02-06 19:11:43 UTC

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Thinking back, this is probably why people on the tax resistance webinar I attended recently kept throwing around the figure $1,000 as a safe amount to not pay every year without making yourself obvious enough to the IRS that they come after you for the money.

2026-02-06 19:09:13 UTC

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Right now, the interest rate on back taxes, which is adjusted quarterly based on the federal short-term rate + 3%, is at 7%. Just for example, if that were to stay constant over the next ten years (unlikely), then you could refuse to pay $1,183 of your taxes due every year without the interest and penalties over the ten year statute of limitations ever going over $25k.
You might want to round it down to $1,100 or $1,000 just to be cautious.

2026-02-06 19:06:48 UTC

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UPDATE: I've confirmed that the threshold of $25k over ten years below which the #IRS probably won't come after your money *** includes any interest and penalties that have accrued ***, so the math is a lot more complicated than just paying $2,500 less than you owe each year.
The interest rate the IRS charges on back taxes is variable, so if you want to get as close as possible to that $25k limit spread out over the ten years, you have to adjust how much you don't pay each year.
#taxResistance

2026-02-05 19:44:22 UTC

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I am not sure whether the $25k limit before the IRS comes after you for tax debt includes interest and penalties. If so, then you'd need to underpay less to avoid having the IRS come after you. The underpayment penalty is ½% per month up to a maximum of 25%, plus interest at a rate of the federal short-term rate plus 3%, determined quarterly. I am trying to clarify this ambiguity and will update this thread.
[EDIT: the $25k includes interest+penalties; see thread addendum.] (9/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:22 UTC

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Everything we know about how the IRS deals with tax resistors is based on what the IRS has done *in the past*. There's no way to know for sure that they won't change their strategy in the future.
But we know that Trump gutted staffing levels at the IRS and they'll probably remain gutted at least as long as the GOP is in control, so anything that involves IRS employees doing actual work (which going after people's money probably does) for a small payback will probably remain unlikely. (10/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:22 UTC

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Two final notes:
1) I am not speaking from personal experience. I believe this is a viable strategy but I cannot personally vouch for it.
2) If I were to decide to engage in tax resistance, I probably wouldn't admit to it on social media. (11/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:21 UTC

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If you make little enough income that your *total* tax liability for each year tends to be below $2,500, then this is much simpler; you can just zero out your W-4 withholding completely as documented on the NWTRCC website.
[EDIT: $2,500 is wrong; see thread addendum.] (8/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:21 UTC

This is not financial or legal or tax advice, but for those who are curious, here is some of what I think I've learned in researching U.S. federal #taxResistance, i.e., refusing to pay some or all of your federal income taxes because what the government is doing is immoral and you don't want to support it.
https://nwtrcc.org/ is a good starting point, though I didn't find all the below information there (it may be there, but I couldn't find it). (1/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:21 UTC

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Assuming you make W-2 income (i.e., you receive a W-2 from your employer every year), it's probably safer to file your taxes and then not pay some or all of what you owe, rather than not filing at all. This is because there are separate non-filing and non-payment penalties, so you can avoid the non-filing penalty by filing. If you don't file, the IRS will calculate what they think you owe automatically, and it may be more than you actually owe, so it's probably to your advantage to file. (2/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:21 UTC

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Therefore, just speaking theoretically of course, the course of action which would seem to most minimize both the amount of money you give to the federal government and the amount of risk you're taking, is:
a) adjust your tax withholding throughout the year so you owe around (but not less than) $2,500 on April 15;
b) file your taxes normally by the deadline; and
c) pay $2,500 less than you owe each year.
[EDIT: $2,500 is wrong; see thread addendum.] (7/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:21 UTC

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My personal opinion is that there's no point in attempting tax resistance if the IRS is just going to come after you and take the money you owe out of your paycheck or bank account, because then you'll end up giving the government *more* money than if you'd just paid your taxes to begin with, since they're going to charge you penalties and interest in addition to whatever you owed originally. (6/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:21 UTC

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The IRS has the legal authority to force your employer to withhold wages, to garnish your paychecks, to take money out of your bank accounts, and even to confiscate and sell your property, to satisfy your tax debt.
*However,* and this is I think the key information, the NWTRCC estimates that the IRS is unlikely to do anything more than send you threatening letters as long as your total accumulated tax debt over the past ten years (the statue of limitations) is less than around $25,000. (5/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:21 UTC

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Regarding reducing W-4 withholding, your employer probably won't ask why your deductions are higher than it seems they should be, but if they do, you can't tell them why, because once they know the information on your W-4 is false they're not legally allowed to accept it.
Be prepared to give them an innocuous answer, such as, "I am confident that I've filled out my W-4 correctly," or, "The information I've put on my W-4 is consistent with my private financial circumstances." (4/11)

2026-02-05 19:44:21 UTC

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In order to avoid paying some or all of your taxes, you have to exaggerate your deductions on your W-4. The NWTRCC website goes into this in detail.
This is technically illegal but it seems the IRS hasn't pursued criminal charges against anyone for doing it in decades, essentially because of the Streisand Effect. (3/11)

2026-02-05 02:00:05 UTC

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I legit do not understand why any sane person would choose to drive a vehicle which turns into an unescapable death chamber if it is involved in an accident which causes electrical failure.
h/t @npub1ucv…5a8g
Ref: https://m.ai6yr.org/@ai6yr/116015238290584999

2026-02-04 22:59:00 UTC

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(I am thinking of this novel today because I believe that all-powerful machines which start to break down after humanity has forgotten how they were built or how to fix them because they provided for every need, strikes me as an apt metaphor for what generative AI is going to do to us if we go down the path that Altman and Musk think we should.)

2026-02-04 22:48:49 UTC

#scifi nerds, I need your help identifying an #SF novel I read decades ago.
The main characters each possess some sort of device which gives them essentially infinite power. They use it to create and destroy whatever they want, to travel all over the planet, basically anything.
They don't understand how the devices work. Turns out they're connected to giant machines—maybe originally for terraforming?—that are starting to break down, and the knowledge of how to fix them has long since been lost.

2026-02-02 14:49:32 UTC

Yeah, I'm definitely going to connect with this guy. Excellent invitation to connect, no notes. /s
#AI #slop #AISlop #spam #LinkedIn #IBM
https://cdn.masto.host/federatesocial/media_attachments/files/116/001/572/224/365/910/original/b1417b8e760f3ad3.png

2026-01-30 17:09:24 UTC

A bowl of peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets is a healthy, nutritious lunch for an adult, right? Asking for a friend.

2026-01-25 18:07:31 UTC

It's so cold in our basement right now that the chlorine bleach has chunks in it.

2026-01-25 00:47:52 UTC

White folks in the U.S.: I encourage you to sit with the fact that this feeling you're feeling, that you could be gunned down by a cop for no reason without them facing any repercussions, is a feeling that every Black person living in the U.S. for the past 400 years has justifiably felt for their entire lives.
Resolve now that if we make it through with democracy intact, you will actively work toward a world where everyone can be free of that fear.
Don't forget.
#BlackLivesMatter

2026-01-25 00:17:49 UTC

"I think there is a plausible argument that it is morally permissible, and even morally necessary, to use political violence against the Trump Administration and its agents and supporters under the current circumstances in America."
The U.S. government is illegitimate. It will continue to use wide-scale violence to harm and kill many people, until it is stopped. It's past time to talk about what we must do if it can't be stopped through non-violence.
#politics #USPol
https://www.popehat.com/p/we-should-talk-about-the-morality-of-political-violence

2026-01-21 18:55:13 UTC

RE: https://cosocial.ca/@timbray/115934583715057888
Starting a new thread to reply to this so as not to muddy the waters in my "1Password problems I've experienced" thread.
The TLDR for why I decided to leave #Bitwarden is that their QA is shit and they seem to regress significant functionality in every new release they put out nowadays.
Not only that, but they break the same things repeatedly, suggesting that their discipline in terms of adding test cases to prevent future regressions is shit.
1/?
#note1ad5…tet9

2026-01-20 21:54:15 UTC

Least surprising news article ever.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/20/trump-administration-admits-doge-may-have-misused-americans-social-security-data/
#politics #USPol #DOGE #SSA #infosec #privacy

2026-01-17 23:57:38 UTC

I just resumed using #1Password after several years of being away and also just started migrating my family from Bitwarden to 1Password Families.
I decided to move my family to 1Password because Bitwarden has gotten extraordinarily buggy. Based on past experience with 1Password, I thought it would be better.
I may have been wrong. In the short time since I've resumed using 1Password I've encountered a lot of significant issues.
I'm going to chronicle 1Password issues here in a running 🧵.

2026-01-17 22:00:33 UTC

This is your periodic reminder that policing in the United States began as slave patrols and hasn't moved particularly far from its origins in the hundreds of years since.
How ICE is acting now is yet another illustration of the fact that the war we're fighting isn't new, it's just the latest flare-up of the Civil War that never ended.
#politics #USPol #ACAB
Ref: https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/origins-modern-day-policing

2026-01-17 21:38:57 UTC

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I was a early and frequent Digg user back in the day, and this nonsense doesn't sound anything like what made Digg great.

2026-01-17 21:38:08 UTC

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Yikes. Did you read the article? It sounds like they're planning a mixture of AI garbage, incredibly privacy-invasive measures, and technobabble that's complete nonsense ("…like using zero-knowledge proofs (cryptographic methods that verify information without revealing the underlying data) to verify the people using its platform…").
No, thanks.

2026-01-13 21:51:23 UTC

When The Onion hits, it hits hard.
"Report: Fighting Rising Tide Of Authoritarianism Sounds Like A Lot Of Work"
#TheOnion #funny #humor #politics #USPol
https://theonion.com/report-fighting-rising-tide-of-authoritarianism-sounds-1841390886/

2026-01-13 01:02:26 UTC

My wife and I have been brand-loyal Hilton customers for many years, but that just ended. I just told them to cancel our Hilton Honors membership. I based my email to them mostly on the template here https://indivisiblesf.org/blog/2026/1/6/hilton-hotels-cooperates-with-ice-boycott-them with some minor changes.
If you are a Hilton Honors member you should do the same.
I'm not going to patronize a business which has made it clear that it sides with the Nazis.
#politics #USPol #fascism #boycott #Hilton #HiltonBoycott

2026-01-12 13:28:03 UTC

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https://federate.social/@jik/115816909504566045

2026-01-09 18:47:36 UTC

I'm hiring an Information Security Generalist at 4DMedical. Ref: https://4dmedical.bamboohr.com/careers/115
"Generalist" means we're a small #infosec team so everyone on the team wears lots of hats.
4DMedical is headquartered in Australia, but this is a U.S. remote position. U.S. citizenship is required.
4D is small, about 145 people. We're doing great work that helps real people every day, and 4D truly cares about its staff.
:boostRequest: Please boost. Help people in the fedi get hired!
#GetFediHired #jobPosting

2026-01-05 05:02:11 UTC

Oh, hey.
Circumstances compel me to remind you not to boost stuff that confirms your priors without checking first to make sure it's true.
Just because you like the sound of something, just because it's plausible, doesn't mean it's true.
People say things that aren't true. They have lots of motives for doing so, but regardless, misinformation and disinformation are harmful, and the more they spread the more harm they do.
Please be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Thanks.
#feditips

2026-01-02 16:47:17 UTC

You may have heard that the maintainer of med-mastodon.com, a large, prominent Mastodon server, recently decided to shut down the server without warning, leaving his users with no access to their data.
This could happen to you at any time.
If you care about this, you should be backing up your data regularly.
Here's a post I just wrote about how to do that, and about what you can do with your backed-up data.
#FediTips
https://blog.kamens.us/2026/01/02/the-why-and-how-of-backing-up-your-mastodon-data/
#note1d9d…klam

2025-12-31 20:08:23 UTC

You know that feeling of utter powerlessness you have when you're fighting with The System, and despite your best efforts you're losing, and when you look to the future all you can see is more fighting and more losing?
That's how I feel every single day when dealing with the healthcare system on my elderly uncle's behalf.
Here's today's saga of hope, time, and energy being taken from me…
#healthcare #bureaucracy (1/8)

2025-12-31 20:08:23 UTC

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I call the pharmacy the next morning. They ask for a list of Uncle's meds. I email over the list, thinking this will be sufficient for the pharmacy to send new meds.
The pharmacy waits until after 6:00pm to call and tell me the hospital didn't send them any prescriptions, and all the old prescriptions were cancelled when Uncle was hospitalized, so the pharmacy can't send any meds. It's too late in the day for me to do anything about this. (3/8)

2025-12-31 20:08:23 UTC

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I know this is confirmation bias, but it feels to me like something important always goes wrong in our healthcare system at the worst possible time.
Uncle is discharged from the hospital the evening of Dec 29. They send him home without even a 1-day supply of the many medications he needs after discharge. We figure: no problem, the pharmacy will deliver new meds the next day like they always do. In the meantime Uncle has some old pills and insulin to tide him over. (2/8)

2025-12-31 16:29:30 UTC

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Wendy, please. It is, frankly, a bit insulting that you would suggest that I might make that kind of mistake and post through it.
Note the date the message was sent, visible in the screenshot.

2025-12-31 15:13:28 UTC

Apparently #Vanguard believes in the meme that 2020 never ended.
Seriously, though, I Can't Fucking Believe that a company I've entrusted to hold hundreds of thousands of dollars of my retirement savings is confused about what year it is.
(I checked my email archive and I see no evidence that they sent out an email message like this last year, which makes this even more puzzling. Seriously, WTF.)
https://cdn.masto.host/federatesocial/media_attachments/files/115/814/811/942/392/172/original/39d7b7b2004b5ad5.png

2025-12-29 03:54:27 UTC

Oh look, another Torment Nexus Silicon Valley has decided to build: they've named a home security system for ridiculously rich people "Sauron". We are living in the worst possible timeline.
https://www.sauron.systems/
I'm won't be long until somebody starts a meal prep company called "Donner Party".

2025-12-28 17:05:19 UTC

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At least this probably isn't as bad as when they shred the donut box while opening it, making it completely uncloseable so the donuts that aren't eaten immediately go stale within an hour.

2025-12-28 15:46:30 UTC

I live with barbarians.
https://cdn.masto.host/federatesocial/media_attachments/files/115/797/968/023/023/519/original/decfac1b8aff7813.jpg

2025-12-28 14:25:25 UTC

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Most married men didn't cheat in 1976 and don't cheat now.
Perhaps in the culture of the entitled white men who made "Network", cheating was "just a thing bored men did," but I do not think it was or is representative of American culture as a whole.
It certainly isn't representative of the culture I've been in my whole life.

2025-12-28 04:51:23 UTC

Look, I don't want to tell other people how to do the fediverse, but here's a tip some of you may find useful: you really don't need to boost every single post in a long thread. If you do, then anyone who doesn't care about the thread is going to be really annoyed, and they may decide to hide all your boosts or unfollow you completely. Be considerate.
Similarly, if you're posting a long thread it's good #fediquette to make posts after the first "quiet" visibility.
#feditips

2025-12-28 01:38:06 UTC

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Also, I found the callousness and casualness with which the movie portrayed two of its characters entering into an extramarital affair to be rather abhorrent. The man cheating on his wife of 25 years was a sympathetic character. We were supposed to like him. Am I just an old-fashioned prude for being grossed out by this? I dunno, I think adultery is a fatal character flaw; am I just a silly old fool?

2025-12-28 01:25:22 UTC

Wow. I just watched "Network" for the first time with my son who is a bit obsessed with watching classic movies. It's kind of prescient; everything the main character ranted about in 1976 was true then and much more true now. And I honestly have no idea how a big budget movie so damning of the entertainment industry ever got made… by the entertainment industry.
#movies

2025-12-27 02:50:56 UTC

Today I am reflecting, not for the first time, on the fact that Trump told us exactly what he was going to do if elected, AND many people pointed out what he was saying and yelled as loud as they could, "Listen to what this guy says he is going to do if he gets elected!" and yet somehow there are tons of people acting surprised that he's doing the things he said he was going to do, not to mention all the people who are still trying to convince us he's not doing them.
#politics #USPol #fascism

2025-12-26 18:12:05 UTC

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I am having a bit of trouble getting worked up about this.
The bug went public six days before Christmas. This means, frankly, that the folks who get paid to be bad actors, of which there are rather many nowadays, have had six days to figure out how to exploit it. I'm sure several of them had already figured it out before the Eclipse dude dropped the exploit.
By making the urgency of patching this issue clear, he has arguably done a public service.

2025-12-26 13:20:42 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.green/@SusiArnott/115785045414888570
Anyone who can look at this and still fail to recognize the monstrosity of what Israel has done in Gaza is a monster themselves.
#Gaza #Israel #genocide
#note1jka…ya4q

2025-12-24 21:32:12 UTC

The Onion going hard in their year in review.
"Gang Initiate Forced To Peacefully Deescalate Conflict To Prove He Not A Cop"
https://theonion.com/gang-initiate-forced-to-peacefully-deescalate-conflict-to-prove-he-not-a-cop/
#TheOnion #humor #funny #ACAB

2025-12-24 20:14:00 UTC

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I'm looking forward to when you sign a contract with your employees' union so I can resume financially supporting you.

2025-12-24 16:39:26 UTC

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Hanukkah does not always overlap with Christmas. This year Hanukkah ended Monday night, December 22.

2025-12-11 12:34:36 UTC

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The way things are going, soon I may not be a U.S. citizen either. 😞

2025-12-11 12:32:43 UTC

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I don't believe HSBC Expat is limited to U.S. citizens.

2025-12-11 12:29:18 UTC

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Everything is shitty. Global enshittification and late stage capitalism in action. It's only going to get worse, unfortunately.
If you're trying to move money offshore legally, this might help: https://www.expat.hsbc.com/. It's the only way I found for someone in the U.S. who isn't rich to get money into a real offshore account.