Kia Ora, Wellington! Time to add some QR codes to my talk (starting in 90 min) to get a few more people to write to the FCC https://darksky.org/news/two-satellite-proposals-threaten-the-night-sky-the-window-to-act-is-now/ #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets Given how corrupt the US government is today, would you say there was a reasonable likelihood of public submissions influencing the decision-making around satellite regulation / launch approvals?
HAHAHAHAHAHA
@wizard i am considering a pocket laptop for this kind of "internet on the go" thing although i find that i need apps like uber/lyft which have gutted their web apps so i unfortunately need ios/android for that :(
You don't have to finish it all today.
@selfcare muito engraçado ler isso agora enquanto eu refletia sobre terminar agora ou quando acordar o resumo e cod prontos para o trabalho
@Sempf ok pipe down fish man
Well, if nothing else I have a medical appointment tomorrow morning and will be driving along the highways (passengering really) so I can look for hawks, I always like spotting hawks...
You don't have to finish it all today.
PBOC’s Rising Focus on Overnight Rate Spurs Talk of Policy Shift
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-13/pboc-s-rising-focus-on-overnight-rate-spurs-talk-of-policy-shift?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into Economics @economics-bloomberg
Je suis toujours fan de Tumblr pour sa logique « … oui ! Et,,, » (à la différence des réseaux sociaux où c’est « non ! Et tu as tort pour ces raisons ::: :blobangery: »)
@joachim c’est une super manière de décrire l’esprit de tumblr effectivement (que j’imagine possible aussi ici avec les qouets, mais peut-être me trompé-je)
Exactly what I came here to say @joernsmock. Long strings of random characters are no harder for computers to guess than equally long strings made up of dictionary words. Epecially obscure or non-English words.
Claiming they are is a sales pitch for password managers vendors, not a security fact. Current passphrase advice reflects that XKCD comic, and suggests passphrases be long, memorable, and changed as infrequently as possible.
@caten
> Aren't you just proposing to create a single point of failure where I remember one weak password (for the password manager) instead of a dozen?
Exactly. The memorable secret for the password manager is like crypto wallet keys, or SSB or Nostr keypairs. If you don't manage them securely *and* resiliently, you can permanently lose access to crucial stuff.
My response to the predictable geek reactions to your post is to tap the XKCD about rubber hose cryptography.
@sortius Next up will be John Howard's eyebrows with a statement on the importance of party unity.
Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
Not every question needs an instant answer. We can stay curious. We can reach out and help each other, not just locally, but in solidarity across languages and continents ✨
Is there an XML schema for documenting your cat?
This work is a vivid reminder that the stakes of generative AI are very human: real communities are experiencing environmental and economic devastation at the hands of data center developers.
What I love most is that it's a reminder that to resist genAI is deeply human, too.
That's the landscape the residents of Quilicura are working in, trying to raise awareness and protect their water.
Cut to a few weeks ago, where a handful of residents invited people to send prompts to them, rather than to an AI chatbot. Behold: www.quili.ai
I am doing my own experiment.
I love #Mastodon and the #fediverse
I think lots of people don't _know_ about this wonderful way to connect to people, how #socialmedia can be - but
I think people think the algorithm helps them, whereas I think that's big tech marketing.
I am sharing the same posts here and LinkedIn and Facebook, and I'm curious to see which performs best.
So, if you see my posts and like them, do please follow me and boost liberally, and I will be delighted to report back!
Looking at what it takes to even uncover what these tech companies are doing in Chile is eye-opening.
Think: data center developers establishing shell companies to hide identities, making local authorities sign NDAs, lying about their water sources.
https://pulitzercenter.org/resource/how-we-investigated-backyard-ai-spain-chile-and-mexico
