Made it home. So far United, LHR, SFO and air traffic control all seem to be working ok.

I wrote about Proposition 13 and how it's responsible for how ridiculously expensive California's housing is (which, in turn, is responsible for almost everything bad about California) because a bunch of "ruin our housing market like California ruined theirs 50 years ago" propositions are on various state ballots and I promise you this is a road you do not want to go down.

https://www.simplermachines.com/how-not-to-ruin-your-housing-market/

[Vanity Fair]: The Art of the Deal: Jared Kushner’s Hacked Phone Revealed His Secret Negotiations—Including More Than $700 Million in Transfers

An exclusive excerpt from Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East examines how bank accounts linked the president’s son-in-law—and former senior adviser—to Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. By Matthew Cole, October 22, 2026

https://www.vanityfair.com/story/jared-kushner-hacked-phone-secret-negotiations

#jaredkushner #uae

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life."

Terry Pratchett, Jingo

#GNUTerryPratchett, #SpeakHisName, #Discworld

If you think your hobby is ruined because someone else does it better with less effort, or someone else does it worse with less effort, is it really a hobby?

Or is it because of the status linked to the effort and outcome?

I’m genuinely puzzled by the virulence around all this stuff. I love drawing and painting, I love making music, I love programming. I poured thousands if not tens of thousands of hours into each of those. In none of those cases do I feel resentment or anger or sadness because either a machine does it better (programming), or millions of people produce some usually garish stuff I can easily ignore (maybe I’m just too offline / my communities are too curated, but I rarely see ai art if not looking for it).

In fact, while I’m quite angry at the companies behind the models, someone pooping out an image with midjourney and being proud of it, that’s awesome. I was proud of my drawings/music/code when they were ass, and I’m sure I got on peoples nerves showing it off.

Maybe they say they “drew” it, then that’s a starting point showing why I like drawing (as in, the act itself) and they might like it too, or just engage them about the images they like and what inspirations they have and then point out (with “critique tact”) why it looks … not great, or just showing images I do think are awesome. Art is quite universal, there’s a good chance common ground here is very close.

Like, generative machines that “are better” than humans is nothing new in music circles. You had “poop music machines” since forever (player piano anyone?). I started with rebirth and ableton and was making some proper poop. And then I got better, because I had people who took me along. If all I encountered was people telling me to fuck off that’s not real music you have to learn how to play guitar, then yeah I wouldn’t have stuck with it for decades.

I totally get not wanting to listen to shitty sample mashups as a guitarist. But then I would just… not listen to it? Not get upset over it, there’s guitar to be played.

#ai

Kushner faces new corruption allegations involving shady secret accounts.The excerpt alleges that starting in 2017, the leaders of the UAE and Saudi Arabia contributed to an account, called “Alpha,” at a UAE government-funded charity, the Watani Al Emarat Foundation. One confidential source with direct knowledge says the charity doubled as cover for moving money for the UAE’s secret military and intelligence operations overseas. Kushner was allegedly made a signatory on the account.🤬

Drop-In Time is a time where I hang out in a room at the library with a big table and a lot of chairs and help people with their technology problems for two and a half hours. These are their stories. It was cold today so I was warming up some water for tea and by the time I got upstairs at three past the hour there were four people waiting for me. Whoops!

Bob and Kathy had a Medicare prescription drug plan that wasn't going to be around next year so they needed help finding a new one.

This is wonderful design 🦕

#Design

A while ago, a friend asked me whether #Claude could keep memory per project only.

My answer grew into a blog post starring Leonard from the movie “Memento” 🎞️.

What’s your take on AI assistants and their memory?

https://constantin.glez.de/claude-memory-memento/

CEO:

"Can hackers actually get in?"

Security:

"Potentially yes."

CEO:

"Without a password?"

Security:

"Yes."

CEO:

"Then why do WE need passwords?"

Not the lesson.

https://x.com/it_unhinged/status/2112947445835727001

So, yesterday I delivered the premiere of my latest talk “Continuous Delivery! It is not what you think it is” at Lean Agile Brighton.

Apparently I did well. Some even shared I’m an engaging speaker. Whaatt?!? 😳 Well, thank you ☺️ you make my day.

Thank you to the organisers. You have a lovely conference. Loved the room. So cozy and warm! 🥰

No slide deck as I still have to deliver it at Agile Testing Days in a month time.

Here’s the article it is based upon.
https://thinkinglabs.io/articles/2026/01/09/what-is-continuous-delivery.html

OpenAI ambulance chasing the PHP vulnerabilities and pretending they found and disclosed them (they did not) is disgusting. It’s a media play and it’s really gross, and says a lot about OpenAI.

[blog] InfoQ - eMudhra Intermediate CA Compromise

Private keys for eight eMudhra intermediate CA certificates have been compromised, allowing attackers to forge certificates for any site. The keys were revealed due to low entropy, not through a known breach.

http://blog.thestateofme.com/2026/10/22/infoq-emudhra-intermediate-ca-compromise/

@cirriustech @cstross

RE: https://techhub.social/@rayckeith/117481734059781372

Does opting out of anything work?

Social media platforms are a "silent ally" of Russia in a "digital war" and are doing nothing to curb disinformation, Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski ​said on Wednesday, threatening fines for firms that ignore state requests.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/poland-says-social-media-firms-are-silent-ally-russia-threatens-fines-2026-10-21/

#Ukraine #Russia #EU #Poland

Britain's leading climate scientist, Kevin Anderson:

"The Government has presented its decision as pragmatic. But pragmatism is a political framing, not a physical property of the climate system. More fossil fuels, when burned, mean more CO₂ in the atmosphere, higher global temperatures, greater climate impacts and increased risks of crossing dangerous tipping points."

Jackdaw: a decision for the last century - Climate Uncensored
https://climateuncensored.com/jackdaw-a-decision-for-the-last-century/

"Smart TVs running operating systems from Samsung, Vizio, and Roku continue sending data to automatic content recognition (ACR) endpoints after users opt out of tracking in the devices’ settings, according to research published on Monday. The paper from Northeastern University researchers points to potential privacy violations from some of the biggest TV brands."
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/does-opting-out-of-smart-tv-tracking-work-research-finds-suspicious-traffic/

I just need any PHP and keys and stuff that runs airports and airlines to keep working for the next day or so pretty please? Flying LHR-SFO on Thursday… sigh.

It's my birthday.

As my birthday present, could you do something good for someone else without expecting anything in return?

Give money to someone homeless, help a neighbor with a task, or something similar?

We're all in this together. Make the world slightly better for me?