SFist: Smoking Becomes Trendy In Silicon Valley as Some Researchers Believe AI Will Cure Cancer

https://sfist.com/2026/10/13/smoking-becomes-trendy-in-silicon-valley-because-some-researchers-believe-ai-will-cure-cancer/

#aipocalypse #stupidity #ai

Dentist: So, do you floss?
Me: Do you use a unique password for every account?

Forgetting somebody's name:

"How do you pronounce your name again?"

"Bob."

the greatest gift @skinnylatte gave me is repeatedly reminding us that there’s no such thing as breakfast food and you can just eat whatever at whichever time of day.

Signed,
the woman enjoying last night’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes at 10 am.

Blistering language from a federal magistrate in his ruling that Elon Musk and Kristi Noem smeared the reputation of FEMA’s chief financial officer to justify the illegal firing of the career public servant. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28808299-comans101326/#document/p1

Big news in my little world: next month I’ll become the owner of the bookshop where I work. It’ll be amazing; for now, though, I’m digging into the nuts and bolts of starting a business, because other than the inventory and bookshelves, I’ll basically be starting from scratch.

The biggest decision to make now is what POS system to use, because we’ll do final inventory under the current ownership November 2 to 4 and I’d like to list the inventory in the new system as part of that process. Bookmanager’s waiting list is closed for a year, whereas I’ll be looking for a system to be up and running by the end of this month. Any advice on that? We’re on Shopify now, but I think it might be more than I’m looking for, going forward. The shop is teeny-tiny, and I’m into simplicity (including zero AI) but would like to accept all modes of payment. I’ve heard suggestions for Square, with which my experiences have been mixed in the past, and Basil Lite, which I’d never heard of. . . .

#POSsystems #bookshop #bookstore

All I can think of when I hear that Trump got rid of Kimberly Guilfoyle for begging donors for money in return for favors, is that Trump wants to be the only game in town. #USPol #Guilfoyle

The past is a black hole everything that you know is getting sucked into.

All you can do is love the beauty of the present, even as it is vanishing before you.

Here's another place I found at the edge: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/the-trolley-graveyard

Hey Bob! Watch me spin!

#photography

“A college in Illinois tried to cancel its Flock contract—Flock refused to take its cameras down so Elgin Community College covered them. The company snuck back to uncover them”

https://www.theverge.com/tech/1009411/elgin-community-college-flock-safety-cameras

BBC: Crew searching for Amelia Earhart arrives at crab-infested island

"...Researchers will work to locate what has been called the Taraia Object, first spotted sitting on the edge of a lagoon off Nikumaroro in satellite imagery in 2020.

Some believe it to be the wreckage of her plane, but others have expressed scepticism that it is an aircraft at all, with one theory suggesting it is a collapsed tree...."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6pvgryp8yv0o

#remoteimaging #satelliteimagery #earhart

Somebody reposted this interview from Conan O’Brien and I’m struck by an immutable truth: some of us feel better when we read Ecclesiastes, and some of us feel worse. (I’m in the former camp, and I guess Conan is too).

Trucks lined up with their pumpkins, waiting to be taken for Pumpkin Weigh-Off weighing. It's quite the production to get each one weighed!

#today #pumpkins #PumpkinsOfMastodon

Happy Indigenous People's Day!

Here's a welcome song (utterly entrancing) by Firefly the Hybrid, a Wabanaki music keeper. I was very lucky to hear him perform this live earlier this year, one of the most powerful music experiences I've ever had.

https://youtu.be/4JKSFyT-ObI?si=FWGX5zCbP1goOwkP

#IndigenousPeoplesDay #WabanakiMusic

🎉 Great news! Microsoft is fined €8,5 million by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority for sharing personal data to potentially thousands of companies!

⚠️ In 2020, we exposed how the dating app Grindr was sharing personal data with Xandr (later aquired by Microsoft), which in turn reserved the right to share this information with 4000+ companies (see illustration). https://www.forbrukerradet.no/side/microsoft-company-fined-85-million-euros-following-complaint-by-the-norwegian-consumer-council-and-noyb/
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🤕 People with Long COVID have different types and amounts of bacteria in their mouths and lungs, a new study finds

✨Follow the link for more information on this story✨
https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/long-covid-linked-to-changes-in-bacteria-in-the-mouth-and-lungs

#science #sciencenews #research #stem #facts #knowledge #sciencefacts #longCOVID #covid

Another possible trigger for a likely AI-related 'correction' (financial crisis), has been proposed by Ellen Carr (a bond analyst): lease liabilities on data centres.

Many AI & related technologies' 'hyperscalers' are already carrying significant future lease liabilities ahead of data centre build-out(s), a liability that if things change might be difficult to fulfil, driving creditor action(s) to recover funds, driving a crisis as firms struggle to pay up?

#AI #FinancialCrisis
h/t FT

Ukraine blows up Russian data centres and immediately and mysteriously online talk about Germany’s Far Right AfD virtually disappears.

Stop Putin you stop the Far Right.

i was wondering what bit me when i remembered dropping a heavy fork on my foot.

In case you're wondering about the future of art in the era of AI, today I learned about Scarlet Deer Inn, a videogame where the characters were animated with *embroidery*

https://scarletdeerinn.com/