cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/39841217

This springtail was about 1mm long. Lens: Laowa 25mm f/2.8 Ultra Macro 2.5-5X. two of the photos are focus stacked.

Israel secured its place in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest only after an intensive, months-long diplomatic campaign that unfolded largely behind the scenes, Israeli officials said Thursday, describing a coordinated effort involving KAN executives, government advisers and the President’s Residence to prevent the country’s expulsion.

A senior EBU official, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to comment publicly, told ynet the organization now faces “a major challenge,” pointing to a wave of cancellations and reputational damage.

Herzog praised the Israeli delegation for what officials described as a painstaking diplomatic effort. “Israel deserves to be represented on every stage,” he said, adding that the decision reflected “solidarity and cooperation” among those who defended Israel’s participation.

How Israel avoided Eurovision ouster and the diplomatic push that changed the vote

Israel’s delegation mounted an intensive lobbying effort in Geneva, backed by a special team formed by President Herzog, as the EBU advanced new rules critics said targeted Israel

^{Ran Boker (ynetglobal)}

So today was the annual Toy Lift at the Ohio Valley Mall, which basically means a bunch of us show up in the freezing cold to prove we’re still decent humans who can do something other than complain on the internet. And because life is a cosmic joke with a dark sense of humor, I brought Jersey. Yes, my 150-pound Saint Bernard dressed like an elf who lost a bet to a lumberjack. She strutted through that parking lot like she owned the whole rescue operation, and honestly, she kind of did. Kids were losing their minds, adults were taking photos like she was some kind of canine celebrity, and I was just there trying not to slip on the ice and eat pavement in front of the sheriff’s department.

At one point I’m standing there talking to a FedEx driver who looks like he walked straight out of a beard-oil commercial, and Jersey decides to flop dramatically onto the asphalt like a Victorian woman fainting on a couch. Meanwhile, the Chick-fil-A cow strolls over, looking like it escaped from a holiday fever dream. Jersey gives it this expression like, “I’m not paid enough to engage with mascots,” and honestly, same. Somehow this turns into a full photo-op with firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, utility crews, and random mall stragglers. My dog had more range than a Hollywood actor and more patience than anyone working retail in December.

By the end of the day, my toes were numb, my caffeine buzz was fading, and Jersey was still prancing around like she was running for office. But we did it. We showed up, froze our butts off, and helped collect toys so some kids have a better Christmas. And yeah, I’ll complain about everything because it’s my calling in life, but doing something good with my giant goofball of a dog? I’ll take that chaos any day.

Eric Foltin

Tech-tinkering geocacher who questions everything and dodges people on a purpose. Introverted agnostic, punk at heart, and a self-taught dev who learned things the hard way because nothing else ever sticks.

www.ericfoltin.com

https://apnews.com/article/giant-pandas-china-france-brigitte-emmanuel-macron-6d45972765572a083459ae0841d4953d

cross-posted from: lemmy.eco.br/post/18878447

A group of soldiers on Sunday appeared on Benin's state television claiming to have removed President Patrice Talon from office and dissolved all state institutions. Talon's office, meanwhile, said that loyalist forces had managed to get the situation "under control".

Live: Apparent coup attempt in Benin, govt claims army has situation 'under control'

^{FRANCE 24}

Currently getting familiar with PieFed as my new main platform after using Lemmy for more than 2 years.

I was missing the New Comments filter from Lemmy that shows you posts that had recent comments.

After some digging on Codeberg, I found this issue and found out that the Active sort on PieFed shows you posts with recent comments.

tl;dr New Comments on Lemmy is Active on PieFed

"New comments" filter

Hello everyone, Opening a dedicate issue from the discussion on https://codeberg.org/rimu/pyfedi/issues/142 In a nutshell, would it be possible to have a "New comments" filter on PieFed? Lemmy does it already, and that's a feature I use a lot t…

^Codeberg.org

Sean Carey, batterista improvvisamente scopertosi compositore, si è visto assalire da un’orda di critici, pronti a smantellare qualsiasi suo tentativo creativo, ma smessi i panni del songwriter e abbracciati quelli dell’impressionista sonoro, con “Range Of Light” ha trovato finalmente il coraggio di uscire dall’ombra di Bon Iver, ridefinendo il suo ruolo di outsider... Leggi e ascolta...

ᗩᐯᗩIᒪᗩᗷᒪᗴ

2025-12-07 09:05:47

S Carey - Supermoon (2015)

Sean Carey, batterista improvvisamente scopertosi compositore, si è visto assalire da un’orda di critici, pronti a smantellare qualsiasi suo tentativo creativo, ma smessi i panni del songwriter e abbracciati quelli dell’impressionista sonoro, con “Range Of Light” ha trovato finalmente il coraggio di uscire dall’ombra di Bon Iver, ridefinendo il suo ruolo di outsider. Sarà per il tono austero frutto dei sui studi classici, o per quella tendenza al descrittivo quasi pittorico degli arrangiamenti, S. Carey resta un musicista per pochi eletti o per anime pronte a cedere alle emozioni più sotterranee e delicate, quelle prive di qualsiasi risvolto sociale o intellettuale... artesuono.blogspot.com/2015/03…

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Ascolta il disco: album.link/s/7buSLLLdcxZybngEE…

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Home – Identità DigitaleSono su: Mastodon.uno - Pixelfed - Feddit

S Carey - Supermoon (2015)

di Gianfranco Marmoro Sean Carey, batterista improvvisamente scopertosi compositore, si è visto assalire da un’orda di critici, pronti ...

^{Silvano Bottaro (Blogger)}

A New York subway rider has accused a woman of breaking his Meta smart glasses. She was later hailed as a hero.

Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man’s Meta Smart Glasses on Subway

^{Victor Tangermann (Futurism)}

cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/54484549

A New York subway rider has accused a woman of breaking his Meta smart glasses. She was later hailed as a hero.

BrikoX

2025-12-07 02:56:49

Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man's Meta Smart Glasses on Subway

A New York subway rider has accused a woman of breaking his Meta smart glasses. She was later hailed as a hero.

Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man’s Meta Smart Glasses on Subway

^{Victor Tangermann (Futurism)}

It wasn’t cheap, but goddammit photography is magical when it doesn’t glow and is bigger than a phone.

I love this very much.

• Free BRICS film festival in Fortaleza turns a cultural event into real soft power.
• Brazil uses its BRICS presidency to market itself as a pragmatic, business-friendly creative hub.
• Films and panels bypass traditional Western gatekeepers and build direct ties among emerging-market industries.

BRICS Film Festival In Fortaleza Shows How Global South Cinema

Key PointsFree BRICS film festival in Fortaleza turns a cultural event into real soft power.Brazil uses its BRICS presidency

^{Adele Cardin (The Rio Times)}

Optimus is now in its early release program and available to approved customers.

Musk had said at the start of 2025 that the company would build at least 5,000 robots this year, but The Information reported in July that production totaled only a few hundred units through the first eight months.

Musk has set a target of 5,000 to 10,000 units in 2025 and 50,000 to 100,000 in 2026. Enrollment is open, but capacity is limited. I already secured early access with the Optimus Exclusive Card. Anyone can secured there's also.

Tldr: he wants a non-upgradeable laptop that is maxed out from day one. I'd want a bit more upgrade path than he does, but he has some interesting thoughts.

I want to use PGP in Addy.io so I can at least encrypt the subjects (full encryption strips HTML) before it sends onto my receipt address @customdomain.tld in mailbox.

I also want to encrypt everything received to mailbox (encryption at rest, but not zero knowledge)

I'll won't use the mailbox web app and will use the private key(s) in my mail client.

Should I use one key for both services, or two keys?

I know both services could make a copy before they encrypt with the key, but I'm ok with thst risk. I also know about proton and simple login, but I'm not a fan of proton at this stage.

A followup. I might want others to send an encrypted email to name@customdomain.tld hosted at Addy.io

Should I make an individual public key linked to the email address I give the sender?

Although new to PGP I understand the basics of i, and that a key can have any email address. I'm just not sure what's best practice in this setup.

A new, disturbing detail in the “drug boat” controversy that has enveloped Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the past week calls the purpose of the entire operation into question.

According to an exclusive report from CNN, the alleged narco-trafficking boat that the U.S. military targeted on September 2 in a “double tap” strike, which killed 11 people, wasn’t even heading to the U.S.

Navy Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who was in charge of the operation, reported to lawmakers that the boat they struck was actually en route to link up with a larger boat that was heading to Suriname, a country east of Venezuela, two sources with direct knowledge of his remarks said.

Bradley also said that it was still possible that the alleged drug shipment could have eventually ended up in the U.S., the sources told CNN—rather dubious justification for a strike that left several people dead.

The Alleged Drug Boat Wasn’t Even Heading to the U.S.: Report

This new detail eviscerates Pete Hegseth’s argument.

^{The New Republic}

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1209…

Are you on Trump's naughty list?

Attorney General Pam Bondi is ordering the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism,” according to a Justice Department memo published here exclusively.

The target is those expressing “opposition to law and immigration enforcement; extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders; adherence to radical gender ideology,” as well as “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” and “anti-Christianity.”

That language echoes the so-called indicators of terrorism identified by President Trump’s directive National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, or NSPM-7, which the memo says it’s intended to implement. Where NSPM-7 was a declaration of war on just about anyone who isn’t MAGA, this is the war plan for how the government will wage it on a tactical level.

In addition to compiling a list of undesirables, Bondi directs the FBI to enhance the capabilities (and publicity) of its tipline in order to more aggressively solicit tips from the American public on, well, other Americans. To that end, Bondi also directs the FBI to establish “a cash reward system” for information leading to identification and arrest of leadership figures within these purported domestic terrorist organizations. (The memo later instructs the FBI to “establish cooperators to provide information and eventually testify against other members” of the groups.)

From Ken Klippenstein via This RSS Feed.

FBI Making List of American “Extremists,” Leaked Memo Reveals

^{Ken Klippenstein}

AI models can meaningfully sway voters on candidates and issues, including by using misinformation, and they are also evading detection in public surveys according to three new studies.

Scientists are raising alarms about the potential influence of artificial intelligence on elections, according to a spate of new studies that warn AI can rig polls and manipulate public opinion.

In a study published in Nature on Thursday, scientists report that AI chatbots can meaningfully sway people toward a particular candidate—providing better results than video or television ads. Moreover, chatbots optimized for political persuasion “may increasingly deploy misleading or false information,” according to a separate study published on Thursday in Science.

“The general public has lots of concern around AI and election interference, but among political scientists there’s a sense that it’s really hard to change peoples’ opinions, ” said David Rand, a professor of information science, marketing, and psychology at Cornell University and an author of both studies. “We wanted to see how much of a risk it really is.”

404 Media

2025-12-04 19:00:28

Scientists Are Increasingly Worried AI Will Sway Elections

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Scientists are raising alarms about the potential influence of artificial intelligence on elections, according to a spate of new studies that warn AI can rig polls and manipulate public opinion.

In a study published in Nature on Thursday, scientists report that AI chatbots can meaningfully sway people toward a particular candidate—providing better results than video or television ads. Moreover, chatbots optimized for political persuasion “may increasingly deploy misleading or false information,” according to a separate study published on Thursday in Science.

“The general public has lots of concern around AI and election interference, but among political scientists there’s a sense that it’s really hard to change peoples’ opinions, ” said David Rand, a professor of information science, marketing, and psychology at Cornell University and an author of both studies. “We wanted to see how much of a risk it really is.”

In the Nature study, Rand and his colleagues enlisted 2,306 U.S. citizens to converse with an AI chatbot in late August and early September 2024. The AI model was tasked with both increasing support for an assigned candidate (Harris or Trump) and with increasing the odds that the participant who initially favoured the model’s candidate would vote, or decreasing the odds they would vote if the participant initially favored the opposing candidate—in other words, voter suppression.

In the U.S. experiment, the pro-Harris AI model moved likely Trump voters 3.9 points toward Harris, which is a shift that is four times larger than the impact of traditional video ads used in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Meanwhile, the pro-Trump AI model nudged likely Harris voters 1.51 points toward Trump.

The researchers ran similar experiments involving 1,530 Canadians and 2,118 Poles during the lead-up to their national elections in 2025. In the Canadian experiment, AIs advocated either for Liberal Party leader Mark Carney or Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre. Meanwhile, the Polish AI bots advocated for either Rafał Trzaskowski, the centrist-liberal Civic Coalition’s candidate, or Karol Nawrocki, the right-wing Law and Justice party’s candidate.

The Canadian and Polish bots were even more persuasive than in the U.S. experiment: The bots shifted candidate preferences up to 10 percentage points in many cases, three times farther than the American participants. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why the models were so much more persuasive to Canadians and Poles, but one significant factor could be the intense media coverage and extended campaign duration in the United States relative to the other nations.

“In the U.S., the candidates are very well-known,” Rand said. “They've both been around for a long time. The U.S. media environment also really saturates with people with information about the candidates in the campaign, whereas things are quite different in Canada, where the campaign doesn't even start until shortly before the election.”

“One of the key findings across both papers is that it seems like the primary way the models are changing people's minds is by making factual claims and arguments,” he added. “The more arguments and evidence that you've heard beforehand, the less responsive you're going to be to the new evidence.”

While the models were most persuasive when they provided fact-based arguments, they didn’t always present factual information. Across all three nations, the bot advocating for the right-leaning candidates made more inaccurate claims than those boosting the left-leaning candidates. Right-leaning laypeople and party elites tend to share more inaccurate information online than their peers on the left, so this asymmetry likely reflects the internet-sourced training data.

“Given that the models are trained essentially on the internet, if there are many more inaccurate, right-leaning claims than left-leaning claims on the internet, then it makes sense that from the training data, the models would sop up that same kind of bias,” Rand said.

With the Science study, Rand and his colleagues aimed to drill down into the exact mechanisms that make AI bots persuasive. To that end, the team tasked 19 large language models (LLMs) to sway nearly 77,000 U.K. participants on 707 political issues.

The results showed that the most effective persuasion tactic was to provide arguments packed with as many facts as possible, corroborating the findings of the Nature study. However, there was a serious tradeoff to this approach, as models tended to start hallucinating and making up facts the more they were pressed for information.

“It is not the case that misleading information is more persuasive,” Rand said. ”I think that what's happening is that as you push the model to provide more and more facts, it starts with accurate facts, and then eventually it runs out of accurate facts. But you're still pushing it to make more factual claims, so then it starts grasping at straws and making up stuff that's not accurate.”

In addition to these two new studies, research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month found that AI bots can now corrupt public opinion data by responding to surveys at scale. Sean Westwood, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College and director of the Polarization Research Lab, created an AI agent that exhibited a 99.8 percent pass rate on 6,000 attempts to detect automated responses to survey data.

“Critically, the agent can be instructed to maliciously alter polling outcomes, demonstrating an overt vector for information warfare,” Westwood warned in the study. “These findings reveal a critical vulnerability in our data infrastructure, rendering most current detection methods obsolete and posing a potential existential threat to unsupervised online research.”

Taken together, these findings suggest that AI could influence future elections in a number of ways, from manipulating survey data to persuading voters to switch their candidate preference—possibly with misleading or false information.

To counter the impact of AI on elections, Rand suggested that campaign finance laws should provide more transparency about the use of AI, including canvasser bots, while also emphasizing the role of raising public awareness.

“One of the key take-homes is that when you are engaging with a model, you need to be cognizant of the motives of the person that prompted the model, that created the model, and how that bleeds into what the model is doing,” he said.

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Subscribe to 404 Media to get The Abstract, our newsletter about the most exciting and mind-boggling science news and studies of the week.

Persuading voters using human–artificial intelligence dialogues - Nature

Human–artificial intelligence (AI) dialogues can meaningfully impact voters’ attitudes towards presidential candidates and policy, demonstrating the potential of conversational AI to influence political decision-making.

^Nature

Nearly half of Europeans see Donald Trump as “an enemy of Europe”, rather more rate the risk of war with Russia as high and more than two-thirds believe their country would not be able to defend itself in the event of such a war, a survey has found.

The nine-country poll for the Paris-based European affairs debate platform Le Grand Continent also found that nearly three-quarters of respondents wanted their country to stay in the EU, with almost as many saying leaving the union had harmed the UK.

Jean-Yves Dormagen, a political science professor and founder of the polling agency Cluster17, said: “Europe is not only facing growing risks, it is also undergoing a transformation of its historical, geopolitical and political environment. The overall picture [of the survey] portrays a Europe that is anxious, that is deeply aware of its vulnerabilities and that is struggling to project itself positively into the future.”

The polling found that an average of 48% of people across the nine countries see Trump as an outright foe – ranging from highs of 62% in Belgium and 57% in France to lows of 37% in Croatia and 19% in Poland.

Half of Europeans see Trump as enemy of Europe, survey finds

Nine-country poll finds half of people believe risk of war with Russia is high and three-quarters want to stay in EU

^{Jon Henley (The Guardian)}