Why Rooftop Solar Could Crash Under the Republican Tax-Cut Bill
Why Rooftop Solar Could Crash Under the Republican Tax-Cut Bill
Federal tax breaks have fueled a boom. The House bill would end that immediately.Brad Plumer (The New York Times)
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Meta is under investigation for a privacy violation called localhost tracking.
“Localhost tracking” explained. It could cost Meta 32 billion.
You just can't finish off Zuckerberg.Jorge García Herrero (Zero Party Data)
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You’re not affected if (and only if)
- You access Facebook and Instagram via the web, without having the apps installed on your phone
- You browse on desktop computers or use iOS (iPhones)
- You always used the Brave browser or the DuckDuckGo search engine on mobile
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ChatGPT "Absolutely Wrecked" at Chess by Atari 2600 Console From 1977
ChatGPT "Absolutely Wrecked" at Chess by Atari 2600 Console From 1977
Despite all its advances, ChatGPT still, seemingly, is less smart than an Atari simulator on beginner mode.Noor Al-Sibai (Futurism)
Poll suggests half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
Poll suggests half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
OTTAWA — A new poll suggests that nearly half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza almost two years after the current conflict began.Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press (Coast Reporter)
Irish pro-Palestine activist set to be deported from Israel
Irish pro-Palestine activist set to be deported from Israel
Máire ní Mhurchú, also known as 'D' Murphy (70), is to return to her home in Swansea, WalesHannah McCarthy (The Irish Times)
Did China just win over Taiwan without firing a single shot?
Did China just win over Taiwan without firing a single shot?
How recent espionage revelations, naval breakthroughs, and collapsing confidence in US support suggest Beijing has mastered winning without fightingArnaud Bertrand
1.5TB of James Webb Space Telescope data dumped on the internet — new searchable database is the largest window into our universe to date
1.5TB of James Webb Space Telescope data dumped on the internet — new searchable database is the largest window into our universe to date
New imagery encompassing nearly 800,000 galaxies.Mark Tyson (Tom's Hardware)
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Gov. Greg Abbott to deploy Texas National Guard in anticipation of protests
Gov. Greg Abbott to deploy Texas National Guard in anticipation of protests
"Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles, " Gov. Greg Abbott said ahead of planned protests this week in Texas, including one in San Antonio.Tristan Maglunog and Kevin Shalvey (ABC13 Houston)
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New BrowserVenom malware being distributed via fake DeepSeek phishing website
Toxic trend: Another malware threat targets DeepSeek
Kaspersky GReAT experts discovered a new malicious implant: BrowserVenom. It enables a proxy in browsers like Chrome and Mozilla and spreads through a DeepSeek-mimicking phishing website.Lisandro Ubiedo (Kaspersky)
New BrowserVenom malware being distributed via fake DeepSeek phishing website
Toxic trend: Another malware threat targets DeepSeek
Kaspersky GReAT experts discovered a new malicious implant: BrowserVenom. It enables a proxy in browsers like Chrome and Mozilla and spreads through a DeepSeek-mimicking phishing website.Lisandro Ubiedo (Kaspersky)
Dialectics is a very old element of philosophy surrounding, at its simplest, the notion of two conflicting subjects resolving their contradictions into a higher, third subject. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Marxism uses Dialectics, specifically Materialist Dialectics, as the basic framework of analysis. Marx didn't invent dialectics, though, and neither did Hegel, the philosopher Marx built off of. Dialectics was common even in Plato's time, as much of philosophy was presented as a debate, a dialogue, a dialectic between two opposing points of view. Dialectics isn't exclusively western, either, though Marx was educated on Western dialectics and thus is most relevant in our case here.
The practical aspects come from insistence on the unity of opposites, such as bourgeois and proletarian, feudal lord and serf, but could just as easily be the seed negating itself into the tree, into the apple, into the seed of the next tree, not quite the same as the external conditions are never the same. It also analyzes subjects as they can only exist in the context of their surroundings, and as subjects come into being and un-being. Contradiction, in Dialectics, becomes the source of motion and change, and is inwardly driven.
There's also the concept of the negation of the negation. This process is a spiral, not a circle, each new concept further introduces and resolves with its own contradictions.
I wrote more about the subject here, though I really recommend Georges Politzer's Elementary Principles of Philosophy for a clear and straightforward introduction to Dialectical Materialism.
Canada’s F-35 fighter jets purchase will cost nearly 50% more than disclosed, A-G finds
Canada’s F-35 fighter jets purchase will cost nearly 50% more than disclosed, A-G finds
Project faces risks that could jeopardize timely introduction of a new fleetSteven Chase (The Globe and Mail)
Menstrual tracking app data is a ‘gold mine’ for advertisers that risks women’s safety
Cambridge researchers urge public health bodies like the NHS to provide trustworthy, research-driven alternatives to platforms driven by profit.Women deserve better than to have their menstrual tracking data treated as consumer data - Prof Gina Neff
Smartphone apps that track menstrual cycles are a “gold mine” for consumer profiling, collecting information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use.
This is according to a new report from the University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, which argues that the financial worth of this data is “vastly underestimated” by users who supply profit-driven companies with highly intimate details in a market lacking in regulation.
The report’s authors caution that cycle tracking app (CTA) data in the wrong hands could result in risks to job prospects, workplace monitoring, health insurance discrimination and cyberstalking – and limit access to abortion.
They call for better governance of the booming ‘femtech’ industry to protect users when their data is sold at scale, arguing that apps must provide clear consent options rather than all-or-nothing data collection, and urge public health bodies to launch alternatives to commercial CTAs.
The High Stakes of Tracking Menstruation
In this report we map the existing and future harms of tracking menstrual cycles by Femtech companies and suggest ways to mitigate the risks to individuals and society.MCTD Cambridge (mctd.ac.uk)
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Menstrual tracking app data is a ‘gold mine’ for advertisers that risks women’s safety
Cambridge researchers urge public health bodies like the NHS to provide trustworthy, research-driven alternatives to platforms driven by profit.Women deserve better than to have their menstrual tracking data treated as consumer data - Prof Gina Neff
Smartphone apps that track menstrual cycles are a “gold mine” for consumer profiling, collecting information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use.
This is according to a new report from the University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, which argues that the financial worth of this data is “vastly underestimated” by users who supply profit-driven companies with highly intimate details in a market lacking in regulation.
The report’s authors caution that cycle tracking app (CTA) data in the wrong hands could result in risks to job prospects, workplace monitoring, health insurance discrimination and cyberstalking – and limit access to abortion.
They call for better governance of the booming ‘femtech’ industry to protect users when their data is sold at scale, arguing that apps must provide clear consent options rather than all-or-nothing data collection, and urge public health bodies to launch alternatives to commercial CTAs.
The High Stakes of Tracking Menstruation
In this report we map the existing and future harms of tracking menstrual cycles by Femtech companies and suggest ways to mitigate the risks to individuals and society.MCTD Cambridge (mctd.ac.uk)
How To: Organize a Neighborhood Popular Assembly
A guide from the Black Rose Anarchist Federation about how to organize a popular assembly.This is a basic guide on how and why to build structures for decision making and collective action at the neighborhood level, what we call popular assemblies. We emphasize the need for popular assemblies to be rooted in a defined geographic area and aimed at organizing the people who live, work, or stay there to develop the power to confront social problems together.
This guide draws directly on knowledge and experience of past experiments in building apopular assemblies.
How To: Organize a Neighborhood Popular Assembly
A guide from the Black Rose Anarchist Federation about how to organize a popular assembly. This is a basic guide on how and why to build structures for decision making and collective action at the...It's Going Down
Minnesota’s Labor Movement is Demanding an End to ICE Raids
On Monday, union members and leaders gathered at over 30 actions across the United States, calling for the release of SEIU California president David Huerta and an end to workplace raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On Friday last week, federal agents detained Huerta, allegedly injuring him in the process, as he was observing an immigration raid on a garment warehouse outside of Los Angeles. Huerta was released on Monday evening after the solidarity actions and many unions including SEIU and the AFL-CIO published statements, but he still faces federal charges of conspiracy for allegedly obstructing federal agents.In Saint Paul, Minn., more than one hundred people from multiple unions and community groups joined thousands across the U.S. in these actions. They gathered on the steps at the state capitol to demand Huerta’s release and an end to ICE raids on workers and immigrant communities.
Minnesota’s Labor Movement is Demanding an End to ICE Raids - Workday Magazine
From Lake Street to Los Angeles, union leaders, organizers, and members have been on the front lines of resistance against Trump’s mass deportation agenda.Amie Stager (Workday Magazine)
LA police begin 'mass arrests' as mayor imposes overnight curfew on city's downtown
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/31191729
"One square mile (2.5 square kilometers) of the city's more-than-500 square mile area were set to be off-limits between 8pm and 6am for everyone apart from residents, journalists and emergency services, she added.". . .
"Police arrested 25 people on suspicion of violating the curfew as of Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing an LAPD spokesperson.
The number of arrests was likely to rise as law enforcement worked to remove the remaining protesters from the area, the newspaper said."
. . .
"Overnight Monday 23 businesses were looted, police said, adding that more than 500 people had been arrested over recent days."
LA police begin 'mass arrests' as mayor imposes overnight curfew on city's downtown
Los Angeles police said "mass arrests" were underway as people gathered on downtown streets after an overnight curfew went into effect following days of protests against immigration enforcement raids.FRANCE 24
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Rough sleeping to be decriminalised after 200 years
Rough sleeping to be decriminalised after 200 years
The Government has confirmed it will repeal the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824 by Spring next year, to ensure rough sleeping is no longer a criminal offence.Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK)
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Fair enough. Need to make space for all the disabled people Kier has sent to the streets.
[In all honesty this decriminalisation is a good thing but this government is still terrible]
NVIDIA Releases New AI Models and Developer Tools to Advance Autonomous Vehicle Ecosystem
NVIDIA Releases AI Models, Developer Tools to Advance AV Ecosystem | NVIDIA Blog
NVIDIA today released NVIDIA Cosmos Predict-2 — a new world foundation model with improved future world state prediction capabilities for high-quality synthetic data generation.Katie Washabaugh (NVIDIA Blog)
Why I'm so Mad Right Now
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he'll deploy the National Guard across the state due to protests
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to deploy National Guard across the state due to protests
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he’ll deploy the Texas National Guard to locations across the state “to ensure peace and order,” ahead of a planned protest in San Antonio."Peaceful protest is legal.Marlene Lenthang (NBC News)
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Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 15th June 2025
Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.
Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.
If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.
The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.
(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)
Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 8th June 2025
Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.
If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.
The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.
(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this. Also, happy Pride :3)
Torching the Google car: Why the growing revolt against big tech just escalated
If Silicon Valley doesn't start listening, the torched Waymo car will merely be the beginning.Brian Merchant (Blood in the Machine)
Protesters: call self-driving taxis to block streets on the way of the police, then set the damn things on fire
My T-shirt: there's 1 good uses for self-driving taxis
Did you know there’s a new fork of xorg, called x11libre? I didn’t! I guess not everyone is happy with wayland, so this seems like a reasonable
It's explicitly free of any "DEI" or similar discriminatory policies..[snip]Together we'll make X great again!
Oh dear. Project members are of course being entirely normal about the whole thing.
Metux, one of the founding contributors, is Enrico Weigelt, who has reasonable opinions like everyone except the nazis were the real nazis in WW2, and also had an anti vax (and possibly eugenicist) rant on the linux kernel mailing list, as you do.
In sure it’ll be fine though. He’s a great coder.
(links were unashamedly pillaged from this mastodon thread: nondeterministic.computer/@mjg…)
GitHub - X11Libre/xserver
Contribute to X11Libre/xserver development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
The guy who's decided to fork Xorg because he got kicked out after breaking everything repeatedly is this guy: web.archive.org/web/2019040415…
Diego
Filosofia del confine. Nuovo corso on line di Diego Fusaro - Diego Fusaro
Il corso consta di 4 video che verranno inviati al momento dell'iscrizione. I video non sono in diretta ma sono preregistrati. Il costo del corso è di 25 euro.Diego Fusaro
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Switch to Linux Today to End the Vicious Cycle of Being Forced to Buy New Hardware by Corporations
No more new features for intel macs after 5 years. They will be dropped completely from security patches in 2028.
2028 is going to be another major opportunity to convert Mac users to Linux.
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Why Are We Failing to Protect Gaza?
Why Are We Failing to Protect Gaza?
Melek Zahine is an international humanitarian affairs and disaster response expert.Inter Press Service
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US ambassador to Israel says US no longer pursuing goal of independent Palestinian state
US ambassador to Israel says US no longer pursuing goal of independent Palestinian state
Mike Huckabee suggested any future Palestinian state should be carved out of ‘a Muslim country’Joseph Gedeon (The Guardian)
Poland's constitutional court rules EU energy policies breach national sovereignty
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (TK) has ruled that European Union energy and climate regulations are incompatible with the Polish constitution and breach national sovereignty in determining energy policy.
The Tribunal found that EU institutions, including the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), had exceeded their competences by interpreting EU treaties in a way that significantly impacts Poland’s ability to choose its energy sources independently.
Interpretations of EU law “cannot mean that Poland loses control over the scope of its delegated competences, and thus that there are areas in which its sovereignty (here: energy) is not protected”, the court said in a statement announcing its decision.
However, the ruling is unlikely to have any real effect for now given that the current government, a coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, does not recognise the TK’s legitimacy due to it containing judges unlawfully appointed by the former Law and Justice (PiS) administration.
The case was brought by a group of opposition lawmakers led by Sebastian Kaleta, a PiS MP and former deputy justice minister. The motion challenged the compatibility of EU climate rules – including Directive 2003/87/EC, which created the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) – with the Polish constitution.
The MPs argued that, although Poland had transferred some powers to Brussels, it should retain sovereignty over critical energy decisions. They claimed that mandatory participation in the EU ETS restricts economic freedom and undermines the state’s ability to ensure energy security.
They also warned that EU decision-making processes, which do not require unanimity in the European Council on issues affecting Poland’s energy mix, might breach the limits of competence conferred on the EU and undermine the primacy of the Polish constitution.
In its ruling, the TK agreed with the motion’s core arguments. It held that the CJEU had extended the interpretation of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union beyond the conferred competences, infringing on national sovereignty.
“Competences not conferred on the European Union belong to the member states themselves, and the EU can only act on the basis of the principle of subsidiarity, subject to the scrutiny of national parliaments at all times,” the court said.
Consequently, the TK found this interpretation of EU law to be incompatible with the Polish constitution, emphasising that Poland cannot lose control over the scope of delegated powers, especially in such a key area as energy sovereignty.
The TK, however, discontinued proceedings relating specifically to the ETS “due to the incomplete, from a formal point of view, definition of the object under verification”.
The TK concluded its statement by stating that it was now up to the Polish legislature and executive to take “appropriate public law measures” to implement the decision, which enters into force upon its publication.
However, it is the government that is responsible for publishing TK rulings, and it refuses to do so due to given that some of the tribunal’s judges were illegitimately appointed under PiS.
The ruling could still reverberate in Polish politics, however. The PiS-aligned president-elect, Karol Nawrocki, who takes office in August, said last month that the TK’s decision on this case could be a way to lower the electricity prices by 33% – one of his campaign promises.
He also pledged to hold a referendum on withdrawing from the EU’s Green Deal – a set of policies aimed at reaching climate neutrality by 2050 – and reaffirmed his support for coal, which remains Poland’s main source of electricity generation and is also widely used for heating homes.
PiS politicians welcomed the verdict, insisting that it means that Poland does not have to implement the Green Deal.
“The EU has not been given the competence to decide without the consent of Poland which energy sources we can use and what fiscal burdens may be imposed on individual sources,” Kaleta wrote on X. “This opens the path for a radical reduction in electricity and heating prices now.”
The former justice minister in the PiS government, Zbigniew Ziobro, meanwhile, challenged Tusk, asking if he would “break the law again and hide the verdict to drive Poles into poverty” or “will you behave as you should?”
The government has so far not commented on the TK’s ruling.
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Chinese police crackdown on writers of online erotic fiction
Police in northwestern China are cracking down on writers of online erotic fiction across the country, including many college students, according to RFA sources and media reports, amid concern that officers are punishing people outside their jurisdiction.Police in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, have been summoning writers who don’t even live there. A report from Caixin media group said some have been referred to police for prosecution, and anecdotal evidence indicates writers are facing substantial fines.
A source who spoke to Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for safety reasons said the crackdown could involve 200-300 writers.
Their cases have also sparked a legal debate over the definition of “obscene materials” and renewed public discussion on the boundaries of creative freedom. Known as “Danmei,” the genre features romantic relationships between male characters. It originated in Japan and has become popular in China.
Amid tightened restrictions in China, many writers have turned to Haitang Culture, a Taiwanese-based adult fiction website established in 2015 to publish their work. The website on the democratic island doesn’t force censorship and allows explicit written content. Most readers are females.
Authorities in China have reacted. Last year, two China-based distributors affiliated with Haitang Culture were arrested for “assisting in information network criminal activities,” according to Shuiping Jiyuan, a news portal on the WeChat social media platform.
The recent police crackdown in Lanzhou followed similar moves in the eastern province of Anhui in June 2024, where authorities began arresting writers of online erotic fiction under the charge of “producing and distributing obscene materials for profit,” resulting in heavy fines and even prison sentences.
Police are seeking out writers even when they leave outside their jurisdiction - a practice that critics call “offshore fishing,” implying the motive of police is financial or political, rather than strictly legal.
“I don’t understand what they’re trying to do—are they pushing political correctness, or are they just desperate for money?” said Liu Yang, a veteran media professional in Lanzhou, told Radio Free Asia. “The police are short on funds, and now even arrests have become a way to make money.”
Chinese police crackdown on writers of online erotic fiction
Legal scholars say police are punishing writers outside their jurisdiction in an over-reach of authority.Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin (Radio Free Asia)
partial_accumen
in reply to silence7 • • •Its an odd time right now for residential solar in the USA right now.
On the down sides:
On the upside:
If you can pay cash and you own your own home, going solar is most likely going to be beneficial for you. If you have to borrow or have heavy tree cover on your property it becomes more questionable. I have been very happy I put panels on my house and am benefiting from it.
just_another_person
in reply to silence7 • • •Optional
in reply to silence7 • • •