How is this possible? 🙂
‘I have to do it’: Why one of the world’s most brilliant AI scientists left the US for China
‘I have to do it’: Why one of the world’s most brilliant AI scientists left the US for China
In 2020, after spending half his life in the US, Song-Chun Zhu took a one-way ticket to China. Now he might hold the key to who wins the global AI raceChang Che (The Guardian)
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"Housing is for living, not speculative investment" is a policy the CCP adopted in 2016. They are leading the globe in renewable and clean energy production. It really seems like they're building a society for the people and creating the infrastructure to make that happen.
I'm sure it's not some perfect utopia, but where is? And it does seem like they're headed to better places than we are here in the West.
Definitely, by ~~Soros~~ Xi!
people can talk propaganda even without being paid if they were made to believe it. and you know this is not specific to any country.
“Housing is for living, not speculative investment” is a policy the CCP adopted in 2016.
Absolutely laughable statement to anybody who has actually been to China. Have you?
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The leads buried pretty deep:
It was in summer 2020, in the early months of Covid, Zhu says, that he made the decision to leave the US. He cited his disaffection with the direction of the AI community and the hothouse of American politics – both its leftwing brand of campus progressivism and the Trump-era national security crusades. There was also a personal factor. His younger daughter, Zhu Yi, is a figure skater who was recruited in 2018 to compete for China in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
In general he seems more angry at the direction silicon valley ai is going rather then how US politics are going. He thinks larger more traditional explainable statistical models are the way forward as opposed to the black box neural networks and transformers that power llms and most other models in this recent wave.
China is giving him hundreds of millions in grants to pursue those theories, whereas silicon valley vcs probably won't give him a dime unless it's got an llm in it and US research grants are drying up in general but especially to Chinese professors.
What are the activity_id formats for various platforms?
TL;DR: Any of you who are more familiar with Fediverse platforms that aren't Lemmy/Piefed, can you let me know what the AP_IDs look like for users, posts, comments, and, if applicable, communities?
So, I've rewritten the search / search boxes in Tesseract to skip the search and directly resolve activity pub URLs for users, posts, comments, and communities. I'm loving this as it makes things so much faster and easier.
To make that work, and reduce false positives/negatives, I have to do some pre-flight checks on the URL that's submitted to the search.
Currently, it checks if the domain is to a known federated instance and looks for specific paths in the URL. If it detects the URL is an AP_ID URL, it will only resolve the object and redirect you to it (skipping the lengthy search step). For false negatives, it will pass it to the regular search but still try a federated lookup along with the search.
For Lemmy and Piefed, those are:
- /u/ for users
- /c/ for communities
- /post/ for posts
- /comment/ for comments.
For Mbin, I think it's the same except it uses /m/ for communities (they call them "magazines" I believe).
I think mastoon uses /user or maybe /username/ in the AP identifiers?
Any of you who are more familiar with Fediverse platforms that aren't Lemmy/Piefed, can you let me know what the AP_IDs look like for users, posts, comments, and, if applicable, communities?
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From my own experience querying public mastodon timelines via API (edit: removed incorrect /api/v1s in the AP_IDs):
- Mastodon user accounts have an ActivityPub URI of
https://<instance.domain.tld>/users/<username> - Mastodon posts have an ActivityPub URI of
https://<instance.domain.tld>/users/<post_author_username>/statuses/<post_id>(they also have aurlproperty ofhttps://<instance.domain.tld>/@<post_author_username>/<post_id>but that tends to serve the html view of the post)
To see for yourself, pick an instance that allows viewing their public timeline without logging in (mastodon.social is perfect for this) and follow the "Playing with public data" section of the docs. That page ellides most of the info you're looking for in the example payloads they give (as the JSON payloads themself are quite large and nested), but I can assure you that AP_IDs for user accounts and posts can be found pretty quickly from a single timeline query.
I don't think Mastodon has any notion of community, nor does it distinguish between posts and comments (when following a lemmy community, both posts and comments show up in my masto feed as "top-level" statuses (ie posts)).
Playing with public data - Mastodon documentation
Familiarizing yourself with endpoints and entities.docs.joinmastodon.org
Cool, thanks. I was close with /user guessing from memory.
I think the /users/.../post_id will be sufficient. It just needs to know that the given URL is an AP_ID before passing it off to the API call to resolveObject. Since it already knows instance.domain.tld is a federated instance, it just needs to see if the path is an AP_ID or the HTML (or something else). Thus, I don't have to parse the whole thing, just check that enough of it matches.
Thanks!
So, I’ve rewritten the search / search boxes in Tesseract to skip the search and directly resolve activity pub URLs for users, posts, comments, and communities. I’m loving this as it makes things so much faster and easier.
Isn't that the whole point of webfinger? Moreover, why would you paint yourself into a corner and hardcode the logic for all the different types of services, if ActivityPub uses JSON-LD and therefore provides a straightforward method for document dereferencing?
I'm not trying to be snarky. It's just that I'm writing ActivityPub server where the id of each object is just an ULID, because to the server there is zero difference between serving the information about an actor or an activity.
We've had this discussion 😀
This application is written against the Lemmy API. It only speaks API. Eventually it'll speak Piefed API as well, but right now, only Lemmy API.
Lemmy and Piefed only do server-to-server Activity Pub and not client-to-server AP. Clients have to use the API to interact with them. This is a Lemmy (and eventually Piefed) client.
I'm making an "omnisearch" box.
Paste in an AP_ID into the search field, and it auto-resolves it and redirects you to your instance's local copy (which is very fast) instead of going through the whole search process (which is slow). To prevent false positives, I'm matching the various ap_id formats and only doing the resolution on those; anything else gets passed to search.
Anything else that falls through the cracks just gets passed to search as usual (which also does a resolveObject lookup).
It's to make life easier.
Re: What are the activity_id formats for various platforms?
Re: What are the activity_id formats for various platforms?
It took me a minute to find, but it is detailed in evan@cosocial.ca's write up about HTTP Discovery of ActivityPub Objects.
This is probably exactly what you're looking for.
swicg.github.io/activitypub-ht…
I think your current approach has merit but is limited. If you know the instance software by URL and can resolve it using path matching without the use of a pre-flight request, that's absolutely a better way forward. The downside is you have to know the URL patterns of every software. You'll never "catch 'em all"!
However, if that method fails, doing a pre-flight check to grab Link also works and is a viable way forward.
You can test against NodeBB users or posts.
I think you would be better served by checking for the Link header
Can't really do that, client-side, in a browser application. CORS is a perpetual cockblock (though I understand why it is), and I'd rather not make an internal API endpoint to do the lookup.
The application polls Lemmy's getFederatedInstances API endpoint at startup, so it has a list of every activity pub server your instance knows about. That's the first and primary check for the URL that's being searched.
The second check is just to rule out non activity pub URLs that point to a federated instance (e..g. lemmy.world/modlog, lemm.world/pictrs/image/blah.w… etc).
Goal isn't to "catch 'em all" but to catch the most used ones. If there's one I don't account for, either by omission or because the federated platform didn't exist when I made the patterns, then it will just fall back to a regular search which also includes trying to resolve it as a federated URL (which is the current behavior in all prior versions).
The goal is just to simply short-circuit the search behavior if the query is a known ap_id URL in order to avoid a lengthy search process and quickly redirect you to your instance's local copy.
I maintain my own Lemmy client (Blorp), and this sounds like a cool idea. How do you get your known list of federated instances?
I currently have my own threadiverse crawler I wrote, but I disregard any Lemmy/PieFed instance with <20 monthly active users. That brings the list down to about 63 Lemmy instances and 7 PieFed. I wonder if that list is extensive enough to implement the resolve object mechanism you mentioned.
GitHub - Blorp-Labs/blorp: Blorp – a Threadiverse client for Lemmy and PieFed. Web, iOS & macOS, and more!
Blorp – a Threadiverse client for Lemmy and PieFed. Web, iOS & macOS, and more! - Blorp-Labs/blorpGitHub
Spain first of Eurovision ‘big five’ to decide on boycott if Israel participates
Spain first of Eurovision ‘big five’ to say it will boycott event if Israel participates
Head of state broadcaster says it is ‘impossible to look the other way’ over Israel’s actions in GazaSam Jones (The Guardian)
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If Israel takes part, Germany will suck so bad, we will be around the absolute bottom of the list. AND THIS IS NOT AN EMPTY THREAT!!!
I mean, we will do anyways, and we'll probably never do something against Israel. But this way, I at least feel like I'm doing something.
The West is transitioning to defend themselves from the consequences of their two year campaign of genocide.
They are attempting to wash their hands. This is a part of Israel enacting their final solution to the Palestinian question.
Remember, Israel is not an independent state in the traditional sense. It is the fascist colonial project of western civilization in west Asia.
I think the countries that refuse to compete in the genocide song festival should just get together and organise their own genocide-free song festival.
Disgusting that so many countries haven't protested yet, and even more disgusted at Germany for insisting that Israel should be part of it, but good on the slowly increasing number of countries that are finally taking a stand.
Gaza Is Burning, and We Are Living It
Man… Gaza is burning. Right now, people I know, families like mine, are trapped, scared, and running for their lives. Israel says it’s targeting Hamas, but it’s us, the civilians, paying the price. Homes are being destroyed, kids are terrified, and the streets are chaos.
This isn’t just news to me, it’s my reality. Every explosion, every death, every piece of rubble is part of our lives right now. People are fleeing south with whatever they can carry, selling what little they have just to survive. And the world… it’s mostly watching.
I’m from Gaza. This is my home, my people, my life—and seeing it called a “military operation” while families suffer breaks something inside me.
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For every advance we make, these advances give tools to governments etc.
I get how far medicine has come and how we have got a handle on many diseases, and how technology has without doubt made our every day lives easier. But there's a flip side to that, and it's ugly.
For sure, but it's yet to be seen if the bad outweighs the good. For the last several centuries it's been going the right way, so there is good reason to hope that a century from now, things are even better than they are today.
Doesn't mean we shouldn't fight for the good causes, naturally.
We don't allow editorializing headlines. The OG headline here is "Israel says 'Gaza is burning' as it launches ground assault"
You can editorialize in the body of the post or as a comment, but not the headline.
(I'd personally lead with "no shit Israel, you're burning it!" but you do you.)
Please revert the headline or we'll have to remove the post.
This study critically reviews the existing models and concludes that focused deep heat and gas from below the permafrost may be the key factor allowing the formation of GECs, while atmospheric heating indirectly triggers their formation by accelerating cryogenic process rates and the formation of new lakes and rivers. GECs appear to be associated with faulting in the area and form where sub-lake or sub-river talik structures meet local thinning of the permafrost.
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If i knew how to source gifs properly, his minor role in Star Trek VI would be perfect.
"This president is not above the law."
Hundreds attend funeral services for 31 Yemeni reporters killed in Israeli airstrikes
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Hundreds attended funeral services Tuesday for 31 Yemeni journalists who were reported killed in Israeli airstrikes last week that targeted Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the capital of Sanaa.
The strikes last Wednesday followed a drone launched by the Houthis that breached Israel’s multilayered air defenses and slammed into a southern Israeli airport, blowing out glass windows and injuring one person.
In Yemen, dozens were reported killed, including the journalists, in the strikes that hit Sanaa, including residential areas, a military headquarters and a fuel station, according to the health ministry in the rebel-held northern part of the country.
https://apnews.com/article/journalists-yemen-sanaa-houthis-f0a544c214900608683f6590346da0b9
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Tensions flare as Chinese and Philippine ships collide near disputed shoal in South China Sea
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Zelensky presses Trump for "clear position" on Ukraine
Zelensky Presses Trump for 'Clear Position' on Ukraine
Ukraine and its allies have been discussing security guarantees to deter Russia.Robert Birsel (Newsweek)
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I have said it before and I will say it again.
It is not in the interest of the US that this war finishes.
A stalemate guarantees continued weapons sales much longer that peace.
Currently the US is getting
1) raised income via defence and energy contracts (incl. Oil & Gas) &
2) prolonged economic disadvantage to a competitor nation via sanctions.
The proxy war in Ukraine strengthens China, India, North korea. China gets the chance to ramp up its military production capacity even more while Russia pays for it. North Korea gains military know-how... submarines, rockets, drones. India gets cheap gas.
Ok, Syria's regime collapsed, but the country isn't stable at all.
Europe is forced to arm itself or so they say. The result is a diminishing influence of the US on Europe. The broken promise to protect Ukraine if they give up their nukes reduces the trust in the US. The US diplomacy doesn't look exactly coherent - Russia has not much reason to take the US seriously atm.
Russia's autocracy is stabilized by the war. Its war against Ukraine didn't hurt Russia too much, it even gained something. A message to other countries with ambitions to try it themselves. Canada, Greenland and Taiwan are on the menu I heard.
And: Resources are wasted. Environment and climate are damaged. People die.
Not sure if the advantages outweigh the negative aspects or if it is more about domestic political opportunism and cleptocracy/ personal gain. Inexperiencie and shortsightedness too, maybe.
The US diplomacy doesn’t look exactly coherent - Russia has not much reason to take the US seriously atm.
Russia controls Trump. He has never done anything that has worked against Russia, and never will.
Trump
Controlling, steering, influencing - who knows. He is still hoping for a Trump Tower at the Red Square or something like that.
The problem is that the ministers of the department of state and the department of defense aren't up to their task either. I mean Hegseth?
It is not in the interest of the US that this war finishes.
It's important to dstinguish the interest of the US from the interest of Donald Trump and his traitorous junta.
It is not in Trump's interest that the war ends without a Russian victory, since Trump is a Russian stooge who was put in office by Putin to deliver the victory that Russia has not been able to achieve by force of arms. Trump doesn't want to be seen to be backstabbing Ukraine, so instead he has resorted to lip service not backed with any concrete measures that might change the balance of power in the conflict.
raised income via defence and energy contracts (incl. Oil & Gas)
US arms sales attributable to the Ukrainian conflict are relatively small part of the US's entire defense market (which is vastly bloated and which has been used over several decades to achieve military Keynesianism).
A strong demand for oil and gas benefits Russia proportionately far more than it does the US, since fossil fuel exports are a far larger percentage of Russian export earnings. What else do they make that anyone wants? Vodka and caviar? Spyware-riddled antiviros software?
prolonged economic disadvantage to a competitor nation via sanctions
The only reason the sanctions are damaging to Russia is that Russia continues its aggression towards Ukraine and threats towards the non-Russian-vassal states in Europe. And the US is far from the only nation sanctioning Russia. And "competitor" in what, exactly?
since Trump is a Russian stooge who was put in office by Putin to deliver the victory
I am unsure. Logic tells me Trump has had enough opportunities to completely shit on Ukraine and has not taken them. His position is IMHO unclear.
strong demand for oil and gas benefits Russia proportionately far more than it does the US...
I disagree. Income for gas exports has not risen LINK whereas US exports continue to do so LINK
And "competitor" in what, exactly?
Geopolitical influence overall (e.g. in the Middle East, Asia, Central Europe)
Excellent comments.
Logic tells me Trump has had enough opportunities to completely shit on Ukraine and has not taken them. His position is IMHO unclear.
He's balancing serving Putin and staying alive. There are factions within the US military and security state that are unlikely to tolerate a complete sell-out. Though I'd argue that the gross act of extortion what was minerals deal was an example of completely shitting on Ukraine, as was the arrogant and insulting behavior shown to Zelenskyy by Trump and Vance.
strong demand for oil and gas benefits Russia proportionately far more than it does the US…I disagree. Income for gas exports has not risen LINK whereas US exports continue to do so
But that's not quite what I said (perhaps because I didn't say it all that clearly). Russia needs fossil-fuel export earnings much more than the US does, and because of Russia's costs of production and shipping, its break-even point requires a higher market price than low-cost producers such as Saudi Arabia. But with Ukraine attacking pipelines and refineries, and with resources within the economy being commandeered to service immediate military needs, Russia's ability to supply fossil fuels is constrained right now (that's what one of your links is showing), and most of the European countries that used to buy from Russia have reduced their consumption in order to limit the scope of future blackmail.
Geopolitical influence overall (e.g. in the Middle East, Asia, Central Europe)
Influence is helpful. So what are the strategic objectives being served by that influence?
Channel 4 to mark Trump’s U.K. visit with “longest uninterrupted reel of untruths ever broadcast on television”
'Trump v the Truth' will run for several hours on Sept. 17 and is set to be punctuated by "brief text-based fact-checks."
Channel 4 is welcoming Donald Trump to the U.K. with a special program: an unbroken catalogue of over 100 falsehoods, distortions and inaccuracies he’s come up with since taking office in January.
The U.S. President will come to London for a second state visit this month, and the British channel has vowed to put a spotlight on his “prolific oeuvre of untruths.”
On Sep. 17 from 10 a.m. local time, Channel 4 will broadcast Trump v the Truth, the longest uninterrupted reel of untruths running over several hours. The statements will be punctuated by “brief text-based fact-checks, offering viewers the truth behind the tweets, speeches and soundbites.”
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Channel 4 is as wide an audience as you can get in the Uk as it’s one of the free channels that everybody has access to.
As for the even wider audience of the world I would hope they do put it in their YouTube.
Police hurt during Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally in London
Some 24 arrests are made after "unacceptable violence" at demonstrations in central London, police say.Thomas Mackintosh (BBC News)
No they’re not. We have people hanging flags everywhere with racist undertones and I’ve now seen America flags in my town. Like America is a bastion of what we want to become ffs.
I don’t want to say the average person is stupid but they’re easy to lie to and get on side apparently.
No, they said it would be the longest... I'm not sure he has the stamina to beat his record
Maybe they made a Trump supercut?
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Fox News is great at the lie-by-omission thing. In fact, they rarely tell a bald-faced lie.
Remember the Snowden revelations? When that was going down, I was trapped in a house for a week where the people had Fox on 24/7. I mean that literally. They'd smoke weed and fall asleep in their recliners. Headline news, worldwide, and I did not hear a single word from Fox. Not one mention. Which I still haven't figured out as they could have nailed Obama to the wall.
Yes! But they'd have to pause the video to pop up the multi-level rebuttals:
Trump: Mexican people are evil terrible lazy criminals
Pop immigrants are usually the most law-abiding group in America
Pop immigrants are usually the hardest workers, adaptable and versatile. They usually work jobs that go unfilled without them
Pop Latin Americans have a rich culture and history, and happily celebrate with vibrant colour and intricate dance and song
Pop people of Mexico enjoy less crime on average than Americans
Etc
Like, there's only so much time!
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Spain calls for Israel, Russia to be banned from international sports competitions
MADRID, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday said Israel and Russia should be banned from international sports competitions until "barbaric acts" end, referring to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Sanchez said he condemned the violent protests by pro-Palestinian on Sunday in Madrid which disrupted the La Vuelta cycling race and ultimately led to the cancellation of the final leg and the podium ceremony.
entire article☝️
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Teenagers to pay $300,000 for urinating in hotpot in China
Two teenagers who peed into a pot of broth at a hotpot restaurant have been ordered to pay 2.2m yuan ($309,000; £227,000) to two catering companies in China.
The incident, which happened in February at a Shanghai branch of China's biggest hotpot chain Haidilao, sparked widespread criticism after the 17-year-olds posted a video of their drunken act online.
Teenagers to pay $300,000 for urinating in hotpot in China
A court orders their parents to compensate Haidilao for reputational and operational losses.Kelly Ng (BBC News)
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Wtf did I just read...
Virgin boy eggs are widely accepted as a tradition in the city.[3] Boy egg vendors go to elementary schools in the city where they collect urine from young boys, preferably under the age of ten. Children who have been raised in the city are used to the practice, and relieve themselves in basins that the vendors place in the hallways. The teachers often remind the boys not to urinate in the basins if any of them have a fever or feel ill.[3][5] Some vendors wait with containers in parks or public restrooms for a parent who is willing to let their child offer urine.
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Cause of Death: Consumption of Basa Fish
Is it possible that the after-school fish stick snacks you have been feeding your child could possibly be contaminated with deadly metals such as mercury?Vietnam Talking Points
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They cancelled school for the rest of the day and I was one of the few students in my age group who hadn't eaten there so I just went home and had such a good time playing the game and laughing my ass off about the whole situation.
Coca-Cola rebrands products in Germany amid US image crisis – DW – 09/08/2025
Coca-Cola rebrands products in Germany amid US image crisis
As the global reputation of US brands slips, some US firms are turning to unusual marketing strategies. Coca-Cola, for instance, is now promoting itself as a "German product."Dirk Kaufmann (Deutsche Welle)
Linux smartphones are coming, although very slowly
There is also Jolla with Sailfish OS, but the hardware is not really attractive
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, says UN commission of inquiry
UN commission of inquiry has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and accused senior Israeli officials including Benjamin Netanyahu of inciting it.
The United Nations independent international commission of inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the UN and has been criticised strongly by Israel, cited the scale of the killings, aid blockages, forced displacement and the destruction of a fertility clinic in the territory to support its genocide finding.
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, says UN commission of inquiry
Report cites scale of killings and aid blockages, and calls on member countries to punish those responsibleJon Henley (The Guardian)
I don't think the previous comment was directed at the commission.
The world has been watching the genocide for nearly 2 years now and no meaningful action has been taken to stop it by any country.
I think the point that was being made is that the UN appears to be completely powerless as long as the US continues to back Israel (and still has veto power in the security council).
but it seemed pretty clear to me that the problem is all of the countries who aren’t doing anything.
I agree
For sure, but there are also other UN commissions which completely failed at their job, and this is one of them.
This commission itself should be prosecuted for being complicit in genocide.
For sure, but there are also other UN commissions which completely failed at their job, and this is one of them
What do you mean? They where asked to prove there is a genocide , they concluded there is a genocide so where is the failure?
Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report and called for the COI to be abolished. Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, called the report a scandalous and fake “libellous rant” that had been authored by “Hamas proxies”. Israel has declined to cooperate with the COI, accusing it of having a political agenda.
Anwar: Malaysia to take firm Gaza stand in Trump meeting, urges decisive action against Israel
He said that while many nations have strongly voiced their positions, mere statements and calls are not sufficient, and must instead be followed up with decisive actions.
Anwar: Malaysia to take firm Gaza stand in Trump meeting, urges decisive action against Israel
DOHA, Sept 16 — Malaysia will use the opportunity of its meeting with United States (US) President Donald Trump at the Asean Summit this October to reiterate the country’s...Malay Mail
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Canadians don’t want to live in America and it shows: The number of Canadians searching for U.S. homes is down 20% year over year
Canadians don’t want to live in America and it shows: The number of Canadians searching for U.S. homes is down 20% year over year
The steepest decline came in April after Trump’s tariff announcements.Sydney Lake (Fortune)
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Economy is going to contract especially come spring. These snowbirds most of the time were more kind than locals. People have no idea how much money they pump into local economies.
Hopefully this is advantageous to midterms but who knows.
Canada ~~will get~~ is getting warmer too you know. From nice and cool to nice and warm. Same as here in Norhern Europe*, and I believe the influx of rich "Southerners" will increase, if it hasn't already.
* I can't believe how far South Canada goes. The most populated area is on a latitude with Central Europe. I live on the same latitude as, say, Anchorage. I can't even find a reasonably-sized town in Canada. But afaiu climate is very different because of the Gulf stream?
Increasing temperatures = less ice on lakes = shorter ice fishing season.
If climate change is impacting Wisconsin, it's already impacting Canada.
Oh sure, I phrased it a little badly.
In other places it shows more during the summer, in the North it shows more during the winter. can't remember the last time we had a proper one here, without several melting and re-freezing phases.
Yup. If and when the gulf Stream shuts down, everything above ~~again~~ Spain is going to be a popsicle.
Day after to tomorrow is my favourite apocalypse movie.
E: autocorrect
If and when the gulf Stream shuts down, everything above again is going to be a popsicle.
You mean in Europe?
Here's hoping for Drake and Bieber being among those 20%.
Do you remember a white Canadian reggae artist called Snow, best known for "Informer", in the early 90s? He pretty much disappeared from the music scene after he stayed in Canada.
1. US house taxes are very high in any place worth living in.
2. This is typical Boomer demographics, they are dying.
3. Older Boomers cannot afford to get sick in the US.
4. This peaked after 2008 when US housing was cheap.
Ahh hello, European. As a Canadian I would like to point out that Canadians have rejected the demonym “American” (when it is applied to us) and have done so far as long as I can remember. We consider it offensive.
If you’re looking to start a fight with a Canadian, calling him an American is an easy way to do that.
I know there's a lot of focus on the US today, even more than usual but I'm getting very concerned about every other countries domestic swing towards conservative populism that's generally intertwined with racism mixed in the current anti-immigration movements.
This is good. I absolutely think it's a problem for every country to have foreign ownership of land/property. It ranges from champagne socialist to hyper-capitalist doing foreign land/property purchases. Screw vacation homes. Screw rental properties. Regardless of all that, don't let anti-Americanism distract you from growing conservative populism that's been growing across the world for I feel like the whole 25 years of this millennium
Can you be sued for defaming virtual K-pop stars? South Korea court says yes
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/49220518
They may be fictional characters, but they are voiced by real people, the court says.
Can you be sued for defaming virtual K-pop stars? South Korea court says yes
They may be fictional characters, but they are voiced by real people, the court says.
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Whether you use AI, think it's a "fun stupid thing for memes", or even ignore it, you should know it's already polluting worse than global air travel.
AI Environment Statistics 2025: How AI Consumes 2% of Global Power and 17B Gallons of Water
AI environment statistics 2025: AI consumes 450 TWh globally, uses 17B gallons water, generates 2.5-3.7% of emissions. Complete environmental impact analysis with latest data.Midhat Tilawat (All About AI)
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Because I can run many models at home and it wouldn't require me to be pouring bottles of water on my PC, nor it would show on my electricity bill.
Well, most of the carbon footprint for models is in training, which you probably don't need to do at home.
That said, even with training they are not nearly our leading cause of pollution.
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Most of these figures are guesses along a spectrum of "educated" since many models, like ChatGPT, are effectively opaque to everyone and we have no idea what the current iteration architecture actually looks like. But MIT did do a very solid study not too long ago that looked at the energy cost for various queries for various architectures. Text queries for very large GPT models actually had a higher energy cost than image gen using a normal number of iterations for Stable Diffusion models actually, which is pretty crazy. Anyhow, you're looking at per-query energy usage of like 15 seconds microwaving at full power to riding a bike a few blocks. When tallied over the immense number of queries being serviced, it does add up.
That all said, I think energy consumption is a silly thing to attack AI over. Modernize, modularize, and decentralize the grids and convert to non-GHG sources and it doesn't matter--there are other concerns with AI that are far more pressing (like deskilling effects and inability to control mis- and disinformation).
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I kind of wondered the same thing in the past, but the other day I read an LA Times article that illustrated the extent of the problem of water loss (not particularly related to data centers although we know they contribute to it). The main problem with evaporating water seems to be that it was water that we could have used which ended up in the ocean instead.
latimes.com/environment/story/…
I infer that evaporation is worse than flushing it down the drain, so to speak, because if it were flushed you would at least be able to treat and recover much of it using much less energy than recovering it from the ocean. So it sounds like evaporation is largely (but obviously not completely) a one-way street, especially in arid regions, since only a tiny portion of the evaporated water would come back there as rain.
Drying and water depletion bring deepening crisis around the world
Research shows vast portions of the world are losing fresh water and getting drier. Groundwater depletion accounts for two-thirds of the continents' water losses, contributing to rising oceans.Ian James (Los Angeles Times)
idk if that's the intended takeaway from those numbers.
According to AllAboutAI analysis, global AI processing generates over 260,930 kilograms of CO₂ monthly from ChatGPT alone, equivalent to 260 transatlantic flights, with 1 billion daily queries consuming 300 MWh of electricity.
according to the faa there are on average 5500 planes in the air every day, and while i couldn't find an exact number there seem to be between 350 and 1 200 transatlantic flights every day, depending on season.
260 tons is still massive, but let's not kid ourselves. it's about equivalent to producing 12 new american-size cars.
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Yes, but there's zero fucking actual benefit.
Seeing memes posted here that use AI while sitting on it is the most confusing thing to me.
Just... don't use it, people. The hole burning in AI bros' pockets will close up if you just stop making it profitable. Even the free ones are making money with ads. Don't use it, even for a joke.
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People like you wouldn’t have seen the benefit in cars vs horse and carriages, computers vs typewriters and books, or watches vs sundials.
I bet you think that the only thing AI is used for is ChatGPT style conversations too.
Theoretically, sure there's potential. But it shouldn't be getting used as a commercial product in the meantime.
Especially generative. Letting it write, compose, create... All of that is 1,000% a mistake. The kind accessible to the public can't currently create at scale without unethical access to source material.
It shouldn't be getting shoehorned into every job possible while it's still in this pre-alpha kind of state.
Although I don't actually know the ratio of research use vs casual use, tbf. But this shit gotta be litigated and used properly with proper guidelines, not just thrown out like this.
It's still way too early for this shit. Our willingness as a species to just jump into new tech should have been tempered to be smarter by now.
Maybe I would've been reluctant about those technologies. But I am convinced with data. And so far I've only seen problems with it, no actual benefits.
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wouldn’t have seen the benefit in cars
Yeah, because the widespread adoption of cars turned out to be such a great idea with no negative consequences... But even if you ignore the glaringly obvious negatives, AI still doesn't come anywhere close to having the practical utility as the modern car. At least a car can carry out its advertised function without issues.
I've been using AI almost daily for several years now, as a function of my job. It's garbage tech. Most of the things it's supposed to be good for it downright sucks at, and the stuff it is good at has already been possible using simpler, more reliable systems for years — sometimes even decades. The situation isn't really improving, either. Models are using more energy, consuming more data, and doing more computation than ever before... but the results are still embarrassingly underwhelming. Anyone who's bothered to educate themselves on the math and method behind the models knows by now that the current generation of AI is dead-end technology, and anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant of the technical details, has a vested financial interest in AI, or both.
It also really fucking irritates me to be constantly called a Luddite by people who don't even know how this technology fucking works... No, I don't hate AI because I'm scared of technology, or "progress" or whatever the fuck. I've made a career working in technology. I love tech... or I used to, before everyone lost their god damn minds praying to Sam Altman and his horrifyingly expensive golden idol. No, I hate AI because it's demonstrably bad technology.
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Frankly focusing on the carbon output of AI models is a red herring. It's not a significant part of the problem and just makes people complacent in the form of feeling like we've achieved something if it succeeds. It's not worse than stuff like video games
Focus on the actual negative effects of AI, but carbon intensity isn't a major one
Thank you.
Idk if LLMs can tell which number is bigger. But we already knew humans can't.
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260,930 kilograms of CO₂ monthly from ChatGPT alone
ChatGPT has the most marketing, but it's only part of the AI ecosystem... and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if other AI products are bigger now. Practically every time someone does a Google search, Gemini AI spits out a summary whether you wanted it or not — and Google processes more than 8 billion search queries per day. That's a lot of slop.
There are also more bespoke tools that are being pushed aggressively in enterprise. Microsoft's Copilot is used extensively in tech for code generation and code reviews. Ditto for Claude Code. And believe me, tech companies are pushing this shit hard. I write code for a living, and the company I work for is so bullish on AI that they've mandated that us devs have to use it every day if we want to stay employed. They're even tracking our usage to make sure we comply... and I know I'm not alone in my experience.
All of that combined probably still doesn't reach the same level of CO² emissions as global air travel, but there are a lot more fish in this proverbial pond than just OpenAI, and when you add them all up, the numbers get big. AI usage is also rising much, much faster than air travel, so it's really only a matter of time before it does cross that threshold.
Generating bullshit that isn't really that useful.
Remember when the Apple Newton "revolutionized" computing with handwriting recognition?
No, of course not, because the whole thing sucked and vanished outside of old Doonesbury cartoons. LOL
My peer used the newton for comp sci class notes. Daily. Exclusively.
Then she went on to mastermind the behaviour and tactics of Myth: The Fallen Lords.
It's tenuous, but I say that's causal.
Water has to be cleaned. It is renewable, not free. My city has many sources, but most places where they build datacenters do not. It is a real problem
Either way the biggest proble, IMO, is the pressure on the electric grid. If the asshats building the centers would cooperate with others, there would be much less problems.
As for power usage, yea its a lot but still not an insane amount. The image and video generation uses a LOT more then text.
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It is renewable, not free.
"Renewable" also doesn't mean shit if the resource is being consumed faster than it's being renewed. Ask the people who used to live on the shores of the Aral Sea how "renewable" their water was.
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Why using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment - a cheat sheet
The numbers clearly show this is a pointless distraction for the climate movementAndy Masley (The Weird Turn Pro)
So I'm a little confused, genuinely- this is in good faith. The link you provided was saying "the chat bot" features you shouldn't worry about. It in itself has a disclaimer that image/video/generation is NOT covered here.
To be sure, the wimpy little chat bot that hallucinates that people should add glue to their pizza to stop the cheese sliding off or that people should eat rocks-part of it isn't burning the BIG watt-hours. There's more to AI than unhinged crappy chat sessions.
This is correct, but not all Data Center Usage is GenAI too. I agree that video generation is pretty energy intensive and not something that should be done on the regular, but image generation runs here on my graphics card pretty fast, so it's not a big deal and comparable to chatbot responses.
Watching an hour of Netflix uses about 0,8kWh, which is a lot more but noone tries to make people have a bad conscience for binge watching a series. That's Datacenter usage too, and a lot more than GenAI.
AI is also used a lot in Science, and even if i know that scientists aren't that popular in the US, we probably agree that this activity is summa summarum positive for humanity, so lets keep it.
So where is the AI usage you propose is worse than global air travel? Lets look at total numbers here:
Electricity usage is 30% of the total CO2 emitted in the USA. Data centers in total used 4.4% in 2023, estimates say this will reach between 6.7 and 12% in 2028. If we take the worst case, Data Centers will be responsible for a bit more than 3% of all CO2 emissions in the USA, best case about 1.7%.
That's not nothing, but it's still a lot less then global flight, which was responsible for 9% of CO2 emissions in the US transport sector, which amounts to about 4% of Total US emissions 2022. Please note we are talking US flight emissions here, NOT GLOBAL. Since most datacenters worldwide reside in the US by far, your statement is bullshit.
ETA: People, the real climate killers have not changed: Cars, Industry, Flight. Trying to create a bad conscience for peanuts in relation is not worth it AND WILL NEITHER MAKE PEOPLE JOIN YOU NOR RESCUE THE PLANET, because these lies are easily disproven and make the green movement look untrustworthy.
Factcheck: What is the carbon footprint of streaming video on Netflix? - Carbon Brief
The carbon footprint of streaming video on Netflix remains relatively modest, particularly compared to other activities and sectors.Carbon Brief Staff (Carbon Brief)
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I've had people tell me oh, air travel is more efficient per mile that road travel.
But this ignores that people wouldn't drive thousands of miles if it was not as easy as booking a flight.
OP, this statement is bullshit. you can do about 5 million requests for ONE flight.
i'm gonna quote my old post:
I had the discussion regarding generated CO2 a while ago here, and with the numbers my discussion partner gave me, the calculation said that the yearly usage of ChatGPT is appr. 0.0017% of our CO2 reduction during the covid lockdowns - chatbots are not what is kiling the climate. What IS killing the climate has not changed since the green movement started: cars, planes, construction (mainly concrete production) and meat.The exact energy costs are not published, but 3Wh / request for ChatGPT-4 is the upper limit from what we know (and thats in line with the appr. power consumption on my graphics card when running an LLM). Since Google uses it for every search, they will probably have optimized for their use case, and some sources cite 0.3Wh/request for chatbots - it depends on what model you use. The training is a one-time cost, and for ChatGPT-4 it raises the maximum cost/request to 4Wh. That's nothing. The combined worldwide energy usage of ChatGPT is equivalent to about 20k American households. This is for one of the most downloaded apps on iPhone and Android - setting this in comparison with the massive usage makes clear that saving here is not effective for anyone interested in reducing climate impact, or you have to start scolding everyone who runs their microwave 10 seconds too long.
Even compared to other online activities that use data centers ChatGPT's power usage is small change. If you use ChatGPT instead of watching Netflix you actually safe energy!
Water is about the same, although the positioning of data centers in the US sucks. The used water doesn't disappear tho - it's mostly returned to the rivers or is evaporated. The water usage in the US is 58,000,000,000,000 gallons (220 Trillion Liters) of water per year. A ChatGPT request uses between 10-25ml of water for cooling. A Hamburger uses about 600 galleons of water. 2 Trillion Liters are lost due to aging infrastructure . If you want to reduce water usage, go vegan or fix water pipes.
Read up here !
Using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment
And a plea to think seriously about climate change without getting distractedAndy Masley (The Weird Turn Pro)
I'm not sure what you're referencing. Imagegen models are not much different, especially now that they're going transformers/MoE. Video gen models are chunky indeed, but more rarely used, and they're usually much smaller parameter counts.
Basically anything else machine learning is an order of magnitude less energy, at least.
The combined worldwide energy usage of ChatGPT is equivalent to about 20k American households.
Or about 10 small countries.
Not even being that hyperbolic: American households are fabulously, insanely wasteful of energy.
The rest of the world (barring places like Saudi Arabia, which are rarely used as moral or socio-cultural examples the world should learn from) has done the whole 'What's the point in trying to better the world when America and China do more damage than the rest of the world combined?' debate decades ago, and we ended up deciding that we can't control the worst offenders, and can only do what we can.
Literally any moral value or standard is subject to 'but but but what's the point if you can't eradicate the problem entirely?', that's why it's such a weak fallacy.
Minimising absolutely pointless destruction of non-renewable resources won't successfully save the environment tomorrow, but we can do it anyway, and if will help.
We can't eradicate theft, but we can do our best to pay for things before taking them. We know that being polite in public isn't the 1 thing holding our society back from utopian perfection, but we do it anyway, because it helps.
We can all pinky promise not to murder or violently assault anyone, and pay no attention to the weirdo protesting that 'What's the point in not assaulting people when actually, cars and illness and unhealthy lifestyles do more harm', because that person is presumably just looking for an excuse to hit someone.
And yeah, long story short: using 'American households' as an example of how insignificant AI's energy usage is is kinda like saying smoking is safe because it's actually less harmful than spending 6 hours a day on a busy road in Delhi.
If you don't spend 6 hours a day near busy roads in Delhi, you won't exactly think 'oh that's ok then'.
And if you do, your lungs need all the help they can get and you've got all the more reason to be wary of smoking (I say this as a smoker btw).
Huge areas of Africa and the middle east are becoming uninhabited because of climate change. Those people all need food and water, and the western world does not have the resources or inclination to house and feed them all. It is almost unanimously described as the worst crisis humanity has ever faced, and the practical solution - stop wasting fossil fuels and non-renewable resources when there's a viable alternative - is so insanely easy.
Billions of lives could be saved, if everyone on the planet agreed to be mindful of energy waste.
Not 'stop using energy' or 'everybody become vegan and live in houses made of recycled banana peel', just quit wasting.
But there are entire countries who don't seem to get the whole 'acting together for the betterment of humanity' thing, so that incredibly simple solution won't work.
And all we can do in the meantime is to lead by example, make 'responsible consumption' a lifestyle rather than an option, and hope against hope that enough Americans and Chinese people decide to reduce their dependence on 1000 daily images of shrimp Jesus or an endless output of bullshit papers written by AI to pretend that's what science means, in time to maybe save some of the planet before wildfire season lasts 12 months a year.
Also: it's not even like you're gaining anything from constantly using AI or LLMs. Just fleeting dopamine hits while your brain cells wither. Of all the habits one could try to reduce, or be mindful of, to literally save lives and countries, anybody who honestly thinks generative AI is more important is very addicted.
Also also: it's just so shit.
But there are entire countries who don’t seem to get the whole ‘acting together for the betterment of humanity’ thing,
I would describe it as 'indoctrinated by Big Oil', heh... It is awful.
Also: it’s not even like you’re gaining anything from constantly using AI or LLMs. Just fleeting dopamine hits while your brain cells wither. Of all the habits one could try to reduce, or be mindful of, to literally save lives and countries, anybody who honestly thinks generative AI is more important is very addicted. Also also: it’s just so shit.
The majority of text ingestion/token generation is consumed by other machines for stuff like coding assistants or corporate data processing, and this includes image ingestion. I dunno what fraction is image/video generation is, but I suspect it's not high, as there's really no point outside of cheap spam.
You are not wrong, and corpo AI is shit for plenty of reasons (including being needlessly power hungry when it doesn't have to be), but I'm not relenting that this is a 'small fish' issue to pursue in reference to the massive waste in so many other parts of the US.
Big Oil and such delight in such distractions because it draws attention away from their more profitable and harmful sectors they'd rather people forget about.
Do you have a source for this claim? I see this report by Google and MIT Tech Review that says image/video generation does use a lot of energy compared to text generation.
Taking the data from those articles, we get this table:
| AI Activity | Source | Energy Use (per prompt) | Everyday Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Gemini Text Prompt | Google Report | 0.24 Wh | Less energy than watching a 100W TV for 9 seconds. |
| High-Quality AI Image | MIT Article | ~1.22 Wh | Running a standard microwave for about 4 seconds. |
| Complex AI Text Query | MIT Article | ~1.86 Wh | Roughly equivalent to charging a pair of wireless earbuds for 2-3 minutes. |
| Single AI Video (5-sec) | MIT Article | ~944 Wh (0.94 kWh) | Nearly the same energy as running a full, energy-efficient dishwasher cycle. |
| "Daily AI Habit" | MIT Article | ~2,900 Wh (2.9 kWh) | A bit more than an average US refrigerator consumes in a full 24-hour period. |
Another way of looking at this: A "Daily AI Habit" on your table is about the same as driving a Tesla 10 miles, or a standard gas car about 3 miles.
Edit 4 AI videos, or detour and take the scenic route home from work... about the same impact.
I like that as well, thank you! Yeah, the "Daily AI Habit" in the MIT article was described as...
Let’s say you’re running a marathon as a charity runner and organizing a fundraiser to support your cause. You ask an AI model 15 questions about the best way to fundraise.Then you make 10 attempts at an image for your flyer before you get one you are happy with, and three attempts at a five-second video to post on Instagram.
You’d use about 2.9 kilowatt-hours of electricity—enough to ride over 100 miles on an e-bike (or around 10 miles in the average electric vehicle) or run the microwave for over three and a half hours.
As a daily AI user, I almost never use image or video generation and it is basically all text (mostly in the form of code), so I think this daily habit likely wouldn't fit for most people that use it on a daily basis, but that was their metric.
The MIT article also mentions that we shouldn't try and reverse engineer energy usage numbers and that we should encourage companies to release data because the numbers are invariably going to be off. And Google's technical report affirms this. It shows that non-production estimates for energy usage by AI are over-estimating because of the economies of scale that a production system is able to achieve.
Edit: more context: my daily AI usage, on the extremely, extremely high end, let's say is 1,000 median text prompts from a production-level AI provider (code editor, chat window, document editing). That's equivalent to watching TV for 36 minutes. The average daily consumption of TV in the US is around 3 hours per day.
If you want to look at it another way, if you assume every single square inch of silicon from TSMC is Nvidia server accelerators/AMD EPYCs, every single one running AI at full tilt 24/7/365...
Added up, it's not that much power, or water.
That's unrealistic, of course, but that's literally the physical cap of what humanity can produce at the moment.
The statement strikes me as overblown extreme position staking.
I use AI in my work, not every day, not even every week, but once in a while I'll run 20-30 queries in a multi-hour session. At the estimated 2Wh per query, that puts my long day of AI code work at 60Wh.
By comparison, driving an electric car consumes approximately 250Wh per mile. So... my evil day spent coding with AI has burned as much energy as a 1/4 mile of driving a relatively efficient car, something that happens every 15 seconds while cruising down the highway...
In other words, my conscience is clear about my personal AI energy usage, and my $20/month subscription fee would seem to amply pay for all the power consumed and then some.
Now, if you want to talk about the massive data mining operations taking place at global-multinational corporations, especially those trolling the internet to build population profiles for their own advantages and profit... that's a very different scale than one person tapping away at a keyboard. Do they scale up to the same energy usage as the 12 million gallons of jet fuel burned hourly by the air travel (and cargo) industries? Probably not yet.
9.6kWh of energy in a gallon of jet fuel, so just jet fuel consumption is burning over 115 Gigawatts on average, 24-7-365.
I hope your recycling is net carbon neutral as well. Example: how much CO2 is released by a recycling program which sends big diesel trucks all over the city to collect recyclables including cardboard, sorting that cardboard at a facility, shipping a small fraction of that to a pulp recycling facility and making recycled cardboard from the post-consumer captured pulp? Consider the alternative to be: torching the cardboard at the endpoint of use - direct conversion to CO2 without the additional steps.
Don't forget: new from pulpwood cardboard also is contributing to (temporary) carbon capture by growing the pulpwood trees which also provides groundwater recharge and wildlife habitat on the pulpwood tree farms - instead of the pavement, concrete, steel, electricity and fuel consumption of the recycling process.
A lot of these studies they list are already years outdated and irrelevant. The models are much more efficient now, and it’s mainly the Musk owned AI data centers that are high pollution. Most of the pollution from the majority of data centers is not from AI, but other use.
The old room-sized ENIAC computers used 150-200 kW of power, and couldn’t do even a fraction of what your smart phone can do. The anti-AI people are taking advantage of most people’s ignorance, intentionally using outdated studies, and implying that the power usage will continue to grow- when in fact it has already shrunk dramatically.
A Phone can't do anything. It can send/receive and the datacenter does the work. Surely everyone understands this.
A modern AI data center have already shot right past 200 Terrawatt hours and are on track to double again in the next two years.
People can't be this blind.
LoL. Guess I can just get rid of phone’s processor then, huh?
And again, you link an image from an outdated study. Because the new data shows the use declining, so it wouldn’t help your fear mongering.
A phone can do a lot. Much much more than ENIAC era supercomputer (I think you'll have to get pretty close to the end of the previous century to find a supercomputer more powerful than a modern smartphone)
What a phone can't do is run an LLM. Even powerful gaming PCs are struggling with that - they can only run the less powerful models and queries that'd feel instant on service-based LLMs would take minutes - or at least tens of seconds - on a single consumer GPU. Phones certainly can't handle that, but that doesn't mean that "cant' do anything".
I've run small models (a few Gb in size) on my steam deck. It gives reasonably fast responses (faster than a person would type).
I know that they're far from state-of-the art, but they do work and I know that the Steam Deck is not going to be using much power.
But now my work is forcing us to use it. To increase productivity you see...
Thanks for clarifying. You made up statistics, your post is nonsense.
And you responded without any consideration that the consistent reliance on computers, in general, is using a HUGE amount of energy, AI or not, indicate that you simply want to chase windmills and not have a conversation. Well played.
HurrDeeeDurrrr indeed. Next time let the grown ups talk.
Edit: Arrrggg! I didnt mean to delete my comment I meant to add to it!
The point I was trying to make was that we are not going to quit using computers, AI or not. Data centers will continue to grow, AI will continue to be used because they are not going to quit either.
I said that before.
What I wanted to add: this is in agreement with several of the links in the article OP posted: more efficient algorithms, better hardware, regenerative water cooling instead of lossy evaporation.
The article suggests training on better models, heat recovery and re-use, even using AI to research better methods for processing and planning energy consumption for AI.
I was serious: we are unlikely to just throw out computers.
Arrg! I didnt mean to delete what I wrote I was just trying to update it.
You confused energy use with pollution.
And what I wrote before was:
I basically said that I was serious, people if they cared would stop using computers. But I am not going to stop, you are not going to stop, so data centers are going to grow no matter what we do, and computing use is going to increase energy consumption. We need to (even says in the article you posted in the links) improve efficiency, get better hardware, use lower cost training models, use energy recovery and not use lossy evaporator cooling.
They said that AI is polluting worse than global air travel. They are mixing up pollution vs energy used. If it was pollution global air travel creates 80 Million Tons of CO a month. All AI in use is 15 million tons a month. Global air travel is far more polluting.
As an aside, and this is crazy: there is a reference, in the article OP posted to a paper, that suggests that humans are far worse than AI for CO2 creation depending on the task. Which I found surprising.
So I read the published paper in the journal Nature and:
Our findings reveal that AI systems emit between 130 and 1500 times less CO2e per page of text generated compared to human writer, while AI illustration systems emit between 310 and 2900 times less CO2e per image than their human counterparts. Emissions analyses do not account for social impacts such as professional displacement, legality, and rebound effects. In addition, AI is not a substitute for all human tasks. Nevertheless, at present, the use of AI holds the potential to carry out several major activities at much lower emission levels than can humans.
Ok I honestly did not see that coming.
Picked at random, It also claims this:
Why does nighttime AI use burn dirtier energy?
Fossil fuel dominance: Coal and gas supply up to 90% of overnight electricity.
Solar drop-off: Solar disappears after sunset, while wind delivers only ~30% capacity at night.
Peak carbon hours: Between 2–4 AM, grid intensity rises to 450–650 gCO₂/kWh, compared to 200–300 gCO₂/kWh in the afternoon.
This is complete bullshit in the UK, where energy is greenest in the small hours of the night when demand is low and the wind turbines are still turning. Least green and most expensive is late afternoon and evening, when energy usage spikes.
Let me reiterate. AI is crap. AI is a massive waste of energy, but your website has its calculations off in terms of order of magnitude when it comes to comparing the airline industry pushing tons of metal fast and hard into and through the sky with AI pushing a bunch of electrons through a bunch of transistors. Seriously, way off.
lmgtfy2.com/query/?q=IEA
Like I said, the IEA. The International Energy Agency. I wonder if you've heard of them.
You can throw scepticism as much as you like, dude, but
(1) I did not lie and
(2) your website is unreliable. Give it up.
Again. LLMs are crap, they spout falsehoods all the time, they use unreasonably large amounts of data, but the airline industry pollutes a LOT more.
I begin to wonder whether your website was itself written by an LLM.
How Does the US Use Water?
Water infrastructure often gets less attention and focus than other types of infrastructure.Brian Potter (Construction Physics)
that's very pragmatic, but you can also flip this around -- almonds are a luxury compared to other more practical foods, whereas LLMs can help a coder net an income if used properly. I don't think you can justify almonds if you're going to claim AI usage is unethical on purely environmental grounds. And dairy milk is twice as much as almond milk in terms of water, so if you have dairy in your diet, cutting that out is going to be a lot more effective for reducing your water footprint than not using LLMs.
Anyway, check out the third link for more info on the total water usage of data centers; it doesn't really add up to much compared to much larger things like golf courses. I don't get why anyone would use water usage as a reason to agitate against AI for given that there are so many worse problems AI is causing.
Trump boasts he ordered another lethal strike on a cartel boat in international waters
Trump boasts he ordered another lethal strike on a cartel boat in international waters
Another strike has been carried out on a boat that President Donald Trump claims is an imminent threat to the United States. On Truth Social, Trump announced, "This morning, on my Orders, U.S.Sarah K. Burris (Raw Story)
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Rumsfeld more or less bragged about it too, a lot of that crowd did. We haven't had a serial killer in the White House for a few years, so it's an adjustment back (and of course Trump is such an overtly vicious person that it'll have a new flavor now), but this stuff is not new for Republicans.
(Actually Biden and Bush Sr. are the only two presidents since Carter that I can remember that weren't fans of blowing up random people directly with US forces for no reason. In Afghanistan they did an airstrike on a wedding.)
Okay, and what's your solution supposed to be? To have everyone go, well the United States is a horrible country that is filled to the brim with bigots, but because there is a tiny, tiny margin of people who aren't, we should be kind to the whole country, because we don't want to hurt their feelings? Or do you expect me to add a disclaimer to every one of my comments saying, of course, this does not apply to those in this case or that case or this other case? Because if so, that's also ridiculous. You might have ALSO noticed I said the country is a terrorist state and not every single person is culpable. But there's this thing called the majority....
So no. I will not be adding a disclaimer to every comment saying something both of us are aware of. But way to go on disproving the stereotype of Americans and expecting special treatment.
People from Europe seem to expect to not be lumped in with the latest dumbass bullshit from Hungry, or the UK, or even this latest chat control fiasco. Is it really that troublesome that people from a nation made up of dozens of states, reservations, islands, etc want the same?
Edit for your edit: You said terrorist nation, not state.
Is it really that troublesome that people from a nation made up of dozens of states, reservations, islands, etc want the same?
Yup because you're one country.
What you initially described is one country being annoyed of getting said they're responsible for another country. You're all the same voting block. Moreover, a voting block that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump. He won in majority of votes and then something like 40% of your eligible electorate decided not to vote at all.
So, once again, I am not adding a disclaimer and caveat to every single comment just to spare the feelings of Americans. You're either capable of going "Well clearly this doesn't apply to people who aren't bigots" or you need it literally spelled out for you. If you need it literally spelled out for you then you're the type of American who the rest of the world is utterly sick of in the first place.
You said terrorist nation, not state.
American.
Here's the definition of State:
a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.
Here's the definition of Nation:
a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.
Glad I could help you with your civics lesson.
The number of native people without some european ancestry in some line of their heritage is drastically small. People have been mixing since a long ass time ago, in good and bad contexts. Far from all of it was under duress of any kind. It doesnt really matter if youre culturally 100% connected, that doesnt negate those lines of heritage. Its quite obnoxious to pretend that just because youre 1/XYZ native that you have no european heritage like most do. Same as it would be obnoxious for someone who has a majority of european heritage, but not entirely, to pretend that they are just european and ignore the rest by affording some sense of supremacy to their preferred lines.
As someone who is related to a little bit of everybody, I dont speak for any of those heritages wholesale. I speak for me, and I guess for other people who are tripartite mixed of the same three “races” of people. To do anything else would be disingenuous at best
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Irish broadcaster RTE says that Ireland will not participate in Eurovision next year if Israel does
RTÉ Statement: 2026 Eurovision Song Contest – About RTÉ
RTÉ Statement: 2026 Eurovision Song Contest “At the General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in July, a number of EBU members raised concerns about the participation of Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest.RTÉ (About RTÉ)
Isrel is not even remotely in Europe anyway, and they for damn sure do not share european values on much of anything. They never should have been allowed to compete in the first place.
There should be a "pariah vision" where the cunt countries all compete for who is most nationalistic. I might even watch that.
I feel like this gets asked often. There are several countries that aren’t in Europe but that currently participate in Eurovision: Israel, Cyprus, Armenia, and Australia.
The contest is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which is made up of various broadcasters from countries across Europe and beyond. The BBC is a member of the EBU, as is RTE in Ireland, Rai in Italy, SVT in Sweden and so on. There are 73 member stations from more than 56 countries, and they're entitled to send acts to Eurovision if they wish.
So as long as a nation has a broadcaster that operates inside the EBU, they’re allowed to enter.
Look at this map of EBU members and associate members
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European…
If australia is a "member" then so is china, india, iran, brazil, chile, egypt, algeria, south africa, japan, new zealand, malaysia, brunei
So..is iran allowed to compete? How about the Brunei, a portion of the island of Borneo? "Euro"vision becomes a bit of a joke, doesnt it.
Republicans admit Congress will pass legislation to release the Epstein files: report
Republicans admit it’s inevitable Congress will force Trump to release the Epstein files: report
Both the House and Senate have Republicans who are joining Democrats to pass legislation that would compel release of the filesEric Garcia (The Independent)
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No Other Land director recounts ‘horrific’ raid on his home by Israeli forces
By MEE staff
Published date: 14 September 2025 16:18 BST
Adra said the raid followed an attack by Israeli settlers on his village in Masafer Yatta on Saturday, in which two of his brothers and one cousin were wounded. He accompanied them to hospital, while nine Israeli soldiers stormed his home in his absence.He said he had been unable to return home since, as soldiers had blockaded the village entrance.
Adra, who has long worked as a journalist and filmmaker documenting settler violence in Masafer Yatta, reported that he and his co-director, Hamdan Ballal, had faced intensified attacks and targeting since they won an Oscar for best documentary.
No Other Land director recounts ‘horrific’ raid on his home by Israeli forces
The Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land has reported that Israeli soldiers raided his home in the occupied West Bank.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
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No Other Land director recounts ‘horrific’ raid on his home by Israeli forces
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/36189837
By MEE staff
Published date: 14 September 2025 16:18 BST
Adra said the raid followed an attack by Israeli settlers on his village in Masafer Yatta on Saturday, in which two of his brothers and one cousin were wounded. He accompanied them to hospital, while nine Israeli soldiers stormed his home in his absence.He said he had been unable to return home since, as soldiers had blockaded the village entrance.
Adra, who has long worked as a journalist and filmmaker documenting settler violence in Masafer Yatta, reported that he and his co-director, Hamdan Ballal, had faced intensified attacks and targeting since they won an Oscar for best documentary.
No Other Land director recounts ‘horrific’ raid on his home by Israeli forces
By MEE staff
Published date: 14 September 2025 16:18 BSTAdra said the raid followed an attack by Israeli settlers on his village in Masafer Yatta on Saturday, in which two of his brothers and one cousin were wounded. He accompanied them to hospital, while nine Israeli soldiers stormed his home in his absence.He said he had been unable to return home since, as soldiers had blockaded the village entrance.
Adra, who has long worked as a journalist and filmmaker documenting settler violence in Masafer Yatta, reported that he and his co-director, Hamdan Ballal, had faced intensified attacks and targeting since they won an Oscar for best documentary.
No Other Land director recounts ‘horrific’ raid on his home by Israeli forces
The Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land has reported that Israeli soldiers raided his home in the occupied West Bank.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
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New details about the development of the SLCM-N sea-based nuclear missile
The United States has decided to return nuclear-tipped cruise missiles to its arsenal of nuclear attack submarines. The new promising sea—based missile will be developed by six companies, of which five are responsible for the rocket itself, and the sixth for the engine. This is reported by Navy Recognition.
The objective of this project is to develop a missile that will be included in the arsenal of nuclear submarines of the Virginia type. According to the Pentagon's plans, the American fleet should receive the first missiles in 2034.
In order not to delay the development too much and not to spend fabulous sums on it, it was decided to create the SLCM-N based on existing missiles, i.e. the same Tomahawk. At least in terms of exterior design and dimensions. This is necessary in order for the new missile to fit the launchers of nuclear submarines.
At the same time, the commissioning of the new missile will be fraught with certain difficulties, since the Virginia-class submarines are not designed to accommodate nuclear weapons on them.
It is assumed that the SLCM-N will receive an adapted modification of the W80-4 nuclear warhead, which is still under development. This warhead is specially designed for long-range missiles.
Timor-Leste students protest government plan to buy new cars for parliamentarians
Timor-Leste police have fired tear gas at protesters who rallied against a plan to buy new official cars for MPs, which triggered anger in one of the poorest nations in South-East Asia.More than 1,000 people, mostly university students, rallied near the National Parliament in Dili to protest against the plan approved last year to procure cars for each of the 65 members of parliament.
The plan was the latest flashpoint in the resource-dependent country, where more than 40 per cent of its population lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
ABC News
ABC News provides the latest news and headlines in Australia and around the world.ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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Netanyahu and Rubio stick to established Israeli-US narrative on Gaza war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio recently held a joint press conference in Jerusalem, reiterating their aligned positions on the ongoing Gaza conflict. Netanyahu accepted "full responsibility" for the Israeli strike on Qatar, while Rubio supported Israel’s stance, emphasizing the need for Hamas to be neutralized as an armed entity.
This event highlights the continued strong coordination between Israel and the U.S., even as regional and international criticism grows. Meanwhile, the Arab-Islamic summit in Doha is meeting to discuss the escalating crisis and potential collective responses.
Netanyahu and Rubio stick to established Israeli-US narrative on Gaza war
Netanyahu reiterates Israel takes ‘full responsibility’ for Qatar attack; Rubio says Hamas must ‘cease to exist’.Maziar Motamedi (Al Jazeera)
Huge piles of rusty WWII ammunition are poisoning the Baltic Sea
Approximately 1.6 million tons of old ammunition are lying on the bottom of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, posing a considerable danger: their casings are slowly rusting and emitting toxic substances such as TNT compounds.Most of the ammunition was deliberately sunk in the ocean after the war because the Allies were concerned that Germans would resume hostilities against them again at some point, and ordered that Germany destroy all ordnance. At the time the easiest way to do so seemed to be to simply dump everything into the sea.
Huge piles of rusty WWII ammunition are poisoning the Baltic Sea
While tensions between Russia and NATO are building up in the Baltic Sea, Europeans are still busy cleaning up the mess World War II left behind in the oceanKIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press (ABC News)
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It’s hard to overstate just how systemic “we can fix it later” was in the mid 20th century. Progress had happened quickly since the turn of the century, many centuries old problems were solved overnight by new inventions (like penicillin) and it was assumed that that progress would continue.
For instance, the century date problem, later known as the Y2K problem, was first realized in the 1950s. Then brought to light again in the 1970s. But nobody did anything about it until the mid 90s.
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The first person known to publicly address this issue was Bob Bemer, who had noticed it in 1958 as a result of work on genealogical software.
Old science fiction books are exactly like this. They just assumed we'd have technological solutions to everything.
Also, they weren't living in a largely collapsed ecosystem. Today we view this story in horror, but back then there were 1/4th the people, wildlife and nature was bountiful. It was probably hard to imagine that we humans could substantially alter the world. Hell, people today look into the sky and say global warming is bunk. Yeah, looks huge from down here! Take a look from space, paint on a marble.
Linux security
Hi there,
Win10 is soon not supported. Tbh Linux have been on my radar since I started to break from the US big tech.
But how is security handled in Linux? Linux is pretty open-source, or am I not understanding it correctly.
So how can I as a new user make sure to have the most secure machine as possible?
I've used Linux Mint and other distros daily for more than 10 years. Never had a virus or malware issue and don't even run antivirus software.
During that same time I've had to help friends remove viruses and malware from their Windows machines dozens of times. The latest Windows disaster I've assisted with was a few months ago. A retired friend had her Windows 10 machine hijacked and $8K stolen from her savings account. Making sure the malware was removed required hours of work formatting the drive and reinstalling Windows.
IMO you are far safer with a plain vanilla Linux install that you are with Windows, no matter what steps you take to secure your Windows installation.
At least that's my understanding.
It's hard enough getting legit software in general to work on Linux. Even if a virus was written for Ubuntu, it is likely not going to run on Fedora, or Arch, or even downstream/upstream versions of Ubuntu.
Edit: Although thinking about it, Linux terminal commands are pretty universal, so if you manage to execute a script or terminal command as root or sudo then I guess it could apply to multiple distros.
But even without root access, malware can create a lot of damage.
You sure though?
What do you want? It should go without saying that I am absolutely sure of my own experience.
In probably 15 years total of running Linux I have not had a single problem with malware or viruses. Part of that time was also running Windows regularly and my Windows systems DID become infected with both malware and viruses occasionally, despite my best efforts. And you're not mentioning the fact that Linux runs on 63% of the server market and those systems are under constant attack.
Reports of Linux system infections are truly rare, and considering the nature of the user community would be widely and loudly reported if they were happening.
Do you have any experience in this matter? Have you had your own Linux installations infected, or are you a Windows user questioning what you're reading? (Perfectly reasonable if the 2nd one's the case.) Please fill us in on the details.
I'm still wondering why do you think Linux is more resistant to malware - besides the incompatibility (mentioned in other reply here). Your experience doesn't tell much about why and I wrote my theory.
To have the most secure machine possible, you might need a hardened kernel but you absolutely need to have SELinux (or equivalent) rules set up.
The easiest way to have a go at this would be to install OpenSuSE (any version will do, they all ship with SELinux ootb) and follow guides on how to setup SELinux permissions.
There's a lot of people with the idea that open source can't be secure because people see the source code.
But imagine this. You have 2 locks, one that is completely viewable of the innerworkings, and another that is covered, both have been unbreakable, but could you imagine the balls on the guy that made the clear lock? Imagine feeling so confident that your lock was clearly the best, that you just expose it to any hacker ever and they still can't get in.
Microsoft can barely get things working with their closed source code.
In reality, anything is exploitable and hackable eventually. With the open source community there are so many eyes on it that when someone notices that the program is running 2 seconds slower than it used to, they discover a vulnerability instead of just accepting it and saying "probably MS doing some BS" and dealing with it.
your analogy doesn't quite work here tbh.
It's not a transparent lock, a transparent lock would be easy to pick. It's more of a usual lock, but everyone can see all the blueprints and changes done to them. You can make changes to the blueprints yourself, and if the locksmiths approve of it, the next iteration of the lock will have them included.
Everyone who's in the set of users of OSS software can contribute, therefore the set of people in control of the software that want it to have no backdoors whatsoever is always larger than the set of people who want to let the backdoors in, unlike in closed source, where corporate can singlehandedly decide to include a backdoor on purpose, not to mention, lots of OSS projects have such a large quantities of different people working on them, corpos won't be able to gather so much humanpower under a single project ever.
if you mean the most secure desktop? then linux is not. not by a long shot.
use windows.
madaidans-insecurities.github.…
madaidans-insecurities.github.…
if you mean most most free, linux it is.
personally I use linux.
I think this article is a great analysis of what deep rooted flaws linux desktop distros have, but I think it is a bit disconnected from the average user (obligatory xkcd).
If the average linux user needs a programm they google what they need land on stack overflow telling them to use their package manager to install it.
If the average windows user needs a program/feature, they google it. They klick on the first link and install the first .exe they find. Has anyone you know used the microsoft store?
Or take gaming as another example. The default expirience for online multiplayer games requires kernel level anticheat on windows. This effectively circumvents windows carefully crafted security model for most tripple A online games.
So yes the average linux machine is probably not as secure as a MacOs or windows machine. But the way they are commonly used I highly doubt windows machines are more secure.
About sandboxing, not like the Java-VM helps much in Android security.
The inherent problem why sandboxing should not be on this list:
Just make sure everything's updated.
Microsoft do a good job of updating drivers and their applications, but Windows application updates vary so much.
For Linux - mostly - the distro maintainers handle all updates and just updating is usually enough.
After that it's down to you... if you disable all the built-in protection and visit dodgy websites then any OS is going to struggle.
You can improve the out-of-box security by removing software you don't use, improving default configurations (one size doesn't fit all) and considering if you want additional security software - this applies to any OS.
So, to return to your question, choose a Linux distro which has regular updates and only contains applications that you use.
I think you're agreeing with me then.
My first point is keeping everything updated - which would include the browser(s)
My later point was visiting dodgy sites with protections disabled.
So how can I as a new user make sure to have the most secure machine as possible?
Shut the computer down. That's it; computer as secure as possible.
Otherwise, if you actually want to use your computer, google for "threat model" first.
But generally: use an adblocker in your webbrowser, don't execute random commands/tools from the internet before you know for sure what you're doing, update stuff now and then and make backups.
You don't actually need "perfect" security in the future, any more than you did in the past. Windows was not perfect, right? So stop looking for perfection. Instead, look for "good enough for 99.9% of the world". And you can get that with many of the popular Linux distributions.
Basically, install a popular distro, and keep your software to whatever is in the package manager. Don't install random shit manually. Don't download random software from random websites. Don't fuck with security settings unless you read up on the topic very thoroughly. Then you'll be fine.
So how can I as a new user make sure to have the most secure machine as possible?
- Always use uBlock Origin in a Firefox-based browser (e.g., LibreWolf, Zen).
- Never click on links in communication of any kind that you didn't expect or are too good to be true.
- Never reinstall Windows.
⚜︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.
uBlock Origin - Free, open-source ad content blocker.
uBlock Origin is not just an “ad blocker“, it's a wide-spectrum content blocker with CPU and memory efficiency as a primary feature. Developed by Raymond Hill.uBlock Origin
Wait what? I don't use mint, but with every other distro you just check the box at install and that is it.
Are you saying its hard to configure after you have already installed? I could imagine it might be, but why not export a list of programs you use and back up the home directory. Reinstall and check the box, restore home, and import your package list?
Firstly, LUKS is under "physical disk for encryption" which is a stupid and confusing name.
Secondly, if you want to dual-boot with LUKS you need to manually configure the partitions.
Thirdly, you need to seperately assign root to be installed on the "physical disk for encryption", and they have multiple volumes for that in the list.
Fourthly, as with all LUKS encrypted Linux distros you need a seperate EFI, boot, and root partition.
Fifthly, all of this partitioning is on a really small window that can't be resized.
Is there anything stopping viruses from doing virus things?
Usually that's called sandboxing. AUR packages do not have any, if you install random AUR packages without reading them, you run the risk of installing malware. Using Flatpaks from Flathub while keeping their permissions in check with a tool like Flatseal can help guard against this.
The main difference is that even with the AUR being completely user submitted content, they're centralized repositories, unlike random websites. Malware on the AUR is significantly less common, though not impossible. Using packages that have a better reputation will avoid some malware, simply because other people have looked at the same package.
There is no good FOSS Linux antivirus (that also targets Linux). Clamav "is the closest", though it won't help much.
Security on Linux is lackluster.
Generally as long as you don't install any untrustworthy programs you'll be safe ... but there's a problem. Linux is an amalgamation of thousands of separate programs and most of them are maintained by one guy in Nebraska thanklessly. XZ Utils is a prime example of how vulnerable the Linux software stack is to malware.
My advice: Keep your daily driver separate from your gaming machine, use a debian-based distro like Ubuntu or Mint for your daily driver, and always have a disaster recovery plan. My advice would basically be the same for a Windows user.
EDIT: Also full-disk encryption. Both on Windows and Linux you can just read the contents of a hard drive no questions asked. Windows is going to address this with TPM's but you can just use a password. Secure-boot is good because it can help guard against rootkits.
Keep your user account in user space.
Avoid unnecessary root access.
From a windows perspective Linux does 2 things differently which makes it more secure to Windows.
1) Like MacOS it doesn’t need antivirus software like Norton. Windows needs antivirus because DOS the OS windows is based on, had it where any program had access to anything. This is still sadly true even on Windows 11. Linux is Sandboxed, where instead of giving the program full access to everything, you just give it a sandbox with what it needs.
Unless you deliberately run a program as the admin of Linux (su or sudo), malicious code can just delete system32.
2) Linux’s is open source and while the desktop market share is tiny, there are a massive market in servers. As a result since there are a lot of eyes on the project if/when problems are found they are fixed quickly. I remember a time when a malicious actor was trying to add a backdoor into a library as a blob and it was caught.
Windows on the other hand is closed source, meaning if MS can’t find the issue, the only time it is found is when it’s in the field. To avoid downtime MS offers bug bounty programs for those who can find issues, rather than to let them exploit it.
I don't know where you got your information from, but your mental model on how and why things work the way they do in both linux and windows seems to be really off.
Since you seem someone that is actually interested in understanding this stuff, I strongly suggest to find some better sources as your base
When I was taking cyber security, Sandboxing and Linux was one of the topics which was brought up.
docs.redhat.com/en/documentati…
Not sure when I associated it with the entire OS. It appears that the Host OS can be sandboxed for added security, and some containerized applications like Flatpaks are sandboxed. But not all applications are. Like the OS provided packages in most package managers.
I would argue that Linux is inherently much more secure than windoze, simply because of how it handles user space vs. System (root access vs. User access). Also by how transparent its configuration is and how much information is readily accessible detailing how it works and how to adjust things.
However, when talking security for anything above the average user’s browsing needs, it can get very complicated depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Think of it like building something to keep out honest people vs. to keep out hardened, knowledgeable, clever thieves. Obviously the latter is going to take more time and resources to achieve, while the need to keep out more sophisticated bad actors would probably only be needed if you have something they might want.
Here are some suggestions for searching if actual security is your goal. Others can chime in with more things if they want. This is just some topics/programs you can read about to dip your toes in.
- nftables/Firewalld (common firewalls)
- wireguard/openvpn (vpn protocols)
- rootless containers (podman)
Best of luck!
Others have said it before but basically : what is YOUR (not me, not your best friend, nor your colleague, etc) threat model?
To clarify that means WHO is actually trying to threaten your security?
Typical for most people it would be :
- scammers trying to get pieces of your identity or your local cryptocurrency wallet or resources they can use to repeat that on to others.
For some people, like activists or political journalists it would be :
- national actors, e.g. governments, with their surveillance apparatus, who might end up on a list with a set of conditions that would trigger some automated scan to get e.g. Signal logs
For very very few people, say Edward Snowden, who within the previous group actually did trigger some action :
- actual team of hackers trying to hack into their devices
So as you can imagine if you are part of group 1, 2 or 3 then way you will protect yourself is totally different. What you will also have to protect is also different, e.g. if you have no cryptowallet but are traveling you might have to protect your phone physical phone and its data.
So... if you are serious about this, take a cybersecurity class. There are plenty available but how a computer works, software and hardware alike, is precisely what makes them simultaneously powerful and also dangerous. There are plenty of ways to break security (e.g. return oriented programing), plenty of ways that practically impossible (e.g. encryption) due to the very nature of computers (i.e. computational complexity) which IMHO makes this one of the most fascinating topic. Ask yourself come the credit card in your pocket (costing few bucks to make) can't be cracked by the largest super computers (costing billions) on Earth?
TL;DR: no offense but you don't seem to be ready for the answer without getting the basics first.
So how can I as a new user make sure to have the most secure machine as possible?
That's not what you want. You want a reasonable level of confidence that your system is secure.
The process is similar to Windows - keep it up-to-date, use good passwords, don't run things as root (admin), and don't install things that are questionable.
The package manager under linux is where you should start, and that varys by distro some. But generally speaking things installed from there are "safe" and will be updated by the package manager when you do updates.
- Set a decently good password (password is required frequently on Linux, so do go overboard with a 40-random-characters-long password, you will regret it)
- don't install programs or run scripts from shady sources, prefer to install programs from the Software store (package manager and flatpak)
- setup a backup system to regularly copy all your files to a separate storage device. This is the way to protect yourself from ransomware but also user errors! Having the possibility to format your drive, reinstall and restore backup in a 1 hour time span is going to give you the peace of mine you need for exploring and experimenting with Linux
Microsoft being closed source hides their bugs and vulnerabilities. Even when security researchers have sent in reports MS has sat on them due to profit being motive not security, and not taking vulners seriously until the researchers say screw that and publish it.
Linux being open can have all eyes on it, and if there is an exploit, there is a community willing to help ASAP.
On many distros you may have weekly or even daily updates or patches coming through with fixes.
A distro like OpenSUSE has various patch and list patch commands that show what security patches are avilailable, their status (critical, recommended) and if it's needed on your system or not depending on what you have installed.
You don't get transparency on closed source systems.
If you are paranoid about security you can use AppArmor tools or SELinux.
AppArmor can be set to learn how an app behaves, then you lock it so the app can't do new things.
SELinux you set rules for files and folders, so even with remote access an attacker can't access data if rules don't allow file listing over SSH etc
The US Air Force decommissioned the first Minuteman III mine — the transition to Sentinel began, but with reservations
The US Air Force has officially decommissioned the first Minuteman III — LF 5E10 mine at the F.E. Warren Base in Wyoming. This is the symbolic beginning of the replacement of the outdated missile system with the new LGM-35A Sentinel system. According to the command, the combat readiness of the nuclear forces remains: 400 missiles are still on duty.
However, this "historic step" hides serious challenges. The Sentinel program, which is being implemented by Northrop Grumman, is already facing large—scale delays and a sharp increase in cost - the project budget is approaching $100 billion. Experts note that ambitious deadlines may be disrupted again, especially against the background of the complexity of replacing infrastructure that was worked out during the Cold War era.
In addition, the question remains: will ultra-expensive modernization justify its costs in the face of a changing global threat? As the Air Force makes its first move, the future of Sentinel looks less like a triumph of technology than a test of budget and realism.
First F.E. Warren Minutemen III Silo Decommissioned For New Sentinel Missiles
The Air Force has confirmed decommissioning of the first F.E. Warren Air Force Base Minutemen III silo to make way for new Sentinel missiles. It’s a huge milestone for the $141 billion nuclear modernization project, which begins in Wyoming.Renée Jean (Cowboy State Daily)
How's your experience with samba shares on Linux?
I have a samba share running on my server (just an Intel N100 Mini PC). It's running Fedora Atomic and my desktop is also running Fedora Atomic.
While it's good enough to watch videos on, reliability when it comes to uploading files to it has been very poor. The connection ends up timing out after a few minutes of uploading.
I found that using rsync to upload files to it has been a lot more reliable.
I’ve been using smb protocol for years. NFS is great when it works, but something about my network makes it unreliable or inconsistent between devices.
Smb has never caused me any problems.
If you force turn off SMBv1, should work with win10/11
I have a mix of nfs and smbv3 shares with linux, mac, windows machines. Use nfs for video/music sharing for all. SMBv3 for protected private files.
Edit: i read your comment wrong.
If you dont care about permissions, use NFS. If you need protected shares, use SMBv3, force blocking of SMBv1 protocol.
I have a mix of both NFS and SMBv3 shares between NAS, Windows 11, Ubuntu, and MacOS machines. It can be done, not too difficult unless you are trying to mount things weird in proxmox or something.
You might want to check sshfs but overall yes rsync works well. I just uploaded 200Go yesterday, no failure.
On my LAN if I want to share without downloading them then I rely on MiniDLNA/ReadyMedia for DLNA/UPnP meaning it works with VLC on desktop, obviously, Android video projectors, mobiles, etc.
Guess it depends on your usage but I stopped using Samba when I didn't have Windows machines on my network. Never looked back.
Poland not ready for consultations with Russia on drone incident — diplomat
Poland not ready for consultations with Russia on drone incident — diplomat
"This looks like a provocation or a misunderstanding, which the Polish side is not willing to clarify," Mikhail Ulyanov saidTASS
Gaza Famine Death Toll Rises to 420, Including 145 Children - Health Ministry
Gaza Famine Death Toll Rises to 420, Including 145 Children - Health Ministry
The total number of deaths from malnutrition amid the blockade and food supply crisis in the Gaza Strip has risen to 420 people, including 145 children, the Gaza health ministry said on Saturday.Sputnik International
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He already bullied countries into backing off silicon valley regs and penalties, the eu appeased him so far.
The eu does not need the us they should have held firm, but I guess they are too busy trying to lock down the internet and read everything everyone has done online.
The one silver lining is that if the autocracy succeeds all of these guys will be supplanted, many by being persecuted. I suspect supreme leader will have a Joseph Stalin level of paranoia after the epic fight in the Viper pit for that position in 2028. That is if we do not get our shit together and get a popular muscular reform champion to run against them and overcome the vote rigging they plan on doing.
The rich people supporting him will get it worse than anyone, at some point they will start accusing them and seizing their assets, at first those that crossed the party, later seizing assets will be the end in itself.
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