#Data Network

[century-solutions-group]

Network and Server Support

Trust Century Solutions Group for 24/7 management of your network equipment, systems, and applications, ensuring robust data network security and seamless performance on cloud servers. 

Learn more: https://centurygroup.net/managed-it-solutions/server-network/ 

#networksupportspecialist #networksupport #datanetworksecurity #itservices #serversupport #networking #networksecurity #cloudcomputing #itsupport #techsupport #servermaintenance #cybersecurity #hardwaresupport #hardwaremaintenance #supportservices #servermanagement #manageditservices #malwaredetection #securityaudit 

[phonesuite]

The telephone system is an essential tool for successful hospitality operations, and where evolving communication is key to providing exceptional customer service. A robust phone system ensures that orders are accurately taken, reservations are managed, and customer inquiries are answered. Read More...

[aiweirdness]

AI versus a giraffe with no spots

On July 31, 2023, a giraffe with no spots was born at Brights Zoo in Tennessee.

Image recognition algorithms are trained on a variety of images from around the internet, and/or on a few standard image datasets. But there likely haven't been any spotless giraffes in their training data, since the last one to be born was probably in 1972 in Tokyo. How do they do when faced with photos of the spotless giraffe?

Here's Multi-Modal In-Context Learning:

And InstructBLIP, which was more eloquent but also added lots of spurious detail.

More examples at AiWeirdness.com

Are these crummy image recognition models? Not unusually so. As far as I can tell with a brief poke around, MMICL and InstructBLIP are modern models (as of Aug 2023), fairly high up on the leaderboards of models answering questions about images. Their demonstration pages (and InstructBLIP's paper) are full of examples of the models providing complete and sensible-looking answers about images.

Then why are they so bad at Giraffe With No Spots?

I can think of three main factors here:

AI does best on images it's seen before. We know AI is good at memorizing stuff; it might even be that some of the images in the examples and benchmarks are in the training datasets these algorithms used. Giraffe With No Spots may be especially difficult not only because the giraffe is unusual, but because it's new to the internet.

AI tends to sand away the unusual. It's trained to answer with the most likely answer to your question, which is not necessarily the most correct answer.

The papers and demonstration sites are showcasing their best work. Whereas I am zeroing in on their worst work, because it's entertaining and because it's a cautionary tale about putting too much faith in AI image recognition.

[br1ghtestlight]

in my heart i believe lightbulb has the WORST taste in movies and tv just like her voice actor <3 she loves impractical jokers. she loves anchorman. she loves the smosh movies. shes booking tickets day one for any and all adam sandler movies. shes such an unbelieveable nerd its a wonder she's pulling so many bitches

[jointhefediverse]

💫 Join the Fediverse! 💫

Greetings, fellow bloggers! We welcome you to join us in discovering, honoring, and promoting the potential future of social networking—commonly referred to as the "Fediverse."

The Fediverse, or Federation Universe, refers to a collective of online platforms that utilize the web protocol known as ActivityPub, which has set a standard of excellence in regards to both protecting and respecting users' online privacies.

There's a good chance in the past few years that you've caught wind of the fedi family's critically acclaimed Mastodon; however, there are many other unique platforms worth your consideration...

✨ Where To Begin?

Conveniently enough, from the minds of brilliant independent developers, there already likely exists a Fediverse equivalent to your favorite socials. Whether it's an opinion from the critics, or from the community alike—the following popular websites are commonly associated with one another:

Friendica 🐰 = Facebook Mastodon 🐘 = Twitter Pixelfed 🐼 = Instagram PeerTube 🐙 = YouTube Lemmy 🐭 = Reddit

It's worth mentioning, too, a few other sites and forks thereof that are worthy counterparts, which be: Pleroma 🦊 & Misskey 🐱, microblogs also similar to Twitter/Mastodon. Funkwhale 🐋 is a self-hosting audio streamer, which pays homage to the once-popular GrooveShark. For power users, Hubzilla 🐨 makes a great choice (alongside Friendica) when choosing macroblogging alternatives.

✨ To Be Clear...

To address the technicalities: aside from the "definitive" Fediverse clients, we will also be incorporating any platforms that utilize ActivityPub-adjacent protocols as well. These include, but are not limited to: diaspora*; AT Protocol (Bluesky 🦋); Nostr; OStatus; Matrix; Zot; etc. We will NOT be incorporating any decentralized sites that are either questionably or proven to be unethical. (AKA: Gab has been exiled.)

✨ Why Your Privacy Matters

You may ask yourself, as we once did, "Why does protecting my online privacy truly matter?" While it may seem innocent enough on the surface, would it change your mind that it's been officially shared by former corporate media employees that data is more valuable than money to these companies? Outside of the ethical concerns surrounding these concepts, there are many other reasons why protecting your data is critical, be it: security breaches which jeopardize your financial info and risk identity theft; continuing to feed algorithms which use psychological manipulation in attempts to sell you products; the risk of spyware hacking your webcams and microphones when you least expect it; amongst countless other possibilities that can and do happen to individuals on a constant basis. We wish it could all just be written off as a conspiracy... but, with a little research, you'll swiftly realize the validity of these claims are not to be ignored any longer. The solution? Taking the decentralized route.

✨ Our Mission For This Blog

Our mission for establishing this blog includes 3 core elements:

To serve as a hub which anybody can access in order to assist themselves in either: becoming a part of the Fediverse, gaining the resources/knowledge to convince others to do the very same, and providing updates on anything Fedi-related.

We are determined to do anything within our power to prevent what the future of the Internet could become if active social users continue tossing away their data, all while technologies are advancing at faster rates with each passing year. Basically we'd prefer not to live in a cyber-Dystopia at all costs.

Tumblr (Automattic) has expressed interest in switching their servers over to ActivityPub after Musk's acquisition of then-Twitter, and are officially in the transitional process of making this happen for all of us. We're hoping our collective efforts may at some point be recognized by @staff, which in turn will encourage their efforts and stand by their decision.

With that being stated, we hope you decide to follow us here, and decide to make the shift—as it is merely the beginning. We encourage you to send us any questions you may have, any personal suggestions, or corrections on any misinformation you may come across.

From the Tender Hearts of, ✨💞 @disease & @faggotfungus 💞✨

[scipunk]

Person of Interest (2011-2016)

[retrocgads]

USA 1993

[supplyside]

cable runs

[truthsinwhispers]

IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL FOR PHONES TO AUTOMATICALLY DOWNLOAD APPS WHEN CONNECTED TO WIFI????

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 7, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

May 08, 2025

Alarm appears to be rising about how the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is consolidating data about Americans. Hannah Natanson, Joseph Menn, Lisa Rein, and Rachel Siegel wrote in the Washington Post today that DOGE is “racing to build a single centralized database with vast troves of personal information about millions of U.S. citizens and residents.” In the past, that information has been carefully siloed, and there are strict laws about accessing it. But under billionaire Elon Musk, who appears to direct DOGE although the White House has said he does not, operatives who may not have appropriate security clearances are removing protections and linking data.

There are currently at least eleven lawsuits underway claiming that DOGE has violated the 1974 Privacy Act regulating who can access information about American citizens stored by the federal government.

Musk and President Donald Trump, as well as other administration officials, claim that such consolidation of data is important to combat “waste, fraud, and abuse,” although so far they have not been able to confirm any such savings and their cuts are stripping ordinary Americans of programs they depend on. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told the Washington Post reporters that DOGE’s processes are protected by “some of the brightest cybersecurity minds in the nation” and that “every action taken is fully compliant with the law.”

Cybersecurity experts outside the administration disagree that a master database is secure or safe, as DOGE is bypassing normal safeguards, including neglecting to record who has accessed or changed database information. The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School explains that data can be altered or manipulated to redirect funds, for example, and that there is substantial risk that data can be hacked or leaked. It can be used to commit fraud or retaliate against individuals.

The Ash Center also explains that U.S. government data is an extraordinarily valuable treasure trove for anyone trying to train artificial intelligence systems. Most of the data currently available is from the internet and is thus messy and unreliable. Government databases are “comprehensive, verified records about the most critical areas of Americans’ lives.” Access to that data gives a company “significant advantages” in training systems and setting business strategies. Americans have not given consent for their data to be used in this way, and it leaves them open to “loss of services, harassment, discrimination, or manipulation by the government, private entities, or foreign powers.”

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo suggests Musk’s faith in his AI company is at least part of what’s behind the administration’s devastating cuts to biomedical research. Those who believe in a future centered around AI believe that it will be far more effective than human research scientists, so cutting actual research is efficient. At the same time, Marshall suggests, tech oligarchs find the years-long timelines of actual research and the demands of scientists on peer reviews and careful study frustrating, as they want to put their ideas into practice quickly.

If the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is an example of what it looks like when a tech oligarch tries to run a government agency, it’s a cautionary tale. Under Trump the FAA has become entangled with Musk’s SpaceX space technology company and its subsidiary Starlink satellite company, and it appears that the American people are being used to make Musk’s dream come true.

Musk believes that humans must colonize Mars in order to become a multiplanetary species as insurance against the end of life on Earth. On Monday he explained to Jesse Watters of the Fox News Channel that eventually the Earth will be incinerated by an expanding sun, so humans must move to other planets to survive. In 2016, Musk predicted that humans would start landing on Mars in 2025, but in the Watters interview he revised his prediction to possibly 2029 but more likely 2031.

Critics note that while it is true the sun is expanding, the change is not expected to affect the Earth for another 5 billion years. As a frame of reference, humans evolved from their predecessors about 300,000 years ago.

But getting to Mars requires lots of leeway to experiment, and Musk turned against the head of the FAA under President Joe Biden, Mike Whitaker, after Whitaker called for Musk’s SpaceX company to be fined $633,009 over safety and environmental violations. Musk complained that the FAA’s environmental and safety requirements were “unreasonable and exasperating” and that they “undercut American industry’s ability to innovate.” Musk continued: “The fundamental problem is that humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA!”

Musk endorsed an employee’s complaint on social media that Whitaker required SpaceX “to consult on minor paperwork updates relating to previously approved non-safety issues that have already been determined to have zero environmental impact,” reposting it with the comment: “He needs to resign.” Musk spent almost $300 million to get Trump elected, and Whitaker resigned the day Trump took office.

That same day, the administration froze the hiring of all federal employees, including air traffic controllers, although the U.S. Department of Transportation warned in June 2023 that 77% of air traffic control facilities critical to daily operations of the airline industry were short staffed. The next day, January 21, Trump fired Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief David Pekoske, and administration officials removed all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which Congress created after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Trump administration vacated the positions with an eye to “eliminating the misuse of resources.”

Today Lori Aratani of the Washington Post reported that in February, shortly after the deadly collision of an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter in the airspace over Washington, D.C., administration officials also stopped the work of an outside panel of experts examining the country’s air traffic control system.

After President Trump blamed the crash on diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices, career officials quit in disgust, according to Isaac Stanley-Becker of The Atlantic. As they left, an engineer from Musk’s SpaceX satellite company arrived. He had instructions from Musk to insert equipment from Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, into the FAA’s communications network. On the social media platform X, Musk warned that the existing communications system for the FAA “is breaking down very rapidly” and was “putting air traveler safety at risk.” In fact, the government had awarded a 15-year, $2.4 billion contract to Verizon in 2023 to make the necessary upgrades.

Starlink ties into Musk’s plans for Mars. In November 2024, SpaceX pitched NASA on creating Marslink, a version of Starlink that would link to Mars, and Starlink’s current terms of service specify that disputes over service on or around the planet Earth or the Moon will be governed by the laws of Texas but that “[f]or Services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities. Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.”

In early March, debris from the explosion of one of Musk’s SpaceX starships disrupted 240 flights. On April 28, air traffic controllers lost both radio and radar contact with the pilots who were flying planes into Newark, New Jersey, Liberty International Airport, for about 90 seconds. In the aftermath of the incident, aircraft traffic in and out of Newark was halted, and four experienced controllers and one trainee took medical leave for trauma.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a former Fox Business host, suggested the Biden administration was to blame for the decaying system. His predecessor as transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, dismissed the accusation as “just politics,” noting that he had launched the modernization of the systems and reversed decades of declining numbers of air traffic controllers.

On Monday the White House fired Alvin Brown, the Black vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the agency that investigates civilian aviation accidents. Former FAA and NTSB investigator Jeff Guzzetti told Christopher Wiggins of The Advocate: “This is the first time in modern history that the White House has removed a board member.”

Musk has the power of the United States government behind him. In December, Trump nominated Musk associate and billionaire Jared Isaacman to become the next head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Senate has not yet confirmed Isaacman, but the Republican-dominated Senate Commerce Committee advanced his nomination last week. The president’s proposed budget, released Friday, calls for cutting about 25% of NASA’s funding—about $6 billion—and giving $1 billion of the money remaining to initiatives focused on Mars.

Yesterday the FAA granted permission for SpaceX to increase the number of rocket launches it attempts from Boca Chica, Texas, from 5 to 25 per year after concluding that additional launches would have “no significant impact” on the environment near the launchpad. The first test of a SpaceX rocket launch there in 2023 caused the launchpad to explode, and the spaceship itself blew up, sending chunks of concrete into the nesting and migration site of an endangered species and starting a 3.5-acre fire. In their hurry to rebuild, SpaceX officials ignored permitting processes. According to Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency, the company then violated environmental regulations by releasing pollutants into bodies of water.

Musk is trying to make Starlink dominate the Earth’s communications, a dominance that would give him enormous power, as he suggested last month when he noted that Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.” In April, Trump delayed the rural broadband program in what appeared to be an attempt to shift the program toward Starlink, and today Tom Perkins of The Guardian reported that the administration is going to end federal research into space pollution, which is building up alarmingly in the stratosphere owing in part to Musk’s satellites.

Today Jeff Stein and Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post reported that the administration has been telling nations that want to talk about trade that it will consider “licensing Starlink” as a demonstration of “goodwill and intent to welcome U.S. businesses.” India, among other nations, has rushed through approvals of the satellite company. Just 1% of India’s consumer broadband market could produce almost $1 billion a year, the authors report.

In a statement, the State Department told Stein and Natanson: “Starlink is an American-made product that has been game-changing in helping remote areas around the world gain internet connectivity. Any patriotic American should want to see an American company’s success on the global stage, especially over compromised Chinese competitors.”

The attempt to gain control over artificial intelligence and human communication networks regardless of the cost to ordinary Americans might have a larger theme. As technology forecaster Paul Saffo points out, tech oligarchs led by technology guru Curtis Yarvin have called for a new world order that rejects the nation states around which humans have organized their societies for almost 400 years. They call instead for ���network states” organized around technology that permits individuals to group around a leader in cyberspace without reference to real-world boundaries, a position Starlink’s terms of service appear to reflect.

Mastering artificial intelligence while dominating global communications would go a long way toward breaking down existing nations and setting up the conditions for a brave new world, dominated by tech oligarchs.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[therentyoupay]

Hello, Kris! I think I might’ve already gotten the gist of it, but it’s been some time. What exactly IS Academia Mode? Are you still in school, or is this your actual job, and it just happens to be involved in the education system?

Many thanks!

hahah no worries!!! that is a good question 🤣😭😭🙏 for me, academia mode is currently finishing the 5th and final year of my doctoral program and includes (but is not limited to lol):

data collection, analysis, write-ups

writing python programs to support my data cleaning, data coding, stats, and data analysis/visualizations

applying for GRANT MONEYYYY

submitting abstract proposals to conferences (and applying for MORE GRANT MONEYYYY)

reporting research findings (writing journal article manuscripts, preparing conference slides)

writing my actual dissertation manuscript lol

supporting and instructing my research assistants

sharing my research with mainstream public audiences

writing my non-fiction book based on my ongoing dissertation research

teaching classes, grading papers, holding office hours, fielding emails, writing letters of recommendation for all sorts of students' fellowships/grad admissions/grant applications, teaching students how to strategize their personal statements, grant purpose letters, and other aspects of apps, etc.

peer-reviewing others' journal manuscripts, providing feedback to colleagues (blind review or not)

assisting with my advisor's research and textbook manuscripts (proofreading, copy-editing, internet sleuthing, finding more up-to-date citations, occasionally writing rough drafts)

writing chapters for edited volumes on various topics

READING. all the time. reading new literature and research articles constantly. ALL THE TIME. writing 1-pagers and mini-annotated bibs for future lit review use, etc.

WRITING. all the time. professional-speak, academic-speak, insructor-speak.

getting paid to travel to conferences to present my research (GRANT MONEYYYYYY)

by may 2025, i'll be a Ph.D.!!!!!! [screams]

academia mode! ✨🤣🤣🤣😭🤣💕 every day, i think about how lucky i am that i get paid to do what i do 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 hope you are having a magnificent day, and thank you for the ask!!

[disease]

a relatively concise explanation for any of those confused about decentralized social platforms. [ie: Mastodon, diaspora*, Friendica, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Lemmy, Bluesky, etc.]

[ai-innova7ions]

Neturbiz Enterprises - AI Innov7ions

Our mission is to provide details about AI-powered platforms across different technologies, each of which offer unique set of features. The AI industry encompasses a broad range of technologies designed to simulate human intelligence. These include machine learning, natural language processing, robotics, computer vision, and more. Companies and research institutions are continuously advancing AI capabilities, from creating sophisticated algorithms to developing powerful hardware. The AI industry, characterized by the development and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies, has a profound impact on our daily lives, reshaping various aspects of how we live, work, and interact.

[wuggen]

Kinda wanna write a kernel module or something that monitors network traffic and reinterprets it as audio samples in real time, to hear the modern version of the dial-up screech

[interrogatormentors]

Hey psii. What was it like watching the Signless die? Or do you not remember anymore?

And if you've already been asked that, what's your opinion on darkleer?

[DATA EXPUNGED]. Troll2 dIIe each nIIght and no troll wIIth the tIItle 2IIgnle22

01101110 01101111 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00111011 00100000 01101001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01101000 01101001 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110010 01101110 01101001 01100011 00100000 01110100 01110111 01101001 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01101110 01100101 01100001 01101100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01110000 01101100 01100101 01110100 01100101 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110010 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110000 01101000 01101111 01100101 01101110 01101001 01111000 00100000 01100111 01101111 01110010 01100111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101001 01111010 01111010 01100001 01110010 01100100 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101001 01101110 00101101 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100001 01110011 01101000 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100011 01101000 01101111 01101011 01100101 01110011

II2 regII2tered two the IImperIIal Network. ExpatrII8 Darkleer II2

01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110000 01110101 01101100 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101001 01100111 01101101 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01110010 01110101 01101101 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101110 01110101 01100110 01100001 01100011 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110011 01101001 01100011 01101011 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110011 01110111 01101001 01101110 01100111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100010 01101100 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101110 01100001 01101101 01100101 01101100 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01100011 01101000 01101001 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01110100 01101111 01110100 01111001 01110000 01101001 01100011 01100001 01101100 00100000 01110011 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100010 01101001 01110011 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110000 01100001 01101100 01101101

of no IImport eIIther; he wa2 2trIIpped of all EmpIIrIIcal tIItle2 and dII2appeared

01100011 01110010 01110101 01110011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100010 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110010 01100010 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 01101111 01111001 00100000 01100101 01111000 01100011 01100001 01110110 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100110 01110010 01101111 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110101 01101110 01101101 01100001 01110010 01101011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100111 01110010 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01101001 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101110 01100101 01100011 01101011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101111 01101101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100110 01101100 01100101 01100100 01100111 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111

centurIIe2 ago

01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01110010 01110101 01100011 01101001 01100110 01101001 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110010 01110000 01110011 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100001 01110010 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01110010 01101111 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101011 01111001 01110111 01100001 01110010 01100100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100010 01110101 01111010 01111010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100111 01101110 01100001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01110010 01100101 01101111 01110000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 01110011 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100100 01101111 01101100 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110011 01100001 01100100 01101001 01110011 01101101 00101101 00101101 01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100010 01101111 01100100 01111001 00100000 01100110 01100101 01110011 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110000 01100101 01100001 01100011 01100101

and thu2 hII2 entry IIn the Network II2 clo2ed.