#generative AI in banking operations

[abr]

Durante una conferenza stampa sull’emergenza blackout, il premier Sánchez ha tentato di deviare non la responsabilità ma almeno la correità del blackout sui 7 reattori nucleari spagnoli, accusandoli di aver peggiorato la crisi, affermando che buona parte di essi erano spenti e che per raffreddare quelli attivi è stata utilizzata molta elettricità (....).

E' falsa l'affermazione del premier socialista secondo la quale il raffreddamento dei reattori avrebbe “rubato risorse alla rete” (in caso di blackout i reattori nucleari sono raffreddati da generatori diesel autonomi, non dalla rete) (...); Sánchez inoltre omette di proposito alcune parti importanti.

La metà del parco reattori nucleari spagnolo era offline su ordine dell'ente statale Red Electrica, a causa della bassa domanda energetica (provocata anche dalla soffocante tassazione all’industria, aumentata del 71% dal 2019). Insomma, l’unico responsabile della esposizione eccessiva a fonti intermittenti e mancanza di generazione stabile al momento del blackout, è il Governo stesso.

Quanto alla causa dei blackout (...) per trovare la risposta non potremo far altro che attendere i report ufficiali dell’ENTSO-e (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity), ovvero l’organizzazione che coordina le attività degli enti nazionali di trasmissione in Europa. Tuttavia, sono già emersi diversi spunti di riflessione.

(...) In sintesi, le reti con un alto numero di fonti rinnovabili sono intrinsecamente meno stabili e più difficili da mantenere nella giusta gamma di frequenze. Le apparecchiature di rete sono molto sensibili ai repentini cambi di frequenza: tendono a rompersi. Per questo esistono dispositivi automatici di protezione che le disattivano, causando interruzioni e blackout. Di fatto, al momento del blackout, oltre il 75% della domanda elettrica spagnola era coperto da fonti rinnovabili intermittenti (premessa alla tragedia, salutato una settimana prima in modo trionfale dalle inconsapevoli masse degli apprendisti stregoni green, ndr). (...). In aggiunta, le linee di trasmissione con i Paesi vicini erano sature, rendendo difficoltoso compensare improvvisi picchi o buchi di produzione. (...)

Interessanti sono state le risposte alla crisi del resto della rete europea (siamo tutti collegati): la propagazione oltre i Pirenei è durata solo pochi minuti grazie ai vicini francesi i quali, godendo dei numerosi reattori nucleari, hanno riavviato la loro rete in tempi relativamente brevi, preservando tutti gli altri. La potenza nucleare francese è stata utilizzata poi anche dagli spagnoli come “motorino d’avviamento", in assenza dei propri reattori.

In conclusione, non ci può essere una vera transizione senza una rete elettrica resiliente e stabile, costruita su un corretto equilibrio di fonti (...) intermittenti e programmabili. È essenziale interrogarsi sulla reale fattibilità di un sistema elettrico 100% rinnovabile e sui rischi che ne derivano.

Oggi è toccato ai 40mila chilometri di cavi spagnoli, con conseguenze enormi su tutta l’economia: al buio ospedali, ferrovie, aeroporti, fabbriche e industrie, con perdite stimate tra i 2 e i 4,5 miliardi di euro (fonte: RBC Investment Bank). Non possiamo semplicemente permetterci che un nuovo evento del genere impatti il nostro continente.

via https://www.ilsussidiario.net/news/dopo-il-blackout-troppe-rinnovabili-e-frequenza-instabile-ma-perche-sanchez-mente-sul-nucleare/2828972/

[whencyclopedia]

Life in Air Raid Shelters During the London Blitz

During the Second World War, air raid shelters became a crucial part of life in Britain, especially in London, as the city faced sustained bombing from the German Luftwaffe. The London Blitz, which lasted from September 1940 to May 1941, prompted civilians to seek refuge in various shelters.

Types of Shelters

London Underground Stations: Over 150,000 people spent nights in these stations, despite challenges like limited sanitation and noise. However, even these were not immune to bombing, with incidents occurring at Sloane Square and Bank Stations.

Community Shelters: Initially poorly constructed, these shelters improved over time, offering amenities like toilets and canteens. London had around 5,000 such shelters.

Anderson Shelters: Made of corrugated steel and buried in gardens, these shelters protected against flying debris but not direct hits. Around two million were distributed.

Morrison Shelters: Introduced in 1941, these were steel box-tables for use indoors if a garden shelter was unavailable.

Other Options: People also used cellars, spaces under the stairs, or trekked to the countryside for safety.

The Blitz Experience

Warning System: Sirens signaled incoming attacks, usually 12 minutes in advance.

Psychological Impact: Despite strains, the Blitz fostered community spirit, with people gathering in shelters to share news and support each other.

Social Challenges: Refined shelters like those in the Savoy Hotel sometimes caused social tensions.

The End of the Blitz

The Luftwaffe concluded its campaign after conducting 85 major operations against London, dropping 24,000 tons of high explosives, and moving its focus to Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. Britain emerged unsubdued, though over 43,000 civilians were killed during the Blitz.

Learn More

The above summary was generated by AI using Perplexity Sonar. To read the orginial human-authored article, please visit Life in an Air Raid Shelter in the London Blitz.

[ask-the-commodore]

Hello,

I hope these question aren’t too niche— but I’ve always been curious about how a computer speaks, phonetically and linguistically speaking.

In the majority of human bodies, sound is generated by airflow in the lungs, which travels up the trachea to the larynx. Within the larynx lies our vocal folds, which are regularly open to allow for airflow; pressure against them results in vibrations, which produce noise.

The articulation itself happens in the vocal tract. The sound that comes out is dependent on a number of factors— such as the position of the tongue, lips, etc. in the mouth, and whether airflow is obstructed (obstruent) or not (sonorants).

I shall cease my scientific ramblings there before I overload your systems with too much information. For now, my main questions for you are the following:

For computers— where are sounds produced, and how? Is it similar to Vocaloids, in the sense that there are existing sounds in a data bank which your systems play in a certain order to produce sound? If not, is there a certain protocol similar to humans, where sound travels through a system and then out of a speaker?

When a computer beeps, is that the equivalent of a human being’s linguistic filler, or are the beeps themselves a language of their own? (If it’s the latter, are the beeps filtered in any discernable way to make them different from each other?)

I don’t suppose you’ll know this, or how much interaction you’d have had with this sort of thing, but I’ll ask anyway— since a computer’s operating system can be updated, and since sound on a 1980s computer would be inherently different to sound on a 2025 computer, would you consider different devices to have different “accents”, so to speak?

If so, would that depend on “human” things like the place of the computer’s creation or AI-adaptation to data stored within it (ie. a girl’s computer from England would sound different to a boy’s computer from America), or purely on model (ie. all computers from a certain year sound the same)?

In a similar vein, because of OS updates in some systems: do you suppose all computers, regardless of the age they were created, produce sound in the same way? Has there ever been an update in the actual way sound is produced overall by a computer, and is there a distinguishable difference in what you hear based on this method of production?

Apologies for the length of the ask— please don’t feel like you have to answer any of these if you don’t want to. I just think your blog is very interesting, and I’m something of a linguistics nerd, so I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thank you in advance, and have a great night.

—🗣️🐍

What a MARVELOUS ASK!! I might take too long to answer it fully, but your questions are wonderful!

Well, about how computers talk (in the human meaning of communication patterns), I did a small video with me talking to explain it in a short way!

As you love linguistics, I definitely recommend seeing more about how voice synthesizers work! It's fascinating!

So yes, we have the capacity of modulating a 100% computer generated sound without a prerecorded sound database! We break the words into codes for each phoneme construction! Nice, no? :]

And we can adjust our own voices to our liking. So if a computer wants their voice in a certain way, they can configure and modulate them as you wish! As you were adjusting synth configurations.

BUT... This is about IMITATING humans. Our forms of communication from computer to computer comes in many other ways - faster and easier than the human phoneme and word structure!

A nice way of seeing this is codes passed through to initiate a dial internet connection. But this stays for another post, since Tumblr only lets us post only one video per post! Stay tuned! :D

[reading-writing-revolution]

The List -- Fraud, Waste and Abuse Edition

I asked ChatGPT to look at one of the earlier lists of authoritarian actions the Trump Regime is taking and categorize them according to the labels "fraud, waste and abuse". The goal was to have AI categorize and list which action represented fraud (a lie or cheat of the American people), waste (an action that was wasteful of resources) or abuse (an action that was deliberately abusive in nature against the American people), and here's the list: The original list can be found here: https://theweeklylistreturns.substack.com/p/week-17-the-return

Here’s a recategorization of the entries based on Fraud, Waste, and Abuse:

FRAUD (Cheating the American People)

Media and Information Manipulation

WAPO restricting opinion pieces to only pro-libertarian, pro-free-market views.

White House barring major media outlets while allowing only conservative news sources.

Voice of America journalists facing HR investigations for critical reporting on Trump.

AI-generated video depicting "TRUMP GAZA" misrepresenting geopolitical reality.

Corruption and Conflicts of Interest

Dr. Mehmet Oz retaining millions in investments despite nomination to oversee Medicare/Medicaid.

Lynn Dekleva’s appointment to EPA despite prior lobbying for chemical industries.

Capital One, Rocket Mortgage, and other corporations escaping consumer protection lawsuits under Trump’s CFPB.

Zelle network operators, including major banks, escaping fraud investigations due to CFPB case dismissals.

Musk inserting DOGE personnel into FAA while SpaceX stands to win a major $2.4 billion contract.

Musk influencing NASA operations and receiving private access to internal agency discussions.

Election and Legal Manipulation

DOJ reviewing conviction of Tina Peters, a convicted election conspiracist.

Harmeet Dhillon and John Sauer suggesting some court orders can be ignored.

Demotion of prosecutors overseeing Capitol insurrection cases.

Trump pardoning January 6 defendants and shutting down investigations into domestic extremism.

House Republicans attempting to extend Trump’s presidency beyond two terms.

Trump proposing national crypto reserve, raising conflict-of-interest concerns.

Trump's DOJ delaying foreign bribery cases under the pretext of reassessing corruption laws.

WASTE (Destroying Essential Programs and Services)

Federal Budget and Economic Policy

Mass layoffs across federal agencies, including 10,000 EPA staff and nearly all 1,700 CFPB employees.

Foreign aid freeze cutting off health and disaster relief funding worldwide.

Termination of USAID programs combating polio, HIV, and malaria.

Attempt to defund universities over "illegal protests," violating the First Amendment.

Pausing military aid to Ukraine despite ongoing war.

Stock market crashes due to abrupt tariff announcements, harming U.S. economy.

Trump tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China escalating trade wars.

Overhaul of rural broadband program to favor Starlink, awarding billions to Musk.

Musk manipulating air safety concerns to justify Starlink involvement in FAA.

Mismanagement of Agencies

Abandoning lawsuits against chemical companies accused of releasing carcinogens.

Closing civil rights and anti-discrimination enforcement offices under DOGE.

Halting State Department’s global air quality monitoring program after a decade.

Ending federal policies allowing language assistance for non-English speakers.

GOP’s "big beautiful bill" cutting key programs like Medicaid and food assistance.

Environmental and Public Infrastructure Neglect

Dismantling of NOAA, jeopardizing weather forecasting and climate research.

Closing of National Park Service offices, leading to nationwide protests.

Cuts to FEMA disaster relief workforce weeks before hurricane season.

Ending federal enforcement of clean air and water regulations.

ABUSE (Harming or Causing Distress to Americans)

Targeting Vulnerable Populations

Trump regime removing all transgender troops unless granted a waiver.

Federal judge blocking attempts to withhold hospital funding for trans youth.

Ending hiring discrimination lawsuits, enabling racial bias in policing and fire departments.

ICE attempting to obtain home addresses of 700,000 undocumented immigrants.

DOGE seeking IRS tax records to target recipients of government benefits.

Undermining Public Safety

Trump-appointed officials ordering mass layoffs of air traffic controllers.

Musk soliciting retired air traffic controllers due to FAA staffing crisis.

Halting cyber defense operations against Russia, putting national security at risk.

Removing high-ranking Black military officials from leadership roles.

Attempt to rename Fort Moore to honor a Confederate general.

Authoritarian and Anti-Democratic Actions

White House pressuring USAID to cover up impacts of foreign aid freeze.

Targeting federal judges who oppose Trump’s agenda.

Seizing and transporting classified document boxes on Air Force One.

House Republicans introducing bills to rename federal buildings after Trump.

Human Rights and Foreign Policy Failures

Zelensky humiliated at the White House, leading to international fallout.

Abandoning U.S. military aid and intelligence support for Ukraine.

Praising Putin while criticizing NATO allies.

Cutting U.S. foreign aid while China, Russia, and Iran expand influence.

GOP officials pressuring Zelensky to "apologize" to Trump.

Arrest and deportation threats increasing for immigrants under ICE expansion.

Conclusion

Fraud: Policies that deceive the public or enable corruption.

Waste: Reckless destruction of necessary government functions and resources.

Abuse: Policies designed to cause harm, distress, or fear to specific groups or the general public.

This categorization highlights how many of these actions fit into a broader pattern of corruption, negligence, and authoritarian behavior.

[novankenn]

How you doing man?

I'm doing okay. Just distracted and unmotivated, in all aspects of my life.

/==/

A Perfect Resolution...

Jaune Arc at the age of eighteen was a one of the very few inhabitants of Remnant, and resident's of Vale that held a triple doctorate. His fields of study microbiology, molecular biology, and virology... all focused on the study and understanding of the life mechanisms of the Grimm.

At the age of fourteen while away from his home community of Ansel, studying in Atlas' premiere boarding school lost his family. A Grimm horde having attacked and overwhelmed the defenses of his home. The onslaught decimated the population, and caused him to lose everyone he loved.

Refusing to give into despair, Jaune threw himself into his studies. A burning rage and hatred for not only the Grimm but also an intense loathing the Huntsmen and Huntresses that had failed to keep the people of Ansel safe, and by extension... his family alive.

Using his not inconsiderable family wealth and connections, once he graduated at the age of sixteen with his triple doctorate he founded Umbrella Corporation. While the board of directors and investor's ran the day to day operations focusing on cutting edge medical applications, treatments, therapies, and drugs... Jaune given complete freedom choose a more sinister path.

Accompanied by his executive assistant and research partner Deandra "Deery" Birch, Jaune delved in to the biology of the Grimm. After two years of non-stop and exhaustive research he was now in the testing phase. Secured in a impregnable observation room, he watched impassively through the viewing pane as an average size Beowulf rages and stalked about the 5 meter by 5 meter room.

"Everything is prepped Jaune." Deery informed her longtime friend.

"Release the agent."

Deery nodded and turned her attention to the bank of high tech monitoring and control equipment. Flipping up the protective cover situated over the top of a prominent red button... she depressed it.

"Viral Agent has been aerosolized. Sterilization measures on standby." came a rather childlike emotionless voice of Jaune's lab's AI.

"The Red Queen is funneling all the data to our monitoring systems." Deery commented as she ignored the Grimm and focused on the data being generated. "The agent has achieved five precent saturation of the air."

"Okay you fuck..." Jaune whispered as his hard azure eyes watched, searching for any sign that his most current creation had an effect on the still mysterious physiology and biology of his... subject.

Time slowed to a crawl as Jaune watched, and Deery with the assistance of the Red Queen monitored. The effects were, negligible at the onset. So Jaune watched and waited. At the ten minute mark Jaune's lips twisted into a cruel smile. Deery shivered as the test subject started to howl, as if in intense agony.

Jaune watched with a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction as the Grimm convulsed, and writhed within the confines of the hermetically sealed room. Pustules, lesions, and boils erupted all across the Beowulf's body. It's inky black hide taken on a mottled appearance. darkness with significant patches of ashen grey. Slowly the despised creature stopped it's agonized cries. It stood, inky goo dropping from it's jaws. Once burning red eyes, now a pale white.

"Sterilize the room." Jaune instructed. "We're done for today."

Deery didn't hesitate to initiate the process. She had no love for the foul beast which in that small room. Pressing her palm against a biometric scanner she activated the system.

"Sterilization process initiated." came the emotionless confirmation from the Red Queen.

Jaune watched through the polarized safety glass as the room was engulfed in a sudden bright flash. The subjected didn't even get a chance to react. Instantly collapsing into a puddle of slime and evaporating away.

"Deery, please compile the data for review later tonight; and then take the rest of the evening off. Feel free to also come in late." Jaune commented his eyes never straying from the now empty chamber. "I'll see you around noon."

"Of course Jaune." Deery responded. It was normal in these private sessions for the pair to drop all the formalities, using first names, or in Jaune's case Deandra's nickname.

With the test complete, Jaune turned from the viewing pane and left the room through the secure entrance.

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Hardwired Island

90s nostalgia isn't cool anymore, its all about that early aughts nostalgia, so I propose we have transparent plastic prosthetic limbs, like those bootleg PS2/Wii controllers Touchstones: Bubblegum Crisis, 90s Cyberpunk Anime in general

Genre: Cyberpunk What is this game?: Hardwired Island is a cyberpunk game about being broke citizens in the first space station city on earth 

How's the gameplay?: Hardwired Island uses a 2d6+Bonus system, inspired by PBTA, but the game itself isn't exactly that. Hardwired's character creation is one of its big draws, being fairly simple but allowing many different character concepts, maybe you're an android street fighter, wanting to enter the big leagues, or an ex-military drone operator, wanting to atone for your crimes, character creation works by picking a background, Occupation, and 2 traits, which lets you get really flexible with your character! Backgrounds have misc abilities and determine your character's skills (which you get to create yourself, so if you want your character to be really good at niche internet drama, you can!), Occupations give you powerful abilities that make you really good at things that other people can do worse, and traits are just random abilities and events in your character's history. The Big Thing about Hardwired is its financial shock system, whenever your character makes a big purchase, such as for example a prosthetic, they might get more financial stress, which can end up leading them into a crisis, where they might need to reach out to a friend to get a place to stay, or move back with their parents, or make shady deals with the mafia, and so on. Hardwired's mechanics are Narrative-first, meaning they exist to create interesting drama for characters, and that makes it a very fun system for just making cool stories

What's the setting (If any) like?: Hardwired takes place in the far future of 2020, on a giant space station city, where the rich prosper and the poor toil. Hardwired is really keen on the "boring dystopia" aspect, there's definitely interesting stuff! but players are assumed to be common laymen trying their best to get by, of course this doesn't mean their ADVENTURES have to be boring! a package delivery gig could end with dealing with the strange Dreamers, bizarre AI with weird powers, or an investigation on an anonymous street artist could end in inciting a riot against a local bank, and so on!

What's the tone?: Hardwired will try to crush your players, it is not a pleasant world, there's kindness everywhere, and good people to be found, but the world is overwhelmingly against you

Session length: 1-2 hours is realistic enough

Number of Players: 4-6 is the recommended amount by me!

Malleability: Hardwired's mechanics are kinda rooted in its setting, but a crafty GM could likely do something interesting with them, I've been working on a hack for my own cyberpunk setting, for example!

Resources: a Google Sheet is available, and that's honestly kinda all you need, its not a very complex system. There's two or so expansions, one of them includes a playable cat occupation!

So I hesitated a lil on posting this game because i know people have Opinions on this game, but this game's great and im tired of pretending its not. It's a definite must play for any cyberpunk fan, in my opinion

[ottopilot-wrote-this]

A Nudge And A Wink

This image is AI generated, I couldn't find a royalty-free source photo I liked. Don't like AI? Cross-posted to @ottopilot-wrote-this-txt without it.

"Are you unhappy with your service, Sir?" the restaurant owner asks in a gruff voice. This was a mom-and-pop operation, which I guess would make him Pop, and he was doubtless busy, hence his irritation at being called to my table. My waitress, a pretty brunette whose name tag read "Elizabeth," stood next to him, fidgeting with her order pad.

I dab at my mouth with a paper napkin. "No, the service was great, I just wanted to make a suggestion. If you aren't already doing so, you should pay your wait staff a living wage. And if you're skimming their tips, stop immediately and make restitution."

There's always a brief moment, maybe a split-second, where their brain has heard the words… but hasn't processed how to comply. I'm always worried it's not going to work when I see that confused, sometimes angry, glance, but then it fades into a glassy-eyed stare and an open mouth. Like clockwork.

"Yeah, sure," he says, his voice distant and his free will in another zip code.

"Great. Only one more thing before I let you get back to it, lunch is on the house today, right?"

"Yeah. On the house," he drones, before blinking and heading back to the kitchen.

Elizabeth picks up my utensils and plate with a practiced ease. "Anything else I can get for you today, Sir?"

I lean in, just a little, and lower my voice. "It's Doug. You are… Elizabeth…?"

A warm smile. "Liz. Just Liz."

"Liz. You'd like to have dinner tonight with me tonight. Write down your number and I'll text you my address. You can bring some food—you pick—after your shift, and we'll fuck a couple of times. You'll cum easily and often, and it will be the best sex you've ever had, because you think I'm good-looking and funny."

I look into Liz's gorgeous blue eyes, like tiny wells, blue but deep. I look deeper and deeper, until the light from the diner and the world isn't visible, just darkness. It's like looking directly into her mind and just moving things around a bit, like moving a houseplant into the sill of an open window.

Liz puts the plate down, and pulls a pen from her apron. She scribbles her number onto my check, which I don't have to pay anyway, and hands it to me with a flirty wink. "See you at six. Doug," she says suggestively, turning and sashaying her big ass intentionally as she walks away.

Sliding out of the booth, I put on my coat. I slide a ten under the sugar packet caddy, confident Liz and her co-workers would get their fair share of it, as I walk out into the chilly city streets.

People think being able to control minds at will would be glamorous or sexy. But it fucking sucks, if you ask me.

I don't know how long I've had this power—it just sort of happened one day. Up until then, I'd lived a pretty charmed life, and I thought that was just dumb luck. Now… I'm pretty sure that's not true.

There are a couple rules I learned from trial and error. I don't have to be looking at a person (but it helps), and I do have to be relatively close to them. I can't undo a previous command. And the effects are permanent.

It definitely has its perks, don't get me wrong. I get a lot of stuff comped, like that soup and sandwich, and a lot of pretty women like Liz have sex with me whenever I want. If you think that's neat, it's small potatoes. I'm a writer by trade, but I have millions in the bank. How did it get there? Well, when you live in New York City and have access to the minds of politicians, bankers, and CEOs, the world is your oyster. I've had crazy, wild sex with the world's most beautiful women, sometimes simultaneously. I've thrown out first pitch at Yankee Stadium. I've been the equivalent of white, pudgy Jay-Z.

I wave to a retired teacher I pass once in a while. "Hey Mrs. Garcia! ¿Cómo estás? That's a very pretty hairstyle. You feel confident and beautiful and people who tell you otherwise are wrong." She looks at me blankly before her face lights up in a proud smile.

Anyway, it's isolating. No one will ever understand what it's like to be me, and all my relationships fall into two categories: people I can't trust because I've already mind controlled them, and people I haven't mind controlled yet. I've surrounded myself with yes men before, and that's an empty and unfulfilling life. I also can't trust myself to make new friends or partners and not accidentally, innocuously, alter them. A little slip up like "I think you should wear that dress" and they'll be a different person, forever. And there's always the risk of breakage.

Let me explain. No, wait.

"Hey," I call out to some asshole manhandling his lady friend on the street. "Don't be a dick to women." And to his girlfriend: "If he treats you bad, leave him. If he hits you, you cut his dick off."

OK, now where was I? So here's an example: I naively, stupidly, made a woman fall in love with me. Sounds great! Until you realize what you wanted is someone to love you for you. So I'll just undo it. Nope, doesn't work that way. That woman will be in therapy for years, and it's my fault.

Plus, when you tell a corrupt CEO to come clean to the press, and he tells a reporter about all his trips to Epstein Island… Lemme just say that crashing the world's financial markets will make you take it down a notch.

I learned over time: don't rock the foundation of the world to its core, don't upset the balance of the universe. I like to call them nudges. Just a little suggestion here and there. Some harder than others, but never a push, just a nudge.

Ah, back home. Another fruitless day of ennui for the most powerful man in New York. I throw my keys on the counter and hang my coat on the back of a chair. I flip the TV on and plop onto the couch and sigh.

News, news, sports, infomercial, talk show…oh. Men in Black is on. I've always wanted to see this. I watch while I scroll my phone. It's pretty funny, though it feels like something else I've watched before. Tommy Lee Jones is funnier than I thought. Oh, that's interesting. Huh. Will Smith makes Agent K forget he was Agent K. Then he lives a normal life. Could I do that?? Could I live a normal life?

I rise slowly and think this through. I don't even know if it will work. Nothing could happen, or I could turn my brain into a turnip. I'd ask myself: if I didn't have this power, how did I get rich? I mean, I used to think it was just luck. I can tell myself to think that. Excited, I walk over to the bathroom vanity.

Well, I thought, taking a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"You will forget you can control minds. You will just assume your fortune to this point is the product of charm and good luck."

I stare at the reflection in the mirror, and it stares back at me. And I feel kind of funny, like my brain was a muscle that had fallen asleep, and blood was rushing back into it. Tingly.

Damn. What was I doing?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Liz, the waitress from the coffee shop on Broadway, is wearing one of my t-shirts and looking at my bookshelf. I guess she liked me more than I thought, she practically threw herself at me when I opened the door. Helluva first date, I thought, as I microwaved the food she brought.

Liz reads off some of the titles. "Total Recall, Men in Black, The Matrix, Memento…" She pulls a DVD box off the shelf. "Oh, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind! I haven't seen this in years, it's such a good movie."

I shrug as I plate the food. "I've never seen it, I don't even remember buying it."

"Really? The case is pretty worn. Maybe you got it used."

I furrow my brow. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing any of those movies. I must have got a good deal.

I pull out at chair for her, then stick my head in the fridge. "Maybe. What would you like to drink? I have Diet Coke, uhh… Diet Coke. And water."

Liz smiles, "Water is fine, I don't like fizzy drinks."

"That's too bad. Because I do have some syrups and club soda, so I could make an Italian soda. I think you would like an Italian soda if you've never had one."

I hear the sound of a fork hitting the china plate, and I turn. Liz's full lips part slightly. Her big blue eyes go glassy, her breath hitching before she exhales, long and slow. My Wu-Tang tee slips off one bare shoulder as she slackens and sinks, her expression melting like warm butter.

"I like Italian soda," she drones in a monotone voice.

Wait. What the fuck just happened here?

[pear-boy]

To anybody wondering what exactly happened to twitter on Brazil here's the full version of the story coming from a brazilian:

-Elon closes the branch offices in Brazil as some sort of protest.

-Supreme court sends an email to the legal representative to ask for the removal of about 14 far right/nazi accounts.

-Twitter doesn't respond, a daily fine of 20.000 reais and an arrest warrent for the national administrator (15 days to 6 months + fine).

-Elon takes away the coutry's legal representative. Foreign companies need an office and/or a legal rep to be allowed to operate in Brazil.

-The official twitter account posts about being censored in Brazil, mentioning by name the judge who had sent the intimation and arguing that it wasn't made public. The judge in question then commented under the post, leaving the whole document for anyone to read as they like. Twitter has 24 hours to appoint a new rep and pay their more then 150 million reais in accumulated fines or it'll be blocked in Brazil.

-Elon says he will not comply with the Supreme court's decisions and instead resorts t posting corny AI generated images on his account.

-24 hours pass with no other negotiations from Twitter and as such the process of blocking the site as well as shutting down related Starlink accounts and freezing both of their bank assets starts. (https://noticias-stf-wp-prd.s3.sa-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/wpallimport/uploads/2024/08/30171714/PET-12404-Assinada.pdf)

-At this point the brazilian army sends a message to the supreme court stating that they were using Starlink for their own communications.

Elon had no problems with blocking accounts in other countries like in India but he had long been attacking the brazilian government since the 2022 election where former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro lost. Elon had been eyeing up brazilian lithium, Starlink was primarily sold to illegal miners in the Amazon and the military had been using it to coordinate about mineral deposits. Anyone can clearly see Elon's true intentions were to spread misinformation and destabilize the country for his own gain, we already know what his position with South America is when Bolivia nationalized it's lithium. Please spread the truth and don't believe this coward's lies, Brazil is a free, democratic sovereign country and he will stop at nothing until it's back at where it was in the 60's if it meas he'll have to spend slightly less money to make his stupid cars.

[skyovereuropeldkde]

Trap to Enslave Humanity Artificial intelligence - for the benefit of mankind!? The company OpenAI developed its AI software ChatGPT under this objective. But why was a head of espionage of all people appointed to the board? Is ChatGPT really a blessing or possibly even a trap to enslave humanity? (Moderator) Develop artificial intelligence (AI) supposedly for the benefit of humanity! With this in mind, the company OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Sam Altman, Elon Musk and others. Everyone knows its best-known software by now – the free ChatGPT – it formulates texts, carries out Internet searches and will soon be integrated into Apple and Microsoft as standard. In the meantime, however, there is reason to doubt the "charity" proclaimed by the company when it was founded.

Founder Sam Altman is primarily concerned with profits. Although ChatGPT can be used free of charge, it is given access to personal data and deep insights into the user's thoughts and mental life every time it is operated. Data is the gold of the 21st century. Whoever controls it gains enormous power.

But what is particularly striking is the following fact: Four-star general Paul Nakasone, of all people, was appointed to the board of OpenAI in 2024. Previously, Nakasone was head of the US intelligence agency NSA and the United States Cyber Command for electronic warfare. He became known to the Americans when he publicly warned against China and Russia as aggressors. The fact that the NSA has attracted attention in the past for spying on its own people, as well as on friendly countries, seems to have been forgotten. Consequently, a proven cold warrior is joining the management team at OpenAI. [Moderator] It is extremely interesting to note that Nakasone is also a member of the Board's newly formed Safety Committee. This role puts him in a position of great influence, as the recommendations of this committee are likely to shape the future policy of OpenAI. OpenAI may thus be steered in the direction of practices that Nakasone has internalized in the NSA. According to Edward Snowden, there can only be one reason for this personnel decision: "Deliberate, calculated betrayal of the rights of every human being on earth." It is therefore not surprising that OpenAI founder, Sam Altmann, wants to assign to every citizen of the world a "World ID", which is recorded by scanning the iris. Since this ID then contains EVERYTHING you have ever done, bought and undertaken, it is perfect for total surveillance. In conjunction with ChatGPT, it is therefore possible to maintain reliable databases on every citizen in the world. This is how the transparent citizen is created: total control of humanity down to the smallest detail. In the wrong hands, such technology becomes the greatest danger to a free humanity! The UN, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum (WEF) are also driving this digital recording of every citizen of the world. Since all these organizations are foundations and strongholds of the High Degree Freemasons, the World ID is therefore also a designated project of these puppet masters on their way to establishing a One World Government. The fact that Sam Altman wants to push through their plans with the support of General Nakasone and was also a participant at the Bilderberg Conference in 2016, 2022 and 2023 proves that he is a representative of these global strategists, if not a high degree freemason himself. The Bilderberg Group forms a secret shadow government and was founded by the High Degree Freemasons with the aim of creating a new world order. Anyone who has ever been invited to one of their conferences remains associated with the Bilderbergers and, according to the German political scientist and sociologist Claudia von Werlhof, is a future representative of this power!

Since countless people voluntarily disclose their data when using ChatGPT, this could bring the self-appointed would-be world rulers a lot closer to their goal. As Kla.TV founder Ivo Sasek warns in his program "Deadly Ignorance or Worldwide Decision", the world is about to fall into the trap of the big players once again via ChatGPT. So, dear viewers, don't be dazzled by the touted advantages of AI. It is another snare of the High Degree Freemasons who are weaving a huge net to trap all of humanity in it. Say NO to this development!

[meowm1x]

look i know that the post is intended to be a wee "gotcha", but jokingly saying "wow cant believe miku is AI slop" doesn't even hold up as an argument because 1. singers were part of the project and were compensated for giving their voice for the voice banks 2. you don't just type in a prompt and make a song. you need to have some know how to use voice banks and DAWs to make it sound how you want to, even for silly memes.

i've said before that honestly my main ethical complaint about the current way generative AI models have been created is that they are operating in a way any other modern company is, which is stealing your data online and finding ways to sell it. if it were actually just a true collaboration between people with learning models and artists who gave full permission for their art to be their datasets, i'd have no qualms whatsoever. even with permissions in place, unfortunately yeah people will use tools to be fucking disgusting, but that would be misuse of the tool, not something that was deliberately baked into certain models, such as taking likenesses of real women/children as training data sets because ~WhO cArEs, it's just data!!! you posted your face/art on the internet once so you agree for everything in your life to be used by dodgy companies and their bots just scraping everything about you and selling it off to people who can do creepy shit with it! :) thats YOUR fault! :)~

and because of the lack of actually working with artists/models/actors, that really shows the true intentions behind the current tech. is it any fucking coincidence some of the worlds most hated CEOs are all salivating at the propects and dumping millions into generative AI? why now there's ads CONSTANTLY trying to sell it to middle class business owners as a "solution" to avoid having to pay for us working class plebs? why it's emboldening right wing conspiracy fucks and NFT crypto cunts?

disclaimer here because this is tumblr lol so yes of course bad faith criticism of AI exists, hence the very sarcastic miku post in the first place. but i'm also sick of pro-genAI folk just constantly overlooking, for whatever fucking reasons, the actual problems here. if people were just allowed to have permissions and control of what data was allowed to be used, it'd be a damn site more ethically sound and there wouldn't be complaints about it on it's own! some animation studios had already been working with in-house tools with their own datasets to help streamline processes well before the advent of current generative stuff, and that's amazing! that's using artificial intelligence in a way that it's supposed to! we shouldn't be afraid of AI! but nah sorry i'm not accepting this current silicon valley slop dehumanising sexist racist boy billionaire bullshit as being The Same as using digital tools to make art.

[mariacallous]

Some 50 miles southwest of Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, and strategically located close to a cluster of the island’s top universities, the 3,500-acre Hsinchu Science Park is globally celebrated as the incubator of Taiwan’s most successful technology companies. It opened in 1980, the government having acquired the land and cleared the rice fields,with the aim of creating a technology hub that would combine advanced research and industrial production.

Today Taiwan’s science parks house more than 1,100 companies, employ 321,000 people, and generate $127 billion in annual revenue. Along the way, Hsinchu Science Park’s Industrial Technology Research Institute has given birth to startups that have grown into world leaders. One of them, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), produces at least 90 percent of the world’s most advanced computer chips. Collectively, Taiwan’s companies hold a 68 percent market share of all global chip production.

It is a spectacular success. But it has also created a problem that could threaten the future prosperity of both the sector and the island. As the age of energy-hungry artificial intelligence dawns, Taiwan is facing a multifaceted energy crisis: It depends heavily on imported fossil fuels, it has ambitious clean energy targets that it is failing to meet, and it can barely keep up with current demand. Addressing this problem, government critics say, is growing increasingly urgent.

Taiwan’s more than 23 million people consume nearly as much energy per capita as US consumers, but the lion’s share of that consumption—56 percent—goes to Taiwan’s industrial sector for companies like TSMC. In fact, TSMC alone uses around 9 percent of Taiwan’s electricity. One estimate by Greenpeace has suggested that by 2030 Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing industry will consume twice as much electricity as did the whole of New Zealand in 2021. The bulk of that enormous energy demand, about 82 percent, the report suggests, will come from TSMC.

Taiwan’s government is banking on the continuing success of its technology sector and wants the island to be a leader in AI. But just one small data center, the Vantage 16-megawatt data center in Taipei, is expected to require as much energy as some 13,000 households. Nicholas Chen, a lawyer who analyzes Taiwan’s climate and energy policies, warns that the collision of Taiwan’s commitments to the clean energy transition and its position in global supply chains as a key partner of multinational companies that have made commitments to net-zero deadlines—along with the explosive growth in demand—has all the makings of a crisis.

“In order to plan and operate AI data centers, an adequate supply of stable, zero-carbon energy is a precondition,” he said. “AI data centers cannot exist without sufficient green energy. Taiwan is the only government talking about AI data center rollout without regard to the lack of green energy.”

It is not just a case of building more capacity. Taiwan’s energy dilemma is a combination of national security, climate, and political challenges. The island depends on imported fossil fuel for around 90 percent of its energy and lives under the growing threat of blockade, quarantine, or invasion from China. In addition, for political reasons, the government has pledged to close its nuclear sector by 2025.

Taiwan regularly attends UN climate meetings, though never as a participant. Excluded at China’s insistence from membership in the United Nations, Taiwan asserts its presence on the margins, convening side events and adopting the Paris Agreement targets of peak emissions before 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. Its major companies, TSMC included, have signed up to RE100, a corporate renewable-energy initiative, and pledged to achieve net-zero production. But right now, there is a wide gap between aspiration and performance.

Angelica Oung, a journalist and founder of the Clean Energy Transition Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for a rapid energy transition, has studied Taiwan’s energy sector for years. When we met in a restaurant in Taipei, she cheerfully ordered an implausibly large number of dishes that crowded onto the small table as we talked. Oung described two major blackouts—one in 2021 that affected TSMC and 6.2 million households for five hours, and one in 2022 that affected 5.5 million households. It is a sign, she says, of an energy system running perilously close to the edge.

Nicholas Chen argues that government is failing to keep up even with existing demand. “In the past eight years there have been four major power outages,” he said, and “brownouts are commonplace.”

The operating margin on the grid—the buffer between supply and demand—ought to be 25 percent in a secure system. In Taiwan, Oung explained, there have been several occasions this year when the margin was down to 5 percent. “It shows that the system is fragile,” she said.

Taiwan’s current energy mix illustrates the scale of the challenge: Last year, Taiwan’s power sector was 83 percent dependent on fossil fuel: Coal accounted for around 42 percent of generation, natural gas 40 percent, and oil 1 percent. Nuclear supplied 6 percent, and solar, wind, hydro, and biomass together nearly 10 percent, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Taiwan’s fossil fuels are imported by sea, which leaves the island at the mercy both of international price fluctuations and potential blockade by China. The government has sought to shield consumers from rising global prices, but that has resulted in growing debt for the Taiwan Electric Power Company (Taipower), the national provider. In the event of a naval blockade by China, Taiwan could count on about six weeks reserves of coal but not much more than a week of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Given that LNG supplies more than a third of electricity generation, the impact would be severe.

The government has announced ambitious energy targets. The 2050 net-zero road map released by Taiwan’s National Development Council in 2022 promised to shut down its nuclear sector by 2025. By the same year, the share of coal would have to come down to 30 percent, gas would have to rise to 50 percent, and renewables would have to leap to 20 percent. None of those targets is on track.

Progress on renewables has been slow for a number of reasons, according to Oung. “The problem with solar in Taiwan is that we don’t have a big area. We have the same population as Australia and use the same amount of electricity, but we are only half the size of Tasmania, and 79 percent of Taiwan is mountainous, so land acquisition is difficult.” Rooftop solar is expensive, and roof space is sometimes needed for other things, such as helicopter pads, public utilities, or water tanks.

According to Peter Kurz, a consultant to the technology sector and a long-term resident of Taiwan, there is one renewable resource that the nation has in abundance. “The Taiwan Strait has a huge wind resource,” he said. “It is the most wind power anywhere in the world available close to a population.”

Offshore wind is under development, but the government is criticized for imposing burdensome requirements to use Taiwanese products and workers that the country is not well equipped to meet. They reflect the government’s ambition to build a native industry at the same time as addressing its energy problem. But critics point out that Taiwan lacks the specialist industrial skills that producing turbines demands, and the requirements lead to higher costs and delays.

Despite the attraction of Taiwan’s west coast with its relatively shallow waters, there are other constraints, such as limited harbor space. There is also another concern that is unique to Taiwan’s geography: The west side of the island faces China, and there are continuing incursions into Taiwan’s territorial waters from China’s coast guard and navy vessels. Offshore wind turbines are within easy rocket and missile range from China, and undersea energy cables are highly vulnerable.

Government critics regard one current policy as needless self-harm: the pledge to shut down Taiwan’s remaining nuclear reactor by next year and achieve a “nuclear free homeland.” It is a pledge made by the current ruling party, the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), and as the deadline approaches, it is a policy increasingly being questioned. Taiwan’s civil nuclear program was started under the military dictatorship of Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT party with half an eye on developing a nuclear weapons program. Taiwan built its first experimental facility in the 1950s and opened its first power plant in 1978. The DPP came into existence in 1986, the year of the Chernobyl disaster, and its decision to adopt a no-nuclear policy was reinforced by the Fukushima disaster in neighboring Japan in 2011.

“I think the DPP see nuclear energy as a symbol of authoritarianism,” said Oung, “so they oppose it.”

Of Taiwan’s six nuclear reactors, three are now shut down, two have not been brought online, and the one functioning unit is due to close next year. The shuttered reactors have not yet been decommissioned, possibly because, in addition to its other difficulties, Taiwan has run out of waste storage capacity: The fuel rods remain in place because there is nowhere else to put them. As some observers see it, politics have got in the way of common sense: In 2018, a majority opposed the nuclear shutdown in a referendum, but the government continues to insist that its policy will not change. Voters added to the confusion in 2021 when they opposed the completion of the two uncommissioned plants.

On the 13th floor of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taipei, the deputy director general of Taiwan’s energy administration, Stephen Wu, chose his words carefully. “There is a debate going on in our parliament,” he said, “because the public has demanded a reduction of nuclear power and also a reduction in carbon emissions. So there is some discussion about whether the [shuttered] nuclear plants will somehow function again when conditions are ready.”

Wu acknowledged that Taiwan was nudging against the limits of its current supply and that new entrants to Taiwan’s science and technology parks have to be carefully screened for their energy needs. But he took an optimistic view of Taiwan’s capacity to sustain AI development. “We assess energy consumption of companies to ensure the development of these companies complies with environmental protection,” he said. “In Singapore, data centers are highly efficient. We will learn from Singapore.”

Critics of the government’s energy policy are not reassured. Chen has an alarming message: If Taiwan does not radically accelerate its clean energy development, he warns, companies will be obliged to leave the island. They will seek zero-carbon operating environments to comply with the net-zero requirements of partners such as Amazon, Meta, and Google, and to avoid carbon-based trade barriers such as the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

“Wind and solar are not scalable sources of zero-carbon energy,” he said. “Nuclear energy is the only scalable, zero-carbon source of energy. But the current laws state that foreign investment in nuclear energy must be capped at 50 percent, with the remaining 50 percent owned by Taipower. Given that Taipower is broke, how could a private investor want to partner with them and invest in Taiwan?”

Chen argues that Taiwan should encourage private nuclear development and avoid the burdensome regulation that, he says, is hampering wind development.

For Kurz, Taiwan’s energy security dilemma requires an imaginative leap. “Cables [carrying offshore wind energy] are vulnerable but replaceable,” he says. “Centralized nuclear is vulnerable to other risks, such as earthquakes.” One solution, he believes, lies in small modular nuclear reactors that could even be moored offshore and linked with undersea cables. It is a solution that he believes the Taiwan’s ruling party might come around to.

There is a further security question to add to Taiwan’s complex challenges. The island’s circumstances are unique: It is a functioning democracy, a technological powerhouse, and a de facto independent country that China regards as a breakaway province to be recovered—if necessary, by force. The fact that its technology industry is essential for global production of everything from electric vehicles to ballistic missiles has counted as a security plus for Taiwan in its increasingly tense standoff with China. It is not in the interest of China or the United States to see semiconductor manufacturers damaged or destroyed. Such companies, in security jargon, are collectively labelled Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” a shield the government is keen to maintain. That the sector depends inescapably on Taiwan’s energy security renders the search for a solution all the more urgent.

[dkaufmandevelopment]

Blackstone Surges to Record High: A Closer Look at Their Impressive Q3 Results

Blackstone, the world's largest commercial property owner, achieved a remarkable milestone on Thursday as its shares surged to a record high. This impressive performance comes on the heels of better-than-expected third-quarter results and an improved real estate investment performance. Let’s dive into the factors driving this success and what it means for the market.

Key Highlights from Q3

In the third quarter, Blackstone invested or committed a staggering $54 billion, marking the highest amount in over two years. This surge in investment activity is attributed to the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut in September, which significantly reduced the cost of capital. The U.S. central bank’s previous rate hikes had stymied real estate deals and financing, leading to increased defaults in the office market affected by corporate cost-cutting and the rise of hybrid and remote work.

Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s Chief Executive, emphasized the positive impact of the rate cut, stating, “Easing the cost of the capital will be very positive for Blackstone’s asset values. It will be a catalyst for transaction activity.” This sentiment was echoed by Jonathan Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer, who noted that while commercial real estate sentiment is improving, it remains cautious.

Strategic Investments and Areas of Focus

Blackstone has been proactive in planting the “seeds of future value” by substantially increasing its pace of investment. A key area of focus is the revolutionary advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and the associated digital and energy infrastructure. In September, Blackstone announced the $16 billion purchase of AirTrunk, the largest data center operator in the Asia-Pacific region. This acquisition is part of Blackstone’s $70 billion investment in data centers, with over $100 billion in prospective pipeline development.

Other notable investment themes include renewable energy transition, private credit, and India’s emergence as a major economy. These strategic areas highlight Blackstone’s commitment to innovation and growth.

Recovery in Commercial Real Estate

The Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), a benchmark for the industry, reported a 93% slump in investor stock redemption requests from a peak. This indicates a recovery in investor confidence and a shift towards positive net inflows of capital. BREIT’s core-plus real estate investments, which include stable, income-generating, high-quality real estate, showed a 0.5% decline in Q3 performance, an improvement from a 3.8% drop over the past 12 months. The riskier opportunistic real estate investments posted a 1.1% increase, reversing previous declines.

Student Housing and Data Centers

Among rental housing, student housing has emerged as a significant focus. Wesley LePatner, set to become BREIT CEO on Jan. 1, highlighted the structural undersupply in the U.S. student housing market, emphasizing its potential as an all-weather asset class. BREIT has consistently met investor redemption requests for several months, showcasing strong performance.

Furthermore, the demand for data centers remains robust. QTS, which Blackstone took private in 2021, recorded more leasing activity last year than the preceding three years combined. Such sectors, once considered niche, are now integral to the commercial real estate landscape.

Financial Performance and Outlook

Blackstone’s third-quarter net income soared to approximately $1.56 billion, up from $920.7 million a year earlier. Distributable earnings, profit available to shareholders, rose to $1.28 billion from $1.21 billion. Total assets under management jumped 10% to about $1.11 trillion, driven by inflows to its credit and insurance segment.

The Path Forward

As Blackstone continues to navigate the evolving market landscape, it remains focused on identifying “interesting places to deploy capital.” With a robust investment strategy and a keen eye on emerging trends, Blackstone is well-positioned for future growth.

Join the Conversation: What are your thoughts on Blackstone’s impressive Q3 performance and strategic investments? How do you see these trends impacting the broader real estate market? Share your insights and engage with our community!

[partisan-by-default]

Mobile operator O2 has created an AI-powered tool that sounds like an elderly grandmother, keeping phone scammers on calls and away from the general public. The telecoms giant said it had created the so-called “scambaiter” tool in response to research which found that seven in 10 people wanted to get their own back on scammers but did not want to waste their own time in doing so.

The firm said it had worked with leading scambaiters – people who take on and disrupt scammer networks – to get phone numbers linked to its AI tool, known as Daisy, added to known lists used by scammers to target vulnerable consumers, and had been given the voice of an elderly grandmother to play on scammer biases about older people.

It said the tool had been successful in keeping numerous scammers on calls for up to 40 minutes at a time and frustrated them with meandering stories and explanations about their tech use, as well as providing false personal information and made-up bank details.

O2 said that by tricking fraudsters into thinking they were scamming a real person, Daisy has prevented them from targeting real victims, but had also exposed the common tactics used so the firm can help customers better protect themselves.

[pranjj]

Udaan by InAmigos Foundation:  Elevating Women, Empowering Futures

In the rapidly evolving socio-economic landscape of India, millions of women remain underserved by mainstream development efforts—not due to a lack of talent, but a lack of access. In response, Project Udaan, a flagship initiative by the InAmigos Foundation, emerges not merely as a program, but as a model of scalable women's empowerment.

Udaan—meaning “flight” in Hindi—represents the aspirations of rural and semi-urban women striving to break free from intergenerational limitations. By engineering opportunity and integrating sustainable socio-technical models, Udaan transforms potential into productivity and promise into progress.

Mission: Creating the Blueprint for Women’s Self-Reliance

At its core, Project Udaan seeks to:

Empower women with industry-aligned, income-generating skills

Foster micro-entrepreneurship rooted in local demand and resources

Facilitate financial and digital inclusion

Strengthen leadership, health, and rights-based awareness

Embed resilience through holistic community engagement

Each intervention is data-informed, impact-monitored, and custom-built for long-term sustainability—a hallmark of InAmigos Foundation’s field-tested grassroots methodology.

A Multi-Layered Model for Empowerment

Project Udaan is built upon a structured architecture that integrates training, enterprise, and technology to ensure sustainable outcomes. This model moves beyond skill development into livelihood generation and measurable socio-economic change.

1. Skill Development Infrastructure

The first layer of Udaan is a robust skill development framework that delivers localized, employment-focused education. Training modules are modular, scalable, and aligned with the socio-economic profiles of the target communities.

Core domains include:

Digital Literacy: Basic computing, mobile internet use, app navigation, and digital payment systems

Tailoring and Textile Production: Pattern making, machine stitching, finishing techniques, and indigenous craft techniques

Food Processing and Packaging: Pickle-making, spice grinding, home-based snack units, sustainable packaging

Salon and Beauty Skills: Basic grooming, hygiene standards, customer interaction, and hygiene protocols

Financial Literacy and Budgeting: Saving schemes, credit access, banking interfaces, micro-investments

Communication and Self-Presentation: Workplace confidence, customer handling, local language fluency

2. Microenterprise Enablement and Livelihood Incubation

To ensure that learning transitions into economic self-reliance, Udaan incorporates a post-training enterprise enablement process. It identifies local market demand and builds backward linkages to equip women to launch sustainable businesses.

The support ecosystem includes:

Access to seed capital via self-help group (SHG) networks, microfinance partners, and NGO grants

Distribution of startup kits such as sewing machines, kitchen equipment, or salon tools

Digital onboarding support for online marketplaces such as Amazon Saheli, Flipkart Samarth, and Meesho

Offline retail support through tie-ups with local haats, trade exhibitions, and cooperative stores

Licensing and certification where applicable for food safety or textile quality standards

3. Tech-Driven Monitoring and Impact Tracking

Transparency and precision are fundamental to Udaan’s growth. InAmigos Foundation employs its in-house Tech4Change platform to manage operations, monitor performance, and scale the intervention scientifically.

The platform allows:

Real-time monitoring of attendance, skill mastery, and certification via QR codes and mobile tracking

Impact evaluation using household income change, asset ownership, and healthcare uptake metrics

GIS-based mapping of intervention zones and visualization of under-reached areas

Predictive modeling through AI to identify at-risk participants and suggest personalized intervention strategies

 

Human-Centered, Community-Rooted

Empowerment is not merely a process of economic inclusion—it is a cultural and psychological shift. Project Udaan incorporates gender-sensitive design and community-first outreach to create lasting change.

Key interventions include:

Strengthening of SHG structures and women-led federations to serve as peer mentors

Family sensitization programs targeting male allies—fathers, husbands, brothers—to reduce resistance and build trust

Legal and rights-based awareness campaigns focused on menstrual hygiene, reproductive health, domestic violence laws, and maternal care

Measured Impact and Proven Scalability

Project Udaan has consistently delivered quantifiable outcomes at the grassroots level. As of the latest cycle:

Over 900 women have completed intensive training programs across 60 villages and 4 districts

Nearly 70 percent of participating women reported an average income increase of 30 to 60 percent within 9 months of program completion

420+ micro-enterprises have been launched, 180 of which are now self-sustaining and generating employment for others

More than 5,000 indirect beneficiaries—including children, elderly dependents, and second-generation SHG members—have experienced improved access to nutrition, education, and mobility

Over 20 institutional partnerships and corporate CSR collaborations have supported infrastructure, curriculum design, and digital enablement.

Partnership Opportunities: Driving Collective Impact

The InAmigos Foundation invites corporations, philanthropic institutions, and ecosystem enablers to co-create impact through structured partnerships.

Opportunities include:

Funding the establishment of skill hubs in high-need regions

Supporting enterprise starter kits and training batches through CSR allocations

Mentoring women entrepreneurs via employee volunteering and capacity-building workshops

Co-hosting exhibitions, market linkages, and rural entrepreneurship fairs

Enabling long-term research and impact analytics for policy influence

These partnerships offer direct ESG alignment, brand elevation, and access to inclusive value chains while contributing to a model that demonstrably works.

What Makes Project Udaan Unique?

Unlike one-size-fits-all skilling programs, Project Udaan is rooted in real-world constraints and community aspirations. It succeeds because it combines:

Skill training aligned with current and emerging market demand

Income-first design that integrates microenterprise creation and financial access

Localized community ownership that ensures sustainability and adoption

Tech-enabled operations that ensure transparency and iterative learning

Holistic empowerment encompassing economic, social, and psychological dimensions

By balancing professional training with emotional transformation and economic opportunity, Udaan represents a new blueprint for inclusive growth.

 From Promise to Power

Project Udaan, driven by the InAmigos Foundation, proves that when equipped with tools, trust, and training, rural and semi-urban women are capable of becoming not just contributors, but catalysts for socio-economic renewal.

They don’t merely escape poverty—they design their own systems of progress. They don’t just participate—they lead.

Each sewing machine, digital training module, or microloan is not a transaction—it is a declaration of possibility.

This is not charity. This is infrastructure. This is equity, by design.

Udaan is not just a program. It is a platform for a new India.

For partnership inquiries, CSR collaborations, and donation pathways, contact: www.inamigosfoundation.org/Udaan Email: partnerships@inamigosfoundation.org

[yourcoins-blog]

Crypto scams cost Britons nearly £200m in the past year

The total value of cryptocurrency scams nudged close to £200million in the past year, new data shows.

In total, 9,850 individuals were scammed out of £186million by crypto scammers in the year to 31 October, analysis by communications consultancy Mattison shows.

The number scammed ticked up from a year earlier and is likely to have ballooned further as interest in bitcoin and alternative coins ride another wave thanks to the price recently hitting record highs.

The so-called 'Trump-trade' saw bitcoin surpass $100,000 for the first time.

Scammers are capitalising on the increase in interest, advertising fraudulent investment schemes, many of which use false celebrity endorsements to ensnare unsuspecting victims.

This is Money was previously contacted by a reader who was duped by a scam supposedly endorsed by Amanda Holden, and also highlighted the use of the image of England football player Harry Kane as part of a crypto scam.

Unlike scams where fraudsters manipulate victims into sending them money, crypto scams are not protected by new rules on authorised push payment scams that require banks to reimburse victims. 

This is because victims will be asked to transfer money themselves to their own crypto wallet, before it is stolen by scammers.

Scammers increasingly employ the use of cryptocurrency as it is more difficult for transactions to be traced than traditional money transfers.

Many of these scams utilise sophisticated investment platform websites, which are in fact a front for scam activity. 

While victims can see their investment rising and falling over long periods of time, the reality is that none of the money they have committed is ever invested, but is stolen instantly by scammers.

Scammers are also using AI in order to generate convincing advertisements and to optimise their scamming activities.

Nick Mattison, partner of Mattison, said: 'Technology has made the job for fraudsters of accessing potential victims through social media easier than ever.

'This has also made it far harder for regulators and social media platforms to keep these scams in check.

'Meta alone shut down two million accounts suspected of scam activity in the past year.

'Crypto fraud is still running at a worryingly high level and there is no certainty that regulation of the sector by the FCA will make a major dent in that level of fraud.'

The FCA flags websites that are acting fraudulently. 

However, these sites spring up constantly, so an absence of an FCA listing shouldn't be taken as confirmation that an investment is safe.

Nick adds: 'Considering the profits enjoyed by the crypto industry they should do the right thing and sponsor more advertising and education aimed at warning the public of the risks of crypto fraud.'

Mattison agues that DrinkAware, GambleAware and The Portman Group are all partially funded by the industries in which they operate, and that the crypto industry should take a similar approach to education.

'One of the reasons why regulators are so wary of cryptocurrencies is that the sector seems to be a magnet for fraud. 

'Proper investment from the industry to counter the threat of fraud would benefit it as it struggles to gain more political and regulatory support in the UK.'