Crypto billionaire Larsen -- who is currently spending tens of millions of dollars to prop up moderate candidates in California, fight labor unions, defeat the state billionaires tax and San Francisco's own overpaid CEO tax -- is still one of the Civic Joy Fund's biggest benefactors. This is reflected on the organization's own "funders" page, which lists cute categories for these very wealthy people, like "Disco Queens," "Street Sparklers," and "Joy Makers." [...]

In February, at the "Music Industry Summit" -- the conclusion to San Francisco Music Week, another Lurie project -- I watched as the mayor strode to the stage at the Swedish American Music Hall. There, before an audience of struggling artists, engineers, and small venue staff, he triumphantly reported that the last summer of concerts in Golden Gate Park resulted in "$150 million worth of economic impact," and that, according to new data, "our independent music venues generate $1.4 billion in economic impact annually."

Lurie paused for applause. "That's because of all of you in this room."

We clapped dutifully, but the people in that room did not need to be reassured that they had contributed to $1.4 billion in "economic impact." They would have preferred to hear that any of their favorite clubs might exist next year. The people in that room could use health insurance -- and they might be able to afford it if Lurie's billionaire buddies were taxed appropriately; say, with a one-time 5% excise tax on net worth exceeding $1 billion to save Medi-Cal.

But hey, that sentiment doesn't make for great social media content.

Indeed, the dissonance between Lurie's spirit-squad act around cultural events and the material struggles of the people actually making the culture is, at times, ear-splitting. One gets the sense he is physically unable to hear it.

"Those of us on the ground who work in [music] know that it has never been more difficult to be here, and try and provide the city with the core thing it is known for historically, which is free-thinking progressive ideologies and good art," says Austin Waz, frontman of the band Analog Dog and a booker at Kilowatt. "We see the incredible amount of venues going out of business, people losing their jobs left and right. We have an absolute crisis."

It's frustrating, he says, to see the large-scale parties into which the Civic Joy Fund pours resources. "It's one day, and they put $100,000, $200,000 into these things, and it's like -- you could have saved an entire community with that. You could have created the conditions that would allow a venue to flourish for years," says Waz. "You're not thinking about how to develop or support artists who come from the city ... it's a slap in the face to put up some [barricades] in the street and say, 'Look how wonderful this all is.'" [...]

"I'm hearing artists rightfully starting to question, like, 'Ultimately, who is this for?'" says Guest of the block parties. "Is it for the public, or is it to set up this area as being worthy of real estate investment? Because if the point of it is to cater towards visitors ... it's really not about supporting art or artists at all."

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/joy-which-they-have-rebranded-as-economic-impact/feed/ 5 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/ai-vegan/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/ai-vegan/#comments Thu, 16 Apr 2026 20:00:19 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk6V "uwu smol" ways, and, I dunno, I guess they do a land acknowledgment before they boil a lake or whatever.

If anyone is an "AI vegan" it's me -- I don't use these tools at all, ever, because they are unethical. Telling me that they are delicious is not going to make them ethical.

Also, I will endlessly berate you about your use.

That's veganism, you're welcome.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/ai-vegan/feed/ 51 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/man-who-threw-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-home-claims-he-was-following-chatgpt-recipe-for-risotto/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/man-who-threw-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-home-claims-he-was-following-chatgpt-recipe-for-risotto/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:39:13 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk6K SAN FRANCISCO:

"I've been using ChatGPT to help with cooking for a while now, so I didn't think too much of it when the ingredients list included a bottle filled with gasoline and a cloth wick," said the alleged attacker, who added that he naturally assumed making the rice dish involved driving several hours to the OpenAI CEO's residence, especially after the AI chatbot had given him a "pretty decent" sesame chicken recipe the week before.

"I have to admit I felt a little weird as I prepared to toss this flaming incendiary device through [Altman's] front window, but the recipe explicitly stated that this was an essential step to get that creamy, velvety risotto texture. I guess I didn't know any better. I mean, I've never made risotto before."

The suspect went on to tell reporters that he still had "a whole fridge full" of Molotov cocktails at home, having attempted to prep enough risotto to last the week.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/man-who-threw-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-home-claims-he-was-following-chatgpt-recipe-for-risotto/feed/ 28 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/still-seeking-basecamp-alternative/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/still-seeking-basecamp-alternative/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2026 03:34:31 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk6E I asked this 6 months ago and got no good answers so let's try again.

Against my better judgment, I let my staff start using Basecamp about 8 years ago, and now I want to ditch it for something open source and self-hosted.

Several people suggested Nextcloud. After much pain, I got that installed, and finally convinced my general manager to take a look at it. Here is his review:

I spent more time poking at this today, and on several occasions it took it 20-30 seconds to respond to link clicks.

I've also spent some time reading the manual, and... I hate these people so much. it's all about how to access your data with various protocols, and nothing about how to use the actual software or WTF the software is expected to do or how you might use it.

It looks like the "todo lists" is all those "cards". They even have an example set that implies each card has more details, but opening them, it just says DESCRIPTION and you can't edit it.

I cannot make any sense out of this. Is it mostly hosting infrasrtucture that is used by other, more sane front-ends? it alludes to a bunch of features, but it seems like those are "apps" that you have to add. on it's own, it's about as friendly as teaching a Boomer to set up a linux desktop so they can check emails.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate this "I'd rather have my gums planed".

A few other people suggested Openproject.

It seems that the only method of installation that Openproject documents is "install an entire VM" or "install these RPMs" and of course they don't have a package for the OS that I use ("Amazon Linux 2023"). There's not a single mention of how one might go about installing from source, so I don't even know where to begin trying to test it out.

Also they say "whatever you do, don't install our software on a server that has anything else running on it, because we might completely scorch anything that isn't ours." Confidence-inspiring!

Even more confidence-inspiring: "A user you've blocked has previously contributed to this repository: Claude". So it's slopware, too.

I am now soliciting suggestions. Please give me non-terrible suggestions.

What I am seeking:

• Create and organize sets of documents.
• Create tasks and assign them to people.
• Sometimes with due dates.
• In both of these things, edit text, with basic styling and inlined images, WYSIWYG, including from a phone.
• Attach things like PDFs.
• 100% locally hosted.
• Not paying a monthly fee to an unhinged fascist to keep my files on their computer.

What I don't care about: Anything not on that list, including but not limited to:

• git;
• Markdown;
• AWS buckets;
• Dropbox;
• Learning what business-brain buzzwords like "Gantt" or "Scrum" mean.

Things that should not need to be said but do:

• Do not suggest software that you do not use.
• Do not just Google it for me.

Previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/still-seeking-basecamp-alternative/feed/ 39 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/i-just-like-saying-dicks-rewards/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/i-just-like-saying-dicks-rewards/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:25:39 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk58 So what is with all of this amateurish phishing spam that has been sliding right past SpamAssassin like shit through a goose for the past few months? Has someone recently discovered a new technique for finding open relays that will SPF-sign anything?

Received: from mail.vividdreamqb.name (milestone.clevervistakb.com [170.130.167.11])
From: Dicks Rewards Team <dicksp0@vividdreamqb.name>
Subject: Final notice: YETI Beach Lounge Wagon unlocked by your gear score
Message-ID: <RUxA2tTL-gy3-hDiWXM33jfhjh3zp@vividdreamqb.name>
X-Request-ID: d36d3311-8a4b-4ac9-91b0-4afeee106923
Feedback-ID: jhkmk:vividdreamqb.name:mail
X-Spam-Report:
    * 0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
    * 0.4 KHOP_HELO_FCRDNS Relay HELO differs from its IP's reverse DNS

I can't even tell who has been popped here. "clevervistakb.com" and "vividdreamqb.name" have the same IPs but different registrars (maybe that's a TLD thing?) It's also not clear to me which of those domains sender_access matches on.

I have, however, come to the conclusion that that there are simply too many web sites.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/i-just-like-saying-dicks-rewards/feed/ 9 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/space-2/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/space-2/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2026 20:29:45 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk51

When every news article didn't require navigating whether it was propaganda, or a grift, or both (because it's never science).

When I thought that humanity surviving beyond Earth was even remotely possible.

This timeline sucks.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/space-2/feed/ 76 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/today-i-woke-up-and-chose-violence/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/today-i-woke-up-and-chose-violence/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2026 19:13:53 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk5y Arguing with robots has become something of a hobby of mine.

▶︎

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

Ad name: DNA Lounge Bruno Mars Party
Your ad wasn't approved for the following reasons:
Reason: Your ad contains only music.
Recommendation: Submit a new ad with a clear voiceover that explains what's being advertised.

Do you want TikTok AI Voice? Because this is how you get TikTok AI Voice.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/internet-advertising-is-going-great/feed/ 17 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-oberlin-luddite-club/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-oberlin-luddite-club/#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2026 17:20:30 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk5M

Oberlin Luddites Reject "Year of AI Exploration" Adpoted by School Dear President Ambar, We are writing to you on a typewriter that is over 70 years old; this is a machine that we all know well. With it, we misspell words without the crutch of spell check or generative AI and we think intently about every phrase we pound out. As we force ourselves, for once, to slow down, we engage in a cognitive dialogue with ourselves. We do not seek perfection because we know that education is about the growing and challenging of our young minds' potential, not the chasing of inititurtonal 'gold-star' approval. We do not believe that your so-c alled 'Year of AI Exploration; providing enterprise ChatGPT and Google Gemini sub scriptions to every Oberlin student aligns with our college's founding principles. You claim that this year will be one of experimentation, not adoption. But even just one semester of accepted (encouraged even) chat bot use will jettison our student body down a lazy and irredeem able tunnel of intellctual destruction. We are a college grounded in learning and labor, which now risks straying from these rooted ideals. With ChatGPT at the helm, our emails, essays,and discussion posts will be generated for us, not by us. And let's not fool ourselves. This is precisely what these platforms will be used for by our busy, anxious student body. We see your vision for this year as advancing the college's 'businessification'--an alarming trend also seen in the takeover of our beloved library cafe by a 'bookstore' With no bools in stock (just shiny merch) and an app replacing customer service. In one instance, the college assumes we want efficiency at all cost through automated rather than hand-pulled coffee. In the other lies the false belief that we simply desire to turn in an essay, regardless of how little we've written of it. We need not stand by and witness the further atrophy of our liberal arts education. As you embark on your year of AI, we'll embark on our own year of self-actualization, of realizing the fruits of our labor and embracing human imperfection and raw inquiry. We will boldly reject information technologies operating out of data centers ghat guzzle water and energy sources(that simply must contradict our campus's carbon-neutral devotion). We will turn instead t o ourselves and embrace our natural intelligence, intentional hard work, and generative sweat rather than generative AI. We urge anyone who feels similarly to risk disapproval, perceived backwardness and the outward appearance of naivete and join us. Let us not ask what AI can do for Oberlin students, but what Oberlin students can do ourselves, while we still have the brain capacity to think on our own. Yours truly, The Luddite Club of Oberlin College, Logan Lane, CharLie McLaughlin, Mary Claire McGreivey, Sawyer Van Dyck, Simon Puchner-Noel,and Marlowe Blantz

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-oberlin-luddite-club/feed/ 23 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/oil-collapse-no-not-that-kind/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/oil-collapse-no-not-that-kind/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2026 02:36:06 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk48 BLDGBLOG:

"The U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve is a series of vast, subterranean salt caverns in four different sites in Louisiana and Texas. Many are enormous -- the average cavern holds about 10mn barrels [...] This network of tunnels, grottos, pumps and wells can in total hold about 715mn barrels of oil, or enough to supply the entire U.S. with all the oil it needs for over a month" -- but those salt caverns were only designed to be drained and refilled five times.

The Financial Times calculates that we are already at the cavern's ninth historic drawdown, suggesting that "catastrophic structural damage," including dissolution of the salt caverns, is now a viable risk. This could mean, among other things, that the reserves can no longer be drained in their entirety, as "a minimum level of oil... must be kept in the salt caverns" to avoid this fate, with the result that the reserves' effectiveness in a time of future national emergency will be reduced.

Of course, this could also mean that someday the caverns will simply collapse.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/oil-collapse-no-not-that-kind/feed/ 20 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/google-pass-redux/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/google-pass-redux/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2026 20:05:00 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk45 Dear Lazyweb,

Four years ago I asked whether "Google Pass" was a thing that I needed to give a shit about and consensus was, "no, nobody uses that." But I have heard anecdotally, recently, that this might no longer be true. Thoughts?

The goal here is, "reduce the amount of time it takes for someone standing in front of my nightclub to wave their QR code at the door staff." On iOS, Apple Wallet supports that goal very well.

Note: I don't use Android and know as little about its ecosystem as possible, so please use small words.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/google-pass-redux/feed/ 125 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/ageless-linux/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/ageless-linux/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2026 19:03:28 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk43 The Ageless Device: A physical computing device designed to satisfy every element of the California Digital Age Assurance Act's regulatory scope while deliberately refusing to comply with its requirements. The device costs less than lunch and will be handed to children.

Configuration Tiers: Three Levels of Infraction

TIER 0, "The Pamphlet" ~$6
Minimum viable violation. A bootable Linux device with a display, network connectivity, and an app store. No battery, no keyboard -- just proof that this constitutes a regulated device under AB 1043. Good for bulk handout at conferences (50-100 units).

Legal status: Arguable. The 128×64 display introduces fuzziness. The AG could claim it's a dev board. That's fine -- ambiguity is instructive too.

TIER 1, "The Computer", ~$12
An unambiguous general purpose computing device. Color display, keyboard, WiFi, Linux, app store, user setup. The core product. There is no interpretive gap between this device and the law's definitions.

Legal status: Unambiguous. This is a computer with a color display, keyboard, WiFi, Linux, and an app store. It does not collect age data. It is handed to a child. The maximum fine is $7,500.

TIER 2, "The Appliance", ~$18
A self-contained, battery-powered pocket Linux computer. The educational device angle -- a modern descendant of the Acorn BBC Micro and the original Raspberry Pi.

Legal status: Beyond unambiguous. A pocket computer with a color screen, keyboard, battery, WiFi, 8GB storage, and an AI accelerator. It costs less than a large pizza. It fits in a child's hand.

Every tab on this site is gold:

How Distros Are Responding: We track how Linux distributions are responding to age verification mandates, and we provide tools to undo whatever they implement. If a distribution adds an age collection prompt, we will publish a script that removes it. If it ships a D-Bus age verification daemon, we will publish a package that replaces it with silence.

How One Bill Becomes Every Bill: AB 1043 was not written in isolation. It is a template. ICMEC published the model text as a ready-to-introduce statutory draft, and its Global Head of Policy presented it directly to Virginia's Joint Commission on Technology and Science. The same organizations that drafted the model bill are now deploying it in state legislatures across the country. The companies that benefit from the compliance moat fund the advocacy organizations that draft the bills that create the compliance moat. [...]

The Door That Stays Open: AB 1043 requires only self-declared age -- a birthdate field, not government ID or biometrics. Industry analysts have described this as "an initial implementation designed to get the door open." Self-declaration today. Biometric verification tomorrow. The infrastructure is the same; only the input changes. Once every operating system has an age collection interface and a real-time API for transmitting age data to applications, upgrading from a text field to a face scan is a configuration change, not a new law.

Penalty Comparison: Cost of Giving a Child a Computer:

Cost of one Ageless Linux device: $12-18
Maximum combined US penalty for one device given to one child: $46,000
US penalty-to-cost ratio: 3,067:1
Brazil penalty for one violation: up to 522,222:1

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/ageless-linux/feed/ 25 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/systemd-censord/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/systemd-censord/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2026 18:40:50 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk41 Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2026 20:38:08 -0800. To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org. Cc: xdg@lists.freedesktop.org, ...]]> *Slow clap*

On the need for a censorship API for legal compliance reasons in some countries and U.S. states

From: FloofyWolf <debian-devel-list@floofywolf.net>
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2026 20:38:08 -0800
To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org
Cc: xdg@lists.freedesktop.org, ubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com, debian-legal@lists.debian.org, legal@lists.fedoraproject.org, devel@lists.fedoraproject.org
Subject: On the need for a censorship API for legal compliance reasons in some countries and U.S. states

Recently, a proposal has been made to implement an API for a new California censorship regulation, "On the unfortunate need for an "age verification" API for legal compliance reasons in some U.S. states" by Aaron Rainbolt. I believe the approach outlined to be very short-sighted, in that creating a bespoke API for each of the hundreds of government censorship requirements that debian will presumably now be following will result in much duplication of effort and an unreliable user experience in which important censorship restrictions may be missed and not implemented. As such, with people now supporting the idea that debian should implement government censorship requests, even creating new standards if needed, I propose the creation of a censorship framework to speed implementation of current and future censorship regulations. [...]

Systemd units will be created for every desired censorship function, and will be started based on the user's location. For example, a unit for Kazakhstan will implement the government-required backdoor, a unit for China will implement keyword scans and web access blocks (more on this later), a unit for Florida will ban all packages with "trans" in the name (201 packages in current stable distribution), a unit for Oklahoma will ensure all educational software is compliant with the Christian Holy Bible, a unit for the entire United States will prevent installation of any program capable of decoding DVD or BluRay media, and a unit for California will provide the user's age to all applications and all web sites from which applications may be downloaded. As can be seen, multiple units may be started for a given location. [...]

To prevent users from bypassing censorship requirements, debian will need to switch to being a binary-only distribution with signed binaries, signed kernel, and signed kernel modules, with mandatory secureboot, and controls to prevent any non-signed software from being installed, written, or compiled, as any foreign sources of software may fail to query systemd-censord or may fail to respect the permissions it returns.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/systemd-censord/feed/ 53 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/github-copilot-litigation/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/github-copilot-litigation/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2026 18:27:04 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4z This suit started in 2022 but seems to still be slogging along:

By training their AI systems on public GitHub repositories (though based on their public statements, possibly much more) we contend that the defendants have violated the legal rights of a vast number of creators who posted code or other work under certain open-source licenses on GitHub. Which licenses? A set of 11 popular open-source licenses that all require attribution of the author's name and copyright, including the MIT license, the GPL, and the Apache license. (These are enumerated in the appendix to the complaint.)

In addition to violating the attribution requirements of these licenses, we contend that the defendants have violated:

• GitHub's own terms of service and privacy policies;
• DMCA § 1202, which forbids the removal of copyright-management information;
• the California Consumer Privacy Act;
• and other laws giving rise to related legal claims.

Previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/github-copilot-litigation/feed/ 4 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/tinder-to-ai-your-dick-pix/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/tinder-to-ai-your-dick-pix/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2026 17:36:50 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4q In a feature the dating app says is set to roll out in the U.S. later this spring, Tinder plans to access users' camera rolls to pick photos and determine what they're into.

"It's up to you to figure out what you're comfortable sharing back with Tinder," Tinder Head of Product Mark Kantor told 404 Media. Still, users can't pick individual photos they want analyzed or ignored. [...]

Tinder has already leaned heavily into AI. Kantor told 404 Media that artificial intelligence is writing more than half the app's code these days.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/tinder-to-ai-your-dick-pix/feed/ 4 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/a-slopfondler-walks-into-a-bar/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/a-slopfondler-walks-into-a-bar/#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:23:58 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4i

They	Hey. I found a good use of AI!
Me	No you didn't.
They	Wait let me tell you about it.
Me	Please don't. I'm begging you. Stop talking.
They	No, you'll like this.
Me	I assure you, I will not.
They	[ predictable story about how they had the plausible-text-fabricator summarize some data for them and they believed it without verifying, but they didn't pay for it, so it's fine ]
Me	[ and then they uncorked my 20 minute rant, my mask moist with the spittle of yelling; that's 20 minutes I will never get back, and also it made me miss the first set of the burlesque show ]
They	I had no idea you felt so strongly about this!
Me	Are you aware that I have a blog.
They	I read it all the time! Have you posted about this?
Me	Motherfucker, STARES IN "AI" TAG!!

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/a-slopfondler-walks-into-a-bar/feed/ 47 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-tbote-project/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-tbote-project/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2026 22:12:32 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4c This is some boss-level forensic accounting demonstrating that Facebook secretly wrote and is shepherding the various "age verification" bills.

Age Verification Lobbying: Dark Money, Model Legislation & Institutional Capture:

How corporate lobbying, think tank infrastructure, competing model legislation, and obscured funding networks are shaping age verification policy across 45 states and Congress.

This investigation documents a national lobbying operation spanning corporate spending, think tank infrastructure, dark money networks, and competing model legislation templates. Meta spent a record $26.3 million on federal lobbying in 2025, deployed 86+ lobbyists across 45 states, and covertly funded a group called the Digital Childhood Alliance (DCA) to advocate for the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA). But the operation extends beyond Meta. [...]

This investigation traced funding flows across five confirmed channels, analyzed $2.0 billion in dark money grants, searched 59,736 DAF recipients, parsed LD-2 filings, and mapped campaign contributions across four states to document the operation.

Previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-tbote-project/feed/ 29 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/by-order-of-his-majesty-king-mob/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/by-order-of-his-majesty-king-mob/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2026 21:48:50 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4a AI job losses free up time for unemployed mobs to burn down tech CEO's houses

"Getting laid off without warning from my copywriting job has done wonders for my work-life-bloodthirsty mob balance," reports Taylor Grayden, 35, of Vancouver. "Back when I had a job I never would've had the free time to organize an unruly rabble and march towards the beach house of (Open AI CEO) Sam Altman. But now I'm getting so much more violent retribution accomplished in a day." [...]

"I felt so lost after I was let go at my analytics firm so my whole department could be replaced by Claude AI," explains Sarah Brightwell, 42, of Kingston, ON. "But then I started learning how to use AI as a tool -- specifically for planning a multi-week siege of the sprawling compound of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei."

"Granted, the attack plans Claude spit out were full of hallucinations, but it got the ball rolling for me to organize my fellow unemployed humans and get marching," Brightwell adds, tightening the bolts on her homemade trebuchet. "After all, AI can't throw a molotov cocktail!" [...]

"Sure, we probably could have avoided this if we'd accompanied our artificial intelligence products with any kind of workable universal basic income system," explains Altman from one of his currently-burning $12.8 million San Francisco homes. "But I'd still rather die with all this money."

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/by-order-of-his-majesty-king-mob/feed/ 7 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/ai-protest-music-is-a-thing-now/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/ai-protest-music-is-a-thing-now/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2026 19:41:09 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4W DNA Lounge, a room full of people chanted "No AI" along with Anton Corazza's song of the same name. The kids might be alright!

On Friday, government lawyers in the lawsuit filed a court record which said they asked the plaintiffs to remove the videos "from the internet due to concerns that the publication of the videos could subject the witnesses and their family members to undue harassment and reputational harm." The filing then said that Fox specifically "has been subject to harassment and has received a number of death threats since the videos and video clips were publicized and circulated."

Internet Archive; torrent magnet link (only 5 seeders!)

Update: Judge says "no".

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-removed-doge-deposition-videos-have-already-been-backed-up-across-the-internet/feed/ 24 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/today-in-scrapers/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/today-in-scrapers/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:28:44 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4K Honestly one of the most offensive things about these AI scraper bots is how bad at their jobs they are. Look at these 404s from the last 6 hours and despair:

/blog/2014/12/30/411x480 /blog/2014/12/30/500x417 /blog/2018/05/12/2048x1365 /blog/2018/05/12/736x677 /blog/2018/05/12/3000x2049 /blog/2018/05/12/2400x1600 /blog/2014/12/30/500x638 /blog/2024/1920x1440 /blog/2015/08/3375x2561 /blog/2015/08/600x600 /blog/2017/08/page/2/1400x781 /blog/2017/08/page/2/1280x720 /blog/2017/08/page/2/464x363 /blog/2017/08/page/2/1200x1600 /blog/2010/03/07/480x640 /blog/2011/09/312x360 /blog/2011/09/640x423 /blog/2011/09/600x800 /blog/2006/09/page/4/1042x673 /blog/2018/03/550x826 /blog/2018/03/640x427 /blog/2018/03/754x1024 /blog/2018/03/815x600 /blog/tag/www/page/2/410x630 /blog/tag/www/page/2/1200x809 /blog/tag/www/page/2/600x900 /blog/2016/04/page/3/962x1779 /blog/2016/04/page/3/1100x568 /blog/2016/04/page/3/1100x568 /blog/2016/04/page/3/1200x848 /blog/tag/www/768x1087 /blog/2014/2692x2970 /blog/tag/www/768x1087 /blog/tag/www/480x360 /blog/tag/www/906x222 /blog/tag/www/480x360 /blog/tag/www/768x270 /blog/2018/01/page/2/450x337 /blog/2018/01/page/2/500x667 /blog/2017/11/teeth-4/500x624 /blog/tag/www/988x1354 /blog/tag/www/800x450 /blog/tag/www/2000x2000 /blog/tag/www/2000x2000 /blog/tag/www/625x512 /blog/tag/www/768x432 /blog/tag/www/615x297 /blog/2014/640x360 /blog/2018/01/page/2/300x450 /blog/2014/1741x2600 /blog/tag/www/712x600 /blog/2018/01/page/2/585x350 /blog/2021/11/page/3/753x1200 /blog/2021/11/page/3/753x1200 /blog/2021/11/page/3/900x563 /blog/2021/11/page/3/1280x960 /blog/2022/05/page/2/1103x300 /blog/2022/05/page/2/1103x300 /blog/2018/07/page/4/315x450 /blog/2022/05/page/2/300x364 /blog/2018/07/page/4/2203x2938 /blog/2014/02/09/400x300 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/562x562 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/668x960 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/950x538 /blog/2006/02/blobby-art/500x375 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/484x604 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/3300x2475 /blog/tag/katrina/1318x1078 /blog/2019/03/page/3/680x510 /blog/tag/fanboys/768x547 /blog/tag/fanboys/768x1064 /blog/tag/fanboys/575x452 /blog/tag/fanboys/512x512 /blog/tag/fanboys/360x480 /blog/tag/fanboys/768x513 /blog/tag/fanboys/1024x759 /blog/tag/fanboys/584x328 /blog/2010/12/page/3/768x512 /blog/2010/12/page/3/500x628 /blog/2010/12/page/3/500x628 /blog/2010/12/page/3/960x1280 /blog/2010/12/page/3/960x1280 /blog/2019/07/02/500x392 /blog/2019/07/02/388x517 /blog/2019/07/02/388x517 /blog/2013/05/12/468x468 /blog/2019/04/01/900x1200 /blog/2019/04/01/1297x846 /blog/2019/04/01/768x432 /blog/2019/04/01/768x428 /blog/2023/12/shrimpfluencer/640x1136 /blog/2019/04/01/1200x628 /blog/2016/11/page/3/768x1024 /blog/2005/07/page/4/520x503 /blog/2005/07/page/4/520x503 /blog/2005/07/page/4/409x309 /blog/2023/12/psychedelic-cryptography/600x594 /blog/2021/01/page/4/1200x800 /blog/2021/01/page/4/1200x633

Of course all of them claim to be Chrome on "Windows NT 10.0".

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/today-in-scrapers/feed/ 26 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/how-much-water-do-the-data-centres-use-its-a-secret/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/how-much-water-do-the-data-centres-use-its-a-secret/#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2026 03:08:04 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4G Do you want Immortan Joes? Because this is how you get Immortan Joes.

Roanoke gets its drinking water from Carvins Cove Reservoir. The locals tried to find out just how much water Google would be taking. But Google wanted the water and power numbers kept secret.

The details were finally released last week: [...] That's 7.5 million to 30 million litres of drinking water every single day. This is the reservoir's entire remaining capacity. Google is taking absolutely the limit of all the water they can.

How about the other AI vendors, like OpenAI? [...] Notice what Altman did there -- he started with the headline claim "water is totally fake" then he gave a made-up example ending with "or whatever." What he did not give was anything like a number. A current number. [...]

Given the secrecy, assume all the hyperscalers use a huge amount of fresh water. Until they give us official numbers somewhere they're not allowed to lie. They're not fighting to keep the numbers secret because they're good.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/how-much-water-do-the-data-centres-use-its-a-secret/feed/ 50 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/palantir-sues-swiss-magazine-for-accurately-reporting-that-the-swiss-government-didnt-want-palantir/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/palantir-sues-swiss-magazine-for-accurately-reporting-that-the-swiss-government-didnt-want-palantir/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:35:18 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk37 By the way, I have just been informed that "Peter Thiel" is an anagram for "Hitler Pete".

The articles, produced in collaboration with the investigative collective WAV, detailed a years-long, multi-ministry charm offensive by Palantir to sell its software to Swiss federal authorities. The campaign was, by all accounts, a comprehensive failure. Swiss agencies rejected Palantir at least nine times, with concerns ranging from data sovereignty to reputational risk to the simple fact that nobody needed the product. [...]

So how does a sophisticated data intelligence company respond to well-sourced investigative journalism based on official government documents?

By suing the journalists, of course.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/palantir-sues-swiss-magazine-for-accurately-reporting-that-the-swiss-government-didnt-want-palantir/feed/ 7 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/cocaine/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/cocaine/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2026 01:47:12 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3t Every now and then I make the mistake of of posting something on Mastodon that really should have gone on the blog first. This is one of those, from last week. It did some numbers.

Everything written by AI boosters tracks much more clearly if you simply replace "AI" with "cocaine".

I shall demonstrate!

(Not linking to OP, because it's trash.)

"Let's pretend you're the only person at your company using cocaine.

You decide you're going to impress your employer, and work for 8 hours a day at 10x productivity. You knock it out of the park and make everyone else look terrible by comparison. [...]

In this scenario, you capture 100% of the value from your adopting cocaine."

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/cocaine/feed/ 161 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/youtube-oauth-api-fuckery/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/youtube-oauth-api-fuckery/#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:08:53 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3r I have two YouTube accounts, jwz and dnalounge, and I'm using the oauth API with both of them to automate uploads and stuff. With the DNA account, I am getting a refresh_token that lasts forever. But with the jwz one, I am getting a refresh_token that can only refresh the access_token for a week, and then I have to log in again. Any ideas what fuckery is afoot?

The DNA token does this:

GET https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/tokeninfo?access_token=DNA_ACCESS_TOKEN_1 => access_type	=> "offline", audience	=> "DNA_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com", expires_in	=> 3574, issued_to	=> "DNA_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com", scope 	=> "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube" POST https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token client_id	=> "DNA_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com", client_secret	=> "DNA_CLIENT_SECRET", grant_type	=> "refresh_token", refresh_token	=> "DNA_REFRESH_TOKEN" result: access_token	=> "DNA_ACCESS_TOKEN_2", expires_in	=> 3599, scope 	=> "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube", token_type	=> "Bearer" token expiration 0:00:59:34 => 0:00:59:59

but the jwz token does this:

GET https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/tokeninfo?access_token=JWZ_ACCESS_TOKEN_1 => access_type	=> "offline", audience	=> "JWZ_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com", expires_in	=> 3413, issued_to	=> "JWZ_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com" scope 	=> "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube", POST https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token client_id	=> "JWZ_CLIENT_ID", client_secret	=> "JWZ_CLIENT_SECRET", grant_type	=> "refresh_token", refresh_token	=> "JWZ_REFRESH_TOKEN" result: access_token	=> "JWZ_ACCESS_TOKEN_2", expires_in	=> 3599, refresh_token_expires_in	=> 201701 scope 	=> "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube", token_type	=> "Bearer", token expiration 0:00:56:53 => 0:00:59:59 refresh expires in 2:00:01:41

Maybe I'm logging in wrong? I log in with user/pass/TOTP "jwz@jwz.org" which takes me to the channel "@yesthatjwz" then I load:

https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?client_id=JWZ_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com&redirect_uri=https://localhost&response_type=code&scope=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube&access_type=offline

and it asks me to choose my "brand" account. There are three listed: "DNA Lounge", "yesthatjwz", and another "jwz" account. The selection that works is the "yestthatjwz" one. The mystery account is @alsojwz1853 and I don't know why it exists but I'm afraid to delete it in case that breaks something.

When I sign in with "jwz@jwz.org", it takes me directly to my real channel, @yesthatjwz.

When I sign in with: "yesthatjwz" or "youtube@jwz.org" or "yesthatjwz@jwz.org", it asks me to select a channel: @yesthatjwz or "also jwz" @alsojwz1853.

Trying to sign in with "alsojwz1853" says "could not find your account".

Another clue: both the "DNA Lounge" and "yesthatjwz" accounts work with or without at-signs, /dnalounge, /@dnalounge, /yesthatjwz and /@yesthatjwz, but the other one only works as /@alsojwz1853, not as /alsojwz1853. Maybe because they are old accounts that pre-date YouTube being purchased by Google? Another difference is that the thing in console.cloud.google.com/auth/clients/*_PROJECT_ID for DNA is an "iOS client" created in 2014, but for "jwz" is a "Desktop client" created in 2024. There don't seem to be any settings.

But I still don't understand why the DNA and jwz accounts have different behavior.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/youtube-oauth-api-fuckery/feed/ 32 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/how-to-get-out-of-jury-duty/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/how-to-get-out-of-jury-duty/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2026 05:00:34 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3p Judge forced to slash SF jury pool over hate for Elon Musk:

One candidate said, "In a criminal trial, I would feel morally obligated to convict, however, in a civil trial I could set those views aside," adding, "I believe it would be to the benefit of the human race for Mr. Musk to be sent to prison." [...]

"I don't believe the loss of several hundreds of millions of dollars in civil trial will be even a drop in the bucket to his wealth," he reportedly said. "So it doesn't really matter."

He did not make it onto the jury, and neither did a woman who said Musk has "no moral compass" and "used his wealth to buy votes." The judge also dismissed a candidate who said they disagree with the "existence of billionaires" and another who noted their dislike for Musk's firing of Twitter content moderators.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/how-to-get-out-of-jury-duty/feed/ 13 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/hahaha-get-wrecked-ya-surveilling-fucks/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/hahaha-get-wrecked-ya-surveilling-fucks/#comments Sat, 21 Feb 2026 01:41:11 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3m Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras:

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

Not mentioned at the hearing: The mayor's teenage daughter, Taya Lurie, was cast in the starring role of Clara at the matinee performance that Sunday.

During stunning testimony before the Board's Public Safety Committee, Supervisor Bilal Mahmood asked PG&E CEO Sumeet Singh why the utility had chosen to help the arts venue while so many other San Francisco sites were without power.

"You prioritized the opera, where no one is living, to restore service, before you prioritized restoring service in communities and seniors living in [single room occupancies]," said Mahmood.

"We did not make that decision on our own accord," Singh replied. "We were requested by the mayor to provide temporary generation to that specific location. And we responded to that."

Singh said 10% of affected PG&E customers were still experiencing blackouts when the mayor made his request.

The mayor's comms team went ballistic and a couple days later, the PG&E CEO recanted and said: Oh, that thing that I quite clearly stated, that was a "misunderstanding". Uh huh.

So the interesting thing here is not that our oligarch mayor is both corrupt and bumbling -- I mean, water is wet -- but that PG&E chose to throw him under the bus like that. Statements like that, from people like that, about people like that, don't happen off the cuff. With the renewed and increasing calls to Eminent Domain PG&E, you'd think that PG&E would want SF's mayor on their side. This suggests that they think they just don't need him.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/danny-bluejeans-wont-let-a-little-thing-like-a-blackout-interrupt-his-daughters-talent-show/feed/ 19 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/door-ajar-versus-100-billion-valuation/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/door-ajar-versus-100-billion-valuation/#comments Fri, 13 Feb 2026 01:23:47 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3Z Today I learned that you can DoS a Waymo by opening its door.

"The More You Know..."

Waymo, Google's autonomous vehicle company, and DoorDash, the delivery and gig work platform, have launched a pilot program that pays Dashers, at least in one case, around $10 to travel to a parked Waymo and close its door that the previous passenger left open.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/door-ajar-versus-100-billion-valuation/feed/ 60