Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 3h

if you want to be proven wrong, accept that you've been proven wrong

Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 3h

not sure how putting in some hedgerows and putting up some solar panels and improving the quality of the grass growing there destroys anything but if you don't believe in climate change then I have zero interest explaining to to you mate

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

people set up entire foundations!

Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

it wasn't a specific request: when I share a post that doesn't have alt text for the images I do my own scrappy version of alt text so people with screen readers don't have to play 'I wonder what the image is' but I usually don't do full alt text for long text things so your thread is GREAT thankyou

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Reposted by Scary Mary Branscombe

Morten Nielsen @dotmorten.xaml.dev · 1d

Results from a little WinUIEx experiment this weekend. Simple API to create regions and set them:
window.SetRegion(
Region.CreateRectangle(window.GetBounds())
- Region(rectangle.GetBounds());
Can also be used to clip the outside of the window to a custom shape. #WinUI

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

ESU info for VMs on Azure

MS IT Tech News @msittechnews.bsky.social · 4h

"Windows 10 Extended Security Updates for Windows 365" buff.ly/UqW1eq5 #Microsoft #techcommunity

Windows 10 Extended Security Updates for Windows 365 - Windows IT Pro Blog

Learn more about Windows 10 ESUs for Windows 365.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Scary Mary Branscombe

MS IT Tech News @msittechnews.bsky.social · 4h

"Windows 10 Extended Security Updates for Azure Virtual Desktop" buff.ly/VZrRGw8 #Microsoft #techcommunity

Windows 10 Extended Security Updates for Azure Virtual Desktop - Azure Virtual Desktop Blog

Learn more about Windows 10 ESUs for Azure Virtual Desktop.

buff.ly

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

once you have a lot of money it's REALLY hard to give it away faster than it can earn you more money; it's a full time job giving serious amounts of money away

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 4h

“Despite her donations, Scott remains wealthier than when she initially split with Bezos, as Amazon shares have surged.”

MacKenzie Scott Shrinks Her Amazon Stake by $12.6 Billion

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott reduced her stake in Amazon.com Inc. by 42% over the past year, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.

www.bloomberg.com

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

also "Hargreaves Lansdown, have argued that capping the cash allowance could deter people from saving and might make it more complicated for people to switch between different types of ISAs" pardon me while I roll on the floor sobbing with laughter because no one makes it more complicated than HL

Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 26d

any UK folks who are thinking 'Hargreaves Lansdown have good ISA rates, I'll switch some money over there', allow me to share my cautionary tale (for they do have the best ISA rates right now but boy howdy will you work for it'

Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

the building societies who pointed out in the summer that cash ISAs are where the money to lend out mortgages comes from are going to point this out again in the autumn; you have to make investing in stocks and shares ISAs more appealing not make cash ISAs less appealing

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 6h

Rachel Reeves revives plans to overhaul cash Isas on.ft.com/3W5DBnr

Rachel Reeves revives plans to overhaul cash Isas

Chancellor weighs up halving annual tax-free savings allowance to encourage wider investment in UK stock market

on.ft.com

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

I don't believe any screen readers do OCR; do you have details of ones that do? (and they can't do a good enough job on image captions for it to be good for people to get out of the habit of doing alt text)

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

alt text that so we can share it!

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

maybe she can: she can certainly get one year of ESU (extended security updates) as a consumer free (for values of free that include 'letting OneDrive back up your Windows settings'). companies can buy THREE years of ESU and who they consider employees they can deploy those updates to is up to them

Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

it is a potentially very interesting combo if they can pull it off!

Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

there was literally a @swiftonsecurity.com thread about that today, with barking

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

also, has Wi-Fi

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

people who use Arduino boards are pretty used to plugging in USB dongles

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

and for all the people who will rightly be saying 'Qualcomm?!' followed by whatever choice phrase, I'll note that where I know Leendert van Dorn from is incubating (eventually Windows) Arm server hardware at Microsoft

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

you know the giant BOSS button on some sites that switches you to a tab with an Excel spreadsheet in?

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Reposted by Scary Mary Branscombe

Jake Williams @malwarejake.bsky.social · 5h

Tell me you're desperate for revenue without telling me.

Seriously, imagine your elevator pitch is "we offer an AI that revolutionizes the enterprise, answers questions at a PhD level, and also talks dirty to horny young men." It would be like if PornHub was selling a productivity suite.

404 Media @404media.co · 5h

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced in a post on X Tuesday that ChatGPT is officially getting into the fuckable chatbots game, with “erotica for verified adults” rolling out in December.

🔗 www.404media.co/chatgpt-erot...

ChatGPT’s Hail Mary: Chatbots You Can Fuck

As recent reports show OpenAI bleeding cash, and on the heels of accusations that ChatGPT caused teens and adults alike to harm themselves and others, CEO Sam Altman announced that you can soon fuck t...

www.404media.co

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

why didn't you even try to get a new i-visa when yours ran out, Mary?
I mean, have you *seen* my bluesky account?

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 4h

“The State Department said Tuesday it had determined they should lose their visas after reviewing their online social media posts and clips about Kirk, who was killed while speaking at an Utah college campus on Sept. 10.”

US revokes visas for 6 foreigners over Charlie Kirk-related speech

The Trump administration has revoked the visas of six foreigners deemed by U.S. officials to have made derisive comments or made light of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last m...

apnews.com

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Reposted by Scary Mary Branscombe

Ken Tindell @kentindell.bsky.social · 4h

But his emails!

CNN @cnn.com · 4h

EXCLUSIVE: Part of the Justice Department’s investigation of John Bolton centers around diary entry-like notes he was making to himself in an AOL email account when he was President Trump’s national security adviser, and whether they contained classified information, sources tell CNN.

DOJ investigation of John Bolton focuses on diary-like notes in his AOL email account | CNN Politics

Part of the Justice Department’s investigation of John Bolton centers around notes he was making to himself in an AOL email account — at times writing summaries of his activities like diary entries — ...

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Scary Mary Branscombe

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 4h

Among Cameron Chell’s many suspect adventures, he tried to launch a Catholic crypto coin with, of all people, Rick Santorum, as @talkingpointsmemo.com reported in 2019:

Santorum, Schlapp Shill For Catholic Crypto Coin Whose Founder Has Sketchy Past

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and American Conservative Union chair Matt Schlapp...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 4h

it's like the Theranos of drones (literally)

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Reposted by Scary Mary Branscombe

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 4h

Cameron Chell of Draganfly appears to be back on his “we’ve totally invented a drone that can detect biomarkers from the air” bullshit, which I debunked as bullshit in Slate back in 2020.

It is deeply depressing to see this obvious PR nonsense uncritically repeated in this Axios piece.

The technology is far more powerful than your standard human-operated drone.
• These machines can track everything from ground radar to air quality - and even measure a person's heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and oxygen levels from 500 meters away, Cameron Chell, CEO of Canadian drone-maker Draganfly, told Axios.

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