A lawsuit filed in February accuses Tesla of remotely altering odometer values on failure-prone cars, in a bid to push these lemons beyond the 50,000 mile warranty limit:
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
"- while corporations are (legally) people, they are decidedly not human. They are artificial lifeforms, "intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic" (as HG Wells said of the marauding aliens in War of the Worlds) [...] These alien invaders are busily xenoforming the planet, rendering it unfit for human habitation." - @pluralistic
The most salient part of the article is still the attached bit, but it's too long for a toot, hence the also pretty good quote above.
@nyrath @cstross There's a disturbing overlap between corporations and AI: both essentially are devoted to blindly following rules not only without regard for humans but without regard for conscious awareness of what they're doing. AI is the perfect tool for implementing the blind rules corporations follow, such as the carefully scripted non-answers given out by P.R. and customer "service".
King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend a state banquet hosted by the President of Italy at the Quirinale Palace in Rome on April 9, 2025 (DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy) While I was in the UK last week, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were travelin…
Please make @pluralistic an emperor for a day, and we'll have quite a few problems solved. If that's not possible, then maybe more people should pay attention to his words: pluralistic.net/2025/04/15/mus…
ISTR that in the Ready Player One book, Mr. Doctorow had been elected to represent player's interests the their matrix/metaverse for many, many years running.
I don't want anyone with emperor powers. I don't want anyone to be our "unitary executive" at all. But, I would like an administration (and congress) that took a bit more advise from Lessig and Doctorow and Schneier and the EFF.
Villajoyosa, Alicante braving the weather. Credit: Felipe Thomas 2 - Shutterstock What the weather will be like over Easter weekend has been at the forefront of many minds in Spain after last year’s washout, and the answer is still sketchy with a new…
The Secrets of Successful Author Branding: Self-Publishing with ALLi Featuring Dale L. Roberts
Join Dale L. Roberts as he interviews self-publishing expert Bryan Cohen on the foundations of author branding. Learn how genre clarity, strong sales copy, and Amazon ads work together to grow your fan base and boost book sales. It’s a… selfpublishingadvice.org/podca…
Cycling through Vondelpark, the largest city park in Amsterdam. PGS: Bicycles: The Mechanical Advantage Max, one of the Penn Global Seminar Correspondents, shares his experience abroad during the Spring 2025 semester.
Een volgende botsing tussen de regering-Trump en de internationale orde dreigt, nu op het gebied van diepzeemijnbouw. Deze is echter al decennia in de maak. nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/04/14/ameri…
Last Friday, Marja Van Dessel passed the torch as chairperson of the Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt, the Vegetable Research Station to Didier Algoet.
DOGE handing over government logins to Russia is not a scandal because everybody was expecting it anyway? "Within minutes after DOGE accessed the NLRB's systems, someone with an IP address in Russia started trying to log in [...]. The attempts were "near real-time," [...]. Those attempts were blocked, but they were especially alarming. Whoever was attempting to log in was using one of the newly created DOGE accounts — and the person had the correct username and password" npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-53558…
In a wideranging interview, Luxembourg's new Prosecutor General John Petry has declared chronic case delays a 'scandal', outlined sweeping reforms to modernise the judiciary, and warned of growing global threats to judicial independence.
A Sino-Tibetan folded book printed in Beijing in 1410, with dhāranīs in Sanskrit written in Tibeto-Nepali characters and woodcuts of protective mantra-diagrams and deities, block printed on heavy white paper. Breathtakingly detailed printing in red ink, 40 years before Gutenberg
The image features a traditional manuscript with intricate red text and designs. The top section displays two open pages filled with dense, red script, likely in a non-Latin script, possibly Tibetan or Sanskrit. The text is arranged in columns, with each page containing numerous lines of text.
The bottom section presents a large, circular mandala-like design, also in red. This design is highly detailed, with concentric circles containing various symbols, figures, and text. The central area of the mandala features a rectangular section with text, surrounded by multiple layers of intricate patterns and motifs. The border of the mandala is adorned with decorative elements, including figures and symbols, enhancing the overall complexity of the design. The background of the manuscript appears to be a light, aged paper, adding to the historical and cultural significance of the document.
Provided by @altbot, generated privately and locally using Ovis2-8B
@derle Not mass production like the printing press enabled. They had woodblock printing where the woodblock was hand carved and used until it wore out.
Photo Courtesy: Leo White Ahmahd Denmark’s story doesn’t begin in a lab or a lecture hall. It begins in Jacksonville on humid afternoons spent hammering nails into fences and wiring up boats.
UK Supreme court rules legal definition of a woman excludes trans women
"The landmark case was brought forward by gender-critical group For Women Scotland (FWS) [...]. FWS, who have been publicly supported by gender critical author JK Rowling, [...]."
With its F-35s in hand, Norway is now well equipped to defend its skies aerially. Earlier this month, Norway became the first Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) partner nation to fulfill its F-35 program of record.
Winchell Chung ⚛🚀
in reply to JWcph, Radicalized By Decency • • •Invaders from Mars , by @cstross
antipope.org/charlie/blog-stat…
60sRefugee
in reply to Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 • • •