< Notes...

Well, lots of noise around the neighbourhood about this now. Maybe there is hope, after all, and enough of us will show up at the meeting to stop the change.

“Special Assessments. In addition to the Annual Assessments authorized above, the Association may levy, in any assessment year, special assessments applicable to that year only for the purpose of defraying, in whole or in part, the cost of any construction, reconstruction, repair or replacement of a capital improvement upon the Common Areas, including fixtures and personal property related thereto, and/or for any other purpose deemed necessary by the Board, including to fund a deficit in the annual budget, provided that any such assessment shall have the assent of two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the Board of Directors.”

Our upcoming Home Owner’s Association (HOA) annual meeting is going to be difficult, to say the least. That proposed change above takes away home owners’ financial decision making, and places it solely on the Board of Directors. A no-no, in my opinion.

A New York Times analysis of Polymarket data over that period found that it was relatively uncommon for someone to bet a significant sum of money that a U.S. strike would happen by the next day.

But over the course of Friday, more than 150 accounts placed hundreds of bets of at least $1,000, correctly predicting an American strike on Iran by Saturday.

Certainly insider trading, I don’t see it any other way. And yes, I find it credible under the circumstances of the current regime.

➝ Via Hacker News.

We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen. And, sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is. Likely be more.

It is not only what it was said, but the way it was said. Go listen to it for yourself. Come to think of it, don’t. Just believe me.

Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.

In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.

I am afraid that was not my last note, and I apologise. This one sure is, on this specific issue. The above from OpenAI’s CEO, just hours after Anthropic’s statement. What would make the DoW reach an agreement with OpenAI, after declaring Anthropic a “supply chain risk”? I’d leave that as an exercise to the reader. Yes, I am announcing my departure. ChatGPT app removed from everywhere, OpenAI account deleted. Good riddance.

The news of the attack on Iran greeted me as I woke up at 05:00, having been going on for 3 hours or so already. So it began.

We are the employees of Google and OpenAI, two of the top AI companies in the world

We hope our leaders will put aside their differences and stand together to continue to refuse the Department of War’s current demands for permission to use our models for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight.

That warms my heart! I hope things do not get dicey, and that this is the last note I write about it.

I think the time has come for me to spend some coins on AI. I have the strong inkling I will end up choosing Anthropic’s Claude.

The Department of War has stated they will only contract with AI companies who accede to “any lawful use” and remove safeguards in the cases mentioned above. They have threatened to remove us from their systems if we maintain these safeguards; they have also threatened to designate us a “supply chain risk”—a label reserved for US adversaries, never before applied to an American company—and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal. These latter two threats are inherently contradictory: one labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security.

The above is from Dario Amodei’s statement on Anthropic’s discussions with the Department of Defense. As I told a mate on IRC, if the DoD finds a less scrupulous AI company to abide to their will, things could get dicey pretty quickly.

Update: 12 Mar 2026 @ 11:21:46

Because I forgot to come here at the time to note it, they got “a less scrupulous AI company to abide to their will”.

It will be long, and tedious. There will be lies, and rants, and non-sense, and pointing fingers to the other side, and further divide inducing. It will be nauseating. It will be forgotten, just like the meal you and I had yesterday, or last week on Wednesday night.

I will have none of it.

So hard to explain politics, or, at the very least, advice they form their own opinions, and not let others on the YouTube shows they watch do it for them, to our elders! They simply don’t want to listen. Instead they say some non-sense, and without letting you engage further they say “But that’s OK, let’s not talk about that!” Infuriating. Will I be like them when—and if—I grow older? I sure hope not!

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that President Trump exceeded his authority when he imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from nearly every U.S. trading partner, a major setback for his administration’s second-term agenda.

The court’s 6-3 decision has significant implications for the U.S. economy, consumers and the president’s trade policy. The Trump administration had said that a loss at the Supreme Court could force the government to unwind trade deals with other countries and potentially pay hefty refunds to importers.

At least we are about to start the weekend with some positive news. While I take every bit of positive news with a degree of joy, I remain cautiously, and skeptically, optimistic.

“Nope, the name Andrew certainly doesn’t ring a bell. He was a Prince you say? Well, I was a Prince most of my life and I certainly never came across another one called Andrew. There was Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Prince T’Challa, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, but no Prince Andrew."

Newsthump is like The Onion, only with real current news. They are awesome. 🤭

The rapid buildup of U.S. forces in the Middle East has progressed to the point that President Trump has the option to take military action against Iran as soon as this weekend, administration and Pentagon officials said, leaving the White House with high-stakes choices about pursuing diplomacy or war.

Looks like we are heading to, yet another, war … again. You know, because our previous incursion did nothing, but endangering lifes, and wasting money.

From The Atlantic podcast, “Defund Science, Distort Culture, Mock Education”.

“Autocrats engage in a mix of utopia and nostalgia, so the Smithsonian is a perfect target if you truly are aiming big. And authoritarians […], they think big; they think long-term. They’re very obsessed with their legacy.

You purge the content of histories that you no longer want, or people you no longer want featured—and instead, you promote your own sanitized, mythological version of history. It’s not enough to just fire people you are smearing who are “radical left,” even though they’re not. You have to go after the whole thing.”

➝ Via Kottke.

“Attendees should be aware that travel to and within the United States of America presents heightened risks. Recent immigration enforcement actions have included aggressive use of force and expanded detention. Transgender and gender-diverse travellers, in particular, may face increased scrutiny, misgendering, or denial of entry based on documentation or appearance. More broadly, the United States is experiencing political instability and the rapid expansion of authoritarian policies, sometimes implemented with little advance notice. Travellers are advised to review current conditions carefully, carry complete documentation, and assess personal risk before making travel plans. Consult your country’s travel advisory for more information.”

Travel advisory attached to every conference happening within the US (pick United States under “Countries”), at TechConf.Directory. 😢

Everybody lies. Everybody. That’s group one. Some people lie much, much, much more than others. That’s group two. Absolutely do not trust group two. Ever.

It was in the news yesterday that India had ordered all smartphones makers to ensure all new devices came preloaded with an app called Sanchar Saathi, allegedly to “bolster telecom cybersecurity”. Apple, non-publicly, stated that they would not comply. Today India is scrapping their mandatory order. Much planning, such wow!

“The Office of the First Lady of the United States needs to end. Institutional nepotism of this sort presents several problems. Primarily, we allocate budgetary resources and authority to a person whose sole qualification is being married to an elected representative.”

In complete agreement with Roshan on the “Abolish the First Lady” topic. “No one ever really cared who Angela Merkel’s husband was […] The real reason no one cared is that he’s just a guy there who stands or falls on his own merits”, he writes. Indeed!

“Be sure to bring up politics at Thanksgiving dinner. It’s going to save you money on Christmas gifts.”

Often the Fediverse brings small wisdom nuggets with a touch of humour. This one sure is funny. I don’t know if I have the heart to follow through on it, as I wouldn’t want the death of an elder in my conscience.

“There’s no other way to say it. We failed our children. We failed our climate. We failed our trans community. We failed our immigrants. We failed our middle class. We failed our increasingly desperate houseless population. We failed people of color. We failed our schools. We failed our future. We took the first steps over the threshold as a nation last night, into the dark unknown. The experiment is over, and we failed to prevent this disaster.”

Notice the date on which the post was written. Garrett successfully and eloquently verbalises what I felt, what many of us felt, then. And now.

When writing about the US Mint ending the production of new pennies, Jason Kottke wrote this witty remark with which I agree:

“One of the very few things that incompetent stopped clock in the White House has gotten accidentally right.”

➝ Via Kottke.

Our current government doesn't care about SNAP benefits
https://federate.social/@mattblaze →

“Honestly, I think it’s worse than indifference. I think they care quite a bit - about maximizing the suffering of those they view as mere parasitic drains on wealth that rightfully belongs to them. Witness the warnings to merchants to not provide discounts to people not getting their benefits - something that would help people and cost the government nothing.”

Does it makes sense to you that, after holding off for so long towards achieving a goal worth achieving, a few democrats decide to “cross lines” thus making all their efforts, and pains, worthless?

I am all for the drop of the penny, but with a marketing perversely centred around ending prices with “99” that’s going to prove to be difficult, or messy, or both.

The iconic White House website, previously the symbol of the American government, has become—as a friend wrote to me—the “parody of a government”. I sure hope it is being archived to serve as a perennial testament of a government gone way beyond south.

“The Pentagon certainly has the right to make its own policies, within the constraints of the law,” the Pentagon Press Association said in a statement on Monday. “There is no need or justification, however, for it to require reporters to affirm their understanding of vague, likely unconstitutional policies as a precondition to reporting from Pentagon facilities.”

Several news outlets (New York Times, AP, Newsmax amongst others) will not sign new Pentagon rules, which vastly limit access for credentialed media while inside the Pentagon complex.

“In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.”

➝ Via MIT Office of the President.

I remember reading that Jesus said: “Fear everyone, expel the stranger, blame the poor, feed the rich, ignore the sick, sacrifice the young, love only thyself, trust only Caesar, throw lots of stones.” Right? 🙄

“The party that controls both the House and the Senate, not to mention the executive branch, would like to remind you that the government being shut down right now is entirely the fault of the party that has no actual power right now.”

➝ Via @mattblaze.

‘We’ll probably have a shutdown’, Trump says in Oval Office press conference.

“They want to give Cadillac Medicare to illegal aliens… at the cost to everyone else,” the president said. This is a false claim that Trump and congressional Republicans have repeated since lawmakers have failed to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. A reminder, this lapses tonight.

Undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible to enroll in subsidized programs like Medicaid, Medicare or the Affordable Care Act.

➝ Via The Guardian.

BERLIN, Feb. 3. 1939.—Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels today ended the professional careers of five “Aryan” actors and cabaret announcers by expelling them from the Reich’s Chamber of Culture on the grounds that “in their public appearances they displayed a lack of any positive attitude toward National Socialism and therewith caused grave annoyance in public and especially to party comrades.”

As printed in The New York Times. In 1939.

This guy is putting his nose—and face—on everything, everything that doesn’t pertain to him, nor anyone around him, and it’s truly bloody everything up. I can’t imagine how all of this will be unravelled.

I know this is about business, yet, I still hear the question in my head, why? As presidencies are ephemeral, can’t Apple widthstand the rough seas for 3.5 years?

From Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugural address, 20 January 1937, as ever present today as always.

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

Yes, alone in our galaxy. No one else but us. All we have is our family, our friends, our neighbours, our fellow citizens, our equal human beings. Why can’t we all get along? Why can’t we care about each other? Seriously.

As I paid almost three times more for a tiny grocery shopping this evening, I felt grateful that at least they were harvested, and made by real, patriotic, heterosexual, white, christian, American workers, and not illegal immigrants. 🇺🇸

“Man Afraid to Ride Subway Named Head of NASA”, reads the Rolling Stone headline, when referring to the man (Sean Duffy) which our president has picked to lead NASA as its interim administrator. It concludes, and I kid you not:

“Meanwhile, let’s hope Duffy (who’s afraid to hop on the 6 train) is ready to take on a government agency that has launched humans to the moon and probes to interstellar space.”

The US attack on Iran was not only reckless, but it accomplished next to nothing, and it cost quite a bit. “Mission Accomplished”. 🙄

It just occurred to me—because “Mission Accomplished” came to mind—that similarly we accomplished on Iraq: nothing. Iraqis, on the other hand, are arguably worse.

Update: 19 Feb 2026 @ 09:34:44

Fixed broken link. News sources URLs should never change, ever. Yet, here we are.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is an abomination, and it will cause so much debt and harm to the country that its effects will be felt for generations (specifically and specially from middle and low income class) to come.