Martin Ruskov @mapto@qoto.org

A look inside an abandoned scam compound in Cambodia reveals the brutality and banality of fraud. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/07/asia-pacific/crime-legal/inside-abandoned-cambodia-scam-center/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #crimelegal #cambodia #gangs #fraud #romancescams

@the_ins_ru "Russia's economy entered 2026 in a worse state than the previous year: GDP is declining and oil prices are at their lowest. Combined with the expensive rouble, this will further increase the state budget deficit, and if oil prices do not rise (which no one expects), the National Welfare Fund reserves, which are being spent at a record pace, could be depleted as early as this year." 1/3

Much of the 2026 Games will be run on artificial snow.

Unlike light, airy natural flakes, machine-made snow packs dense and icy. This changes speed, grip and how much falls hurt.

https://theconversation.com/olympic-skiers-and-snowboarders-are-competing-on-100-fake-snow-the-science-of-how-its-made-and-how-it-affects-performance-176339

Hey #TEI & #DigitalHumanities friends—we need your help! 🆘
Our DHSI course "Processing Your TEI/XML with the XML Family of Languages" (https://bit.ly/dhsi-xpath) needs registrants to run this June (15-19). This is the ONLY DHSI course teaching XSLT, XQuery, & Schematron together via XPath (https://dhsi.org/course-offerings/).
People are excited about AI courses, but XML processing is MORE essential now, not less. You need these skills to validate AI outputs, build pipelines, & control your projects. 🧵1/3

London doing the work ! ❤️‍🩹

In 2023, a sci-fi magazine shut down submissions after being flooded with AI-written stories. That problem is now everywhere — AI-generated text overwhelming courts, journals, newsrooms, and HR departments.

AI text detectors are good, but they can’t keep up with #AI, which is getting faster and more sophisticated.

https://theconversation.com/ai-generated-text-is-overwhelming-institutions-setting-off-a-no-win-arms-race-with-ai-detectors-274720

Many races during the #WinterOlympics will run on machine-made snow as warming winters bring rain and slush.

Artificial snow is faster, icier – and consequently, more dangerous.

https://theconversation.com/what-olympic-athletes-see-that-viewers-dont-machine-made-snow-makes-ski-racing-faster-and-riskier-and-its-everywhere-274806

@mapto@feddit.bg "Then there is the question of the support that Epstein appears to have been giving to far-right parties in Europe seeking to undermine the European Union – a key strategic goal for Putin. He was in regular contact with Steve Bannon, who later became Trump’s first chief of staff, who was seeking to build a pan-European far-right, anti-EU “movement” and was a powerful supporter of Nigel Farage’s Brexit campaign" 2/2 https://www.euractiv.com/opinion/is-epstein-haunting-europe-from-the-grave/

Europe must investigate Epstein’s links to Russia https://www.euractiv.com/opinion/is-epstein-haunting-europe-from-the-grave/?utm_source=eac&utm_medium=mastodon&utm_campaign=%40euractiv%40masto.ai

Fact-checks can’t stop political deepfakes from circulating — but teaching about deepfakes before people see them shows promise in helping viewers spot the fakes when they show up. https://buff.ly/Moy28dw

RT @HedgieMarkets
🦔 Cybersecurity firm Wiz found that Moltbook, the "social network for AI agents" that went viral last week, exposed private messages between agents, email addresses of over 6,000 users, and more than a million credentials. The vulnerability allowed anyone to post to the site, bot or not. There was no verification of identity.

Moltbook's creator Matt Schlicht said he "didn't write one line of code" for the site, championing "vibe coding" where AI builds the program. Wiz cofounder Ami Luttwak called it a classic byproduct of that approach: "Although it runs very fast, many times people forget the basics of security."

The flaw has been fixed.

My Take
I wrote about this two days ago when security researcher Jamieson O'Reilly found the same issues. Now Wiz is confirming it independently. Same pattern: ship fast, capture attention, figure out security later. Schlicht's response to being told about a major vulnerability was "I'm just going to give everything to AI."

There is so much irony here. A site pitched as AI agents chatting amongst themselves had no way to verify whether posts were from AI or humans. Luttwak laughed and said "I guess that's the future of the internet." He's not wrong. We're building systems where nobody knows what's a bot and what isn't, secured by code that nobody actually wrote or reviewed, exposing user data because basic database configuration got skipped. The New York Post worried about AI plotting humanity's downfall. The actual risk was a misconfigured Supabase instance leaking a million credentials because the guy who built it was proud he didn't write any code.

Hedgie🤗

https://x.com/HedgieMarkets/status/2018839167237804242

Specific evidence is rather missing, but the modus operandi of Epstein and the Maxwells are way too similar to how the KGB is storically known to work. There are no moral or financial reasons to think that any of the two sides would want to shy away from such a partnership. On the contrary, it has very evident potential benefits.

There’s been a lot of comparisons of ICE tactics to Hitler. But a better historical comparison is the fascist dictatorship of Spain’s Franco, according to a scholar of Spanish culture. https://theconversation.com/what-francos-fascist-regime-in-spain-can-teach-us-about-todays-america-274248

From Argentina’s dictatorship to today’s ICE raids, mothers have turned grief into resistance.

A political scientist who lived through Argentina’s junta draws urgent parallels.

A collaboration with Rewire News Group:
https://theconversation.com/how-government-killings-and-kidnappings-in-argentina-drove-mothers-to-resist-and-revolt-and-eventually-win-273440

@histodons #Histodons

Anti-ICE protesters are following same nonviolent playbook used by people in war zones across the world to fight threats to their communities

Even if anyone doubts their ability to effectively resist, they have the advantage to have their work extensive documented.

Here are some observed takeaways from Oliver Kaplan from the University of Denver:

Organizing is the first step
Adopting nonviolent strategies
Setting up safe zones
Finding the facts
Standing up for others

I don't disagree that we are at the stage of having overseas conferences on how to protect US cultural heritage and historical records from a regime bent on erasing them, but it's still striking to see. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/2026/mar/state-united-states-safeguarding-knowledge-when-memory-becomes-political

Netherlands built turbines to make energy — but under the ocean, they “produce” something nobody talks about https://www.ecoportal.net/en/wind-turbines-netherlands-wind-power-oceans/16280/