Paul Sutton @zleap@qoto.org

Meta announced today that it will soon start training its artificial intelligence models using content shared by European adult users on its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/meta-to-resume-ai-training-on-content-shared-by-europeans/

This is bad.

This is what we told you was coming

And now its here:

"Home growns are next.

"The home-growns

"You gotta build about five more [prisons] It's not big enough."

Octopus and its customers ask Treasury to back zonal electricity pricing
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/14/octopus-and-its-customers-ask-treasury-to-back-zonal-electricity-pricing
Supplier rallies small businesses as critics say overhaul would harm development of clean energy

LEGO are the baddies now.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/apr/11/lego-drops-diversity-terms-from-its-annual-sustainability-report

LLMs can't stop making up software dependencies and sabotaging everything

Hallucinated package names fuel 'slopsquatting'

https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2025/04/12/ai_code_suggestions_sabotage_supply_chain/

#security #ai

https://www.europesays.com/1993910/ Union battles executive order limiting workers’ rights amid looming VA job reductions #DepartmentOfGovernmentEfficiency #doge #ElonMusk #ExecutiveOrder #FederalWorkforce #Grievances #JobReductions #Musk #protest #union #VAHospital #WorkersRights

Nice rendering of the growing mass distribution in a simulated cluster of galaxies, and of the shocks driven by the same process, by former PhD student Matteo Angelinelli, using Julia over ENZO simulations.

#astronomy #astrodon #science #SimulatedUniverses

In a PhD exam about atmospheric chemistry three weeks ago ,I asked the candidate what would happen if the US stopped collecting the data of the kind she had used in her thesis. A good discussion followed. Now here it is.
As expected from the Project 2025, the Trump administration prepares to completely gut NOAA and eliminate its climate monitoring and research. #climatescience #denial #vandalism

https://www.eenews.net/articles/white-house-outlines-plan-to-gut-noaa-smother-climate-research/

We ran the simulation:
- Universal basic income increased mental health
- Unionization improved life satisfaction
- Public housing reduced crime
So naturally, we cut benefits, banned strikes, and sold the land to BlackRock.

New Publication at the Open Journal of Astrophysics: "Are Models of Strong Gravitational Lensing by Clusters Converging or Diverging?" by Derek Perera (U. Minnesota), John H Miller Jr & Liliya L. R. Williams (U. Minnesota, USA), Jori Liesenborgs (Hasselt U., Belgium), Allison Keen (U. Minnesota), Sung Kei Li (Hong Kong University), Marceau Limousin (Aix Marseille Univ., France)

https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.136341

Just today:
•Two planes collided at Reagan airport in DC
•A helicopter crashed in the Hudson, killing 6
•Dow closed down 1,000 points
•MAGAs voted for the "SAVE" Act to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters

We've suffered 25 deadly aviation incidents in 2025, killing ~120 people. The economy is on the verge of recession. And MAGAs are enacting autocracy. But good thing they fired Black & brown people from government.

This is what a country run by white supremacists looks like.

Despite the Trump administration’s claims it’s targeting so-called violent criminals, data shows 90% of those removed in last month’s flights had no criminal record.

The UK economy continues to essentially flailing - growth in GDP struggled up to 0.5% in February, but this was before the ripples of Trump's more recent actions hit these shores.

For the de-growth crowd this looks OK, but as I've said before while there may be an argument for managed de-growth, chaotic & unplanned economic stagnation (prompted in part by the BoE policies on inflation) skews the adjustment onto the poor & vulnerable.

The UK needs a new economic mind-set...

#economics

Facebook Pushes Its Llama 4 AI Model to the Right, Wants to Present “Both Sides”

“The ‘both sides’ approach here is false-equivalence, like that of treating an anti vax conspiracy theorist on a par with a scientist or medical doctor. One is illegitimate and dangerous, the other driven by verifiable empirical evidence.”

https://www.404media.co/facebook-pushes-its-llama-4-ai-model-to-the-right-wants-to-present-both-sides/

BREAKING: The country of Norway just entered a bill to give transgender Americans asylum in the country of Norway… LGBTQ+ STRONG! 🌈✨

One in six UK jobs paid below the real Living Wage in 2024 — 800,000 more than the previous year. The workers who keep society running shouldn't be fighting to make ends meet.

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2025/04/we-need-a-liveable-wage/