Tom Cross 🇨🇦🇺🇸

Video from our Defcon talk is now available: The highest purpose of computers is to augment human intelligence, and to do so, our computers must be designed to challenge the way we think. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHqD...

As you watch the video, keep in mind that all of this was over alleged *shoplifting* of a package of diapers, a backpack, and some clothing. Apprehending a shoplifter, Mississippi officials apparently believe, was worth the life of a 1-year-old boy.

“Police can now use technology to track all of us all the time, then rely on AI to churn through the resulting oceans of data to suggest suspects, who are then detained under false pretenses.” www.aclu.org/news/privacy...

Roughly 1/4 of its workforce. $MSFT

Around 175 House Dems just called on Trump's DOJ and DHS to end "weaponization of law enforcement" against Rep Ilhan Omar. The letter is signed by numerous ranking committee Dems, showing depth of support for Omar in leadership and signaling how Dem House will act. newrepublic.com/article/2171...

Ministers keep saying things like “get ready for war in 1,000 days” and journalists keep not saying things like “what do you mean” and “can you be more specific” www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

It's notable how sincerely and genuinely defence folks believe Europe will be invaded by Russia in the next five years You can disagree with their analysis. And it's definitely not penetrated general public understanding. But it is shaping decision-maker thinking www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

This is why autocrats start unwinnable wars and make lots of dumb decisions.

Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' depicts the sky on July 22, 1889, researchers find www.space.com/astronomy/va...

At the end of the day, whatever support Democrats are getting that is pushing them over the line in this midterm is from cynical people who really don't care if Trump or a Democrat is in power as long as prices are low.

I think it does matter, because its important to keep a grip on reality - but nevertheless I agree with the general arguments made here:

🚨 Six WebPKI Intermediate CAs are compromised. This is bigger than Heartbleed, but a client-side issue. Anything that verifies certificates against public roots, like most TLS clients, is/was affected. Details, live test, patched versions and workarounds at emudhra.we-have-a-problem.com Act now.

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The name of New Mexico is funny because it's one of those things that you'd think is really simple (oh, it's it used to be part of old Mexico, so we'll call it New Mexico!), but it's much more complex New Mexico as the name for the area predates Mexico by several hundred years!

SCOOP Election offices in at least 32 states have received suspicious letters, many including white powder, over the course of the last week www.wired.com/story/electi...

Leftists tend to rationalize and glorify it, for example with riots. Riots can be driven by righteous anger, but the reason people are burning and looting is for the most part the same reason reason there’s burning and looting when the home team wins or loses.

The dems are losing the media field, both traditional and online.

America now has second-generation school shooting survivors nypost.com/2026/10/17/u...

Theranos is an example of an American elite that has stopped caring about what is real and what is not real because they deal entirely in persuasion and they have completely succumbed to their own rationalizations.

Crazy this is not obvious to Wall Street: every democracy saw what Musk did to Ukraine last week and confirmed security need for Starlink alternative. Those alternatives will not just serve defense needs, but also be viable commercial alternatives, crushing any hope of SpaceX's monopoly projections.

Zelenskyy: "If the United States supports Putin, it's unbelievable, it's a tragedy. It's a historic mistake. If United States officially takes the side of Russia, of course we will not prevail and we will not be able to stand."

Late to this Bloomberg piece on Marc Andreessen. This is one of the key things. Andreessen is *angry* about how he has been treated, when any objective observer might note he has benefited enormously from the institutions he now purports to detest. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

The outrage cycle over the No Kings Instagram account is ridiculous. This was a 1.5 hour outage that started at 1:30 in the afternoon. If they were looking to spike protest attendance they would have done it earlier in the day. People in left/liberal circles have their own stupid groupthink.

Defending the earth since '78: Veterans of the four year war against the Invaders from Space. 📖: Computer Gaming World, Sept/Oct 1982

A truly remarkable thing has happened. Not only has President Trump done the right thing by deciding not to stream the execution of Nidal Hasan. But in so doing, he has also made clear that there is perhaps someone less fit for office than he himself is: Pete Hegseth.

WAPO: “.. all the major donors to .. Trump’s White House ballroom project, including previously undisclosed contributors who have benefited from regulatory decisions, government contracts and, in one case, a pardon for a family member.” @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Do you care as much about Democracy as they do? Because they lost, and I don’t think you do.

Remembering that time when some big name accounts were arguing that X is all good now and the algorithm has been de-Elon'd. Wait, that was yesterday. The same time this was happening.

AI will make it easier for activist groups to monitor the compex nationwide web of legislation for bills of interest and track whether their representatives are advancing bills they care about. It will be more direct democracy, perhaps for the worse, as activist groups are not all reasonable.

Here’s LL Cool J trying to explain Clausewitz’s “remarkable trinity” to an uncomprehending Joe Rogan

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has earned its name, setting a new "Off-World" record for furthest distance driven by any rover on another world, 28.10 miles (45.22 km), breaking the record of the rover Opportunity at 28.06 mi (45.16 km) from 2004-2018. science.nasa.gov/blogs/persev...

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I think both the raid of Ilhan Omar’s residence and of Fulton County suggest that courts are rubber stamping warrants that don’t establish probable cause.

"All of the World’s Beer Brewed in 2025, by Country" www.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-w...

scotus_majority: SCOTUS majority opinions. Network of legal citations among majority opinions written by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), from 1754-2002 (2008 version) and 1792-2006 (2007 version). https://networks.skewed.de/net/scotus_majority#2007 Ridiculogram:

If you praise the Confederacy, everyone knows what you're doing. If you praise Rhodesia, though, you still get that little frisson of naughtiness, the little tingle of rebelliousness that can power you through the drudgery of your eight-hour shift at your dad's car dealership.

how the fuck is this gonna happen to you and you're not thinking its a robbery

Petroglyph depicting whales, Qaqortoq, Greenland, 2010.

i was fortunate enough to profile Margaret Hamilton in 2019. A really kind and curious person. This was my favorite story she told me:

Diane and Leo Dillon, book covers for Ace Science Fiction 1968–1971

“…most commonly carried out in a handful of countries including Iran, North Korea and the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan. “releasing video of executions is most often associated with extremist militant groups like the Islamic State...” www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/u...

A thing that some Republicans have failed to appreciate is that when they tie themselves to Trump’s current actions they remain tied to his future actions.

A spokesperson for Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey: “The state of Alabama refers to the Gulf as the Gulf of America, period. It is not hard to see that these so-called ‘free-speech’ complaints are just a cover up for blatant bias against the Trump Administration.”

The latest “rigged election” strategy from the Trump administration involves producing a series of strategically timed arrests of non-citizens for alleged voter fraud & promoting those events to feed the false narrative that non-citizen voter fraud is widespread. uwcip.substack.com/p/federal-fr...

If you want to understand where things are at with America, it would to find a more authoritative source: