Lauren Weinstein

Currently free (though this status can change at any time!) at least in the U.S., the amazing 1979 film "The Warriors" is available on #YouTube Movies & TV. I honestly don't know how to properly categorize this film. The plot involves a small gang attempting to work their way home at night in New York City, while every other gang is trying to find and attack them, blaming them for a murder that they did not commit. The film is highly stylized, in some ways almost surrealistic, and it's one of a kind. Highly recommended! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC7G4Ghj-1k&t=5414s&pp=sAQB

Fun Fact: Arguably the most bizarre teleportation concept ever put to film was in a 1957 episode of the "Adventures of Superman" TV series. Professor Pepperwinkle invents a unique teleportation device. You get in the chamber, he dials a phone number, and you are teleported OVER THE PHONE LINES and appear out of nothing at the destination phone. The title of the episode "The Phony Alibi". Get it?

@virtualbri Do you also want a pony?

@klausfiend Frankly, I don't miss CRTs. Heavy, struggling with alignment errors, x-rays, and in my younger years, that irritating flyback whine.

James Burke's fantastic series "Connections" would have been perfect, if not for his leisure suit.

FIFA/Trump corruption: Suspended player restored after FIFA called by Trump

Fun Fact: At one time SONY Trinitron TVs were considered to be the veritable peak of both consumer and professional-use color TV monitors. However, they had one nasty little flaw. The aperture grille of the CRT was held in place by two very thin black horizontal wires positioned at about 1/3 down from the top and 1/3 up from the bottom. Most people apparently didn't notice them. But if you ever DID notice them, it was almost impossible to ever unsee them and ignore them. Ever.

Bonus Fun Fact: You can see SONY TVs widely used in films and TV shows of the era. Usually there'd be a little piece of black tape covering the SONY logo at the bottom center just below the screen!

FIFA was already a humiliated excuse for a sports organization. Trump's involvement has managed to demonstrate that there is no bottom.

'All-time scandal': Fury erupts as FIFA overturns US star's red card ban after Trump call

https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/world-cup/fifa-world-cup-2026-folarin-balogun-ban-suspended-red-card-donald-trump-intervention-white-house-reaction/news-story/a266fe935ec1d458794e2c6c6584ac39

In continuing push to destroy elections, Johnson and Thune plot new ways to pass SAVE Act

[As predicted] BREAKING: Washington D.C. declares health "purple alert" and urges residents to stay indoors, due to air pollution from Trump fireworks and continued heat

Wondering how much storage those "Hail Mary" laptops containing "all human knowledge" had on them.

At one point so many people were so worried, but now Twitter feels like just a bad memory.

Pennsylvania's proposed data centers are bringing strangers together in protest

https://www.npr.org/2026/07/05/nx-s1-5804732/proposed-data-centers-in-pennsylvania-are-leading-strangers-to-mobilize-in-protest

I will let the "viewership" in-the-know answer this one!

Schneier: AI and Liability

Bruce's take on these issues obviously very closely syncs with mine. -L

A key quote from his essay:

- - -

More generally, liability concerns could mean that many current use
cases for agents won't be commercially viable. Companies may not be able to profitably operate AI lawyers, doctors and media influencers if they are held responsible for what they say and do.

We're OK with this outcome. There's nothing in the law that requires
us to accommodate AI systems if they are fundamentally untrustworthy, just as we don't need to accommodate untrustworthy human systems. Any company that won't stand by the statements its agents make-whether human or AI-doesn't deserve users' time or money.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/06/ai-and-liability.html

#ai

The cure for most of the problems of Large Language Model generative AI systems is making the firms absolutely liable for what their AI models say and do. Financially, Legally, and Criminally. The firms can then decide which of their AI services they wish to continue deploying to the public under that set of constraints. It will be completely up to them!