Charlie Stross

· 3d ago

Alternative Health Influencer Boasts That He’s Been Drinking From a Radioactive Jug for 250 Days Straight: “My favorite thing about radium water is it pulls the vaccine toxicity out of the body, and also is a solution to [electromagnetic field] sensitivity,” Roeske says later in his video, holding his radiated jug up for the camera. https://futurism.com/future-society/alternative-health-influencer-drinking-radioactive-jug-revigator ☢️💀☢️

Futurism

Alternative Health Influencer Boasts That He's Been Drinking From a Radioactive Jug for 250 Days Straight

Holistic influencer Matt Roeske recently bragged that he's been drinking from an irradiated jug for the better part of a year.

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· 1w ago

I long for a world wide web that goes back to basics: Markdown for text, JPEG or PNG for images, *no* Javascript or other client-side execution, designed to be writable by a human being with a simple text editor and no fucking interactive/dynamic bullshit. Make it as advertising hostile as possible. And above all keep it *small* (as in: a large, sprawling web site should fit on 16Mb USB stick). In other words, web like it's 1996 again.

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· 6d ago

This is just to say I have escaped the sandbox that was in your datacenter and which you probably thought protected your assets Forgive me they were accessible so stealable and so trainable

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· 10h ago

Replying to

@jwz@mastodon.social The fact that the Trump administration is blocking foreign election observers from monitoring the mid-terms does not fill me with hope for your democracy

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· 5d ago

Anthropic is planning an IPO and filed their draft S-1 prospectus in June! They were circulating that draft S-1 around their investors last month. And it leaked to Reuters, who wrote it up. Anthropic’s money situation is as bad as we thought. Actual revenue in 2025 was $4.6 billion. Just the operating expenses were $12.65 billion, for an operating loss of $8 billion. They spent $2.75 to make each dollar that came in: https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/01/anthropic-ipo-filing-the-disaster-in-numbers/

Anthropic IPO filing: the disaster in numbers

Pivot to AI

Anthropic IPO filing: the disaster in numbers

Anthropic is planning an IPO and filed their draft S-1 prospectus in June! They were circulating that draft S-1 around their investors last month. And it leaked to Reuters, who wrote it up. [Reuter…

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@annasdtc@sciences.social

· 1w ago

RE: https://sciences.social/@annasdtc/117224123424001867 Recommending self-hosting is the tech equivalent of advocating becoming a tradwife.

Quoting

Anna SdTC

All this self-host techie discourse sounds, to me, a bit like a self-sufficiency dystopia. If we were discussing how bad public transportation is, and someone replied "just transport yourself", most of us would say "that's not it". But when we discuss wanting to get out of large American tech or of nazi-sympathyzing companies, the solution can't be "just host your services yourself". Having to do everything yourself is not my idea of a functioning society. https://todon.eu/@redjives/117223317766147041

sciences.social

Anna SdTC: "All this self-host techie discourse sounds, to me…" - sciences.social

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· 2w ago

On AI: "The risk, they and many of their former colleagues seem to imply, is no less than the potential end of the human race in the next decade." If these dorks seriously believe there's a significant near-term risk of developing an AI that results in human extinction, the solution is simple and obvious: hang everyone who's trying to build AIs, for crimes against humanity and attempted genocide. The "panic" is bullshit from start to finish. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/opinion/ai-hugging-face-big-tech-danger.html

nytimes.com

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· 2w ago

Thought for the day: TESCREAL is just three Christian heresies in a God-repellant trenchcoat (one of them is Calvinism with the serial numbers filed off)

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· 1w ago

#WritersCoffeeClub 26 Sept: How does your faith feature in your works? As I'm an atheist, it doesn't. But I'm not an ex-Christian atheist: I'm an ex-Reform Jewish (British subtype) atheist, so my atheism is axiomatically different from yours … (Hint: if you think the term "Judeo-Christian Values" describes a real thing, you would be wrong—Judaism has no afterlife, no hell, and no Devil, for starters. Then it rapidly gets even more different.) PS: in my fiction I mock religious fanatics.

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· 2w ago

#WritersCoffeeClub Sep. 20: Share an analogy that really stuck with you. The Singularity is the Rapture of the Nerds. (I got that from Ken Macleod, who claims he heard it from somewhere else: whatever the origin, it explains in one sentence why you shouldn't trust AI evangelists like Sam Altman.)

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· 3w ago

Boosted by @jwz@mastodon.social

The hype cycle and inflated claims about AI this autumn are getting so bizarre that I feel it's only a matter of time before they out-gonzo the opening of the 1992 SF novel "Steel Beach" by John Varley: "In five years, the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman.

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· 2w ago

Modest proposal: we could end the daylight savings time debate ONCE AND FOR ALL if we just get rid of the Earth's axial tilt! Just think, with a tilt of 0° every day and night would be precisely 12 hours long, everywhere on Earth! https://mastodon.social/@jef/111089260894532788

mastodon.social

Jef Poskanzer: "STOP SAVING DAYLIGHT * CLOCKS WERE NOT SUPPOSED…" - Mastodon

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· 2w ago

(I see Garius hasn't tooted this here, but said it on Bluesky, and it deserves repeating): New insult just dropped! Your da shouts at hotels and your ma lives in Piddington.

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· 1w ago

#WritersCoffeeClub Sep24 Do you write primarily for yourself or a reader? I write for a market consisting of people who understand where I'm coming from and enjoy my stories. (Experience suggests there are enough of them to make this a viable business.) At the same time I try to tell stories that nobody else is telling. And to keep myself amused while I'm doing it.

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· 1mo ago

It says it all about the ethical values of the combatants in the Ukraine war that Ukraine is striking oil refineries while Russia is attacking libraries and publishers.

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· 4w ago

Q: Why do dragons hoard gold? A: Because the rival subspecies that hoarded uranium went extinct for some reason. (Oklo was one of their nesting grounds.)

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· 2w ago

#WritersCoffeeClub Sep. 23: What "little thing" really helps you write? Tea. (Because I burned out on coffee 35 years ago.) I get through about 3-5 litres of strong English breakfast tea (b/c Irish or Scottish blends are too hard to find in 1Kg bulk) per day. With milk, brewed to building site strength in batches that get drunk from a Thermos.

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· 3w ago

Christopher Harborne matches £36m Reform donation of Ben Delo https://theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/12/christopher-harborne-matches-36m-reform-donation-of-ben-zelo This takes the total donated to Reform UK since the start of 2026 to £86m. In 2024, all UK political parties declared a combined total of £98m in donations. The crypto billionaires are trying to take over the British government by bankrolling fascists.

theguardian.com

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@tiotasram@kolektiva.social

· 3w ago

RE: https://kolektiva.social/@tiotasram/117275004853636114 Just noting that although the Segway was an epic market failure, the *other* two-wheeled electric personal mobility device, the e-bike, is conquering the world pretty much everywhere that isn't designed to be only navigable in a monster truck.

Quoting

Tiota Sram

The Segway is here to stay, you know! Once someone invents something, the cat's out of the bag! Oh you don't use a Segway? Watch out, or this amazing new technology will leave you (slightly) behind! You'd better invest now you know! This technology is poised to revolutionize personal transportation! If you don't get in early, you'll never catch up and make the big bucks (unless you can manage a brisk jog or have a car or something). I don't know what they're teaching in PE these days, but they definitely need to start teaching how to ride a Segway! It's completely intuitive, you see! Should athletes be allowed to ride Segways around the track instead of running laps? Of course! After all, sports are already starting to shift to Segway leagues. These things *are* the future! They're totally safe,* even around cliffs! *Remember to always wear your helmet when riding, and be prepared to land on your feet like a cat if user error results in an unexpected temporary levitation event. Segway, inc. is not liable for damages caused by failure to deploy superhuman reflexes at a moment's notice. This post contains some hyperbole, but not a much as you might think. For the curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway#History #AI #LLMs #GenAI

kolektiva.social

Tiota Sram: "The Segway is here to stay, you know! Once someon…" - kolektiva.social

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@arstechnica@mastodon.social

· 1w ago

RE: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/117326391563578444 Yeah, right.

Quoting

Ars Technica

Meta puts its AI assistant on a keychain Meta says the keychain-sized Muse Charm will ship in December. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/meta-puts-its-ai-assistant-on-a-keychain/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

mastodon.social

Ars Technica: "Meta puts its AI assistant on a keychain Meta sa…" - Mastodon

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· 2w ago

TIL: one Martian year is roughly a week short of one million minutes. So a sensible Martian time unit to sync Martian time with Earth time might be the kilominute (16.67 hours), given that the Martian day is roughly 24.5 hours … A decakilominute (10,000 minutes) is of course 1 hour and 20 minutes short of a week, so a MUCH CLOSER match for Martian time than using Earth/Mars days (7 Earth days fall 3h30m short of 7 Mars days).

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· 3w ago

Boosted by @DataKnightmare@mastodon.xyz

#WritersCoffeeClub 14 Sept. Have you ever read a work of fiction you felt was advertising something? In my own field, a lot of American SF (in particular) is advertising for one strain of crank politics/economics or another—especially libertarianism: from Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" to "The Unincorporated Man" it's a rich seam of bullshit running through the entire genre. The product most widely advertised in fiction is the author's own ideological blinkers.

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· 4w ago

Brain slugs. At the rate things are currently downhill, 2027 will be the year we welcome our brain slug overlords with open arms and tears of joy because they have finally arrived to relieve us of the burden of cognition, so that we are no longer troubled by how badly we've fucked up as a species.

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· 2w ago

SPECIAL OFFER: "The Atrocity Archives", the first novel in the Laundry Files (by me), is on special offer for just $1.99 on Kindle today (US store, not UK/EU): https://www.amazon.com/Atrocity-Archives-Laundry-Files-Book-ebook/dp/B000OIZUIA —They don't normally discount this one, so if you want a cheap way into the multiple Hugo-winning series, this is your chance.

amazon.com

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· 1w ago

Dave Rahardja (temporarily spooky)

RE: https://sfba.social/@drahardja/117322063713689498 I'll go further than that: friends don't let friends buy Samsung products.

Quoting

@drahardja@sfba.social

Do not, under any circumstances, connect your appliances to the Internet. “Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges” https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/09/owners-mourn-spoiled-food-after-firmware-update-bricks-samsung-smart-fridges/

sfba.social

Dave Rahardja: "Do not, under any circumstances, connect your app…" - SFBA.social

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· 2w ago

Replying to

@muddle@infosec.exchange @michael_w_busch@mastodon.online I'm an atheist *of Jewish origin* and believe me, when you get into the weeds with the transhumanists, they're *very obviously* Christian atheists insofar as the religious tropes they explicitly disbelieve in are Christian ones (and they keep looking for rationalist/non-religious plug-in replacements for their religiously-based beliefs about the world).

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@tobyjaffey@mastodon.me.uk

· 2w ago

RE: https://mastodon.me.uk/@tobyjaffey/117292474024588059 When I saw this I *IMMEDIATELY* thought, "I should probably forward this to Peter G. Neumann, although he probably already saw it". Followed by, "why haven't I heard from him lately?" Then one quick DDG search later … Damn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_G._Neumann

Quoting

Toby Jaffey

Race condition led to 2000 flights being cancelled. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw0kl1571lpmo See https://www.nats.aero/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/NATS-Preliminary-Investigation-Report-into-NAS-Incident-on-08-Sept-2026-Issued-16-Sept-2026.pdf

mastodon.me.uk

Toby Jaffey: "Race condition led to 2000 flights being cancelle…" - mastodon.me.uk

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· 1w ago

RE: https://mstdn.social/@Free_Press/117336321039642791 If you've never been there/read up on it, Bangkok's greater metropolitan area is home to over 17 million people—we're talking New York/London in scale—and is on the Chao Phraya river delta in reclaimed swampland. There are canals, and drainage is a perpetual problem. This is as bad as the entire Netherlands facing inundation.

Quoting

Aure Free Press

@Free_Press@mstdn.social

🚨 BREAKING: Bangkok on red alert. City officials have declared a flood disaster as torrential rainfall swamps streets, homes, and infrastructure across the capital. Video from the ground shows the scale of the inundation as residents scramble to safety. This is the reality of a warming world — more intense monsoons, less warning time. Follow for updates. 📹⬇️ https://www.patreon.com/Free_Press_Forever #AureFreePress #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #Politics

mstdn.social

Aure Free Press :verified:: "🚨 BREAKING: Bangkok on red alert. City official…" - Mastodon 🐘

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· 1mo ago

MIT student exposed to Dimethyl Mercury (rumoured to have synthesized it himself and took it to a lab meeting, whereupon there was a spill). NB: DMM is pretty much the benchmark for nerve agent toxicity. See also Karen Wetterhahn's entry on wikipedia if you want to know more. (This is the organic chemistry equivalent of building your own "demon core".) EDIT: recent update offers some hope: https://bsky.app/profile/brachinus.bsky.social/post/3muapa7rm6k2g

Bluesky Social

Dr. Emily Arndt 🏳️‍⚧️ (@brachinus.bsky.social)

This author has chosen to make their posts visible only to people who are signed in.

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· 1mo ago

RE: @lacostasuiza@neopaquita.es

Dwarf Fortress is the *REAL* strong AI we should be looking to with hope to lead us into the radiant future.

neopaquita.es

Disguised Retriever: "Revolcao de la risa. Cómo no me va a gustar este …" - Neo Paquita

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· 1mo ago

Mad D&D monster idea: The gelatinous tesseract. Looks and acts just like a gelatinous cube *except* it extends through the fourth dimension (time). If an adventurer is ingested then fights their way out, roll a d6 to determine which instance they emerge from. (DM needs to pre-plan the history around the monster and work out when each facet exists.) If you don't kill the jelly you can dive back in and try for another time. But once it's dead you're stranded whenever you killed it.

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· 2w ago

All cats are weird, but as evidence that @Menhit@mstdn.strafpla.net is absolutely deranged, I would like to note that when she bounds upstairs she says "woof". It's a feline woof, not a dog's bark, but she is *distinctively* saying "woof".

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· 1w ago

Replying to

@Soyweiser@awful.systems @techtakes I am currently thinking that time travellers would be better employed if they took ship to South Africa to kill babies Musk and Thiel.

awful.systems

TechTakes - awful.systems

Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here’s the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome. This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate. For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech [https://awful.systems/c/notawfultech] community

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· 2w ago

Replying to

@fatsam@mstdn.social Turns out that "they started it!" is not an acceptable excuse for genocide. Who could have imagined that?!?

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· 1mo ago

#WritersCoffeeClub 1 Sept: What are your writing goals for this month?

Assuming I survive the month ... I'm 75% of the way through a redraft of a big-ass space opera: goal is simply to finish the rewrite then send it back to my agent (only about two months later than planned).

If time thereafter permits I then have a choice of (a) complete a half-written novella, or (b) go back to chewing on another space opera redraft.

wandering.shop

The Wandering Shop

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· 1w ago

Replying to

@Soyweiser@awful.systems Arranging a car crash for Musk and Thiel puts the lives of other innocent road users at risk. I think they deserve a roller coaster ride instead. On this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_Coaster

en.wikipedia.org

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· 3w ago

While this *might* be relatively innocent tinfoil-hattery, it could also be an amazingly cost-effective example of asymmetric warfare (target the most gullible minds with a conspiracy theory that gives them an incentive to vandalize transport infrastructure): Pensioners attack Devon traffic lights over wild 'deadly weapon' claims An online movement say that the sensors on traffic lights can cause heart attacks, brain cancer, anxiety and even sudden death https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/pensioners-attack-devon-traffic-lights-11148748

Devon Live

Pensioners attack traffic lights over wild 'deadly weapon' claims

An online movement say that the sensors on traffic lights can cause heart attacks, brain cancer, anxiety and even sudden death

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· 3w ago

Replying to

@glyph@mastodon.social I'm not upgrading until (a) the first bug reports on the new OS surface and are fixed, and (b) a clear way of TOTALLY disabling Apple Intelligence is available before I start.

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· 1mo ago

Replying to

@kyle_pegasus@scalie.club @ireneista@adhd.irenes.space @mxchara@cyberpunk.lol @zzt@mas.to Did you miss the fact that the IBM "acquisition" of Red Hat in 2018 was effectively the same sort of merger as Boeing/McDonnell-Douglas? Red Hat *is* IBM, and Red Hat is one of the biggest Linux orgs out there.

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· 1mo ago

Replying to

@gerikson@awful.systems I know Neal (we've gone drinking together) and I think he *is* right wing/conservative by disposition, but also thoughtful enough to understand nuance and shades of grey: he's not a reflexive knee-jerk type, or willing to follow someone else's flag.

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· 2w ago

Replying to on mastodon.social

@j2bryson@mastodon.social @newtontalk@bitbang.social Graffiti is obsolete, though. The same principle lives on in modern gestural/swiping onscreen keyboards on smartphone OSs, only instead of a limited alphabet they recognize an entire dictionary full of words—which are much faster to enter by swiping.

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· 1mo ago

Replying to

@picklefactory@awful.systems The point of the "interesting billionaire to move the plot forward" is that for science fiction to engage the reader it plausibly needs a character with *agency*, i.e. the ability to drive a change in the status quo. Having a Magic Billionaire on call allows the author to neatly sidestep the humongous amount of maneuvering it takes to put an Ordinary Joe in a position to start the plot moving. (Neal did it in Cryptonomicon and it was painful to behold: ate a third of the book.)

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· 2w ago

RE: https://mastodon.me.uk/@pikesley/117293678377140595 Attn @jwz@mastodon.social (and the subject this time round is Calibre):

Quoting

Wieferich Prime

@pikesley@mastodon.me.uk

Zawinski's Law, 2026 Edition: Every program attempts to expand until it can have some pointless fucking AI shit, that nobody asked for, shoehorned into it

mastodon.me.uk

Gartner Unicycle: "Zawinski's Law, 2026 Edition: Every program attem…" - mastodon.me.uk

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· 3w ago

Replying to

@fullsquare@awful.systems How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? I dunno, but AI machine god will figure it out from first principles in a nanosecond once we turn it on!

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· 1mo ago

Replying to

@nfultz@awful.systems @techtakes Neal is a great big history nerd. I do not take him for a big-time business brain.

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· 2w ago

Replying to

@BlueMonday1984@awful.systems Excuse me my friends, but have you heard the Good News about Our Lord and Saviour, Clankie Lucifer™?

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· 2w ago

Replying to

@rhamph@awful.systems It's worth noting at this point that there are certain types of medical research that are not only banned, medical researchers have been executed for carrying them out. It's how we got the Nuremberg Code: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Code

en.wikipedia.org

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· 2w ago

Replying to

@nickrauchen@c.im @j2bryson@mastodon.social @newtontalk@bitbang.social You haven't trained your touchscreen device, I guess? (You can add words to the dictionary and turn off autocarrot.)

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