2025-10-11


Horseshit


Electric / Self Driving cars

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

TechSuck / Geek Bait

  • The RubyGems “security incident”

    Ruby Central posted an extremely concerning “Incident Response Timeline” today, in which they make a number of exaggerated or purely misleading claims. Here’s my effort to set the record straight. First, and most importantly: I was a primary operator of RubyGems.org, securely and successfully, for over ten years. Ruby Central does not accuse me of any harms or damages in their post, in fact stating “we have no evidence to indicate that any RubyGems.org data was copied or retained by unauthorized parties, including Mr. Arko.” The actions I took during a time of great confusion and uncertainty (created by Ruby Central!) were careful, specific, and aimed to defend both Ruby Central the organization and RubyGems.org the service from potential threats.

    Once I understood the situation, I backed off to let Ruby Central take care of their “security audit”. I left all accounts in a state where they could recover access. I did not alter, or try to alter, anything in the Ruby Central systems or GitHub repository after that. I was confident, at the time, that Ruby Central’s security experts would quickly remove all outside access. My confidence was sorely misplaced. Almost two weeks later, someone asked if I still had access and I discovered (to my great alarm), that Ruby Central’s “security audit” had failed. Ruby Central also had not removed me as an “owner” of the Ruby Central GitHub Organization. They also had not rotated any of the credentials shared across the operational team using the RubyGems 1Password account. Unbeknownst to me, while I was answering Marty’s email in good faith, Ruby Central’s attorney was sending my lawyer a letter alleging I had committed a federal crime, on the theory that I had “hacked” Ruby Central’s AWS account. On the contrary, my actions were taken in defense of the service that Ruby Central was paying me to support and defend.

    • The commercial affiliations make this bitch fight more fun than the usual ones. "Sponsored by!" The root cause of all this is, afaik, the statement by one person that "Shooting Charlie Kirk sucked". They must now have all their work and standing stripped from them.
  • (Aug 2025) Trusted Execution Environments? More Like "Trust Us, Bro" Environments

    • Computer hardware has not been "trustworthy" since the mid-80s, and even now there are likely to still be secrets from that era still waiting to bite. "Trust is the prerequisite of betrayal"

Crypto con games

  • Texas community will vote to form a city in effort to quiet crypto mine

  • Crypto world, buckle up for the rug-pull of all time

  • Crypto Sees More Than $3 Billion in Liquidations in Past Hour - Bloomberg

    Cryptocurrencies tumbled after US President Donald Trump said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on China and export controls on software, with more than $6 billion in positions liquidated within the past hour. The wipeout is the largest since at least early April. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency fell more than 12% after the announcement was made on Trump’s Truth Social platform, before paring the decline. Bitcoin, which recently traded at around $112,000, had reached an all-time high of more than $126,250 on Monday.

    Over $7.4 billion in bets on cryptoassets has been wiped out in the past 24 hours with around $6.7 billion and $695 million in long and bearish positions, according data from Coinglass. The liquidations are accelerating with around $6.6 billion in the past four hours after Trump’s announcement.

Left Angst

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

World

Iran / Houthi

  • Conversion Therapy for real: Iran Lures Transgender Foreigners for Surgery but Forces Operations on Locals - The New York Times

    Iran is one of the few places in the Muslim world that allows transgender people to seek gender-affirming care, and even subsidizes it. For many foreigners traveling to Iran for transition surgery, and indeed for many transgender Iranians, these operations can feel lifesaving. But the country’s reputation as a pioneer in the field belies the abusive history of the operations and the grim reality for most L.G.B.T.Q. people there.

    In Iran, gay men and lesbians can be punished by public flogging and the death penalty. As a result, the United Nations Human Rights Council found, many gay and lesbian Iranians who are not trans are “pressured into undergoing gender reassignment surgery without their free consent.”

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda