garote | Reading

The PSF isn't a huge organization, but they do a lot of work. They have an annual budget of about $5 million and applied, and were close to receiving, a grant for $1.5 mil from the National Science Foundation to “address structural vulnerabilities in Python and PyPI.". PyPI is a library used by TONS of Python projects and has been subject to what's known as supply-chain attacks.

So what's a supply-chain attack? In brief, you take a library that's commonly used. Let's say it let's you send output to a PDF within your Python program, a fairly common task, and something that most programmers don't want to reinvent and won't bother inspecting the library for vulnerabilities. The attack happens when a bad guy changes the code for that PDF library then uploads changes to the master, and now, in addition to generating the PDF, it sniffs around your computer and does... stuff. Infects it with malware, perhaps. Gains admin access and strolls around the network. Looks for crypto wallets and steals them. It can do all sorts of stuff. That, in very simplified form, is a supply-chain attack. And if the program you are writing is released as open source and lots of people download it, THEY all are capable of being subverted!

The PSF was going to use the money to implement some automatic code inspection systems so any changes uploaded into the PyPl library would automatically be inspected, etc., to reduce the threat of supply-chain attacks. Lots of good stuff.

But there was a problem...

The grant application was close to being approved when the board that reviews such applications noticed that the "...foundation’s mission statement includes a goal “to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers,” which conflicted with the grant requirements."

And there was another problem. The grant application, if you agreed to accept it, you also accepted that the NSF could claw-back funds if they wanted to! Basically, you take the $1.5 mil, spend it, and a few years later they decide you're too woke and take it all back, directly out of your bank account. And if your cash flow was a little tight at that time, well, sorry! Your foundation just went negative and is no longer solvent!

The board of the FSF decided to withdraw their grant application with the NSF and pursue other avenues to complete their missions.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/10/python-foundation-rejects-1-5-million-grant-over-trump-admins-anti-dei-rules/

thewayne

*SIGH*

I'll let the Slashdot summary do the initial speaking for me:

A global shortage of jet engines is threatening the rapid expansion of AI data centers, as hyperscalers like OpenAI and Amazon scramble to secure aeroderivative turbines to power their energy-hungry AI clusters. With wait times stretching into the 2030s and emissions rising, the AI boom is literally running on jet fuel. Tom's Hardware reports: Interviews and market research indicate that manufacturers are quoting years-long lead times for turbine orders. Many of those placed today are being slotted for 2028-30, and customers are increasingly entering reservation agreements or putting down substantial deposits to hold future manufacturing capacity. "I would expect by the end of the summer, we will be largely sold out through the end of '28 with this equipment," said Scott Strazik, CEO of turbine maker GE Vernova, in an interview with Bloomberg back in March.

General Electric's LM6000 and LM2500 series -- both derived from the CF6 jet engine family -- have quickly become the default choice for AI developers looking to spin up serious power in a hurry. OpenAI's infrastructure partner, Crusoe Energy, recently ordered 29 LM2500XPRESS units to supply roughly one gigawatt of temporary generation for Stargate, effectively creating a mobile jet-fueled grid inside a West Texas field. Meanwhile, ProEnergy, which retrofits used CF6-80C2 engines into trailer-mounted 48-megawatt units, confirmed that it has delivered more than 1 gigawatt of its PE6000 systems to just two data center clients. These engines, which were once strapped to Boeing 767s, now spend their lives keeping inference moving.

Siemens Energy said this year that more than 60% of its US gas turbine orders are now linked to AI data centers. In some states, like Ohio and Georgia, regulators are approving multi-gigawatt gas buildouts tied directly to hyperscale footprints. That includes full pipeline builds and multi-phase interconnects designed around private-generation campuses. But the surge in orders has collided with the cold reality of turbine manufacturing timelines. GE Vernova is currently quoting 2028 or later for new industrial units, while Mitsubishi warns new turbine blocks ordered now may not ship until the 2030s. One developer reportedly paid $25 million just to reserve a future delivery slot.

Now, in some cases the jet engine is in place as a power backup in case main grid power fails. But in many cases, such as Leon Muskbrat's xAI data centers, he's running them full-time while he's waiting for generating stations to be built! And yes, the locals are not happy because he's installing more turbines than he's permitted for. And, of course, the local town councils are doing squat to enforce permits because JOBS!

One interesting Slashdot commenter said "Yes during the dotcom bubble the company my dad worked for made HVAC and UPS equipment for data centers, and they declined the opportunity to build out bigger capacity to meet orders instead of just letting the queue grow longer because their management figured it was a bubble. So, they survived the pop because instead of having unused factories, they just had some cancelled orders. The turbine manufacturers probably feel the same or just don't feel like trying to build factories during a trade war anyhow."

The big question, of course, is how much will this cause problems with the production of jet aircraft? These jet engine generators take engines made for... wait for it... jets. The Boeing 767 is specifically mentioned, that plane is currently in production, and engines are needed for newly-made aircraft and also to service the fleet that is now flying. In the world of 'money talks, BS walks' I suspect that the vulture capitalists backing AI may be able to throw more cash towards data centers, pulling more orders for engines than the airlines can. Could this disrupt global air travel? Will the engine makers, such as GE, be stupid enough to build more capacity and when the AI bubble bursts, be on the hook for billions of dollars that suddenly is no longer needed?

Now, there's one other point that I don't get. There are thousands and thousands of jet engines on the used markets available right now. Okay, maybe they're not quite as powerful as something that's strapped onto a 767. So maybe you need two or three or four to make that much power. But they're available right now. SO WHY AREN'T YOU GOBBLING UP THE USED MARKET?

Article behind a paywall:
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/turbine-shortage-threatens-ai-datacenters-as-wait-times-stretch-into-2030

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/10/28/0151205/jet-engine-shortages-threaten-ai-data-center-expansion-as-wait-times-stretch-into-2030

disneydream06

Excuse my language, but I just have to say this.....

When the Fuck is this country going to stop allowing the Nazi Gestapo from terrorizing the citizens and those wanting to become citizens of this country?????

lovelyangel

Tsundoku Stack, October 18, 2025

A sizeable tsundoku stack remained as of the End of June – and that stack remained unchanged through September. As the bookwall needed to be fully populated with my books, I moved (almost) all tsundoku books with the book boxes for the reshelving process. Every few years such a tsundoku reset takes place, and the entire stack gets shelved.

After that, I acquired two significant books: Queen Demon by Martha Wells and Only Rogue Actions by Jennifer Estep. Earlier, I had bought an autographed book by favorite photographer David duChemin. Then the Frieren book arrived. And while I was going through manga, I found some that Katie had given to me for possibilities of series I might want to follow. I had bounced off those manga, but I thought with the passing of time, I should revisit them.

So already, a new tsundoku stack was forming.

At the same time, the bookshelves were filling up, and I needed to make sure there was room for these significant new books – so the major books got sent to the bookwall. Tsundoku reset #2.

I decided to reread all the v1 manga Katie had given me – and one more book arrived. I need to whittle down this new tsundoku stack as soon as I can. Tsundoku grows like weeds.

Tsundoku Stack, October 27, 2025

lovelyangel

Apple Inside Macintosh & Motorola 68000 Documentation

60 boxes of books is a lot to sift through. It’s a slow and time-consuming process. Figuring out what I am willing to discard is tough. I have a trash pile, a recycle pile, and 10 boxes holding giveaway books. And I’m still not done.

It’s my bad for squirreling away so much stuff.

( Photos of Odd Stuff Below This Cut )

I’ve worked hard to not start re-reading any of the cool books I’ve shelved. But last night I caved and re-read 2005’s Birds of Prey, Volume 2: Sensei & Student by writer Gail Simone and artist Ed Benes – my favorite pairing of all the Birds of Prey comic collaborators. It’s been so long since I read the collection that I had no idea what was going to happen in the story. That meant I could enjoy and love the book even more.

When I was finished, I saw that the cover had been autographed by Gail Simone. I had no idea I had such a thing. (They say that memory is the first thing to go.) It’s a good thing I have this blog, as I was able to find that I got Ms. Simone’s autographs at Stumptown Comics Fest 2009. I vaguely remember. 😳 And this is why I need this blog.

abomvubuso

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: cape town
Current Music: Battle Beast - Black Ninja

juan_gandhi

Вот эта фирменная эльзасская (страсбуржская) еда, рулька с квашеной капустой и разные виды сарделек и копчёностей. Теперь мы больше на салатики; столько жрать нельзя.

Странные крыши стен страсбуржских домов

Собор страсбуржской богоматери

Туризм не утихает

Туристы, Гутенберг, карусель

Вот и ответ на вопрос, как они с креста снимали. Пассатижи ж нужны.

retrogrrrl

Check it, I got a new 'puter! Somethin' somethin' specs here that I don't feel like sharing (I dunno, a habit due to where I'm from, really), but it's a lot bigger than what I used to have. Naturally, my video editin' job is about to become a whole lot better once I learn the nebulous ways to, uh, wrestle with after effects --- and the impending doom of Adobe products takin' over my laboral life because some annoyin' people want and require Adobe instead of maybe bein' more flexible and now I'm just complaining 'bout my job here on Dreamwidth so maybe I oughta shut my trap 'fore I get REALLY angry with it.

Anyways, y'know that my gamin' senses are tingling at this revelation. I tooootally can play, like, the newest-latest games that aren't actually new or late. They're late for my poor, third world ass at least. However, right as rain I found myself simply downloadin' emulators and cookin' up a list of ps2 games that I couldn't play before and that I wanta play now. Right now, I'm finally able to play Kingdom Hearts 2 without havin' to download that monster of a 60 gb ReMix joint they have floating 'round the interwebs, dude. Tu-bu-LAR!

( Read more... )

tcpip

Every so often, there is a slight glimmer of light in my world where my usual state of driven dysthymia changes due to the affirming words and actions of others. Such an experience occurred last Friday when I organised a researcher tech talk with Dr Tomasz Wozniak, a senior lecturer in economics at UniMelb. Tomasz has recently been published, as part of an international team, in a Bank of Canada paper and in the prestiguous Journal of Econometrics on Structural Vector Autoregressions (SVARs) and time-series models that analyse the relationships between multiple economic variables to identify and isolate the effects of exogenous economic shocks. It's actually important stuff to keep people in jobs when (for example) there's a massive negative disruption to trade (hello, US tariffs).

Tomasz had been kind enough to provide a repository of his presentation, which also points out that in the course of his research and his use of Spartan he has become an editor of the R Journal and developed the R packages, bsvars, bsvarSIGNs, and bpvars. He had many extremely positive comments to make about Spartan, both in terms of the infrastructure that we offer and the support that we provide to researchers. Two comments particularly stood out; first was the effects of our optimisation of the software that we build from the source code, especially (in his case) the GNU compiler suite and the R programming language. As a result of our optimised installs, he reported that his jobs would run four times faster on Spartan compared to his own machine, despite the fact that he had faster processors. Further, he mentioned that a few years ago, after attending one of my introductory training sessions, he learned the advantages of using job arrays instead of a looping logic. Suddenly, his computational improvements were hundreds of times faster than what would be the case on his own system; we call it "high performance computing" for a reason.

This is hardly the first time that this has happened. For every dollar invested in high performance computing, the estimated social return on investment is $44 (in Japan, for example, it's c$75:1 due to alignment with national objectives). In a world where so many are in well-paid "bullshit jobs" whilst other struggle as part of the precariat class with low-paid insecure work, I have been fortunate enough to find a career that has stability and fair renumeration, interesting and challenging work, and actually produces socially useful outcomes. For almost twenty years, I have believed this with utter sincerity, but it is still very pleasing when the affirmation comes from others.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: The Rookery

disneydream06

This Week's Movie Quote...

A. K.: On the evening of October 7, 1989 several hundred people got together for some evening exercise and marched for the right to go for walks without the Berlin Wall getting in their way.

Poll #33766

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

View Respondents

Which Movie Does This Quote Come From?

View Answers

A Coffee In Berlin
0 (0.0%)

Die Welle
1 (25.0%)

Good Bye, Lenin!
1 (25.0%)

I Don't Have A Clue.....
2 (50.0%)

Last Week's Movie Quote...

Elsie: [Marlene is crying hysterically] Is she sober?
Mr. Stringer: Yes she's sober! I've been with her all aftern... When... I... Uh... I saw her w... Yes, of course she's sober! Don't be stupid!

This comes from the 1990 version of the movie, "The Witches".
The Grand High Witch is played by Angelica Houston and Mr. Stringer is played by Rowan Atkinson, and the assistant to the Grand High Witch is played by Jane Horrocks who is famous, imho, for playing Bubbles on Absolutely Fabulous.

Watch on YouTube

Those Who Knew or Guessed Correctly...

seaivy

christalin80

sidhe_uaine42

man_of_snows

meathiel

thoughtsbykat

sunshine_two

adminbear

gushgush

disneydream06

This week's song is "The Thrill is Gone" by the great B.B. King.
It was used in the 2007 movie, "The Ultimate Gift".

Watch on YouTube

thewayne

I was adding a recipe to my iCloud Notes, and the top recipe came up, which was this! I haven't made it yet, but I thought I'd share it. And also give you the story of how I got it!

There's a podcast that's a lot of fun called The Sporkful. It's a fun listen that features interesting guests. As their tag line goes, it's not for foodies, it's for eaters. Anyway, they had on, IIRC, a librarian/archivist who came across this recipe in the collection that he manages. And it's become his go-to popcorn salt. And here it is!

J.D. Salinger popcorn salt

Ingredients:
6 tsps sea salt
2 tsps paprika
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp celery powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp curry
1/2 tsp dill powder

This is definitely going to have a bit of a kick to it! For me, I'm going to leave out the dill powder: I just don't care much for the taste of dill. You might also want to process this in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle as the thyme and marjoram can be on the large/leafy side if you want things down to a more uniform consistency.

Have fun, and report back if you try it!

disneydream06

Better Late Than Never.....

September

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mrdreamjeans 86
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thewayne DW 48
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disneydream06

Aww, we lost one of the great tv moms and a wonderful actress.....

June Lockhart, Lassie and Lost in Space Actress Who Was One of the Last Surviving Stars from Hollywood's Golden Age, Dies at 100

She was also known for movies like 'A Christmas Carol' and 'Meet Me in St. Louis'

By Victoria Edel and Nicholas Rice

https://people.com/june-lockhart-dead-lassie-and-lost-in-space-actress-dies-at-100-8621340?hid=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&did=20001102-20251025&utm_source=ppl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ppl-breaking-news_newsletter&utm_content=102525&lctg=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&lr_input=758ad690760192cf49795c3f52223721cac5324e3e862e41c5d4db73a4d43f32&campaign=15366907

mark posting in

dw_maintenance

Good morning, afternoon, and evening!

We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)

I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.

Ta for now!

lovelyangel

Boxes of Manga, Staged for Sorting and Shelving
iPhone 13 mini photo

Two Weeks Ago I did not have any functional bookshelves and was waiting for delivery of replacements. I expected a long wait, but, surprisingly, the bookshelves were delivered and installed one week later, on Friday, October 17. I could finally start sorting and loading books into the bookwall.

( Meticulous Chaos, Below the Cut )

I’ve had to cut a lot of books. *snif* But it’s pretty clear (to me) that all the books that are now visible in the bookwall are books that I really love. I want to revisit them all (and I’ll be hard-pressed for time to do just that).

disneydream06

I have been thinking about picking up some extra groceries and dropping them off at the local food bank in Rochester.

I went to their web site to check out there hours and see if they had suggestion lists.

So imagine my surprise when I read that they no long accept non perishable donations from the public.
They only accept "cash".
They say it costs too much for people to do food drives.
Excuse me, but if I am buying food and dropping it off at your door, what the bloody hell is that costing you? :o :o :o