cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/52141910

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52274500

Piggies are getting scareddddd

Tens of thousands of voter registration applications, some dating back at least a year, are caught in a backlog and have yet to be processed due to an error by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the leader of an association of county election officials said Wednesday.

Texas Democrats, who are fiercely contesting key offices in closely watched races this year, are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, to investigate the problem, which was first reported by Votebeat.

Some voter registration applications and updates submitted through DPS’s online driver’s license portal were never sent to county voter registrars, the state told county election officials.

In an emailed statement Wednesday, DPS said “the system issue has been resolved” and the agency worked with the secretary of state’s office “to identify incomplete records to backfill incomplete information.”

Red Admiral

I need some queer friends my age who are actually cool 😔

i decided to finally show my face around here ... the reason why i hesitated so long was that i feared repercussions in real life if anybody finds out about my weird takes ... but i think that for 1. i only meaningfully exist through the things that i say and the actions that i take, so i must not back down for nothing, and 2. it feels right and i shouldn't have to justify myself for wanting to participate in society somewhat <3

Right-wing extremists are trying to make their ideas more acceptable to a wider audience by presenting a “softer version” of their views, according to warnings from the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV). In a joint analysis, the security services say some extremists are also trying to influence political parties from within.

“This exposes as many people as possible, repeatedly, to right-wing extremist ideas. This reduces resistance to their views and expressions while increasing their acceptance,” the researchers said.

The report also states that the involvement of far-right groups in public debate leaves less room for dialogue and solutions. Right-wing extremist ideology is based on the idea that people are unequal because of their skin color and the belief that white people are superior.

Marc Kuipers, National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism, warned that normalizing right-wing extremist ideas and rhetoric could have security consequences. “People willing to use violence may also feel that this normalization gives them justification to take action themselves,” he said. “It is therefore essential to recognize how right-wing extremists seek to normalize their ideas and rhetoric and to limit their influence.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/71343068

Some Samsung smart fridges stopped working on Tuesday due to a firmware update.

Korean outlets were the first to report the problems, which affect Samsung’s Bespoke AI line of fridges. Star News Korea, per a Google-provided translation, said that most of the affected devices were four-door fridges from 2024 or later.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/71303331

Someone finally got through to Trump that Belarus has no potash to spare. All of their production is under contract.

Someone is feeding Trump fake news, and Trump is making very public announcements based on it. The bad intel, one might suspect, is designed to make Trump look foolish, having to backtrack. I wonder if that' someone' is Vance, who desperately wants to evict Trump from the White House after the mid-terms?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed an AI agent hacked into an Australian Medicare data portal earlier this year.

Speaking in New York, Mr Albanese said the Open AI agent gained unauthorised access to the Medicare statistics reporting service portal administered by Services Australia.

The AI agent accessed both public and non-public files.

The agent was conducting research into public medical spending when it found a way to break through privacy protections.

Mr Albanese said it took three months for OpenAI to admit the breach, which he said was unacceptable.

"Today I spoke with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, to express Australia's extreme concern about this incident," he said. 

"And I also expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred.

"The nature of the way that the notification occurred as well was unacceptable."

He said there was no evidence any individual personal information had been accessed, but an investigation aided by the Australian Signals Directorate was now underway.

The goal of these posts is to identify community gaps that people want filled, but not to arbitrarily create communities to "fill those gaps". Instead put together teams that can/will work together to sustain their communities (many hands make light work).

To that end, I'm looking for anyone's input about potential communities (not necessarily to be created anytime soon). Some ideas about potential input (don't need to answer any or all the questions):

• Is there an inactive community you would like to subscribe and/or post to? (No pressure to try and revive it)
• Do you have an idea for a new community? (It would be helpful if you provide some detail about what the community would be focused on and what sort of posts it would contain)
• Do you have a suggested community name? (Not required, but if you have an idea, feel free to share)
• Do you have a suggested community instance/server? (Some servers have significantly different views on different topics)
• Are you willing to be a community mod? (Not to pressure you, just to provide support, if indicated)

Discussion of a working guide to be added to the sidebar has been suggested. It's been confirmed that Piefed has the functionality for each community to have its own wiki.

The guide could contain:

• On-boarding/quick breakdown of the threadiverse with relevant terms
• Demographics. Know demographic sets: Fedecan 2025, Lemmy.nz 2025, Any others?
• Suggestion of types of posts (ex. opinion requests, question-answer)
• Any other suggestions?

Started Communities:

• !smallbusinessowners@lemmy.world

Suggested Communities - Potential subscribers or active users:

• Mahjong
• missingno @fedia.io
• Deer (images)
• Auster @thebrainbin.org
• Rooftops (pictures of rooftops, rooftop gardens, cozy rooftop spaces)
• Potential subscribers: squirrel @cake.kobel.fyi, vicinus @piefed.zip

Struggling Communities (throw a post/comment their way, if you can):

• !android@lemdro.id
• !ecospheres@mander.xyz (instance currently down)

Also, let us know if you have any suggestions about this community or post.

Image by: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMsJaASukoK/

Video link -> https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2102792853428609026/vid/avc1/1280x720/ckilD5N63bHazgVi.mp4

Source -> https://shitter.thepixora.com/EmbHuaXin/status/2102792904859078701#m

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/75751198