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  Titan II ICBM, Launch Complex 571-7, Sahuarita, AZ, 2009 All the pixels, but probably no warhead, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4185185541 #photography

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  The "AI changes everything" people rhyme remarkably well with the "blockchain changes everything" people.

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  The people telling me I should stick to photography and the people telling me I should stick to technology need to get together and come to a consensus about what lane they want me in. I’ll still ignore them, but at least they’ll have someone to talk to first.

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  @kumarvibe@mastodon.social Software correctness and safety isn’t easy. Who told you it was? But the killing problem can be solved. My word processor can’t kill anyone (Although maybe it could raise my blood pressure by deleting files at an inopportune moment). Perhaps if you aren’t sure what a piece of software might do, you shouldn’t let it control lethal capabilities?

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  Complex software behaving in unexpected and sometimes harmful ways has been a persistent problem since software was invented. The phenomenon used to be called “bugs” or “defects”, but I guess “going rogue” sounds cooler. It also implicitly frames “rogue” behavior as some kind of inexplicable exception, as if software is somehow usually trustworthy. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/technology/openais-ai-us-government-websites.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EFE.RfLT.x6YBjHa1PMz6

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  Little Boxes, University Mound, San Francisco, CA, 2024 All the pixels, each made of ticky-tacky, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54062971395 #photography

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  Heathrow airport has special corridors reserved for passengers with antlers, which seems very thoughtful of them but also oddly specific.

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  Two fighter jet flyovers scheduled over the White House this week - one at 5pm today and another at noon tomorrow. These are incredibly loud and, if you aren't expecting them, frightening.

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  RE: https://newsie.social/@ProPublica/117314460472253583 Remember ABSCAM? Back when members of congress openly accepting bribes was considered a big deal.

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  NY (and Philly) region ILS failures related to a primary system failing and then, when it failed over to a backup, they discovered that the backup's fiber link had previously been severed. A old friend of mine was responsible for a critical public safety system with redundant links. He always monitored the backup links more closely, since if the primary fails, you discover that as soon as things stop working. But a backup link fails silently unless you watch it. https://www.nytimes.com/202...

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  A rule of thumb that has served me extremely well on social media is to stop reading any stranger's reply the moment they refer to you as "dude".

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  We’ll know they’re serious about slowing down on AI when the price of solid state memory drops back down.

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  @cookiesinheaven@m.ai6yr.org @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org Talking Heads captured the vibe of 70's/80's paranoia like no one else. See also Listening Wind (hard to imagine recording a song like this today!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK5uqY-VYDM

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  It's nowhere near the worst or most consequential thing he's done, but I think Trump's threat to demolish the Kennedy Center if he isn't allowed to name it after himself is the clearest demonstration yet that he's gone mad with the imagined power of his office. It doesn't advance any policy goal, and no constituency has been calling for it. He doesn't even particularly benefit from it. It's just a pure, simple expression of a corrupt ego out of control.

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  West Trenton (Ewing), NJ, 2015 All the pixels, but please have your tickets ready for collection, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/21010463488 #photography

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  I try to be aware of cultural things, but I'm OK with the fact that I had no idea who Ed Sheeran was until a couple days ago.

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  I didn't expect that congress would hold hearings on the optimal level of FBI beastiality, but 2026 has been full of surprises.

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  RE: https://flipboard.com/@wsj/latest-from-the-wsj-32bs0ev6z/-/a-0KPIHpJKSqu5ZrTD-g-6nA%3Aa%3A248213600-%2F0 "Measles-Related Death" is the new "Officer-Involved Shooting".

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  No mater which of these three options the Court goes with, all this is only about whether the new rules should take effect right away. The full merits of the cases haven't been ruled on (or even been briefed and argued) in any court yet. That will all happen, with an eventual permanent resolution to the case later (and well after the midterms have happened). It will almost certainly end up back in the Supreme Court. @heidilifeldman@mastodon.social

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/117209346171417433 Great (as usual) thread by @heidilifeldman@mastodon.social on the current status of the various cases challenging the administration's executive order on vote-by-mail. Note that how / whether the exec order will affect mail voting in the midterms effectively rests entirely on procedural issues at this point. The merits haven't been addressed (or even fully briefed) yet, and won't be before November.

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  If you're bored by or allergic to endless discussion of election technology and law, I am a terrible account to follow even in the best of times. But for the next couple months, I will be especially insufferable here. Govern yourselves accordingly.

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  North Carolina apparently sent out its first batch of ballots yesterday, despite not being fully compliant with Trump's EO and the new postal regulations. So far I've heard no reports of the USPS refusing to accept them (but it's possible that news hasn't reached here yet). Assuming they accepted them, that's a significant development. It suggests that the postal service is following the prelim injunction. Hopefully voters get their ballots delivered uneventfully. @heidil...

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  Just upped my monthly contribution to my local Mastodon instance. Please support your local instance if you have the means. Decentralization is what keeps the fediverse free and weird.

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  The "Musk admitted to rigging the election using space lasers" story is making the rounds again, probably because of the forthcoming documentary about him. Just for the record, though there are vulnerabilities in some US election systems, rigging an election with space lasers (or satellites or whatever) is simply not a thing. It's just not how these things work. He might as well have "admitted" to rigging the election with voodoo spells.

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  Made my appointment for my updated Covid (and also flu) jabs today. Some local pharmacies had very limited avability and slots, which is actually encouraging if it means there's high demand.

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  Moynihan Train Hall, Pennsylvania Station, NYC, 2025 All the pixels, now boarding at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54499376593 #photography

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  Also, in addition to the legal timeline, there is a practical reality to contend with here: there is no USPS system that implements the executive order yet, and nothing for states and county election administrators to integrate (and test) their own systems with even if they wanted to. And there is simply no time for that to happen before ballots have to start going out for the November midterms, which is very soon (based on both statutory deadlines and practicalities). @heidilifeldman@mastodon...

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  It's been widely reported that former Rep. Eric Swalwell, a longtime Trump critic under investigation for sexual assault, had his electronics confiscated at an airport by the FBI last month. It's messy story in which facts are still emerging. But what caught my eye as a surveillance nerd was this (paywalled) story https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/09/eric-swalwell-air-marshals-fbi/688489/ about his flight in. Apparently a team of Air Marshalls was assigned to watch him in flight...

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  Just picked up milk and noticed the label says "100% milk from real cows". This wasn't something I was worried about before now.

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  Videos of this years #VotingVillage talks should be up in the next week or so, AV gods willing. A couple people asked about my my "Intro to Election Security" slides. They don't make complete sense without the talk, but for the impatient, here they are: https://www.mattblaze.org/papers/vv2026-blaze.pdf