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I'm pretty sure this is some kind of phishing scam, because I think an email from Esteemed Academic Publishing Conglomerate would have a more professional style about it:
[Nothing in the way of branding heading or footer...] Hi [Name], Welcome to the [Name of Publisher] GCOP! To get started, go to https://[name of conglomerate].my.site.com/gcopvforcesite Username: [part of my email address].netmya
The email is from [name][at][conglomerate's address].
Bizarre.
***
Also bizarre: partner has signed up for a hearing test in conjunction with forthcoming eye-test, and has received this upselling email (does not at present have any kind of hearing-aid) for an exciting new model on which they are offering A Deal:
Key Features: Advanced Voice AI for natural, personalised sound Waterproof design for everyday confidence Built-in Smart Assistant & Telecare AI, providing on-the-go adjustments and support Language translation & transcription capabilities Step tracking, fall alerts & balance assessments Customisable reminders for daily tasks Hands-free phone calls for complete convenience
I'm sure I have encountered several of those 'key features' in dystopian sf???
There are several changes between the last pair and this triplet of painted minis. First: a thorough cleaning of my brushes and the purchase of brush soap. This has helped recreate and keep the points on most of my brushes. Second: a desk magnification lamp. Now I can actually see what I'm doing which makes detail work both possible to do well and a lot less intimidating. Third: more pigment in my dry brushing. I start with an over-brush (not quite fully dry) of gray, and then do a liberal dry brush of white. It takes a little more time than just one dry brush of white, but not by a lot, especially if I do it in batches. I think it turned out a lot better. The pigment from the transparent paint is a lot more vibrant. This will likely be the method I use to finish the rest of my black-primed minis.
I'm want to try two more methods, however. First, I want to try a zenithal highlight, then doing a white dry brush. Second, I want to try priming gray and then doing a white dry brush. I also have several minis that I primed black and started, but never finished, painting with regular acrylics. I need to finish those as well. My thought is to maybe use the transparent paints as a kind of wash rather than trying to do shading and painting highlights.
But anyway, here are the minis latest triplet of minis! Front:
Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development
and these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by
volunteering yourself or through organization contributions to the
Python Software Foundation.
Fandom: Stranger Things Pairings/Characters: Steve Harrington & Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Rating: Explicit Length: 11,087 words Creator Link:thefourthvine Theme: Amnesty, Just Plain Fun, Platonic Life Partners, Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies AUs, Canon LGBTQ Characters, First Time
Summary: As soon as Eddie gets to the counter, Steve turns to him and says, "Back me up here. Kissing is no big deal, right?"
Steve Harrington is talking about kissing. Eddie's brain shorts out. "Uh," he says.
Reccer's Notes: Steve accompanies Robin to a gay bar where he discovers his skills with the ladies are transferable to guys. Robin and Eddie both have a crisis over it, though for different reasons. Very fun, very hot, with Steve at his himbo best.
I can’t stop thinking about crocodiles for some reason so here’s some cool pictures I found of probably the second largest one in captivity, his name is Utan:
and that’s not even a real power bite, that’s mostly just heavy bone falling on heavy bone from his jaws and the air rushing out from between them
2000 pounds of Good Boy
you get me
I honestly expected like 5 notes, what HAPPENED here
More tags on this ridiculous post:
Wait, thats the 2nd biggest crocodile? Then what does the biggest one look like?
That would be Cassius, a very old Saltwater crocodile who is estimated to be around 114 years old and lives at Marineland Melanesia in Green Island, Australia. His official measurement is 5.48 meters, which makes him the largest in captivity currently. Because Utan is only slightly smaller and much younger, (only in his 50s), he will likely break Cassius’ record eventually. But for now, Cassius holds the title:
He is NOT, however, either the largest crocodile ever captured in Australia OR the largest ever in captivity.
A slightly larger crocodile has been reported (though not yet comfirmed) to have been captured at 5.58 meters.
And while the famous Brutus of the Adelaide River was estimated to be just slightly larger than Cassius at 5.5m, he was driven out of his territory by a younger and even larger crocodile, who as a result has been given the name, The Dominator. He is estimated to be just over 6m.
This is Brutus, with an appropriate caption:
It is believed that he lost that arm in a fight with a Bull Shark.
The Bull Shark lost.
THIS is the crocodile who kicked him out. The Dominator:
The largest living crocodile ever reliably measured was Lolong, who for the 1.5 years between his capture and his death was the largest crocodile ever held in captivity, at a whopping 6.17 meters (20 feet 3 inches) and 1075 kg (2,370 lbs). He had been feeding on both humans and very large livestock in the Bunawan creek in Agusan del Sur in the Philippines. It took 100 people all night to drag him to shore during his capture.
And here’s why:
Also, to prevent credit from getting buried on a separate reblog, I have been informed that the above image of the crocodile with the cartoon eyes and halo was made by @rashkah! (And it is wonderful and I would like to thank him for its existence, because it perfectly captures my feelings about terrifying giant primordial reptiles.)
As far as Brutus is concerned I was led to believe that he lost that arm when relatively young.
Since then Brutus developed a habit of hunting and eating Bull Sharks.
Here’s him with a prey.
And if you thought that you’ll be safe if you just stay out of Australia then think again!
Meet Gustave the Nile Croc.
This crocodile became almost legendary for both it’s size and the habit of hunting both livestock AND humans.
So how big is Gustave?
No one is sure. Since he was NEVER captured.
His estimated size is of at least 5,5m but some give him over 6m.
The terrifying parts are:
1) He is still growing having only about 60 years.
2) Adult crocodiles often perform a gesture of submission to him - something usually done by young crocodiles toward adults - Gustave is just THAT BIG.
3) His sheer size makes it difficult for him to catch agile prey Nile crocs tend to feed on - hence why he developed a habit of hunting either larger prey like Hippopotamus or creatures which are not good at spotting danger in the first place like livestock and humans.
And this is NOT ALL.
Gustave actually has a noticeable scars on his body - he was shot at east 3 times and stabbed with a spear or something similar at one occasion.
He lived to tell the tale - my question is:
What happened to that one dude who attacked Gustave with a spear?
*Crocodile Dundee voice* Mate, that’s not Gustave:
THIS is Gustave:
And he is the PERFECT CROCODILE. He is the perfect example of what I mean when I talk about (as I do) how the morphology of extremely large crocodiles adapts to the changing physics of their bite.
This is a typical adult Nile Crocodile:
And THIS is a god among his kind:
This is it, folks. The Final Form. THIS is what peak performance looks like.
Crocodiles and physics have an interesting relationship. Crocodiles have, by a CONSIDERABLE MARGIN, the strongest bite of any animal on Earth. EVER. Scaled up estimates (based on Nile and Saltwater crocodiles) give the extinct Deinosuchus an estimated bite force MORE THAN DOUBLE the recently updated Tyrannosaurus bite estimates. Living crocodiles have bite forces measured in the range of 5000 pounds per square inch, for an individual around 15-16 feet. It is estimated that modern crocodiles in the range of 18-20 feet would have bit forces around 7-8000 psi or more.
That’s a problem.
Because a crocodile’s skull is only designed to handle so much pressure. Go beyond that limit and the force of impact when those jaws snap shut could literally shatter their own skulls.
But evolution has spent hundreds of millions of years perfecting crocodiles, so PHYSICS ISN’T GOING TO STOP THEM. What ends up happening in the skulls of these extremely large crocodiles is they will increase dramatically in mass to compensate for the increased forces. A crocodile’s skull is almost exclusively solid bone, with only minimal space for nasal passages, a surprisingly advanced brain, and some slightly porous looking framework that helps the bone distribute the force over a larger area. The effect is by far the most pronounced in Nile crocodiles, which most regularly feed on larger prey and need to make use of all that power.
Compare, 26 inch skull:
vs 29 inch skull:
Both of those are Nile crocodile skulls (or rather, replicas thereof).
And just for fun, here are the skulls of completely different (and very extinct species), Deinosuchus:
and Purussaurus:
The bigger the crocodile (within a given species), the more massive the skull needs to be to compensate for that UNBELIEVABLE bit pressure. This is one way to see from a distance whether you are looking at a normal sized crocodile:
and a truly extraordinary individual:
One of the things about Gustave that’s so impressive is how healthy his teeth look. A lot of large crocodiles, in their old age, have very worn down and often missing teeth. They do replace them many times over a lifetime, but when they get very old this slows down. Gustave, at least in every picture taken of him, had teeth that were in very good condition.
Even crocodiles much smaller than Gustave’s reported size (probably similar in size to Dominator or Lolong) tend to have smaller or more worn teeth:
than the pinnacle of his kind:
Lolong! It means Gramps or Grandpa, because he’s a relic of an ancient world where crocs more massive than he was walked the earth. His body is on display somewhere right now though I forgot where.
Every time I see this post there’s more crocodiles. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Hey, I'm making weird little games again. For the TTRPG Bookmark Game Jam on itch.io, I submitted a little bibliomantic solo game here.
There are some fun ideas in the jam already. If, say, you're in need of a bookmark that gamifies attention drift and daydreaming, I recommend checking the games out.
If you feel inspired, I invite you, too, to make a gamified bookmark and tell me about it. They don't have to be games -- the bookmark could be an asset, as folks call them, like encounter tables or pseudodice.
I'm fooling around with a couple of other ideas, but I'm delighted to have finished something.
I lost a shitload of money in my investments yesterday. I didn't even bother to look up why. I assume Trump farted or didn't and the captains of industry hit the panic button. One day last week, I made a ton of money in one day. Didn't look up that one either. I keep a spreadsheet (of course) of the totals with a very simplified chart and I just watch the line go up and down and up and down. My chart would make a great ski field.
On the other hand, Social Security did me a real solid. Last year they deducted $200 for Medicare and then an extra $400 for Medicare Part B IRMAA (which, roughly translated, means you made too much money). This was not unfair. Inheriting my cousin's investment accounts did the trick. That was in 2024. According to the fine print, Social Security only reviews IRMAA status every two years so I figured I was in screwed again in 2026. But, nope. I got the news today that I am officially IRMAA-free! So my 2.5% Cost of Living raise is more like 30% in real life. I'm perfectly fine with that.
Also amazingly wonderfully fine is the paint roller. I got the cheapest one ($5) - a 4 incher and it arrived yesterday. I lathered it up with lotion and wheeeeeee!! It goes on perfectly. All the books and crannies covered - even that spot in the very middle of my back that my arms believe is NoWomansLand. And it layers on the lotion evenly without big puddles. The spatula applies the lotion not at all evenly and also misses a lot of spots. This paint roller trick is the bomb, I tell ya. And fast and easy. I put the roller in a zip lock bag with the handle poking out the bottom. So now I just peel back the bag, slap some lotion onto the roller and roll on a thin layer. Easy enough to do every day and not requiring special clothes to mop up the excess.
I'd love to get Google Gemini a big hug.
And in other news of success. I have this table lamp that I love. But it's failing. When I turn it on, sometimes it lights up and sometimes it doesn't and sometimes, it lights up 5 minutes later. My brother said he was willing to install a new lamp kit in it so I ordered one. Then last week, I had my own lightbulb moment. Maybe it's the light bulb??? So I black friday'd an Amazon smart bulb. And screwed it in. Alexa recognized it instantly with no action from me. (So I could eliminate the smart plug it was plugged into.) And... guess what? Issue totally fixed. The lamp kit is going back today.
It is house cleaning day and I have a nice collection of returns so I'll be heading out to UPS.
Python 3.14.1 is the first maintenance release of 3.14, containing
around 558 bugfixes, build improvements and documentation changes since
3.14.0.
[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] major-new-features-of-the-3.14-series-compared-to-3.13">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]
<p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://pythoninsider.blogspot.com/2025/12/python-3141-is-now-available.html">https://pythoninsider.blogspot.com/2025/12/python-3141-is-now-available.html</a></p><p><img width="538" height="507" src="https://hugovk.dev/python-3.14.png" alt="Two snakes enjoying a pie with 3.14 on the top and π crimping"></p>
<h1 id="this-is-first-maintenance-release-of-python-3.14">This is first
maintenance release of Python 3.14</h1>
<p>Python 3.14.1 is the first maintenance release of 3.14, containing
around 558 bugfixes, build improvements and documentation changes since
3.14.0.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3141/>www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3141/</a></p>
<h1 id="major-new-features-of-the-3.14-series-compared-to-3.13">Major
new features of the 3.14 series, compared to 3.13</h1>
<p>Some of the major new features and changes in Python 3.14 are:</p>
<h2 id="new-features">New features</h2>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-free-threaded-now-supported">PEP
779</a>: Free-threaded Python is officially supported</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-deferred-annotations">PEP
649</a>: The evaluation of annotations is now deferred, improving the
semantics of using annotations.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#pep-750-template-string-literals">PEP
750</a>: Template string literals (t-strings) for custom string
processing, using the familiar syntax of f-strings.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#pep-734-multiple-interpreters-in-the-standard-library">PEP
734</a>: Multiple interpreters in the stdlib.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#pep-784-zstandard-support-in-the-standard-library">PEP
784</a>: A new module <code>compression.zstd</code> providing support
for the Zstandard compression algorithm.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#pep-758-allow-except-and-except-expressions-without-brackets">PEP
758</a>: <code>except</code> and <code>except*</code> expressions may
now omit the brackets.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-pyrepl-highlighting">Syntax
highlighting in PyREPL</a>, and support for color in <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-color-unittest">unittest</a>,
<a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-color-argparse">argparse</a>,
<a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-color-json">json</a>
and <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-color-calendar">calendar</a>
CLIs.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#pep-768-safe-external-debugger-interface">PEP
768</a>: A zero-overhead external debugger interface for CPython.</li>
<li><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#uuid">UUID
versions 6-8</a> are now supported by the <code>uuid</code> module, and
generation of versions 3-5 are up to 40% faster.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#pep-765-control-flow-in-finally-blocks">PEP
765</a>: Disallow
<code>return</code>/<code>break</code>/<code>continue</code> that exit a
<code>finally</code> block.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-capi-config">PEP
741</a>: An improved C API for configuring Python.</li>
<li>A <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-tail-call-interpreter">new
type of interpreter</a>. For certain newer compilers, this interpreter
provides significantly better performance. Opt-in for now, requires
building from source.</li>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#improved-error-messages">Improved
error messages.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#hmac">Builtin
implementation of HMAC</a> with formally verified code from the HACL*
project.</li>
<li>A <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#asyncio-introspection-capabilities">new
command-line interface</a> to inspect running Python processes using
asynchronous tasks.</li>
<li>The pdb module now supports <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#pdb">remote attaching
to a running Python process</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>For more details on the changes to Python 3.14, see <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html">What’s new in Python
3.14</a>.</p>
<h2 id="build-changes">Build changes</h2>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-no-more-pgp">PEP
761</a>: Python 3.14 and onwards no longer provides PGP signatures for
release artifacts. Instead, Sigstore is recommended for verifiers.</li>
<li>Official macOS and Windows release binaries include an <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-jit-compiler"><em>experimental</em>
JIT compiler</a>.</li>
<li>Official <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-build-changes">Android
binary releases</a> are now available.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="incompatible-changes-removals-and-new-deprecations">Incompatible
changes, removals and new deprecations</h2>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#incompatible-changes">Incompatible
changes</a></li>
<li>Python <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#removed">removals</a>
and <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#deprecated">deprecations</a></li>
<li>C API <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#removed-c-apis">removals</a>
and <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#deprecated-c-apis">deprecations</a></li>
<li>Overview of all <a
href="https://docs.python.org/3/deprecations/index.html">pending
deprecations</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 id="python-install-manager">Python install manager</h1>
<p>The installer we offer for Windows is being replaced by our new
install manager, which can be installed from <a
href="https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NQ7512CXL7T">the Windows
Store</a> or from its <a
href="https://www.python.org/downloads/latest/pymanager/">download
page</a>. See <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/using/windows.html">our
documentation</a> for more information. The JSON file available for
download contains the list of all the installable packages available as
part of this release, including file URLs and hashes, but is not
required to install the latest release. The traditional installer will
remain available throughout the 3.14 and 3.15 releases.</p>
<h1 id="more-resources">More resources</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://docs.python.org/3/">Online documentation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0745/">PEP 745</a>, 3.14
Release Schedule</li>
<li>Report bugs at <a
href="https://github.com/python/cpython/issues">github.com/python/cpython/issues</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.python.org/psf/donations/python-dev/">Help fund
Python directly</a> (or via <a
href="https://github.com/sponsors/python">GitHub Sponsors</a>) and
support <a href="https://www.python.org/psf/donations/">the Python
community</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 id="and-now-for-something-completely-different">And now for
something completely different</h1>
<p>Seki Takakazu (関 孝和; c. March 1642 – December 5, 1708) was a
Japanese mathematician and samurai who laid the foundations of Japanese
mathematics, later known as <em>wasan</em> (和算, from <em>wa</em>
(“Japanese”) and <em>san</em> (“calculation”).</p>
<p>Seki was a contemporary of Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz but
worked independently. He created a new algebraic system, worked on
infinitesimal calculus, and is credited with the discovery of Bernoulli
numbers (before Bernoulli’s birth).</p>
<p>Seki also <a href="https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/3508174/1/13">calculated
<em>π</em> to 11 decimal places</a> using a polygon with 131,072 sides
inscribed within a circle, using an acceleration method now known as
Aitken’s delta-squared process, which was rediscovered by Alexander
Aitken in 1926.</p>
<h1 id="enjoy-the-new-release">Enjoy the new release</h1>
<p>Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development
and these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by
volunteering yourself or through organisation contributions to the <a
href="https://www.python.org/psf-landing/">Python Software
Foundation</a>.</p>
<p>Regards from deepest darkest Helsinki,</p>
<p>Your release team,
<br>Hugo van Kemenade
<br>Ned Deily
<br>Steve Dower
<br>Łukasz Langa
</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://pythoninsider.blogspot.com/2025/12/python-3141-is-now-available.html">https://pythoninsider.blogspot.com/2025/12/python-3141-is-now-available.html</a></p>
+ Lit my Christmas incense and drank some red soda today. It's pouring down outside but it still did the trick! Hopefully there's a dry morning soon so I can get some decorations out of the shed.
+ Many thanks for the lovely comments on the Holiday Love Meme, I was coming out of a bout of stomach flu combined with my period, and the tiny bumps of kindness throughout the days was highly appreciated ♥
+ BeautifulBooks does yearly videos on their favorite illustrated books, and is already out with their Myths & Legends and Children & Young At heart collections. If you're looking for bookish gifts this year - or just want to look at some art - might be a good one to check out.
❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ Rec-cember Day 2
Star Wars Song for a fifth child by Deputychairman (5978 words). A glimpse into Leia's life before and after the events of Force Awakens. Hands down my favorite Leia fic I've read so far. Her daily life doesn’t change when Han dies.
He’d been gone for years, and she was used to that. He was there on a Comm link once a week, sometimes, and other times she wouldn’t hear from him for months, but she knew he was out there.
She feels the difference anyway. Like losing a tooth, or a bone in the ear - something from deep inside. It didn’t show, but you knew it was gone.
Today was supposed to be the day that Dave would go to Meadville for his eye shot but they cancelled because of the weather. We got some snow last night. Not a blizzard but enough. Here's some backyard snow pictures from when I went out to do chores just now: ( Read more... )
Skye came home from the vets yesterday afternoon renewed and ready to live again. She got a shot of B12 and extra fluids and I'll be giving her antibiotics here at home. Hopefully it's just an infection. They pinpointed the liver as having a problem. I guess I'll just go into caretaker mode with her now and carry on.
As of this week, half of the states in the U.S. are under restrictive age verification laws that require adults to hand over their biometric and personal identification to access legal porn.
Missouri became the 25th state to enact its own age verification law on Sunday. As it’s done in multiple other states, Pornhub and its network of sister sites—some of the largest adult content platforms in the world—pulled service in Missouri, replacing their homepages with a video of performer Cherie DeVille speaking about the privacy risks and chilling effects of age verification.
💡
Do you have a tip to share about age verification? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at sam.404. Otherwise, send me an email at sam@404media.co.
The other states include Louisiana, Utah, Mississippi, Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, Montana, North Carolina, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Indiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Arizona, and Ohio.
“As you may know, your elected officials in Missouri are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website. While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk,” DeVille says in the video. On the blocked homepages there’s also a link to an explanation of the “Restricted to Adults,” or RTA label, which porn site administrators place on their sites to signal to device-based parental controls that the websites are inappropriate for minors.
Like most of the other 24 laws across the country, Missouri’s age verification law requires websites containing more than one third of material that’s considered “harmful to minors,” or sexual content, to perform age verification checks. Similar or more restrictive laws have swept the country since Louisiana became the first state to enact age verification legislation in 2023.
Age verification laws reach beyond porn sites, however. In Wyoming, South Dakota, Mississippi and Ohio, where the laws are written broadly enough to cover social media sites and any platform hosting adult content, Bluesky users have to submit to a face scan by the third-party company Yoti or upload a photo of their credit card to verify they’re over 18 years of age. In July, Bluesky started requiring all UK users to verify their ages in response to the Online Safety Act. We’ve previously reported on the security risks inuploading sensitive personal data to identity verification services, including the potential for hackers to then get ahold of that information themselves. In October, after Discord started requiring UK users to verify ages, the platform announced hackers breached one of its third-party vendors that handles age-related appeals, and said it identified around 70,000 users who may have had their government ID photos exposed as part of the breach.
Last week, Pornhub’s parent company Aylo sent letters to Apple, Google, and Microsoft, urging them to support device-based age verification in their app stores and operating systems, WIRED reported. “Based on our real-world experience with existing age assurance laws, we strongly support the initiative to protect minors online,” Anthony Penhale, chief legal officer for Aylo, said in the letter. “However, we have found site-based age assurance approaches to be fundamentally flawed and counterproductive.”
Instead of protecting minors, age verification laws spike usage of virtual private networks and send users—including, potentially, minors—to unregulated or unmoderated sites that don’t care about complying with U.S. or UK laws. In Missouri, searches for VPNs spiked following the law’s enactment.
Missouri schools are not required to teach sex education, leaving it up to local school boards to decide what, if anything, children are taught about sexual health. School districts that do teach sex ed are required to promote abstinence, a modality long recognized as ineffective at protecting children from engaging in risky sexual behaviors. Even if a district offers sex ed, parents are allowed to pull their kids out of that class altogether. But despite research showing age verification laws don’t work either, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway believes forcing adults to undergo age verification protects the children in her state. “We are proud to stand on the side of parents, families and basic decency. Missouri will not apologize for protecting children,” Hanaway said in a press release.
I keep seeing forecasts for possible snow here in Connecticut, but it always turns out to be a false alarm and either there is no precipitation or it rains but doesn't snow. This has happened again today, and it's very dreary. Actual snow would be much more appealing.
I've just had a phone call from the dermatologist's office to say the lesion on my leg which they biopsied is benign.
1. When did you not speak up when you should have? I'm sure it happened, but I can't remember any specific incidents.
2, What is your favorite quote? "I'm older than you and I have more insurance." (From one of my favourite movies, "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe".
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