Daily Tech News 2 October 2025

Top Story

OpenAI's new social app

Wait, let me stop you right there.

Noah, we'll need you to build another boat. No, same size as last time would be fine.
OpenAI's new social app, Sora, is filled with horrifying Sam Altman deepfakes. (Tech Crunch)
In a video on OpenAI's new TikTok-like social media app Sora, a never-ending factory farm of pink pigs are grunting and snorting in their pens - each is equipped with a feeding trough and a smartphone screen, which plays a feed of vertical videos. A terrifyingly realistic Sam Altman stares directly at the camera, as though he's making direct eye contact with the viewer. The AI-generated Altman asks, "Are my piggies enjoying their slop?"
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.
In the next video on Sora's For You feed, Altman appears again. This time, he's standing in a field of Pokémon, where creatures like Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and a sort of half-baked Growlithe are frolicking through the grass. The OpenAI CEO looks at the camera and says, "I hope Nintendo doesn't sue us." Then there are many more fantastical yet realistic scenes, which often feature Altman himself.
Build a global network that everyone can share, they said. Make access cheap and easy, they said. What could go wrong, they said.
People on Sora who generate videos of Altman are especially getting a kick out of how blatantly OpenAI appears to be violating copyright laws. (Sora will reportedly require copyright holders to opt out of their content's use - reversing the typical approach where creators must explicitly agree to such use - the legality of which is debatable.)
Guys?

OpenAI isn't violating copyright anymore than a typewriter.

You - the people posting this drivel - are doing that.

Tech News

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate got a 50% price hike. You won't believe what happened next. (WCCFTech)

The site where you cancel your subscription crashed.

Oh. You do believe that. Okay.
TypePad - MovableType's answer to Blogger - est mort. (TypePad)

It has typed its last pad. It has joined the bleeding choir unreadable.

The shutdown was announced a month ago, but TypePad stopped accepting new customers five years ago so this came as a surprise to absolutely nobody.
F3 is the open virus solution for the future. (ACM)

It's supposed to be a replacement for overly-simple formats like CSV and overly-complicated formats like Apache Parquet. What it is, is weaponised idiocy:
Each self-describing F3 file includes both the data and meta-data, as well as WebAssembly (Wasm) binaries to decode the data.
Oh no you don't.
Intel and AMD on-chip secure enclaves aren't secure if the attacker has complete physical control over your server and a fortune to spend on sophisticated analog switches to selectively manipulate in-flight data in cruel and unusual ways. (Ars Technica)

Intel and AMD never claimed that the on-chip secure enclaves were secure under these conditions, and indeed said the opposite.
The UK is still demanding the password to all of Apple's encrypted data belonging to its customers. (Ars Technica)

The UK agreed to drop this bullshit but apparently they don't know how.
Apple's latest AirPods got reviewed by iFixit. (MacRumours)

They earned a repairability score of zero.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: No, I don't know either. But I feel like I've just been told off by a flock of angry mimes.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Ola

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 02, 2025 04:30 AM (Kg0VH)

2 w00t

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:30 AM (aURVT)

3 nicely done, Pete Bog

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:31 AM (aURVT)

4 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at October 02, 2025 04:32 AM (+qU29)

5 >>>Oh. You do believe that. Okay.

Because we have been taught on the tech thread!

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:34 AM (aURVT)

6 Open AI social media sounds like a validation of the internet is a cesspool theorem

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 02, 2025 04:36 AM (Kg0VH)

7 Mornin' Horde.

Coffee. Definitely coffee.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at October 02, 2025 04:37 AM (O7YUW)

8 >>>Intel and AMD on-chip secure enclaves and secure

are secure

I mean, aren't, but "are" is the word you want there

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:38 AM (aURVT)

9 The world doesn’t need AI or another TicTok.

Posted by: Accomack at October 02, 2025 04:39 AM (28cZF)

10 8 >>>Intel and AMD on-chip secure enclaves and secure

are secure

I mean, aren't, but "are" is the word you want there
Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:38 AM (aURVT)

Oh, I see: "aren't" is it.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:39 AM (aURVT)

11 Yep, spotted that one a little ahead of you.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 02, 2025 04:40 AM (BLOW1)

12 Morning all

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 04:41 AM (mmTlv)

13 11 Yep, spotted that one a little ahead of you.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 02, 2025 04:40 AM (BLOW1)

And you fixed it better! I tried really hard to read the sentence when it had the "and" and it hurt my brain.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:42 AM (aURVT)

14 When did the UK decide that they should be asshoe. 2010? 2015? Or have they always been nosy intrusive busybodies and it’s just now becoming apparent?

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 02, 2025 04:43 AM (Kg0VH)

15 shaded of Alice in Wonderland from that still shot

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:44 AM (aURVT)

16 *shades

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:44 AM (aURVT)

17 "Sora will reportedly require copyright holders to opt out of their content's use - reversing the typical approach where creators must explicitly agree to such use - the legality of which is debatable."

Driving onto an interstate using an exit ramp is equally inadvisable.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at October 02, 2025 04:46 AM (O7YUW)

18 14 When did the UK decide that they should be asshoe. 2010? 2015? Or have they always been nosy intrusive busybodies and it’s just now becoming apparent?
Posted by: Pete Bog at October 02, 2025 04:43 AM (Kg0VH)

I don't know, Pete Bog. It's a really good question. I would read a book that attempted to answer it.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 04:47 AM (aURVT)

19 14 When did the UK decide that they should be asshoe. 2010? 2015? Or have they always been nosy intrusive busybodies and it’s just now becoming apparent?
Posted by: Pete Bog

Orwell set 1984 in Britain for a reason.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 02, 2025 04:51 AM (BLOW1)

20 Socialism with that dream of totalitarianism is the way of every government in the world. Europe got sucked into it

Posted by: Skip at October 02, 2025 04:53 AM (+qU29)

21 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at October 02, 2025 04:55 AM (Hpgos)

22 The Xbox situation is going to be the norm going forward, everything is now a subscription and people don't have 30 dollars x 10 per month of disposable income for all of this crap.

I mean, they're bringing subscription bullsh*t to cars.

Next thing you know the starter in your vehicle will require a subscription.

The door to your refrigerator will require a subscription.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at October 02, 2025 04:59 AM (XV/Pl)

23
Diana woke me at 3:00 saying she needed out. Now I'm too sleepy to get up but too awake to go back to sleep.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at October 02, 2025 05:00 AM (tgvbd)

24 @14

>>When did the UK decide that they should be asshoe. 2010? 2015? Or have they always been nosy intrusive busybodies and it’s just now becoming apparent?

I'm going with Tony Blair, everything bad can be traced to Tony Blair.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at October 02, 2025 05:01 AM (XV/Pl)

25 G'mornin all y'all

Posted by: OkJohn at October 02, 2025 05:04 AM (NC/it)

26 "Each self-describing F3 file includes both the data and meta-data, as well as WebAssembly (Wasm) binaries to decode the data."

Firefox -
about:config
javascript.options.wasm Set to: false

Me, I took an axe to a few more wasm settings to break that functionality as much as I could, a la Zaphod threatening to do to the alternate personality of Eddie the Shipboard Computer.

I haven't regretted doing so.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at October 02, 2025 05:05 AM (O7YUW)

27 The door to your refrigerator will require a subscription.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at October 02, 2025 04:59 AM (XV/Pl)

Supposedly, those refrigerators are going to start showing ads.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at October 02, 2025 05:07 AM (ExV1e)

28 19 14 When did the UK decide that they should be asshoe. 2010? 2015? Or have they always been nosy intrusive busybodies and it’s just now becoming apparent?
Posted by: Pete Bog

Orwell set 1984 in Britain for a reason.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 02, 2025 04:51 AM (BLOW1)

That's very sad.
I just grabbed a quick bio on Orwell, here:

https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/george-orwell

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:09 AM (aURVT)

29 G'morning, all!

A second day without the Federal Government?

My guess is that the bodies are stacked like cordwood by now.
I'm lucky I have electricity and internet.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:14 AM (a1415)

30 MD Gov is big heep mad about the shut down. The local Babylon DC Fox had him on playing tough guy. He's running for President.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at October 02, 2025 05:15 AM (Hpgos)

31 6 Open AI social media sounds like a validation of the internet is a cesspool theorem
Posted by: Pete Bog at October 02, 2025 04:36 AM (Kg0VH)

And what does it say about people who are on social media.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:15 AM (aURVT)

32 Good morning.

Posted by: Ben Had at October 02, 2025 05:16 AM (kurEY)

33 Puddleglum, you are in the belly of the beast, yes?

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:17 AM (aURVT)

34 "He's running for President."

Something that I have been warning folks here about for about a year now.

Obama 2.0

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:17 AM (a1415)

35 G'morning, Ben Had.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:18 AM (a1415)

36 Morning, everyone.

Posted by: Caf at October 02, 2025 05:18 AM (/+mVZ)

37 pick one:

Wes Moore
Gavin Newsom

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:19 AM (aURVT)

38 Lot closer to home today
Have a great day horde

Posted by: Skip at October 02, 2025 05:19 AM (+qU29)

39 33: Yes. I'm 'essential' so shut down hasn't affected me, yet.

34: Yep. You have. He has the same vapid bland vibe Obama has. Speaks in bumper stick slogans and is a hard Marxist.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at October 02, 2025 05:19 AM (Hpgos)

40 >>>OpenAI isn't violating copyright anymore than a typewriter.

Strictly legally, I mean, maybe? I'm not sure.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:20 AM (aURVT)

41 37 pick one:

Wes Moore
Gavin Newsom
Posted by: m

SMOD

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at October 02, 2025 05:20 AM (Hpgos)

42 Governor Wes Moore runs a pretty sloppy administration.

Education..
https://tinyurl.com/bdfa28na

To Voter rolls
https://tinyurl.com/dssbsh52

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:21 AM (a1415)

43 41 37 pick one:

Wes Moore
Gavin Newsom
Posted by: m

SMOD
Posted by: Puddleglum at work at October 02, 2025 05:20 AM (Hpgos)

That wasn't on the list.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:21 AM (aURVT)

44 VIA, so very soon we can say this in person.

Posted by: Ben Had at October 02, 2025 05:22 AM (kurEY)

45 Is SMOD an independent?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:22 AM (a1415)

46 "so very soon we can say this in person."

Yup.

I'm excited.

And Mrs VIA can't wait.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:23 AM (a1415)

47 Wes Moore
Gavin Newsom

Imagine the televised debate. Imagine the preening.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:23 AM (aURVT)

48 My guess is that Dr Ian Roberts presented a Maryland Drivers License for proof of identity when applying for the job in Iowa.

And I would suspect that it wore the star indicating that it was Real ID as well.

If so, another troubling issue for Maryland.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:25 AM (a1415)

49 That reminds me, did those 100,000 Federal workers free themselves from Job-lock yesterday?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:29 AM (a1415)

50 47 Wes Moore
Gavin Newsom

Imagine the televised debate. Imagine the preening.
Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:23 AM (aURVT)

Steve Inman could call the blows.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:29 AM (aURVT)

51
https://nitter.net/steveinmanuic

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:31 AM (aURVT)

52 m

That link won't load for me

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:32 AM (a1415)

53 52 m

That link won't load for me
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:32 AM (a1415)

Huh. Thanks. Sorry. It's a twitter link de-twittered.
@steveinmanuic

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:34 AM (aURVT)

54 That's OK.

I like Steve.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:35 AM (a1415)

55 Fittness....I remember in basic training for lunch at the mess hall you had to do some pull ups before you could enter the building. Some guys who were barely 19 years old, couldn't even do one. I of course could do 6 or more. It was loosely enforced, and most were let in anyway. I wonder if the new rules will starve some recruits and told to go away.

Posted by: Colin at October 02, 2025 05:36 AM (wlQdF)

56 54 That's OK.

I like Steve.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:35 AM (a1415)

He's the best.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:36 AM (aURVT)

57 When did the UK decide that they should be asshoe. 2010? 2015? Or have they always been nosy intrusive busybodies and it’s just now becoming apparent?
Posted by: Pete Bog

Orwell set 1984 in Britain for a reason.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 02, 2025 04:51 AM (BLOW1)

Wasn’t that Margaret Thatcher’s Britain?

I think Tony Blair is closer to the point. My question should have been when did those in power conclude that they no longer needed to pay lip service to traditional Anglo values and freedoms?

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 02, 2025 05:36 AM (Kg0VH)

58 Oh goody.

My seal driver for installing front cam seals on the Volvo should be here on Monday.

There are minute oil passages that if the seal is not installed at the correct depth become obstructed by the body of the seal.

Nothing on a Volvo is simple.

And the newer platforms are worse yet.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:37 AM (a1415)

59 Orwell’s final novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984 in later editions), was published in 1949

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:39 AM (aURVT)

60 59 Orwell’s final novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984 in later editions), was published in 1949

Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967), was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:41 AM (aURVT)

61 "Nothing on a Volvo is simple.
And the newer platforms are worse yet."

Wait until you tear into a hybrid.

mornin yall.

Posted by: Guy lost in a cavegina at October 02, 2025 05:42 AM (vFG9F)

62 pick one:

Wes Moore
Gavin Newsom
Posted by: m

For what? Trebuchet ammo?

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 05:43 AM (nbziR)

63 Evening and morning, late toilers and early risers across the vast AoSHQ Empire! ("The Sun never sets on the AoSHQ Empire --") Though I have to admit I feel a little as though the Sun is setting on me. I woke up twice last night, and finally crawled out for coffee and a pipe just now, an hour or more before I planned to rise.

The nostrums are helping, or maybe it's just time and being vertical.

So whatz happenin'?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 05:43 AM (omVj0)

64 Morning Ben Had.

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 05:44 AM (nbziR)

65 Oops off sock.

I had to order a front axle for the motorhome yesterday. I thought I had everything ready but it has started making a shudder on hard acceleration. I don't need a CV joint failing on the road to Texas.

Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 05:45 AM (vFG9F)

66 Driving onto an interstate using an exit ramp is equally inadvisable.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at October 02, 2025

***
I came very close to doing that last week, on a darkened street-Interstate exchange in the north of Evansville. Town needs more street lights and more lights shining onto street signs. And more street signs.

(So does Da Swamp. But I know most of the streets here.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 05:46 AM (omVj0)

67 Little Dagny Sophia La Siberienne is giving me The Look -- the one that says, "Have you forgotten to do something? Like, I don't know, feeding us?"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 05:49 AM (omVj0)

68 rickb223, Good morning. Can't wait to give you a hug.

Posted by: Ben Had at October 02, 2025 05:50 AM (kurEY)

69 "Wait until you tear into a hybrid."

After careful consideration, I have realized....that isn't gonna happen.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:53 AM (a1415)

70 Nothing on a Volvo is simple.

And the newer platforms are worse yet.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025

***
A '75 Volvo was the car that caught fire and burned up on me in early '85. I'd just bought it from a private seller. Apparently that generation of Volvo had a problem with the fuel line cracking without warning. There was no Internet then, or I'd have researched the model and refused to chance it. Mrs. Wolfus No. 2 and I leaped out and ran to a safe distance, where we watched it burn end to end.

People from a nearby dance club came out to watch. One said to me, "Is that your car?" I sighed. "It was. . . ."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 05:54 AM (omVj0)

71 fd, glad you did the road test.

Posted by: Ben Had at October 02, 2025 05:54 AM (kurEY)

72 rickb223, Good morning. Can't wait to give you a hug.
Posted by: Ben Had

Me either.

Can't wait to meet a lot of the gray boxes.

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 05:57 AM (nbziR)

73 >>>OpenAI's new social app, Sora

Coulda been Soma.

Many aspects of 1984 might sound familiar in 21st century society, including the ubiquitous presence of video cameras; the practice of “Two Minutes of Hate,” in which citizens are given a common enemy about which to voice their anger so they don’t bother to find fault with the controlling state in which they live; and the existence of “thoughtcrime,” where a person can be found guilty of even thinking something negative about the state.

Also in 1984, citizens are given a drug called “soma,” a narcotic to help them feel happy and detached, keeping them from reflecting on the ways in which they are manipulated by the government.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:57 AM (aURVT)

74
Also in 1984, citizens are given a drug called “soma,” a narcotic to help them feel happy and detached, keeping them from reflecting on the ways in which they are manipulated by the government.
Posted by: m at October 02, 2025

***
"Soma do, and Soma don't."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 05:59 AM (omVj0)

75 "fd, glad you did the road test.
Posted by: Ben Had"

This will be the 49th year for This Old Coach. Every trip is a road test.

Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 06:01 AM (vFG9F)

76 fd, from what I saw you have kept it in mint condition.

Posted by: Ben Had at October 02, 2025 06:04 AM (kurEY)

77 74
Also in 1984, citizens are given a drug called “soma,” a narcotic to help them feel happy and detached, keeping them from reflecting on the ways in which they are manipulated by the government.
Posted by: m at October 02, 2025

***
"Soma do, and Soma don't."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 05:59 AM (omVj0)

I'll take Soma this, Soma that.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 06:05 AM (aURVT)

78 In local news, Franciso Josue Chan-Garcia was picked up for DUI and, by the looks of him, will be taking a trip to his home country, wherever that is.

Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 06:06 AM (vFG9F)

79 78 In local news, Franciso Josue Chan-Garcia was picked up for DUI and, by the looks of him, will be taking a trip to his home country, wherever that is.
Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 06:06 AM (vFG9F)

Three strikes?

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 06:07 AM (aURVT)

80 I seem to recall Henry Gibson, famous for Laugh-In, doing spots for some kind of game (like a Rubik's Cube, but not that) called "Soma" back in the late Sixties or early Seventies. He used "Soma do, and Soma don't" as the sales tagline. Anybody remember what kind of game or gadget it was?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:08 AM (omVj0)

81 Syed Tansirn Ahmed was also arrested for DUI. So much for the haram.

Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 06:12 AM (vFG9F)

82 this guy:

NYPD suspends detective who snuck into Ryder Cup pretending to be on Trump's security detail

(Fox)

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 06:15 AM (aURVT)

83 In local news, Franciso Josue Chan-Garcia was picked up for DUI and, by the looks of him, will be taking a trip to his home country, wherever that is.
Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 06:06 AM (vFG9F)

Three strikes?
Posted by: m

On one pitch.

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 06:16 AM (nbziR)

84 "NYPD suspends detective who snuck into Ryder Cup pretending to be on Trump's security detail

(Fox)
Posted by: m "

Stereotypical fat cop. They wouldn't have noticed him had he not fumbled his gun mag.

Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 06:17 AM (vFG9F)

85 I stopped at a few Waffle Houses on my trip north and also back south. Usually, in mid-morning, they were kind of empty, and I could sit in a booth without feeling guilty that I was hogging a seat. The A/C was also very good, almost cold, and I would bring a windbreaker or my rain jacket in with me.

In Meridian, MS, though, last Monday at 10:30 am, the place was filled with retirees and geezers. (I make the distinction since I'm the former but not the latter.) Maybe there was a church meeting (on a Monday? Could be) that had just let out, and everybody trooped over to the Waffle House for chow.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:17 AM (omVj0)

86 Soma is from the book 'A Brave New World '. Aldous Huxley.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at October 02, 2025 06:18 AM (c7Vd5)

87 "soma" was from Huxley's Brave New World, not Nineteen Eighty-Four

Posted by: heywood the third at October 02, 2025 06:18 AM (u+VIK)

88 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at October 02, 2025 06:18 AM (XQo4F)

89 Was Soma a cube game where you had to reassemble using 3d pieces?

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at October 02, 2025 06:19 AM (JMwga)

90 I do believe that Maryland Man has had a final Court ruling, and will be departing the Un tied States shortly.

Senator Van Hollan must be devastated at the loss of a constituent.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 06:22 AM (a1415)

91 In Meridian, MS, though, last Monday at 10:30 am, the place was filled with retirees and geezers. (I make the distinction since I'm the former but not the latter.) Maybe there was a church meeting (on a Monday? Could be) that had just let out, and everybody trooped over to the Waffle House for chow.
Posted by: Wolfus AureliusI

It could have been their once a week Whittle & Spit Club meeting.

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 06:22 AM (nbziR)

92 86 Soma is from the book 'A Brave New World '. Aldous Huxley.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at October 02, 2025 06:18 AM (c7Vd5)

87 "soma" was from Huxley's Brave New World, not Nineteen Eighty-Four
Posted by: heywood the third at October 02, 2025 06:18 AM (u+VIK)
---
That's what The Party in 1984 wants you to think.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 02, 2025 06:23 AM (IBQGV)

93 My other standby for my trip was Love's Travel Stops, the truck stops that sprout like mushrooms along every Interstate. They are smart about their marketing: They make sure their logo is on the "upcoming amenities" signs before the exit, so you know one is coming up. Usually I just hit the restrooms, but they have snacks, coffee, some hot food like sausage links or hot dogs or burritos, and usually a Hardee's fast food shop attached.

No pipe tobacco, though. Lots of cigarettes and chew and pipe tobacco "cigars," but no pipe stuff. Though I recall one truck stop on a trip in the past that actually had pipe tobacco -- really roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco -- available in bags. Maybe it was Love's, and maybe they stopped carrying that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:23 AM (omVj0)

94

I frequently refer to myself as being born analog and having some issues converting to a digital age person.

I've noticed that as the digital age grows, the only things that make sense are those analog values and mores I grew up in accord with, the ones universally despised nowadays. But, they are REAL. We use them as a foundation, the digital leftwits scorn them. Most all of you here operate comfortably within them, whether you realize it or not. Hence the conflict with the left, who operate inside a fictional reality.

Okay, no further introspection fom this corner. Let me simply say that may you receive maximal benefits from your efforts and the leftwit fungi receive maximal heartburn as a result of their endeavors.

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at October 02, 2025 06:23 AM (vFbHf)

95 "fd, from what I saw you have kept it in mint condition.
Posted by: Ben Had "

With any luck, it will outlast me. By the time 2050 rolls around, I'll be needing a lot more than next CV joints.

Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 06:23 AM (vFG9F)

96 New not next

Posted by: fd at October 02, 2025 06:24 AM (vFG9F)

97 Was Soma a cube game where you had to reassemble using 3d pieces?
Posted by: Jinx the Cat at October 02, 2025

***
I'm thinking that's right, but I'm not sure.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:24 AM (omVj0)

98 86 Soma is from the book 'A Brave New World '. Aldous Huxley.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at October 02, 2025 06:18 AM (c7Vd5)

87 "soma" was from Huxley's Brave New World, not Nineteen Eighty-Four
Posted by: heywood the third at October 02, 2025 06:18 AM (u+VIK)

... and used also, subsequently, in Orwell's 1984. Or so says the biographer at the link (where you regrettably have to click on the arrow to the left of the book title 1984 in the list of "His six novels are" to pull up the passage that I clipped).

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 06:24 AM (aURVT)

99
Are there shots of Sam Altman with monkeys flying out of his butt?

Yes? No?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars(TM) - what makes you think you are in charge? at October 02, 2025 06:27 AM (TkTTq)

100 100

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 06:27 AM (aURVT)

101 I read Brave New World some years ago, and was struck by not only the high imagination on display *, but the actual humor!

There's a copy of 1984[/i on my shelf. Need to take a look at it.

* BNW is a 1930s novel by a literary novelist, not an SF writer. All too often a literary author will dabble in some genre, and get some elements of the genre right and fail on others. Huxley seemed to avoid that pitfall.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:29 AM (omVj0)

102

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:29 AM (omVj0)

103 So I take it that the Doom Goblin had a bad day yesterday?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 06:33 AM (a1415)

104 Why do AI programs need their own social media? Are the AIs talking about ... us?

Posted by: Count de Monet at October 02, 2025 06:34 AM (wVcYX)

105
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at October 02, 2025 06:36 AM (tljrc)

106 E.M. Forster, the A Passage to India guy, also wrote an SF novelette, "The Machine Stops," way back in 1909. It was considered good enough SF to appear in one of the three Science Fiction Hall of Fame collections in the '70s -- the stories the SF Writers of America voted as great before the Hugos began to be awarded. Been a while since I read it.

Wiki says, "The story, set in a world where humanity lives underground and relies on a giant machine to provide its needs, predicted technologies similar to instant messaging and the Internet."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:37 AM (omVj0)

107 Why do AI programs need their own social media? Are the AIs talking about ... us?
Posted by: Count de Monet at October 02, 2025

***
One shudders to think about what might go viral on such a platform. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:38 AM (omVj0)

108 "Build a global network that everyone can share, they said. Make access cheap and easy, they said. What could go wrong, they said."

The Information Superhighway has become Death by Advertising.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at October 02, 2025 06:40 AM (WPL6O)

109
Was Soma a cube game where you had to reassemble using 3d pieces?
Posted by: Jinx the Cat at October 02, 2025

***
I'm thinking that's right, but I'm not sure.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

I recall a puzzle that consisted of four plastic cubes with edges about an inch long and four different colors on their faces (white, green, blue and red). The idea was to line up the four cubes so that all the cubes' faces along each 4x1 side were all one color and you needed to get all four faces of each 4x1 side to be one color. It either was that, or every 4x1 side had to contain each of the four colors.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars(TM) - what makes you think you are in charge? at October 02, 2025 06:40 AM (TkTTq)

110 Day two of the kabuki shutdown theater.

Posted by: Eromero at October 02, 2025 06:42 AM (jgmnb)

111 from the Nineteen Eighty-Four wikipedia site; how cool is this:

In October 1949, after reading Nineteen Eighty-Four, Huxley sent a letter to Orwell

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 06:43 AM (aURVT)

112
Why do AI programs need their own social media?

Why does God need a spaceship? Because, for some aspect, a raven is like a writing desk.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars(TM) - what makes you think you are in charge? at October 02, 2025 06:43 AM (TkTTq)

113 48
'If so, another troubling issue for Maryland.'

Troubling how?
Because its state government is a criminal enterprise?

Posted by: Dr. Claw at October 02, 2025 06:44 AM (fd80v)

114 108 "Build a global network that everyone can share, they said. Make access cheap and easy, they said. What could go wrong, they said."

The Information Superhighway has become Death by Advertising.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at October 02, 2025 06:40 AM (WPL6O
Dogs driving cars, cats dancing, monkeys with footballs, cows eating the cabbage, pigs in 3-piece suits……that’s what can happen.

Posted by: Eromero at October 02, 2025 06:46 AM (jgmnb)

115
In October 1949, after reading Nineteen Eighty-Four, Huxley sent a letter to Orwell
Posted by: m

Thecentry continued, "There are some who think the letter was Zed, but contrarians think it was Vee."

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars(TM) - what makes you think you are in charge? at October 02, 2025 06:47 AM (TkTTq)

116 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 02, 2025 06:48 AM (u82oZ)

117 109
Was Soma a cube game where you had to reassemble using 3d pieces?
Posted by: Jinx the Cat at October 02, 2025

***
I'm thinking that's right, but I'm not sure.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

I still have one, it's sitting on my dresser, missing a piece ( grrr ) . It's probably in my closet.

The inventor ( I'm going from memory here ) is a Danish guy named Piet Hein, who memorably said "Problems worthy of attack, prove their worth by hitting back."

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 02, 2025 06:49 AM (PiwSw)

118 {{{{Salty!}}}

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 02, 2025 06:50 AM (PiwSw)

119
It is said that, in the height of her passion during sexual intercourse, the Swedish Doom Goblin loudly calls out, "How dare you! How dare you!" repeatedly.

It is to laugh.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars(TM) - what makes you think you are in charge? at October 02, 2025 06:50 AM (TkTTq)

120 The Information Superhighway has become Death by Advertising.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm

Burma

Shave

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 06:51 AM (nbziR)

121 The Information Superhighway has become Death by Advertising.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm

Dogs driving cars, cats dancing, monkeys with footballs, cows eating the cabbage, pigs in 3-piece suits……that’s what can happen.
Posted by: Eromero

Hamsters dancing, Elves & Polar Bears bowling...

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 06:52 AM (nbziR)

122 Village Idiot's Apprentice

Top o ta mornin to ya, gov'nor.

ICE, depopulating Marylands criminal element one non-native at a time. Still leaves a lot of citizen talent in place.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 02, 2025 06:53 AM (u82oZ)

123 No mention of Henry Gibson's "Soma" spots on the 'Net that I can find; no video of it on YooToob.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 06:55 AM (omVj0)

124 As long as we're discussing dystopias, I'd mention the novel We, by the Russian novelist Yevgeny Zamyatin, written before either 1984 or Brave New World.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 02, 2025 06:55 AM (PiwSw)

125 Got tired of X so decided to shut down my account and stop them processing the monthly pmt for my blue check. Guess what happened next? Was completely blocked via mobile app or via web login to shut that down. Had to completely nuke that bank account after spending way too much time on X trying to get it done. It was the only way after reaching out to X only to be ignored. Hey Elon, fix that shit.

Posted by: Grizzle at October 02, 2025 06:56 AM (BR0ny)

126 {{{I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper}}}

I told my peeps last night to enjoy the winning. And we are winning.

OMB needs to move fast on the RIFS. I'm sure evil thinks they have a cunning plan.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 02, 2025 06:56 AM (u82oZ)

127 Was in a busy Jamaican-themed restaurant last night, and only our table looked like the people were really happy.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 02, 2025 06:58 AM (u82oZ)

128
Day two of the kabuki shutdown theater.
Posted by: Eromero

Impromptu walls constructed from dead bodies stacked like cordwood have begun to crop up in the streets. Dog-eared copies of the "Seattle Summer of Love Gardening Guide" are selling for up to one hundred dollars, in gold, owing to an aching hunger for the great wisdom recorded therein.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars(TM) - what makes you think you are in charge? at October 02, 2025 06:58 AM (TkTTq)

129 The Yankees are the first team in MLB Postseason history to have the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom of the 9th but not score a run and lose the game.

Damn. That's gotta hurt.

Posted by: rickb223 at October 02, 2025 07:00 AM (nbziR)

130 Krebs v Carnot

Contented Angus cows are placidly grazing all around. You would not know of urban travail from here.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 02, 2025 07:01 AM (u82oZ)

131 98:... and used also, subsequently, in Orwell's 1984. Or so says the biographer at the link (where you regrettably have to click on the arrow to the left of the book title 1984 in the list of "His six novels are" to pull up the passage that I clipped).

Posted by: m

Victory Gin was used in 1984. I don't recall soma at all. Could be wrong. It's been a while since I read it.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at October 02, 2025 07:03 AM (sAmhv)

132 Didn't see any dead bodies yet from the shutdown,

Posted by: Skip at October 02, 2025 07:03 AM (G2Cb+)

133 Morning Horde, thx Pixy.
Does Sam Altman have business chops or is he just full of crap? Honest question

Posted by: Smell the Glove at October 02, 2025 07:03 AM (A2I8b)

134 ... and used also, subsequently, in Orwell's 1984. Or so says the biographer at the link (where you regrettably have to click on the arrow to the left of the book title 1984 in the list of "His six novels are" to pull up the passage that I clipped).
Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 06:24 AM (aURVT)

I’ve read both books.
Soma was everywhere in Brave New World as everybody took it as it was required, similar to the denizens in the movie, THX-1138.

There were no drugs in 1984, maybe there were some among the lower class, non-party members the “Proles” who I believe had alcohol.

The only time the protagonist, Winston Smith, got close to drugs was eating his chocolate ration and having sex with a female party member, which pretty much ruined him.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 02, 2025 07:05 AM (6ydKt)

135 And the story I heard for coming up with the title for 1984 was that Orwell wrote it in 1948 and just transposed the numbers to 1984.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 02, 2025 07:06 AM (6ydKt)

136 ChargeTV has started running episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess in the afternoons. They're up to episode nine, so I guess they started last week? That'll be pleasant to drop in on during the 4 pm hour.

Heroes & Icons (H & I) will start the original CSI w/ William Petersen next Monday at 5 pm -- exactly twenty-five years, they tell us, from the 2000 premiere date. Petersen has always been impressive to me. He played the original ex-FBI profiler who trapped Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham, in the 1986 Manhunter. I've always thought he would have been a good choice to play James Kirk if someone had done a Trek film in the late '90s, after the original cast had finished up.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 07:07 AM (omVj0)

137 A second day without the Federal Government?

My guess is that the bodies are stacked like cordwood by now.
I'm lucky I have electricity and internet.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at October 02, 2025 05:14 AM

The traffic going to JSC wasn't even light yesterday. I was SO disappointed.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 02, 2025 07:08 AM (VmDLh)

138 Besides the great 1984 and Animal Farm, Orwell wrote an awesome personal history of his time in the Spanish civil war called An Homage to Catalonia. Should be required reading

Posted by: Smell the Glove at October 02, 2025 07:10 AM (A2I8b)

139 Historically, I'm told, govt. shutdowns have happened a number of times in the last four decades. Generally, when a Repub is president, the media proclaim it to be an apocalypse, but it's over in less than a week. When a Democrap is president, the media blames it on Congress, and the shutdown has lasted as long as three weeks.

Yet we're still here.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 07:11 AM (omVj0)

140 "Intel and AMD on-chip secure enclaves aren't secure if the attacker has complete physical control over your server and a fortune to spend on sophisticated analog switches to selectively manipulate in-flight data in cruel and unusual ways."

Practically speaking, this sounds more like an issue that would come up when a nation state wants to get a hold of your data. In that case, using the UK government as an example, passing a law a demanding a data owner give up access would be the first option. And when that doesn't work, they would just kidnap the data owners children and hold them hostage until access is coughed it up. On second thought, such a government would probably bypass all this and just go right for the kidnapping of children and unironically state this was being done to protect the safety of children.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at October 02, 2025 07:11 AM (aJQjq)

141 Besides the great 1984 and Animal Farm, Orwell wrote an awesome personal history of his time in the Spanish civil war called An Homage to Catalonia. Should be required reading
Posted by: Smell the Glove at October 02, 2025

***
Did Orwell write any short stories?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 07:12 AM (omVj0)

142 Petersen has always been impressive to me. He played the original ex-FBI profiler who trapped Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham, in the 1986 Manhunter. I've always thought he would have been a good choice to play James Kirk if someone had done a Trek film in the late '90s, after the original cast had finished up.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 07:07 AM (omVj0)

Yeah, Manhunter is a highly underrated flick.
Michael Mann directed it and did a great job.

It also has the first appearance of Hannibal Lecter on screen, though not played by Anthony Hopkins who turned the role, and himself, into a household name with his turn at the role.

I recommend people check out Manhunter if they like Silence of the Lambs.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 02, 2025 07:15 AM (6ydKt)

143 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at October 02, 2025 07:15 AM (K7MIk)

144 In an irony of ironies, google wants me to sign in to watch youtube videos, claiming to be worried about bots. SMH.

I might finally shake my youtube addiction!

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 02, 2025 07:15 AM (LFuIc)

145 as well as WebAssembly (Wasm) binaries to decode the data.

I'd like to know the name of the retard who thought this was a good idea. It's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard of. WASM allows for full binaries to be launched over a browser. And then you include it in your file format that's supposed to replace CSV and the like? Ugh.

Posted by: Farquad at October 02, 2025 07:16 AM (HSJIN)

146
Soma was in Brave New World, not 1984.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars(TM) - what makes you think you are in charge? at October 02, 2025 07:19 AM (TkTTq)

147 In recalling past government shut-downs I particularly recall Zoobama closing national parks and D.C. landmarks, in hopes angry citizens would blame Republicans for their disturbed vacations. Asshoe.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 02, 2025 07:20 AM (UW/qz)

148
JJS

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 02, 2025 07:21 AM (gbOdA)

149 When a Democrap is president, the media blames it on Congress, and the shutdown has lasted as long as three weeks.

Yet we're still here.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 07:11 AM (omVj0)

Clinton had the second longest shutdown, like over three weeks, which he managed to put all the blame on Gingrich, thanks to our media propagandists.

Trump holds the reorder, I think like 36 days, in December 2018 running into January of ‘19, fighting to get border wall funding, which he never got.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 02, 2025 07:21 AM (6ydKt)

150 As far as I'm concerned, the federal government can stay shut down except for the part where we attack the Mexican drug cartels and kill them all, continue making make Europe cry, and put a 10,000% tariffs on Chinese goods. Some adjustments might be needed here, such as a 20,000% tariff Chinese goods.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at October 02, 2025 07:21 AM (aJQjq)

151 hey yall JJS

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 02, 2025 07:22 AM (gbOdA)

152 reorder = record

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 02, 2025 07:22 AM (6ydKt)

153 On second thought, such a government would probably bypass all this and just go right for the kidnapping of children and unironically state this was being done to protect the safety of children.
Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at October 02, 2025 07:11 AM (aJQjq)
--------------
Sounds a little like public education

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 02, 2025 07:23 AM (fKaF7)

154 The only time the protagonist, Winston Smith, got close to drugs was eating his chocolate ration and having sex with a female party member, which pretty much ruined him.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 02, 2025 07:05 AM (6ydKt)
----
He forgot Rule #1.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 02, 2025 07:23 AM (IBQGV)

155 @141 Wolfus, don't think so. He wrote essays and a couple other novels .

Posted by: Smell the Glove at October 02, 2025 07:24 AM (A2I8b)

156 Yeah, Manhunter is a highly underrated flick.
Michael Mann directed it and did a great job.

It also has the first appearance of Hannibal Lecter on screen, though not played by Anthony Hopkins who turned the role, and himself, into a household name with his turn at the role.

I recommend people check out Manhunter if they like Silence of the Lambs.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 02, 2025

***
Lecter was played by Brian Cox, a British actor who was in one of the X-Men flicks. For some reason his character's name is spelled "Dr. Lecktor." He played Lecter with a hint of well-educated thug, while Hopkins gave us a much more polished fellow. Both are valid interpretations.

When Harris wrote the first one, Red Dragon (which became Manhunter), he had Lecter as a fairly small role serving to highlight Graham's detective powers -- and his weird ability to think like a serial killer. I'll bet that even as Harris was writing Lecter's scenes, he had in mind at least one more story, this one focusing on him. "I've really got something here --!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 02, 2025 07:27 AM (omVj0)

157 131 98:... and used also, subsequently, in Orwell's 1984. Or so says the biographer at the link (where you regrettably have to click on the arrow to the left of the book title 1984 in the list of "His six novels are" to pull up the passage that I clipped).

Posted by: m

Victory Gin was used in 1984. I don't recall soma at all. Could be wrong. It's been a while since I read it.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at October 02, 2025 07:03 AM (sAmhv)

I just downloaded a 1984 and searched for soma and got no hits for soma. Many hits for gin!

He was conscious of nothing except
the blankness of the page in front of him, the itching of the skin
above his ankle, the blaring of the music, and a slight booziness
caused by the gin.

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 07:45 AM (aURVT)

158 28 19 14 I just grabbed a quick bio on Orwell, here:

https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/george-orwell
Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 05:09 AM (aURVT)

Perhaps that site is trash?

Posted by: m at October 02, 2025 07:49 AM (aURVT)

Processing 0.03, elapsed 0.0247 seconds.
14 queries taking 0.0071 seconds, 166 records returned.
Page size 95 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.