20 Likes
Should post those links in the tool/sites resource thread
15 Likes
Just gonna leave this here too.
17 Likes
Destroying the planet to “own the libs.”
10 Likes
Well, that and propping up a dying industry.
“Owning the libs” is pushed as propaganda to help that goal, as we know.
15 Likes
18 Likes
i can’t bear to watch
13 Likes
Truly ursinine behavior.
10 Likes
I bet the scene was grizzly
10 Likes
This part is good:
Game Commission officials say no citations will be filed for the bear being shot since the attack posed imminent danger to humans.
My experience with the PA game commission is that they can be…autocratic. Lots of folks who like to flex their authority.
9 Likes
This is just fucking horrible.
19 Likes
Thanks for those links. Was only aware of 1 of those sites.
An ebook question: Is there an accessibility or similar app that will read a digital ebook aloud?
I have many old ebooks that do not have audio or eaudio versions. Is there an app that will read these to me while I drive?
(PS: maybe @wazoth already answered this with his calibre post?)
6 Likes
Mac OS can read any text to you in its janky voices, but it’s not pleasant
5 Likes
Bleeping Computer on Wednesday also reported that an extortion note the attacker sent to PowerSchool claimed that the personal data of 62.4 million students and 9.5 million teachers was swept up in the breach. PowerSchool said it’s offering two years of free credit monitoring to all those affected.
PowerSchool has yet to disclose the number of individuals affected or confirm whether it paid a ransom.
Wow. They apparently hoovered up data extending back as far as 1984 in some districts. Not sure how to respond, honestly. No techie, me, but this seems bad.
8 Likes
To quote our school board, It’s “anyone who was a student … between 1965 and December 28, 2024”.
Personally, I’m livid. Our school board was so badly done over in the Solar Winds attack that when they got their IT back on line, it was on new domains. This is probably worse.
Ironically, AWS holds out PowerSchool as one of their case studies.
AWS has enabled us to save 97.6% on our operations expenses. We have essentially unlimited capacity to maintain near-real-time performance.”
Jason Ergle
Director of Engineering, PowerSchool
Smooth move, there, ex-lax. Betcha the lawsuits will make that number look a little worse.
Further to the irony, shortly before this, my business partner got a dressing down from an AWS exec for suggesting that cloud security was a problem (yes, you can run a secure cloud op, it’s harder because there’s more to understand, and you’re only as good as the weakest link in the chain, some of which is out of your control).
I might consider feeling less furious if I was seeing even an incremental improvement in any sort of outcome or interaction from my son’s high school, compared to mine where, in the 80’s, a single admin assistant seemed to be able to keep on top of everything with a few filing cabinets.
7 Likes
What a cockup!
So what awful things happen to people when their personal data gets leaked like that? I don’t use say, my SS # for much of anything, so how could someone else use it? (I’m not saying that I doubt shit happens; I’d just like to be prepared for the inevitable leaking at some point of my own data.)
7 Likes
The comments on this post by Brian Krebs have a few nuggets. It’s a gold mine for outright identity theft and impersonation, and you’re left with an embarrassment of criminal riches. LGBTQ+ students could be outed by the info, dead names, etc. in the database, for instance. The “grandma I need money” scam now has lots to work with. Kids whose parents are in sensitive industries could become kidnapping targets.
In our school board, a lot of teaching staff, principals, also had their info stolen.
6 Likes
And then there is this.
The researchers surveyed the grid to measure the capacity of power that small- and medium-sized renewable facilities could feed into the grid. They arrived at the estimate of 40 GW. Combined with the 20 GW of load they theoretically can add, that amounted to an unbalanced capacity of 60 GW, enough to power roughly all of Germany. They posited that a sudden change that added or ditched that amount of electricity from the grid all at once could create enough instability to take it down entirely.
Sleep well!
5 Likes