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How can virtual contact centers maintain productivity standards when employees work from home?
Maintaining productivity standards in virtual contact centers when employees work from home can be challenging, but with the right tools and strategies, it's entirely achievable.
Clear Communication: Establishing clear communication channels is crucial. Regular check-ins, virtual meetings, and updates ensure that everyone is on the same page, minimizing misunderstandings and delays.
Performance Monitoring: Monitoring employee performance is essential to maintaining productivity. This is where CollaborationRoom shines. Their remote work collaboration software provides call centers with real-time insights into employee performance, enabling managers to identify areas that need improvement and provide timely feedback.
Setting Expectations: Clearly defined goals and expectations help employees understand their responsibilities, even when working remotely. This includes setting KPIs, deadlines, and quality standards.
Training and Support: Continuous training ensures that employees are up-to-date with the latest tools and techniques. CollaborationRoom's software also supports ongoing development by providing analytics that highlight skill gaps, allowing for targeted training.
Leveraging Technology: Utilizing advanced tools like CollaborationRoom's call monitoring software can help maintain productivity by offering features like automated reporting, real-time alerts, and detailed performance analytics. These tools ensure that managers can keep track of productivity levels, even in a remote setting.
By implementing these strategies and leveraging the right technology, virtual call center software can maintain high productivity standards, ensuring efficient and effective operations.
#remote work management software#work from home contact center collaboration tools#call center workforce management software#best call center collaboration software#leading wealth management platforms in the usa#call center call monitoring software#contact center software solutions
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#virtual work form home call center software#call center call monitoring software#best call center collaboration software#contact center software solutions#work from home Contact center collaboration tools#best Contact center virtual collaboration tools#call center workforce management software
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LaRue Burbank, mathematician and computer, is just one of the many women who were instrumental to NASA missions.
4 Little Known Women Who Made Huge Contributions to NASA
Women have always played a significant role at NASA and its predecessor NACA, although for much of the agency’s history, they received neither the praise nor recognition that their contributions deserved. To celebrate Women’s History Month – and properly highlight some of the little-known women-led accomplishments of NASA’s early history – our archivists gathered the stories of four women whose work was critical to NASA’s success and paved the way for future generations.
LaRue Burbank: One of the Women Who Helped Land a Man on the Moon
LaRue Burbank was a trailblazing mathematician at NASA. Hired in 1954 at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now NASA’s Langley Research Center), she, like many other young women at NACA, the predecessor to NASA, had a bachelor's degree in mathematics. But unlike most, she also had a physics degree. For the next four years, she worked as a "human computer," conducting complex data analyses for engineers using calculators, slide rules, and other instruments. After NASA's founding, she continued this vital work for Project Mercury.
In 1962, she transferred to the newly established Manned Spacecraft Center (now NASA’s Johnson Space Center) in Houston, becoming one of the few female professionals and managers there. Her expertise in electronics engineering led her to develop critical display systems used by flight controllers in Mission Control to monitor spacecraft during missions. Her work on the Apollo missions was vital to achieving President Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon.
Eilene Galloway: How NASA became… NASA

Eilene Galloway wasn't a NASA employee, but she played a huge role in its very creation. In 1957, after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, Senator Richard Russell Jr. called on Galloway, an expert on the Atomic Energy Act, to write a report on the U.S. response to the space race. Initially, legislators aimed to essentially re-write the Atomic Energy Act to handle the U.S. space goals. However, Galloway argued that the existing military framework wouldn't suffice – a new agency was needed to oversee both military and civilian aspects of space exploration. This included not just defense, but also meteorology, communications, and international cooperation.
Her work on the National Aeronautics and Space Act ensured NASA had the power to accomplish all these goals, without limitations from the Department of Defense or restrictions on international agreements. Galloway is even to thank for the name "National Aeronautics and Space Administration", as initially NASA was to be called “National Aeronautics and Space Agency” which was deemed to not carry enough weight and status for the wide-ranging role that NASA was to fill.
Barbara Scott: The “Star Trek Nerd” Who Led Our Understanding of the Stars

A self-described "Star Trek nerd," Barbara Scott's passion for space wasn't steered toward engineering by her guidance counselor. But that didn't stop her! Fueled by her love of math and computer science, she landed at Goddard Spaceflight Center in 1977. One of the first women working on flight software, Barbara's coding skills became instrumental on missions like the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) and the Thermal Canister Experiment on the Space Shuttle's STS-3. For the final decade of her impressive career, Scott managed the flight software for the iconic Hubble Space Telescope, a testament to her dedication to space exploration.
Dr. Claire Parkinson: An Early Pioneer in Climate Science Whose Work is Still Saving Lives

Dr. Claire Parkinson's love of math blossomed into a passion for climate science. Inspired by the Moon landing, and the fight for civil rights, she pursued a graduate degree in climatology. In 1978, her talents landed her at Goddard, where she continued her research on sea ice modeling. But Parkinson's impact goes beyond theory. She began analyzing satellite data, leading to a groundbreaking discovery: a decline in Arctic sea ice coverage between 1973 and 1987. This critical finding caught the attention of Senator Al Gore, highlighting the urgency of climate change.
Parkinson's leadership extended beyond research. As Project Scientist for the Aqua satellite, she championed making its data freely available. This real-time information has benefitted countless projects, from wildfire management to weather forecasting, even aiding in monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic. Parkinson's dedication to understanding sea ice patterns and the impact of climate change continues to be a valuable resource for our planet.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!
#NASA#space#tech#technology#womens history month#women in STEM#math#climate science#computer science
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Each week (or so), we'll highlight the relevant (and sometimes rage-inducing) news adjacent to writing and freedom of expression. This week:
Inkitt’s AI-powered fiction factory
Inkitt started in the mid-2010s as a cozy platform where anyone could share their writing. Fast forward twenty twenty-fuckkkkk, and like most startups, it’s pivoted hard into AI-fueled content production with the soul of an algorithm.

Pictured: Inkitt preparing human-generated work for an AI-powered flume ride to The Unknown.
Here’s how it works: Inkitt monitors reader engagement with tracking software, then picks popular stories to publish on its premium app, Galatea. From there, stories can get spun into sequels, spinoffs, or adapted for GalateaTV… often with minimal author involvement. Authors get an undisclosed cut of revenue, but for most, it’s a fraction of what they’d earn with a traditional publisher (let alone self-publishing).
“'They prey on new writers who have no idea what they’re doing,' said the writer of one popular Galatea series."
Many, many authors have side-eyed or outright decried the platform as inherently predatory for years, due to nebulous payout promises. And much of the concern centers on contracts that don’t require authors’ consent for editorial changes or AI-generated “additions” to the original text.
Now, Inkitt has gone full DiSrUpTiOn, leaning heavily on generative AI to ghostwrite, edit, generate audiobook narration, and design covers, under the banner of “democratizing storytelling.” (AI? In my democratized storytelling platform? It’s more likely than you think.)
Pictured: Inkitt’s CEO looking at the most-read stories.
But Inkitt’s CEO doesn’t seem too concerned about what authors think: “His business model doesn’t need them.”
The company recently raised $37 million, with backers including former CEOs of Sony, Penguin, and HarperCollins, proving once again that publishing loves a disruptor… as long as it disrupts creatives, not capital. And more AI companies are mushrooming up to chase the same vision: “a vision of human-created art becoming the raw material for AI-powered, corporate-owned content-production machines—a scenario in which humans would play an ever-shrinking role.”
(Not to say we predicted this, but…)
Welcome to the creator-industrial complex.
Publishers to AI: Stop stealing our stuff (please?)
Major publishers—including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Vox Media—have launched a "Support Responsible AI" campaign, urging the U.S. government to regulate AI's use of copyrighted content.
Like last month's campaigns by the Authors Guild and the UK's Society of Authors, there's a website where where you can (and should!) contact your representatives to say, “Hey, maybe stop letting billion-dollar tech giants strip-mine journalism.”
The campaign’s ads carry slogans like “Stop AI Theft” and “AI Steals From You Too” and call for legislation that would force AI companies to pay for the content they train on and clearly label AI-generated content with attribution. This follows lobbying by OpenAI and Google to make it legal to scrape and train on copyrighted material without consent.
The publishers assert they are not explicitly anti-AI, but advocate for a “fair” system that respects intellectual property and supports journalism.
But… awkward, The Washington Post—now owned by Jeff Bezos—has reportedly already struck a deal with OpenAI to license and summarize its content. So, mixed signals.
Still, as the campaign reminds us: “Stealing is un-American.”
(Unless it’s profitable.)
#WarForever
We at Ellipsus love a good meme-turned-megaproject. Back in January, the-app-formerly-known-as-Twitter user @lolt64 tweeted a cryptic line about "the frozen wastes of europa,” the earliest reference to the never-ending war on Jupiter’s icy moon.
A slew of bleak dispatches from weary, doomed soldiers entrenched on Europa’s ice fields snowballed (iceberged?) into a sprawling saga, yes-and-ing with fan art, vignettes, and memes under the hashtag #WarForever.
It’s not quite X’s answer to Goncharov: It turns out WarForever is some flavor of viral marketing for a tabletop RPG zine. But the internet ran with it anyway, with NASA playing the Scorcese of the stars.
In a digital hellworld increasingly dominated by AI slopification, data harvesting, and “content at scale,” projects like WarForever are a blessed reminder that creativity—actual, human creativity—perseveres.
Even on a frozen moon. Even here.
Let us know if you find something other writers should know about, (or join our Discord and share it there!)
- The Ellipsus Team xo

#ellipsus#writblr#writers on tumblr#writing#creative writing#anti ai#writing community#fanfic#fanfiction#fiction#inkitt#us politics
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Vittoria Elliott at Wired:
Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college. Most have connections to Musk and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chairman of the analytics firm and government contractor Palantir who has long expressed opposition to democracy. WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer. The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment. Already, Musk’s lackeys have taken control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and General Services Administration (GSA), and have gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, potentially allowing him access to a vast range of sensitive information about tens of millions of citizens, businesses, and more. On Sunday, CNN reported that DOGE personnel attempted to improperly access classified information and security systems at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and that top USAID security officials who thwarted the attempt were subsequently put on leave. The AP reported that DOGE personnel had indeed accessed classified material. “What we're seeing is unprecedented in that you have these actors who are not really public officials gaining access to the most sensitive data in government,” says Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “We really have very little eyes on what's going on. Congress has no ability to really intervene and monitor what's happening because these aren't really accountable public officials. So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world.”
[...] “To the extent these individuals are exercising what would otherwise be relatively significant managerial control over two very large agencies that deal with very complex topics,” says Nick Bednar, a professor at University of Minnesota’s school of law, “it is very unlikely they have the expertise to understand either the law or the administrative needs that surround these agencies.” Sources tell WIRED that Bobba, Coristine, Farritor, and Shaotran all currently have working GSA emails and A-suite level clearance at the GSA, which means that they work out of the agency’s top floor and have access to all physical spaces and IT systems, according a source with knowledge of the GSA’s clearance protocols. The source, who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation, says they worry that the new teams could bypass the regular security clearance protocols to access the agency’s sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF), as the Trump administration has already granted temporary security clearances to unvetted people. This is in addition to Coristine and Bobba being listed as “experts” working at OPM. Bednar says that while staff can be loaned out between agencies for special projects or to work on issues that might cross agency lines, it’s not exactly common practice.
WIRED’s report on the 6 college-aged men between 19 and 24 that are shaping up DOGE in aiding and abetting in co-”President” Elon Musk’s technofascist takeover.
#Elon Musk#DOGE#Department of Government Efficiency#Trump Administration II#General Services Administration#Office of Personnel Management#Scott Bessent#USAID#Akash Bobba#Edward Coristine#Luke Farritor#Gautier Cole Killian#Gavin Kliger#Ethan Shaotran#Treasury Department#Musk Coup
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When the claims representative, whom I’ll call Steven, sat down at his computer around 7:15 A.M. last week, he had already been awake for an hour and a half. The morning routine for him and his family is best described as “fend for yourself,” he said. That day, he waited for his older son to shower before taking his turn; neither he nor his wife had time for breakfast. He had joined the Social Security Administration two decades ago, and came to specialize in one of its more complex and lesser-known functions: providing a form of welfare called Supplemental Security Income, or S.S.I., to people who are disabled or extremely poor. But the S.S.A. is so understaffed that Steven does a bit of everything. “My job is to be kind of like an octopus,” he said. The agency’s administrative budget had not kept up with its rising workload as more people aged into retirement. Now news outlets were reporting that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, via Musk’s DOGE outfit, planned to fire up to half of the agency’s sixty-thousand-odd employees. (The S.S.A. later said that its goal was to lose seven thousand.) DOGE had also gained access to S.S.A. databases. “We don’t know how long we’ll be here,” Steven said. “Some people are really pissed. Others are sad and emotional. Others are making plans.” A couple days earlier, Trump had delivered a long self-congratulatory speech to Congress, in which he accused the S.S.A. of “shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud.”
Steven lives in a Midwestern town near where he was born and raised, which means that he occasionally recognizes a relative or a family friend in a case file and has to recuse himself. Three days a week, he’s at a cubicle in a regional field office, one of twelve hundred across the U.S. The other two days, he works from home, at a plastic folding table in the corner of his bedroom. He was on the early shift. His laptop was propped up on a neon-green bin, the kind typically used to store Legos or crayons. It was flanked by two large monitors, creating a triptych. All around him were piles of kids’ clothes and books. Near his left foot was a tiny metal car; he had taped yellow notecards reading “clock,” “fan,” and “shelf” to a clock, fan, and shelf for the benefit of his youngest child, who was learning to read. Steven’s wife made drop-offs at kindergarten and day care, then came home. She has her own office setup downstairs.
The day officially started when Steven logged on to a dozen software programs. One had a blocky monochrome interface that looked like it was from the late nineties. Another was labelled “Workload Action Center,” in a light-brown, slanted font of a similar vintage. Steven kept a list of his passwords, which he had to routinely update, on a scrap of paper next to his keyboard. He scanned something called a “Tickle List” that highlighted urgent cases. His primary task was to conduct nonmedical “redetermination” interviews (code: “RZ”)—part of the S.S.A.’s process for insuring that current recipients are still eligible to receive benefits. More than seven million Americans of all ages count on S.S.I., and sixty-eight million seniors receive earned retirement payments. Social Security is the largest government program in the country and most recipients’ main source of income. It was envisioned by Frances Perkins during the Great Depression. “Redeterminations are the highest priority,” Steven said. “We should have three to five people on them at every office. Sometimes there’s only one.”
He put on a wireless headset that connected to his laptop and an online phone system. The first redetermination call was with a parent who was receiving S.S.I. on behalf of a disabled child. “Hi, this is Steven, from Social Security Administration,” he said. “I’m just calling to see if you’re able to do the redetermination appointment.” His stomach growled. The bottom-right corner of his center screen flickered with notifications. He stayed with the caller. Date of birth? Marriages? Job placements? He clicked “yes” and “no” bubbles and typed in numbers. He had much of the script memorized. “Any items held for potential value?” he asked. “Promissory notes, real property or business property, or ABLE accounts?” S.S.I. is allocated based on an applicant’s income, assets, family size, and other factors. It often takes a year, and the help of a lawyer, to get a decision. (Earlier in Steven’s career, the time frame had been three to six months.) If an application is rejected, the case can be appealed to an administrative-law judge, and the wait for those hearings is around two years.
“That was the last amount verified,” Steven continued. “Has that changed?” While waiting for the program to advance to the next screen, he glanced at e-mails on his rightmost monitor. There were more from headquarters and human resources and the employees’ union than usual. Since November, three S.S.A. commissioners or acting commissioners had come and gone: Martin O’Malley, Carolyn W. Colvin, and Michelle King. The guy in charge now was Leland Dudek, whom Trump had elevated from a middle-management role for his eagerness to help DOGE access S.S.A. files, a vast library of individual medical, housing, family, and financial records. Dudek announced plans to eliminate six out of ten regional headquarters; several directors left the agency. In an all-staff e-mail, Dudek wrote:
Criticism, contempt, stonewalling, and defensiveness are the four forces that can end any relationship and weaken any institution. . . .
Elections have consequences. . . .
Now, under President Trump, we follow established precedent: we serve at the pleasure and direction of the President. Only the Courts or Congress can intervene.
The latest e-mail from headquarters stated that, “effective today,” employees were prohibited from engaging in “Internet browsing” of “general news” or “sports” on “government-furnished equipment.”
Steven was almost done with the redetermination. Hard cases, like an overpayment that needed to be clawed back, could “make the conversation longer, vulgar.” This one was easy; the payments, of around a thousand dollars per month, would continue. “You will receive a summary statement regarding the information that we discussed,” he said. He moved on to a second call. This one, too, involved a young adult whose caretaker—in this case, a nonprofit organization—was the payee. “Hello. This is Steven from Social Security. How are you?” His cellphone buzzed. Since Trump’s reëlection, he had been in a prolific, darkly humorous group chat with fellow S.S.A. workers in the Midwest. He referred to them as his sisters and brothers. The incoming message was a link to a news story about the imminent closure of S.S.A. field offices in the area. One man in the chat, who voted Republican but had grown skeptical of Trump, wrote, “Fucking unbelievable. . . . This would devastate our agency’s ability to serve the public.”
Meanwhile, the redetermination call was getting tricky. A new source of income seemed to be complicating the calculation of resources. Steven put the nonprofit on hold and logged into Equifax. He walked across the room to grab a plastic bottle of water and took a swig. “I’m trying really not to go off the deep end,” he said. If his office closed, and the neighboring offices closed, many people would have no way of getting benefits. For one thing, applications for Social Security cards and certain forms of S.S.I. had to be submitted in person.
Steven worried about his own well-being, too. His kids were on his health insurance. He and his wife had to take care of his father. S.S.A.’s human-resources division had sent an e-mail titled “Organizational Restructuring—Availability of Voluntary Reassignment, Early Out Retirement, and Separation Incentive Payments to ALL ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES—No Component or Position Exceptions,” which seemed to pressure workers to leave. “A lot of this stuff is intentionally degrading,” Steven said. “They’re trying to do whatever they can to get people to resign.” Recently, he and other field-office staff were told that their jobs were safe because they were “mission critical.” That was reassuring, but only “a little bit.”
When the Equifax search proved inconclusive, Steven told the nonprofit, “I’ll have to put this on the back burner for a bit until I can get some info.” All three of his screens were noisy. In Microsoft Teams, a supervisor was asking for updates on specific cases. Another window showed the names of people waiting in the lobby of the field office, in real time. He stared at a name in the queue. “This one, I’ve been playing phone tag with her,” Steven said. He opened a chat to alert a colleague at the office.
The work is surprisingly personal. A Social Security file contains a lot of intimate information. From a quick glance, Steven can tell where a recipient was born, what language they speak, whether they’d been involved in the child-welfare system, if they are married, whether that marriage had ended as a result of divorce or death. He has some colleagues whose “attitudes suck to high heaven,” caused by a mix of stress and a suspicion of the poor. “I love helping people,” he said. “You’re the first contact for them.”
Next, Steven had to get “on the phones.” Fielding random calls on the S.S.A. hotline isn’t technically part of his job, but he didn’t question the assignment. For several weeks, everyone had been required to help out. “Good morning. Social Security. This is Steven,” he said. “What is your Social Security number, please? All right, starting with your name and date of birth . . .” He wrapped up his first few calls rather quickly. He sent out a missing tax document, scheduled a father for an in-person appointment to get a Social Security card for his baby, and confirmed bank information for a recipient’s direct deposit. A fourth call, involving a lost check, was more complicated. He rubbed his forehead with his thumbs and forefingers.
Steven later received two mass e-mails. The first reminded all S.S.A. employees to send their “mandatory weekly assignment”—the “What Did You Do Last Week” e-mail, with five bullet points summarizing what they had worked on—directly to the government’s Office of Personnel Management, not to anyone in their actual agency. The second one was yet another plea for workers to quit or take early retirement. It warned that some who opted to remain in “non-mission critical positions” might be reassigned to S.S.A. call centers. No definition of “non-mission critical” was offered.
“I just keep wondering, How long can I be doing this?” Steven said. Many years before Trump and DOGE, there was a period when he could not sleep. “The job would cause me to wake up in the middle of the night,” he said. “You know how your brain can’t shut stuff off, or you’re just dreading going in the next day?” He was troubled by certain cases—a girl who had been abused in foster care, only to end up with a grandmother who stole her S.S.I. checks. He was also haunted by the need to reach case quotas, never explicitly stated but often implied. “Cutting corners happens in this industry, when representatives are trying to just get something off their list,” he said. “So then it’s like, ‘I got that done.’ But did you really help the person?” His latest sources of worry were a news article in which O’Malley, the former S.S.A. commissioner, predicted “system collapse and an interruption of benefits” within “thirty to ninety days” and an affidavit by a former agency official that described DOGE’s violation of privacy protocols and the likelihood of “critical errors that could upend SSA systems.”
Steven has never been a zealot for anything except his favorite football team, but now he believes that he and his co-workers are part of an “underground movement” to prevent the destruction of Social Security. Trump and Musk, and more conventional Republicans, talk obsessively about rooting out fraud at the S.S.A. Mistakes and overpayments do occur, but the agency’s inspector general recently found that less than one per cent of benefits distributed between 2015 and 2022 were improper. Steven believes that mass layoffs will result in vulnerable Americans not getting the money they’re entitled to. “We service people at their best and worst times,” he said. “People heading into retirement, surviving spouses, widows, widowers. It used to be we’d get complaints from the public. We’d start off a call by apologizing. ‘We’re understaffed!’ ” Now, he went on, “people are apologizing to us.” ♦
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Just a few public "Mind Control" projects. MKULTRA
"Military Funds Brain-Computer Interfaces to Control Feelings" https://www.technologyreview.com/s/527561/military-funds-brain-computer-interfaces-to-control-feelings/
US military successfully tests electrical brain stimulation to enhance staff skills https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/07/us-military-successfully-tests-electrical-brain-stimulation-to-enhance-staff-skills
Wireless magnetothermal deep brain stimulation http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2015/03/11/science.1261821?sid=53443da4-1e9c-4321-b54e-c142179e9294
MIT Researchers Develop Wireless, Noninvasive Deep Brain Stimulation Approach https://www.meddeviceonline.com/doc/mit-researchers-develop-wireless-noninvasive-deep-brain-stimulation-approach-0001
Dark past of deep-brain stimulation https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-02963-6
Watch your tone
Voice-analytics software helps customer-service reps build better rapport with customers. http://news.mit.edu/2016/startup-cogito-voice-analytics-call-centers-ptsd-0120
Mind control: Scientists can now make people alter their prejudices and belief in God https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mind-control-scientists-can-now-make-people-alter-their-prejudices-belief-god-1524122
Mind Control by Cell Phone
Electromagnetic signals from cell phones can change your brainwaves and behavior https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mind-control-by-cell/
Washington State Fusion Center accidentally releases records on remote mind control
As part of a request for records on Antifa and white supremacist groups, WSFC inadvertently bundles in “EM effects on human body.zip” https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2018/apr/18/fusion-center-em/
Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors https://patents.google.com/patent/US6506148
#5th generation warfare#deep state#shadow government#domestic terrorism#mk ultra#strategy of tension
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Prologue
A/N: Bare with me the holidays are a busy time for me so it'll most likely be week day uploads when I do start posting chapters! Enjoy! Comment, reblog & share! Updates depend on engagement! 🌻
Warnings: A bit of cursing, 18+, Minors DNI
Masterlist
The sound of kids talking and playing filled Shania's ears as she entered the three year old classroom. A few kids noticed her, running to give her hugs then went back to playing. She watched them for a moment then went to the connected boys restroom, peeking in.
"Hey, Ms. Martina. You buzzed for me?"
Martina stood from her kneel in front of the middle stall. "Yeah. Jaden has a stomach thing and no clothes."
Shania walked in to check on the child, giving him a soft smile. "Not feeling good, buddy?"
His voice came out weak and sad. "No ma'am."
"I'll get somebody to bring you some ginger ale and extra clothes while I call mommy and daddy. Sound good?" Giving him another pout, she turned to Martina. "If you want when he's cleaned up, you can bring him to the office with me. Tell me the last name again."
"Fatu."
Leaving the classroom, Shania power walked through the daycare back to her office and to her desk. After going through her software, she found his profile and dialed the first number.
"Good morning, Mrs. Fatu. This is Shania Taylor at Busy Bees. Jaden's not feeling well and he's had an accident so you're gonna have to come pick him up. Thank you. See you soon."
Shania left the same message three times with Jaden's mom, dad and uncle. She sighed softly realizing there was only one more number to call. Dialing the number, she put it on speaker so she could pull her curls away from her face.
"Hello?"
The deep voice startled her a bit as she honestly wasn't expecting anyone to answer.
"Helloooo," the voice sang out, "Somebody there?"
"Sorry, yes." She picked her phone up, moving it closer to her. "Hey, I'm sorry to bother you. This is Shania Taylor from Busy Bees. Is this Joshua Fatu?"
"Uh, yeah, this Josh. Busy Bees?"
"Yes, Busy Bees. Your nephew, Jaden, is enrolled here."
"Oh shit, my bad," he said quickly, "I don't think I ever knew the name. He aight? He need something?"
She glanced at her office door when she heard a light knock, finding Martina standing in the doorway with Jaden in tow. She waved them in, pointing at the ottoman in front of her window.
"He's actually not feeling well and had an accident. He didn't have any clothes but I keep extras here so that's taken care of. You are gonna have to get him though."
Josh went silent for a moment, Shania could hear rustling around in his background.
"I don't mind at all but did you call Jon or Trinity first?"
"Yes sir," she said softly as she rolled her chair over to Jaden. She covered him with her throw blanket. "I called them and the other uncle they had listed, no one answered."
"Aight, I'll try to call them. I'm on the way though, Ms. Taylor."
"Thank you, see you soon."
The small monitor on her desk chimed and real time video popped up fifteen minutes later. Easing up from her spot, Shania checked the monitor then went to the front door of the center. She pushed the door open for him, a small smile on her face.
"Hey, Mr. Fatu." She watched him as he stepped inside. "Thank you for coming."
He looked around the foyer then at her, giving her a small nod. "Josh. Just Josh. I gotta get em from the class?"
"Nope, he's actually been in my office with me. Fell asleep not too long ago. He had me watching toy videos so the nap was a blessing in disguise for us both," she joked. "Since he is asleep, I can go ahead and get a copy of your license."
He frowned a little at that. "Why?"
"I make copies of everyone's licenses when they come to pick up one of my babies. State law. Keeps them safe. You can step into my office."
The two stood in silence while she made her copies. Josh grabbed Jaden's backpack, bag of soiled clothes and the small bottle of ginger ale beside him. He watched Shania move quickly around her office from the printer to the filling cabinet then to her desktop, lingering there for a few minutes. She wrote something down on her post it before peeling it off. Going to Josh, she held it out to him smiling. Slowly, he took it then looked at her.
"What's this?"
"Your family's code to get into the door so you don't have to wait to be let in whenever you come get him."
"Thank you," he stuffed it into his pocket then carefully picked up his sleeping nephew, "I need to sign em out?"
"I'll take care of it. You just take care of my buddy. When you talk to his parents, let them know he can return when he's been symptom free for 24 hours."
"Gotcha. You the boss lady huh?" He joked adjusting Jaden in his arms.
Her smile grew a little wider, her cheeks pushing her eyes into small slits. "I wouldn't say boss lady but I am the owner."
"Shit. Forreal?"
"Yes and we don't talk like that in Busy Bees, Josh." She chastised playfully.
He flashed her a quick smile, giving a peek of his gold fronts on his bottom teeth. "My bad, Ms. Taylor. Ima let them know though. Have a good day, don't work too hard."
Walking in front of him to the door, she propped the door open for him to exit. She watched him effortlessly unlock his truck, put Jaden's things in then Jaden into his seat. She called out to him before he could open the driver side.
"What's up?"
"Call me Shania."
His fronts made another appearance. "Yes ma'am."
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QUESTION TWO:
SWITCH BOXES. you said that’s what monitors the connections between systems in the computer cluster, right? I assume it has software of its own but we don’t need to get into that, anyway, I am so curious about this— in really really large buildings full of servers, (like multiplayer game hosting servers, Google basically) how big would that switch box have to be? Do they even need one? Would taking out the switch box on a large system like that just completely crash it all?? While I’m on that note, when it’s really large professional server systems like that, how do THEY connect everything to power sources? Do they string it all together like fairy lights with one big cable, or??? …..the voices……..THE VOICES GRR

I’m acending (autism)
ALRIGHT! I'm starting with this one because the first question that should be answered is what the hell is a server rack?
Once again, long post under cut.
So! The first thing I should get out of the way is what is the difference between a computer and a server. Which, is like asking the difference between a gaming console and a computer. Or better yet, the difference between a gaming computer and a regular everyday PC. Which is... that they are pretty much the same thing! But if you game on a gaming computer, you'll get much better performance than on a standard PC. This is (mostly) because a gaming computer has a whole separate processor dedicated to processing graphics (GPU). A server is different from a PC in the same way, it's just a computer that is specifically built to handle the loads of running an online service. That's why you can run a server off a random PC in your closet, the core components are the same! (So good news about your other question. Short answer, yes! It would be possible to connect the hodgepodge of computers to the sexy server racks upstairs, but I'll get more into that in the next long post)
But if you want to cater to hundreds or thousands of customers, you need the professional stuff. So let's break down what's (most commonly) in a rack setup, starting with the individual units (sometimes referred to just as 'U').
Short version of someone setting one up!
18 fucking hard drives. 2 CPUs. How many sticks of ram???
Holy shit, that's a lot. Now depending on your priorities, the next question is, can we play video games on it? Not directly! This thing doesn't have a GPU so using it to render a video game works, but you won't have sparkly graphics with high frame rate. I'll put some video links at the bottom that goes more into the anatomy of the individual units themselves.
I pulled this screenshot from this video rewiring a server rack! As you can see, there are two switch boxes in this server rack! Each rack gets their own switch box to manage which unit in the rack gets what. So it's not like everything is connected to one massive switch box. You can add more capacity by making it bigger or you can just add another one! And if you take it out then shit is fucked. Communication has been broken, 404 website not found (<- not actually sure if this error will show).
So how do servers talk to one another? Again, I'll get more into that in my next essay response to your questions. But basically, they can talk over the internet the same way that your machine does (each server has their own address known as an IP and routers shoot you at one).
POWER SUPPLY FOR A SERVER RACK (finally back to shit I've learned in class) YOU ARE ASKING IF THEY ARE WIRED TOGETHER IN SERIES OR PARALLEL! The answer is parallel. Look back up at the image above, I've called out the power cables. In fact, watch the video of that guy wiring that rack back together very fast. Everything on the right is power. How are they able to plug everything together like that? Oh god I know too much about this topic do not talk to me about transformers (<- both the electrical type and the giant robots). BASICALLY, in a data center (place with WAY to many servers) the building is literally built with that kind of draw in mind (oh god the power demands of computing, I will write a long essay about that in your other question). Worrying about popping a fuse is only really a thing when plugging in a server into a plug in your house.
Links to useful youtube videos
How does a server work? (great guide in under 20 min)
Rackmount Server Anatomy 101 | A Beginner's Guide (more comprehensive breakdown but an hour long)
DATA CENTRE 101 | DISSECTING a SERVER and its COMPONENTS! (the guy is surrounded by screaming server racks and is close to incomprehensible)
What is a patch panel? (More stuff about switch boxes- HOLY SHIT there's more hardware just for managing the connection???)
Data Center Terminologies (basic breakdown of entire data center)
Networking Equipment Racks - How Do They Work? (very informative)
Funny
#is this even writing advice anymore?#I'd say no#Do I care?#NOPE!#yay! Computer#I eat computers#Guess what! You get an essay for every question!#oh god the amount of shit just to manage one connection#I hope you understand how beautiful the fact that the internet exists and it's even as stable as it is#it's also kind of fucked#couldn't fit a college story into this one#Uhhh one time me and a bunch of friends tried every door in the administrative building on campus at midnight#got into some interesting places#took candy from the office candy bowl#good fun#networking#server racks#servers#server hardware#stem#technology#I love technology#Ask#spark
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Crypto Theft Nightmare: How Astraweb Recovered $150,000 Lost to Hackers
When David Robinson., a 58-year-old retired software consultant from Denver, Colorado, transferred his entire retirement savings $150,000 into a cryptocurrency portfolio, he believed he was securing his financial future. Instead, he walked into a digital minefield. In a single night, everything he had worked for was stolen by anonymous hackers. It was the kind of nightmare many investors fear but few believe could happen to them.
“I thought I had done everything right,” David said. “I had cold storage, I used two-factor authentication, and I only traded on what were considered reputable exchanges. But somehow, someone got in.”
The breach wasn’t just technical it was deeply personal. Decades of disciplined saving, investing, and planning had been wiped away with a few keystrokes. And in the opaque world of blockchain anonymity, there seemed to be little recourse.
A New Kind of Crime, an Old System Ill-Equipped David’s case is not isolated. According to recent figures from the Federal Trade Commission, over $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency was reported stolen in the U.S. last year alone. What’s more chilling is the vast majority of these crimes go unresolved. Law enforcement agencies, though increasingly aware of crypto fraud, are often hampered by jurisdictional boundaries, limited training in blockchain forensics, and the sheer complexity of digital asset recovery.
David contacted local police, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and even attempted to escalate the issue through the exchange’s customer service channels. All efforts ended in frustration. “Everyone was sympathetic,” he recalled, “but no one could help. They didn’t have the tools. I felt like I was shouting into the void.”
That void, however, was about to echo back.
Astraweb: The Digital Recovery Force Behind the ScenesWith few options left, David turned to a name he had seen mentioned in niche online forums and cybersecurity discussion threads: Astraweb. A private digital asset recovery agency, Astraweb has earned a quiet but powerful reputation for solving complex crypto theft cases especially those deemed too advanced or impossible by other channels.David sent a tentative email to [email protected], not expecting much. Within 12 hours, he received a reply. “From the first message,” he says, “I could tell they were different. They didn’t just want transaction IDs. They asked smart, precise questions. They were calm, confident, and, most importantly, they listened.”Astraweb’s team began work immediately.Digital Surveillance Meets Blockchain ForensicsWhile the average consumer may understand Bitcoin or Ethereum as abstract tokens, Astraweb views the blockchain as a massive, living map of transactions. Every move a stolen coin makes leaves a trace however faint.
Using a proprietary method called wallet triangulation, Astraweb identified the exit points the thief had used to shuffle and launder the funds. These techniques involve advanced blockchain analytics, surveillance of darknet exchange patterns, and metadata correlation to monitor crypto mixers and swap protocols often used to obscure fund movements.
According to sources familiar with Astraweb’s methods, their teams blend cybersecurity expertise with behavioral analytics to predict a thief’s next move. “It’s part code, part cat-and-mouse,” one expert commented. “But when you understand the flow of crypto like a language, the signals start to emerge.”
In David’s case, Astraweb tracked the funds as they moved through a network of wallets, some automated, others human-controlled, eventually leading to a decentralized exchange platform that allowed partial recovery. In collaboration with international legal intermediaries and with careful timing, Astraweb executed a legal intercept of the funds as they entered a liquidity pool.
The Outcome: Full Recovery, Real Relief Just 48 hours after their initial contact, Astraweb notified David that the entire $150,000 had been recovered and would be transferred back to his newly secured wallet.
Reach out to them Now If you have Related Issues Like This:
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What role does call monitoring software play in boosting employee efficiency in virtual contact centers?

Call monitoring software is a crucial tool in enhancing employee efficiency within virtual contact centers. In an environment where team members are distributed and working remotely, maintaining consistent performance and quality can be challenging. best Contact center virtual collaboration tools addresses this by providing supervisors with real-time insights into call quality, employee performance, and customer interactions.
Key roles of call monitoring software include:
Quality Assurance: Supervisors can listen to live or recorded calls to ensure that agents are adhering to company standards and scripts. This helps in identifying areas for improvement and providing targeted feedback.
Training and Development: Call monitoring allows for the identification of training needs. Managers can use recorded calls as training material, showing agents what to do—or what not to do—in various situations.
Performance Metrics: The software provides valuable data on key performance indicators (KPIs) like average handling time, first call resolution, and customer satisfaction scores. This data helps in tracking progress and making informed decisions to boost efficiency.
Immediate Intervention: In cases where a call is not going as planned, supervisors can intervene immediately to guide the agent, ensuring that the customer’s issue is resolved effectively.
How CollaborationRoom is Enhancing Efficiency:
CollaborationRoom is setting a new standard in virtual contact center management with its advanced call monitoring software. The platform is designed to seamlessly integrate with remote work environments, offering a comprehensive suite of tools that empower supervisors to manage teams efficiently, regardless of location.
CollaborationRoom’s call monitoring software excels in several areas:
Real-time Analytics: Provides instant feedback and insights, allowing for quick adjustments and continuous improvement.
User-Friendly Interface: The platform is intuitive, making it easy for supervisors to navigate and utilize the full range of features without extensive training.
Customization: CollaborationRoom offers customizable monitoring options to fit the unique needs of different contact centers, whether they prioritize speed, quality, or a balance of both.
By leveraging CollaborationRoom’s call monitoring software, virtual contact centers can ensure that their employees are not only meeting performance standards but also continuously improving, leading to enhanced overall efficiency and customer satisfaction.
#remotework#contact center software solutions#remote work management software#work from home contact center collaboration tools#call center workforce management software#leading wealth management platforms in the usa#best call center collaboration software#call center call monitoring software
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International Asteroid Day: Understanding the Risks and Raising Awareness

International Asteroid Day: Understanding the Risks and Raising Awareness
Every year on June 30, scientists, educators, and space enthusiasts around the world come together to observe International Asteroid Day. This globally recognized event serves as a reminder of the cosmic threats posed by asteroids and underscores the importance of planetary defense. The international asteroid day isn't just about watching the skies—it's a wake-up call to increase our awareness of the universe and the very real risks it presents.
Why June 30? The Tunguska Event and Its Legacy
The date of June 30 commemorates the Tunguska event, a massive asteroid impact that occurred in 1908 in Siberia, Russia. A space rock exploded in the atmosphere, flattening over 2,000 square kilometers of forest. Although it didn’t hit a populated area, the devastation was immense and would have caused catastrophic damage had it occurred over a city.
This incident is the most powerful impact event in recorded history and serves as the primary reason why June 30 was chosen to raise awareness about asteroids. It highlights not only the power of these celestial objects but also the importance of preparing for possible future collisions.
What Are Asteroids?
Asteroids are rocky bodies that orbit the Sun, mostly found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. While many are small and harmless, some are classified as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) due to their proximity to Earth’s orbit. These objects vary in size from just a few meters to several kilometers in diameter.
Although the likelihood of a major asteroid hitting Earth is low, the potential consequences of such an impact are so severe that it necessitates serious attention and global coordination.
Goals of International Asteroid Day
International Asteroid Day was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2016 to promote public awareness about asteroid hazards and to educate people about planetary defense initiatives. The day has several key objectives:
1. Education and Outreach
A major goal is to educate the public about the science of asteroids, their behavior, and the technologies used to detect and track them. Events, webinars, lectures, and online campaigns are held globally to engage learners of all ages.
2. Scientific Collaboration
Asteroid Day fosters collaboration between scientists, governments, and organizations like NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). These collaborations help advance research and funding for detection systems and response strategies.
3. Policy Development
Promoting the creation and enforcement of policies regarding space object tracking and international cooperation is another focus. Unified efforts are needed to prevent or mitigate the impact of potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent Developments in Planetary Defense
In recent years, there has been remarkable progress in our ability to detect and potentially deflect asteroids.
NASA’s DART Mission
In 2022, NASA successfully carried out the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, deliberately crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid to alter its trajectory. This was humanity’s first attempt at redirecting a celestial body and was hailed as a significant step in planetary defense.
Advancements in Detection
Ground-based observatories, space telescopes, and AI-driven tracking software have made it easier to monitor asteroids. Projects like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) aim to map the sky and detect new NEOs with greater precision.
How You Can Participate in Asteroid Day
Asteroid Day isn’t just for scientists—everyone can get involved! Whether you're a student, teacher, or simply a curious individual, here’s how you can take part:
Host or Join an Event
Educational institutions, museums, and science centers often host workshops, planetarium shows, and public talks. Check local listings or virtual events for accessible programming.
Follow and Share Content
Use social media to follow organizations like @AsteroidDay or @NASA and share educational materials, videos, and infographics with your network.
Start a Conversation
Bring up the topic in schools, colleges, or community groups. The more people understand the potential threats and solutions, the more support planetary defense efforts will receive.
The Broader Impact of Asteroid Awareness
Raising awareness about asteroids has far-reaching effects beyond planetary defense.
Promoting STEM Education
Asteroid Day encourages interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Young people inspired by space science today may become tomorrow’s astrophysicists, engineers, or policy-makers.
Advancing Global Cooperation
Space doesn't recognize national borders, making asteroid defense a truly global issue. Events like Asteroid Day remind us that international collaboration is essential for addressing challenges that affect all of humanity.
Enhancing Earth Observation
Technologies used for asteroid tracking also improve our ability to observe weather patterns, climate change, and other Earth-based phenomena. These dual-use systems enhance disaster preparedness and environmental monitoring.
The Future of Asteroid Preparedness
As technology continues to evolve, our capacity to predict and prevent asteroid impacts improves. However, this progress depends on sustained investment, public interest, and political will.
Expanding Detection Programs
More funding is needed for telescopes and data analysis tools that can detect smaller asteroids, which are still capable of causing significant damage.
International Readiness Plans
Coordinated emergency response strategies involving governments, scientists, and defense agencies must be developed and rehearsed to prepare for any potential asteroid threat.
Continuous Public Engagement
Finally, ongoing public awareness through platforms like Asteroid Day will ensure that planetary defense remains a top priority for future generations.
Conclusion
The international asteroid day is not just a celebration of space science—it’s a serious reminder of Earth’s vulnerability and our responsibility to protect it. From historical events like Tunguska to modern innovations like the DART mission, the journey of asteroid awareness continues to grow. By staying informed, participating in educational activities, and supporting global cooperation, we all play a role in safeguarding our planet from celestial threats.
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Proba-3 achieves precise formation flying
For the first time, two spacecraft in orbit were aligned in formation with millimeter precision and maintained their relative position for several hours without any control from the ground.
The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission has achieved its ambitious goal when its two spacecraft, the Coronagraph and the Occulter, flew 150 meters apart in perfect formation, simulating a single giant spacecraft.
Earlier this year, the first step of the mission was successfully completed. The operations team, consisting of engineers from ESA and its closely collaborating industrial partners, came together at the Agency's European Space Security and Education Center in Redu, Belgium.
Using a set of positioning instruments, they were able to align the two spacecraft in formation, and monitor them as they maintained their relative position autonomously.
Now, following more finetuning and testing, the team has achieved the desired precision, making Proba-3 the world's first-ever precision formation flying mission.
The mission relies on several innovative technologies, many of which are technology demonstrations developed through ESA's General Support Technology Program (GSTP). "To do something that has never been done before, we needed to develop new technologies," notes Esther Bastida Pertegaz, Proba-3 systems engineer.
"The formation flying is performed when the spacecraft are more than 50,000 km above Earth," explains Raphael Rougeot, Proba-3 systems engineer.
"Here, Earth's gravity pull is small enough, so that very little propellant is needed to maintain the formation. Then the formation is broken and needs to be acquired again over the next orbit, in a repeated cycle."
The ultimate goal is for the two spacecraft to align with the sun so that the 1.4-m large disk carried by the Occulter casts a 5-cm shadow onto the optical instrument on the Coronagraph, allowing it to study the faint solar corona.
Teodor Bozhanov, formation flying system engineer, explains further: "The initiation of this formation-flying repetitive sequence is performed by the ground control center, with the operations team obtaining position information to determine the exact location of the two satellites in space. The mission's thrusters are then used to bring them closer together.
"All the rest is done autonomously. The spacecraft measure and control their relative position using the Visual Based System, which includes a wide-angle camera on the Occulter tracking a set of flashing LED lights on the Coronagraph.
"Once the satellites get close enough to each other, a narrow-angle camera locking onto the same set of lights enables a more accurate positioning."
Raphael describes the last step needed to close the precision gap: "Although we were previously able to perform formation flying using only the camera-based systems on board, we were still missing the desired precision.
"Two major achievements have been key to unlocking it. First, it was the calibration of the on-board laser instrument, and its integration into the full formation flying loop."
"This laser instrument, called the Fine Lateral and Longitudinal Sensor (FLLS), enables relative positioning down to a millimeter accuracy," adds Jorg Versluys, Proba-3 payloads manager. "It consists of a laser beam fired from the Occulter spacecraft and reflected in the Coronagraph's retroreflector back to the Occulter, where it is detected."
"The second crucial achievement was successfully using the shadow position sensor," Raphael continues. "An on-board algorithm based on the measurement of light intensity around the coronagraph aperture ensures that the Coronagraph spacecraft stays in the shadow cast by the Occulter spacecraft."
Esther notes, "Combining all these sensors, and thanks to the on-board software managing all the spacecraft systems and providing Navigation, Guidance and Control functions, the formation is stable beyond expectations."
Damien Galano, Proba-3 project manager, concludes, "We are talking about millimetric accuracy in range, and sub-millimetric in the lateral position. We can't wait to see the completion of the instrument calibration and the first processed image of the sun's corona."
The Proba-3 mission is led by ESA and put together by a consortium managed by Spain's Sener, with the participation of more than 29 companies from 14 countries and with key contributions from GMV and Airbus Defense and Space in Spain and Redwire Space and Spacebel in Belgium.
The coronagraph instrument comes from Belgium's Center Spatial de Liège (CSL) and the science data will be processed by the Royal Observatory of Belgium. The mission was launched on 5 December 2024 on a PSLV-XL launcher from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India.
TOP IMAGE: The paired Proba-3 satellites will have a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee (or top of orbit) of about 60,000 km and perigee of 600 km. Coronagraph observation based on forming an artificial eclipse between the two satellites as well as active formation flying experiments taking place towards apogee, with passive formation flying taking place as the satellites circle closer to Earth. Credit: ESA—P. Carril, 2013
LOWER IMAGE: Lined up with the Sun, Proba-3’s Occulter spacecraft uses its occulting disc to cast a precisely-controlled shadow onto the Coronagraph spacecraft. The pair host multiple positioning technologies to achieve millimetre level precision: GNSS receivers, radio links, optical cameras tracking flashing LEDs, a reflected laser and shadow-detecting sensors. Credit: ESA-F. Zonno

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👤Psycho-Pass👤
Ep. 1, 3, 4, & 5
Psycho-Pass is an anime that touches on many themes relevant to our current social climate and digital landscape. The story, which centers on law enforcement in a society of hyper-surveillance, touches on ideas of privacy, dehumanization, isolation, parasocial relationships, and simulation. In conjunction with this anime, we were asked to read Foucault's "Panopticism" and Drew Harwell's 2019 Washington Post article "Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines, tracking the locations of hundreds of thousands." I think these choices expanded my understanding of the show and were extremely eye opening when applied to our current culture.
Using the language of Foucault, the Sibyl system acts as a constant "supervisor" monitoring the emotional states of every citizen through a psycho-pass that gives a biometric reading of an individual's brain revealing a specific hue and crime score which can relay how likely a person is to commit a crime or act violently. The brain, formerly the one place safe from surveillance, is now on display 24/7, creating a true panoptic effect. In this future dystopian Japan, criminals are dehumanized and some, called enforcers, are used as tools to apprehend other criminals. They are constantly compared to dogs, and inspectors are warned not to get too emotionally invested or close to them to avoid increasing their own crime scores. The show constantly shows criminals as being lost causes, and even victims are cruelly given up on if the stress of the crimes against them increased their own crime score too much. This concept is shown in episode 1 and I think it is meant to present Sibyl as an inherently flawed system from the start.
I think that the Washington Post article was extremely relevant to this anime, and even to my own life as a college student. Harwell writes that oftentimes monitoring begins with good intentions like preventing crime (as in Psycho-Pass) or identifying mental health issues. Universities across the US have started implementing mobile tracking software to monitor where students are, what areas they frequent, and whether or not they come to class. The developer of this software stated that algorithms can generate a risk score based on student location data to flag students who may be struggling with mental health issues. While this sounds helpful in theory, I can't help but notice how eerily similar this software is to the Sybil system. Even high school students are sounding alarm bells after being subjected to increased surveillance in the interest of safety. In another of Harwell's articles published the same year, "Parkland school turns to experimental surveillance software that can flag students as threats," a student raised concerns about the technology's potential for being abused by law enforcement stating, "my fear is that this will become targeted." After beginning Psycho-Pass, I honestly couldn't agree more. Supporters of AI surveillance systems argue that its just another tool for law enforcement and that it's ultimately up to humans to make the right call, but in ep. 1 of Psycho-Pass, we saw just how easy it was for law enforcement to consider taking an innocent woman's life just because the algorithm determined that her crime score increased past the acceptable threshold. And there are plenty of real-world examples of law enforcement making the wrong decisions in high-stress situations. AI has the potential to make more people the targets of police violence either through technical error or built-in bias. As former Purdue University president Mitch Daniels stated in his op-ed "Someone is watching you," we have to ask ourselves "wether our good intentions are carrying us past boundaries where privacy and individual autonomy should still prevail."
I'm interested to see what the next episodes have in store. This is a series that I will probably continue watching outside of class. Finally some good f-ing food.
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There's a Treasury coup going on, led by Musk. The Nazi Republicans are fine with this and the legacy (traditional) media doesn't seem to care. (It start Friday sometime. Friday Jan 31st, 2025) I'll link to the source, but I wanna include the full article from Wired in text here.
They have identified the 6 engineers (supposedly they are engineers) who are part of this coup. These people have names, they are not nameless shadows. May they never know a moment of peace in their godforsaken lives.
[Personally I have zero issue with them being young. The real problem is their lack of experience and training with confidential data, lack of security clearance, and them participating in a fucking coup.]
Vittoria Elliott Additional reporting by Zoë Schiffer and Tim Marchman Wired.com Feb 2, 2025 2:02 PM
The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian (also known as Cole Killian), Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.
(Source: Wired.com)
Full article under the cut, including some initial details like university and internship jobs for some of the six.
Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college. Most have connections to Musk, and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chair of the analytics firm and government contractor Palantir who has long expressed opposition to democracy.
WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer.
The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.
Already, Musk’s lackeys have taken control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and General Services Administration (GSA), and have gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, potentially allowing him access to a vast range of sensitive information about tens of millions of citizens, businesses, and more. On Sunday, CNN reported that DOGE personnel attempted to improperly access classified information and security systems at the US Agency for International Development and that top USAID security officials who thwarted the attempt were subsequently put on leave. The Associated Press reported that DOGE personnel had indeed accessed classified material.
“What we're seeing is unprecedented in that you have these actors who are not really public officials gaining access to the most sensitive data in government,” says Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “We really have very little eyes on what's going on. Congress has no ability to really intervene and monitor what's happening because these aren't really accountable public officials. So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world.”
Bobba has attended UC Berkeley, where he was in the prestigious Management, Entrepreneurship, and Technology program. According to a copy of his now-deleted LinkedIn obtained by WIRED, Bobba was an investment engineering intern at the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund as of last spring and was previously an intern at both Meta and Palantir. He was a featured guest on a since-deleted podcast with Aman Manazir, an engineer who interviews engineers about how they landed their dream jobs, where he talked about those experiences last June.
Coristine, as WIRED previously reported, appears to have recently graduated from high school and to have been enrolled at Northeastern University. According to a copy of his résumé obtained by WIRED, he spent three months at Neuralink, Musk’s brain-computer interface company, last summer.e [e seems to be a typo]
Both Bobba and Coristine are listed in internal OPM records reviewed by WIRED as “experts” at OPM, reporting directly to Amanda Scales, its new chief of staff. Scales previously worked on talent for xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, and as part of Uber’s talent acquisition team, per LinkedIn. Employees at GSA tell WIRED that Coristine has appeared on calls where workers were made to go over code they had written and justify their jobs. WIRED previously reported that Coristine was added to a call with GSA staff members using a nongovernment Gmail address. Employees were not given an explanation as to who he was or why he was on the calls.
Farritor, who per sources has a working GSA email address, is a former intern at SpaceX, Musk’s space company, and currently a Thiel Fellow after, according to his LinkedIn, dropping out of the University of Nebraska—Lincoln. While in school, he was part of an award-winning team that deciphered portions of an ancient Greek scroll.
Kliger, whose LinkedIn lists him as a special adviser to the director of OPM and who is listed in internal records reviewed by WIRED as a special adviser to the director for information technology, attended UC Berkeley until 2020; most recently, according to his LinkedIn, he worked for the AI company Databricks. His Substack includes a post titled “The Curious Case of Matt Gaetz: How the Deep State Destroys Its Enemies,” as well as another titled “Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense: The Warrior Washington Fears.”
Killian, also known as Cole Killian, has a working email associated with DOGE, where he is currently listed as a volunteer, according to internal records reviewed by WIRED. According to a copy of his now-deleted résumé obtained by WIRED, he attended McGill University through at least 2021 and graduated high school in 2019. An archived copy of his now-deleted personal website indicates that he worked as an engineer at Jump Trading, which specializes in algorithmic and high-frequency financial trades.
Shaotran told Business Insider in September that he was a senior at Harvard studying computer science and also the founder of an OpenAI-backed startup, Energize AI. Shaotran was the runner-up in a hackathon held by xAI, Musk’s AI company. In the Business Insider article, Shaotran says he received a $100,000 grant from OpenAI to build his scheduling assistant, Spark.
“To the extent these individuals are exercising what would otherwise be relatively significant managerial control over two very large agencies that deal with very complex topics,” says Nick Bednar, a professor at University of Minnesota’s school of law, “it is very unlikely they have the expertise to understand either the law or the administrative needs that surround these agencies.”
Sources tell WIRED that Bobba, Coristine, Farritor, and Shaotran all currently have working GSA emails and A-suite level clearance at the GSA, which means that they work out of the agency’s top floor and have access to all physical spaces and IT systems, according a source with knowledge of the GSA’s clearance protocols. The source, who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation, says they worry that the new teams could bypass the regular security clearance protocols to access the agency’s sensitive compartmented information facility, as the Trump administration has already granted temporary security clearances to unvetted people.
This is in addition to Coristine and Bobba being listed as “experts” working at OPM. Bednar says that while staff can be loaned out between agencies for special projects or to work on issues that might cross agency lines, it’s not exactly common practice.
“This is consistent with the pattern of a lot of tech executives who have taken certain roles of the administration,” says Bednar. “This raises concerns about regulatory capture and whether these individuals may have preferences that don’t serve the American public or the federal government.”
Additional reporting by Zoë Schiffer and Tim Marchman.
#USA politics#fuck musk#the treasury coup by elon musk#aided and abetted by Trump and the Republicans and the shit ass media#name and shame#spit in their drink will ya?#you know these dudebros are eating at restaurants in DC#fuck these guys
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On ThursdaY, Reuters published a photo depicting then-United States national security adviser Mike Waltz checking his phone during a cabinet meeting held by President Trump in the White House. If you enlarge the portion of the image that captures Waltz’s screen, it seems to show him using the end-to-end encrypted messaging app Signal. But if you look more closely, a notification on the screen refers to the app as “TM SGNL.” During a White House cabinet meeting on Wednesday, then, Waltz was apparently using an Israeli-made app called TeleMessage Signal to message with people who appear to be top US officials, including JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and Tulsi Gabbard.
After senior Trump administration cabinet members used vanishing Signal messages to coordinate March military strikes in Yemen—and accidentally included the editor in chief of The Atlantic in the group chat—the “SignalGate” scandal highlighted concerning breaches of traditional government “operational security” protocol as well as compliance issues with federal records-retention laws. At the center of the debacle was Waltz, who was ousted by Trump as US national security adviser on Thursday. Waltz created the “Houthi PC Small Group” chat and was the member who added top Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg. "I take full responsibility. I built the group," Waltz told Fox News in late March. "We've got the best technical minds looking at how this happened," he added at the time.
SignalGate had nothing to do with Signal. The app was functioning normally and was simply being used at an inappropriate time for an incredibly sensitive discussion that should have been carried out on special-purpose, hardened federal devices and software platforms. If you're going to flout the protocols, though, Signal is (relatively speaking) a good place to do it, because the app is designed so only the senders and receivers of messages in a group chat can read them. And the app is built to collect as little information as possible about its users and their associates. This means that if US government officials were chatting on the app, spies or malicious hackers could only access their communications by directly compromising participants' devices—a challenge that is potentially surmountable but at least limits possible access points. Using an app like TeleMessage Signal, though, presumably in an attempt to comply with data retention requirements, opens up numerous other paths for adversaries to access messages.
"I don't even know where to start with this," says Jake Williams, a former NSA hacker and vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy. “It's mind-blowing that the federal government is using Israeli tech to route extremely sensitive data for archival purposes. You just know that someone is grabbing a copy of that data. Even if TeleMessage isn't willingly giving it up, they have just become one of the biggest nation-state targets out there.”
TeleMessage was founded in Israel in 1999 by former Israel Defense Forces technologists and run out of the country until it was acquired last year by the US-based digital communications archiving company Smarsh. The service creates duplicates of communication apps that are outfitted with a “mobile archiver” tool to record and store messages sent through the app.
“Capture, archive and monitor mobile communication: SMS, MMS, Voice Calls, WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram & Signal,” TeleMessage says on its website. For Signal it adds, “Record and capture Signal calls, texts, multimedia and files on corporate-issued and employee BYOD phones.” (BYOD stands for bring your own device.) In other words, there are TeleMessage versions of Signal for essentially any mainstream consumer device. The company says that using TeleMessage Signal, users can “Maintain all Signal app features and functionality as well as the Signal encryption,” adding that the app provides “End-to-End encryption from the mobile phone through to the corporate archive.” The existence of “the corporate archive,” though, undermines the privacy and security of the end-to-end encryption scheme.
TeleMessage apps are not approved for use under the US government's Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program or FedRAMP. TeleMessage and Smarsh did not immediately return requests for comment about whether their products are used by the US federal government and in what capacity.
"As we have said many times, Signal is an approved app for government use and is loaded on government phones,” White House press secretary Anna Kelly tells WIRED. She did not answer questions about whether the White House approves of federal officials using TeleMessage Signal—which is a different app from Signal—or whether other officials aside from Waltz have used the app or currently use it.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency does not create policy around federal technology use but does release public guidance. When asked about Waltz’s apparent use of TeleMessage Signal, CISA simply referred WIRED to its best-practices guide for mobile communications. The document specifically advises, “When selecting an end-to-end encrypted messaging app, evaluate the extent to which the app and associated services collect and store metadata.”
It is not clear when Waltz started using TeleMessage Signal and whether he was already using it during SignalGate or started using it afterward in response to criticisms that turning on Signal's disappearing messages feature is in conflict with federal data-retention laws.
“I have no doubt the leadership of the US national security apparatus ran this software through a full information-assurance process to ensure there was no information leakage to foreign nations,” says Johns Hopkins cryptographer Matt Green. “Because if they didn’t, we are screwed.”
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