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The shadow

The shadow knows!
At 2:10 I was lagging. By 2:30 my internet was down it's 5:00 PM it's just coming back
 

wwkirk

Divine
Offered explanation.
Facebook and Instagram back after longest worldwide outage ever; company details root cause

The company said in a blog post that its engineering teams found that "configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication. This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt."

"We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change. We also have no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime," the statement read.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Boris says it is 'not my job to fix all of the UK's problems': PM's astonishing claim as he denies nation is in 'crisis' and DISMISSES inflation spike fears, fuel shortages and empty supermarket shelves as 'just part of his new approach'



In interviews at Tory conference, Boris Johnson denied that the country is in 'crisis' comparing the disruption to a 'giant waking up' and 'creaking' after the pandemic. Despite Cabinet ministers telling MailOnline they were concerned about 'complacency' about inflation, Mr Johnson said he was not 'worried' about it running out of control. He also pushed the responsibility for solving the problems back on the private sector, insisting it is 'not the job of government to come in and fix every problem'. But he admitted that Christmas might only be better from a 'low base' amid fears of ongoing shortages - after it was effectively cancelled during the pandemic last year. And he conceded that the government's efforts to bring in more lorry drivers from abroad are having limited success, with just 127 having applied for emergency visas.

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nivek

As Above So Below
California pipeline may have been hooked by ship's anchor, dragged 100ft across ocean floor, and ripped open leaving a 13-inch gash in the side before it leaked 126,000 gallons of oil



Officials with the US Coast Guard determined that the pipeline had suffered a 13-inch gash and was dragged 100 feet across the ocean floor. Preliminary reports suggest the spill may have been 'caused by an anchor that hooked the pipeline, however that theory remains under investigation. Approximately 126,000 gallons of highly-viscous oil spilled into the ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects the greatest threat to the shore remains between Huntington and Laguna Beaches. As of Tuesday, 4,788 gallons of crude oil has been recovered. 11,360 feet of containment boom has been deployed and 328 personnel are on scene assisting. At least eight oiled wildlife have been recovered.

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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Facebook products ‘harm children, stoke division’: Whistleblower

Facebook harms children and weakens democracy: ex-employee

So, this garbage really IS bad and really DOES cause harm. Imagine that - who could have seen this coming?
This is rich - literally the pot calling the kettle black:

"We care deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health," he said in the letter, made public on his Facebook page. "It's difficult to see coverage that misrepresents our work and our motives."

Indeed. In the end I hope this all turns into a Ma Bell type breakup.


Facebook harms children and weakens democracy: ex-employee

A former Facebook employee has told US politicians that the company's sites and apps harm children's mental health and stoke division in society.

Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old former product manager turned whistleblower, heavily criticised the company at a hearing in the Senate.

Facebook has faced growing scrutiny and increasing calls for its regulation.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg hit back, saying the latest accusations were at odds with the company's goals.

In a letter to staff, he said many of the claims were "illogical" and pointed to Facebook's efforts to fight harmful content.

"We care deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health," he said in the letter, made public on his Facebook page. "It's difficult to see coverage that misrepresents our work and our motives."

Facebook is the world's most popular social media site. The company says it has 2.7 billion monthly active users. Hundreds of millions of people also use the company's other products, including WhatsApp and Instagram.

But it has been criticised on several fronts - from failing to protect users' privacy to not doing enough to halt the spread of disinformation.

Ms Haugen told CBS News on Sunday that she had shared a number of internal Facebook documents with the Wall Street Journal in recent weeks.

Using the documents, the WSJ reported that research carried out by Instagram showed the app could harm girls' mental health.

This was a theme Ms Haugen continued during her testimony on Tuesday. "The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people," she said.

She criticised Mark Zuckerberg for having wide-ranging control, saying that there is "no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself."

And she praised the massive outage of Facebook services on Monday, which affected users around the world.

"Yesterday we saw Facebook taken off the internet," she said. "I don't know why it went down, but I know that for more than five hours, Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilise democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies."

The answer, she told senators, was congressional oversight. "We must act now," she said.

Mr Zuckerberg, in his letter, said the research into Instagram had been mischaracterised and that many young people had positive experiences of using the platform. But he said "it's very important to me that everything we build is safe and good for kids".

On Monday's outage, he said the deeper concern was not "how many people switch to competitive services or how much money we lose, but what it means for the people who rely on our services to communicate with loved ones, run their businesses, or support their communities".

Both Republican and Democratic senators on Tuesday were united in the need for change at the company - a rare topic of agreement between the two political parties.


"The damage to self-interest and self-worth inflicted by Facebook today will haunt a generation," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said.

"Big Tech now faces the Big Tobacco jaw-dropping moment of truth," he added, a reference to how tobacco firms hid the harmful effects of their products.

Fellow Republican Dan Sullivan said the world would look back and ask "What the hell were we thinking?" in light of the revelations about Facebook's impact on children.

In a statement issued after the hearing, Facebook said it did not agree with Ms Haugen's "characterisation of the many issues she testified about". But it did agree that "it's time to begin to create standard rules for the internet."

"It's been 25 years since the rules for the internet have been updated, and instead of expecting the industry to make societal decisions that belong to legislators, it is time for Congress to act," the statement read.



 

nivek

As Above So Below
PIERS MORGAN: President Biden's attempt to criminalize complaining parents is a shameful attempt to silence dissent that's more worthy of North Korea than the supposed land of the free



The Department of Justice has issued a directive that the FBI will now investigate parents after a 'disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence' against school staff and administrators. This comes in response to a letter (inset) to President Biden last week from the National Association of School Boards (NASB) asserting that 'America's public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat' due to 'attacks...for approving policies for masks'. The letter likened parents' objections to 'a form of domestic terrorism' and fuelled instant outrage. Asra Nomani (right), a mom and the vice president of investigations and strategy at Parents Defending Education (PDE), tweeted: 'This is what a domestic terrorist looks like? You are criminalizing parenting, and you owe the people of America a swift apology.' There seems to have been a very different approach to the civil unrest we saw last summer in the wake of George Floyd's horrific killing, which led to appalling arson, looting and destruction of property. I don't remember the DoJ issuing directives then that such behavior was 'domestic terrorism.' So, Attorney-General Merrick Garland's announcement strikes me as massive overreach by a Biden administration determined to stamp down on dissent. America is supposed to the land of the free, the very epicentre of free speech protected by a First Amendment that is the envy of the world.

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nivek

As Above So Below
We still have 3 more years of this deadbeat of a president, Biden is the worst president in my lifetime...

Biden drops to 38% approval in new national poll

President Biden’s standing among Americans keeps sinking, according to new national poll. The president’s approval rating stands at just 38%, with disapproval at 53% in a Quinnipiac University survey released on Wednesday. That’s down from a 42%-50% approval/disapproval rating for Biden in a survey Quinnipiac University conducted last month.

The president received negative scores in the double digits on all but one key issue asked in the new poll, which was conducted Oct. 1-4. And a majority of those surveyed said the Biden administration is not competent in running the federal government.

"Battered on trust, doubted on leadership, and challenged on overall competency, President Biden is being hammered on all sides as his approval rating continues its downward slide to a number not seen since the tough scrutiny of the Trump administration," Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. But the president’s numbers started sagging in August, in the wake of Biden's much criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan, and following a surge in COVID cases this summer among mainly unvaccinated people due to the spread of the highly infectious delta variant, as the nation continues to combat the coronavirus, the worst pandemic to strike the globe in a century. The plunge in the president’s approval was also compounded by the latest surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the southern border with Mexico.


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nivek

As Above So Below
'Truman Show presidency': Biden ridiculed for using fake White House set

Social media users shamed and mocked President Biden Wednesday after he spoke, once again, from a fake White House set that featured a digital monitor showing the Rose Garden in full bloom.

"The reason Biden uses this bizarre virtual set for televised meetings — and not an actual room like East Room, Cabinet, Oval, Roosevelt, Sit Room, etc. — is because it allows him to read a script directly from a face-on monitor (& w/out teleprompter glass that can be seen on camera)," Stephen Miller, who served as a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, wrote on Twitter.

The video set, which was constructed across from the White House in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, is used by Biden for video conferences and events broadcast online. Featuring professional monitors and lighting, it is the same set Biden used to show himself receiving a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.


(More on the link)





 

nivek

As Above So Below
'That's progress': Biden insists the WORST jobs report of his presidency is a 'significant improvement' and a sign America is 'moving forward' before walking away without taking questions

Just 194,000 jobs were added to the payroll in September, falling far short of the 500,000 that were expected, and offering one of the most dismal outlooks from a US jobs report all year. But Biden argued the country is making 'consistent steady progress.' 'If you take a step back, look at what's happening, we're actually making real progress. Maybe doesn't seem fast enough - I'd like to see it faster,' he said. 'We're making consistent steady progress.'

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wwkirk

Divine
'That's progress': Biden insists the WORST jobs report of his presidency is a 'significant improvement' and a sign America is 'moving forward' before walking away without taking questions

Just 194,000 jobs were added to the payroll in September, falling far short of the 500,000 that were expected, and offering one of the most dismal outlooks from a US jobs report all year. But Biden argued the country is making 'consistent steady progress.' 'If you take a step back, look at what's happening, we're actually making real progress. Maybe doesn't seem fast enough - I'd like to see it faster,' he said. 'We're making consistent steady progress.'

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:mad8:
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Running on empty: Lebanon runs out of power and will be without electricity 'for days' after power stations run dry of oil - while India warns its coal-fired plants could go dark in just three days and blackouts hit China



Lebanon has no centrally-generated electricity after the country's two biggest power stations shut down due to a fuel shortage, plunging six million people into darkness. Production stopped at Zahrani power station today hours after the Deir Ammar plant shuttered yesterday when diesel supplies were reportedly exhausted. A government official confirmed the country's power network 'completely stopped working at noon today' and warned production was unlikely to restart 'until next Monday, or for several days'. The official said the state electricity company would try to use the army's fuel oil reserve to operate the power plants temporarily, but that would not happen anytime soon. It comes amid wider fears of global fuel shortages after India warned its coal-fired plants could go dark in just three days and electricity blackouts hit China.

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