Nicholas Weaver
@ncweaver.skerry-tech.com
Researcher, Computer Security @ ICSI
Chief Mad Scientist @ Skerry Technologies
Putting the Science in "Mad Science"
Digital, Explainable, and (usually) Adversarial Systems
Looking for employment: CV is here https://skerry-tech.com/cv.html
he/him
Chief Mad Scientist @ Skerry Technologies
Putting the Science in "Mad Science"
Digital, Explainable, and (usually) Adversarial Systems
Looking for employment: CV is here https://skerry-tech.com/cv.html
he/him
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
filed under “headlines you hear being read off in a chipper voice in an abandoned bunker in a Fallout game”
Breaking News: The EPA will stop considering lives saved when setting pollution limits and instead calculate only the cost to businesses.
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved by Limiting Air Pollution
In a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show.
nyti.ms
January 12, 2026 at 10:58 PM
filed under “headlines you hear being read off in a chipper voice in an abandoned bunker in a Fallout game”
Its easy:
Trump is the mad king, he must be placated.
Miller is the racist ghoul running the mad king, he must be placated with blood.
Trump is the mad king, he must be placated.
Miller is the racist ghoul running the mad king, he must be placated with blood.
January 13, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Its easy:
Trump is the mad king, he must be placated.
Miller is the racist ghoul running the mad king, he must be placated with blood.
Trump is the mad king, he must be placated.
Miller is the racist ghoul running the mad king, he must be placated with blood.
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
🕯️My cousin Brian passed away last night. After a courageous 3 wk stint with ICE. He slipped on a fellow agent’s frozen peepee puddle & somersaulted many times in the air, yelling “yabbada yabbada yabbada” & tragically aspirating (a different) agent’s pee he’d been gargling. He hated women🇺🇸💔
January 12, 2026 at 9:33 PM
🕯️My cousin Brian passed away last night. After a courageous 3 wk stint with ICE. He slipped on a fellow agent’s frozen peepee puddle & somersaulted many times in the air, yelling “yabbada yabbada yabbada” & tragically aspirating (a different) agent’s pee he’d been gargling. He hated women🇺🇸💔
Napa river, of course!
My favorite Twitter prompt was "RT this with your home river," so reskeet this with your home river.
Mine is the Patuxent.
Mine is the Patuxent.
January 12, 2026 at 11:26 PM
Napa river, of course!
Who wants to bet that Stephen Miller is going to fuck this up?
January 12, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Who wants to bet that Stephen Miller is going to fuck this up?
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
Good question here: what will happen LEGALLY about Kavanaugh stops? And will it happen fast?
Answer: not a lot and no.
/1
Answer: not a lot and no.
/1
Ken, I know courts tend to move slowly, but what are the chances we start to see more expedited handling of increasing numbers of cases of "Kavanaugh stops" like this targeting American citizens with what seems like a lot more than a brief stop for questioning?
January 12, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Good question here: what will happen LEGALLY about Kavanaugh stops? And will it happen fast?
Answer: not a lot and no.
/1
Answer: not a lot and no.
/1
Time for another round of "lets figure out how to make Fogbank (again)?"
January 12, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Time for another round of "lets figure out how to make Fogbank (again)?"
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
I would like to bet a dollar that this is because the ultra-sophisticated DOGE AI flagged some phrase like "a diversity of offerings at the salad bar" in a budget.
A remote Army base in Alaska that has a key role in intercepting incoming ICBMs in the event of nuclear war says it is struggling to keep its dining facilities operating following an exodus of staff under the DOGE budget-slashing campaign led by billionaire Elon Musk.
Fort Greely struggles to feed soldiers due to impact of cuts initiated by DOGE
The home to the 49th Missile Defense Battalion faces “a critical disruption in food service” resulting from “a loss of essential civilian positions.”
www.stripes.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:28 PM
I would like to bet a dollar that this is because the ultra-sophisticated DOGE AI flagged some phrase like "a diversity of offerings at the salad bar" in a budget.
If it gets knocked out of orbit by a passing spontaneous conversion to cheese and wipes out all life on earth we will know who's fault it is...
January 12, 2026 at 10:56 PM
If it gets knocked out of orbit by a passing spontaneous conversion to cheese and wipes out all life on earth we will know who's fault it is...
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
No no!
They are still techno-fascist cranks!
May I suggest instead anthroponuclear nuclear world theory!
(it is a form of the anthropic principle)
BLUF: shit getting so fucked & weird b/c these we are inhabiting the low-probability world-states in which we haven’t had a large scale nuclear war.
They are still techno-fascist cranks!
May I suggest instead anthroponuclear nuclear world theory!
(it is a form of the anthropic principle)
BLUF: shit getting so fucked & weird b/c these we are inhabiting the low-probability world-states in which we haven’t had a large scale nuclear war.
January 12, 2026 at 10:54 PM
No no!
They are still techno-fascist cranks!
May I suggest instead anthroponuclear nuclear world theory!
(it is a form of the anthropic principle)
BLUF: shit getting so fucked & weird b/c these we are inhabiting the low-probability world-states in which we haven’t had a large scale nuclear war.
They are still techno-fascist cranks!
May I suggest instead anthroponuclear nuclear world theory!
(it is a form of the anthropic principle)
BLUF: shit getting so fucked & weird b/c these we are inhabiting the low-probability world-states in which we haven’t had a large scale nuclear war.
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
A former 3 star calling the height of the civil war Iraqi police more professional than ICE is wild ngl (but probably not that far off the mark)
January 12, 2026 at 9:11 PM
A former 3 star calling the height of the civil war Iraqi police more professional than ICE is wild ngl (but probably not that far off the mark)
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
Glad to see the UK take this on head-on with a view to liability both for the tech company provider permitting it, *and also separately* for user/prompters requesting it www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
January 12, 2026 at 10:14 PM
Glad to see the UK take this on head-on with a view to liability both for the tech company provider permitting it, *and also separately* for user/prompters requesting it www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
Somewhere between 45% and 60% of American credit card holders revolve their balances. An interest rate cap at 10% would mean these cards are almost all going to be canceled or turned into dark pattern fee machines that make overdraft fees look quaint.
i love how there's a small but non-zero chance the president may nuke consumer credit in 8 days simply because he's so fucking stupid
JPM DESK: If a credit-card cap were implemented, “there would likely be a significant reduction in credit offered, .. so this would be a de facto monetary tightening. What would be the analogous number of rate hikes ..? I am not sure, but feels like it would be similar to multiple rate hikes.”
January 12, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Somewhere between 45% and 60% of American credit card holders revolve their balances. An interest rate cap at 10% would mean these cards are almost all going to be canceled or turned into dark pattern fee machines that make overdraft fees look quaint.
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
Me in 2017: god, Jerome Powell, what a mediocre choice
Me in 2025: I will join a militia if that’s what it takes to defend Jerome Powell
Me in 2025: I will join a militia if that’s what it takes to defend Jerome Powell
July 2, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Me in 2017: god, Jerome Powell, what a mediocre choice
Me in 2025: I will join a militia if that’s what it takes to defend Jerome Powell
Me in 2025: I will join a militia if that’s what it takes to defend Jerome Powell
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
We have questions.
January 12, 2026 at 9:42 PM
We have questions.
Almost sad that I already gave up Target for lent...
From a good friend in Minneapolis: "Target is allowing ICE to stage in their parking lots, use their restrooms, and abduct people from inside their stores - so if you weren’t boycotting already, now is the time." They were staging in Chicago as well.
January 12, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Almost sad that I already gave up Target for lent...
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
Target board like
January 12, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Target board like
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
I mean fascism is generally stupid but even for fascists these guys are dumb
January 12, 2026 at 9:28 PM
I mean fascism is generally stupid but even for fascists these guys are dumb
Doesn't DHS have to follow BlueUAS type guidelines?
January 12, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Doesn't DHS have to follow BlueUAS type guidelines?
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
This DHS post on X about their new drone program, touting "American Air Superiority," prominently features a Chinese-made DJI drone.
Which are the exact same drones that the Trump administration recently banned from import into the United States.
Which are the exact same drones that the Trump administration recently banned from import into the United States.
January 12, 2026 at 7:44 PM
This DHS post on X about their new drone program, touting "American Air Superiority," prominently features a Chinese-made DJI drone.
Which are the exact same drones that the Trump administration recently banned from import into the United States.
Which are the exact same drones that the Trump administration recently banned from import into the United States.
You don't need to DRILL. Every maker has a bracket designed for their cars, and if you want aftermarket there are always plenty of no-drill options.
January 12, 2026 at 9:07 PM
You don't need to DRILL. Every maker has a bracket designed for their cars, and if you want aftermarket there are always plenty of no-drill options.
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
January 12, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
we call this a reverse Pavlik.
January 12, 2026 at 8:25 PM
we call this a reverse Pavlik.
Reposted by Nicholas Weaver
Personal but informed opinion,
1) this is incredibly unlikely if not impossible as described
2) would be true of oil rigs too
3) there was already analysis of national security risks before granting permits and this was not seen as a threat
1) this is incredibly unlikely if not impossible as described
2) would be true of oil rigs too
3) there was already analysis of national security risks before granting permits and this was not seen as a threat
Burgum on the national security "risk" of offshore wind energy: "If you wanted to launch an attack on our population centers, the way you would do it is you'd come through one of these large offshore -- we could have an enemy swam drone attack into a place like the Northeast before we even knew it."
January 12, 2026 at 8:25 PM
Personal but informed opinion,
1) this is incredibly unlikely if not impossible as described
2) would be true of oil rigs too
3) there was already analysis of national security risks before granting permits and this was not seen as a threat
1) this is incredibly unlikely if not impossible as described
2) would be true of oil rigs too
3) there was already analysis of national security risks before granting permits and this was not seen as a threat