Opal
@opalescentopal.bsky.social
I do crochet stuff and sometimes math stuff. (she/her)
This is what "sl" is for me.
February 18, 2026 at 10:02 PM
This is what "sl" is for me.
Reposted by Opal
Revised National Parks Webpage Describes Harriet Tubman As Human Trafficker https://theonion.com/revised-national-parks-webpage-describes-harriet-tubman-as-human-trafficker/
February 18, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Revised National Parks Webpage Describes Harriet Tubman As Human Trafficker https://theonion.com/revised-national-parks-webpage-describes-harriet-tubman-as-human-trafficker/
Reposted by Opal
"aes-js and pyaes provide a default IV in their AES-CTR API"
*screams*
https://blog.trailofbits.com/2026/02/18/carelessness-versus-craftsmanship-in-cryptography/
*screams*
https://blog.trailofbits.com/2026/02/18/carelessness-versus-craftsmanship-in-cryptography/
Carelessness versus craftsmanship in cryptography
Two popular AES libraries (aes-js and pyaes) provide dangerous default IVs that lead to key/IV reuse vulnerabilities affecting thousands of projects. One maintainer dismissed the issue, while strongSwan’s maintainer exemplified proper security response by comprehensively fixing the vulnerability in their VPN management tool.
blog.trailofbits.com
February 18, 2026 at 3:33 PM
"aes-js and pyaes provide a default IV in their AES-CTR API"
*screams*
https://blog.trailofbits.com/2026/02/18/carelessness-versus-craftsmanship-in-cryptography/
*screams*
https://blog.trailofbits.com/2026/02/18/carelessness-versus-craftsmanship-in-cryptography/
OH-pull, motherfuckers. Like the shiny fukken rock.
Not "oh-PAL"
Not "oh-PAUL"
This is a dictionary word that most of us have encountered at some point in our lives. Please, for the love of God, it doesn't need your special spin.
Not "oh-PAL"
Not "oh-PAUL"
This is a dictionary word that most of us have encountered at some point in our lives. Please, for the love of God, it doesn't need your special spin.
Emphasis on the second syllable. Jad-ZEE-uh.
I mean, just look at the screenname, it's right there. Not Carrie. Not Ka-hari. Not Cory.
February 17, 2026 at 1:02 PM
OH-pull, motherfuckers. Like the shiny fukken rock.
Not "oh-PAL"
Not "oh-PAUL"
This is a dictionary word that most of us have encountered at some point in our lives. Please, for the love of God, it doesn't need your special spin.
Not "oh-PAL"
Not "oh-PAUL"
This is a dictionary word that most of us have encountered at some point in our lives. Please, for the love of God, it doesn't need your special spin.
Reposted by Opal
its amazing how chatgpt knows everything about subjects I know nothing about, but is wrong like 40% of the time in things im an expert on. not going to think about this any further
March 8, 2025 at 12:13 AM
its amazing how chatgpt knows everything about subjects I know nothing about, but is wrong like 40% of the time in things im an expert on. not going to think about this any further
Reposted by Opal
Also - a thing I’ve been thinking about is that the Trump admin people thought of Minnesota as a lot of very nice white people who by virtue of being nice were not strong which is part of right wing ideology now
There are so many good signs that we don’t talk about enough and the neighborhood organizing in MN and the efforts against ICE abuse and the organic community care for immigrants and people at risk and the volunteer observers
February 17, 2026 at 4:30 AM
Also - a thing I’ve been thinking about is that the Trump admin people thought of Minnesota as a lot of very nice white people who by virtue of being nice were not strong which is part of right wing ideology now
Reposted by Opal
You can be a "no simultaneous submissions" journal, or a "we won't make a decision about your story for a year at least" journal, but you really should not be both.
February 17, 2026 at 4:19 AM
You can be a "no simultaneous submissions" journal, or a "we won't make a decision about your story for a year at least" journal, but you really should not be both.
I think I've found an actual use case for LLMs.
When a client or other party is being insufferable, I can write a sincere reply to them, expressing my best ideas to resolve the situation, and proposing paths forward.
When a client or other party is being insufferable, I can write a sincere reply to them, expressing my best ideas to resolve the situation, and proposing paths forward.
February 16, 2026 at 10:47 PM
I think I've found an actual use case for LLMs.
When a client or other party is being insufferable, I can write a sincere reply to them, expressing my best ideas to resolve the situation, and proposing paths forward.
When a client or other party is being insufferable, I can write a sincere reply to them, expressing my best ideas to resolve the situation, and proposing paths forward.
If someone said this to my face about my seizure meds, I'd fucking punch them in the throat.
You think my treatment didn't START with lifestyle interventions, you feckless fucks? Cutting WAY back on alcohol and caffeine? Reducing stress and getting better sleep?
Guess what? I STILL NEED MEDS.
You think my treatment didn't START with lifestyle interventions, you feckless fucks? Cutting WAY back on alcohol and caffeine? Reducing stress and getting better sleep?
Guess what? I STILL NEED MEDS.
February 16, 2026 at 7:19 PM
If someone said this to my face about my seizure meds, I'd fucking punch them in the throat.
You think my treatment didn't START with lifestyle interventions, you feckless fucks? Cutting WAY back on alcohol and caffeine? Reducing stress and getting better sleep?
Guess what? I STILL NEED MEDS.
You think my treatment didn't START with lifestyle interventions, you feckless fucks? Cutting WAY back on alcohol and caffeine? Reducing stress and getting better sleep?
Guess what? I STILL NEED MEDS.
I've yet to meet a trans woman who didn't think spiro sucks donkey balls for pennies and gives change.
If I didn't have medical contraindications, I'd be on injections tomorrow. Scientific and anecdotal evidence in support of injection are both pretty clear.
Trans women already know this, FFS.
If I didn't have medical contraindications, I'd be on injections tomorrow. Scientific and anecdotal evidence in support of injection are both pretty clear.
Trans women already know this, FFS.
Can we stop acting like every bit of research about trans people is entirely new?
The study they are referencing suggests that injections are more effective and that Spiro sucks... which like... thats been known for a long time
The study they are referencing suggests that injections are more effective and that Spiro sucks... which like... thats been known for a long time
February 16, 2026 at 2:04 PM
I've yet to meet a trans woman who didn't think spiro sucks donkey balls for pennies and gives change.
If I didn't have medical contraindications, I'd be on injections tomorrow. Scientific and anecdotal evidence in support of injection are both pretty clear.
Trans women already know this, FFS.
If I didn't have medical contraindications, I'd be on injections tomorrow. Scientific and anecdotal evidence in support of injection are both pretty clear.
Trans women already know this, FFS.
Reposted by Opal
Google Translate won’t admit it but “Keir Starmer” is Welsh for “Gavin Newsom.”
"UK Labour over the past couple years has tried to out-fash the fascists in many ways—particularly on immigration, where Labour officials sound a lot like far-right German parties—and now their popularity has plummeted" liberalcurrents.com/a-blaring-wa...
A Blaring Warning For The Democratic Party From Across The Pond
Popularism has been tried in the UK, and failed.
liberalcurrents.com
February 16, 2026 at 11:53 AM
Google Translate won’t admit it but “Keir Starmer” is Welsh for “Gavin Newsom.”
Reposted by Opal
Reposted by Opal
remember when he was mad about the new mario movie bc of the lack of latinos? i love him
February 16, 2026 at 12:50 AM
remember when he was mad about the new mario movie bc of the lack of latinos? i love him
Reposted by Opal
LLM responses which do not reflect consensus reality & facts are produced via the Same Process which generate responses which *Do* broadly conform to consensus reality & facts.
The Same Processes.
The Same Ones.
"Hallucination" is just a word to distance yourself from the outputs you don't like.
The Same Processes.
The Same Ones.
"Hallucination" is just a word to distance yourself from the outputs you don't like.
How many times, in how many contexts, from how many internal and external researchers, or from how many CEO's are people going to have to receive this message before they believe it:
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Can researchers stop AI making up citations?
OpenAI’s GPT-5 hallucinates less than previous models do, but cutting hallucination completely might prove impossible.
www.nature.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:20 PM
LLM responses which do not reflect consensus reality & facts are produced via the Same Process which generate responses which *Do* broadly conform to consensus reality & facts.
The Same Processes.
The Same Ones.
"Hallucination" is just a word to distance yourself from the outputs you don't like.
The Same Processes.
The Same Ones.
"Hallucination" is just a word to distance yourself from the outputs you don't like.
Reposted by Opal
Reposted by Opal
All these ghouls eventually return back to their slave-catcher roots for strategy and the most tried and true one they always resort to is trying to sow doubt and mistrust within the marginalized group they're targeting. They're actively trying to make people think twice before helping each other.
CCTV footage appears to show DHS agents posing as people having car trouble in order to lure a target out of his house before arresting them. The target comes out and starts helping them before 3 vehicles surround the scene. The car "experiencing" trouble then drives off with them.
February 15, 2026 at 6:37 PM
All these ghouls eventually return back to their slave-catcher roots for strategy and the most tried and true one they always resort to is trying to sow doubt and mistrust within the marginalized group they're targeting. They're actively trying to make people think twice before helping each other.
As a reminder: for the vast majority of men who own trucks, that F-150 is gender-affirming care.
Be sure to tell them how "brave" they are for being open about themselves.
Be sure to tell them how "brave" they are for being open about themselves.
got in an argument with this khaki wearing guy who had his pristine f150 parked all the way across a sidewalk (?) and in the course of the argument i asked ‘do you do a lot of backcountry driving in that thing’ and it upset him so bad he had to lock himself in his truck lmao
February 14, 2026 at 6:29 PM
As a reminder: for the vast majority of men who own trucks, that F-150 is gender-affirming care.
Be sure to tell them how "brave" they are for being open about themselves.
Be sure to tell them how "brave" they are for being open about themselves.
Reposted by Opal
got in an argument with this khaki wearing guy who had his pristine f150 parked all the way across a sidewalk (?) and in the course of the argument i asked ‘do you do a lot of backcountry driving in that thing’ and it upset him so bad he had to lock himself in his truck lmao
February 14, 2026 at 4:38 PM
got in an argument with this khaki wearing guy who had his pristine f150 parked all the way across a sidewalk (?) and in the course of the argument i asked ‘do you do a lot of backcountry driving in that thing’ and it upset him so bad he had to lock himself in his truck lmao
Reposted by Opal
So where is the GoFundMe to pay this kid's college tuition?
over on x the everything app some Chicago high school kid named Danny Spud tried to disrupt his school's anti-ICE protest by yelling about how much he loves ICE and then filmed himself getting walloped by a fellow student lmao
the quote tweet making fun of him has 3x the likes
the quote tweet making fun of him has 3x the likes
February 13, 2026 at 11:30 PM
So where is the GoFundMe to pay this kid's college tuition?
When this is all said and done:
Guillotines.
Guillotines.
This is something the Nazis used to do to Jewish children in the camps. It happened to a man I knew when he was a child in Auschwitz. The camp guards thought it was funny as hell.
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.
The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.
But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.
But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
February 13, 2026 at 10:49 PM
When this is all said and done:
Guillotines.
Guillotines.
Reposted by Opal
I’ve spent years of my life trying to explain to people that anti-trans conservatism naturally flows from their belief that children in the American nuclear family are not individuals with autonomy, but instead property of the parents and state, and this guy just… tweeted it out
February 12, 2026 at 10:53 PM
I’ve spent years of my life trying to explain to people that anti-trans conservatism naturally flows from their belief that children in the American nuclear family are not individuals with autonomy, but instead property of the parents and state, and this guy just… tweeted it out
Reposted by Opal
I have a friend who said, of Starfleet Academy, that this took them out of it - that seeing a person in a wheelchair in the 32nd century seemed unrealistic, since medicine in Star Trek "should be able to cure whatever was wrong with them."
That's not the case, for any number of possible reasons.
That's not the case, for any number of possible reasons.
February 12, 2026 at 9:52 PM
I have a friend who said, of Starfleet Academy, that this took them out of it - that seeing a person in a wheelchair in the 32nd century seemed unrealistic, since medicine in Star Trek "should be able to cure whatever was wrong with them."
That's not the case, for any number of possible reasons.
That's not the case, for any number of possible reasons.
Rookie numbers, I say.
February 12, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Rookie numbers, I say.
Reposted by Opal
It's all cops. Yes, all of them. Trump didn't invent this in Jan. '25. This is what they are. Yes, Dems have consistently helped make this happen just as much as Reps.
In christofascist America, we have to protest in the streets because local cops beat the shit out of our kids because our kids protested in the streets because federal cops are kidnapping kids
February 11, 2026 at 8:30 PM
It's all cops. Yes, all of them. Trump didn't invent this in Jan. '25. This is what they are. Yes, Dems have consistently helped make this happen just as much as Reps.