htek (u/htek) - Readit News

htek commented on 430k-year-old well-preserved wooden tools are the oldest ever found nytimes.com/2026/01/26/sc... · Posted by u/bookofjoe

WalterBright · 13 days ago

None of those suggest "heavily intertwined". More like the US military has decided that it's a smart move to take advantage of Musk's technology.

As for the Ukraine thing, I read that Musk was trying to comply with US law in avoiding making foreign policy.

It's no surprise that the military uses Starlink, just like they use cars.

As for grok, of course the military is going to buy what they want.

htek · 12 days ago

Of course it does. And I should have said not just the military, but the government in general. From day 1 he was working to infiltrate government databases and networking. He was having his DOGE lackeys installing Starlink at the White House [0] and buildings of federal agencies he was raiding to exfiltrate PII and sensitive, if not classified, data from to his own servers for likely use to influence American sentiment and target groups or individuals. So says a whistleblower Dan Berulis [1] and a DOGE goon was caught by Secret Service trying to install a Starlink device on the roof of the Eisenhower Federal Building across from the White House [2]. There is absolutely no valid need for a private network operating in parallel with the US government's system. Unless the intent was to avoid detection when exfiltrating data to private systems.

0. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/18/musk-starlin...

1. https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-...

2. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/doge-roof-elon-musk-st...

htek commented on CISA’s acting head uploaded sensitive files into public version of ChatGPT politico.com/news/2026/01... · Posted by u/rurp

lm28469 · 12 days ago

> Gottumukkala had requested to see access to a controlled access program—an act that would require taking a polygraph

Are the US ok? It's 2026 not 1926

htek · 12 days ago

The polygraph is still used for security vetting, today. No word on whether they still read a lamb's entrails for portents or consult the dead with a Ouija board.

htek commented on Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants blog.ncase.me/on-depressi... · Posted by u/mijailt

ghusto · 13 days ago

The hate on antidepressants is not because they're not effective, but rather that they're abused by psychiatrists. Ideally, a professional will prescribe them as a necessary helper to becoming (more) mentally healthy whilst tackling the root cause. Most of the time however, it's more of a "here, take these indefinitely".

It's like if we took sleeping pills every time we had trouble sleeping. Having said that, I just realised I have the impression that's exactly what people do in the USA?

htek · 12 days ago

It's a symptom of the "health care" insurance industry. Many people end up paying a specialist doctor's co-pay when they see a psychiatrist. Some plans limit you to a maximum number of sessions you can have (6, in my case) per year. Talk therapy eats up sessions and co-pays like Pac-Man eats dots. One doctor expected me to come in twice a week. Americans don't get all the PTO and/or excused sick time they want to accommodate such a schedule.

htek commented on Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants blog.ncase.me/on-depressi... · Posted by u/mijailt

wincy · 13 days ago

Lexapro made me feel like I was randomly being dropped down an elevator shaft for 6 months after I stopped taking it. I’m glad it worked for you, and am not minimizing that, but these medications have a side effects profile a mile long and should be a therapy of last resort in my opinion.

htek · 12 days ago

The problem with antidepressants are that while we know, more or less, what they do, we don't know why they work for some and not for others. Escitalopram (Lexapro) was a vast improvement for me over Citalopram. Then it plateaued and a year later, left me anhedonic. Tried an SNRI that would give me brain zaps every day a few hours before my next dose and it was horrendous to quit using. It also messed with my ability to meditate for a long while. Basically, I could put myself in a mental state that would trigger the same kind of painful brain zaps that withdrawal from the SNRI caused.

htek commented on Extremophile molds are invading art museums scientificamerican.com/ar... · Posted by u/sohkamyung

htek · 13 days ago

Cold Atmospheric Plasma is a possible way to kill molds on artwork, non-destructively.

htek commented on 430k-year-old well-preserved wooden tools are the oldest ever found nytimes.com/2026/01/26/sc... · Posted by u/bookofjoe

WalterBright · 14 days ago

> Today the innovation in that area seems driven by militaristic states and by people who seem ideologically adjacent.

Today it's Musk driving space technology forward, and I don't see him acting militaristic.

htek · 14 days ago

> Musk driving space technology forward, and I don't see him acting militaristic.

Surely, you jest. He's heavily entwined his companies with the US military. StarLink is used heavily in battlefield communications [1]. He sought to deny the courtesy to one of our allies when Russia disrupted Ukraine's satellite communications, but eventually reversed course over the optics of it [2].

Musk's Grok is going to be used by the Pentagon for the usual pursuits of police states everywhere [3].

1. https://spacenews.com/spacexs-expanding-role-in-u-s-defense/

2. https://irregularwarfare.org/articles/when-a-ceo-plays-presi...

3. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-gains-favor-as-pentagon-emb...

htek commented on Inside CECOT – 60 Minutes [video] archive.org/details/insid... · Posted by u/lawlessone

tantalor · 2 months ago

In July 2025, the Ellisons bought CBS (Paramount) through Skydance. This was approved by Trump's FTC.

The FTC is responsible for enforcing regulations that would prevent mergers that negatively impact the quality of services and innovation. They aren't doing their job.

htek · 2 months ago

The FTC has not done its job since after the Microsoft consent decree and economists have claimed that up is down and somehow preventing market monopolies is bad for the economy.

htek commented on A school locked down after AI flagged a gun. It was a clarinet washingtonpost.com/nation... · Posted by u/reaperducer

rmunn · 2 months ago

This hardly needs to be said here, but there should have been human review of the AI output before taking any drastic action. That would (I assume, though since I can't read the original article I don't know if that assumption is correct) have immediately let them know that the alleged "gun" was nothing of the sort, and avoided the massive disruption of a totally unnecessary lockdown.

htek · 2 months ago

This is just conjecture, but I suspect there will be as much review of photos, application of good investigative work and overall professionalism as is conducted during anonymous, virtually untraceable Swatting incidents that terrify the victims, if not get them killed.

htek commented on DeepSeek uses banned Nvidia chips for AI model, report says finance.yahoo.com/news/ch... · Posted by u/goodway

ignoramous · 2 months ago

> Yes. The bans are export controls.

These export controls increasingly look like "tax".

  The White House said the US government would take a 25 percent cut of the chip’s sales, similar to a deal with AMD and Nvidia earlier this year that allowed them to sell lower-powered AI chips to China while paying the US government 15 percent of the proceeds.

> Using them in China is legal in China.

Technically, yes. The CCP, though, wants to incentivize Chinese firms to use domestically-manufactured chips.

https://www.silicon.co.uk/e-innovation/artificial-intelligen... / https://archive.vn/B2pah

htek · 2 months ago

That's Corporatism. It's from the fascist playbook where the state takes partial or complete ownership of private companies. Where does that money go, to some slush fund for the president? The reason for the export controls is to keep our potential adversaries from being on the bleeding edge of frontier AI. It goes against the US's interests to give China a leg up with advanced chips. It's almost laughable, of course, as the Nvidia chips are already manufactured in a country that China claims as their own. If they ever pressed the issue, we could find ourselves without the most advanced chips.