Commentary: A.I. Art - Is It Stealing Your Art?

 

One of the burning issues in both the real world and online is Artificial Intelligence, or AI. There have been worries it will eventually destroy the world, and more recently Amazon announced it will be replacing some jobs with AI programs. On the Internet, there's been a big debate about the creations of AI programs: AI art. Some love it, Others hate it. Nydia Tungsten recently had a few things to say on the matter.

 

Read Nydia's commentary in Extra 

"Massive" Amazon Server Troubles Take Down Much of Internet

 

 If you've had some trouble online today, you're far from alone. Various Internet services from Snapchat to Netflix to Reddit and were down, and many others had problems because of an Amazon Web Services server outage. The trouble supposedly started today, Monday October 20, at 2:40 AM EST, possibly at one of their largest datacenters in northern Virginia. There were supposedly "over 1,000 businesses impacts, including many banks." The total damage done may be in the billions of dollars. 

 

Second Life was affected as well, the Grid Status report showing "A service provider for Second Life is currently experiencing an outage which is affecting the Destinations page: secondlife.com/destinations/" Search was affected as well. A couple friends told me they had problems getting on. 

 

Supposedly the data engineers have taken care of the trouble, though this is a reminder of how many companies use Amazon servers, and what can happen when something big goes wrong. 

 

Sources, CNN, Techradar 

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Cartoon of The Day: Internet Ghost

 

 

 Taken at "Hammieween." Yes, I know, bad joke.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Internet Archive "Wayback Machine" Hacked

 

For users of the Internet Archive, also called the "Wayback Machine," Thursday October 10 was an unpleasant surprise when users discovered the site was offline.  What happened was the website was hacked. When people logged on, instead of the normal page, they saw this message:

Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs on sticks and is constantly on the verge of suffering a catastrophic security breach? It just happened. See 31 million of you on HIBP!

 

Bleeping Computer would say, "The text 'HIBP' refers to the Have I Been Pwned data breach notification service created by Troy Hunt, with whom threat actors commonly share stolen data to be added to the service."

 

The nature of the hack seems to be in dispute. Some are calling it a Directed Denial of Service attack. Others are calling it a data breach that "stole a user authentication database containing 31 million unique records."

 

Forbes quoted a cybersecurity expert as saying, "“Hacking the past is usually technically impossible but this data breach is the closest we may ever come to it. ... The stolen dataset includes personal information but at least the stolen passwords are encrypted."

 

Forbes would also say "While the identity behind the data breach exposing 31 million users remains unclear, the pro-Palestinian hacktivist group Black Meta has claimed responsibility for the DDoS attacks that took down The Internet Archive." 

Sources: Forbes, Bleeping Computer.com, Cyber News  

Bixyl Shuftan

Some Technical Difficulties

 

My connection to the Internet went down during the night, and only now has just been restored.

 

 Some articles may be delayed a little, but they will be done.

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Sneaky Discord Scam

 

 

 Been hearing about a diabolical scam on Discord. It's described as appearing as a very obvious one at first, but the REAL scam is the "dismiss message" link, which supposedly gives the scammer access to your computer. 

At the very least, it's a reminder to be a little careful with your computers. 

Gemma's Internet Connection Down

 

For those wondering why SL Newser reporter Gemma Cleanslate hasn't had anything in the paper for a little while, her Internet connection is down, having to rely on a friend to send email. It should be taken care of soon, and her articles resuming.

Discord Issues

 

If you were having trouble getting on Discord on Friday September 29, you weren't alone. Numerous users using the client software were getting a while screen with the words "You have been blocked."

 

Someone posting on Twitter to Discord Support stated, "I suddenly get a Cloudflare "Sorry, you have been blocked" page when opening the Discord desktop client. Is something wrong on your end or am I false positive in some DoS detection?"

The problem is described as lasting for hours, and the company pinned the issue on the service experiencing "unusual traffic spikes."  It has been suggested that the reason was issues at Cloudfare, which Discord works with to improve it's service. 

The issue came up in a couple group chats in Second Life. Later in the day after the problem seemed to be resolved, it was suggested to users still having trouble that restarting the client, or their computers, would resolve the problem. A suggestion that Discord itself had been making.

 

Sources: Techcrunch,  Bleepingcomputer, Twitter,

Bixyl Shuftan

Hurricaine Idalia Threatens American Southeast

 

 

 Just after Hurricane Hilary caused a scare for California, there's another major storm taking aim at Florida, and on course to barrel through Georgia and South & North Carolina: Hurricane Idalia. Projected to strengthen to Category Three before it lands, there's the possibility of it getting still stronger to Cat 4 when it hits the Florida coast this morning. The storm is expected to remain at hurricane strength as it heads through Georgia, and only weakening to tropical storm status in South Carolina, and continue on through southeast North Carolina, being out at sea only very early Friday morning.

 

People in the path of the storm can expect a strong possibility of electrical, and Internet, outage, and some on the outskirts may experience some interruptions as well. So some of us in Second Life may be offline, or notice some friends who are usually on being off.

 

Sources: News Nation, Weather Channel

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Five More Online Comics, Past and Present

 

 As kids, most of us enjoyed reading the "funny pages" and the comic strips in them. As grownups, we can still love a good comic, and in the age of the Internet we can find some online. Internet comics have one advantage over those in the newspaper, we have a LOT more to chose from and we can go back and read previous strips. The Newser was recently asked to write about a discontinued comic, so here's a look at that and four other comics past and present.

Read the reviews in Extra.

 

Back Online

 

I often say the Newser updates 364 days a year, allowing a day for technical difficulties and the unexpected. Well, on Sunday came the unexpected technical difficulties, which a simple rebooting of the Internet equipment didn't solve, and had to call the company. It's fixed now, and we'll soon be posting as before.

Once again, sorry about the crash.

Image Credit: Erik Mondrain
 

Bixyl Shuftan, Editor, SL Newser

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 

Saturday, February 4

 

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    Information Revolution, The First 50 Years of The Internet

    By Phil Youngblood, PHD

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/information-revolution/

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    At 9 PM PST   

    Combating Negative Thinking

    By Jes Stannard

   https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/negative-thinking/

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

 

    ~*~

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

 

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

Saturday, January 28

 

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    The SC in the VWEC Eduverse

    By Phil Youngblood, PHD

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/vwec-eduverse/

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    At 9 PM PST   

    Internet Security

    By Jes Stannard

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/internet-security/

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

 

    ~*~

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

How to Prevent And Deal With Doxing

 

After some time away to take care of matters, Angel Fencer is back. Sadly, one of the matters she had to deal with was being doxed and harrassed online. In her article today, she talks about her experience with the issue, and what to do about it should it happen to you.

Read Angel's story in Extra.
 

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Alien Exosociology,"

 

"Alien Exosociology: Our Transgalactic Commonalities"

Saturday October 16,

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

Recent military reports of unexplained objects flying in our skies have sparked renewed interest in alien visitors. Some scientists predict that we will have made contact with advanced civilizations on other worlds within 25 years. What might they be like, and — more importantly – how might they act? Steven Van Hook, a researcher in transcultural relations, will consider what universal social traits we could share in common with our galactic alien neighbors.

Auditorium

For more information, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/125/132/22 

*  *  *  *  *  *
 

"Online Anonymity; How Important Is It To You?"

Saturday October 16

9 PM to 10 PM SL time 

“There is no guarantee that an anonymity-free Internet would be a kinder, gentler Internet.” –Author: Whitney Phillips

“The Internet, my fickle friend, my two-faced enemy, what would life be like without you? Where else can I be anonymously anyone and yet, have no anonymity at all?” -Author: Susan Schussler

Fireside

For more information: Click Here. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/104/125/1114
 

Hurricaine Ida Smashes Inland, Knocks Out Power to One Million

 

On Sunday August 29, Hurricane Ida reached Louisiana after quickly strengthening to a Category 4 storm. The result was flooding and damage that brought back memories of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Over a million people lost electric power, including practically everyone in New Orleans. One or two people have been confirmed dead, though more may be found. But for many, it may be some time before they places they evacuated from are safe to return to, and it may be weeks until some places get full electric power, and Internet, again. 

What's left of Ida is continuing to move northeast, and may create flooding and tornadoes along the way.
 
Sources: Weather Channel, CBS News, AP News 

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Hurricane Ida Srengthens to Cat 4, Heading Into Louisiana

 

Residents in Louisiana and Mississippi are facing lots of rain and power outages as Hurricane Ida is not only making a beeline toward them, it is rapidly gaining in strength along the way. 

Ida has been gaining strength very fast. Currently, it is a Categoty Four storm, with winds next to the eye going 130 miles an hour. The storm will make landfall later today, bringing high winds and possible flooding over much of the Louisiana coast, as well as power and Internet outages. As the storm travels inland, while it will lessen in intensity, the still high winds will continue to knock out power over much of Louisiana and Mississippi.

For more information, check out the weather channel: https://weather.com/ .

Source: Weather Channel

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Star Relay DJ Matt Carlton Sets Up Redbubble Store Page

  

Matt Carlton has raised plenty of Lindens over time for the Relay for Life, both for her Sunbeamer team and for others. This time, she's hoping to make a little money for herself. So she made an online store page under the name of Kavori-Bluesky. 

I am a Non-Binary, Freelance Photographer that loves to shoot many things, but has a fondness for wildlife and nature, especially weather.

As of this time, there are a total of eight items for sale. Most are wildlife stickers for less than two dollars. But there's also a print and one t-shirt that's normally $19.90. 

Matt's store is on Redbubble. The site was created with the purpose of making it possible for artists to sell directly to consumers as independent agents, to "Give independent artists a meaningful new way to sell their creations." While it was aimed at artists and maybe small companies, it has attracted larger ones, notably Linden Lab, which launched a store through Redbubble in September 2020. 

Bixyl Shuftan
  

Happy Star Wars Day

Yesterday, May 4, was "Star Wars Day," a day fans of the franchise's movies and books take the time to celebrate it. The date is a play on "May the Force be with you," fans often saying "May the Fourth be with you." On Google, typing "may the fourth be with you" in search then pressing "Return" resulted in confetti and various pictures flying across the screen momentarily. A little search engine funnery.  
  

Five Past Online Comics

 

A number of  us love a good cartoon strip, and for some of us that includes online comics. But no serial comic strip lasts forever. Real life may force the artist to stop due to growing family and job requirements or other reasons. The artist may decide to end the strip while it's still good, or perhaps they've concluded their tale. And of course the artist (or the writer) may pass away. In this story for today, yours truly describes five comics that are no longer updating for various reasons.
 
Read the story in Extra.