Apparently now Google requires you to give them a lock of your hair before allowing you to file a DMCA fair-use counter-claim to a spurious content-ID rejection.

"Build history as you grow: Once you have enough history, we'll automatically unlock features." Apparently my 14+ year old youtube channel has not yet reached 2 months of active use, according to the vibe-coded math of Google's robots.

Since, as you know, arguing with robots is something of a hobby of mine, I uploaded my traditional driver's license. You can't just "upload" it, of course, they require you to scan a QR code with a phone and take a photo from within the browser, for maximal tracking. So I used one of my burner phones for that. They say their response takes 24 hours, so presumably some dollar-a-day call-center gig worker in India is going to put eyeballs on it, so we'll see how that goes.

In case you're wondering what stupidity I'm up to this time:

Bonnie Tyler died last week, and so the glorious "Total Eclipse of the Heart, Literal Version" by Persephone Maewyn and dascottjr was making the rounds again, dodging takedowns. (This video is a textbook case of fair use, since not only is it a parody song, but the lyrics are direct commentary on the video itself, I mean come on.) Anyway all extant copies of it are shit quality, so I reconstructed it from the official HD video plus the "literal" audio, and re-built the subtitles by hand. Immediate takedown. I appealed. A week later, some intern or chatbot at BMG said "fuck you no". Now I'm trying to counter-claim.

Anyway, maybe someday you'll get to see this higher quality version of the video. It's still pretty funny. You can go request it on the DNA Pizza music video stream I guess.

Update: Oh no. Anyway

Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2026 02:28:12 -0700
Subject: Your YouTube ID verification was unsuccessful
From: YouTube
To: [email protected]

Your YouTube ID verification was unsuccessful

Your ID verification was denied

Google couldn't approve your ID verification. You can try again to get advanced YouTube features with your ID or video verification in 30 days. In the meantime, you can continue to build your channel history by uploading videos or live streams and following YouTube's Community Guidelines. After 30 days, this history may help you get access to advanced YouTube features. Learn more

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

I found another 36-year-old VHS tape on eBay! D.O.A.'s final concert, live at DNA Lounge, in 1990.

▶︎

Everybody Hates Elon:

"Meta has spent years tracking us online," said a spokesperson for Everybody Hates Elon. "Now it wants to track us in the real world too." [...] "Meta and Ray-Ban's new AI glasses can be used to secretly record women and young people for sexual reasons," the EHE spokesperson continued in their statement. "Simply put, that's abuse."

EHE poses one simple question: "Billionaires could fund cures for cancer -- so why are they funding glasses for perverts instead?"

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

Twenty-five years ago today, on July 13th 2001, was the first event at DNA Lounge under current management. I am very old and I have been leaning on this bar for a very long time.

Typically we treat Nov 22 as our "real" anniversary (the club will be turning 41 this year) but 25 is kind of a shocking number, so I thought that was worth noting. Check out what used to pass for photo galleries two and a half decades ago.

Traditionally this is where I do the usual "if you'd like us to be around for another 25 years" blah blah panhandling. So yeah, this would be a great time for you to join our Patreon or up your contribution, or make a one-time donation. We have been getting absolutely obliterated financially this year, the last few months specifically. Attendance has been way down across the board. You people need to start showing up, ok?

If Only There Had Been a Sign That the Face-Melting Nazi from Indiana Jones Wouldn't Make a Good Senator:

Boy, do I feel silly. Until now, I've been a passionate supporter of SS-Sturmbannführer Arnold Toht, the Nazi who got his face melted off by the sight of God, in his race for Senator. I believe the people of Maine deserve better than Susan Collins, and so even though I had some misgivings about Toht, I ignored every click and whirr of my moral compass to cheer him on.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

SOMA's cop supervisor takes a break from jailing drug addicts to ask a billionaire's nazi chatbot whether he can have a little genocide, as a treat:

Grok, what's the difference between right and wrong?

Last Sunday, San Francisco District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey relaxed after what was, for most, a fun-packed SF Pride by repeatedly prompting xAI chatbot Grok to provide justifications for the killings of civilians in Gaza by Israeli forces. [...]

In lieu of actually addressing his critics online, of which there were many in the replies, Dorsey only had eyes for Grok, a chatbot that is notorious for being programmed to push false narratives about politics, history, and everything else according to the very transparent whims of xAI's trillionaire backer, Elon Musk.

Matt, are you OK? I really mean that. I'm not trying to be funny. Frankly, I tried to write something satirical about what was happening -- tried to find a lighter way through this -- but the more I dug in, the more concerned I started to feel.

Only a year ago, some backend overcompensation by Grok's puppeteers resulted in the bot compulsively spitting out conspiracies about "white genocide" in South Africa, praising Adolf Hitler, and engaging in Holocaust denial. To that point, AI researchers have warned that AI boosters' framing of chatbots as objective and reliable could be weaponized to push propaganda and even encourage people to commit violence.

So of course, watching an elected official openly using it to confirm his very loaded questions about the correctness of killing civilians is unsettling -- even terrifying.

In his most recent dealings with Grok, the supervisor's behavior is giving off the sketch vibes of a person antagonizing those around him while not even looking at them. Instead, it's almost like he's staring off into space and talking to someone who isn't there.

As it stands today, X is a platform that actively facilitates the turning of brains into pudding. And if this were some rando in the city posting, it would be easy to dismiss them as another soul lost to AI obsession. But Dorsey represents a major and heavily populated slice of San Francisco, including Mid-Market, Mission Bay, SoMa, and other neighborhoods. Supervisors like him write legislation and have a profound impact on the lives of the people in their districts and the city at large.

If this is what he's doing publicly, what is he asking Grok in private?

Despite this, Matt remains only San Francisco's second-worst weird dude named Dorsey.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.

When they weren't rolling through fireworks they were trapping people near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Waymos were a key reason for the traffic snarl in the Presidio after Saturday night's foggy fireworks display on the Golden Gate Bridge. Videos and social media posts from people stuck in traffic show Waymos locked in giant lines, randomly blocking the road, and stuck in a roundabout.

A number of Waymos had to be towed after they lost battery power; the vehicles that could hold a charge made errors on the road that backed traffic up for blocks, bystanders said.

Fellow drivers acted like, well, drivers. "We realized people were getting out of their cars, yelling and screaming at these Waymos because there were no drivers," Dave Guingona, who was stuck in Presidio traffic for two hours, told NBC News. [...]

In the Mission, meanwhile, one Waymo drove into an intersection despite a large lit firework sitting in the middle of the road. Video taken inside the car by passenger Rose Peterson shows the firework's sparks flashing all around them as the Waymo takes a lazy left turn. A second angle shows Peterson's Waymo tip the firework over, which then shoots projectiles at cars, homes, and bystanders on the sidewalk. [...]

A second Waymo that encountered a firework was a different story, though: A vehicle that drove into a firework near the 1200 block of Connecticut Street in Potrero caught on fire, Waymo said. The Waymo was unoccupied and there were no injuries; the vehicle had to be removed by the San Francisco Fire Department and other city authorities, according to Bonelli.

These incidents raise serious concerns about autonomous vehicles, especially those operating during unusual traffic patterns that may require real decision-making by drivers. "Human drivers don't just drive. They are the captain of the ship and anything that can happen to it," AV expert Phil Koopman told Gazetteer in 2024. "Well, if you put a computer in charge and it's not capable of doing anything other than navigating traffic, who's the real captain of the ship?"

The office of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins did not respond by press time to Gazetteer's questions about legal mechanisms that might hold Waymo accountable when its operational failures, including parking and moving violations, lead to blocked roads and other forms of extended congestion. Jenkins recently attempted to prosecute seven members of the so-called "Golden Gate 26" who blocked the bridge in 2024 during a protest and were charged with felonies for false imprisonment (for keeping people stuck in traffic) and obstructing a thoroughfare.

Meanwhile, Mayor Daniel Lurie, who has been a major ally for Waymo in its San Francisco expansion, did not mention the company in his statement regarding the July 4 pileups.

Mirroring these videos that were posted on oligarch-controlled social media sites for posterity...

▶︎▶︎▶︎▶︎▶︎

I have so many posts about Waymos on fire that it almost deserves its own tag:

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

As our "Cyberdelia" series has seen a bit of success at branching out from being only the "Hackers" party, we've decided to try and screen roughly one cult movie a month! I hope you will join us. Our bill through the rest of the year: Conan the Barbarian (this Sunday!), Evil Dead 2 + Army of Darkness double bill, Hackers (the main event), The Crow, and Batman Returns (the greatest Christmas movie).

Update: We just added Scott Pilgrim!

And you can get a discounted seated "Season Pass" ticket that gets you a seat at all five events through the end of the year!

Conan:
Sun Jul 12

Evil Dead 2 + Army of Darkness:
Sun Aug 2

HACKERS:
Sun Aug 30

The Crow:
Thu Oct 29
(Devil's Night Eve)

Scott Pilgrim:
Sun Nov 22

Batman Returns:
Sun Dec 20

You may be wondering what our criteria is for selecting movies for this odd mini-festival of ours. You probably think you have some great suggestions. I gotta say, it's a tough line to walk. First of all, just thematically with the Cyberdelia origins, my pitch is that they should be movies that Zero Cool and the gang would have watched over at Nikon's house. So: cyber, scifi, fantasy; not romcoms. Second, we're doing this in a bar, not a movie theatre, so they have to be heckle-able, movies you can gleefully and drunkenly yell at. We're not doing an "Alamo" thing here, no polite applause, no sensible chuckle; we want rowdy.

As just a few examples of "great movie, but bad fit": Aliens, Strange Days, The Thing. They're great movies! But they aren't party movies. They're too good.

On the other end of the scale is the obscurity problem: I'd love to do Barbarella, Danger Diabolik, Dr. Phibes, but nobody's heard of them. The 6 people who would show up (8, counting me and Kingfish) would love it, but it would be a flop.

Anyway, we've got a list, and if these next five movies go well and we start getting some regulars, maybe we'll be able to dip into the backstock as well. So if you want us to keep doing this kind of thing... vote by showing up.

Better title: "cheaters outraged that they got caught."

The 40th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) -- which is slated to take place in Sydney, Australia, in December 2026 -- bans peer reviewers from uploading papers they referee to AI chatbots, as the practice breaches confidentiality. [...] To enforce the policy and catch illicit AI use in peer review, the event's organizers have included deliberately concealed instructions for large language models (LLMs) in papers sent out for peer review.

The instructions tell an LLM to use telltale phrases -- such as "This work addresses the central challenge" and "The claims of the paper" -- in a peer-review report. [...]

"Designing a trap that presumes bad faith corrodes the relationship the whole system depends on," Sören Auer, a computer scientist at Leibniz University Hannover, wrote on LinkedIn. "You do not build a healthy reviewing culture by treating your reviewers as suspects."

But others see merits in the approach. A similar prompt-injection effort has caught hundreds of reviewers misusing LLMs in submissions for next week's 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2026) in Seoul, South Korea, according to Nihar Shah, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University and scientific integrity chair of that conference.

Culture of trust, uh huh.

In 1929, Secretary of State Henry Stimson closed down the "black chamber" -- the State Department's code‐breaking office -- on the principle that the way to make men and nations trustworthy was to trust them. As he later told aide McGeorge Bundy, "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail."

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

We replaced our network rack with a slightly larger one. Exciting news, I know, but I'm posting these photos because I know that there is a certain segment of my readership who will be upset by them, perhaps even scarred. Is this what peak performance looks like? Probably.