Travis
@travislankow.bsky.social
SecOps, detection engineering. Posts about security thoughts mostly. Photographer, cat herder, and overall nerd. He/him. Opinions are my own.
Reposted by Travis
Just because it's being passed around a lot: NO, data centers in space do NOT benefit from space being cold. Space is cold in the formal sense we use to define temperature. But it is very bad at cooling. What would you rather have to cool hot metal: a lukewarm water tub or a giant cold atmosphere?
December 10, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Just because it's being passed around a lot: NO, data centers in space do NOT benefit from space being cold. Space is cold in the formal sense we use to define temperature. But it is very bad at cooling. What would you rather have to cool hot metal: a lukewarm water tub or a giant cold atmosphere?
Reposted by Travis
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
Reposted by Travis
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Travis
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
A masterpiece
November 11, 2025 at 6:02 AM
A masterpiece
Reposted by Travis
Elon Musk’s new pay package would feed all forty million Americans on SNAP for the next ten years. He wouldn’t notice the difference but the country would.
November 8, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Elon Musk’s new pay package would feed all forty million Americans on SNAP for the next ten years. He wouldn’t notice the difference but the country would.
Reposted by Travis
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 2:36 AM
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
I do not like this Trump timeline
I do not want to need iodine
We’re one missile’s flight
From a flash of light
I do not want to need iodine
We’re one missile’s flight
From a flash of light
October 30, 2025 at 5:34 AM
I do not like this Trump timeline
I do not want to need iodine
We’re one missile’s flight
From a flash of light
I do not want to need iodine
We’re one missile’s flight
From a flash of light
Reposted by Travis
October 30, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Reposted by Travis
New: The recent layoffs in CISA's Stakeholder Engagement Division have virtually shuttered SED, eliminating teams focused on critical infrastructure support, nationwide partnerships, and international coordination.
My story with details cuts and impacts: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-st...
My story with details cuts and impacts: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-st...
October 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
New: The recent layoffs in CISA's Stakeholder Engagement Division have virtually shuttered SED, eliminating teams focused on critical infrastructure support, nationwide partnerships, and international coordination.
My story with details cuts and impacts: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-st...
My story with details cuts and impacts: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-st...
Reposted by Travis
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
October 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
Reposted by Travis
The RIFs that began Friday will reportedly cut 65% of CISA’s 2,540 employees, one of the dumbest and most dangerous moves imaginable. CISA defends the nation’s cyber and critical infrastructure. Destroying it now only makes sense if you’re afraid of election integrity.
October 12, 2025 at 2:22 AM
The RIFs that began Friday will reportedly cut 65% of CISA’s 2,540 employees, one of the dumbest and most dangerous moves imaginable. CISA defends the nation’s cyber and critical infrastructure. Destroying it now only makes sense if you’re afraid of election integrity.
Reposted by Travis
This is probably part of why everyone on bluesky is 38 years old: 38 year olds are basically the only people who consider it totally normal to flee a sinking ship and then just casually resume the conversation on the tropical island they end up on.
They've outlived dozens of ships.
They've outlived dozens of ships.
June 20, 2024 at 4:00 AM
This is probably part of why everyone on bluesky is 38 years old: 38 year olds are basically the only people who consider it totally normal to flee a sinking ship and then just casually resume the conversation on the tropical island they end up on.
They've outlived dozens of ships.
They've outlived dozens of ships.
Reposted by Travis
people who think the gvt controls the weather are a faction that is quickly gaining power on the right — and MTG says she's planning to introduce legislation on this soon
@davidgilbert.bsky.social & i looked at how these conspiracy theories got supercharged after the tx floods this weekend:
@davidgilbert.bsky.social & i looked at how these conspiracy theories got supercharged after the tx floods this weekend:
Conspiracy Theories About the Texas Floods Lead to Death Threats
Disinformation around a “weather weapon” and cloud seeding is being widely promoted by everyone from anti-government extremists to GOP influencers—leading to real-world consequences.
www.wired.com
July 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
people who think the gvt controls the weather are a faction that is quickly gaining power on the right — and MTG says she's planning to introduce legislation on this soon
@davidgilbert.bsky.social & i looked at how these conspiracy theories got supercharged after the tx floods this weekend:
@davidgilbert.bsky.social & i looked at how these conspiracy theories got supercharged after the tx floods this weekend:
Reposted by Travis
With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.
🚨🚨 NEW: House passes sprawling domestic policy bill, sending it to Trump's desk
Final House vote is 218-214, with TWO Rs voting no (Massie & Fitzpatrick).
Senate passed it 51-50.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
Final House vote is 218-214, with TWO Rs voting no (Massie & Fitzpatrick).
Senate passed it 51-50.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
House passes sprawling domestic policy bill, sending it to Trump's desk
The Republican package would slash taxes, boost spending on immigration and the military, and impose steep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and clean energy funding.
www.nbcnews.com
July 3, 2025 at 6:35 PM
With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.
Reposted by Travis
it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time
June 22, 2025 at 1:44 AM
it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time
Reposted by Travis
🧵I think it’s important to understand what disinformation like Sen. Mike Lee’s tweets are trying to do, psychologically/cognitively. In my disinfo class/Substack, I talk about how disinfo often uses “moral disengagement strategies” to manipulate people into accepting harmful conduct 1/
June 16, 2025 at 2:05 AM
🧵I think it’s important to understand what disinformation like Sen. Mike Lee’s tweets are trying to do, psychologically/cognitively. In my disinfo class/Substack, I talk about how disinfo often uses “moral disengagement strategies” to manipulate people into accepting harmful conduct 1/
Reposted by Travis
June 15, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Reposted by Travis
The acting head of FEMA, a Trump appointee, told staff today he didn’t know the U.S. has a hurricane season. FEMA is dangerously unprepared this year.
June 3, 2025 at 2:28 AM
The acting head of FEMA, a Trump appointee, told staff today he didn’t know the U.S. has a hurricane season. FEMA is dangerously unprepared this year.
Hahahahahahaha
May 29, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Hahahahahahaha
Reposted by Travis
Reposted by Travis
The Trump administration is building a central online marketplace for the Intelligence Community to buy private information about individuals from unregulated data brokers — coming soon to www.icdata.gov
theintercept.com/2025/05/22/i...
theintercept.com/2025/05/22/i...
U.S. Spy Agencies Are Getting a One-Stop Shop to Buy Your Most Sensitive Personal Data
The government wants to build a centralized platform where spy agencies can more easily buy private info about millions of people.
theintercept.com
May 22, 2025 at 4:32 PM
The Trump administration is building a central online marketplace for the Intelligence Community to buy private information about individuals from unregulated data brokers — coming soon to www.icdata.gov
theintercept.com/2025/05/22/i...
theintercept.com/2025/05/22/i...
Reposted by Travis
So that AI-generated “Summer Reading List” full of made up books illustrates an important fact about AI art & writing we need to wrap our heads around. Because the easy story is “greedy corporate paper replaces humans with AI slop”. But that’s not what happened here, or in a lot of similar cases.
May 21, 2025 at 4:02 PM
So that AI-generated “Summer Reading List” full of made up books illustrates an important fact about AI art & writing we need to wrap our heads around. Because the easy story is “greedy corporate paper replaces humans with AI slop”. But that’s not what happened here, or in a lot of similar cases.
Reposted by Travis
The cost of Grok: "I can't breathe at home, it smells like gas outside. How come I can't breathe at home and y'all get to breathe at home?"
May 10, 2025 at 4:25 PM
The cost of Grok: "I can't breathe at home, it smells like gas outside. How come I can't breathe at home and y'all get to breathe at home?"
Reposted by Travis
The veteran in question was an immigrant who served two tours of duty in Vietnam before he became an American citizen. I’m not sure Martin read the fine print on this one.
May 11, 2025 at 12:15 AM
The veteran in question was an immigrant who served two tours of duty in Vietnam before he became an American citizen. I’m not sure Martin read the fine print on this one.