Nicole Tommasulo

Amazon internet outage breaks dozens of major apps, websites and banks: Latest DownDetector has been flooded with huge spikes for many apps people use every day

big oof.

www.the-independent.com/tech/aws-ama...

New 60s-style Suite Debuts in Boston’s Back Bay Boston hotel celebrates its 60th with a $100 million renovation and new retro suite.

Visiting Boston this autumn? The Sheraton Boston has just debuted a $100 million renovation featuring a new throwback suite that blends vintage vibes with modern amenities.

www.savorroam.com/blog/sherato...

Emily Blunt and Sag-Aftra join film industry condemnation of ‘AI actor’ Tilly Norwood US actors’ union joins stars in opposition to Norwood, which it says was created ‘using stolen performances’ The controversy around the “AI actor” Tilly Norwood continues to grow, after the actors’ union Sag-Aftra condemned the development and said Norwood’s creators were “using stolen performances”. Sag-Aftra released a statement after the AI “talent studio” Xicoia unveiled its creation at the Zurich film festival, prompting an immediate backlash from actors including Melissa Barrera, Mara Wilson and Ralph Ineson. Sag-Aftra said it believed creativity was, “and should remain, human-centred. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.” Continue reading...

Emily Blunt and Sag-Aftra join film industry condemnation of ‘AI actor’ Tilly Norwood

Live updates: Trump defends using troops to police U.S. cities in address to military leaders The gathering, at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, was ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and required some officers to fly thousands of miles.

In his speech, Hegseth promised to continue firing officers seen as unsupportive of the president’s agenda.

“For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons — based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts,” Hegseth said.

Spain moves to criminalise gender-based abuse against victims' loved ones Spain’s government on Tuesday proposed a new law on gender-based violence making it a separate crime when an abuser hurts someone close to their victim — like a child, parent or pet — in order to cause the victim more pain.

Spain moves to criminalise gender-based abuse against victims' loved ones reut.rs/4gOTQi7

OpenAI’s New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week.

Exclusive: OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator, which creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear.

Why Literary Festivals Still Matter What does a punk drummer have to do with a scholar of caste in India, or a border reporter who has walked for years with coyotes? At first glance, almost nothing. But their work, their testimonies,…

"The time we devote to others in person has shrunk, almost without our noticing. A festival interrupts that trend."

Bookseller Javier Garcia del Moral on the importance of in-person festivals and events.

lithub.com/why-literary...

Americans call him a fascist because he is a fascist

what Pritzker is doing would be unexceptional if he wasn't the only one with a leadership role consistently doing it! like yes, the bar is low, but barely anyone is clearing it

“The oath says enemies foreign and domestic… well, we also have domestic.”

Trump tells the generals he plans to use the military against Americans

The basic infrastructures that allow women to be participants in public life—birth control & abortion access, no fault divorce, childcare access & affordability, civil rights law in employment and public accommodations, the minimal efforts to mitigate sexual and domestic violence—are all crumbling.

Trump to generals: "Last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is gonna be a big thing for the people in this room, because it's the enemy from within & we have to handle it before it gets out of control"

Free press, out.

So —

• women out
• hazing in
• what adverse record, don’t know her
• beards still out
• ugly warships out
• Geneva convention out
• using American citizens as target practice for the national guard, in

Did he just declare war on four American cities?

Trump to top military officials: "I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military. National Guard, but our military. Because we're going into Chicago very soon. That's a big city with an incompetent governor. Stupid governor."

New Hampshire and Vermont could be next to introduce "balcony solar" Cheap, plug-in systems that reduce people's bills without red tape are piquing bipartisan interest.

New Hampshire and Vermont could be next to introduce "balcony solar" [via @canarymedia.com]

Life triumphs over suffering in Gamm Theatre’s ‘Angels in America, Part Two’ - The Boston Globe Tony Kushner’s cautionary tale still resonates, bolstered by — of all things — the Trump administration.

From Bob Abelman: Life triumph's over suffering in Tony Kushner’s cautionary tale "Angels in America, Part Two," which is running until Oct. 19 at Gamm Theatre in Warwick, R.I. The play is bolstered by — of all things — the Trump administration.

The letter that Pete Hegseth's mom wrote to him in 2018 is incontestably damning. Moms often have such selectively rosy sentiments toward their sons that we have cliches about it. But Pete was such a monumental shithead to women that his mom could not stay silent. Incredible stuff.

I will leave this here because it happened! On camera!

Pritzker: "People of Illinois, we need your help. Get our your cell phones, record and narrate what you see. Put it on social media. Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors. We need to let the world know that this is happening and that we won't stand for it."

I’m becoming more and more concerned that people at high levels of public discussion cannot identify the difference between a genuinely viral conversation vs a bunch of bots making noise.

If I were a producer for the new Harry Potter TV series, with a duty of care towards the three child actors playing the leads, I’d find the way Rowling treats the leads of the last screen adaptation to be hair-raising, to put it lightly.

'Not a way to live': AI is fueling violent threats against women judges Florida judge Jennifer Johnson said that an AI video depicting her death terrified her children and highlighted security gaps for state judges.

In 2023, a violent, 3-minute AI video appeared on TikTok depicting Florida judge Jennifer Johnson's death — a frightening example of how the expansion of AI technology has led to growing threats against women in public office.

SCOOP / UPDATE — Disney saw more than 1.7 million total paid streaming cancelations during the period 9/17-9/23, a Disney source confirms to me. The total includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN.

Trump’s Eruption of Rage at Texas ICE Shooting Hints at a Darker Story To Trumpworld, the Dallas shooting appears to provide the perfect pretext to start silencing wholly lawful advocacy groups—for inciting “violence and terrorism.”

News --> Steve Bannon tells me he fully expects Trump to use the Texas ICE office shooting as the hook to unleash law enforcement on liberal immigration groups by connecting political violence to anti-ICE rhetoric.

This is going to get ugly. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2009...

JUST IN: A federal appeals court allows Trump administration to end Planned Parenthood's Medicaid funding reut.rs/3JZCJOn

While we were sleeping:
- a book called 'Unwanted Attention' sold in a five-way auction
- Poland shot down a Russian drone that crossed into its airspace.

Poland calls to activate NATO Article 4: What does it mean?

There was a serious violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones.

It was so weird to be asked if I’ll vote for Josh Kraft before walking into a polling station today in Boston. The Mayor Wu person just asked if I was voting today.