Leftovers

• Computational Complexity ☛ My Tom L post inspired a mathematical definition of Rabbithole

• 椒盐豆豉 ☛ Blaugust, cuz why not | 椒盐豆豉

  I’m most likely still gonna post in Chinese, though figure it might be nice to have a brief intro post in English for starter. Not sure what prompts there would be so I may not follow, and I’m not aiming for the Rainbow Diamond Award of posting everyday either.

• Robert Birming ☛ Your blog, your rules

  It’s a joyride.

  But to keep that joy, it helps to have at least some idea of how we want to approach blogging.

• Science

  • The Atlantic ☛ Our Beautiful Nuclear Future on the Moon

    NASA astronauts are now scheduled to return to the moon in 2027, and if all goes well, they will be landing on it regularly, starting in the early 2030s. Each crew will carry parts of a small base that can grow piece by piece into a living space for a few people. The astronauts will also take a pair of vehicles for expeditions—a little rover that they can use for local jaunts in their space suits, and a larger, pressurized one that will allow them to go on 500-mile regolith road trips in street clothes.

• Hardware

  • Lee Peterson ☛ A phone and a notebook

    I grabbed whatever paper I had (the back of an A4 sized receipt) and wrote everything I needed to do. I folded it and carried it around with me, this served me well enough for a couple of days and I felt a little calmer.

    Having a single non structured piece of paper in that moment helped.

  • Lawrence Tratt ☛ Comparing the Glove80 and Maltron keyboards

    For some of us, however, what keyboard we use has an effect on our health. I have typed a lot, for well over 30 years. 25 years ago I had a prolonged period of pain in my hands that was, in part, brought on by extensive keyboard usage. After 3 months of not typing at all, I resolved to do anything I could to lessen the chance of the problem recurring. I soon realised that traditional keyboards force our hands into an awkward diagonal posture that can cause problems over time.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ 3 million South Koreans sign refusal of life-prolonging treatment in case of untreatable diseases

    Women account for two-thirds of those who have decided to refuse life-sustaining treatment.

  • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Every day I could die working like this’: Heat pushes South Korean outdoor workers to brink

    The number of deaths caused by the heat wave was the second highest since 2018, when 48 people died.

  • CBC ☛ B.C. mushroom picking robots get $40M boost to fill growing agricultural labour shortage

    4AG (pronounced "forage") Robotics is based in the rural lakeside city of Salmon Arm, between Vancouver and Calgary, on the outskirts of the Rocky Mountains.

    There, it creates robots that use AI-run cameras and suction cups to pluck, trim and pack commercially grown button mushrooms.

  • Seth Godin ☛ Contagious emotions | Seth's Blog

    If we want to share the emotions near the bottom of this list, we’re going to have to really work at it.

  • Rolling Stone ☛ ‘ChatGPT Psychosis’: How One Man Escaped

    Except, J. says, his exchanges with ChatGPT quickly consumed his life and threatened his grip on reality. “Through the project, I abandoned any pretense to rationality,” he says. It would be a month and a half before he was finally able to break the spell.

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ Gooners Say Their Brains Are Becoming Hopelessly Hijacked by AI Smut

      Cautioning their fellow gooners, the user predicted that AI smut is "going to get harder to avoid because it captures all your vices and traps you" — and in the comments, their comrades agreed, with one noting that it's "insane and insanely addictive."

    • Wired ☛ Confessions of a Recovering AI Porn Addict

      A “gooner” tells WIRED he became hooked on the cartoonish nature of AI porn. Several addiction experts say the genre could pose a problem for people prone to compulsive sexual behavior.

    • Yossi Kreinin ☛ LLMs aren’t world models

      I believe that language models aren’t world models. It’s a weak claim — I’m not saying they’re useless, or that we’re done milking them. It’s also a fuzzy-sounding claim — with its trillion weights, who can prove that there’s something an LLM isn't a model of? But I hope to make my claim clear and persuasive enough with some examples.

    • Pivot to AI ☛ Hack a smart home with a calendar invite! And Google Gemini

      The researchers found 14 different ways to prompt-inject [Google's] Gemini assistants controlling Google Home. You only need a Google calendar invite: [...]

• Linux Foundation

  • KubeCon + CloudNativeCon India 2025: My experience

    From scaling Kubernetes, observability, powering huge Hey Hi (AI) projects to real stories from PepsiCo, Flipkart, and Intuit, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon India 2025 in Hyderabad was a deep dive into where cloud-native ecosystem is headed. Here’s my personal experience about the event.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • SANS ☛ Google Paid Ads for Fake Tesla Websites

      The sites display a complete copy of a slightly older design of the Tesla.com website. As far as I can tell, the design does not include a login page. Standard phishing does not appear to be the goal here. Not having a login page may make it easier to hide that no orders are being placed. Customers will not be able to use the fake site to check their order status.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Hindustan Times ☛ Has TikTok started rolling out AI age verification in US? Users say they are being flagged

      Multiple users on social media have shared screenshots and personal stories suggesting the rollout is already underway.

    • Ben Werdmuller ☛ Lifelogging under fascism

      In this environment, lifelogging and many quantified self activities backed by cloud services amount to creating more surveillance for you to be tracked by. The old anti-privacy cry of “I have nothing to hide!”, which was always nonsense, rings even more hollow when your political alignment or liking an Instagram post can put you at risk of surveillance and worse. Those thousands of location check-ins that once felt like harmless social sharing now represent a detailed surveillance profile that law enforcement can potentially access without my knowledge.

    • Connor Tumbleson ☛ Owning a Dash Cam

      Regardless of the reason I'm finding it more and more important to have a dash cam when driving in Florida (or maybe any state). You have to drive defensively with top focus and expect anything to happen, because if anything is true while driving defensively is nothing is predictable in today's age.

  • Confidentiality

    • Noë Flatreaud ☛ A Thing or Two About RSA

      RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) is the first and still one of the most common asymmetric encryption scheme. While being used almost everywhere by almost everyone, not many seems to really understand what RSA stands really for. Obviously, it would be difficult for me to explain every bits in a one page article. So let me give you a thing or two, just enough to, I wish, motivate you to dig deeper.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s military shrinks by 20% in six years as male population drops

    While the nation's defence budget dwarves North Korea's entire economy, its number of troops falls short.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea, Vietnam leaders to pledge deeper ties amid trade challenges

    The countries plan to sign at least 10 memoranda of understanding at the upcoming summit meeting.

  • The Strategist ☛ Road-mobile ballistic missiles: a strong option for bolstering ADF self-reliance

    If Australia needs greater defence self-reliance, it needs to field road-mobile ballistic missiles. To do that, it should partner with Israel or South Korea.

  • Sightline Media Group ☛ WWII doc explores ‘Atomic Echoes’ for US veterans, Japanese survivors

    Michas Ohnstad and Archie Moczygemba were 19 and 18 years old, respectively, when they first stepped foot on Japanese soil. For both of them, it looked like the world was on fire. And it was.

    They were just two of the 67,000 American soldiers and Marines to witness the aftermath of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

  • Yury Molodtsov ☛ The Limits of the Network State

    The Network State is a concept popularized by the entrepreneur and investor Balaji Srinivasan. These network states begin as highly-aligned online communities and graduate to diplomatic recognition by existing countries, rather than seizing territory by force.

  • NDTV ☛ "We'll Take Half World Down With Us": Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir's Nuclear Threat In US

    The remarks were the first nuclear threats known to have ever been delivered from US soil against a third country. They were reportedly made during a dinner hosted for Munir by businessman Adnan Asad, who serves as the honorary consul for Tampa.

  • France24 ☛ Gaza: families struggle to procure food as the humanitarian disaster worsens

    As pressure on Israel to scrap the plan continues to grow, so does the dire humanitarian situation on the ground. Another five people in the enclave - including two children - have died from malnutrition according to the Gaza Health Ministry. With conditions continuing to deteriorate, many Palestinians say they are staying put despite the looming Israeli ground offensive. Story by Catherine Viette.

  • France24 ☛ Israeli activists disrupt most watched reality TV show, shouting 'get out of Gaza'

    Amid an important wave of protests in Israel against Netanyahu's plan to occupy Gaza, Israeli activists stormed the live broadcast of “Big Brother” on Channel 13. The protestsers were wearing “Get Out of Gaza” T-shirts and gave a speech against the government's plan to occupy Gaza City. Big Brother claims to be Israel's most watched reality show.

  • New York Times ☛ Xi Looks to Tighten Grip After Scandals Shake China’s Military Elite

    The Chinese leader’s crackdown on military corruption reveals how deep his concerns run, not only about battlefield readiness, but about political survival, as well.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Xi looks to tighten grip after scandals shake China’s military elite

    The Chinese military is experiencing its most serious leadership disarray in years.

  • The Strategist ☛ Something to keep in mind: China can’t invade Taiwan yet

    Let’s not get too gloomy.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao taken in for questioning: Report

    This marks the highest-level probe involving a diplomat since China ousted Qin Gang.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Nvidia H20 chips not safe for China, says Chinese state media

    The H20 chips are also not technologically advanced or environmentally friendly, it said.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China state media says Nvidia H20 GPUs are unsafe and outdated, urges Chinese companies to avoid them — says chip is ‘neither environmentally friendly, nor advanced, nor safe’

    A social control media account linked to China state media says that users should avoid Nvidia chips.

  • Video: China pressures Bangkok gallery to remove Uyghur, Tibetan, Hong Kong artwork

    Removed was a multimedia installation by a Tibetan artist, the words “Hong Kong”, “Tibet” and “Uyghur” redacted.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Don Marti ☛ Don Marti: inquiring minds (have a right to) know

    previously: common sense one, bullshit documents zero

    Lots of coverage of the Frasco v. Flo case (more links at the end). Lead trial attorney Michael Canty claims a Landmark win.

• Environment

  • The Verge ☛ How big trucks and SUVs gobbled up the entire auto industry | The Verge

    But these big trucks and SUVs can be deadly. Vehicles with extra-tall hoods and blunt front ends are more likely to cause fatalities, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. There have been numerous studies and investigations examining how tall, flat-nosed trucks and SUVs are more likely to cause serious injury and death than smaller, shorter vehicles. Larger front ends mean pedestrians are more likely to suffer deadly blows to the head and torso. Higher clearances mean victims are more likely to get trapped underneath a speeding SUV instead of pushed onto the hood or off to the side. And front blind zones associated with large trucks and SUVs have contributed to the injury and death of hundreds of children across the country, studies have shown.

    As Americans flocked to these dangerously tall and heavy vehicles, the pedestrian death rate soared: between 2013 and 2022, pedestrian fatalities increased 57 percent, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports. In 2022, 88 percent of pedestrian deaths occurred in single-vehicle crashes.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Death toll from floods, mudslides in northwest China rises to 13

    The death toll from flash floods and mudslides in northwest China has risen to 13, state media said on Saturday, after the bodies of three people were found.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Pain in the neck’: Cable theft on the track derails train speed and schedules in Malaysia

      Measures to counter such theft include having more patrols, sensors and CCTV cameras, and blocking access to cables.

    • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ The train that never came - how maglev technology was derailed

      So, what happened? Decades later, why are maglev trains still for the most part science-fiction, instead of being everywhere? And if they aren’t everywhere yet, will they ever be, or are they just a physics enthusiast’s futuristic pipe dream?

    • The Register UK ☛ TCS lays off over 10,000, says AI is one reason

      The company informed workers of the layoffs in late July and according to reports in India media, issued a statement in which it said the cuts are part of a plan “to become a future-ready organization” through “strategic initiatives on multiple fronts including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure and realigning our workforce model.”

    • Reuters ☛ India's TCS to hike wages of 80% employees after five-month delay, company mail shows

      India's Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) , opens new tab will raise salaries for 80% of its workforce, according to an internal email reviewed by Reuters, weeks after announcing layoffs affecting more than 12,000 employees. The annual wage hike, which was due in April, comes at a time when India's $283 billion IT industry is grappling with cautious client spending amid weak global demand, sticky inflation, and uncertainty around U.S. trade policy. TCS last month said clients delayed decisions and projects.

    • Rolling Stone ☛ Trump’s War On Solar: Six Ways President Is Blocking Green Power

      The impulse appears to be driven in equal parts by a desire to trash Joe Biden’s legacy, in particular the Inflation Reduction Act, which spurred record green investment. Trump is also transparently seeking to boost the profits of fossil fuel producers, including from methane, oil and coal. (Trump really has a kink for coal). The industry backed Trump’s candidacy to the hilt, and the president is now paying them back — with a crusade for dirty-energy “dominance.”

    • The Straits Times ☛ As global supply chains shift, China’s exports of factory robots see a sharp rise

      Chinese industrial robot makers are riding a handy if unlikely tailwind as they expand abroad.

    • France24 ☛ The race for robot supremacy: Beijing conference highlights China's push for innovation

      China is flaunting its robotics industry with a series of big events – the first World Humanoid Robot Games, the opening of a robot dealership in Beijing, and the World Robot Conference. Technologists think androids are the future, and analysts say China is leagues ahead. Story by Peter O'Brien.

  • Overpopulation

    • The North Lines IN ☛ Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir threatens to bomb dam if India builds it on Indus River

      In an unusually blunt warning delivered on US soil, Pakistan’s Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir suggested his country would be prepared to unleash missile strikes and even escalate to nuclear conflict if India proceeds with dam construction on the Indus River.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • The Straits Times ☛ Police arrest man in Penang over upside-down Malaysia flag

    The police reminded the public to respect the flag as a symbol of national sovereignty.

  • Ruben Schade ☛ The day Twitter suspended me

    That’s obviously a load of horseshit; I had one of the oldest accounts on the platform. No, I suspect the real reason was they didn’t like the URLs to Mastodon and Bluesky in my name and profile. So much for being a “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk, you absolute bellend.

  • The Vietnamese Magazine ☛ When History Is Rewritten by the Party

    The 2024 monograph The Politics of Memory in Socialist Vietnam is a vital work that sheds light on the censorship of memory in Việt Nam specifically, and in authoritarian states more broadly. Its author, Professor Martin Grossheim, is a German scholar specializing in Vietnamese studies at Seoul National University.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • The Dissenter ☛ Israel Assassinates High-Profile Journalist In Gaza City

    Israeli military forces assassinated Anas al-Sharif, a high-profile Al Jazeera journalist in Gaza City who officials falsely and maliciously labeled a “Hamas cell” leader.

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Five Al Jazeera Journalists Killed in Israeli Strike in Gaza

    The attack was the latest to see journalists targeted in the 22-month war in Gaza, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the conflict, according to media watchdogs.

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Strike Kills 4 Al Jazeera Journalists, Network Says

    Anas al-Sharif, a well-known correspondent, was among those killed. Israel said it had targeted Mr. al-Sharif, claiming he worked for Hamas, which he had denied.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • JURIST ☛ Bangladesh court dismisses activist’s seven-year-long case under repealed law

    On Thursday, Bangladesh’s High Court division of the Supreme Court dismissed the case against photojournalist and social activist Dr. Shahidul Alam filed in 2018 under the now-repealed Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act.

  • New York Times ☛ After Six Years of Reporting, Sharing a Story of Resilience

    The photographer Victor J. Blue has been tracking a final bid for justice by 36 female Maya sexual assault survivors since 2019.

  • India Times ☛ Uber's festering sexual assault problem

    Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022, sealed court records show, a level far more pervasive than what the company has disclosed.

  • Hamilton Nolan ☛ Fragile Movements Crumble

    I have had the interesting experience of making a very specific argument and then, as soon as I made it, watching the exact opposite of everything that I argued for proceed to happen with great speed. Last year I published my first book, “The Hammer,” the central argument of which was basically: Inequality is the central crisis underlying America’s problems; Organized labor is the single most effective and achievable tool for fixing that crisis; We must therefore throw every possible resource at widespread union organizing at a national scale; We must laser focus on increasing union density, which will produce a host of positive outcomes in its wake.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Decentralized capability building in Asia Pacific with train-the-trainer

    Train-the-trainer events empower community champions to build technical capacity in their local professional communities.

  • SANS ☛ Google Paid Ads for Fake Tesla Websites, (Sun, Aug 10th)

    In recent media events, Tesla has demoed progressively more sophisticated versions of its Optimus robots. The sales pitch is pretty simple: "Current AI" is fun, but what we really need is not something to create more funny kitten pictures. We need Hey Hi (AI) to load and empty dishwashers, fold laundry, and mow lawns. But the robot has not been for sale yet, and there is no firm release date.

    &#xd&#x3b; &#xd&#x3b;

    In the past, Tesla has accepted preorders for future products, asking for a deposit, which in some cases was even refundable. But aside from an April Fool&#39&#x3b;s posting announcing such a presale, as far as I can tell, no presale has been offered by Tesla.

    &#xd&#x3b;

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Nathaniel Snelgrove ☛ Nathan Snelgrove | Spotify is an ad platform, not a music service

    I was today years old when I found out that Spotify’s entire existence started with selling ads. From Nick Heer’s review of Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine: [...]

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ USAA v. PNC: Costume Changes in the IPR Theatre

    Last week a friend of mine was stopped by the police for jaywalking across Ninth Street here in Columbia, Missouri. If you know that block by Sparky's, you know it functions almost like a pedestrian mall. She was asked to sit on the curb while the officer wrote the ticket -- meanwhile a dozen other folks made the same cross‑over. Same place, same manner of crossing, but only one citation. The experience was mildly absurd and somewhat humiliating and it captures a basic fairness intuition that also animates administrative law: treat like cases alike.

• Trademarks

  • Right of Publicity

    • Techdirt ☛ Disney Scraps Deepfake Dwayne Johnson After Lawyers Panic About The Public Domain

      Remember the Hollywood strikes from a few years ago? Actors demanded stronger copyright protections, convinced that was their shield against AI replacement by the studios. At the time, I argued they had it backwards. The lack of copyright in AI-generated works actually served to protect actors better than any new law could—because copyright-obsessed studios would never risk having their precious IP fall into the public domain.

      Turns out I was right. A new report reveals that Disney—the company that spent decades lobbying to extend copyright terms to protect Mickey Mouse—abandoned a deepfake Dwayne Johnson project purely over public domain fears.