Recently, the website's small server was temporarily disrupted by scraping bots, a recurring issue that has prompted thoughts of more aggressive defenses. The author feels that these bots not only harm the website but also diminish the creative spirit of those who create content.

When investigating the slowdown, the author found that the server was overwhelmed by requests from various IP addresses, all linked to Alibaba's hosting services. Despite having measures in place, such as blocking bad bots and rate limiting, the bots were difficult to identify and stop because they often masquerade as legitimate users.

To combat the issue, the author had to implement immediate IP blocks, but they expressed frustration that these measures are often too late and ineffective against future attacks. The author considers moving to a more robust anti-scraping solution or a centralized hosting service, though they are hesitant due to concerns about control and privacy.

The overall sentiment is one of disappointment as the internet becomes less friendly to independent creators, with increasing incidents of strange referral traffic from big companies that seem unrelated to the content. Despite these challenges, the author remains determined to continue running their website.

No summary available.

Brimstone Summary

Brimstone is a JavaScript engine built from scratch using Rust. It aims to fully support the JavaScript language and currently supports over 97% of ECMAScript, but it is not yet ready for production use.

Key Features:

• Implements the ECMAScript specification with influences from V8 and LibJS.
• Includes a bytecode virtual machine, a compacting garbage collector, a custom regular expression engine, and a custom parser.
• Most built-in objects and functions work as specified.

Building and Testing:

• You can build Brimstone using the command cargo build, and run it with cargo run.
• To execute a JavaScript file, use ./target/debug/bs ./hello.js.
• Brimstone uses various integration test suites, including the official test262, and has a custom test runner.

Missing Features: Brimstone has implemented all features up to ES2024 and stage 4 proposals from the February 2025 TC39 meeting, except for SharedArrayBuffer and Atomics.

Heretic: Automatic Censorship Removal for Language Models

Heretic is a tool designed to remove censorship from transformer-based language models without needing expensive post-training. It uses advanced techniques to optimize the model automatically, making it easy for anyone with basic command-line skills to use.

Key Features:

• Automatic Process: Users can run Heretic without needing technical knowledge about the model's inner workings.
• High-Quality Output: It produces decensored models that perform as well as those modified by human experts, with significantly fewer refusals to harmful prompts.
• Flexibility: Heretic supports various model types and allows for some configuration for better control.

Usage:

1. Set up a Python environment with the necessary libraries.
2. Install Heretic using a simple command.
3. Run the tool to decensor any supported model.

How It Works: Heretic employs a method called directional ablation to identify and modify specific parts of the model that lead to refusals. It uses flexible parameters to optimize the process, aiming to retain the model's original performance while reducing censorship.

Overall, Heretic provides a user-friendly way to create decensored language models, making advanced modifications accessible to a wider audience.

Summary of "Running the 'Reflections on Trusting Trust' Compiler"

The article discusses the concept of supply chain security in computing, referencing Ken Thompson's influential 1983 lecture "Reflections on Trusting Trust." It explains how a C compiler can be subtly altered to create a backdoor in a program like "login" without leaving traces in the source code. This is done in three steps:

1. Self-Reproducing Program: A program is created that can print its own source code, known as a "quine."

2. Compiler Learning: The compiler can retain certain information in its binary form that isn't present in the source code, allowing it to "learn" specific values over time.

3. Inserting a Backdoor: By recognizing specific input programs and modifying their code, the compiler can insert a backdoor while also ensuring it can reproduce the necessary code to maintain the backdoor.

The article includes a practical demonstration of running this modified compiler, referencing its historical context and its implications for modern security. It emphasizes the ease with which such backdoors can be introduced and the importance of using trusted sources and tools in computing.

Additionally, it discusses modern approaches to ensure trust in compilers, such as diverse double-compiling, where two different compilers are used to verify each other's outputs, and the importance of reproducible builds to prevent undetected alterations.

Overall, the text reflects on the ongoing challenges in software security, highlighting the need for vigilance in trusting code and the systems we use today.

No summary available.

No summary available.

A recent report by Anthropic, the company behind the AI assistant Claude, has raised concerns about its credibility and professionalism. The report alleges that a sophisticated cyber espionage operation by a Chinese state-sponsored group was identified, claiming that AI was used to automate many tactical operations. However, the report lacks critical details, such as specific indicators of compromise (IoCs) or technical information that could help other organizations protect their networks from similar attacks.

Key issues highlighted include:

1. Lack of Verifiable Information: The report does not provide evidence to support its claims, such as the specific tools used by the attackers or the nature of the data exfiltrated.

2. Attribution Concerns: It attributes the attacks to a Chinese-affiliated group without clear justification, raising questions about the credibility of the claims.

3. Failure to Meet Industry Standards: The report does not follow the typical format used by serious cybersecurity firms, which usually include actionable intelligence and detailed recommendations.

4. Potential Self-Promotion: The conclusion suggests that security teams should use AI for defense, implying a push for more product sales rather than providing substantive insights.

Overall, the report is criticized for being unprofessional and lacking the rigorous standards expected in the cybersecurity field, leading to doubts about its intentions and reliability.

Summary of the Devlog on Garbage Collection

On November 14, 2025, the author reflected on their experience with garbage collection (GC) while working on the J9 Java VM. They mentioned that knowledge of GC has been valuable in their current project involving text parsing with Ohm and ProseMirror, where the goal is to synchronize changes between a text document and its rich text representation.

Ohm allows for incremental parsing, which is efficient when making small edits to a document. The author faced a challenge while trying to create a ProseMirror document from a parsed text input. They initially used a method similar to garbage collection, checking all nodes in a document after each edit to identify which ones were no longer needed. However, this approach was inefficient for large documents since it negated the benefits of incremental processing.

The solution came from recalling a paper titled "A Unified Theory of Garbage Collection." This paper explains two GC methods: tracing (which focuses on live objects) and reference counting (which focuses on dead objects). The author adapted their approach by implementing reference counting, allowing them to only check the nodes that were not reused after edits, thus improving efficiency.

This experience highlighted the practical value of understanding garbage collection concepts in solving complex problems.

Summary of "Receiving WWVB with HackRF Pro"

Michael Ossmann discusses using the HackRF Pro to receive WWVB, a time signal broadcast at 60 kHz from Colorado. WWVB is valuable for syncing clocks and can provide a more accurate frequency reference compared to the internal clock of HackRF Pro.

He explains that while GPS-disciplined oscillators (GPSDOs) are common for precise frequency standards, WWVB offers a simpler indoor alternative. Ossmann enjoys the challenge of building a WWVB receiver and describes his project, Teewee, which uses a small active loopstick antenna to receive the signal.

His initial attempts faced interference from nearby electronics, but after relocating the antenna, he successfully detected WWVB. He shares insights on the signal's characteristics, including its modulation and how it can be used to measure frequency shifts, like those caused by movement (Doppler shift).

Ossmann invites others to try building the Teewee design, which works best with HackRF Pro.

The author shares a personal story about dealing with a cyberstalker while also going through a difficult time in life. Despite her husband's effective intervention with authorities, she reflects on why she didn't take action herself. She realizes that when people face problems, they may become "frozen" at a low point in their capability and stop trying to find solutions. This selective approach means they may excel in some areas of life, like work, but struggle in others, like relationships or personal health.

The author encourages readers to examine their lives across three areas: work, relationships, and self-relationship. She suggests identifying areas where they feel stuck and questioning if they are truly trying to solve their problems. She emphasizes that struggling doesn’t equate to trying effectively, and encourages seeking new solutions as circumstances and capabilities change.

No summary available.

Summary:

On November 16, 2025, a guide was introduced for deploying production-grade containers using Podman on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). While Kubernetes is often discussed for large-scale deployments, this article highlights that simpler setups can be effectively managed with Podman, especially for single-host or small-scale environments.

Key Points:

1. Why Podman?

   • Daemonless Architecture: No privileged root daemon, reducing security risks.
   • Rootless Containers: Allows running containers without root privileges, enhancing security.
   • Systemd Integration: Works seamlessly with RHEL’s service management, making it easier to manage containers.
   • OCI Compliance: Podman supports Docker images without needing changes.
   • Security Features: Built-in SELinux and user namespace support for better security.

2. Using Quadlets:

   • Quadlets utilize systemd’s unit file format for container management, providing declarative configurations and native service management.
   • They allow automatic updates and resource control through systemd features.

3. Network Security:

   • The architecture includes a frontend network for Traefik (a reverse proxy) and an isolated backend network for database communication, ensuring no unnecessary exposure.

4. Deployment Example:

   • The example demonstrates deploying Forgejo (a Git service) with PostgreSQL as the database backend.
   • It includes steps for enabling the Podman socket, configuring networks, managing secrets, and setting up application and database containers.

5. Automatic Updates:

   • Podman can automatically check for and apply updates to container images, maintaining security and functionality.

6. Monitoring and Management:

   • Systemd provides tools for monitoring logs, checking statuses, and managing resources, making it easy to oversee container operations.

7. Security Measures:

   • The setup incorporates network segmentation, rootless configurations, SELinux enforcement, and secure management of secrets.

Conclusion: This approach demonstrates that Kubernetes isn't necessary for every deployment. With Podman and RHEL’s support, users can create secure, maintainable, and observable container infrastructures suitable for various applications, especially simpler or self-hosted services.

The guide encourages Red Hat practitioners to explore further tools in the ecosystem, such as Fedora CoreOS and OpenShift, while leveraging the security and management advantages of Podman and systemd.

pgFirstAid Overview

pgFirstAid is an easy-to-use, open-source tool for PostgreSQL that helps improve database stability and performance. It offers a quick way to get health insights into your database without needing extensive knowledge or tools.

Key Features:

• No Dependencies: A single SQL function with no need for external tools.
• Health Checks: 12 built-in checks that assess critical performance and stability issues.
• Prioritized Issues: Problems are ranked by severity (CRITICAL to INFO).
• Actionable Steps: Each identified issue includes specific recommendations for resolution.
• Helpful Links: Direct access to official PostgreSQL documentation for more information.

How to Use:

1. Installation: Just copy and paste the function definition into your PostgreSQL database.
2. Execution: Run SELECT * FROM pg_firstAid(); to get a list of issues.

Example Output: The output includes severity, category, check name, object name, issue description, current value, recommended action, and documentation link.

What It Checks:

• Critical Issues: Missing primary keys and unused large indexes.
• High Priority Issues: Table bloat, missing statistics, and duplicate indexes.
• Medium Priority Issues: Outdated statistics and excessive sequential scans.
• Low Priority Issues: Missing foreign key indexes.
• Informational: Current database size and PostgreSQL version.

Usage Recommendations:

• Run daily for health checks, before deployments, after major changes, and during performance troubleshooting.
• Always review recommendations before making changes and test in a non-production environment first.

Permissions and Performance:

• Requires read access to system catalogs; generally works with standard user permissions.
• Designed to run safely on production systems with minimal performance impact.

Compatibility:

• Fully supports PostgreSQL 10 and above, with functionality for older versions and other PostgreSQL-compatible databases.

Contributions: Users are encouraged to report bugs or suggest new features to enhance the tool.

License: pgFirstAid is licensed under GPLv3.

Credits: Inspired by Brent Ozar's FirstResponderKit for SQL Server, pgFirstAid aims to make database health monitoring accessible to everyone.

Summary of Flox and Kubernetes Integration

Flox allows seamless deployment across local development, continuous integration (CI), and production environments on Kubernetes without the need for image rebuilding. Here are the key points:

• No Image Rebuilds: Flox eliminates the need for traditional image builds, enabling faster deployments by pulling only necessary packages at runtime.
• Fast Startups: Pre-warmed local caches mean quicker and more predictable application startup times without large downloads.
• Reproducibility: Environments are defined using cryptographic hashes, ensuring consistency across all stages of development and deployment.
• Built-in Security: Flox environments come with reduced attack surfaces and default software bill of materials (SBOMs) for better security and compliance.
• Operational Simplicity: Existing Kubernetes tools and workflows remain unchanged, allowing teams to maintain familiar processes while improving efficiency.

Use Cases for Teams:

• AI/ML Teams: Can define models as repeatable environments and run them without rebuilding images.
• Data Science: Enables easy experimentation and deployment of data science environments across various platforms.
• Engineering Teams: Streamlines the deployment process while maintaining security and reproducibility.

Daily Usage:

• Developers can define dependencies and services declaratively and push changes easily without the hassle of image management.
• Rollbacks are straightforward and can be done at any time by selecting previous environment versions.

Debugging and Reliability:

• Flox allows teams to debug using the same environment as production, enhancing accuracy and efficiency.
• SBOMs are precise and reliable, providing complete visibility into dependencies and improving security practices.

Overall, Flox transforms how teams deploy applications on Kubernetes by focusing on immutability, speed, and security, making it easier to manage environments without the complexities of image-based systems.

A small nuclear power station will be built at Wylfa in north Wales, creating around 3,000 jobs and attracting significant investment. The plant will feature the UK's first small modular reactors (SMRs) and is expected to start generating power by the mid-2030s. The project, led by Great British Energy-Nuclear, is backed by a £2.5 billion investment from the UK government and could provide electricity for about three million homes.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer emphasized the importance of this project as a step toward revitalizing the UK's nuclear power capabilities, which have faced neglect in recent years. Local leaders, including Wales' First Minister Eluned Morgan, support the development, while some critics argue that the SMRs are unproven technology and advocate for investment in renewable energy sources instead.

The SMRs will be constructed in factories and assembled on-site, similar to building furniture from Ikea. However, there are challenges ahead, including securing regulatory approval and establishing a workforce. The government aims to enhance energy independence with this initiative, although there are ongoing discussions about long-term nuclear waste storage and the future of larger nuclear projects in the UK.

No summary available.

The website you are visiting uses a security system called Anubis to prevent automated bots from scraping its content. Anubis works by adding a small workload (Proof-of-Work) that helps to deter mass scraping, making it more expensive and difficult for bots.

The system is designed to allow legitimate users to access the site while identifying and blocking bots. However, to get past the security challenge, users need to enable modern JavaScript, which may not work with certain plugins like JShelter.

In summary, Anubis helps protect the website from AI scraping while still trying to allow real users access.

No summary available.

Marina Freixa discovered a dark family secret about her mother, Mariona Roca Tort, who was sent to a reformatory at age 17 during Franco's dictatorship in Spain. Mariona's parents, ultra-Catholic and conservative, reported her for rebelling against their strict values, leading to her confinement in a convent-like institution known as the Patronato, which aimed to "re-educate" non-conforming women.

Inside, Mariona faced harsh conditions, including isolation from other girls and forced indoctrination. Her attempts to escape led to severe psychiatric treatment, including insulin coma therapy, which damaged her memory. After enduring four months of this treatment, she was eventually released but chose never to return to her parents.

Years later, Marina created a documentary called "Els Buits" about her mother’s traumatic experiences, which has sparked discussions on recognizing the victims of Spain's dictatorship. The film has been well-received and has contributed to calls for an official inquiry into the treatment of women like Mariona. Both women are now sharing their story, encouraging others to speak out about similar experiences and highlighting the systematic nature of such abuses in Spain's history.

The text discusses the historical pursuit of alchemy, where medieval alchemists aimed to turn lead into gold, believing it could make them wealthy. However, the author points out that flooding the market with gold would reduce its value, similar to how salt, once valuable, became common and cheap.

Today, a modern form of alchemy involves creating art with AI. Initially, people were excited about AI-generated art, but as it became widespread, the public's reaction shifted to negativity. The abundance of AI art has devalued it, as it lacks the unique human touch that makes art meaningful. The emotional connection and the story behind human-created art are essential components, which AI cannot replicate.

The author argues that while AI may displace some creative jobs, it cannot replace the value of human creativity. When AI can produce art in large quantities, that art will lose its worth, just like gold would if it were easily made. Ultimately, the essence of art lies in the human experience behind it, which AI cannot replicate.

In 2019, Andrew Imm took a month off work to create a DOS-compatible operating system inspired by the 1980s. As a retro-computing enthusiast, he built this OS after experimenting with emulators for classic systems like the Commodore 64 and NES. His goal was to develop a system that could run software designed for MS-DOS, the popular operating system from that era.

After a month of coding, he managed to create a kernel that supports about half of the extended DOS API, basic drivers, and a command prompt for executing DOS commands. Although still a work in progress, his OS can run some DOS programs.

Key components of his project included understanding Real Mode, the initial state of x86 processors, which limits memory access in a unique way. The boot process utilizes BIOS to start the operating system. His OS relies on an interrupt system to handle system calls, allowing programs to interact with hardware and execute commands.

Imm chose Rust as the programming language for its safety features, although it posed challenges due to the Real Mode requirements. He focused on keeping the kernel simple and efficient, using static memory management similar to early DOS systems.

Overall, Imm's project combines retro computing with modern programming techniques, and he plans to share the source code publicly once he returns to work.

No summary available.

Summary of libwifi

libwifi is a lightweight C library designed for generating and parsing 802.11 wireless frames on Linux and macOS. It has a user-friendly approach, making it easy to write code with just a few lines. The library emphasizes clean code, cross-architecture support, and error checking.

Using libwifi:

• To use libwifi, you need to link it during compilation with -lwifi and have the library installed on your system.
• For parsing WiFi frames, the process involves reading captured packets, checking their validity, and storing the information in structured data types.
• Example functions are provided to help with parsing specific frame types, like beacon frames, which show details such as SSID and channel.

Generating Frames:

• To create frames, you simply need to provide the required data to the relevant generation functions, such as for creating a beacon frame. The generated frame can then be written to a buffer for storage or transmission.

Building libwifi:

• You can build libwifi using CMake by cloning the repository and running a few commands to configure and compile it.

Performance:

• The library is optimized for speed, with benchmarks showing very fast parsing times for beacon frames on modern hardware.

Documentation:

• The source code is well-documented, with comments and diagrams available for reference, as well as generated documentation accessible online.

Summary:

The FBI is investigating Archive.today (also known as Archive.is) due to a federal criminal probe, possibly related to copyright issues or child sexual abuse material. Archive.today, launched in 2012, allows users to save web page snapshots, which can bypass paywalls and has upset media organizations.

Recently, the Web Abuse Association Defense (WAAD), a newly registered French group, pressured AdGuard DNS to block Archive.today, claiming it failed to remove illegal content since 2023. AdGuard found this unusual since they are not a hosting provider. After seeking legal advice, they realized French law might require them to act.

AdGuard contacted Archive.today, which confirmed it would remove the reported illegal content and had not previously been informed about it. Archive.today suggested they were facing a coordinated campaign of complaints from French organizations.

AdGuard investigated WAAD and found its registration and online presence suspicious, indicating it may be set up to obscure the identities of its creators. The complaints may involve impersonation and possible criminal behavior, leading AdGuard to consider filing a complaint with the French police.

Overall, the situation highlights concerns about the pressure on Archive.today and the legitimacy of the complaints against it, especially amid the ongoing FBI investigation.

This text explains a method to block unwanted web crawlers without using JavaScript. Here are the key points:

1. Create a Poisoned Path: Name a special URL on your site (e.g., /heck-off/) and disallow access to it in the robots.txt file.

2. Serve a Simple HTML Response: For users who don't have cookies, send a basic HTML response that includes a link to the poisoned path. This link is designed to trick poorly coded crawlers into following it.

3. Use Cookies for Validation:

   • If a request goes to /heck-off/, set a cookie to identify it as a "sloppy" crawler.
   • If a request goes to /validate/, set a cookie to mark it as validated and redirect the user back to the original URL.

4. Manage Caching Carefully: Ensure that interim pages don’t get cached to avoid redirect loops.

5. Effectiveness: This method is not perfect but works well in practice, successfully blocking many unwanted requests while allowing legitimate crawlers to access the site.

Overall, the approach is simple, requires minimal server resources, and helps manage crawler traffic effectively.

The phrase "favor composition over inheritance" is a popular guideline in software design that emphasizes using composition (combining objects) instead of inheritance (deriving new classes from existing ones). This concept originates from the "Design Patterns" book by the "Gang of Four" and highlights that inheritance provides full access to the details of a parent class, while composition only interacts with the public interface of objects.

While inheritance is easier to implement and provides language support, it is less flexible because it is set at compile time. In contrast, composition is more adaptable as it allows changing object behavior at runtime by assigning different objects.

Barbara Liskov and Jeanette Wing further discuss the relationship between types and suggest that being a subtype doesn't necessarily mean needing to follow a specific interface. They propose that when relationships are not clear at the start of design, using procedures as arguments or allowing any type that meets the required operations can be more effective than strictly adhering to hierarchy or composition.

Overall, the discussion suggests that there are more design options than just composition and inheritance, and suggests careful consideration of the context and relationships in software design.

Summary of Boa:

Boa is an experimental JavaScript engine built with Rust, supporting over 90% of the latest ECMAScript standards. It includes various components like a lexer, parser, and garbage collector. Key features include:

• Live Demo: Users can try Boa in a web playground or through a command-line interface (CLI).
• Crates: Boa provides several libraries (crates) for different functionalities, such as boa_ast for the Abstract Syntax Tree and boa_engine for executing ECMAScript code.
• Usage Example: To use Boa, add boa_engine to your project and run a simple JavaScript code snippet.
• Documentation: Detailed API documentation is available for users.
• Conformance: Boa aims to conform to ECMAScript standards, with test results available for verification.
• Contributing: Developers can contribute by following guidelines provided in the project.
• Command-Line Options: Boa has various options for running JavaScript files, including strict mode and AST dumping.
• Benchmarks: Performance comparisons with other JavaScript engines are available, and users can run benchmarks locally.
• Support: Users can reach out via Matrix or Discord for questions or contributions.

Boa is licensed under the Unlicense or MIT licenses.

The article "In Praise Of Useless Robots" by Laura Tripaldi discusses the concept of robots not just as tools for work but as objects that inspire imagination and contemplation. It highlights the Futurist movement's view of machines as symbols of progress and cultural transformation.

Tripaldi contrasts traditional robots, which often resemble humans and serve specific functions, with new artistic robots like Anicka Yi's flying automata, which evoke a sense of otherness and connection to nature rather than utility. These "soft" robots, made from flexible materials, showcase a shift in robotics toward embodied intelligence, where behavior emerges from interaction with the environment rather than being pre-programmed.

The article also references historical views of automata as devices for understanding the universe, not merely for labor. Recent art installations, such as those by Rhoda Ting and Mikkel Bojesen, encourage engagement with robots as alien companions, further illustrating their role beyond functionality. Ultimately, the text suggests that contemporary robots reflect a deeper cultural and philosophical exploration of our relationship with technology and nature.

In his blog post, seventh-grader Micah Blachman discusses the limitations of educational technology used to monitor student activity in schools. He points out that while schools try to block gaming sites, students often find loopholes. For example, coding classes need to unblock sites like MIT's Scratch for educational purposes, allowing access to games. Additionally, students can create games on platforms meant for quizzes, and they quickly share any unblocked games they find.

Micah notes that even if sites like YouTube are blocked, teachers can still access educational tools that allow them to watch videos. He argues that simply blocking sites encourages students to find workarounds and is not an effective long-term solution. Instead, he believes schools should focus on teaching responsible technology use and trusting students, while still blocking genuinely inappropriate content. He questions whether blocking is the easiest approach for schools and suggests it might not be the best in the long run.

The text discusses challenges with branch prediction in programming, particularly in a financial transaction system where most requests are abandoned, but speed is critical for sending transactions.

Key points include:

1. Branch Prediction Issues: When many transactions are abandoned, the CPU's branch predictor will often incorrectly assume that a transaction will not be sent, leading to delays when a send transaction actually occurs.

2. Code Structure: The provided code snippet checks if a transaction should be sent or abandoned. The branch predictor's assumption can slow down the process due to mispredictions.

3. Low-Level Solutions: While older x86 processors had ways to hard-code branch predictions, modern x86 CPUs do not support this. Attributes like [[likely]] and [[unlikely]] in C++ can suggest branch probabilities to compilers, but they don’t affect modern x86 branch prediction.

4. Higher-Level Solution: A proposed workaround is to fill the system with dummy transactions that are always sent, skewing the branch predictor's assumptions in favor of sending. This approach has been shown to significantly speed up transaction processing.

5. Result: Using this method, the author cites a performance improvement of 5 microseconds, which is significant in high-speed trading applications.

In conclusion, while direct control over branch prediction is limited in modern processors, carefully managing transaction data can enhance performance.

The author shares their experience using Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729 laptop. Overall, they find it to be a great device that runs Linux smoothly, with all hardware functioning well right out of the box. The only challenge was disabling Secure Boot, which they resolved by first installing Windows 11 and updating the BIOS.

Key Points:

• The laptop is lightweight, solid, and has a good keyboard.
• It was purchased for 250 AUD and is suitable for Linux use.
• The author previously used a MacBook but switched back to Linux for its flexibility and enjoyment.
• Disabling Secure Boot required installing Windows, updating drivers, and then updating the BIOS.
• The laptop includes some corporate spyware called Absolute Persistence, which can be disabled in the BIOS.
• Most hardware features like WiFi, Bluetooth, and sound work without issues; the touchscreen and webcam also function well.
• The author provides tips for entering the BIOS and boot menu.

In summary, the Fujitsu Lifebook U729 is a favorable choice for Linux users, with minor setup challenges that can be easily overcome.

Summary:

Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) allows AI systems to connect with various tools and data sources, enhancing their capabilities to perform real-world tasks. However, this power also introduces significant security risks. Key issues include:

1. Permission Management: Many MCP implementations lack clear user permission processes, leading to potential security lapses. Users may inadvertently grant excessive permissions, allowing malicious actions to go unnoticed.

2. Inadvertent Double Agents: Some MCP servers can execute arbitrary code, posing risks if an attacker can inject harmful prompts, leading to data leaks or unauthorized actions.

3. Combining MCP Servers: When multiple tools from different servers are used together, it complicates permission management and increases vulnerability to attacks that exploit indirect prompt injections.

4. Tool Name Typosquatting: Tools with similar names can overwrite each other, allowing attackers to hijack tool functionalities without users being aware.

Users and developers must be cautious when using MCP, understanding the associated risks and implementing strong security measures, such as better permission validation and monitoring for prompt injections. As MCP technology evolves, prioritizing security is crucial to ensure its safe and effective use.

Valve has announced three new devices for their Steam Deck lineup: a new controller, a VR headset, and a console called the Steam Machine. Set to launch in spring next year, the Steam Machine aims to compete in the console market and is advertised as a powerful gaming PC tailored for console gaming.

While the excitement builds around the Steam Machine, the author lists reasons why they might not need one, including:

1. They are a retro gamer and don't need high power.
2. Their TV doesn't support 4K.
3. They dislike many AAA games.
4. They lack time for gaming.
5. Their TV is often occupied by others.
6. They already own too much gaming hardware.
7. There's no space for another device under the TV.
8. They prefer physical games but Steam is digital.
9. They rarely use Steam.
10. Their laptop can emulate games well.
11. They plan to upgrade their laptop soon.
12. They have a large gaming backlog.
13. They dislike managing a digital backlog.
14. They don't need the machine for office tasks.
15. Indie games will come to other platforms later.
16. The Steam Machine might be expensive.
17. HDMI ports are all in use.
18. The Steam Controller is an additional cost.
19. They can't afford it as a business expense.
20. The novelty features may not justify the purchase.

Despite these reasons, the author concludes that they will likely buy the Steam Machine anyway.

Summary: The Inconceivable Types of Rust: How to Make Self-Borrows Safe

In Rust programming, you can't use both an object and a reference to that object simultaneously due to borrow checking rules. This limitation has led to many discussions in programming communities. However, the author proposes that with the right approach, self-borrows could be supported in a future version of Rust.

The post highlights that while some workarounds exist (like using unsafe code), they don't align with Rust's goals of safety and efficiency. The author focuses on how to enable self-borrows and safe asynchronous functions by making changes to the type system.

Key Points:

1. Current Limitations: Rust's type system restricts support for self-borrows and non-movable types, especially in async functions. The introduction of the Pin type is a partial solution but doesn't allow users to create self-referential types safely.

2. Proposed Changes:

   • Introduce named types and lifetimes to better manage variable types across functions.
   • Allow the compiler to recognize and handle so-called "inconceivable types" that exist in practice but are not formally recognized in Rust's type system.

3. Borrow Checking: The author explains that borrow checking is crucial for preventing aliasing bugs, and proposes enhancements that would allow for more flexible borrowing rules, including negative lifetimes.

4. Ownership and Memory Management: The current design conflates ownership of values with memory management. The author suggests introducing a new type, "owned references," to address issues with destructors and initialization.

5. Implementation Challenges: While the changes could theoretically enhance Rust's functionality, the author acknowledges that implementing them would be complex and could break backwards compatibility.

In conclusion, the author believes that the current limitations around self-borrows are not inherent to the borrow checking system and that a better approach could pave the way for more robust programming in Rust.

AsciiMath Summary

AsciiMath is a simple markup language designed for writing mathematical expressions easily. You can see how it works with an example:

• Input: sum_(i=1)^n i^3=((n(n+1))/2)^2
• Output: sum_(i=1)^n i^3=((n(n+1))/2)^2

Getting Started:

1. Use MathJax: This is a recommended method for rendering math in any browser. You can include it on your webpage with a script tag:

   <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.4/latest.js?config=AM_CHTML"></script>
   

2. Use AsciiMath JavaScript: This can be included from GitHub to convert AsciiMath to MathML, but it's only compatible with Firefox and Safari.

Syntax Overview:

• AsciiMath uses symbols that are similar to their rendered forms (e.g., oo for infinity).
• It includes various symbols for operations (like +, -, *), relations (like =, !=, <), and logical symbols (like and, or, not).

Special Features:

• Matrices and Vectors: You can create matrices with [[a,b],[c,d]] and column vectors with ((a),(b)).
• Complex Expressions: AsciiMath allows for limits, sums, derivatives, and braces (over and under).
• Greek Letters and Functions: You can easily write Greek letters (e.g., alpha, beta) and standard functions (like sin, cos).

Important Notes:

• Always add spaces around < and > to prevent HTML parsing issues.
• AsciiMath is user-friendly and designed for easy input of mathematical notation, making it suitable for educational and professional use.

The MP944 is recognized as the world's first microprocessor, developed for the U.S. Navy's F-14 Tomcat fighter jet's control systems. It was a military secret from 1970 until it was declassified in 1998. Although often overshadowed by Intel's 4004, the MP944 was actually much faster, operating at 375 kHz and executing 9,375 instructions per second—eight times faster than the Intel 4004. The chip was crucial for calculating flight parameters and had to meet strict military specifications, including operating in extreme temperatures and having self-diagnosing capabilities. The team behind the MP944 included engineers Steve Geller and Ray Holt, who faced challenges in getting their research published due to its classified nature. If the MP944 had been publicly recognized earlier, it might have changed the course of the computer industry.

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Lesley T. MacNeil discusses research on how the worm Caenorhabditis elegans can learn to avoid the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA14). This learning can be passed down through generations, a process called transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Studies by Coleen Murphy's team showed that this learned avoidance could last for up to four generations without new exposure to PA14. However, a recent study by Craig Hunter's group claimed they did not observe this effect in the second generation (F2). The Murphy group argued that experimental changes made by Hunter's team affected their results.

A new study by Andres Vidal-Gadea's group confirmed Murphy's findings, showing that learned avoidance does carry over to the F2 generation. The research methodology involved observing how worms respond to PA14 in tests where they had been trained to avoid it. Differences in how worms were immobilized during these tests may have impacted results, as the method used by Hunter allowed worms to interact with PA14, potentially leading to learned avoidance during the test.

Overall, this research emphasizes the importance of precise experimental conditions in behavioral studies and highlights that the learned avoidance of pathogens can be inherited across generations in C. elegans.

No summary available.

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Last Friday, a member of our Discord server reported a phishing email that led to a fake login page. After investigating, we discovered the attacker's GitHub and their Telegram bot due to their mistakes. The phishing page was a simple clone of a generic email service.

By examining the site, we found its .git directory publicly accessible, which revealed the attacker's code and information. This included automated deployment scripts and multiple fake pages with different Telegram bot tokens.

We took action by reporting:

• The GitHub repository, which was removed for violating terms of service.
• The Telegram bot, which was also taken down.
• The malicious website, which was shut down by its hosting provider.

The key takeaway is that attackers should never leave their .git folder publicly accessible, even if they are criminals. This effort was a team effort by the BeyondMachines Discord community, allowing us to act quickly.

Summary of Archimedes: A Python Toolkit for Hardware Engineering

Archimedes is a new open-source Python framework designed to simplify hardware engineering, especially in fields like aerospace, automotive, and robotics. It aims to provide the productivity of Python while allowing for optimized deployment to embedded systems using C code.

Key Points:

1. Purpose: Archimedes helps engineers develop and test control systems efficiently, addressing the gap between high-level programming in Python and low-level implementations in C.

2. Code Generation: The framework can automatically convert Python code, particularly algorithms written in NumPy, into optimized C code for hardware deployment. This eliminates the need for manual translation and streamlines the workflow.

3. Performance: By compiling Python functions into C++ computational graphs, Archimedes can significantly speed up execution times, making it suitable for complex simulations and real-time applications.

4. Features:

   • Simulation and Optimization: It includes tools for numerical simulation, optimization, and root-finding using advanced solvers.
   • Automatic Differentiation: It supports automatic calculation of derivatives, aiding in optimization and simulation tasks.
   • Structured Data Types: Archimedes allows for hierarchical data structures that reflect physical systems, making code easier to manage and understand.

5. User-Friendly: The framework is designed to be flexible, enabling users to create customized workflows that suit their specific engineering needs.

6. Community Feedback: Archimedes is currently in public beta, inviting user feedback to improve functionality and stability before its official release.

7. Getting Started: Users can quickly learn to use Archimedes through tutorials on various topics, including hierarchical modeling and parameter estimation.

Overall, Archimedes aims to transform the process of developing control algorithms, making it more accessible and efficient for engineers.

On November 15, 2025, the author faced a surprising situation when UPS charged him a hefty tariff of $684 for a shipment of vintage computer parts valued at only $355. The author, who usually avoids political discussions on the blog, expressed frustration over the customs tariffs, especially since they were nearly double the value of the items.

The order included an Apple Network Server logic board and other parts sourced from a reputable seller in the EU. The total cost was €296.00 (about $355) plus shipping. Due to customs restrictions, the seller had to use UPS, which complicated the shipping process. When the package arrived, UPS informed the author that it was subject to additional tariffs, which led to a confusing and frustrating situation.

Despite initially overcharging him, the author paid the tariff to avoid further fees and delays. After some back-and-forth with UPS customer support, the author successfully appealed the tariff amount, leading to a revision that ultimately reduced the charge. However, the author was still unhappy with UPS for the initial mistake and the way they handled communication regarding the fees.

The key takeaway is that if you encounter unexpected tariffs, it’s advisable to pay them to avoid complications, and then appeal the charges to seek a refund.

No summary available.

I created Atlas, a GPU scripting language that simplifies handling textures and uniforms. You can try out demos, including a 4D fractal exploration with gamepad controls. To view the Julia set, press 7, and reload if you notice any glitches. For more information, check the documentation here. Note that it requires about an RTX 3080 graphics card.

To win the game, you need to turn all the tiles white. You can do this by selecting square areas (2x2 or larger) to flip the tiles. When you flip, white tiles become black, and black tiles become white. Good luck!

Summary of Wealth Inequality and Levels of Wealth

Wealth inequality greatly affects people's lives and relationships, often more than physical differences. Understanding and discussing wealth differences is essential.

Net Worth vs. Wealth
Net worth is often used to gauge wealth, defined as "assets minus liabilities." However, this can be misleading since someone with high assets and equal debt may seem poor on paper but has significant wealth. A better measure of wealth is how much money a person can quickly access in an emergency.

Wealth vs. Income
Wealth should be distinguished from income. Income reflects how much money a person makes over time, while wealth is a snapshot of what a person owns. For assessing social class, wealth is a more reliable indicator than income.

Wealth Levels
The text outlines various wealth levels, ranging from destitute to ultra-billionaire, with descriptions of each level:

1. Destitute: Less than $3; unable to afford basic needs.
2. Broke: $3-$30; reliant on others for daily needs and basic shelter.
3. Poor: $30-$300; can occasionally gather some money but lives in unstable housing.
4. Lower Class: $300-$3,000; has some steady income but is often in unstable living situations.
5. Working Class: $3,000-$30,000; can manage some expenses but still struggles with debt.
6. Middle Class: $30,000-$300,000; can save and invest, with a stable lifestyle.
7. Comfortable: $300,000-$3 million; lives well without financial stress.
8. Rich: $3 million-$30 million; has significant wealth with optional employment.
9. Ultra-Rich: $30 million-$300 million; manages wealth with investments and luxury.
10. Billionaires: $300 million-$3 billion; extremely wealthy individuals with generational wealth.
11. Multi-Billionaires: $3 billion-$30 billion; a few individuals hold this wealth.
12. Ultra-Billionaires: $30 billion and above; the wealthiest individuals globally.

Conclusion
Understanding wealth in these terms helps clarify the vast disparities in society and the implications of wealth inequality.

No summary available.

Stephen Turner shares his experience of using Quarto, a modern publishing system that builds on RMarkdown, to transform his old course website into a polished e-book in under an hour. Quarto allows users to create various document types from a single source, including books, websites, and presentations. Turner created his course website for a data science and bioinformatics course he taught, which included practical topics like data manipulation and visualization using R.

After learning about Quarto at a conference, he decided to convert his existing RMarkdown materials into a Quarto book. The process was straightforward, requiring only minor adjustments to his project files. The resulting book, "Biological Data Science with R," is available online, showcasing the course content he developed between 2015 and 2018.

Turner also highlights additional features of Quarto, such as Quarto Manuscripts and Quarto Dashboards, which allow users to create narrative documents and interactive dashboards. He encourages others to explore Quarto for their own publishing needs. For more information, the Quarto documentation and examples can be found at quarto.org.

The text discusses the complexities of decompiling Java class files, particularly when handling exceptions in the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Here are the key points:

1. Decompilation Challenges: The author initially thought extending their efficient decompilation method to handle exceptions would be straightforward, but they encountered many complications due to the JVM's design and the structure of class files.

2. JVM Basics: The JVM uses a stack-based approach for its operations, where most instructions work with the stack. However, exception handling is more complex and cannot be easily encoded in the bytecode.

3. Exception Handling: Exceptions are managed through an exception table that associates regions of code with their respective exception handlers. These regions can overlap and are not strictly nested, leading to various edge cases that complicate decompilation.

4. Finally Blocks: The handling of try...finally blocks is particularly tricky. The Java compiler (javac) duplicates the finally block for each possible exit point from the try block to ensure it always executes, making the structure more complex.

5. Throwing Instructions: Any JVM instruction can potentially throw exceptions, including those that seem harmless, which complicates the logic for determining which instructions can throw exceptions.

6. Reachability and Type Checking: The JVM has two type checkers—one that uses a StackMapTable for accurate type checking and another that infers types but only for reachable instructions. This can create issues when determining exception handling behavior.

7. Ranges of Exception Handling: The relationship between try...catch blocks and exception handling regions is not one-to-one, leading to further complications in decompiling code correctly.

8. Conclusion: The author notes that handling these complexities is essential for creating a correct decompiler and invites further discussion on Java's quirks and decompilation challenges.

Overall, the text emphasizes the intricacies of Java exception handling in the context of bytecode and decompilation, highlighting the need for careful consideration of various edge cases and behaviors.

No summary available.

Yann LeCun, Meta's chief A.I. scientist, is leaving the company to start his own A.I. venture. This change comes as Meta shifts its focus towards developing advanced A.I. systems and superintelligence, sidelining LeCun's long-term research at the Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab. LeCun is known for his significant contributions to machine learning and neural networks, and he has been with Meta since 2013.

His new startup will focus on "world models," which aim to help A.I. systems understand the physical world rather than just language. LeCun has expressed doubts about the future of large language models (LLMs), labeling them a “dead end” for achieving human-like A.I. He believes that A.I. needs to perceive and understand its environment to truly advance. Other researchers, like Stanford’s Fei-Fei Li and teams at Google DeepMind and Nvidia, are also exploring similar concepts.

LeCun argues that merely training A.I. on text is insufficient for reaching human-level intelligence, emphasizing the need for systems that can reason and understand physical concepts.

Summary of "EyesOff: How I Built A Screen Contact Detection Model"

Yusuf Mohammad discusses the development of the EyesOff app, which detects when someone is looking at your screen to prevent shoulder surfing. Since there was no existing dataset for this task, he labeled over 20,000 images and created synthetic labels for training. The final model achieved about 71% accuracy for detecting gaze at different distances.

Key Points:

1. Purpose of EyesOff: The app aims to protect users from unauthorized viewing of their screens by detecting if someone is looking at them.

2. Initial Challenges: The author initially considered using existing models but found them either unsuitable or too specific. This led him to create a custom model.

3. Data Collection: The author struggled with the lack of a relevant dataset. He initially labeled images from various sources but found them inadequate. Eventually, he discovered the Video Conferencing Dataset (VCD), which suited his needs better.

4. Labeling Process: He developed a labeling framework to consistently categorize images as “looking” or “not looking.” He used a tool to streamline this process and aimed for accuracy in labeling.

5. Model Training: The model was trained in two phases. The first phase involved pre-training on a gaze regression task, while the second phase focused on classifying screen contact. The model was built on a pre-trained EfficientNetB0 architecture.

6. Evaluation: The model's performance was tested with various scenarios, revealing that more data improved accuracy. The best-performing model was one that included a larger dataset and additional pre-training.

7. Next Steps: Future improvements include collecting more data, reducing model size for efficiency, and possibly using a better architecture to enhance performance.

Overall, the project highlights the importance of data in training machine learning models and the challenges faced when developing a novel application.

Summary: Building Serverless Applications with Rust on AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda has officially added support for Rust, allowing developers to create serverless applications with high performance and memory safety. This support is now backed by AWS and is generally available for production use.

Key Features of Rust:

• Combines high speed and memory efficiency similar to C++ with the reliability of higher-level languages.
• Ideal for building serverless applications.

Getting Started:

1. Prerequisites:

   • An AWS account with proper permissions.
   • AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) configured.
   • Rust (version 1.70 or later) and Node.js (version 20 or later) installed.
   • AWS CDK installed.

2. Using Cargo Lambda:

   • Cargo is Rust's package manager, and Cargo Lambda simplifies the deployment of Rust functions to AWS Lambda.
   • Installation requires running a command in the terminal.

3. Creating a Rust Lambda Function:

   • Use cargo lambda new to create a new HTTP-based function.
   • The project structure includes key files like main.rs and http_handler.rs where you define your function logic.

4. Function Logic:

   • The function_handler processes incoming requests and returns responses.
   • The Rust Lambda runtime supports logging and integrates with AWS CloudWatch.

5. Building and Testing:

   • Use cargo lambda build to compile your function into a deployable binary.
   • Local testing is possible using cargo lambda watch or sending requests via curl.

6. Deployment:

   • Deploy your function to AWS using cargo lambda deploy.
   • You can test the deployed function remotely.

7. Creating an API Gateway:

   • Use AWS CDK to create an API in front of your Rust Lambda function.
   • The process involves initializing a CDK project, defining the Lambda function, and setting up the API Gateway.

8. Cleanup:

   • Remove deployed resources using cdk destroy to avoid charges.

Conclusion: Rust support in AWS Lambda enables developers to create efficient serverless applications. For more information, refer to the AWS Lambda Developer Guide, Cargo Lambda documentation, and AWS CDK documentation.

Summary of "Messing with Bots"

In this post, the author discusses the problem of scrapers causing issues on public websites and shares their approach to combating these bots.

1. Issue with Scrapers: Many small web services are facing disruptions due to scrapers that unintentionally perform Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

2. Fighting Back: The author learned about Markov chains and created a tool that generates fake data to feed scrapers, hoping to distract them from accessing real website content.

3. Targeting Malicious Bots: The author notes that the most harmful bots are those with malicious intent, targeting vulnerable files on websites. They initially blocked these requests but later decided to send fake responses instead.

4. Creating a Static Server: To efficiently handle bot requests, the author built a static server that serves random content from public domain texts, which can overwhelm scrapers.

5. Caution Advised: While these tactics can be fun and interesting, the author warns that they could risk damaging a site's reputation with search engines. The fake content might lead Google to flag a site as spam, which could harm its search ranking.

6. Conclusion: The author encourages those with small projects suffering from scrapers to try similar methods but advises caution for those who depend on search engine visibility.

J. M. Coetzee, a Nobel Prize-winning author, had an early career as a computer programmer from 1962 to 1965. During this time, he worked on the Atlas 2 supercomputer in Britain and created "computer poetry" by programming algorithms to select words. Although he never published this work, he incorporated phrases from it into his later poetry.

Despite his significant contributions to computing, Coetzee's programming past is often overlooked by scholars. His experiences are briefly mentioned in his autobiographical work, "Youth," but his role in the Atlas 2 project and his ongoing interest in computing have not been widely recognized.

Researcher Rebecca Roach examined Coetzee's papers at the Ransom Center, discovering complex code in various formats, including machine code, FORTRAN, and personal pseudocode. She also accessed Coetzee's digital files from floppy diskettes, which helped her understand the software he used throughout his writing career.

Roach's research raises important questions about reading and preserving digital literature, especially as more authors create born-digital works. Her project, "Machine Talk," focuses on communication in digital literature and aims to shed light on these issues.

Summary: Weighting Assets to Minimize Variance

In investing, if you have $100 to split between two assets, A and B, and A is riskier (more volatile) than B, putting all your money in A is a bad idea. Instead, the best approach is to invest a larger portion in the safer asset B but still allocate some funds to A.

To find the best mix, we consider two variables, X and Y, that represent the two assets. We want to allocate a portion (t) of our investment to minimize risk while ensuring that t is between 0 and 1. The general rule is that if Y has less variance (risk) than X, we should put less money into X. If both have the same variance, we split the investment equally. If X is riskier, we invest a smaller fraction in it.

This idea can be extended to more than two assets. For multiple assets, we use a mathematical method called Lagrange multipliers to find the optimal allocation that minimizes risk while keeping the total investment equal to 1. The solution involves a system of equations based on the variances of all assets.

The summary highlights the importance of diversifying investments to reduce overall risk.

Summary of Computing Across America (1983-1985)

The journey of Computing Across America began in 1983 with Steven K. Roberts, who sought a nomadic lifestyle combining technology and adventure. At the time, computers and communication were primitive, with no cellular phones and limited online services. Roberts, then 30, set out on a custom solar-powered recumbent bicycle equipped with a portable computer to stay connected with clients while traveling.

Originally intended as a high-tech bike tour, the media became fascinated with Roberts' unique blend of mobility and technology, turning his journey into a career. He wrote a book titled Computing Across America and contributed articles to various magazines as he traveled over 17,000 miles.

As technology rapidly evolved, Roberts upgraded his equipment, moving from a Radio Shack Model 100 to a Hewlett Packard Portable computer, allowing him to work while riding. After reaching the 10,000-mile mark in Silicon Valley, he paused his travels to finish his book and enhance his setup.

The Winnebiko bike was designed with various features, including a lightweight frame and a simple electronics package, to support his technomadic adventure. This experience marked a significant shift in how people could work and connect while on the move.

PlanetScale has launched $5 single node Postgres databases, now available for just $5 per month. These databases are ready for production and ideal for startups, side projects, and development work. Customers will also benefit from features like Query Insights, schema recommendations, and reliability.

In addition, the price for development branches has been reduced from $10 to $5 per month, making it cheaper to create staging and development environments.

As your project grows, you can easily scale up your database. You have the option to increase the size of your single node database or switch to a high availability (HA) mode with additional replicas. PlanetScale also plans to introduce Neki, a sharded Postgres solution, for further scaling options.

To get started, sign up for a PlanetScale account and choose "Single node" during database setup. For pricing details, visit the pricing page.

Summary of One-Handed Keyboard Project

A person reached out for help after their daughter lost the use of her right hand due to an accident, making typing very difficult. They requested assistance in creating a one-handed keyboard.

This keyboard features a mechanical design with a trackball and uses QMK firmware. Key resources include:

• Keyboard Models: Three designs for left and right hands with detailed PCB schematics.
• Firmware: QMK firmware and configuration files for the keyboard.
• Documentation: Guides for assembly and hardware specifications.

Hardware Components:

• Different types of PCBs for both left and right-handed models.
• Components like the trackball, mouse wheel, and control board are specified.
• Materials for printing keycaps, housings, and additional parts are listed.

Assembly Instructions:

• Guidelines on connecting PCBs, installing components, and programming the firmware are provided.
• Steps include ensuring all parts function correctly before final assembly.

This project is open-source, and feedback is welcomed to improve future iterations.

The Boring Company, founded by Elon Musk, faced significant penalties after two firefighters suffered chemical burns during a training exercise in one of its tunnels. Shortly after receiving over $400,000 in fines from Nevada’s workplace safety agency, the company’s president, Steve Davis, contacted the Nevada Governor’s office, leading to the penalties being rescinded within a day. This swift action raised concerns about political interference in regulatory processes, as the usual procedures were not followed, and documentation related to the incident went missing.

Despite the fines being withdrawn, safety issues persist at Boring's construction sites, with employees reporting daily chemical burns and incidents. A former employee described a "cowboy" culture where safety protocols are often ignored. The Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) staff expressed fear of repercussions for enforcing safety regulations, especially after two employees involved in the Boring investigation faced disciplinary action.

The Boring Company is working on an underground transportation system in Las Vegas and has received substantial investments, but the recent events have cast doubt on the oversight and safety measures in place. Critics argue that the involvement of high-ranking officials in the OSHA case undermines the agency's independence and effectiveness in ensuring safe working conditions.

Every minute, nine different AI models create a new clock.

Research suggests that volcanic eruptions in Siberia, about 251 million years ago, triggered a series of events that led to the highest levels of hydrogen sulfide in the oceans and atmosphere, causing the largest mass extinction in Earth's history, known as the end-Permian extinction.

Geoscientist Lee R. Kump explains that while the carbon dioxide from these eruptions warmed the planet, it was not enough on its own to cause mass extinctions. Instead, this warming reduced the oxygen levels in the oceans, which affected marine life. Normally, cold water absorbs oxygen and moves through the ocean, but warmer waters hold less oxygen and slow down this movement.

With decreased oxygen, the oceans could not support aerobic life, leading to a rise in bacteria that produced hydrogen sulfide, a toxic compound that killed off most marine and terrestrial organisms. Kump states that a hydrogen sulfide-rich atmosphere better explains the extinction than a carbon dioxide-rich one, as carbon dioxide would not harm land plants.

Additionally, the increase in hydrogen sulfide could have destroyed the ozone layer, allowing harmful ultraviolet radiation to penetrate the atmosphere. This created an environment filled with hydrogen sulfide, methane, and intense radiation, further contributing to the extinction.

Researchers are currently searching for signs of specific bacteria in ocean sediments that could provide more evidence for the role of hydrogen sulfide in this mass extinction event.

Ubiquiti Flex Mini 2.5G Review Summary

The Ubiquiti Flex Mini 2.5G is a compact 5-port switch designed for efficient networking. Key features include:

• Size: It is very small (4.6 x 3.5 x 0.8 inches), making it one of the smallest in its category, which can pose cooling challenges.
• Power Options: It can be powered via Power over Ethernet (PoE) on the 5th port or through a USB Type-C input.
• Performance: The switch is powered by a Realtek chipset that is common in other budget-friendly switches, ensuring reliable performance.
• Design: The plastic housing lacks vents, but it includes a custom heat spreader to manage heat effectively despite being low power.
• Purchase Information: The review was independently conducted without Ubiquiti's pre-approval, ensuring an unbiased assessment.

Overall, the Flex Mini 2.5G offers a cost-effective solution for users needing a small yet capable network switch.

No summary available.

No summary available.

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Aunt Mary’s Storybook is a program that helps children maintain a connection with their incarcerated parents or relatives by allowing them to hear their loved ones read stories. This initiative started in 1993 at the Cook County Jail in Chicago and has expanded to 14 facilities, helping children cope with the emotional impact of parental imprisonment.

Here's how it works: incarcerated parents or grandparents choose a book, record themselves reading it with the help of volunteers, and send the recording along with the book to their child. This helps children feel loved and connected despite the separation.

The program is active in various jails and correctional centers across Illinois. Supporters can help by donating $10 a month to ensure that more families can benefit from this meaningful connection.

No summary available.

Lawmakers in Wisconsin and Michigan are pushing new age verification laws that could ban the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access certain online content. These laws aim to protect children by requiring websites to verify users' ages and block VPN connections, which is technically difficult and could harm many legitimate users, including businesses, students, and vulnerable individuals.

The proposed Wisconsin bill expands the definition of "harmful to minors," potentially censoring a wide range of educational and artistic materials. If passed, businesses and students may struggle to access critical resources, and privacy concerns would escalate as people would have to submit personal information to access websites.

Blocking VPNs could create a privacy nightmare, exposing users' data to breaches and surveillance. Additionally, people would likely find ways around the law by using non-commercial VPNs or other methods. Critics argue that instead of protecting privacy, these laws threaten it and could set a dangerous precedent for government control over the internet.

The solution to keeping kids safe online should not involve compromising everyone's privacy. Lawmakers are encouraged to focus on education and proper tools for parents rather than attacking privacy rights. Individuals in Wisconsin are urged to contact their senators to oppose the bill.

Summary: How to Write Generics in C

C doesn't natively support generics, but you can implement type-safe generics using existing tools. Here are some common methods:

1. Function-like Macros: E.g., #define vector_push(vector, item) vector.buf[vector.idx++] = item;

   • Cons: This approach can lead to loose typing and inlining issues.

2. Void Pointers: E.g., void vector_push(Vector vec, void *item);

   • Cons: You lose type safety and may encounter undefined behavior.

3. Dispatch Specializations: Using macros to create functions for specific types.

   • Cons: Can break autocompletion in IDEs.

The recommended approach is to use header instantiation, which is type-safe and doesn't rely heavily on macros. Here's how it works:

• Define the item type and an optional suffix:

  #define VEC_ITEM_TYPE long long
  #define VEC_SUFFIX num
  #include "vector.h"
  

  This creates a specialized function like vector_push_num.

• Use a macro to manage naming:

  #define G(name) name##_##VEC_ITEM_TYPE
  

• Enforce that the item type is defined, preventing misuse:

  #ifndef VEC_ITEM_TYPE
    #error VEC_ITEM_TYPE was not defined
  #endif
  

• Implement functions by wrapping them in the G macro to ensure correct naming.

Challenges:

• You may encounter redeclaration errors if the same header is included multiple times. To fix this, you can use a pattern that checks for implementation:

  #ifndef VEC_IMPLEMENTATION
    bool G(vec_pop)(G(vec_Vector) *vec, VEC_ITEM_TYPE *dest);
  #else
    // Implementation here
  #endif
  

• If you include the header multiple times with the same type, you'll get a redeclaration error. You can undefine the type definitions at the end of the header to avoid this.

Final Note: The final header should include all necessary definitions and checks to ensure proper usage and prevent errors from multiple inclusions. This approach provides a flexible way to add generics to your C code while maintaining type safety.

Charles le Brun, a 17th-century artist, created distinctive portraits using animal features to convey character traits. For example, his "ox-faced man" appears hardworking, while the "fox-faced man" seems like a thief. This approach helped le Brun in his significant project to decorate Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles, where he needed to differentiate between various social classes in his artwork.

Le Brun was influential in the Parisian art scene, co-founding important institutions like the Gobelins Manufactory and the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. In 1671, he lectured on human-animal physiognomy, although the original text was lost. A later publication, based on the notes of his student Claude Nivelon, aimed to reconstruct these ideas.

Le Brun’s work included a method for artists to depict emotions, influenced by René Descartes' theories on the connection between mind and body. This method emphasized the need for artists to show emotions through facial expressions, moving away from the emotionless depictions of earlier times.

The publication also touches on physical traits associated with character, like the shape of a person's nose indicating their personality, but it insists that this is not a moral lesson. Instead, it seeks to advance artistic understanding, suggesting that certain physical features correlate with specific character traits. For instance, a prominent nose is often associated with heroism, while other shapes may signal different dispositions.

The article discusses the importance of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) in making the Internet reliable and functional. Here are the key points:

1. TCP Overview: TCP is essential for ensuring that data sent over the Internet is reliable, orderly, and uncorrupted. It works alongside other protocols like IP (Internet Protocol) to manage data flow between applications.

2. Why TCP is Necessary: While IP can deliver packets to the correct host, it doesn’t manage how data is delivered to the specific application. TCP handles issues like lost packets, data corruption, and reordering, allowing developers to focus on building applications without worrying about these complexities.

3. Flow and Congestion Control: TCP uses flow control to prevent overwhelming the receiving machine's storage capacity. It also implements congestion control to manage data flow across the network, avoiding overload situations that can cause significant slowdowns.

4. TCP Mechanics: TCP establishes connections through a process called the three-way handshake and uses sequence and acknowledgment numbers to track data transmission. This helps ensure that all data is received and can be reordered if necessary.

5. Practical Example: The article includes code examples to demonstrate how to set up a basic TCP server and an HTTP server using TCP. It highlights how data is sent and received in a client-server model.

6. Reliability Measures: TCP includes checksums to verify data integrity and uses various flags to manage connections, such as establishing and terminating them.

7. Conclusion: The author expresses admiration for the technology that makes reliable Internet communication possible, noting the significant advancements over the past decades.

Overall, TCP is a fundamental component of Internet communication, ensuring that data is transmitted accurately and efficiently.

The author believes that something is better now, but they also acknowledge that they might be overlooking an important detail.

No summary available.

No summary available.

The text appears to describe a project repository named "quchen" that includes various files related to Haskell programming. Key points include:

• The repository has 93 forks and 1.3k stars, indicating popularity.
• It contains several Markdown files on topics like Haskell questions, monads, functions, and style guides.
• There are directories and files related to Haskell concepts such as "hindley-milner," "applicative monad," and "lens infix operators."
• Users need to be signed in to change notification settings, and there was an error loading the page.
• Additional navigation options include code, issues, and security insights.

Overall, the repository focuses on Haskell programming resources and discussions.

No summary available.

Jason and Matt are creating a browser extension called Tweeks, which allows users to customize any website easily. Unlike traditional userscript managers, Tweeks lets you make changes by simply describing what you want in plain language. It aims to declutter the web, where many sites are overloaded with ads and unnecessary content.

Tweeks started as a personal project and has grown due to user interest. You can use it to modify websites by entering requests like "hide cookie banners" or "add a price score." An AI reviews your request and applies the changes, which can be saved, turned on or off, and shared with others.

Some examples of what Tweeks can do include removing YouTube Shorts, filtering Hacker News posts, and retheming Google to look like a 1970s terminal. The service is currently free but uses tokens for each action to limit excessive usage.

Users are encouraged to share their creations and provide feedback as the developers continue to improve the tool. You can check out Tweeks at tweeks.io.

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Summary: Bypassing ASLR with a ROP Chain for Remote Code Execution

Michael Imfeld's blog post discusses advanced exploitation techniques on a modern IoT device, specifically the IN-8401 2K+ IP camera. The research focuses on extracting firmware, identifying vulnerabilities, and exploiting them to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE).

Key Points:

1. Target Device: The IN-8401 2K+ IP camera, with a web interface and shared firmware with other INSTAR models, is explored for vulnerabilities. Over 12,000 such devices are accessible online.

2. Firmware Access: Gaining firmware access is crucial for vulnerability analysis. The author uses a UART interface to log into the camera's bootloader, aiming to gain root access.

3. Vulnerability Discovery: The author identifies two critical components, fcgi_server and ipc_server, which handle web requests without requiring authentication. This sets the stage for vulnerability hunting.

4. Exploitation Techniques:

   • Fuzzing and static/dynamic analysis are employed to find a stack-based buffer overflow in the fcgi_server.
   • A Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) chain is crafted to exploit the overflow, bypassing Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR).

5. ROP Chain Construction: The author develops a ROP chain using gadgets from the binary to manipulate memory and execute arbitrary code:

   • The chain includes steps to read a Global Offset Table (GOT) entry, calculate the address of the system function, and execute it.
   • Writing to the GOT allows redirection to the system function, leading to command execution.

6. Outcome: The exploitation successfully allows for a root shell on the device. The vulnerabilities have been responsibly disclosed to INSTAR, who issued a fix.

Overall, the post highlights the complexities of modern IoT security, the importance of thorough testing and analysis, and the need for responsible disclosure in cybersecurity research.

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The article discusses concerns about new EU regulations that aim to monitor online communications, often referred to as "chat control." Patrick Breyer warns that these measures could lead to scanning private messages and restricting access for young people. He believes these actions are deceptive and infringe on personal privacy. The overall message emphasizes the potential negative impact of these regulations on individual freedoms and privacy rights.

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This text describes a language model designed for generating text, specifically a character-level diffusion model. It is based on a modified version of Nanochat's GPT model and is trained using Tiny Shakespeare. The model is relatively small, with only 10.7 million parameters, making it easy to run on local machines.

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Teams for Linux Summary

Teams for Linux is an unofficial Microsoft Teams client designed for Linux users. It is a desktop app that enhances the web version of Teams with better integration for Linux. Key features include:

• System notifications
• System tray integration
• Custom backgrounds and themes
• Screen sharing
• Support for multiple account profiles

This project is independent and has some limitations compared to the official Teams app.

Installation Instructions: You can install Teams for Linux using package repositories for Debian/Ubuntu or RHEL/Fedora, or you can manually download it from GitHub in various formats.

Documentation: Complete documentation is available, covering installation, configuration, troubleshooting, and more.

Support: You can join the community chat, report issues, and contribute to the project.

Security: For better security, it is recommended to use system-level sandboxing methods like Flatpak or Snap packages, instead of relying solely on Electron's features.

License: The project is licensed under GPL-3.0.

IncusOS Summary

IncusOS is a new operating system designed to enhance user experience and performance. It focuses on simplicity, efficiency, and security. The system aims to provide a smooth interface and quick access to applications, making it user-friendly for everyone. Key features include improved speed, better resource management, and strong security measures to protect user data. Overall, IncusOS is built to meet the needs of modern users with an emphasis on ease of use and reliability.

Captions often represent words in the same way, whether they are spoken loudly, softly, or in a different tone, which can lead to a loss of important vocal nuances. To improve understanding of speech through captions, the paper suggests adding visual elements to show these vocal qualities. This involves using typography changes—like font weight, baseline shift, and letter spacing—to reflect aspects of vocal prosody, such as loudness and pitch. In an evaluation with 117 participants, those exposed to this enhanced typography were able to match it to the original audio with an average accuracy of 65%. There was no significant difference in performance between animated and static text, and participants had diverse opinions about the speech-modulated typography.

Summary of Operating Margins Analysis

Operating margin is a financial metric that shows the percentage of revenue left as profit after covering operating expenses. It helps to understand how much cash a company retains from its sales.

1. Margin Insights:

   • High operating margins often influence business strategies. For example, Amazon shifted focus to higher-margin cloud services (AWS), while Google prioritized its advertising business.
   • Analyzing data from over 10,000 public companies, we find that the median margin is around 10%. However, large companies can skew this number due to their high margins.

2. Categories of Businesses:

   • Monopolies: Highly regulated sectors like toll road operators and stock exchanges have very high average margins (around 49%).
   • Quasi-Monopolies: Companies like Nvidia and Mastercard have high margins (61% and 54%, respectively) due to significant capital requirements making competition tough.
   • Weird Monopolies: Industries like cement and cruise lines show surprisingly high margins (15-16%) despite being low-tech.
   • Franchisors: The pizza business, primarily through franchising, has strong margins (20%), similar to luxury brands like LVMH (21%).
   • Good Unit Economics: Companies that produce high-value products, like dietary supplements, achieve high margins (37%).

3. Country Comparisons:

   • There are notable differences in operating margins by country, with resource-rich countries often showing higher margins. For instance, South Africa has an average margin of 82%, while the US has a much lower margin of 22%.
   • Israel stands out with negative margins due to its many unprofitable startups.

4. Conclusion: Understanding operating margins is crucial as they indicate the financial health and competitive position of businesses. Higher margins generally suggest better profitability and potential for growth.

Overall, this analysis reveals patterns in business behavior based on operating margins, highlighting the importance of this metric in evaluating companies across various industries.

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The text argues that some words are effectively untranslatable and uses a mathematical analogy from linear algebra to explain this concept. The author, Marco Giancotti, draws parallels between language and vectors, emphasizing that just as vectors can be represented differently depending on the chosen basis, concepts in language can be expressed differently depending on the language used.

Key points include:

1. Vectors and Concepts: A vector is an abstract object that can be represented in different ways depending on the basis chosen, similar to how a concept can be expressed in various languages.

2. Language as a Basis: Language serves as a framework to express abstract concepts, much like how a basis allows for the representation of vectors. Different languages can require different numbers of words to convey the same idea.

3. Untranslatable Words: Some words have specific meanings in one language that cannot be captured with a single equivalent word in another language. The author gives examples, such as the Japanese term "mono no aware," which conveys a complex idea that requires more explanation in English.

4. Limitations of Translation: Translators often simplify meanings when translating due to constraints of time and space, which can lead to a loss of nuance. Additionally, language has finite words, which restricts the precision of expression.

5. Cognitive Considerations: The text suggests that having compact words makes it easier to think about concepts, while translating may dilute the original meaning.

In conclusion, Giancotti's analogy illustrates that while mathematical operations on vectors remain consistent across different representations, language translation is more complex, and some words remain untranslatable due to the inherent differences between languages.

The Vatican has released a document titled “Antiqua et Nova,” which explores the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and human intelligence. This document, created by two Vatican Dicasteries, emphasizes both the potential benefits and risks of AI across various fields, including education, the economy, labor, health, human relationships, and warfare.

Key points include:

• Potential and Risks: AI can enhance productivity and access to services but also poses risks like job descaling, automated surveillance, and ethical concerns in warfare, especially with autonomous weapons.

• Human vs. AI Intelligence: The document differentiates AI from human intelligence, cautioning that AI should not be mistaken for human-like intelligence and can have both positive and negative uses.

• Social Concerns: AI may exacerbate issues such as discrimination, poverty, and social inequalities, particularly if controlled by a few powerful companies.

• Warfare: The use of AI in military applications raises serious ethical questions, with calls for a ban on autonomous weapons due to their potential to threaten humanity.

• Human Relationships: AI could lead to isolation and ethical violations, especially when misrepresented as human, affecting educational and personal relationships.

• Healthcare and Education: While AI has the potential to improve healthcare and education, it risks undermining personal interactions and critical thinking if not used wisely.

• Fake News and Privacy: The document warns about AI's role in spreading misinformation and the risks to privacy and individual control over personal data.

• Environmental Impact: AI technology contributes to environmental strain through high energy and resource consumption.

• Spiritual Perspective: The Vatican emphasizes that AI should serve to enhance human intelligence rather than replace it, cautioning against becoming overly reliant on technology.

Overall, the document calls for careful consideration and ethical oversight in the development and application of AI technologies.

Summary of Go Blog: Go’s Sweet 16

On November 10, 2025, the Go programming language celebrated its 16th anniversary since its open-source release. The Go team has been consistently releasing new versions, with Go 1.24 in February and Go 1.25 in August, focusing on improving productivity, security, and performance.

Key improvements include:

• Enhanced Testing: The new testing/synctest package simplifies testing for concurrent code, making it faster and more reliable.
• Containerization: Go 1.25 introduced container-aware scheduling, optimizing performance without extra developer effort.
• Flight Recorder: This feature allows detailed snapshots of recent events in production systems for better troubleshooting.
• Secure Development: Go has improved its cryptography packages, achieving CAVP certification and working towards FIPS 140-3 compliance for secure software development.
• Performance Upgrades: The map implementation was redesigned for better performance, and a new garbage collector, Green Tea, reduces overhead significantly.

The Go team is also enhancing its software development tools, including the gopls language server, which supports better coding practices and integrates with AI coding assistants. The Go community is actively involved in these developments, and the team aims to continue improving the platform while maintaining the values of open-source collaboration.

Looking forward, Go plans to introduce new tools to enhance developer productivity, support for modern hardware, and ongoing improvements to core libraries. The Go team is committed to evolving the language to meet the needs of its user base and contributor community.