TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
Investigative journalism in uncovering the true owners of shell companies is like looking for UFOs, but tools exist to track those hiding assets. Shell companies are set up for strategic purposes like tax avoidance or hiding identities. Investigative journalists use specialized techniques to uncover information. ICIJ shared tips at NICAR24 on tracking shady empire leaders […]
Read more »
In the 16th century, the incredible Artificio de Juanelo was built by Juanelo Turriano in Toledo, Spain, to supply the city with water. It utilized two water wheels to lift water from the Tagus River to the Alcazar. Despite challenges in construction due to various obstacles and the death of Charles V, Turriano persevered and […]
In the Brazilian Amazon, a group of armed men known as the Specialized Inspection Group (G.E.F.) works to dislodge illegal miners from Yanomami territory. Their mission, Operation Xapirí, aims to protect the rain forest and Indigenous communities from environmental devastation caused by rampant illegal mining. Led by Felipe Finger, the G.E.F. faces challenges such as […]
The author delves into the complexities of NAND flash in SSDs, highlighting misconceptions and outlining how SSDs work. The physical internals of SSDs are examined, explaining the storage of data in arrays of cells made from floating-gate transistors. The differences between SLC, MLC, and TLC cells are discussed, with the author emphasizing that all NAND […]
Ross Anderson, a brilliant and opinionated cryptographer and security engineer, unexpectedly passed away at his home in Cambridge. Known for his comprehensive book “Security Engineering” and his insights on security and economics, he was a generalist who started conferences and fought against surveillance. He was the first to make connections between security and economic problems […]
At least eight states are planning to ban sales of new gas-powered cars after 2035, with more considering joining them. These bans will require only zero-emission vehicles to be sold in participating states starting from the 2035 model year, with California leading the way. These rules are part of a larger effort to combat climate […]
The author created a basic simulation of the three-body problem using Euler’s method and a small time step, resulting in visually interesting outcomes. By translating the polar coordinates of the bodies into RGB values and animating them, they observed abrupt transitions in the orbit with flashing colors. The starting positions were based on periodic orbit […]
Los Alamos chess is a chess variant played on a 6×6 board without bishops and was the first chess-like game played by a computer program on the MANIAC I computer in 1956. The limited computer capacity at the time required the reduction of the board size and number of pieces. The program, mainly a minimax […]
This web content is a collection of memos with timestamps from different dates and times, each with a unique message. Some are funny, some mysterious, and others just random. What stands out is the variety of content, from jokes to personal messages. Surprisingly, there are references to pop culture and technology throughout. One controversial aspect […]
LLMs are powerful for various tasks, but their potential in reference resolution, especially for non-conversational entities, is untapped. This paper showcases how LLMs can effectively resolve references by converting the problem into a language modeling task, even with on-screen entities. The study demonstrates significant improvements over existing systems, with smaller models achieving over 5% gains […]