The author reflects on the disconnect between their own cautious online habits and the common practice of forgetting passwords and using insecure login processes. They question why people continue this behavior, suggesting it may be a learned, unconscious habit rather than a deliberate choice. The author ponders whether there could be a better way to […]
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“Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies” offers a deep dive into 341 motion pictures and 81 sound recordings from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The “Variety Stage Sound Recordings and Motion Pictures” showcase popular vaudeville acts of the time, while the “Joe Smith Collection” features interviews […]
Some dogs have an amazing ability to remember the names of toys, as shown by research where dogs recalled toy names after two years of not seeing them. The study indicates that dogs store object names in long-term memory rather than just remembering through frequent play. This discovery could have implications for understanding human language […]
Academic journals, archives, and repositories are experiencing a rise in questionable research papers created using generative AI like ChatGPT. These papers mimic scientific writing and cover controversial topics like the environment, health, and computing. Google Scholar easily locates and lists these deceptive papers alongside legitimate research, raising concerns about the manipulation of society’s evidence base. […]
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, offers hikers the chance to have their photo taken as a ritual before embarking on the 2,000-mile journey. The ATC maintains the official registry of all those who complete the A.T., adding a sense of official recognition for hikers. Thanks to a grant from the […]
Mathematician Bogdan Grechuk released a remarkable book on Polynomial Diophantine Equations, proposing a systematic approach to solve these equations. The book starts with easy examples and progresses to more difficult cases using cutting-edge techniques. Grechuk’s work inspired a series of papers on “fruit equations” solving previously unsolved problems. His book ends with a challenging open […]
In recent years, chatbots based on large language models like ChatGPT and Grok have become more advanced, blurring the line between human and machine-generated conversations. These bots, while sophisticated, lack human understanding and can be tricked with nonsensical input. In an experiment, simple text generation bots successfully engaged an LLM-based chatbot indefinitely, with one bot […]
Understanding distributed systems and eventual consistency means accepting eventual inconsistency. Data will go stale, disappear, exist without creation, and vanish without a trace. You can’t prevent it, only choose the type of chaos you prefer. Embrace the suffering, mitigate the outliers, and deal with the consequences. Different systems have different quirks, like needing to be […]
The web content reveals the fascinating story of how code played a crucial role in the dismantling of the apartheid system in South Africa. The decryption of a 30-year-old PKZIP file containing encrypted communication led to the revelation of the ANC’s secure communication system during Operation Vula. Tim Jenkin, the mastermind behind the encryption system, […]
The author complains about modern user interface design, specifically focusing on Gnome Files in the Gnome desktop environment. The UI is critiqued for being confusing, inconsistent, and sometimes dangerous, with misleading tooltips, hidden features only accessible through keyboard shortcuts, and difficulty in finding basic functions like enabling list view. The author highlights the frustration of […]