Reposted by Greg Langmead
I'd like to say I wish we could pass some law that says you can't pretend an AI is a person, but we're currently stuck on "any representative of the state is allowed to kill you for any reason" so I don't know I'm not sure we're going to get there.
January 11, 2026 at 12:02 AM
I'd like to say I wish we could pass some law that says you can't pretend an AI is a person, but we're currently stuck on "any representative of the state is allowed to kill you for any reason" so I don't know I'm not sure we're going to get there.
Reposted by Greg Langmead
The guy across the waiting room from me is swearing at his laptop, which is how I know he's a software developer.
January 10, 2026 at 3:26 PM
The guy across the waiting room from me is swearing at his laptop, which is how I know he's a software developer.
Reposted by Greg Langmead
New MathOverflow questions each month since the site's beginning. Decline seems to start in ~2021 (due to site moderation changes?), with a notably steeper decline in 2025, since the advent of reasoning models.
January 5, 2026 at 7:13 PM
New MathOverflow questions each month since the site's beginning. Decline seems to start in ~2021 (due to site moderation changes?), with a notably steeper decline in 2025, since the advent of reasoning models.
This planet is not well.
🔭 Jupiter's Clouds in High Definition from Juno
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing & License: Thomas Thomopoulos
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap26010...
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing & License: Thomas Thomopoulos
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap26010...
January 9, 2026 at 1:54 PM
This planet is not well.
Reposted by Greg Langmead
More time now separates us from the beginning of filming of LOTR (26 years and 3 months) than separated the beginning of filming from Tolkien's death (26 years and 1 month).
January 8, 2026 at 10:41 PM
More time now separates us from the beginning of filming of LOTR (26 years and 3 months) than separated the beginning of filming from Tolkien's death (26 years and 1 month).
My fear with this take is that they are not _deciding_ to cross lines, they are just saying the horrible stuff that is in their personality, way at their core. They don't have parameters to adjust or choices to make. Which means they won't and can't soften.
It's time to state clearly that if MAGA and Republicans can't condemn any part of this shooting, continue to blame the victim for it, and even hint that it's a just outcome that others "deserve," that's a crossing of the line that the rest of us won't ever be able to forget.
Rep. Randy Fine: "If you impede the actions of our law enforcement as they seek to repel foreign invaders from our country, you get what's coming to you. I do not feel bad for the woman that was involved."
January 8, 2026 at 9:36 PM
My fear with this take is that they are not _deciding_ to cross lines, they are just saying the horrible stuff that is in their personality, way at their core. They don't have parameters to adjust or choices to make. Which means they won't and can't soften.
Reposted by Greg Langmead
Callenson had the courage and conviction to stay with the scene and keep filming. Not to run away, but instead to follow the scene. To continue documenting what was unfolding.
I'd like to think I'd have done the same. I'm not sure at all that I would have.
daringfireball.net/2026/01/le...
I'd like to think I'd have done the same. I'm not sure at all that I would have.
daringfireball.net/2026/01/le...
Let’s Call a Murder a Murder
Caitlin Callenson’s courage in the face of insane danger is just remarkable.
daringfireball.net
January 8, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Callenson had the courage and conviction to stay with the scene and keep filming. Not to run away, but instead to follow the scene. To continue documenting what was unfolding.
I'd like to think I'd have done the same. I'm not sure at all that I would have.
daringfireball.net/2026/01/le...
I'd like to think I'd have done the same. I'm not sure at all that I would have.
daringfireball.net/2026/01/le...
Step 1: choose the protagonist.
Step 2: there is no step 2, all of your other views are entailed in the choice you made in step 1.
Politics is downstream of your choice of protagonist.
Step 2: there is no step 2, all of your other views are entailed in the choice you made in step 1.
Politics is downstream of your choice of protagonist.
January 8, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Step 1: choose the protagonist.
Step 2: there is no step 2, all of your other views are entailed in the choice you made in step 1.
Politics is downstream of your choice of protagonist.
Step 2: there is no step 2, all of your other views are entailed in the choice you made in step 1.
Politics is downstream of your choice of protagonist.
One more point. When Noem calls the woman a terrorist, it’s not that she’s lying necessarily. I translate it as that this woman’s behavior (resistance, existence) *feels* like terrorism. They talk like this all the time IMO, stating as fact some dark emotional response.
It's traumatizing to be reminded how many of these cowboys there are, and how much they hate most of us. And how much we freak them out! Today's video looks so much like the Philando Castile killing. I think that was the moment when I started to think of some people as being allergic to people.
January 8, 2026 at 4:39 PM
One more point. When Noem calls the woman a terrorist, it’s not that she’s lying necessarily. I translate it as that this woman’s behavior (resistance, existence) *feels* like terrorism. They talk like this all the time IMO, stating as fact some dark emotional response.
Watching these lies, these splits, get started in real time has been super painful these last 20 years for me. I used to morbidly seek it out on RushLimbaugh.com, RedState, National Review, and Ace of Spades. I recently stopped reading any of those, because it happens out here in full view now.
This was nowhere more apparent than watching Mayor Frey saying he watched the video and it clearly was not self defense while the Fox News chyron below said "ICE agent fatally shoots woman in self-defense".
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.
January 8, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Watching these lies, these splits, get started in real time has been super painful these last 20 years for me. I used to morbidly seek it out on RushLimbaugh.com, RedState, National Review, and Ace of Spades. I recently stopped reading any of those, because it happens out here in full view now.
Those MAGA voters are trying hard to start at least three wars at the same time.
January 7, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Those MAGA voters are trying hard to start at least three wars at the same time.
Reposted by Greg Langmead
Let's cut out the middleman, okay? Just sell me the PSN trophies directly. Free me from this digital prison.
Sony has patented an AI gaming ghost that will play PlayStation games for you when you get stuck www.eurogamer.net/sony-has-pat...
January 7, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Let's cut out the middleman, okay? Just sell me the PSN trophies directly. Free me from this digital prison.
Reposted by Greg Langmead
Resuming this thread a year-and-a-half later (just like the Hunt was resumed after a break)
January 6, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Resuming this thread a year-and-a-half later (just like the Hunt was resumed after a break)
Reposted by Greg Langmead
With some people here seemingly confused about the Hunt for Gollum film that's about to start production, here an old thread talking about the source material...
1/ The expression “hunt for Gollum” is used in the Council of Elrond.
January 6, 2026 at 3:58 PM
With some people here seemingly confused about the Hunt for Gollum film that's about to start production, here an old thread talking about the source material...
Reposted by Greg Langmead
A reminder - before Trump, MAGA, Musk and Fox rewrote history - that this is what the entire country agreed had happened five years ago today:
January 6, 2026 at 12:40 PM
A reminder - before Trump, MAGA, Musk and Fox rewrote history - that this is what the entire country agreed had happened five years ago today:
Reposted by Greg Langmead
According to this reporting, the US broke the international system in the service of one faction of the Maduro regime.
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...
Exclusive: Venezuelan leaders offered U.S. a path to stay in power without Maduro
Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez used Doha backchannels to offer Washington a 'Cartel Light' plan for a managed Venezuela transition that keeps chavismo in power.
www.miamiherald.com
January 6, 2026 at 12:46 AM
According to this reporting, the US broke the international system in the service of one faction of the Maduro regime.
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...
Reposted by Greg Langmead
Check out my funtime project from the holiday break!
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
Will I continue on to Zork 3? Watch this space!
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
Will I continue on to Zork 3? Watch this space!
The Visible Zorker 2
Hey, remember the Visible Zorker last year? Meet the Visible Zorker 2: The Visible Wizard of Frobozz! It doesn't have a subtitle really. I just like saying
blog.zarfhome.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Check out my funtime project from the holiday break!
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
Will I continue on to Zork 3? Watch this space!
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
Will I continue on to Zork 3? Watch this space!
Android has a trail of roadkill apps that no longer work (Cardinal Quest 2, Dungeon Crawl SS, Endless Sky), and others that would work if the devs felt like special-casing all the graphics cards (Cataclysm DDA). So that's a ding against that cloying open-source wishcasting. I'm batting .600 at best!
January 4, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Android has a trail of roadkill apps that no longer work (Cardinal Quest 2, Dungeon Crawl SS, Endless Sky), and others that would work if the devs felt like special-casing all the graphics cards (Cataclysm DDA). So that's a ding against that cloying open-source wishcasting. I'm batting .600 at best!
Those Trump voters really did it this time.
January 3, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Those Trump voters really did it this time.
This is a good take (“GenAI is pushed in the poor while the rich are able to avoid it, increasing the divide”) because it identifies GenAI output (aka slop) as fundamentally _degrading_ (by design).
January 2, 2026 at 4:19 PM
This is a good take (“GenAI is pushed in the poor while the rich are able to avoid it, increasing the divide”) because it identifies GenAI output (aka slop) as fundamentally _degrading_ (by design).
Reposted by Greg Langmead
Just posted on Six Colors: My favorite things of 2025
My favorite things of 2025
The year is at an end, and as is tradition, I've compiled a list of my favorite stuff from the year gone by. This is...
sixcolors.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Just posted on Six Colors: My favorite things of 2025
Reposted by Greg Langmead
As 2025 comes to an end, which map did you hate the most? I’ll be sure to prioritise that kind of content next year.
December 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
As 2025 comes to an end, which map did you hate the most? I’ll be sure to prioritise that kind of content next year.
Reposted by Greg Langmead
“Buy our home security package named after someone who was utterly destroyed by a back door break-in he didn’t see coming because he was focused solely on the front door.”
Sauron is appearing on the scene as concerns rise about crime among the most wealthy.
Sauron, the high-end home security startup for "super premium" customers, plucks a new CEO out of Sonos | TechCrunch
Sauron is appearing on the scene as concerns rise about crime among the most wealthy.
techcrunch.com
December 29, 2025 at 11:53 AM
“Buy our home security package named after someone who was utterly destroyed by a back door break-in he didn’t see coming because he was focused solely on the front door.”
Reposted by Greg Langmead
Actual mathematician quotes:
"It was my lot to plant the harpoon of algebraic topology into the body of the whale of algebraic geometry" - Solomon Lefschetz
"It was my fate to implant the electrode of arithmetic geometry in the pleasure center of algebraic topology." - Jack Morava
"It was my lot to plant the harpoon of algebraic topology into the body of the whale of algebraic geometry" - Solomon Lefschetz
"It was my fate to implant the electrode of arithmetic geometry in the pleasure center of algebraic topology." - Jack Morava
December 27, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Actual mathematician quotes:
"It was my lot to plant the harpoon of algebraic topology into the body of the whale of algebraic geometry" - Solomon Lefschetz
"It was my fate to implant the electrode of arithmetic geometry in the pleasure center of algebraic topology." - Jack Morava
"It was my lot to plant the harpoon of algebraic topology into the body of the whale of algebraic geometry" - Solomon Lefschetz
"It was my fate to implant the electrode of arithmetic geometry in the pleasure center of algebraic topology." - Jack Morava
"a heady mix of old-fashioned hucksterism, plutocratic megalomania and utopian ideology"
"[GenAI] is truly phenomenal but flawed in ways that encode the deformed character of its progenitors"
"inflated ego of an industry that thinks it is just one more datacentre away from computational divinity"
"[GenAI] is truly phenomenal but flawed in ways that encode the deformed character of its progenitors"
"inflated ego of an industry that thinks it is just one more datacentre away from computational divinity"
When the AI bubble bursts, humans will finally have their chance to take back control | Rafael Behr
The US economy is pumped up on tech-bro vanity. The inevitable correction should prompt a global conversation, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:52 PM
"a heady mix of old-fashioned hucksterism, plutocratic megalomania and utopian ideology"
"[GenAI] is truly phenomenal but flawed in ways that encode the deformed character of its progenitors"
"inflated ego of an industry that thinks it is just one more datacentre away from computational divinity"
"[GenAI] is truly phenomenal but flawed in ways that encode the deformed character of its progenitors"
"inflated ego of an industry that thinks it is just one more datacentre away from computational divinity"