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Arseny Khakhalin

@khakhalin.bsky.social

1.1K followers 370 following 5.3K posts

Data Scientist in Berlin Former Bard College prof For my after-work alter-ego, see @elstersen.bsky.social Support Ukraine! 🇺🇦

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · Apr 14

Minimalistic bifurcation :)

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
f = lambda x,k,a: (x if k==0 else f(a*x*(1-x), k-1, a))
y = [f(.21, 17 + i % 19, 2.5+1.5*i/10000) for i in range(10000)]
plt.plot(y,'.',markersize=1);

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 2h

An UI with a lil political compass in the corner that changes as you type, except the coordinates are "likes" and "dunks" (or some other measure of ratio). As containment breach probability approaches 70% it turns red, at 80% it starts to peep.

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 3h

The word "chocolate" is derived either from the word "cacao", or from a similar word meaning "bitter drink", but still referring to cacao: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocola...

So cacaoless chocolate is 100% like pigless pork. But thank god for now EU parliament isn't trying to ban it haha

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 3h

One of the coolest German-specific tastes is Waldmeister syrup. It's popular, green, traditional, reminds every local of childhood, sold in every store.

The problem is that sweet woodruff is toxic. So for years now it's 100% synthetic!

But no Waldmeister lobby to bribe the parliament I guess.

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 3h

Not only that they think that it contains meat, but also that they are harmed by the result of this "mistake", and the current (pretty good) regulations on disclosing the content of every product, and showing allergens in BOLD, are not enough.

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 3h

Both obviously! Dementia, and a custom videofeed to keep the nominal leader in a virtual reality world. There were reports of Fox recording custom segments for him specifically, just as a way to brief and prep him, as it was the only media he would consume, and it was years ago, before ai videos!

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 4h

EU is not nearly as green and reasonable as some people like to believe it :(

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 4h

This is so cringevil. They already banned plant milk to be called milk, now one also can't say "soy sausage".

So we can have herbal tea, white chocolate, gluten-free bread, buckwheat beer, fishburgers, peanut butter, coconut milk and potato patties. But no soy patties, god forbid, no oat milk.

Anna Strolenberg @annastrolenberg.volteuropa.org · 21h

Today the EU parliament voted to ban the word burger if they are made with plant protein, instead of animal protein. 🤦🏻‍♀️

They claim it’s to stop consumers being ‘confused between meat and plant products’ - solving a problem that nobody had!

This new rule leaves a bad taste in the mouth…

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 4h

Wait till you learn about Mozart Kugeln!

Reposted by Arseny Khakhalin

Matt Zeitlin @zeitlin.bsky.social · 16h

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 15h

OMG it's so pretty!!?!

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 15h

Are you saying that when a nice woman on the street gives me a flower for free and then asks for a donation, it's the same as selling me a flower I didn't need??

Reposted by Arseny Khakhalin

Tim Kellogg @timkellogg.me · 16h

we need more of this

𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨 Audiobook Narrator @jefferyharrell.bsky.social · 22h

I posted this last night cause I kind of wanted to bury it. I got cold feet about putting it out there.

embedding-space.github.io/sparse-netwo...

The subject is WHY neural networks work, and I think the answer I offer is kind of interesting. Maybe even a little correct, possibly.

A line chart titled “Accuracy vs. Sparsity (Iterative Magnitude Pruning)” showing model accuracy as weights are pruned. The x-axis represents sparsity from 0% to 100%, and the y-axis represents accuracy from 0% to 100%. A blue line with circular markers shows that accuracy stays around 80% from 0% to roughly 90% sparsity, then drops sharply toward 55% near 100% sparsity. A dashed red horizontal line labeled “80% target” runs across the chart near 80% accuracy, indicating the desired baseline.

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 17h

Which you can also frame as an investment

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 17h

Some people just forget how to math

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 22h

ok maybe not 5, more like 3-4, but still

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 9d

Confusingly, the name of "Diella" is applied at once 1) to the generated avatar, 2) to the chatbot operating on the gvt website since January, and 3) to the announced AI-driven procurement system that is supposed to fight corruption. Of course there's zero transparency / observabitiliy narrative

Diella (AI system) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 22h

The weirdest thing to me is how happily everyone is discussing it, even though it's like 5 different products that are only _promised_ to be in the same trench coat, with zero control obviously

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 9d

A curious PR stunt: in Albania, the leader of the ruling party, Edi Rama, named an AI-generated video avatar a member of a new government (minister). Edi Rama rules Albania since 2013, and his regime is described as "democratic backsliding" towards authoritarianism. 1/2

Opinion | Albania’s mischievous AI stunt

Can a cabinet-level bot root out corruption?

www.washingtonpost.com

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 22h

Is double-clicking on that the same as zooming in?

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 23h

Wow, so despite all the ruckus, right-wing policies, and expensive higher education, UK is the only European+ country that doesn't suck at integration?? (The chart on the thumbnail shows PISA math scores for natives (blue) vs immigrants (green) vs their kids (orange))

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

If you want to read an actually good piece about integration in the United Kingdom, try @samfr.bsky.social:

The Truth About Integration

I have been challenged by readers to write something less depressing about the state of the country.

samf.substack.com

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 1d

Weiße Schokolade, Kräutertee, glutenfreies Brot … Das ergibt überhaupt keinen Sinn!

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 1d

This post makes a point that unfortunately it was more of a success than a failure, if you look from the victor's POV of course

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 1d

People want the world to have a natural moral order of justice but it doesn’t, unless you make it. Israel’s military campaigns, as Dan correctly points out, have been highly successful in achieving their goals, and Israel’s main regional enemies are in a much worse position than before. But …

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 2d

In the long term? Probably not.
In the short term? Absolutely.
Which was what I said back in August. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 1d

Very much yep :(

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 1d

Found some more discussions, including on reddit, and there's no clear definition, coz the US refuses to provide it... But it's clear that hands-on coding hackathons are illegal.
armenian-lawyer.com/us/us-llc-fo...

Also trainings are legal only if you are trained. Training US people is illegal 😱

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 1d

Oh gosh, it's such a rabbit hole! So apparently traditionally, checking email and attending meetings was allowed. But being a digital nomad full-scale wasn't. But it was never codified by the US!
www.bdo.ca/insights/rem...

Remote work and immigration law: Managing risk for business visitors and digital nomads to the U.S.

Remote work by business visitors and digital nomads to the U.S. and Canada can create immigration and compliance risks.

www.bdo.ca

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 1d

Which I guess technically makes workshops _impossible_, which is weird, and antiquated. And afaik in the past the US just mostly ignored that. And now they don't.

But the dude visiting his aunt while working remotely is very clearly violating US visa laws even in the pre-trump system.

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Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 1d

Conferences, meetings, trainings are legal on a B1 visa, and for EU people also on a <90 days visa-waver. Remote work however is illegal. Which is weird for tech: if you're visiting for a meeting about your product, it's legal. But if you change one line of code during the meeting, it's illegal!

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