Recently updated blogs

I hope this doesn’t ruin your day, but Baker’s Chocolate wasn’t created for bakers, it’s chocolate originally produced in Dorchester, MA by John Hannon with his partner Dr. James Baker. Hannon sailed to the West Indies in 1779 and never came back, so Dr. Baker changed the name to the Baker Chocolate Company. Additionally, German Chocolate Cake isn’t German. A homemaker from Dallas sent the Dallas Morning News a recipe …

We love discovering opportunities that push Aberdeen’s creative boundaries. Scratch That is precisely the kind of programme that we find exciting about our city’s performance scene. Partnering with Scottish Youth Theatre, Aberdeen Arts Centre has created a platform designed specifically for performers aged 18–28 who are ready to share their unique artistic voices.The programme is looking for four original performances between 10–20 minutes, celebrating a wide breadth of creative expression. …

Sarah Davidson is chief executive of Carnegie UK – a foundation that works on wellbeing public policy Did life improve for you over the last year? Maybe you’ve got more money in the bank or a better job. Perhaps your neighbourhood has been cleaned up or feels safer. And it is possible that you found it easy to get a doctor’s appointment. No? Not you? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. …

As in Penelope Pitstop in surfer gal mode spending some time with the Hair Bear Bunch at their Secret Surf and Dive Spot outside Malibu for a weekend … and enjoying the sensation of surfing alongside such madcap ursines utterly naked (and yet not offended in any way whatsoever).

Apple is working on a smarter version of Siri that employees have taken to calling "LLM ‌Siri‌," reports Bloomberg. Apple is designing the more capable ‌Siri‌ to better compete with chatbots like ChatGPT, with plans to utilize "advanced large language models." A chatbot version of ‌Siri‌ would be able to hold ongoing conversations, much like ChatGPT. Apple wants customers to be able to better converse with the personal assistant, with …

With international reserves at about a tenth of their $15 billion peak in 2014, the government of President Luis Arce is safekeeping every dollar bill and gram of gold, depressing activity, sparking fuel shortages and stoking social unrest — all in the name of avoiding a devaluation of an untenable 6.9 boliviano-per-dollar peg… Arce has been trying to contain the collapse by reversing the damaging decline in hydrocarbon output, granting …

Web excursions brought to you in partnership with Backblaze. Back up everything. Weighted Hug A friend of mine launched these recently. I purchased one after trying it on at the launch party. It’s amazing. My breathing immediately slowed and the noise of the party became more bearable. At home I’ve found it a great relief when I’m feeling anxious or stressed. Highly recommend. Hand made, super high quality. linkding injector …

To a visitor from lands afar (me) who sees this part of the world in little two-week periods twice a year, Jeune & Jolie feels like it did all the work of establishing itself as one of the best restaurants in California in a metaphorical blink of an eye, a few short months between opening, winning its Michelin star and becoming the last word in sophisticated Cali-French dining. Of course, …

OK, I can partly explain the LLM chess weirdness now Last week Dynomight published Something weird is happening with LLMs and chess pointing out that most LLMs are terrible chess players with the exception of gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct (OpenAI's last remaining completion as opposed to chat model, which they describe as "Similar capabilities as GPT-3 era models"). After diving deep into this, Dynomight now has a theory. It's mainly about completion models …

ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer pair of racist baby killers.

It wouldn’t be the holiday season without a certain iconic red plant decking the halls – the poinsettia! That’s why Cast Members plant over 100,000 poinsettias and other festival foliage each year at Walt Disney World. Planning, decorating, and planting this stunning amount takes careful preparation from Disney’s skilled horticulturists who create the beautifully landscaped wonderland that guests know and love during the most wonderful time of the year. At …

Account of a trip round England by the Czech writer who introduced the word “robot” to the world.

New World Notes columnist Cajsa Lilliehook just locked up her fairly large X/Twitter account (with nearly 20,000 followers) and opened up shop in Bluesky here. I wasn't surprised when she told me this last night (for reasons I'll explain below), but it's actually part of a larger trend: In the last couple weeks, my mostly dormant Bluesky account suddenly exploded with hundreds of new followers, most of them SL/virtual world-themed. …

Despite decades of study, black holes are still one of the most puzzling objects in the Universe. As we know from Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, the gravitational force of these stellar remnants alters the curvature of spacetime around them. This causes gas, dust, and even photons (light) in their vicinity to fall inwards and form disks that slowly accrete onto their faces, never to be seen again. However, astronomers …

Subscriptions are everywhere these days. From the big names like Netflix, HelloFresh, and Amazon Prime to the more niche ones, like car features unlocked by a monthly fee or olive oil delivered to your door — companies are leaning into subscriptions over single purchases, and it’s easy to see why. The model provides predictable revenue, fosters loyalty, and builds long-term relationships — all driving profitability. Chances are, you’re subscribed to …