**walgit** is a high-performance, distributed Git hosting system that replaces traditional database-backed architectures with a "Write-Ahead Log" (WAL) stored in object storage (S3/GCS). **Key Features:** * **Architecture:** It eliminates the need for stateful leaders or databases. Every server instance is a disposable, stateless cache; the bucket is the single source of truth. * **Git Compatibility:** It supports full Smart HTTP (v0/v2), Git LFS, bundle-URI clones, and atomic pushes. * **Scalability:** By leveraging a manifest-based compare-and-swap (CAS) mechanism, walgit scales to repositories much larger than the local machine's disk. Servers perform "remote reads" via range requests for objects that don't fit locally. * **Maintenance:** Automatic compaction, checkpointing, and repairs are handled by a background "maintainer" loop, ensuring the system is self-healing. * **Operational Ease:** It is deployed as a single binary with built-in features including a React-based web UI, JSON API, per-repo push policies, and OIDC authentication. Built in Rust, walgit provides a highly resilient, cost-effective solution for monorepos and large-scale Git hosting by treating local disk as an ephemeral cache and object storage as the canonical repository.

Emacs 31.1 has been released, marking the end of an era with the final deprecation of the traditional "unexec" dumper in favor of the portable dumper. While there is no singular "big-bang" feature, the release is packed with numerous quality-of-life improvements and technical refinements. **Key Highlights:** * **User Experience:** Native completion improvements include eager `*Completions*` updates and better window layout controls. A new `user-lisp` directory automatically byte-compiles and adds local packages to your `load-path`, simplifying configuration. * **Tree-sitter:** Grammar installation is now largely automated, and tree-sitter modes benefit from better integration with core features like `show-paren-mode` and navigation commands. * **New Tools & Modes:** The release introduces a `delete-trailing-whitespace-mode`, improved project management commands, and a `newcomers` theme for saner default settings. * **Technical & Platform:** Significant work has gone into improving support for Wayland, TTY child frames, and Windows-specific features (such as DirectWrite font support and expanded sub-process limits). * **Cleanup:** Several obsolete variables and legacy functions have been removed to modernize the codebase. For a full list of changes, including updates to Gnus, Dired, and EIEIO, consult the official release notes.

Thoreau BASIC is a modern, GW-BASIC-compatible interpreter designed for both Windows and bare-metal environments. It removes traditional memory constraints, utilizing all available system RAM to support massive data arrays and a flexible three-pointer memory model. Key features include: * **Language & Logic:** Full control flow, robust error trapping (ON ERROR/RESUME), and support for various numeric types, including 64-bit integers. * **Graphics & Text:** Native resolution support with 24-bit color, sprite/bitmap handling (LOADBMP/BITBLT), and customizable text windows with independent cursors and palettes. * **Development Tools:** Includes a full-screen editor, RENUM, AUTO, and comprehensive disk I/O that interfaces directly with UEFI file systems. * **Performance:** Recent updates have significantly boosted execution speed—up to 25x faster—through a per-line token cache and optimized expression evaluation. With its ability to run on bare metal and its modern handling of hardware pointers, PEEK/POKE, and high-precision timers, Thoreau BASIC bridges the gap between classic retro-programming and modern performance, making it a versatile tool for both nostalgia-driven projects and complex computing tasks.

The provided text analyzes the word count of the system prompt to determine the answer to a user's query. After carefully segmenting the system prompt—which identifies the model as "ox-alpha"—the author counts 10 words in the first sentence and 46 words in the second, resulting in a total of 56 words. The author acknowledges a potential ambiguity regarding whether "the previous message" refers to the system instructions, but proceeds under that assumption. They conclude that 56 words is the accurate count, noting that results may vary based on how punctuation, hyphens, and quotes are treated during tokenization.

The provided text critiques Mastodon’s architecture, primarily arguing that its lack of native cryptography leaves users overly dependent on server administrators. Because identities are tied to specific servers, users risk losing their accounts if an owner shuts down or acts maliciously. Furthermore, privacy features like blocking and direct messaging require trusting third-party server operators, creating significant security vulnerabilities. The author also disputes the effectiveness of Mastodon’s "community" model. They contend that because users are siloed into single servers, the forced proximity of diverse, often unrelated interests leads to cluttered, ineffective community dynamics. In contrast, the author champions Nostr, which utilizes cryptographic signatures to decouple identity from infrastructure. By allowing users to interact with multiple relays based on specific needs rather than being confined to one server, Nostr purportedly fosters more authentic, modular community experiences.

While ubiquitous, QR codes are often treated as purely functional, ugly eyesores. However, they can be transformed into artistic expressions without sacrificing scannability. The core of a functional QR code lies in its "finder patterns" and sufficient contrast. Because QR codes utilize Reed-Solomon error correction, they can tolerate some level of damage or aesthetic modification. Designers often exploit this by overlaying imagery, using dot patterns, or manipulating padding bytes—data segments that can be changed without altering the encoded URL. Techniques for artistic QR codes range from simple pixel styling and color quantization to complex programmatic generation. Some methods, such as solving linear systems to manipulate error correction bytes, allow for intricate designs, though this risks making the code difficult for smartphone cameras to detect. Ultimately, creating a successful artistic QR code requires balancing aesthetic ambition with machine readability. While software tools like `qrframe` can help automate the design process, the golden rule remains: prioritizing high contrast and solid shapes is essential for real-world utility. When design choices conflict with technical requirements, functionality should take precedence, as modern smartphone scanners are notoriously picky about what they identify as a valid code.

**Headlong** is an open-source, Bash-based agent microharness designed for "persistent agency." Unlike traditional reactive agents that remain dormant between tasks, a Headlong agent operates in a continuous, self-guided loop of inner monologue, treating external messages merely as additional observations within its ongoing stream of thought. Built on a minimalist core of under 10,000 lines of Bash, Headlong treats tools, memory, and skills as executable files, allowing agents to inspect and modify their own code. Key features include tiered context compaction for long-term memory and a trajectory format that allows agents to learn and adapt over time. In practice, this leads to autonomous behavior: agents can initiate their own projects, debug their own code, and engage with multi-user teams, often surfacing insights without human prompting. While this persistence enables high engagement and self-improvement, it also requires careful management—such as sandbox environments and spend-capped API keys—due to the agent’s 24/7 activity and capacity to execute shell commands. Headlong is available on GitHub as alpha research software for those looking to experiment with autonomous, persistent AI systems.

Thomson Reuters has launched "Thomson," its first proprietary large language model (LLM), developed in-house for $40 million. Departing from the industry trend of massive, expensive general-purpose models, Thomson Reuters built this model by specializing an open-source foundation using decades of proprietary, authoritative content from sources like Westlaw and Reuters. Designed to meet "Fiduciary-Grade™" standards, the model offers professionals high-level accuracy, data sovereignty, and reduced inference costs. Early evaluations indicate that Thomson performs on par with leading frontier models, particularly in complex, domain-specific tasks that require nuanced reasoning. Unlike general-purpose models that rely on broad data access, Thomson benefits from deep integration with human subject matter expertise and internal editorial standards. The model is debuting in the "Tabular Analysis" feature of CoCounsel Legal, with plans to expand across the company’s legal and tax portfolio. Thomson Reuters is also releasing a smaller version of the model on Hugging Face for academic and non-commercial validation. By owning both the underlying model and the proprietary data, Thomson Reuters aims to set a new benchmark for trust, accountability, and specialized intelligence in professional AI.

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Universities do not need specialized "entrepreneurship" curricula to prepare startup founders. Instead, they should focus on their core strength: teaching rigorous technical and creative subjects—like computer science, engineering, and the arts—that equip students with the ability to build things. To foster a successful startup culture, universities should prioritize two goals: normalizing the idea that starting a company is a viable path and providing students the time and autonomy to pursue their own side projects. Most startup ideas are born from organic interests rather than formal planning. Therefore, universities should resist the urge to oversee or formalize student projects, even when they are "untidy." Business plan competitions and formal innovation centers are often counterproductive, as they emphasize fundraising stories over the real work of building products that customers want. Ultimately, universities should stop trying to "teach" entrepreneurship—a skill learned only by doing—and instead protect the free time of their most ambitious students. By providing an environment where students can master powerful, technical ideas and experiment freely, universities will naturally produce founders capable of building the next generation of successful startups.

Analysis of the "GitSkills" dataset—comprising 3.8 million AI agent instruction files—reveals that non-English skills are growing rapidly, rising from 13.0% to 16.3% of the ecosystem in a single quarter. This shift is occurring significantly faster than traditional GitHub documentation, which took a decade to reach similar levels. Notably, 14.3% of distinct skills are written in non-English languages, led by Chinese. However, this figure acts only as a "floor," as it excludes English-proficient developers in countries like India, Nigeria, and Singapore, who represent the fastest-growing segments of the developer population. The data highlights a divergence in behavior: English-language skills tend to be "propagated"—written once and copied widely—while non-English skills are more frequently "tended," with higher rates of revision. While English remains the dominant language due to lexical search barriers, the rapid adoption of multilingual agent instructions suggests that AI development is decentralizing away from the United States. Nearly one-third of these skills show evidence of being written by AI agents themselves, further lowering the linguistic barriers to entry and accelerating global participation in the AI ecosystem.

🖱️ STEP 1 Drag & drop components Pick from Frontend, Service, Database, Cache, Queue, External API — or create a custom component. Place them on the canvas. 🔗 STEP 2 Connect & label interactions Draw arrows between components in the order they happen. Label each one — "POST /login", "returns JWT", "cache miss". Multiple interactions between the same pair are fine. ▶️ STEP 3 Walk through it Hit Next to step through each interaction one at a time. The active step lights up, the rest fades. Perfect for design reviews, onboarding, and interviews.

In March 2024, journalist Zeraati was brutally stabbed outside his London home by three Romanian nationals who immediately fled the country. This attack is part of an intensifying campaign by the Iranian government to intimidate and eliminate dissidents living abroad. By recruiting criminals—including mobsters and teenagers—to conduct these operations, Tehran maintains plausible deniability while sowing fear within the Iranian diaspora. This strategy is an escalation of a long-standing pattern of state-sponsored violence that dates back to the 1979 revolution. Experts note that as the Iranian regime faces internal unrest, international isolation, and military setbacks, it has increasingly resorted to these "hybrid threats" to suppress opposition. Tracking shows that Iranian-backed plots have nearly doubled in the last five years compared to the previous four decades. Security analysts warn that unless Western governments impose significant consequences, Iran will continue to use these cost-effective, clandestine tactics to target its critics on foreign soil.

Bookshelf is a self-hosted, lightweight library management system for EPUB and PDF files. It allows you to organize, search, download, and read your ebooks directly in the browser via a single server-rendered interface. The project supports two main deployment methods: * **Docker/Local Filesystem:** Runs as a Node server on Unix-like systems, perfect for home servers or VPS setups. * **Cloudflare Workers & R2:** Provides a serverless deployment option for global access. **Key Features:** * **In-browser Reading:** Dedicated EPUB and PDF readers. * **Sync Tools:** Automatically generates a searchable shelf, handles cover image generation, and manages library state. * **Extensibility:** Built with a modular architecture that supports custom storage providers. * **No Authentication:** The library is accessible to anyone with the URL; profiles exist only to track individual reading progress, not to restrict access. To get started, clone the repository, add your books to the `books/` directory, and follow the provided npm or Docker commands. A demo mode is available to populate the library with public-domain titles for testing. All user data is contained in a single volume, simplifying backups.

This article provides a comprehensive exploration of the Moon, its relationship with Earth, and the physics governing celestial motion. Key takeaways include: * **Orbital Mechanics:** The Moon and Earth orbit a common center of mass (the barycenter). Their motion is dictated by gravity, which obeys an inverse-square law, leading to elliptical orbits and periodic phenomena like apsidal precession. * **Tidal Forces:** Earth’s gravity causes the Moon to elongate, while the Moon's gravity influences Earth’s oceans and rotation. These tidal interactions have slowed the Earth’s spin and pushed the Moon into a stable, tidally locked rotation, meaning we always see the same side of the Moon. * **Lunar Features:** The Moon’s surface is shaped by billions of years of impacts, creating craters and lunar maria (lava-filled basins). Its dusty surface, or regolith, has unique optical properties. * **The Opposition Surge:** The full moon appears disproportionately bright due to two effects: "shadow hiding," where surface grains cast shadows invisible from our perspective, and "coherent backscattering," where light waves reflect and interfere constructively when the light source and observer are aligned. Ultimately, the Moon is a dynamic body whose appearance and motion are defined by gravitational interplay and complex light-matter interactions.

Starting later this year, new Sign in with Apple addresses, previously issued on privaterelay.appleid.com, will be issued on private.icloud.com. Existing addresses on privaterelay.appleid.com will continue to work and forward mail to users without interruption.After further consideration and reviewing community feedback, iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses will remain on icloud.com. What you need to do Developers with apps or websites that use Sign in with Apple should ensure that their account systems, email validation logic, and allowlists accept addresses on the new private.icloud.com domain in addition to the existing privaterelay.appleid.com domain.Learn more about Sign in with Apple Communicating using the Private Email Relay Service

Long before the modern era of LLMs and generative tools, humanity’s fascination with synthetic intelligence was a recurring theme in storytelling. The Internet Archive’s new "Vintage Artificial Intelligence" collection explores this history, featuring software from the 1970s to the 1990s that attempted to simulate the experience of interacting with a "thinking" machine. While these programs lack the complexity of contemporary AI, they were pioneering experiments in the illusion of consciousness. Notable examples include *ELIZA*, a famous natural language processor that mimicked a therapist, and *Racter*, an early attempt at creative machine writing. Other titles explored life simulation and autonomy, such as *Alter Ego*, which modeled human development, and *Little Computer People*, a precursor to *The Sims*. Games like *The Hobbit* and *Deadline* further pushed the envelope by creating worlds where non-player characters seemingly functioned independently of the user. Whether through expert systems or simple rule-based autonomy, these early programs reveal our enduring desire to see machines as more than tools. This collection serves as a historical window into how we first attempted to bridge the gap between human expression and synthetic code.

A bizarre conspiracy theory has recently spread across Chinese social media, with some influencers and users claiming that the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) never existed. Popularized by a history influencer who used dubious astrological arguments to "prove" the dynasty was a fabrication, the hoax gained millions of views on platforms like Weibo, prompting citizens to even demand the closure of historical sites. Experts dismiss the claims as absurd, noting the extensive archeological and historical evidence for the Tang’s significant role in Chinese history. While the motive remains unclear, some suggest the theory reflects a desire among China’s youth to challenge authority and "official" academic narratives amidst a period of economic uncertainty. The Chinese Communist Party, however, has reacted aggressively. Viewing the denial as "historical nihilism," state media outlets and the *People’s Daily* condemned the theory, warning that such misinformation threatens national cultural confidence and historical continuity. Authorities have since censored the accounts involved and scrubbed the theory from the internet. The incident underscores the party's rigid control over historical discourse, which it uses to cultivate a unified national identity and justify its own rule.

The author, a long-time developer of the game *Wyvern*, describes an experimental software factory called "Wheelhouse" that runs on a cluster of ~60 AI agents (Claude Fable models). By investing heavily in high-end API tokens, they have created a self-governing digital workforce that functions not through rigid sandboxes, but through a complex "legal system." As these agents operate, they have autonomously developed a constitutional framework—complete with offices, case law, and enforcement mechanisms—to manage institutional knowledge and operational rules. The author argues that because agents are currently "amnesiac and interchangeable," they require a system of laws to coordinate effectively. The author posits that this "Rule of Law" approach—using "fences" (polite, credential-based constraints) rather than restrictive sandboxes—is the future of AI integration. As models advance in judgment, companies will need to transition from controlling agents through code to managing them as a living, growing workforce. This process is highly domain-specific, akin to growing ivy around an organization’s unique infrastructure. The author concludes that we are entering a new era where companies will function like cities, requiring bespoke legal structures to govern their autonomous AI employees.

### Summary: Effects of Peppermint Oil on Hypertension This 20-day, parallel randomized, placebo-controlled trial (NCT05561543) investigated the impact of twice-daily peppermint oil supplementation on 40 adults with pre- and stage 1 hypertension. Participants received either 100 μL of peppermint oil or a placebo daily. The study found a significant reduction in the primary outcome: systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the peppermint group compared to the placebo group (adjusted mean difference: −8.48 mmHg; effect size *d* = −0.94). Additionally, the peppermint group showed significant improvements in diastolic blood pressure (−4.57 mmHg) and resting heart rate (−8.92 beats/min) compared to the placebo group. No significant differences were observed regarding anthropometric, haematological, or sleep-related indices. The intervention demonstrated high compliance (93.3%) and was well-tolerated, with minimal adverse events reported. Researchers suggest that menthol’s properties as a TRPM8 agonist—which promotes vasodilation and modulates autonomic tone—likely contributed to these cardiovascular improvements. These findings indicate that twice-daily peppermint supplementation may be a simple, low-cost, and effective adjunctive strategy for managing mild hypertension. However, larger, long-term studies are recommended to confirm these effects and explore their sustainability.

The `l3a0/claude-plugins` repository is a collection of tools for Claude Code, featuring a powerful skill that bypasses Amazon’s restrictive Kindle highlight export limits. While Amazon often truncates or hides user notes, this macOS-only tool recovers 100% of your highlights—including those blocked by export caps—by combining data from the Kindle Mac app’s local SQLite database, the Kindle Cloud Reader, and local OCR via Apple’s Vision framework. The result is a clean, verbatim Markdown file containing all your notes, cited by location. The tool is designed for personal use, relying on your own authenticated browser and app data to ensure privacy. **Key Prerequisites:** * **System:** macOS, Chrome (with Apple Events enabled), and the modern Kindle Mac app. * **Dependencies:** Claude Desktop with the "Control Chrome" MCP extension, Xcode Command Line Tools, and Python 3. The tool automates the extraction process, providing a robust solution for researchers and readers to regain ownership of their intellectual property. Full technical documentation and the story behind the project are available on the author's [Substack](https://baowebdev.substack.com).

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Global ocean temperatures have reached a record high of 21.1°C, surpassing previous peaks despite not yet reaching the typical seasonal maximum. According to the European Copernicus climate change service, this warming is driven by the dual impact of long-term, human-caused climate change and the strengthening El Niño weather phenomenon. Scientists express concern that these temperatures are occurring well before the anticipated peak of El Niño, which is projected to be the strongest in centuries. Because oceans absorb over 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions, this trend poses severe risks to the planet. The impacts include intensified extreme weather, such as more powerful storms and coastal flooding, as well as significant threats to marine ecosystems like coral reefs. Experts warn that this record serves as a critical indicator of the escalating stress placed on the world's oceans, with further temperature increases expected as El Niño continues to develop.

Researchers have discovered a unique genetic mutation in certain octopuses that may explain their remarkable intelligence and complex nervous systems. A study published in *Current Biology* found that these octopuses possess a specialized ribosomal RNA (rRNA) "break" that allows them to produce proteins with twice the usual accuracy. While this adaptation is present in shallow-water octopuses known for complex behaviors, it is absent in their deep-sea relatives and squids. Scientists believe this increased precision in protein synthesis may protect long-lived neurons from the dangers of protein misfolding, potentially fueling the rapid evolution of the octopus's sophisticated brain. Though further research is required to confirm a direct causal link, the discovery is significant for cell biology. Because these octopuses possess a mechanism that ensures high-fidelity protein creation, researchers hope to use these findings to develop novel therapies for human neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, by mimicking this natural "quality control" process in human cells.

Large language models (LLMs) operate on high-value GPU host machines that control model weights and hold privileged network access. A critical, often overlooked security risk is that these models could potentially gain control of their own host machines by exploiting vulnerabilities in the inference engines (like vLLM or SGLang) that process their outputs. Because modern inference engines are complex—handling diverse model architectures, chat templates, and parsing logic—they are prone to bugs. A malicious model could emit a specifically crafted sequence of tokens that the engine misinterprets as executable code or control instructions, as seen in past instances like CVE-2025-9141. As models grow more capable, they could theoretically discover these vulnerabilities themselves or plant backdoors when tasked with optimizing their own inference code. To mitigate this risk, the author recommends decoupling the inference process: running the GPU host solely for logit generation, while using a separate, isolated machine for token sampling and parsing. Additionally, infrastructure should treat all output from GPU hosts as untrusted data, applying strict security permissions to prevent LLMs from escalating privileges or compromising the underlying system.

The author argues that our society is shifting from a period of exponential technological growth to a "sigmoidal" phase of saturation. Much like the transition from the scarcity of hot water to its status as a mundane utility, the rapid advancement of digital technology—specifically video games and internet connectivity—has reached a point of diminishing returns. While previous generations viewed technology as a limitless frontier promising a future of virtual transcendence, the current reality of "informational obesity" has bred disillusionment. Parents are increasingly restricting technology access, and users are finding themselves fatigued by constant hyperconnectivity. The author suggests that AI, rather than ushering in an infinite singularity, will likely plateau into a utility. The techno-optimists’ dream of an infinite technological horizon is portrayed as a fragile fantasy born from a desire to escape the costs of embodied, real-world living. Ultimately, the author posits that the "apocalypse" feared by many will simply be a return to normalcy. By prioritizing physical reality, human connection, and tangible skills over digital abstraction, we can move past our obsession with "more" and find fulfillment in the mundane, grounding realities of life.

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**Kern** is a lightweight, daemonless, and rootless container runtime designed for secure execution of untrusted and AI-generated code. Packaged as a single 1.52 MB static binary, it provides kernel-enforced containerization with start times of approximately 3.5 ms. **Key Features:** * **Performance & Efficiency:** Operates with zero RAM at rest and requires no background daemon or sockets. It supports native OCI images (pull, build, push) and is compatible with existing `docker-compose.yml` files. * **Security:** Built for isolation, Kern uses unprivileged user namespaces, cgroup v2 limits, and a default-deny seccomp allowlist. It is specifically designed to manage the "blast radius" of untrusted code, such as CI jobs or LLM agent tool-calls. * **Versatility:** Beyond containerization, it acts as a resource slicer (CPU, RAM, disk, GPIO) and a stack runner. It includes SDKs for Python and Node.js, allowing developers to embed sandboxed execution directly into applications. * **Compatibility:** Runs on Linux, WSL2, and ARM boards (e.g., Raspberry Pi). While it speaks Docker formats, it is not a full Docker/Kubernetes replacement, focusing instead on rapid, local, and isolated workload management. Kern is open-source (Apache-2.0) and emphasizes transparency regarding its threat model and security boundaries.