zota
@zota.bsky.social
Technology therapist, gonzo designer, grey-hat historian.
Los Angeles.
Los Angeles.
cyberpunk status:
Yesterday, agents of the police state murdered a woman while trying to use his phone to add her identity to the unperson database. Today, the guy from the phone company recommended Costco as a good source for mesh networking.
Yesterday, agents of the police state murdered a woman while trying to use his phone to add her identity to the unperson database. Today, the guy from the phone company recommended Costco as a good source for mesh networking.
January 9, 2026 at 10:32 PM
cyberpunk status:
Yesterday, agents of the police state murdered a woman while trying to use his phone to add her identity to the unperson database. Today, the guy from the phone company recommended Costco as a good source for mesh networking.
Yesterday, agents of the police state murdered a woman while trying to use his phone to add her identity to the unperson database. Today, the guy from the phone company recommended Costco as a good source for mesh networking.
Reposted by zota
I saw this on Reddit and had to check for myself because it's so weird. If you rapidly scroll through the different foods on the realfood.gov website, it turns into a picture of RFK Jr??
January 9, 2026 at 3:41 PM
I saw this on Reddit and had to check for myself because it's so weird. If you rapidly scroll through the different foods on the realfood.gov website, it turns into a picture of RFK Jr??
Reposted by zota
If you can’t make it, email the Charter Commission at ReformLAcharter@lacity.org & tell them to REJECT the attempt to strip our powers. INSTEAD, APPROVE our 6 recommendations. bit.ly/lacontroller-charter
bit.ly
January 8, 2026 at 6:12 PM
If you can’t make it, email the Charter Commission at ReformLAcharter@lacity.org & tell them to REJECT the attempt to strip our powers. INSTEAD, APPROVE our 6 recommendations. bit.ly/lacontroller-charter
Reposted by zota
claude code is fucking insane
i know literally NOTHING about Hegel. ZERO. and it just built me a complete system of German idealism
i know literally NOTHING about Hegel. ZERO. and it just built me a complete system of German idealism
January 5, 2026 at 6:49 PM
claude code is fucking insane
i know literally NOTHING about Hegel. ZERO. and it just built me a complete system of German idealism
i know literally NOTHING about Hegel. ZERO. and it just built me a complete system of German idealism
Reposted by zota
I also enjoy that they renamed Remote Desktop to Windows App and the Windows App is available in the App Store for Mac where the tab title becomes "Windows App App - App Store"
apps.apple.com/us/app/windo...
apps.apple.com/us/app/windo...
Windows App App - App Store
Download Windows App by Microsoft Corporation on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like Windows App.
apps.apple.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:48 PM
I also enjoy that they renamed Remote Desktop to Windows App and the Windows App is available in the App Store for Mac where the tab title becomes "Windows App App - App Store"
apps.apple.com/us/app/windo...
apps.apple.com/us/app/windo...
Reposted by zota
Worth a read if you use food delivery apps
source: r/confession
source: r/confession
January 4, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Worth a read if you use food delivery apps
source: r/confession
source: r/confession
“we used tools validated for assessing and reducing human anxiety (see Methods). The term is used metaphorically to describe GPT-4’s self-reported outputs on human-designed psychological scales and is not intended to anthropomorphize the model.”
NOT INTENDED.
TO ANTHROPOMORPHIZE.
THE MODEL.
NOT INTENDED.
TO ANTHROPOMORPHIZE.
THE MODEL.
Friend, when I tell you that I was full on *yelling* in bed just before going to sleep (much love to my husband who put up with the outrage) when I encountered this paper earlier this week, and the credulous mainstream reporting on it: archive.ph/WYvgo
archive.ph
January 3, 2026 at 12:27 AM
“we used tools validated for assessing and reducing human anxiety (see Methods). The term is used metaphorically to describe GPT-4’s self-reported outputs on human-designed psychological scales and is not intended to anthropomorphize the model.”
NOT INTENDED.
TO ANTHROPOMORPHIZE.
THE MODEL.
NOT INTENDED.
TO ANTHROPOMORPHIZE.
THE MODEL.
Reposted by zota
An *actual* very hard problem in AI, is that you literally do not need any AI involved for people to be utterly convinced they're dealing with AI.
Meet Claude Shannon's machine for playing Hex, it's just a resistor mesh, no logic gates or programming involved.
Meet Claude Shannon's machine for playing Hex, it's just a resistor mesh, no logic gates or programming involved.
June 27, 2024 at 12:50 AM
An *actual* very hard problem in AI, is that you literally do not need any AI involved for people to be utterly convinced they're dealing with AI.
Meet Claude Shannon's machine for playing Hex, it's just a resistor mesh, no logic gates or programming involved.
Meet Claude Shannon's machine for playing Hex, it's just a resistor mesh, no logic gates or programming involved.
Reposted by zota
Much later Einstein postulated that the universe was a 3-sphere. But Dante got the idea first:
• Mark A. Peterson, Dante and the 3-sphere, American Journal of Physics 47 (1979), 1031-1035. physicsgg.me/wp-content/u...
(2/2)
mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosb...
• Mark A. Peterson, Dante and the 3-sphere, American Journal of Physics 47 (1979), 1031-1035. physicsgg.me/wp-content/u...
(2/2)
mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosb...
John Carlos Baez (@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz)
Attached: 1 image
Apparently Dante conceived of the universe as a 3-sphere! That's a 3-dimensional space formed by taking two solid 3-dimensional balls and completely gluing their surfaces together...
mathstodon.xyz
January 2, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Much later Einstein postulated that the universe was a 3-sphere. But Dante got the idea first:
• Mark A. Peterson, Dante and the 3-sphere, American Journal of Physics 47 (1979), 1031-1035. physicsgg.me/wp-content/u...
(2/2)
mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosb...
• Mark A. Peterson, Dante and the 3-sphere, American Journal of Physics 47 (1979), 1031-1035. physicsgg.me/wp-content/u...
(2/2)
mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosb...
Reposted by zota
Monet once confessed he could never finish a painting—“I stop when I’m tired.” Each canvas was a moment, not a conclusion.
December 31, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Monet once confessed he could never finish a painting—“I stop when I’m tired.” Each canvas was a moment, not a conclusion.
Reposted by zota
and if you want to know... why Donald Trump is the president
It's because the Ecru measure Goodness as being able to handle snakes rather than avoid them.
It's because the Ecru measure Goodness as being able to handle snakes rather than avoid them.
December 30, 2025 at 5:06 PM
and if you want to know... why Donald Trump is the president
It's because the Ecru measure Goodness as being able to handle snakes rather than avoid them.
It's because the Ecru measure Goodness as being able to handle snakes rather than avoid them.
Reposted by zota
Good enough means you can tolerate or are distant enough from any harm.
December 29, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Good enough means you can tolerate or are distant enough from any harm.
Reposted by zota
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 5:27 PM
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
The hell is the magnet district
December 23, 2025 at 10:24 PM
The hell is the magnet district
Reposted by zota
Data poem: Air
Real time air quality index from the world’s 100 largest cities. I had to look up Riyadh and Beijing to make sure the numbers were right, I was sure I had accidentally multiplied something.
Real time air quality index from the world’s 100 largest cities. I had to look up Riyadh and Beijing to make sure the numbers were right, I was sure I had accidentally multiplied something.
Global Air Quality - Real-time AQI Map
Interactive visualization of real-time air quality for the world's 100 largest cities
dr.eamer.dev
December 23, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Data poem: Air
Real time air quality index from the world’s 100 largest cities. I had to look up Riyadh and Beijing to make sure the numbers were right, I was sure I had accidentally multiplied something.
Real time air quality index from the world’s 100 largest cities. I had to look up Riyadh and Beijing to make sure the numbers were right, I was sure I had accidentally multiplied something.
Reposted by zota
But I can see you
Your bronze helm shining in the sun
And there's Gilgamesh with scale armor on, baby
And I can tell you and Enkidu will still be strong
After the boys of Sumer have gone
Your bronze helm shining in the sun
And there's Gilgamesh with scale armor on, baby
And I can tell you and Enkidu will still be strong
After the boys of Sumer have gone
December 22, 2025 at 5:01 PM
But I can see you
Your bronze helm shining in the sun
And there's Gilgamesh with scale armor on, baby
And I can tell you and Enkidu will still be strong
After the boys of Sumer have gone
Your bronze helm shining in the sun
And there's Gilgamesh with scale armor on, baby
And I can tell you and Enkidu will still be strong
After the boys of Sumer have gone
Reposted by zota
JOE ROGAN: is that true? thats crazy
ME: it is true, Joseph. and the crazy part is nobody says anything. no one will acknowledge that beaker is doctor bunsen honeydew's son.
JOE ROGAN: wow
ME: and the things he puts him through....
ME: it is true, Joseph. and the crazy part is nobody says anything. no one will acknowledge that beaker is doctor bunsen honeydew's son.
JOE ROGAN: wow
ME: and the things he puts him through....
December 22, 2025 at 1:43 AM
JOE ROGAN: is that true? thats crazy
ME: it is true, Joseph. and the crazy part is nobody says anything. no one will acknowledge that beaker is doctor bunsen honeydew's son.
JOE ROGAN: wow
ME: and the things he puts him through....
ME: it is true, Joseph. and the crazy part is nobody says anything. no one will acknowledge that beaker is doctor bunsen honeydew's son.
JOE ROGAN: wow
ME: and the things he puts him through....
Reposted by zota
And as I believe I've discussed before, the word "ampersand" is a corruption of the phrase "and per se and," which means, basically, "Just fucking 'and,' all right? Nothing else. And meaning 'and.'"
Related trivia: most people know/use a ligature without even realizing it. The ampersand “&” is a ligature of the lain word “et”—meaning “and”.
It became so prevalent a ligature, we just made it a character.
It became so prevalent a ligature, we just made it a character.
Following up on that last repost, the reason why "ffi" is sometimes a single character in typefaces is that it's what's called a ligature, in which characters are merged to make them look better on the page, as seen here:
December 21, 2025 at 9:46 PM
And as I believe I've discussed before, the word "ampersand" is a corruption of the phrase "and per se and," which means, basically, "Just fucking 'and,' all right? Nothing else. And meaning 'and.'"
Big problem with what's being called "AI" these days—it is absolutely, unambiguously better than humans at recognizing subtle and complex patterns.
And because of this, humans are incapable of foreseeing how it will do things like become a superhuman racist.
And because of this, humans are incapable of foreseeing how it will do things like become a superhuman racist.
If you read the article, you'll see that the algo's ability to identify Black patients surprised the researchers. Apparently it's not something that humans know how to do. But clearly there was SOMETHING in the data that tipped the algo off.
December 20, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Big problem with what's being called "AI" these days—it is absolutely, unambiguously better than humans at recognizing subtle and complex patterns.
And because of this, humans are incapable of foreseeing how it will do things like become a superhuman racist.
And because of this, humans are incapable of foreseeing how it will do things like become a superhuman racist.
Reposted by zota
Which is abbreviated 'MICR'.
Numbers & some special characters are printed on the check in ferro-magnetic ink.
They can then be fed into a reader that induces magnetism & reads the unique waveform for each character.
The character shapes are /magnetically distinct/, but still *human readable*.
Numbers & some special characters are printed on the check in ferro-magnetic ink.
They can then be fed into a reader that induces magnetism & reads the unique waveform for each character.
The character shapes are /magnetically distinct/, but still *human readable*.
December 20, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Which is abbreviated 'MICR'.
Numbers & some special characters are printed on the check in ferro-magnetic ink.
They can then be fed into a reader that induces magnetism & reads the unique waveform for each character.
The character shapes are /magnetically distinct/, but still *human readable*.
Numbers & some special characters are printed on the check in ferro-magnetic ink.
They can then be fed into a reader that induces magnetism & reads the unique waveform for each character.
The character shapes are /magnetically distinct/, but still *human readable*.
Reposted by zota
Brand says Shapiro should be more open to dialogue with people like Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens. "No one's better than anyone else. We're all on our knees"
This is incredible
This is incredible
December 19, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Brand says Shapiro should be more open to dialogue with people like Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens. "No one's better than anyone else. We're all on our knees"
This is incredible
This is incredible
There's no ethical to-do list under capitalism
December 19, 2025 at 1:30 AM
There's no ethical to-do list under capitalism
Reposted by zota
New pumpkin toadlet discovered in the mountains of #Brazil is the size of a pencil tip
www.earth.com/news/new-pum...
www.earth.com/news/new-pum...
December 16, 2025 at 5:11 AM
New pumpkin toadlet discovered in the mountains of #Brazil is the size of a pencil tip
www.earth.com/news/new-pum...
www.earth.com/news/new-pum...
Walked back to my bike and saw the purple glitter violin I bought of the street that I’d totally forgotten about. It’s like I got two purple glitter violins.
December 15, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Walked back to my bike and saw the purple glitter violin I bought of the street that I’d totally forgotten about. It’s like I got two purple glitter violins.
Reposted by zota
They know not the thing you distantly allude to.
December 14, 2025 at 7:47 PM
They know not the thing you distantly allude to.