timelets

timelets @ 2026-05-31T19:59:00

2026-06-01T03:04:23Z

Several pages of “The Dog’s Gaze” are devoted to the most memorable little dog in art, the one in Carpaccio’s late-Quattrocento painting of St. Augustine in his beautiful Venetian study. The Maltese—who watches his master as the translucent apparition of St. Jerome appears at his study window—is alert and attentive without being capable of complete apprehension. We are reminded of dogs as an intermediary between mankind and the rest of creation, both sublunary and celestial; dogs remind us daily of our animal selves and are audience to our higher moments.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/06/01/the-dogs-gaze-a-visual-history-thomas-w-laqueur-book-review

When the weather is good and walk my dog in the park I feel like the happiest, the smartest, the most beautiful person in the world. I don’t know how or why this happens, but it’s an unmistaken feeling.

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timelets @ 2026-05-31T11:45:00

2026-05-31T18:49:34Z

Since AI entities are capable of hacking software entities, it should be _obvious_ that they are capable of autonomously hacking wetware entities, e.g. humans and human social groups. An incident of the first kind is called a national emergency. An incident of the second kind is called a chatbot subscription.

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TIL

2026-05-30T05:21:14Z

Stephen Kotkin in today's Uncommon Knowledge told this joke when the host asked him about the current negotiations b/w US and Iran:

There’s a well known joke about a tourist in Ireland who asks one of the locals for directions to Dublin. The Irishman replies: ‘Well sir, if I were you, I wouldn’t start from here’.

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timelets @ 2026-05-27T22:02:00

2026-05-28T05:04:20Z

I like her cover better than the original billie ellish.

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timelets @ 2026-05-26T19:22:00

2026-05-27T02:40:02Z

“It’s an old question in the philosophy of physics. People have been talking about it since Fermat first formulated it in the 1600s; Planck wrote volumes about it. The thing is, while the common formulation of physical laws is causal, a variational principle like Fermat’s is purposive, almost teleological.
...
Well, if I can speak anthropomorphic-projectionally, the light has to examine the possible paths and compute how long each one would take.” He plucked the last potsticker from the serving dish.
“And to do that,” I continued, “the ray of light has to know just where its destination is. If the destination were somewhere else, the fastest path would be different.

Gary nodded again. “That’s right; the notion of a ‘fastest path’ is meaningless unless there’s a destination specified. And computing how long a given path takes also requires information about what lies along that path, like where the water’s surface is.

I kept staring at the diagram on the napkin. “And the light ray has to know all that ahead of time, before it starts moving, right?”

...
That day when Gary first explained Fermat’s principle to me, he had mentioned that almost every physical law could be stated as a variational principle. Yet when humans thought about physical laws, they preferred to work with them in their causal formulation. I could understand that: the physical attributes that humans found intuitive, like kinetic energy or acceleration, were all properties of an object at a given moment in time. And these were conducive to a chronological, causal interpretation of events: one moment growing out of another, causes and effects creating a chain reaction that grew from past to future.

In contrast, the physical attributes that the heptapods found intuitive, like “action” or those other things defined by integrals, were meaningful only over a period of time. And these were conducive
to a teleological interpretation of events: by viewing events over a period of time, one recognized that there was a requirement that had to be satisfied, a goal of minimizing or maximizing. And one had to know the initial and final states to meet that goal; one needed knowledge of the effects before the causes could be initiated.”

-- Ted Chiang. “Stories of Your Life and Others.”

To understand LLMs and maybe other types of AI, one has to think like hectapods from Ted Chiang's story. Category theory is a bit like that too. First, you have to see roughly the entire diagram, e.g. topos or Kan extension, then think sequentially through its arrows second.

Thomas Nagel's philosophy fits right in too (Mind and Cosmos). AI models _are_ teleological. They know everything there's to know.

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timelets @ 2026-05-24T22:38:00

2026-05-25T05:42:07Z

OMFG, Trump can't deliver Donbas to the Russians as promised.

Another factor in Putin’s decision to fight on is that the Russian leader has lost faith in Donald Trump’s ability to pressure Kyiv into surrendering territory as part of a deal, according to one source close to Putin and another involved in backchannel talks.

“There was this widespread optimism in Moscow that Trump could deliver the Donbas after his election. It has largely evaporated,” one source in contact with Putin said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/may/24/there-is-profound-disappointment-in-him-mood-in-russia-turns-against-putin

He can't deliver Iran to the Israelis either.

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timelets @ 2026-05-24T20:30:00

2026-05-25T03:35:00Z

Something to consider. In general, developing "extreme" scenarios helps understand the new range of opportunities.

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Ballet: Classic vs Contemporary

2026-05-23T18:55:47Z

The same dancer, Dayeon YEOM, performs two dramatically different ballet pieces during this year's Prix de Lausanne competition. Simply amazing, esp. the second dance.

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timelets @ 2026-05-20T18:53:00

2026-05-21T02:10:29Z

Aston Villa won the Europa cup today, their manager's fifth with his third club. Unai Emery (1971, AV) is one of Spanish-born football managers who over the last 10 years achieved great success in Europe. Others would be Pep Guardiola(1971, MC), Mikel Arteta(1982, Arsenal), Luis Enrique(1970, PSG), Xabi Alonso (1981, Beyer L.).

What's the Spain's secret? Arguably, football is the most successful industry in the country. Is it the competition between Real Madrid and Barcelona that stimulates excellence?

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Kleptocracy chronicles

2026-05-20T03:03:11Z

Trump’s Deal With His Administration Also Ends His Tax Audits

WASHINGTON—President Trump’s extraordinary agreement with the federal government expanded Tuesday to end all pending tax audits of him and his businesses, according to a document posted by the Justice Department.

In the document, signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the government said it would be “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from pursuing certain claims against Trump, his businesses and family members. The agreement specifically blocks the government from taking any action regarding tax returns that already have been filed.

Tuesday’s addendum includes broad language in which the U.S. pledges to cease pursuing any matters that are or could be pending with the IRS and with other agencies or departments. The statement includes family members and “related or affiliated individuals,” although it doesn’t clearly define those terms.

“He gets the money to spread among his friends and allies and also gets immunity for any review or audit. These guys just have no limit to what they’ll try to get away with.”

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/government-deal-with-trump-expands-to-end-tax-audits-aad8f2bc

Real banana republic stuff.

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timelets @ 2026-05-19T09:15:00

2026-05-19T16:16:54Z

The fucking moron is now trying to bankrupt the country.

also see:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-19/us-long-bond-yield-hits-highest-since-2007-on-inflation-concern

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Kleptocracy chronicles

2026-05-19T02:25:48Z

For example:

The accounts purchased at least $1.75 million of Nvidia’s stock in the quarter, including $500,000 on Jan. 6. A week later, the administration cleared the way for Nvidia to send its H200 artificial-intelligence chips to China. Last week, Trump invited Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to travel aboard Air Force One for the state visit to China.

Pure luck, I guess.

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The Greatest Negotiator of All Time

2026-05-18T01:34:06Z

The breakdown of total U.S. agricultural and related product exports to China over the last 10 years (2016–2025) reveals a distinct rollercoaster pattern: [1, 2]

2016: $20.8$ billion
2017: $19.6$ billion
2018: $9.1$ billion (Dipped sharply due to retaliatory tariffs and trade disputes)
2019: $13.8$ billion
2020: $26.4$ billion (Rebounded following the Phase One Trade Agreement)
2021: $33.0$ billion
2022: $36.4$ billion (All-time high for agricultural prices and resilient demand)
2023: $31.6$ billion
2024: $27.3$ billion (China heavily shifted sourcing toward South America)
2025: $\$8.3$ billion (Deteriorated as the trade dispute ratcheted back up) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Last year (because of Trump's trade war) US sales of ag products to China fell to the lowest level in more than a decade. Moreover, in 2024 when Biden was the president US sales for 2025 were projected at $25B. Then Trump came in and the actual number for the year was three times lower than the estimate.

Now, the Great Negotiator announced a major achievement of his visit: China promised to buy $17B worth of American ag products. In other words, during Trump's two years (2025-26) China is going to buy as much from the US as it would've bought in one year, had Trump not thrown the tariff tantrum in the first place. A whole year of sales is lost.

Art of the Deal in action!

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timelets @ 2026-05-16T21:24:00

2026-05-17T04:30:58Z

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timelets @ 2026-05-15T21:22:00

2026-05-16T04:32:38Z

During the first class of the MIT course on History of China the professor says that it's humanly impossible to learn the entire history of China (see below).

By contrast, we could feed all available texts on history of China to an LLM and it would _learn_ much more than humanly possible. Is this a meaningful change when it comes knowing history? Clearly, having an LLM that _learned_ all math or physics makes sense. Does the same apply to history or art?

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timelets @ 2026-05-13T10:15:00

2026-05-13T17:24:18Z

Natalie Harp, Trump’s executive assistant, plays an integral role in Trump’s Truth Social activity. She brings the president stacks of printed-out draft social-media posts for his approval. The proposed posts often recycle content from other accounts that Harp or advisers think would appeal to Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harp then logs onto the president’s account—at times outside of normal work hours—and posts batches of Trump-approved messages, the people said. Trump personally signs off on all of the content posted to his account. While Harp often posts content on Trump’s behalf, the president posts some messages himself, White House officials said.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-truth-social-late-night-posts-167cb47a

A thirty-something lady is the most powerful media influencer in the world. And her job, funded by US taxpayers, is to flood the world with shitposts.

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Happy Mother's Day!

2026-05-10T21:28:13Z

One of my mom's favorite songs

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Trump tax on the US and the rest of the world

2026-04-29T23:42:15Z

The Fed lowered interest rates three times since August last year, for the total of 0.75%. Nevertheless, because of Trump's stupid war and his overall incompetence the 10Y rate is back up where it was back then. The markets don't believe that the moron can open the strait and now, in addition to TACO, traders have a new term for that — "NACHO", No Chance Hormuz Opens.

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Best report of the WHCD shooting

2026-04-29T06:39:16Z

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timelets @ 2026-04-27T20:08:00

2026-04-28T03:24:32Z

...by “freedom” Hegel now means nothing transcendent but, in a more transcendental vein, the power that reason demonstrates over nature by transforming what would otherwise be just something physical into an object, by humanizing it through labor, and ultimately by making it re-exist, as Hegel says in the 1805/06 System, as the object of art, religion, and science. ”

-- Di Giovanni in “Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: The Science of Logic.”

Imagine, we outsource this labor to learning/reasoning/inferring machines. What happens to the process of humanization?

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Театр одного зрителя

2026-04-27T03:35:22Z

Пару дней назад Яков сделал пост о том, как RFJ jr, один из трамповских жополизов (по совместительству наш министр здравоохранения), объясняет, что Трамп был по-своему прав, когда заявлял о снижении цены лекарств на 600%, если она, по его словам, падала с $600 до $100.
https://yakov-a-jerkov.dreamwidth.org/2386697.html

"Логика" объяснения в том, что снижение в 6 раз можно каким-то образом представить как снижение на 600%. Объяснение потребовалось потому, что на слушаниях в Конгрессе сенаторы публично высмеяли трамповские заявления о 600%, и RFK jr., как и положено лояльному жополизу, пришлось Трампа защищать.

Я прочитал пост Якова и удивился, потому что накануне, в день слушаний в Конгрессе, в твиттере была ссылка на оригинальное видео, где RFK jr защищал 600% Трампа, но там были другие числа. Тогда он говорил про снижение с $600 до $10 и тоже объяснял, что у Трампа своя логика. https://x.com/krassenstein/status/2046991286649884740

Вопрос в том, почему вдруг понадобились отдельное публичное выступление RFK jr, теперь уже в присутствии самого Трампа, но с новыми числами. Оба объяснения 600% абсурдны с точки зрения не только математики, но и Американского Свода Коммерческих Правил (The Uniform Commercial Code). Если бы компания рекламировала в интернете или газете снижение цены на товар на 600%, ей бы пришлось сделать соответствующую скидку по требованию покупателя, т.е. доплатить за покупку.

Тем не менее, в администрации Трампа посчитали необходимым публично защитить дурака-начальника с версией расчетов, которые бы выглядели более правдоподобно, чем в выступлении RFK jr. в Конгрессе. Они поменяли числа и организовали новое выступление для прессы, теперь уже в присутствии самого Трампа, чтобы RFK jr. унизился и вылизал боссу задницу у всех на виду еще раз. Интересно, сколько людей в правительстве, кроме самого Президента и министра здравоохранения, занимались всей этой херней. (Но даже для них изначальнoe $600 -> $10 выглядело еще более необъяснимо, чем $600 -> $100, поэтому пришлось менять одну липу на другую.)

В свое время, когда после перестройки были опубликованы материалы ЦК КПСС и КГБ, люди с удивлением обнаружили, какой херней занимались советские руководители на самом высшем уровне. Похоже, в трамповской администрации царит тот же маразм, что и в брежневской.

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timelets @ 2026-04-26T10:43:00

2026-04-26T17:47:58Z

Now, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, is taking the next step, one that would have been unthinkable even as recently as 2024. By word and deed, he’s showing Europe and the world how the post-American free world can preserve its liberty and independence.
...
No nation can match American might, but for the first time in my adult life, the moral and strategic heart of the defense of liberal democracy doesn’t beat in Washington. It doesn’t beat in London or Paris or Berlin or Ottawa, either. It’s in Kyiv, where a courageous leader and a courageous people have picked up the torch America has dropped.

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timelets @ 2026-04-25T21:23:00

2026-04-26T04:23:47Z

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Собачье Сердце

2026-04-20T19:47:20Z

-- Stith Thomson, The Folktale.

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TIL: The Dragon Slayer

2026-04-16T20:02:17Z

Пьеса Шварца "Убить Дракона" написана по мотивам одной из самых распространенных в мире сказок "The Dragon Slayer":

He discovers that a seven-headed dragon who lives on a mountain in the neighborhood demands: periodically a maiden asa sacrifice, else he will lay waste the entire country. The sacrifice has been agreed upon and the lot has fallen to the princess. The king promises that whoever saves her shall have her hand and half his kingdom.

-- Stith Thomson. The Folktale, 1978. UC Press.

This probably goes back to the Minotaur myth.

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