posted TWELVE YEARS AGO - a trailer for a Cicada fueled sci-fi series. It looks like a cross between Starship Troopers and backyard fun. Maybe with the return of the creatures they can finish it

intrigued by this brand new Wolinsky book. It hits shelves in mid-August.

Randomly stumbled on this talk about Non-Euclidean Doom or "what happens to a game when pi is not 3.14159"? The basic gist is that programmer John Carmack used the "wrong" value for Pi when creating Doom. That's in quotes because he nailed it up to the tenth digit - not too shabby! Look, I don't know what non-euclidean means in the slightest but the video is quite entertaining as they try different values for pi to see what happens.

When you're done with that, dive deeper into the May Contain Hackers Conference. There are so many intriguing topics - What AI can learn from your face, No Permissions Needed (Android Data Privacy), Electric Vehicles Are Going to Suck; Here's Why. That's barely the tip of the iceberg. Enjoy!

Absolutely loving this retro tech supercut. I know next to nothing about anime but it's impossible not to appreciate the style and detail in every single one of these shots.

via.

There is plenty of (justified) hand wringing over AI and how it will shape the future but sometimes you just can't help but be blown away by an implementation of it. The Louisiana Law Enforcement Accountability Database (LLEAD) is a big data dump of law enforcement information from across the state of Louisiana that is being leveraged to extract evidence of wrongful convictions. This Human Rights Data Analysis breakdown discusses how they parse all of the data and use an LLM to work through it (including psuedo code).

The technical breakdown may not be for everyone but it's exciting to see these sorts of problems being worked on. Accountability for law enforcement is a huge problem and if we can use LLMs and data analysis to keep track of their behaviors, that's a win.

An excellent read from Cory Doctorow on AI "art" and uncanniness. The art is in quotes because Doctorow does not believe AI creations qualify as art. I'm disagree with that sentiment but that's not the point of the article! It discusses the misunderstood legalities of training data, the threats to creative workers that AI poses and what protections could be put in place to prevent those threats. This excerpt appears near the summation but it bears repeating:

I think today's AI art is bad, and I think tomorrow's AI art will probably be bad, but even if you disagree (with either proposition), I hope you'll agree that we should be focused on making sure art is legal to make and that artists get paid for it.
— Cory Doctorow

It's going to be a slow climb to reaching that goal. In all likelihood it's also going to be very sloppy one too - technology moves a helluva lot faster than changes to law. I'm optimistic we can keep heading in the right direction.

Gaspard Auge is half of Justice. In 2021, he released a solo album entitled Escapades. This is a one minute teaser using the track "Hey!" featuring some fantastic cinematography.

These are all facts I learned today that improved my day. Maybe it'll do the same for you.

Yorgos Lanthimos poster design. This site is.. unique! Both he and @v_industries have a knack for the extremely simple yet amazingly compelling. Ya love to see it.

Frequency, Amplitude, Superposition and more! Jordan keeps the science palatable and insightful.

Absolutely nailed it

you must visit this etsy store and find your proper representation

TIL I learned about WebSQL and IndexDB, alternatives to localStorage.

Kris Temmerman wanted to learn more about WebGPU so now the world has this point and click adventure game. Short and fun!

This trailer for the game Animal Well is gorgeous! Not sure I'll ever actually play it but I can't help but appreciate that amazing aesthetic.

via Steve.

I've recently revisited Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, a 2011 film about the truly mysterious public installations known as Toynbee tiles. I can't recall exactly when I first heard of the tiles but I do have a blog post here on the site dating back to 2012, so it's safe to say I've been a fan for over a decade. I hate to spoil the future but I was a guest on the podcast Dizzy Spell presenting quite a rundown on all things Toynbee. That episode won't be out for a few weeks but the topic is very fresh on my mind.

For the uninitiated, Toynbee tiles are handcut ceramic tiles embedded into streets and crosswalks with an enigmatic message:

TOYNBEE IDEA
IN MOVIE 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPITER.

There is some variance in the messaging but that's the general gist. The movie, Resurrect Dead, takes an exhaustive deep dive into who is making the tiles. If you have never heard of this or seen the film, I suggest you start opening some tabs.

All that is preamble tho. I have enjoyed the mystery of the tiles for so long but never really dug into exactly what they mean. I also haven't done much follow-up on the phenomena since 2014 (or whenever I have the pleasure of accidentally seeing one in real life). To that end, here's a few intriguing bullet points that will be completely senseless unless you're familiar with the whole shebang:

• The investigators from the film have shared the Minority Association Documents - the group that "Tom Morasco" formed in an effort to reach the press to tell his story of Toynbee's resurrection plans. It's a truly compelling 10-page read through and absolutely confirms the films findings in terms of who the tiler's true identity is.
• The Wikipedia for Toynbee tiles seems to outline that there are Possible Subjects for whom "Toynbee" is referencing in the tiles - providing four compelling options. However, the Minority Association Documents make it very clear that it is referring to Arnold Toynbee. Nothing groundbreaking there, just nice to have confirmed.
• ToynbeeIdea.com hasn't had a new post in many years but there's a wealth of information there worth taking in. For instance, spotting a copycat, Steve Powers tributing the tiles, anecdotes recalling Larry King Live appearances or just random tile news from 2006.
• ResurrectDead.com still proves to be a fun read - particularly the FAQ and the tile gallery.
• This interview with director Jon Foy provides a lot of insight into how the film came to exist, how it was submitted to Sundance and, possibly, where there haven't been more films from Foy - it sounds like it was a total drag financially! That's a bummer because he did a truly admirable job making sense of it all.
• I don't know why this never occurred to me before but you can see tiles on Google Maps Streetview. At 6th and Union in Nashville, TN, there's a copycat "House of Hades" tile captured right there on the 9eyes. One day it will be lost to the archives as well but it's fun to see now.

In prep for the podcast I visited all of the above and way more. I feel like I have a proper grip on what the tile actually means now - something that eluded me for years. I won't define it explicitly in case you would like to make the dive for yourself but I will say that Toynbee's autobiography and the Minority Association documents were my keys to understanding it (to the best of my ability).

Go subscribe to Dizzy Spell, my episode should be out on May 22nd, 2024.

I must assume this sort of thing happens somewhat regularly but it seemed like a somewhat new phenomena to me, so I'm sharing. Professor Nikku Madhusudhan is part of a team researching exoplanets and has found some early evidence that planet K2-18B has shown signs of carbon-bearing molecules - including methane and carbon dioxide (and not ammonia). There are also early signs - tho unverified - of dimethyl sulfide, a molecule that Earth scientists have only seen produced by life. This is all a nerdier way of saying the planet could support life and maybe even have life. Also worth noting, the planet is 8x the size of ours!

The interview is certainly worth a watch as Professor Madhusudhan very calmly explains the findings, his excitement for it and his metered approach to making sure it's verified. The interviewer is maybe a little overly excited and that thumbnail is as Click Bait as it gets but, hey, it's YouTube - whatcha gonna do? I also suggest reading this NASA article about the discovery and the Wikipedia on the planet, both very insightful.

Much of this was reported in September of 2023 so there is likely more new information to dig through. Regardless of the outcome, it is fascinating that the James Webb telescope is able to detect these things at all. Truly a wonder.

There's lots of quality summary posts out there for the MET Gala 2024 but do yourself a little favor and drink from the firehose. Go to Getty Images, search for "Met Gala 2024" and just start scrolling through the 23,000+ results. The theme of the night was "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" but the dress code prompt (yes, a different thing) was "The Garden of Time." So, keep that in mind as you partake - lots of great interpretations.

I don't post much about fashion on here as I do not consider myself a fashionable person but I like all forms of art! The Met Gala is ground zero for a bounty of incredible creations and sometimes the occasional cosplay.

local DIY venue looking for funds to carry them into becoming a nonprofit. really idolize these folks and what they are doing. support is welcome.

a music mix presented in the old school style of one big long file rather than something you can skip. courtesy of the great Oddest Age.

TIL that Mike Nesmith of The Monkees released a visual album way back in 1981 and it is pretty dang weird, in a good way! He and Peter did not get enough credit for their contributions. Not sure if this is a good example of them but I love that it exists.