Tootfinder

Q&A with Pavel Durov on Telegram, his arrest, censorship, not using a phone, Romanian elections, VK, encryption, Edward Snowden, spring 2018 poisoning, and more (Lex Fridman)
https://lexfridman.com/pavel-durov-transcript

Smooth Quasar-Convex Optimization with Constraints
David Mart\'inez-Rubio
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01943 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.01943

Smooth Quasar-Convex Optimization with Constraints
Quasar-convex functions form a broad nonconvex class with applications to linear dynamical systems, generalized linear models, and Riemannian optimization, among others. Current nearly optimal algorithms work only in affine spaces due to the loss of one degree of freedom when working with general convex constraints. Obtaining an accelerated algorithm that makes nearly optimal $\widetilde{O}(1/(γ\sqrtε))$ first-order queries to a $γ$-quasar convex smooth function \emph{with constraints} was i…

Black holes in higher-derivative Weyl conformal gravity
Leandro A. Lessa, Caio F. B. Macedo, Manoel M. Ferreira Jr
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.21495 https://

Black holes in higher-derivative Weyl conformal gravity
We obtain exact black hole solutions for static and spherically symmetric sources in a Weyl conformal gauge theory of gravity. We consider a quadratic gravitational action built from the Weyl tensor within a dilation geometry. In a post-Riemannian formulation, we derive a Weyl conformal action for a scalar-vector-tensor theory, where the scalar degree of freedom originates from the high-curvature terms and the vectorial one stems from the Weyl non-metricity condition. Adopting a static, spheric…