Tootfinder

Zhu on AI/AGI: 'A sign of true intelligence... is the ability to reason towards a goal with minimal inputs ... a “small data, big task” approach, compared with the “big data, small task” approach employed by large language models like ChatGPT. AGI... is characterised by qualities such as resourcefulness in novel situations, social and physical intuition, and an understanding of cause and effect. Large language models... will never achieve this.'

A look at how tech executives use "delay, deny, and deflect" when pressed on user safety and what it means for journalism, as shame loses power over public life (Casey Newton/Platformer)
https://www.platformer.news/roblox-ceo-interview-backlash-analysis/<…

Roblox is a problem — but it’s a symptom of something worse
What is the role of tech journalism in a world where CEOs no longer feel shame?

Trump claims Canada 'CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT' with Ontario tariff ad, calls off trade talks with Ottawa (Mike Crawley/CBC News)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-trade-negotiations-tariffs-ontario-ad-9.6951469
http://www.memeorandum.com/251024/p78#a251024p78

Good Morning #Canada
Today, while doing my morning Google thingy, I learned that Elon Musk has Canadian Citizenship. Now I need a shower.
Canada is pretty picky when we look for individuals who should be Canadian. Only 6 non-citizens have ever been recognized as Honorary Canadians, which takes an Act of Parliament to be designated with the honour. It provides zero rights or privileges but looks good on your resume. It is far more likely that non-citizens could be awarded the Order of Canada as they are eligible if they have made a significant contribution to Canadian society or had a positive impact on the world at large. As of August 2025, 8,647 people have been appointed to the order, an average of 150 per year since the honour was established in 1967. There is no list of non-Canadian recipients, as the government doesn't track them separately, but Queen Elizabeth II was awarded her Sovereign badge in 1970.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Welcome
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/who-are-the-honorary-canadians-1.1155903

"The system now maintains 38-nanosecond median RMS offset from the GPS PPS reference, with frequency drift that’s barely detectable in the noise."
"World’s Most Stable Raspberry Pi? 81% Better NTP with Thermal Management" – Austin Pivarnik
https://

Wide World Of Sports Update
Podcast covering news headlines, scores and match results...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/wide-world-of-sports-update/

In any case, day 2: Ursula K Le Guin.
As I've said elsewhere, part of her science fiction thesis is that "human" can encompass much more than what we mere Terrans think of it as, and that moral standing extends broadly throughout the universe. This is the antithesis of Tokens fantasy, wherein "race" is real and determines moral standing. For Le Guin, it's barely okay to intervene in complex alien politics unless you carefully ensure you're not causing systemic harms; for Tolkien, it's okay to ambush and murder orc children, because they are by nature evil.
Add to her excellent politics Le Guin's masterful worldbuilding and unparalleled range of plots, and you have the one author I loved as a decidedly liberal and naïve teen and love even more now that I'm an adult. She's an absolute legend and deserves a very high place on any list of women authors (or list of authors, period.).
For a short story, try "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" which you can read here: https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf
For fantasy "A Wizard of Earthsea" (also has a nice graphic novel adaptation), or for science fiction, "The Left Hand of Darkness" or if you want a more anarchist flavor, "The Dispossessed."
I'll close this with an amazing quote from her:
"""
We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.
"""

What Parents in China See in A.I. Toys - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000010595407/china-ai-toy-chatbot.html

Convex Regression with a Penalty
Eunji Lim
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.19788 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.19788

Convex Regression with a Penalty
A common way to estimate an unknown convex regression function $f_0: Ω\subset \mathbb{R}^d \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ from a set of $n$ noisy observations is to fit a convex function that minimizes the sum of squared errors. However, this estimator is known for its tendency to overfit near the boundary of $Ω$, posing significant challenges in real-world applications. In this paper, we introduce a new estimator of $f_0$ that avoids this overfitting by minimizing a penalty on the subgradient while…