Tootfinder

SOM-VQ: Topology-Aware Tokenization for Interactive Generative Models
Alessandro Londei, Denise Lanzieri, Matteo Benati
https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.21133 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.21133 https://arxiv.org/html/2602.21133
arXiv:2602.21133v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Vector-quantized representations enable powerful discrete generative models but lack semantic structure in token space, limiting interpretable human control. We introduce SOM-VQ, a tokenization method that combines vector quantization with Self-Organizing Maps to learn discrete codebooks with explicit low-dimensional topology. Unlike standard VQ-VAE, SOM-VQ uses topology-aware updates that preserve neighborhood structure: nearby tokens on a learned grid correspond to semantically similar states, enabling direct geometric manipulation of the latent space. We demonstrate that SOM-VQ produces more learnable token sequences in the evaluated domains while providing an explicit navigable geometry in code space. Critically, the topological organization enables intuitive human-in-the-loop control: users can steer generation by manipulating distances in token space, achieving semantic alignment without frame-level constraints. We focus on human motion generation - a domain where kinematic structure, smooth temporal continuity, and interactive use cases (choreography, rehabilitation, HCI) make topology-aware control especially natural - demonstrating controlled divergence and convergence from reference sequences through simple grid-based sampling. SOM-VQ provides a general framework for interpretable discrete representations applicable to music, gesture, and other interactive generative domains.
toXiv_bot_toot

"Education Secretary Linda McMahon has apparently decided that giving blind contractors priority at Army dining halls "adversely affects" U.S. interests."
Trump Officials Plan To Drop Preference For Blind Vendors | HuffPost Latest News
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-blind-vendors-preference_n_6949a499e4b099a75cbdb8b1?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=us_main

"A Palestinian children's football club in the occupied West Bank faces imminent demolition despite an international campaign to save it. Its supporters say it provides a rare sporting opportunity for young Palestinian players.
"But Israel insists it's been built without the necessary permits."
As I understand it, such permits are rarely given.
It's on land supposedly under the control of the Palestinian Authority in occupied Palestine.

Palestinian football pitch faces Israel demolition ultimatum
The football club is ordered to remove the pitch, which Israel says was illegally built, or have it torn down.

The BBC running damage control on its own broadcast is wild to witness. The most egregious part of the affair to me is that no one from BAFTA or the BBC even bothered to apologize to Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo when they got off the stage, let alone tell *them* what was going to be done about it. There was no effort to bring the three people involved together for resolution at the time of the incident, nothing.
But the other part of this that just grates on me with every article is the BBC trying to defend itself by saying “that another racial slur had been edited out of the broadcast.”
#BBC #BAFTA #Racism #FreePalestine #Israel #Gaza #Palestine #misinformation #disinformation #complicity
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165835

EVs are surprisingly powerful. This is not an endorsement to drive badly, but here's a relevant anecdote.
Yesterday, I was moving along our local freeway just above the posted 110kph limit when I started to get boxed in by some silly drivers doing silly things and acting erractically.
In order to avoid any possibility of a bad situation, I moved into the passing lane and accelerated quickly to go around someone and separate myself from the crowd.
I stepped on the “gas” and easily went around the person in a few seconds… then I looked down and realized I was doing 150kph.
Whoa horsey!🐎
I pulled back into the travelling lane and slowed down to 115kph.
That kind of acceleration, especially at that already high cruising speed, just wasn’t possible in any other car I've ever owned.
EVs are great, but they are still vehicles that can reach dangerously high speeds.
Here's another anecdote: Last week my daughter was very nearly run over by a truck as she was walking in a crosswalk. She was halfway across the street when an (oversized) pickup truck turned left across her, completely on a red light. She is relatively small in stature, her head would have barely been above the hood of the truck.
She saw it at the last second and jumped back... the truck missed by inches. Another car at the intersection honked at the truck. It stopped in the crosswalk, the driver gave HER a dirty look, and zoomed off. The car driver who honked leaned out the window and kindly asked if she was ok. She was.
Driving is the most dangerous thing we do on a daily basis.. for ourselves, and everyone around us. Take care out there friends.
#Driving #Commuter #EVs #Transportation #PublicTransit #Pedestrians
https://flipboard.com/@insideevs/insideevs-diuanki5z/-/a-ngD5hVuiSdatWdkb-4BdLw:a:2577024118-/0