2026-01-13 23:06:00
Google announces MedGemma 1.5 with improved medical imaging support, and MedASR for medical dictation, both available on Hugging Face and Vertex AI (Google Research)
https://research.google/blog/next-generatio…
Google announces MedGemma 1.5 with improved medical imaging support, and MedASR for medical dictation, both available on Hugging Face and Vertex AI (Google Research)
https://research.google/blog/next-generatio…
The Trump administration is arguing that requiring real-time American Sign Language interpretation of events like White House press briefings
“would severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public,”
part of a lawsuit seeking to require the White House to provide the services.
Department of Justice attorneys haven’t elaborated on how doing so might hamper the portrayal Trump seeks to present to the public.
But overturning p…
A silent scenery in four acts...
(Selenium-toned[1] 4x6 salt print (still in final wash) plus previous work-in-progress stages... see alt text for details)
The picture/motif itself is one of my personal favorites and was taken 4 years ago in the Alpstein massif, when clouds were spontaneously forming around us, creating a wonderful light/scene/drama and a dear memory... now also as print which likely will/can outlast myself
[1] The tones will become more neutral once dry...…
The Broken & The Relics 🧱
断壁残垣 🧱
📷 Nikon F4E
🎞️ ERA 100, expired 1993
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite
Series B, Episode 12 - The Keeper
BLAKE: Travis! Old man, old man, Lurgen, the healer, did he talk of Star One? Did he speak to you of anything?
OLD MAN: [Virtually inaudible] A fool knows everything and nothing. [Dies]
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/212/518 B7B2
Just paid for a personal annual account with Photopea, the web based image editor. It's free to use and you don't need to login, but 50EU/year takes off the very large amount of ads.
It's got that Photoshop 3.0 design vibes that means I can still sort of use it. https://bsky.app/profile/bmann.ca/post
@… PS: Hier auch auf Deutsch: https://www.f-shop.de/media/image/e8/13/7b/GFDND72791-G_0_0999.jpg
Finally an RGB image of comet #3IATLAS from images taken by #GeminiNorth during the 26 November #shadowTheScientists session: https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2532/ - the coma has become bluer due to more gas emission. Also published today: an X-ray image by XMM-Newton at https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/12/XMM-Newton_sees_comet_3I_ATLAS_in_X-ray_light with explanations in http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005600/CBET005646.txt which also contains more 3I news.
Meanwhile the paper https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ae2915 claims an upper limit for 3I's nucleus diameter of only some 750 meters from the measured non-gravitational acceleration (NGA) parameters: that would be waaay more stringent than the 5.6 km upper limit from early Hubble observations reported in https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf8d8 (where also a lower limit of 440 meters is stated).
Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @…
#StrangersDeepThoughts
Advancing credibility and transparency in brain-to-image reconstruction research: Reanalysis of Koide-Majima, Nishimoto, and Majima https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.07960 by @… et al.;
Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Most cladocerans have a bivalve carapace, but one genus is very different. Leptodora is globally distributed in the north, large (~2 cm), elongated, and effectively transparent, leading it to be coined "ghost flea" by a colleague. It is a primitive genus and is the only cladoceran with a nauplius stage. Highly predaceous with a huge eye, it preys on juv…
@… I've tried uploading this photo two times, but only half the image but half the image turns gray for some reason? If there's a better way to report bugs please let me know https://
White House: ASL Interpreters Hurt Trump's Image - Joe.My.God.
https://www.joemygod.com/2025/12/white-house-asl-interpreters-hurt-trumps-image/
fly_larva: Drosophila larva brain (2023)
A complete synaptic map of the brain connectome of the larva of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Nodes are neurons, and edges are synaptic connections, traced individually from brain image sections using three-dimensional electron microscopy–based reconstruction. Node metadata include the neuron hempisphere, hemispherical homologue, cell type, annotations, and inferred cluster. Edge metadata include the type of interaction (`'aa'`,…
Just suspended/defederated the zhub.link domain that appears to be a white supremacist/hate speech instance whose admin is going around harassing Palestinians and allies on the fediverse and is/was apparently also hosting an account disseminating CSAM (https://hear-me.social/@admin/11266673170955…
Was die Rechten da als Wirtschaftspolitik machen, ist ein Rückzugskampf. Die CDU gibt europäische Technologieführerschaft im Automobilbau auf und igelt sich in der sicheren aber aussterbenden Verbrennerniesche ein.
Das wird Arbeitsplätze kosten und niemand von diesen Kurzblickern hat einen Plan, wie wir in anderen Bereichen Wertschöpfung in Deutschland und Europa sichern. Das wird uns Wohlstand kosten und unsere Abhängigkeit weiter steigern.
Ah! «Le Gouvernement a décidé de retirer le décret sur la contribution de crise de 0,7 % sur les salaires de la fonction publique (-24 millions).»
https://tooting.ch/@etatdevaud/115707561491415218
#FotoVorschlag 'Adventliches' / Advent
My wife was gifted two #Lego sets. And this was one of it. It fits super cool to the season and into our appartement.
Happy third #advent if…
NOTHING is forever...
Here are tips for how to stop the latest MacOS upgrade now, and if you want, until the end of support comes years later.
Apple is good at supporting old stuff, but they're bound to get worse at it. Everything's changing faster and faster, and nefarious bad guys make security harder and harder.
#Security
Rather weird pet project:
https://github.com/Manawyrm/Webbrick 🧱🪟💥
Will take a static HTML website and bundle it up with a tiny, hardened Linux kernel and the Caddy webserver into an immutable OS image, which can be run in the cloud.
Just kernel, caddy and busybox, nothing else (~30 MB…
21:39—Good night #Fediverse!
Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @…
#WaitingInLineASong
Measuring dissimilarity between convex cones by means of max-min angles
Welington de Oliveira, Valentina Sessa, David Sossa
https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.10483 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.10483 https://arxiv.org/html/2511.10483
arXiv:2511.10483v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: This work introduces a novel dissimilarity measure between two convex cones, based on the max-min angle between them. We demonstrate that this measure is closely related to the Pompeiu-Hausdorff distance, a well-established metric for comparing compact sets. Furthermore, we examine cone configurations where the measure admits simplified or analytic forms. For the specific case of polyhedral cones, a nonconvex cutting-plane method is deployed to compute, at least approximately, the measure between them. Our approach builds on a tailored version of Kelley's cutting-plane algorithm, which involves solving a challenging master program per iteration. When this master program is solved locally, our method yields an angle that satisfies certain necessary optimality conditions of the underlying nonconvex optimization problem yielding the dissimilarity measure between the cones. As an application of the proposed mathematical and algorithmic framework, we address the image-set classification task under limited data conditions, a task that falls within the scope of the \emph{Few-Shot Learning} paradigm. In this context, image sets belonging to the same class are modeled as polyhedral cones, and our dissimilarity measure proves useful for understanding whether two image sets belong to the same class.
toXiv_bot_toot
It'll be interesting to see how badly the UK gov legals for banning X's dodgy image AI are; they'll probably screw it up so all diffusive image models are potentially under it, or at least everyone is afraid they might be.
#LB Isso é calcinha para seduzir nerd linuxzeiro?! Só pode! rs
https://glitterkitten.co.uk/@babe/115711969420721297
<insert image of a Dickensian soot-stained child, with sixpence in hand, asking for half a stale loaf as pittance for working all week in the pipes and sewers, keeping the digital commons infrastructure running>
#opensource #sustainoss
CANUCS/Technicolor Data Release - Imaging, Photometry, Slit Spectroscopy, and Stellar Population Parameters: #GalaxyCluster in Technicolor: https://aasnova.org/2026/01/12/featured-image-galaxy-cluster-in-technicolor/
And the “-ger” part of "Roger” also appears in "garlic”—literally “spear leek”.
#etymology https://toot.community/@AllEndlessKnot/115684991273671288
„not bad“ is just average with a broader bell curve? Interesting. https://vis.social/@infobeautiful/115887892366419223
Sellers' Group Captain Lionel Mandrake being stuck in a room with General Jack D. Ripper while the world is about to go BOOM! is a very fitting image for the world trying to cope with the US government under Trump.
Tax the billionaires. https://mastodon.social/@greenpeace/115718518283533635
🔬 Excited to present our latest research at the #MAIN2025 conference today!
🔗 https://laurentperrinet.github.io/talk/2025-12-12-main/
👁️ What if CNNs could see like hu…
Series C, Episode 13 - Terminal
SERVALAN: I'm going to the flight deck. Get rid of him.
VILA: Eh?
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/313/418 B7B2
Mallard making waves on a pond. Descanso Gardens, La Canada Flintridge, California, USA. December, 2025. OM System OM-1 M.Zuiko 90mm F3.5 Macro. #descansogardens #duck #mallard
Statue in a niche of the church wall, St Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent, August 2025
#photography #ukphotographer #documentingbritain
Z.ai releases GLM-Image, an open-source multimodal AI model trained on Huawei chips that it says is China's first to be fully trained using domestic chips (Luz Ding/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-…
Moody Urbanity - Relations VI 🧬
情绪化城市 - 关系 VI 🧬
📷 Zeiss IKON Super Ikonta 533/16
🎞️ Ilford HP5 400, expired 1993
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite
Good morning! For this #silentSunday I want to share this #foggy path with you.
I was on my way down and when I entered the fog, temperature really dropped. Actually I didn't want to stop or slow down in order to avoid cooling out.
But at this spot I had to take a quick break for…
Series A, Episode 08 - Duel
TRAVIS: This is hardly the time for that.
MUTOID: Normally I wouldn't do it in the presence of an unmodified.
TRAVIS: Forget your coyness, I'm aware of your need for blood serum.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/108/51 B7B5
I don't think I'll ever tire of these magic moments when a print first appears almost out of nowhere when pouring developer over it...
(The image is another one of my ancient art pieces from 2010/11, a rendered detail of the skeleton of one of the generative characters made for a collection of 100 3D printed sculptures)
Thanks to @… for being m…
Eyewitnesses say Iranian government forces have begun opening fire,
apparently with automatic weapons and at times seemingly indiscriminately,
on unarmed protesters.
Hospital workers say protesters had been coming in with pellet injuries but now arrive with gunshot wounds and skull fractures.
One doctor called it a “mass-casualty situation.”
Despite the communications blockade, a recurring image has made its way out of Iran:
rows and rows of body bags.
Mise au concours d’un poste de maître·sse assistant·e en linguistique générale dans notre section #Unil (80 %, max. 4 ans, dès le 1er août 2026).
Délai de candidature: 20 avri…
You do not vote syndicalist, you organize syndicalist, so treating it like an election choice in Kaiserreich is fundamentally silly.
Because of that, I’m buying myself Hearts of Iron IV just to install Kaiserreich and laugh at it.
Image is probably AI-generated; I grabbed it from DuckDuckGo and genuinely do not care.
#Humor
netpbm tools are a suite of tools to convert and fiddle with the ppm/pbm/pgm (collectively pnm) file formats, which are pretty much the simplest image formats on the planet, which even have an ASCII version; so if you have a simple script you want to generate simple images with they're a good choice of format, and if you have them, the pbm tools can convert to/from pretty much anything else or do simple scale/etc - lighter than ImageMagick say.
(LinkedIn) As of today, not only the Neuralink Blindsight brain implant has FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, but also ReVision Implant https://www.linkedin.com/posts/frederikceyssens_with-great-pleasure-im-announcing-that…
Series B, Episode 06 - Trial
BLAKE: Servalan's headquarters.
[Hearing room]
SAMOR: You may begin.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/206/447 B7B4
X limits Grok's image generation and editing to paying subscribers after widespread outcry over its use to create sexually explicit and violent imagery (Helena Horton/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/09/gro…
When I was walking down from the mountains recently I noticed the frost on the trees and branches -- and some single leafs that were still around.
I really liked this extra touch of color in the grey surrounding. And that it's just a little detail on the huge mountain.
#photography #winter
Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @…
#BarnYardAnimalsSideHustle
Series B, Episode 01 - Redemption
BLAKE: Come on, come on.
VILA: They won't fire. The fail-safes keep cutting in.
BLAKE: Override them.
CALLY: Twenty seconds.
VILA: The whole system is locked into negative.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/201/105 B7B5
Market Value 💵
市场价值 💵
📷 Nikon F4E
🎞️ ERA 100, expired 1993
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite
This was from a veterinarians office, but
♫ to be fair ♪
this coulda been my old place of employment
#Shitpost #Shitposting
Congenitally blind user of The vOICe vision BCI: A look at building layers #noninvasive
Woohoo! I rescued my ESP32-S3 board; after my first attempt with esp32 rust I broke USB detection/flashing and the GPIO0 connection on the PCB wasn't apparently getting it to go into the rescue boot mode - it was stuck in boot mode 0x8 always going to the bad flash image. So I took the can off - it turns out to be easy; and got GPIO0 down to zero using a sharp scalpel wired to ground; worked great! Back to having the original image. (Note the S3 pinout isn't the same as the module…
The UK government says X restricting Grok's image creation to paid users is insulting as it just makes the ability to generate unlawful images a premium service (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/202
Series A, Episode 02 - Space Fall
JENNA: Why indeed?
[Whispers something to Raiker]
[Raiker slaps her across the face]
RAIKER: You'll come round! I can be VERY persuasive!
[Avon takes a note from his top pocket]
[Jenna walks back to Vila, Avon & Nova]
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/102/78
Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @…
#ScandalousFoods
'Tierische Begegnungen' #FotoVorschlag
'animal(ic) encounter'
I wasn't sure if I have a good or funny one to share with this topic. But I remembered visiting a wildlife park nearby at an autumn day.
It was a beautiful stroll through the park, watching the wildlife there when this situation came to be. Unplanned, just by pure luck.
And well.. I thin…
Series A, Episode 12 - Deliverance
SERVALAN: Yes?
VOICE: [V.O.] Space Commander Travis is here.
SERVALAN: Send him in. [Travis enters and stands before Servalan's desk. She ignores him for a moment, concentrating on something else.]
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/112/224 B7B4<…
Series B, Episode 12 - The Keeper
FOOL: [Singing] I sing you of the Tents, my Master, Charl of the Goths, I sing you of the golden tents, Where your fathers wait to greet you...
BLAKE: [Examining the talisman] It's gone, the brain print's gone!
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/212/515…
Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @…
#CheesyOneLiners
Series D, Episode 03 - Traitor
SOOLIN: Teleport operating. [Teleport sound. Dayna and Tarrant arrive]
VILA: What are you smirking about? Do you realize we've got half the Federation battle fleet looking for us?
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/403/495 B7B3
I used to work at McDonald's in my youth. Can confirm
#ShamelesslyStolenFromSomewhereElseOnTheInternetHonestlyICantKeepTrackOfThisStuffAnymore #Shitpost
Runware, which operates a developer tool platform that generates images, video, and audio in real-time, raised a $50M Series A, taking its total funding to $66M (Dominic-Madori Davis/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/11/runw
Series C, Episode 02 - Powerplay
RECEPTIONIST: We have to move on to health reception. You can go together if you wish.
VILA: Oh, thank you.
CALLY: We'd like that, thank you.
RECEPTIONIST: This way.
VILA: Thank you.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/302/416 B7B5
Different Corners VII ▶️
不同的角落 VII ▶️
📷 Nikon F4E
🎞️ Fujifilm NEOPAN SS, expired 1993
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite
Series D, Episode 11 - Orbit
SERVALAN: Don't concern yourself, Egrorian. I encourage ambition.
EGRORIAN: I never conspired against you, I swear it! Orac, acknowledge my instructions. [Orac buzzes, but says nothing.] I don't understand.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/411/363 B7B3…
Series A, Episode 13 - Orac
CALLY: We should keep on moving, they could be right behind us.
BLAKE: Yes, without weapons we don't stand a chance. Look, you keep going. I'm going to stay here and try and bring the roof down - block them off.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/113/347 …
#Blakes7 Series B, Episode 05 - Pressure Point
SERVALAN: If you tell me about the rendezvous, I will consider sparing your life.
KASABI: My life isn't yours to spare.
SERVALAN: Oh, but it is.
https://blake.torpidity.ne…
Series D, Episode 13 - Blake
BLAKE: Oh, most of it wasn't on Earth, Tarrant. Not what happened to me. [Arlen enters, Blake turns, Tarrant kicks the gun out of Blake's hand, shoves him into Arlen, and bolts out of the room, strongarming Deva on the way.]
ARLEN: Do you want him killed?!
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/413/…
Series B, Episode 01 - Redemption
BLAKE: Zen, identify the hostiles.
CALLY: Forty-two seconds.
BLAKE: Zen! [Zen burbles]
AVON: The information must be bypassing the translator systems.
CALLY: Thirty-five seconds.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/201/97 B7B3
Series D, Episode 01 - Rescue
VILA: He won't like it.
TARRANT: It's a pity about that. [they exit]
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/401/362 B7B3
Series D, Episode 02 - Power
VILA: Not too close. The gap is all connected with the thickness of the door. So what's the difference between Seskas and Hommiks?
PELLA: How do you know how thick it is?
VILA: By the stress pattern.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/402/132 B7B4
Series A, Episode 13 - Orac
GAN: Better still if there are three of us.
AVON: Better still if you... [He stops abruptly. They look at each other and then all settle down to continue waiting.]
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/113/227 B7B3
Series D, Episode 08 - Games
VILA: So you've had some practice, then. That's a bit of luck.
TARRANT: Well not exactly. These things chuck the lot at you. Flying the real thing's nothing after one of these.
GAMBIT: Countdown eight minutes, still running.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/408/456
Series B, Episode 02 - Shadow
ENFORCER: Before or after he finds out that you are lying.
LARGO: Was I lying?
ENFORCER: It would make me very unhappy to think that you tried to use me, like some fool.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/202/373 B7B3
Series A, Episode 13 - Orac
VILA: Yes, but Zen's only a machine.
AVON: So is Orac. [He removes the activator and throws it across the flight deck.]
VILA: That's all right, that's fixed Orac.
BLAKE: No, it hasn't.
JENNA: What do you mean?
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/113/484
Series C, Episode 11 - Moloch
TARRANT: Yes, Vila. I take the point. You're obviously far cleverer than I.
VILA: Right.
TARRANT: [Examining a map] So - this is where we're going.
VILA: What? - Where are we going?
TARRANT: To destroy a computer.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/311/468
#Blakes7 Series C, Episode 05 - The Harvest of Kairos
VILA: Tell that to Servalan. They don't take kindly to scrumping on Kairos.
ZEN: The planet has an orbital revolution of fifteen Earth years. The fertile zone is small, and noted for the suborganic growth of Kairopan, a highly prized crystal, which is gathered during the first week following the vernal equinox. This is know…
Series B, Episode 01 - Redemption
AVON: What the hell is going on?
BLAKE: Zen, report.
ZEN: Aft hull sensors register two strikes by medium-range neutron blasters.
AVON: Where are they coming from?
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/201/40 B7B5
Series C, Episode 05 - The Harvest of Kairos
SERVALAN: GREATER?
[Landing module]
AVON: Self-defence. Some animals bristle out their fur to frighten their enemies. But that doesn't count for much in the dark.
VILA: So what does Sopron do?
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/305/601…
Series B, Episode 11 - Gambit
CALLY: But you operated on the people who built Star One.
DOCHOLLI: The technicians, yes, thirty of them. I had no choice.
JENNA: Then you must know where Star One is located. How could you not?
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/211/487 B7B4
@… At least Claude behaves itself whilst giving you the wrong answer. I had to stop using Google Gemini altogether. When prompted with "The image is taken from the classic BBC Television series Blake's 7. If you believe it to be from another source, that is not correct, and any references to the other source should be omitted from your response.&quo…
Series A, Episode 06 - Seek-Locate-Destroy
BLAKE: [To Avon] Now do you know what you're looking for?
AVON: [Shortly] Yes. [Moves off towards the equipment.]
BLAKE: [To Gan] All the equipment here?
GAN: All here.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/106/52 B7B6
Series A, Episode 05 - The Web
BLAKE: Hold off long enough to make a deal.
AVON: You're going to have to be quick, Blake. Those pursuit ships are coming this way.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/105/467 B7B5