Tootfinder

When discussing scientific achievements made mostly or partly by AI systems, especially the headline-making ones, it's good to think about the resources being allotted to such projects, which are plausibly incomparable to previous investment. For instance, I suspect that no one had previously invested several millions of dollars to hire a team of mathematicians exclusively to tackle a single millennium problem.

Patient Computing: Virtuous Waiting because the output is free as in libre, free as in beer, and free as in it didn't consume more resources than this post.

Meet the QGIS Hub — sharing is caring!
Everyone knows the QGIS Plugin Repo but have you had a look at the QGIS Hub yet? It's similar to the plugin repository in that it allows sharing of resources between community members, but it so many different types of resources, that warrants multiple blog posts: from styles and projects all the way to processing scripts. Today, I want to have a look at the (a little cryptic) …

Meet the QGIS Hub — sharing is caring!
Everyone knows the QGIS Plugin Repo but have you had a look at the QGIS Hub yet? It’s similar to the plugin repository in that it allows sharing of resources between community members, but it…

What happens when Washington runs amok?
Ask a Native American
The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of rapid expansion for the United States.
Native Americans, and their claims to land and sovereignty, stood in the way.
In order to solve this “Indian problem” Washington sought to destroy tribes and tribalism.
It was an effort buoyed by moneyed interests who wanted to profit from tribal resources,
and by religiously minded folks who wanted …

Contributor: What happens when Washington runs amok? Ask a Native American
When forces unite with no care for the Constitution, the rule of law or anything you learned in civics class, you can end up with the entrenched overreach of the Plenary Power Doctrine.

AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.10.1 Driver Release Notes
AMD FSR Upscaling 4.1 support for:
AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 Series Graphics products
...
https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RAD-WIN-26-10-1.html

"The Vanishing Newspaper, Academic Libraries, and Our Withering Democracy"
https://doi.org/10.5860/lrts.70n4.8862

This Friday! LIBER AI Pulse seminar, 'A Critical Perspective on AI Literacy', 12:30 CEST
https://libereurope.eu/event/liber-ai-pulse-session-vi/
I'm going to share these resources - any other key suggestions?
Elements of AI (and more):

LIBER AI Pulse - Session VI - LIBER Europe

⚠️ Second advisory, same day: GHSA-5wcm-3v2w-8362 (CVSS 6.5) in the JSON:API resources added in Laravel 12.45. A crafted request to a read-only endpoint could trigger a destructive operation and empty a related table
📦 Patched in Laravel 12.68.0 and 13.29.0, both released August 25, 2026. The JSON:API issue is fixed from 13.27.0 on the 13.x branch. Patches exist only for 12.x and 13.x

Cloud Innovation was added to the official #AFRINIC members list, but this was a surprise to some in particular:
"AFRINIC strongly objects to this development, particularly as the purported entry was effected without its knowledge, involvement or consultation."
https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/announce/2026/002619.html
The AFRINIC public list post was probably motivated at least in part by a recent CircleID article also critical of this action. Reader beware, the article contains a cite to chatgpt session :-)
https://circleid.com/posts/who-still-governs-africas-internet-resources

Sam Altman wants to bust up small, privately held PCs and collectivize those resources within large data centers, so their utilization can be efficiently coordinated by a central planner (himself).
Sam, buddy! We tried this 100 years ago in Russia, and it didn't work then either.
#ai #llm

"Water is life — and Israel’s systematic theft, restriction, and destruction of Palestinian water resources is extinguishing both daily survival and an entire way of life. While Israeli settlers building ‘Eretz Israel’ consume over 350 liters of water per person daily, West Bank Palestinians survive on a fraction of that."
https://vimeo.com/1233748399?ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN January 2026_COPY_05)&mc_cid=98322afbe1&mc_eid=03f6771067

Clark is one of many higher ed institutions struggling financially. This is not their first transfer. Most of these legacy edu resources being transferred away were first assigned before ARIN existed and the commercialization of the Internet. Times are a changing.
https://social.bgp.tools/@transfers/statuses/01M6M417029YP1PPW4R1AP3H8J

Just for kicks, but officially to evaluate ChatGPT 6.1 Terra's ability to make 3D models, I used ChatGPT to make an X-15 model in Blender. Most of it was made with 6.1 Terra, which consumed almost no resources, but once @… announced a reset, I decided to use Astra.
1/2

I’m seeing some really _hot_ hot takes so let me make one thing clear:
I’m 100% sure that someoneS both KNEW and EXPLOITED the eMudhra fuckup and the PHP RCEs.
“AI” finding it for the rest of us is one of the rare instances of them doing actual public good. Every exploit they find someone else with nation-state resources already knew about – or soon would.
Do y’all really think Russia, North Korea, and China are just banging rocks against each other!?

Oooooh, my university is trying to force me to run Microsoft Authenticator on my private devices (given the US CLOUD Act, possibly spyware) to access my UK uni resources. Not against MFA but very against that sort of assumption of right to use my private hardware invasively. So I am stirring the sh*t with my uni, will start a formal grievance procedure, etc, etc. Note that I don't even run the app store on my phone...

Trump tried to undermine the US organization that ensures fair elections:
#USPol