Tootfinder

Speculative politics
As an anarchist (okay, maybe not in practice), I'm tired of hearing why we have to suffer X and Y indignity to "preserve the rule of law" or "maintain Democratic norms." So here's an example of what representative democracy (a form of government that I believe is inherently flawed) could look like if its proponents had even an ounce of imagination, and/or weren't actively trying to rig it to favor a rich donor class:
1. Unicameral legislature, where representatives pass laws directly. Each state elects 3 statewide representatives: the three most-popular candidates in a statewide race where each person votes for one candidate (ranked preference voting would be even better but might not be necessary, and is not a solution by itself). Instead of each representative getting one vote in the chamber, they get N votes, where N is the number of people who voted for them. This means that in a close race, instead of the winner getting all the power, the power is split. Having 3 representatives trades off between leisure size and ensuring that two parties can't dominate together.
2. Any individual citizen can contact their local election office to switch or withdraw their vote at any time (maybe with a 3-day delay or something). Voting power of representatives can thus shift even without an election. They are limited to choosing one of the three elected representatives, or "none of the above." If the "none of the above" fraction exceeds 20% of eligible voters, a new election is triggered for that state. If turnout is less than 80%, a second election happens immediately, with results being final even at lower turnout until 6 months later (some better mechanism for turnout management might be needed).
3. All elections allow mail-in ballots, and in-person voting happens Sunday-Tuesday with the Monday being a mandatory holiday. (Yes, election integrity is not better in this system and that's a big weakness.)
4. Separate nationwide elections elect three positions for head-of-state: one with diplomatic/administrative powers, another with military powers, and a third with veto power. For each position, the top three candidates serve together, with only the first-place winner having actual power until vote switches or withdrawals change who that is. Once one of these heads loses their first-place status, they cannot get it again until another election, even if voters switch preferences back (to avoid dithering). An election for one of these positions is triggered when 20% have withdrawn their votes, or if all three people initially elected have been disqualified by losing their lead in the vote count.
5. Laws that involve spending money are packaged with specific taxes to pay for them, and may only be paid for by those specific revenues. Each tax may be opted into or out of by each taxpayer; where possible opting out of the tax also opts you out of the service. (I'm well aware of a lot of the drawbacks of this, but also feel like they'd not necessarily be worse than the drawbacks of our current system.) A small mandatory tax would cover election expenses.
6. I'm running out of attention, but similar multi-winner elections could elect panels of judges from which a subset is chosen randomly to preside in each case.
Now I'll point out once again that this system, in not directly confronting capitalism, racism, patriarchy, etc., is probably doomed to the same failures as our current system. But if you profess to want a "representative democracy" as opposed to something more libratory, I hope you'll at least advocate for something like this that actually includes meaningful representation as opposed to the current US system that's engineered to quash it.
Key questions: "Why should we have winner-take-all elections when winners-take-proportionately-to-votes is right there?" and "Why should elected officials get to ignore their constituents' approval except during elections, when vote-withdrawal or -switching is possible?"
2/2
#Democracy

I learned early about the intrusive operations of state power in the daily routines of domestic life:
there were unexpected visits from the FBI, subpoenas served, telephones tapped, subversive books wrapped in brown paper and stuffed in the back of closets, hushed conversations (in Yiddish, the household language of secrecy) between my parents.
On the day of my father’s firing, when he called to report the news,
I overheard my mother “congratulate” him in an ironic tone, …

This "service" is thanks to the numbskulls the Tories hired when they were still in power. Utter incompetence.

I believe the dismantling of capitalism and the state must come through direct action and self-organization by the working class, united in democratic, federated, and recallable unions. Power must grow from the bottom, from the workplaces and communities of ordinary people, instead of being handed to parties or leaders who claim to act on our behalf. Emancipation will only be achieved when workers collectively take control of production, end exploitation, and organize society through free co…

On the proportion of derangements in affine classical groups
Jessica Anzanello
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.07093 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.07093

On the proportion of derangements in affine classical groups
We derive explicit formulas for the proportion of derangements and of derangements of $p$-power order in the affine unitary group $AU_m(q)$ over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$ of characteristic $p$. Both formulas rely on a result of independent interest concerning integer partitions: we obtain a generating function for partitions $λ=(λ_1, \dots, λ_m)$ into $m$ parts, for which $λ_1=1$ or there exists $k \in \{2, \dots,m\}$ such that $λ_{k-1}>λ_k=k$. Moreover, when $p$ is odd, we conj…

Implications of SPT and eROSITA cosmologies for Planck cluster number counts and t-SZ power spectrum
G. Aymerich, M. Douspis, N. Battaglia, N. Aghanim, L. Salvati, G. W. Pratt, G. Fabbian
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08673

Implications of SPT and eROSITA cosmologies for Planck cluster number counts and t-SZ power spectrum
Comparison between cosmological studies is usually performed in a statistical manner at the level of the posteriors of cosmological parameters. In this Letter, we show how this approach poorly reflects the differences between cosmological analyses, when applied to cosmological studies using galaxy cluster abundances. We illustrate this by deriving the implications of the best-fit cosmologies from the recent SPT and eROSITA cluster number counts analyses on the Planck thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (…

Timekeeping precision enhancements at constant power
K. J. H. Peters, B. Braeckeveldt, B. Maes, S. R. K. Rodriguez
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08582 https://

Timekeeping precision enhancements at constant power
We demonstrate precision enhancements in a timekeeping device at constant power and regardless of the operation frequency. Our timekeeping device is a laser-driven coupled-cavity system sustaining limit cycles. We quantify the precision of this device via the standard deviation of the limit cycle period, and demonstrate how it changes when varying the cavity length at constant laser power. Through a phase space analysis of the limit cycle fluctuations, we reveal how the proximity of different b…

While this is completely anecdotal, I always imagined that this is what being a billionaire or CEO is like. Everyone kisses your ass, tells you that you're brilliant, are afraid to critique or correct you.. and you basically lose touch with reality. You start thinking you are some kind of superior person when in reality you're a dumbass just like the rest of us - you just happen to have more money/power.

"""
In melancholy, the spirits are carried away by an agitation, but a weak agitation that lacks power or violence, a sort of impotent upset that follows neither a particular path nor the aperta opercula [open ways], but traverses the cerebral matter constantly creating new pores. Yet the spirits do not wander far on the new paths they create, and their agitation dies down rapidly, as their strength is quickly spent and motion comes to a halt: ‘non longe perveniunt’ [they do not reach far]. A trouble of this nature, common to all delirium, does not have the power to produce on the surface of the body the violent movements or the cries to be observed in mania and frenzy. Melancholy never attains frenzy; it is a madness always at the limits of its own impotence. That paradox is explained by the secret alterations in the spirits. Ordinarily, they travel with the speed and instantaneous transparency of rays of light, but in melancholy they become weighed down with night, becoming ‘obscure, thick and dark’, and the images of things that they bring before consciousness are ‘in a shadow, or covered with darkness’. As a result they move more slowly, and are more like a dark, chemical vapour than pure light. This chemical vapour is acid in nature, rather than sulphurous or alcoholic, for in acid vapours the particles are mobile and incapable of repose, but their activity is weak and without consequence. When they are distilled, all that remains in the still is a kind of insipid phlegm. Acid vapours, therefore, are taken to have the same properties as melancholy, whereas alcoholic vapours, which are always ready to burst into flames, are more related to frenzy, and sulphurous vapours bring on mania, as they are agitated by continuous, violent movement. If the ‘formal reason and causes’ of melancholy were to be sought, it made sense to look for them in the vapours that rose up from the blood to the head, and which had degenerated into ‘an acetous or sharp distillation’. A cursory glance seems to indicate that a melancholy of spirits and a whole chemistry of humours lies behind Willis’ analyses, but in fact his guiding principle mostly reflects the immediate qualities of the melancholic illness: an impotent disorder, and the shadow that comes over the spirit with an acrid acidity that slowly corrodes the heart and the mind. The chemistry of acids is not an explanation of the symptoms, but a qualitative option: a whole phenomenology of melancholic experience.
"""
(Michel Foucault, History of Madness)

The White House has seized on two unrelated incidents of street crime
as a pretext for a federal government power grab
at a time when violent crime has in fact dropped across the country.
The attempted carjacking of Edward “Big Balls” Coristine in Washington DC
and a street brawl in Cincinnati
are the latest cause célebrè on the American right,
which has long supported Donald Trump’s plans for military and law enforcement crackdowns in largely Democratic c…

Crime is down. But Trump's authoritarian power grabs are escalating.
Random street crimes are being used as pretexts for repression.

Residence-time theory applied to circulating-fuel reactors: zero-power analysis
Lubom\'ir Bure\v{s}
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.07989 https://arxiv.org/…

Residence-time theory applied to circulating-fuel reactors: zero-power analysis
Circulating-fuel reactors (CFRs) lose reactivity when delayed-neutron precursors (DNPs) drift out of the core and may regain part of it when the fuel re-enters the core. This paper formulates a physics-based description of both effects by combining DNP transport with residence-time theory. Then, treating the core and ex-core regions as two mixing volumes in series, closed-form expressions for (i) the static reactivity loss due to precursor drift and (ii) the zero-power transfer function that go…

Optimal Investment and Consumption in a Stochastic Factor Model
Florian Gutekunst, Martin Herdegen, David Hobson
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.09452 https://a…

Optimal Investment and Consumption in a Stochastic Factor Model
In this article, we study optimal investment and consumption in an incomplete stochastic factor model for a power utility investor on the infinite horizon. When the state space of the stochastic factor is finite, we give a complete characterisation of the well-posedness of the problem, and provide an efficient numerical algorithm for computing the value function. When the state space is a (possibly infinite) open interval and the stochastic factor is represented by an Itô diffusion, we develop…

What are you going to do when the regime falls? After calling all your friends, after the great memes, after the parties, what are you going to do to make sure it never happens again? What world should we create?
Taxing billionaires is great and all, but we could build systems where billionaires are impossible. Is hoarding wealth and using it to control people even something we should consider part of a functional and humane system? Any system where one group of people doesn't have rights means that anyone can be stripped of their rights, like has happened with all the US citizens who've been illegally detained and deported by ICE. Does the concept of "rights" that must be defended with violence, that can be stripped away by people who can exercise more violence, even make sense? Or should the bedrock of a functional system be the obligations that we have to each other and to society, that cannot be severed or taken from us, that tell us we *must* defend regardless of whether systemic oppression will impact us or not?
Americans have been so restricted by the limitations of the two party system, only able to choose between options acceptable to different sections of the capitalist class. Would we even be able to imagine what we could do if those restrictions went away?
The fall of the Berlin wall was a surprise. The fall of Assad was faster than anyone expected. One day the government of Nepal was an unrepentant oligarchy, the next it was on fire. Everything can change in an instant, faster than anyone expects. No one can predict revolutionary change. Will you be ready if the opportunity presents itself?
The US cannot be fixed. The economic system is a ponzi scheme that has been patched again and again, but has finally run out of options. Racism, sexism, and Christian nationalism are baked into the system at every level. Trump gutted the system of soft power that held the US economy together, now there is only a slow decline. Even after he's gone, the damage is done. Once we let go of how to fix something that cannot be fixed, we can start to imagine something that cannot be achieved within the current system.
This is a time of opportunity. Do not burrow so deep in terror that you miss your chance to dream.
#USPol

A new critical exponent for semi-linear damped wave equations with the initial data from Sobolev spaces of negative order
Dinh Van Duong, Tuan Anh Dao
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.07802

A new critical exponent for semi-linear damped wave equations with the initial data from Sobolev spaces of negative order
In this paper, we would like to study critical exponent for semi-linear damped wave equations with power nonlinearity and initial data belonging to Sobolev spaces of negative order $\dot{H}_m^{-γ}$. Precisely, we obtain a new critical exponent $p_c(m,γ) := 1 + \frac{2m}{n+mγ}$ for $m \in (1, 2], \,γ\in \left[0, \frac{n(m-1)}{m} \right)$ by proving global (in time) existence of small data Sobolev solutions when $p \geq p_c(m,γ)$ and blow-up of weak solutions in finite time even for small da…

Power Series Rings over Zero-Dimensional Rings
M. Richard Sayanagi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07496 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.07496

Power Series Rings over Zero-Dimensional Rings
A power series ring over non-Noetherian rings can fail to be flat over the base ring, and its dimension can be infinite, even when the dimension of the base ring is finite. We study the case when the base ring has Krull dimension 0, and consider a version of the power series ring which preserves flatness and whose dimension remains finite. We consider properties that are well-understood in the Noetherian context, such as Krull's Height Theorem and unmixedness, and generalize them to the non-Noe…

Validity and Power of Heavy-Tailed Combination Tests under Asymptotic Dependence
Lin Gui, Tiantian Mao, Jingshu Wang, Ruodu Wang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.05818 https://…

Validity and Power of Heavy-Tailed Combination Tests under Asymptotic Dependence
Heavy-tailed combination tests, such as the Cauchy combination test and harmonic mean p-value method, are widely used for testing global null hypotheses by aggregating dependent p-values. However, their theoretical guarantees under general dependence structures remain limited. We develop a unified framework using multivariate regularly varying copulas to model the joint behavior of p-values near zero. Within this framework, we show that combination tests remain asymptotically valid when the tra…

Smoothed Shifted Convolutions of Generalised Divisor Functions
Cheuk Fung Lau
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.07556 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.07556

Smoothed Shifted Convolutions of Generalised Divisor Functions
We prove an asymptotic formula for the smoothed shifted convolution of the generalised divisor function $d_k(n)$ and the divisor function $d(n)$, with a power-saving error term independent of $k$. In particular, when $k$ is large, this is an improvement on Topacogullari (2018).

Scaling up AI requires staggering amounts of power and water
— especially when considering that many areas are already dealing with strained grids or drought conditions.
Even when optimized, a single hyperscale facility can draw as muchpower as a mid-sized city
and millions of gallons of water annually.
Professor Romany Webb, deputy director of Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, explained the challenge:
"Data centers are incred…

New map and research expose disturbing side effects of AI industry boom: 'There are going to be challenges'
As part of the latest wave of Big Tech's spending on AI, Google announced a $9 billion investment to build a new data center campus in Virginia.

The Efficiency Frontier: Classical Shadows versus Quantum Footage
Shuowei Ma, Junyu Liu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.06218 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.06218…

The Efficiency Frontier: Classical Shadows versus Quantum Footage
Interfacing quantum and classical processors is an important subroutine in full-stack quantum algorithms. The so-called "classical shadow" method efficiently extracts essential classical information from quantum states, enabling the prediction of many properties of a quantum system from only a few measurements. However, for a small number of highly non-local observables, or when classical post-processing power is limited, the classical shadow method is not always the most efficient choice. Here…

Bayesian Design of Experiments in the Presence of Nuisance Parameters
Shirin Golchi, Luke Hagar
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.03948 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508…

Bayesian Design of Experiments in the Presence of Nuisance Parameters
Design of experiments has traditionally relied on the frequentist hypothesis testing framework where the optimal size of the experiment is specified as the minimum sample size that guarantees a required level of power. Sample size determination may be performed analytically when the test statistic has a known asymptotic sampling distribution and, therefore, the power function is available in analytic form. Bayesian methods have gained popularity in all stages of discovery, namely, design, analy…

DDE-SOLVER: A Maple Package For Discrete Differential Equations
Hadrien Notarantonio
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08639 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.08639

DDE-SOLVER: A Maple Package For Discrete Differential Equations
We introduce DDE-Solver, a Maple package designed for solving Discrete Differential Equations (DDEs). These equations are functional equations relating algebraically a formal power series F(t, u) with polynomial coefficients in a "catalytic" variable u, with specializations of it with respect to the catalytic variable. Such equations appear in enumerative combinatorics, for instance in the enumeration of maps. Bousquet-Melou and Jehanne showed in 2006 that when these equations are of a fixed po…

Here’s the lightning sketch of Paul’s Treatise Against Efficiency that I’ve never written:
1. Efficiency is asymptotically inefficient: as costs approach zero, the cost of further reducing them approaches infinity.
2. Efficiency prioritizes the measurable over the difficult-to-measure.
3. Efficiency prioritizes what those in power see (or imagine) over on-the-ground reality.
4. Following from 2 and 3, efficiency reduces the amount and quality of information flowing into a human system.
5. Efficiency foments institutional inflexibility.
6. By removing slack, efficiency causes small failures to cascade more readily and increases the risk of catastrophic failure.
7. Following rom 4, 5, and 6, efficiency trades small costs for massive risks: from failures, from missed opportunities, and from inability to adjust.
8. Efficiency, when pushed, strangles the emergent phenomena that in the long term create all new things of value.
9. Thus, although it can be a by-product of evolution, efficiency as a goal in itself strangles evolution.
10. Efficiency as a goal strangles joy.

"Disney’s Bob Iger and Warner’s David Zaslav will be out within 12 to 24 months, as their affinity for, and relationship with, the creative community is quaint and outdated. They grew up in an era when talent held the power. Their job was to not piss off people. The Ellisons, like the honey badger, don’t give a shit."
https://www.…

The End of the Blockbuster | No Mercy / No Malice
For David and Larry Ellison, the credits of The Fantastic Four: First Steps are the best part of the film. Specifically, they are the opportunity: The scrolling list of more than 3,000 cast and crew members is a sign of an industry ripe for disruption. The Marvel movie’s staff — from visual effects artists and […]

You know it's dire when even Euronews isn't towing the EU pro-surveillance party line. What's sold to you as the only way to stop something vile will be used to stop something you like when the opposite party to your preference gets into power (which they will, eventually!)
https:…

The US supreme court agreed on Tuesday to decide the legality of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs,
setting up a major test of one of the Republican president’s boldest assertions of executive power that has been central to his economic and trade agenda.
The justices took up the justice department’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that
Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a federal law meant for emergencies.
The court acted swiftly aft…

When am I? :neocat_confused:

Controlling the electric force on a dust particle during the afterglow of a plasma at a higher gas pressure
Neeraj Chaubey, J. Goree
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.04621 https://

Controlling the electric force on a dust particle during the afterglow of a plasma at a higher gas pressure
When dust particles are immersed in a plasma, and the power that sustains a plasma is terminated, the charge of dust particles will change in the early afterglow, as electrons and ions gradually diminish in number. The possibility of controlling this charge, along with the electric force acting on the particles in the late afterglow, has earlier been demonstrated at a low gas pressure of 8 mTorr. Here, it is confirmed experimentally that controlling particles is possible also at a higher gas pr…

Source: GPT-5 improvements won't be comparable to the leaps in performance of earlier models, such as between GPT-3 in 2020 and GPT-4 in 2023 (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/inside-openais-rocky-path-gpt-5

Inside OpenAI’s Rocky Path to GPT-5
OpenAI made waves across the industry in December when it published the results from its tests of artificial intelligence that performs better on tasks when it gets more time and computing power to process them. The results implied ChatGPT customers were about to be blown away by what the new AI ...

Taming Imperfect Process Verifiers: A Sampling Perspective on Backtracking
Dhruv Rohatgi, Abhishek Shetty, Donya Saless, Yuchen Li, Ankur Moitra, Andrej Risteski, Dylan J. Foster
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03149

Taming Imperfect Process Verifiers: A Sampling Perspective on Backtracking
Test-time algorithms that combine the generative power of language models with process verifiers that assess the quality of partial generations offer a promising lever for eliciting new reasoning capabilities, but the algorithmic design space and computational scaling properties of such approaches are still opaque, and their benefits are far from apparent when one accounts for the cost of learning a high-quality verifier. Our starting point is the observation that seemingly benign errors in a l…

Preparing for the worst: Long-term and short-term weather extremes in resource adequacy assessment
Aleksander Grochowicz, Hannah C. Bloomfield, Marta Victoria
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.05163

Preparing for the worst: Long-term and short-term weather extremes in resource adequacy assessment
Security of supply is a common and important concern when integrating renewables in net-zero power systems. Extreme weather affects both demand and supply leading to power system stress; in Europe this stress spreads continentally beyond the meteorological root cause. We use an approach based on shadow prices to identify periods of elevated stress called system-defining events and analyse their impact on the power system. By classifying different types of system-defining events, we identify cha…

Momentum distribution and correlation of free particles in the Tsallis statistics using conventional expectation value and equilibrium temperature
Masamichi Ishihara
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.01609

Momentum distribution and correlation of free particles in the Tsallis statistics using conventional expectation value and equilibrium temperature
We applied the Tsallis statistics with the conventional expectation value to a system of free particles, adopting the equilibrium temperature which is often called the physical temperature. The entropic parameter $q$ in the Tsallis statistics is less than one for power-law-like distribution. The well-known relation between the energy and the temperature in the Boltzmann--Gibbs statistics holds in the Tsallis statistics, when the equilibrium temperature is adopted. We derived the momentum distri…

I want to push back on the idea in the world of tech work that a PIP (performance improvement plan) is about getting rid of someone, that they're not intended to be survivable.
This is completely false. (I'm sure there's instances of it, of course, but the mode and vast majority are, in fact about performance improvement. Sometimes they're shadow layoffs, but that is cruel callous behavior that not everyone will exhibit.)
Now _most people do not survive the PIP process_. This is to be expected: if someone is in fact not performing, and more gentle remedies haven't worked, it's not looking good.
But here's where I get a bit spicy: most performance problems are constitutional problems with management and management style, not individual performance problems. However, since managers are as a class 'in power' somewhat, the individual contributor takes the fall for this structurally.
The intent of a PIP is not to get rid of people. It's to right performance.
However, as a system, PIPs do largely get rid of people who are constitutionally misaligned with management. Even when it's a management problem (and it usually is)

Explaining raw data complexity to improve satellite onboard processing
Adrien Dorise, Marjorie Bellizzi, Adrien Girard, Benjamin Francesconi, St\'ephane May
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06858

Explaining raw data complexity to improve satellite onboard processing
With increasing processing power, deploying AI models for remote sensing directly onboard satellites is becoming feasible. However, new constraints arise, mainly when using raw, unprocessed sensor data instead of preprocessed ground-based products. While current solutions primarily rely on preprocessed sensor images, few approaches directly leverage raw data. This study investigates the effects of utilising raw data on deep learning models for object detection and classification tasks. We intro…

Heat and super-diffusive melting fronts in unsaturated porous media
Eirik G. Flekk{\o}y, Erika Eiser, Alex Hansen
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.05451 https://…

Heat and super-diffusive melting fronts in unsaturated porous media
When water is present in a medium with pore sizes in a range around 10nm the corresponding freezing point depression will cause long range broadening of a melting front. Describing the freezing-point depression by the Gibbs-Thomson equation and the pore size distribution by a power law, we derive a non-linear diffusion equation for the fraction of melted water. This equation yields super-diffusive spreading of the melting front with a diffusion exponent which is given by the spatial dimension a…

When you build a dictatorship, you get a dictatorship
For decades, the left was effectively in complete control of the US government. Of course, there were short moments when the right managed to take temporary control, but even there, the left still maintained sufficient power to severely retard the right's efforts. They spent that all of that time constantly increasing the power of the executive branch while abdicating legislative responsibility.

When you build a dictatorship, you get a dictatorship
For decades, the left was effectively in complete control of the US government. Of course, there were short moments when the right managed to take temporary control, but even there, the left still …

Efficient evaluation of the dark-matter two-loop power spectrum in the EFT of LSS
Charalampos Anastasiou, Andrea Favorito, Matthew Lewandowski, Leonardo Senatore, Henry Zheng
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.05187

Efficient evaluation of the dark-matter two-loop power spectrum in the EFT of LSS
Rapid progress in cosmological Large Scale Structure (LSS) surveys motivates precise theoretical predictions. The Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure (EFTofLSS) is routinely applied to data, and requires fast computation of its predictions when sampling the large space of cosmological parameters. Going beyond existing one-loop techniques, we present a method to rapidly evaluate the two-loop power spectrum. Our method decomposes the typically small difference between a given linear p…

What happens when stakeholders along the #supply chain join forces to eliminate #genderbased violence? Find out how investigations by an NGO led to a unique labor impact story in my latest feature for Triple Pundit.

Overly academic/distanced ethical discussions
Had a weird interaction with @/brainwane@social.coop just now. I misinterpreted one of their posts quoting someone else and I think the combination of that plus an interaction pattern where I'd assume their stance on something and respond critically to that ended up with me getting blocked. I don't have hard feelings exactly, and this post is only partly about this particular person, but I noticed something interesting by the end of the conversation that had been bothering me. They repeatedly criticized me for assuming what their position was, but never actually stated their position. They didn't say: "I'm bothered you assumed my position was X, it's actually Y." They just said "I'm bothered you assumed my position was X, please don't assume my position!" I get that it's annoying to have people respond to a straw man version of your argument, but when I in response asked some direct questions about what their position was, they gave some non-answers and then blocked me. It's entirely possible it's a coincidence, and they just happened to run out of patience on that iteration, but it makes me take their critique of my interactions a bit less seriously. I suspect that they just didn't want to hear what I was saying, while at the same time they wanted to feel as if they were someone who values public critique and open discussion of tricky issues (if anyone reading this post also followed our interaction and has a different opinion of my behavior, I'd be glad to hear it; it's possible In effectively being an asshole here and it would be useful to hear that if so).
In any case, the fact that at the end of the entire discussion, I'm realizing I still don't actually know their position on whether they think the AI use case in question is worthwhile feels odd. They praised the system on several occasions, albeit noting some drawbacks while doing so. They said that the system was possibly changing their anti-AI stance, but then got mad at me for assuming this meant that they thought this use-case was justified. Maybe they just haven't made up their mind yet but didn't want to say that?
Interestingly, in one of their own blog posts that got linked in the discussion, they discuss a different AI system, and despite listing a bunch of concrete harms, conclude that it's okay to use it. That's fine; I don't think *every* use of AI is wrong on balance, but what bothered me was that their post dismissed a number of real ethical issues by saying essentially "I haven't seen calls for a boycott over this issue, so it's not a reason to stop use." That's an extremely socially conformist version of ethics that doesn't sit well with me. The discussion also ended up linking this post: https://chelseatroy.com/2024/08/28/does-ai-benefit-the-world/ which bothered me in a related way. In it, Troy describes classroom teaching techniques for introducing and helping students explore the ethics of AI, and they seem mostly great. They avoid prescribing any particular correct stance, which is important when teaching given the power relationship, and they help students understand the limitations of their perspectives regarding global impacts, which is great. But the overall conclusion of the post is that "nobody is qualified to really judge global impacts, so we should focus on ways to improve outcomes instead of trying to judge them." This bothers me because we actually do have a responsibility to make decisive ethical judgments despite limitations of our perspectives. If we never commit to any ethical judgment against a technology because we think our perspective is too limited to know the true impacts (which I'll concede it invariably is) then we'll have to accept every technology without objection, limiting ourselves to trying to improve their impacts without opposing them. Given who currently controls most of the resources that go into exploration for new technologies, this stance is too permissive. Perhaps if our objection to a technology was absolute and instantly effective, I'd buy the argument that objecting without a deep global view of the long-term risks is dangerous. As things stand, I think that objecting to the development/use of certain technologies in certain contexts is necessary, and although there's a lot of uncertainly, I expect strongly enough that the overall outcomes of objection will be positive that I think it's a good thing to do.
The deeper point here I guess is that this kind of "things are too complicated, let's have a nuanced discussion where we don't come to any conclusions because we see a lot of unknowns along with definite harms" really bothers me.

The Canonical Exact Sequence of Differential Modules for 0-Dimensional Schemes
Tran N. K. Linh, Le Ngoc Long
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.00196 https://arxiv…

The Canonical Exact Sequence of Differential Modules for 0-Dimensional Schemes
Given a 0-dimensional scheme $\X$ in $\mathbb{P}^n_K$ over a perfect field $K$, we examine the second differential power of its homogeneous vanishing ideal. This enables us to establish the canonical exact sequence for the associated Kähler differential module. We also provide a formula for the Hilbert polynomial of Kähler differential modules when $\X$ is either a fat point scheme or a 0-dimensional locally monomial Gorenstein scheme.

Power Laws for the Favard Length Problem in $\mathbb{R}^d$
Caleb Marshall
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.02882 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.02882

Power Laws for the Favard Length Problem in $\mathbb{R}^d$
We prove a power law for the asymptotic decay of the Favard length of neighbourhoods of certain self-similar sets in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with $d \geq 2$. These self-similar sets are generalizations of the so-called four-corner Cantor set to higher dimensions, as well as to a more general class of rational digit sets. When $d \geq 3$, our estimates are the first such non-trivial asymptotic upper bounds for the Favard length problem. The extension to a new class of digit sets (which is new even when $…

Remember how the maga-klan screamed when they heard "Defund The Police"?
Now that the maga-in-chief has decided to secretly defund everything from national parks to embassy security the klan-of-orange is silent.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/upshot/

In Budget Logs It Tried to Hide, White House Wrests More Control Over Spending
Deep within obscure footnotes, the Trump administration is claiming more of Congress’s constitutional power of the purse by threatening to block funding.

When the hotel WiFi is acting up again, but the good old Ethernet port in the room works perfectly. 😎 #Vacation

As a marketer by profession I feel this very deeply and struggle to find a way to communicate to fellow people on the left that the methods and tools for communicating messages and persuading masses of people SHOULD be used, as effectively as possible, to promote facts and values we align with.
I get that power is uncomfortable when so many parties visibly abuse it for malicious purposes.
But power in and of itself is a tools that needs to be wielded, and we should be cognizant about targeting it at changes that will improve our societies and help us and the planet.
Yes, don’t use power blindly. Don’t manipulate people. But using persuasive, effective tactics for mass communication to educate people on the truth and get them aboard initiatives that will help them??? Why is that evil?
It feels like the left sees power, influence, and thus marketing / PR / propaganda as too black-and-white. We need to be comfortable in navigating the grey. https://sauropods.win/@futurebird/114913847088444610

Pilot-to-Data Power Ratio in RIS-Assisted Multiantenna Communication
Masoud Sadeghian, Angel Lozano, Gabor Fodor
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21785 https://a…

Pilot-to-Data Power Ratio in RIS-Assisted Multiantenna Communication
The optimization of the \gls{pdpr} is a recourse that helps wireless systems to acquire channel state information while minimizing the pilot overhead. While the optimization of the \gls{pdpr} in cellular networks has been studied extensively, the effect of the \gls{pdpr} in \gls{ris}-assisted networks has hardly been examined. This paper tackles this optimization when the communication is assisted by a RIS whose phase shifts are adjusted on the basis of the statistics of the channels. For a set…

Diffusive shock acceleration: non-classical model of cosmic ray transport
A. A. Lagutin
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.03091 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.03091…

Diffusive shock acceleration: non-classical model of cosmic ray transport
In this work the theory of diffusive shock acceleration is extended to the case of non-classical particle transport with Lévy flights and Lévy traps, when the mean square displacement grows nonlinearly with time. In this approach the Green function is not a Gaussian but it exhibits power-law tails. By using the propagator appropriate for non-classical diffusion, it is found for the first time that energy spectral index of particles accelerated at shock front is $γ= [α(\mathrm{r} + 5) - 6 β…

We Need a Strategy to Win Zohran’s Agenda. Call It Plan Z. https://jacobin.com/2025/08/zohran-bernie-party-power-strategy/

We Need a Strategy to Win Zohran’s Agenda. Call It Plan Z.
Electing Zohran Mamdani is just the beginning. To actually win his agenda against billionaire opposition, we need to build popular power — permanent grassroots organizations that can mobilize tens of thousands to have his back when the fight gets real.

A Simulation of the Fermilab Main Injector Dual Power Amplifier Cavities
Susanna Stevenson (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.03312 https://

A Simulation of the Fermilab Main Injector Dual Power Amplifier Cavities
The Fermilab Main Injector accelerating cavities have sparking issues when they are run at voltages higher than those required by the PIP-II project. This is a problem Fermilab is working on as planning begins for the next upgrade to the accelerator complex. One of the methods being used to address the issue is the development of a CST Microwave Studio simulation to accurately model the PIP-II dual power amplifier cavities and identify which part(s) of the cavity is causing sparking to develop.…

Structural Chirality and Natural Optical Activity across the $\alpha$-to-$\beta$ Phase Transition in SiO$_2$ and AlPO$_4$ from first-principles
F. G\'omez-Ortiz, A. Zabalo, A. M. Glazer, E. E. McCabe, A. H. Romero, E. Bousquet
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03047

Structural Chirality and Natural Optical Activity across the $α$-to-$β$ Phase Transition in SiO$_2$ and AlPO$_4$ from first-principles
Natural optical activity (NOA), the ability of a material to rotate the plane of polarized light, has traditionally been associated with structural chirality. However, this relationship has often been oversimplified, leading to conceptual misunderstandings, particularly when attempts are made to directly correlate structural handedness with optical rotatory power. In reality, the relationship between chirality and NOA is more nuanced: optical activity can arise in both chiral and achiral crysta…

This is the last straw! Working with Israel to commit genocide we can forgive but asking us to pay more for their services… now that’s unconscionable. https://mastodon.online/@parismarx/114914379016704186

Read today’s pathetic remarks as an attempt to mock the military and all the people who serve in it so that the fascists can get what they crave: a monopoly on the perception of strength. It is a “culture war” in the truest sense of the word: an attempt to make lies about strength trump actual strength. (The very same principle is at play when fascists mock protestors, but I think the dissonance is culturally easier to spot here.)
Also read it as an attempt to consolidate military power. It is both. These things go together.
Dangerous times.
/end

Involutory Cayley graphs of polynomial and power series rings over the ring of integers modulo $n$
Hamide Keshavarzi, Afshin Amini, Babak Amini
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.01202 …

Involutory Cayley graphs of polynomial and power series rings over the ring of integers modulo n
Let $R$ be a commutative ring with identity. The involutory Cayley graph $\G(R)$ of $R$ is defined as the graph whose vertex set is the set of elements of $R$, where two vertices $a$ and $b$ are adjacent exactly when $(a-b)^2=1$. This paper investigates the properties of involutory Cayley graphs associated with polynomial and power series rings over the ring of integers modulo $n$.

Subband Architecture Aided Selective Fixed-Filter Active Noise Control
Hong-Cheng Liang, Man-Wai Mak, Kong Aik Lee
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.00603 https://

Subband Architecture Aided Selective Fixed-Filter Active Noise Control
The feedforward selective fixed-filter method selects the most suitable pre-trained control filter based on the spectral features of the detected reference signal, effectively avoiding slow convergence in conventional adaptive algorithms. However, it can only handle limited types of noises, and the performance degrades when the input noise exhibits non-uniform power spectral density. To address these limitations, this paper devises a novel selective fixed-filter scheme based on a delayless subb…

It is interesting how Billionaire incompetence and Trump's flailing have done more to erode trust in capitalism than most of what the left has done for the last several decades.
#USPol

The Computational Complexity of Satisfiability in State Space Models
Eric Alsmann, Martin Lange
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.18162 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508…

The Computational Complexity of Satisfiability in State Space Models
We analyse the complexity of the satisfiability problem ssmSAT for State Space Models (SSM), which asks whether an input sequence can lead the model to an accepting configuration. We find that ssmSAT is undecidable in general, reflecting the computational power of SSM. Motivated by practical settings, we identify two natural restrictions under which ssmSAT becomes decidable and establish corresponding complexity bounds. First, for SSM with bounded context length, ssmSAT is NP-complete when the …

eBike Nerdery
So the full decision matrix is:
- BBS02 48V 500W (750W) (a minor upgrade); would let me use a better battery and have a better margin when the battery gets low.
- BBSHD 48V or 52V (1000W); can be run with an extra spicy 52V battery for more power
- TSDZ8 48V 750W (1200W peak), the reengineered TSDZ2 with actual thermal capacity
- TSDZ16 48V 1000W (not sure what peak but geez that's a lot of motor)
- DM02 48V 500W (A team that made the TSDZ2 split off and went to make better motors)
- DM01 48V 1000W — I've not read up on it much but it's that same team I'm sure making a solid motor.
Also-rans:
- BBS02 36V 500W (existing motor); A spare would be nice so I can refurb mine without having to be without my bike.
- TSDZ2 48V 500W (I have one); tends to overheat and I ride hard. Not a winner.
- CYC motors: rather spendy. Nice stuff though.
- M625, M615, M225, M255: newer Bafang motors; more expensive, no real benefit, CAN bus is not well supported by third parties yet.
Pros of the Bafang BBS series: lots of parts available on the market. Lots of display options
Pros of the Tongsheng TSDZ series: Torque sensor!
Pros of the ToSeven DM series: Torque sensor, better build quality.

On the dependence of the nonlinear Schrodinger flow upon the power of the nonlinearity
R\'emi Carles (IRMAR), Quentin Chauleur (LPP), Guillaume Ferriere (LPP)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.26414

On the dependence of the nonlinear Schrodinger flow upon the power of the nonlinearity
We prove continuity properties for the flow map associated to the defocusing energy-subcritical power-like nonlinear Schr{ö}dinger equation, when the power varies. We show local in time continuity in the energy space for any power, and global in time continuity for sufficiently large powers. When the linear dispersive rate is counterbalanced by a time-dependent rescaling, we show a uniform in time continuity of the squared modulus of this rescaled function, in Kantorovich distance, for any pow…

Thermal Implications of Non-Uniform Power in BSPDN-Enabled 2.5D/3D Chiplet-based Systems-in-Package using Nanosheet Technology
Yukai Chen, Massimiliano Di Todaro, Bjorn Vermeersch, Herman Oprins, Daniele Jahier Pagliari, Julien Ryckaert, Dwaipayan Biswas, James Myers
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02284

Thermal Implications of Non-Uniform Power in BSPDN-Enabled 2.5D/3D Chiplet-based Systems-in-Package using Nanosheet Technology
Advances in nanosheet technologies have significantly increased power densities, exacerbating thermal management challenges in 2.5D/3D chiplet-based Systems-in-Package (SiP). While traditional thermal analyses often employ uniform power maps to simplify computational complexity, this practice neglects localized heating effects, leading to inaccuracies in thermal estimations, especially when comparing power delivery networks (PDN) in 3D integration. This work examines the thermal impact of non-u…

From The Narwhal
B.C. spent $200 million to connect one LNG plant to the electrical grid
What happens when energy-intensive industries want to go electric at minimal cost? B.C. may be about to find out
https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-lng-electrification-costs/

Who will pay the costs to electrify B.C. LNG? | The Narwhal
Power-hungry industries are meant to pay for connection to the BC Hydro grid. In pursuit of cleaner LNG, B.C. is covering some of the tab

🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#MusicMatters
- Music on the Front Line
Clive Myrie in conversation with news correspondents. He and Lyse Doucet share stories revealing the power and meaning of music when reporting from extreme conflict situations.
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0020r1f

EV Charging Cost by the Numbers.
I charge my car at home almost nightly wirh a Level 2 Flo 30A/240V charger.
I noticed today that they have added an "estimated rate" for my address based on my utility (BC Hydro) charge so that it can estimate the cost of the charging.
Their estimate is $0.11400/kWh. I drive alot. 160km a day when I am commuting to work and then 50-100km in the evening 4-5 days a week Dashing. Thanks to dashing I have a solid record of odometer readings.
We have both tiered and time of day pricing so it's complicated to do this manually. I do most of my charging during the lowest rate overnight. I have the Flo charger set to only charge at full 30A power between 11PM and 7AM to match the overnight rate, then 15A in "off peak" (standard rate) and to turn off completely during on-peak 4PM to 9PM times.
I think their estimate is quite accurate considering the overnight rate is usually $0.14 - $0.05/kWh. Ill include my latest electrical bill. (we are billed monthly)
Here are the numbers.
A "full tank" of battery is 65kWh
Monthly: eg. March (full time commuting plus dashing) 4668km
30 charging sessions
853.4kWh
$97 ($2.07/100km)
Last 12 months: 56,107km
8793kWh
$1,002 ($1.78/100km)
There are a few free charges at work in there (15 in the year?) but any saving is eaten up by $6/day parking cost.
As a comparison if I drove our 2014 Prius C hybrid 56,000km at its general fuel mileage of 5L/100km and an average price of $1.60/L that would be $2,800. So I am saving by more than half, and probably more than that, compared to one of the best mileage hybrids out there.
It makes less and less sense to buy a gas car.
(We have 222,607km on the 2019 Hyundai Kona and about 250,000 on the Prius)
#EV #ElectricCar #cost #electricity #bchydro #bcpoli #endfossilfuels

A universal compression theory: Lottery ticket hypothesis and superpolynomial scaling laws
Hong-Yi Wang, Di Luo, Tomaso Poggio, Isaac L. Chuang, Liu Ziyin
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.00504

A universal compression theory: Lottery ticket hypothesis and superpolynomial scaling laws
When training large-scale models, the performance typically scales with the number of parameters and the dataset size according to a slow power law. A fundamental theoretical and practical question is whether comparable performance can be achieved with significantly smaller models and substantially less data. In this work, we provide a positive and constructive answer. We prove that a generic permutation-invariant function of $d$ objects can be asymptotically compressed into a function of $\ope…

Place-cell heterogeneity underlies power-laws in hippocampal activity
John J. Briguglio, Jaesung Lee, Albert K. Lee, Vincent Hakim, Sandro Romani
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.23030

Place-cell heterogeneity underlies power-laws in hippocampal activity
Power-law scaling in coarse-grained data suggests critical dynamics, but the true source of this scaling often remains unclear. Here, we analyze neural activity recorded during spatial navigation, reproducing power-law scaling under a phenomenological renormalization group (PRG) procedure that clusters units by activity similarity. Such scaling was previously linked to criticality. Here, we show that the iterative nature of the procedure itself leads to the emergence of power laws when applied …

EVs with bidirectional charging can save lives during disasters like hurricanes. #climatechange #climatesolutions #climate

Veterinarian shares how she saved $15,000 worth of pet medicine during hurricane-fueled blackouts: 'They can really save you when the grid goes down'
As more EVs are introduced, companies are making it increasingly possible to use your car to power your home in case of an emergency.

Entangling Power and Its Deviation: A Quantitative Analysis on Input-State Dependence and Variability in Entanglement Generation
Kyoungho Cho, Jeongho Bang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.00301

Entangling Power and Its Deviation: A Quantitative Analysis on Input-State Dependence and Variability in Entanglement Generation
Quantifying the entangling capability of quantum operations is a fundamental task in quantum information science. Traditionally, this capability is measured by the entangling power (EP), defined as the average entanglement generated when a quantum operation acts uniformly on all possible product states. However, EP alone cannot capture the intricate input-state-dependent nature of entanglement generation. To address this, we define a complementary metric -- entangling power deviation (EPD) -- a…

The wheeled backpack is giving out. After a year of use, one of the wheel ball bearings has popped out and is a lot harder to pull.
Not overloaded. Laptop, keyboard, mouse, cables, power supply, and office supplies that weigh about 8 kg (17 lbs).
I need it as when bursitis flares up like today it is very painful carrying a bag.

When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7893468966?utm_medium=api

ADI / Linear Tech LTC4367 power protection controller, from one of my failed 48V IBC designs that blew up from inductive spikes when I applied power.
I didn't do extensive circuit analysis but it looks like one particular net is blown out in several places. Guessing this is the same pin that cratered on the package.
Besides the damage, some other features of interest:
* Colored fringes on large top metal features. Maybe spin-on glass top metal or something.
* The LT…

Isotope shift for total electron binding energy of atoms
V. A. Dzuba, V. V. Flambaum
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21410 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.21410 https://arxiv.org/html/2507.21410
arXiv:2507.21410v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: We compute the isotope shifts of the \emph{total} electron binding energy of neutral atoms and singly charged ions up to element $Z=120$, using relativistic Hartree-Fock method including the Breit interaction. Field shift coefficients are extracted by varying the nuclear charge radius; a small quadratic term is retained to cover large radius changes relevant to superheavy nuclei. We tabulate isotope shift coefficients for closed shell systems from Ne to Og and benchmark selected open shell cases, used to test the interpolation formula. A simple power law interpolation $bZ^k$ reproduces calculated field shifts to within about 1\% across the table, with the effective exponent $k$ growing from roughly 5 near $Z \sim 50$ to about 12 at $Z \sim 118$. Due to the domination of inner shells, differences between neutrals and singly charged ions does not exceed few percent, becoming noticeable mainly when an outer $s$ electron is removed. Therefore, these results may also be used for higher charge ions.
toXiv_bot_toot

Welp, it was a fantastic 8-year run but my laptop is finally toast. Ol' fella had another battery give out along with its replacement keyboard and this weekend it finally stopped accepting power altogether even when plugged in. The Micro Center tech who tried to revive it today literally wrote "no signs of life" in the diagnostic report.
RIP Dell Inspiron, Fall 2017 – Summer 2025. You served me well 🫡

Modular curves of prime-power level with infinitely many quadratic points
Michael Cerchia, Rakvi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.22895 https://arxiv.org/pdf/25…

Modular curves of prime-power level with infinitely many quadratic points
We completely determine the $1085$ open subgroups $H$ of $\operatorname{GL}_2(\widehat{\mathbb{Z}})$ of prime-power level that satisfy $-I \in H$ and $\operatorname{det}(H)=\widehat{\mathbb{Z}}^{\times}$ for which the corresponding modular curve $X_H$ has infinitely many quadratic points. When $g(X_H)\geq 2$ this is equivalent to determining all the hyperelliptic modular curves of prime-power level and all the bielliptic modular curves of prime-power level that admit a degree two map to a posit…

Three of the four California counties empowered to inspect federal immigration detention facilities
💥have not done so,
and the fourth has conducted only basic reviews of food this year, records obtained by CalMatters show.
If they were checking, local officials would be providing an additional layer of oversight
at a time when the number of people held in detention centers has surged because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on unauthorized immigrants. 
✅ Tw…

California gave counties power to inspect ICE detention centers. They’re not using it
California's seven ICE detention centers have to open their doors to local health departments. So far, county officials aren't making much use of that power.

Digital Domination: A Case for Republican Liberty in Artificial Intelligence
Matthew David Hamilton
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.00312 https://arxiv.org/pdf/…

Digital Domination: A Case for Republican Liberty in Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is set to revolutionize social and political life in unpredictable ways, raising questions about the principles that ought to guide its development and regulation. By examining digital advertising and social media algorithms, this article highlights how artificial intelligence already poses a significant threat to the republican conception of liberty -- or freedom from unaccountable power -- and thereby highlights the necessity of protecting republican liberty when integ…

Material parameter influence on the expression of Solitary-Wave-Induced Surface Dilation
Eric Frizzell, Christine Hartzell
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.03275 https://

Material parameter influence on the expression of Solitary-Wave-Induced Surface Dilation
We formulate a method for predicting peak particle forces in a Solitary Wave (SW) wavefront within a randomly filled 3D granular channel. The SW in our simulation are driven by a sustained impact originating in the bumpy floor of the channel. We show that, when generated in this manner, forces in the driven SW wavefront within the 3D assembly follow the same power law scaling on material properties and impact velocity as in a 1D chain. A simple scaling of the 1D forces matches results from simu…

Been playing Transiruby and the exploration poetics are top-notch, like rivalling Super Metroid good, which is a distinct rarity among metroidvanias.
Something the original Super Metroid had was required secrets and the expectation that you'd actually read the map as a gameplay skill. Many many metroidvanias don't have that, including favorites like Ori, but it's one of the things that makes Hollow Knight stand out. Transiruby sadly doesn't have maps-as-rewards, but it does have moments where consulting the map is expected (water cog is a big one since it's in the middle of an already-explored area by the time you can access it). The game also requires revisits with the coin door mechanic, but marks the things you need on the map and structures revisits really nicely with a variety of shortcuts that open up as you gain abilities.
I was kinda sad when the first movement power was double jump (le sigh) but the second movement power is really neat and original, so I'm happy again.
Besides the big things, there are a lot of little moments where there's ludonarrative harmony between the choice structures and the area themes/plot points.
Haven't finished it yet, but so far it's headed into my top tier of metroidvanias, or very close, even despite fairly simple combat and easy (if fun) bosses.
#Transiruby #AmPlaying #Metroidvania

$1/f^{3/2}$ Power Spectrum at the Phonon Bottleneck
Steven T. Bramwell
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19159 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.19159

$1/f^{3/2}$ Power Spectrum at the Phonon Bottleneck
The common observation of a `$1/f^α$' power spectrum with $α<2$ constitutes one of the enduring mysteries of condensed matter physics. Here it is shown that a $1/f^α$ power spectrum, with $α= 3/2$, can arise when an ensemble of two--level systems is coupled to a heat bath by means of a system of Bosonic quasiparticles. The model considered is the classic model of Faughnan and Strandberg of the phonon bottleneck, and the anomalous relaxation is associated with an approximate non-equilibrium …

When your opponent is Donald Trump you escalate in response to threats;
you don’t try to appease him.
Jerome Powell must do everything in his power to compel the conventional wisdom of market traders to more adequately “price in” the degradation of the rule of law.
This must include tying the rule of law and the threats to the constitution to the credibility and standing of the Federal Reserve itself.
Powell’s term expires in less than a year anyway.
If defe…

Powell Will Hang Separately: The Federal Reserve Has Already Failed its Duty to Lisa Cook and the Constitution
This is a free Notes on the Crises article. A reminder to readers that the various activities run out of the still-new Notes on the Crises office cost money, while an enormous amount of time and effort goes into my writing and my constant dedication to refresh and deepen my

When Nixon adopted Goldwater’s Southern Strategy and won, that was a party realignment. The new foundation of the Republican coalition was “throw anti-Black racism lots of ethnonationalist red meat so they support the concentration of wealth.”
I’d venture that ethnonationalism captured to concentrate power is (or inexorably becomes) fascism. Nixon’s realignment made the Republican Party the fascist party.
@…’s post below on this topic touched off my train of thought here:
4/
https://jorts.horse/@AnarchoNinaWrites/114926186431482846

Netanyahu Pushes for Full Israeli Occupation of Gaza
Doing so would appease the prime minister’s far-right coalition partners at a time when his grip on power remains fragile.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened with senior security officials on Tuesday to set a new strategy for the Israel-Hamas war, which has been ongoing for 22 months.
The meeting included Defense Minister Israel Katz, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, military chief of staff Eyal Zam…

Netanyahu Pushes for Full Israeli Occupation of Gaza
Doing so would appease the prime minister’s far-right coalition partners at a time when his grip on power remains fragile.

The uniqueness of inverse scattering problems, reciprocity principles, and nonradiating sources related to low-signature structures
Johan Helsing, Anders Karlsson
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.26304

The uniqueness of inverse scattering problems, reciprocity principles, and nonradiating sources related to low-signature structures
This paper is about perfectly electrically conducting structures designed to produce negligible scattered power when exposed to a time-harmonic plane electromagnetic wave. The structures feature cavities capable of concealing objects. Theoretical investigations of the properties of the structures combined with accurate numerical computations lead to three key findings: the first concerns the uniqueness of the solution to an inverse scattering problem, the second establishes a reciprocity relati…

Automorphisms of prime power order of weighted hypersurfaces
Alvaro Liendo, Ana Julisa Palomino
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13538 https://

Automorphisms of prime power order of weighted hypersurfaces
We study automorphisms of quasi-smooth hypersurfaces in weighted projective spaces, extending classical results for smooth hypersurfaces in projective space to the weighted setting. We establish effective criteria for when a power of a prime number can occur as the order of an automorphism, and we derive explicit bounds on the possible prime orders. A key role is played by a weighted analogue of the classical Klein hypersurface, which we show realizes the maximal prime order of an automorphism …

From Clean Energy Review
In Edmonton’s Blatchford neighbourhood, a new “virtual power plant” is flipping the script on how communities use energy. Twenty (but soon-to-be 100) townhomes, each equipped with rooftop solar panels and energy storage, are not just powering themselves—they can feed the grid, manage peak demand, and even provide emergency backup when the lights go out. It’s a glimpse of what clean households could look like across Canada.

Bounds on the propagation radius in power domination
Imran Allie, Brandon du Preez, Dean Reagon, Adriana Roux
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02211 https://arxi…

Bounds on the propagation radius in power domination
Let $G$ be a graph and let $S \subseteq V(G)$. It is said that $S$ \textit{dominates} $N[S]$. We say that $S$ \textit{monitors} vertices of $G$ as follows. Initially, all dominated vertices are monitored. If there exists a vertex $v \in G$ which is not monitored, but has all but one of its neighbours monitored, then $v$ becomes monitored itself. This step is called a \textit{propagation} step and is repeated until the process terminates. The process terminates when the there are no unmonitored …

Accurate Small-Signal Modeling of Digitally Controlled Buck Converters with ADC-PWM Synchronization
Hang Zhou, Yuxin Yang, Branislav Hrezdak, John Edward Fletcher
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.00943

Accurate Small-Signal Modeling of Digitally Controlled Buck Converters with ADC-PWM Synchronization
Digital control has become increasingly widespread in modern power electronic converters. When acquiring feedback signals such as the inductor current, synchronizing the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with the digital pulse-width modulator (DPWM) is commonly employed to accurately track their steady-state average. However, the small-signal implications of such synchronization have not been investigated. This paper presents an exact small-signal model for digitally controlled buck converters …

Modular Multiparty Sessions with Mixed Choice
Franco Barbanera (DMI - University of Catania), Mariangiola Dezani-Ciancaglini (DI- University of Torino)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.13616

Modular Multiparty Sessions with Mixed Choice
MultiParty Session Types (MPST) provide a useful framework for safe concurrent systems. Mixed choice (enabling a participant to play at the same time the roles of sender and receiver) increases the expressive power of MPST as well as the difficulty in controlling safety of communications. Such a control is more viable when modular systems are considered and the power of mixed choice fully exploited only inside loosely coupled modules. We carry over such idea in a type assignment approach to mul…

Impact of Phase Noise and Power Amplifier Non-Linearities on Downlink Cell-Free Massive MIMO-OFDM Systems
\"Ozlem Tu\u{g}fe Demir, Emil Bj\"ornson
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21635

Impact of Phase Noise and Power Amplifier Non-Linearities on Downlink Cell-Free Massive MIMO-OFDM Systems
Cell-free massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) is a key enabler for the sixth generation (6G) of mobile networks, offering significant spectral and energy efficiency gains through user-centric operation of distributed access points (APs). However, its reliance on low-cost APs introduces inevitable hardware impairments, whose combined impact on wideband downlink systems remains unexplored when analyzed using behavioral models. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the downlink…

Assessing the Power-Law Emissivity Assumption in X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy: A Simulation-Based Evaluation of Different Coronal Geometries
Songcheng Li, Abdurakhmon Nosirov, Cosimo Bambi, Honghui Liu, Zuobin Zhang, Shafqat Riaz
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.20752

Assessing the Power-Law Emissivity Assumption in X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy: A Simulation-Based Evaluation of Different Coronal Geometries
The emissivity profile assumed in X-ray reflection spectroscopy significantly impacts black hole spin measurements. Using simulated NuSTAR spectra generated for lamppost and disk-like coronae with the relxill model suite, we evaluate systematic biases introduced when fitting with power-law or broken power-law emissivity profiles. We find that a simple power-law can accurately recover spins for low-height lamppost coronae with long exposures and low inclination angle, while broken power-laws int…

Search for Active and Inactive Ion Insertion Sites in Organic Crystalline Materials
Harshan Reddy Gopidi, Alae Eddine Lakraychi, Abhishek A. Panchal, Yiming Chen, V. S. Chaitanya Kolluru, Jiaqi Wang, Ying Chen, Liu Jue, Kamila Wiaderek, Maria K. Y. Chan, Yan Yao, Pieremanuele Canepa
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.00278

Search for Active and Inactive Ion Insertion Sites in Organic Crystalline Materials
The position of mobile active and inactive ions, specifically ion insertion sites, within organic crystals, significantly affects the properties of organic materials used for energy storage and ionic transport. Identifying the positions of these atom (and ion) sites in an organic crystal is difficult, especially when the element has a low X-ray scattering power, such as lithium (Li) and hydrogen, which are difficult to detect with powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. First-principles calcula…

Folks look at you like you’re crazy when you say we’re in the midst of the worst, most unprecedented Article I constitutional crisis in 🇺🇸 history, & then, well, here we are:
-- Mark Copelovitch
https://bsky.app/profile/mclem.org/post/3m27pjeavrs27

Michael Clemens (@mclem.org)
The US Congress created, mandated, and funded the agencies of the Executive Branch of the US government. No Liberal or Conservative president has any power, any authority, any right to amputate them at will. This lawless rampage is shredding our Constitutional order and poisoning our democracy. [contains quote post or other embedded content]

Symmetric power of higher dimensional varieties
Ashima Bansal, Supravat Sarkar, Shivam Vats
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.12654 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.126…

Symmetric power of higher dimensional varieties
We study several properties of the symmetric power $S^mX$ of a smooth variety $X$. We describe the Picard and divisor class groups of $S^mX$ when $X$ is projective. We give a complete description of the stratification of $S^mX$ by iterated singular locus in terms of some combinatorial data regarding partitions of the integer $m.$ This gives a new viewpoint of a natural stratification of $S^mX$ by multiplicities.

Kibble-Zurek mechanism for dissipative discrete time crystals
Roy D. Jara Jr., Jayson G. Cosme
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.18950 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.…

Kibble-Zurek mechanism for dissipative discrete time crystals
We demonstrate that the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) holds for open systems transitioning from a disordered phase to a discrete time crystal (DTC). Specifically, we observe the main signatures of the KZM when the system is quenched into a DTC, which are the characteristic power-law scaling with quench time of the number of spatial defects and the transition delay measured from the time at which the system crosses the critical point. We show analytically that this universal behavior can be trace…

Electric Vehicle Identification from Behind Smart Meter Data
Ammar Kamoona, Hui Song, Ali Moradi Amani, Mahdi Jalili, Xinghuo Yu, Peter McTaggart
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.19316

Electric Vehicle Identification from Behind Smart Meter Data
Electric vehicle (EV) charging loads identification from behind smart meter recordings is an indispensable aspect that enables effective decision-making for energy distributors to reach an informed and intelligent decision about the power grid's reliability. When EV charging happens behind the meter (BTM), the charging occurs on the customer side of the meter, which measures the overall electricity consumption. In other words, the charging of the EV is considered part of the customer's load and…

Trump may be chipping away at America's economic advantage.
In recent weeks, Donald Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics when her agency reported weak job growth
and tried to force out officials at the Federal Reserve when they refused to cut interest rates.
He and his aides have used the power of the federal government to target
— and perhaps criminally prosecute
— perceived enemies, including at the Fed, and to pressure companies over thei…

Trump’s Attacks on the Fed and BLS Threaten Key Source of Economic Strength
The president’s efforts to control the Federal Reserve and Bureau of Labor Statistics carry risks. But collectively, the moves could be even more damaging, economists warn.

Finite-Time Thermodynamics Perspective into Nuclear Power Plant Heat Cycle
Fang-Ming Cui, Hui Dong
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25714 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2…

Finite-Time Thermodynamics Perspective into Nuclear Power Plant Heat Cycle
Nuclear power plants are prominent examples of heat-to-work conversion systems, and optimizing their thermodynamic performance offers significant potential for enhancing energy efficiency. With a development history of less than a century, optimization trends in nuclear power plants indicate that classical thermodynamics alone may be insufficient, particularly when maximizing output power rather than efficiency becomes the primary focus. This paper re-examines nuclear power plant thermodynamic …

When, will Americans realize we are descending into dictatorship?
Trump has already silenced ABC, CBS, and Facebook,
extorting millions of dollars from them for offending him.
The job was done using bogus lawsuits and the power of the presidency.
And now it's the turn of The Wall Street Journal. -- Trump is suing the newspaper owned by his sometime supporter Rupert Murdoch.
The Wall Street Journal had the effrontery to publish a piece painful to Trump

And Now It's The Wall Street Journal's Turn To Tango With Trump | Opinion
The Wall Street Journal had the effrontery to publish a piece painful to President Donald Trump—painful because the truth hurts.

When he left the Soviet Union for a new life in America, the novelist never imagined he would live under another authoritarian regime.
Then Trump got back into power
... Is it time to move again?
https://www.

This is the time to speak out, to disembed our selves from a fascist system, to place principles over profit and self-advancement.
To be what Viet Thanh Nguyen calls “disagreeable”.
Yes, of course there are risks.
But at this moment, with ICE in the streets and at our door,
when each hour another liberty is being erased,
and those who speak truth to power are being removed from TV,
from universities, from cultural centers,
when the cultural platform…

A shutdown will give Trump more power over federal spending
Under an extension of funding, the administration has far greater leeway to decide how to spend federal money than it does under normal operations.
When the government shuts down, Trump and the White House Office of Management and Budget will have the power to decide which agencies and offices would stay open and which would go offline until the deadlock is resolved.

That has lawmakers, especially Democrats, feel…

A shutdown would give Trump more power over federal spending
Congress is racing toward a government shutdown deadline, and Democrats worry the White House could have more control over spending either way.

Consider how far a
"use of force authorization" could be read to extend
when it starts with no limiting principle
-- no armed attack, no organized armed group fighting the United States
-- and is in fact explicitly authorizing widespread murder of mere suspects
https://

The lesson of Hungary is this:
We cannot claim to care about democracy only when it costs nothing.
Trump, like Orban, no doubt believes that everyone can be bought.
America’s elites are proving him right.
There is a Hungarian phrase I heard often: “Van az a penz” — “There’s always a price.”
If we’re serious about defending democracy, it’s not enough to hold our government accountable in court.
Lawsuits against the Trump administration are fine,
b…

Opinion | I Watched It Happen in Hungary. Now It’s Happening Here.
The real danger of a strongman isn’t his tactics; it’s how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence.

In a remarkable turn from prominent American conservatives,
-- who until Trump’s return to power in January had long complained of a censorious leftwing “cancel culture”
-- now seem happy to reframe that, too, as “consequence culture”.
Nancy Mace, a House representative, sounded a lot like the progressives she has often decried for their political correctness when she declaredlast week, during an effort to censure one of her opponents in Congress, that “free speech isn’t f…