5 Festive Facts About Japanese Christmas Cake - Savvy Tokyo
Sometimes a cake is not just a cake. Then it’s a Japanese Christmas cake.
Hacking Digital License Plates - Schneier on Security
I’m worried about the implications of digital license plates – I don’t think they can be as easily manufactured in prisons. Back to beating each other up in the back of the kitchen, I guess.
Honda CEO Does Not Rule Out Possibility of Merger With Nissan
Well there’s one I didn’t see coming. I think ithis is surely a sign of the end times.
Japan now has fish-shaped soy sauce bottle hand cream | SoraNews24 -Japan News-
I squeezed a lot of soy sauce out of little plastic fish when I lived in Japan, I’m really glad I didn’t get hand cream on my sushi.
Mathematicians Discover a New Kind of Shape That’s All over Nature | Scientific American
This stuff makes my head hurt, but it’s a lot more fun to read than anything to do with the type of reality I do understand.
The Beginning of the End of Big Tech | WIRED
Meredith Whittaker is way smarter than me, but I don’t think I buy this narrative for several reasons, chief amongst them being the incoming administration. All this talk about regulation and inevitable common sense changes seems like the ancient past to me now.
There are some things the Crew-8 astronauts aren’t ready to talk about - Ars Technica
I don’t think I’d volunteer for any trips to ISS at this point if I were an eligible human being.
I’m a neuroscientist who taught rats to drive − their joy suggests how anticipating fun can enrich human life
The science behind the effect on rat psychology that the anticipation of driving has is fascinating, but what struck me the most about this article is how much hope alters the strength of a creature’s desire to survive. I think the past 10 years at least have definitely reminded us of this. 🐀
Get in—We’re Chasing a Waymo Into the Future | WIRED
Get in, loser – we’re going to the Waymo mall. I don’t know about any of these self-driving pioneer companies, but I do know that replacing all the parents racing their kids to school in the morning with automation sounds exquisite to me.
The Joy of Pachinko’s Opening Credits - Pachinko Theme Song
I’m catching up on Pachinko now that season 2 is out, and the opening song is super incongrous and yet wildly compelling. This is a fun look at why and how. By the way, the cast and the acting and the story are all incredible. Watch, if you haven’t.
How to Get Started on Bluesky | WIRED
The best option is to not be on any social media at all. The second best option is do not be on Facebook or Twitter. But Bluesky is ok – for now.
Donald Trump’s plans on immigration are coming into focus | CNN Politics
Sorry for the downer, but the words of a wise man who once said ”*******, what an asshole” sure come to mind when thinking about Donald Trump. The amazing thing is how many other assholes he can round up to work with him at the drop of a hat. There are a lot of people in this country whose entire identities revolve around hating the existence of other people. Do you think it’s too late to get Jake Paul (also a massive tool) to fight Stephen Miller next?
Going the Distance at the Tram Driver Olympics - The New York Times
I guess tram drivers can be competitve too. I’d like to see this in Japan. Pretty sure the main contest would be how close to the second you can hit your arrival and departure schedules, and they’d all win.
Inside Sophos’ 5-Year War With the Chinese Hackers Hijacking Its Devices | WIRED
This is a fun story about Sophos getting back at their Chinese hacker tormentors. If you can’t screw with the people who are screwing with you, is life even worth living?
iPod fans evade Apple’s DRM to preserve 54 lost clickwheel-era games - Ars Technica
Yeah, I played games on my 5th gen iPod. Who didn’t?
Geoffrey Hinton’s misguided views on AI
Paris Marx is quite a bit more negative on AI than I am, but I do appreciate his point that a lot of this extinction event panic is really just a distraction from the fact that AI, like crypto, wants all of earth’s water and electricity for itself.
‘Alien signal’ sent from Mars decoded by father-daughter team | Space
Apparently the key to success in life is intuition and running simulations for hours and days on end. Now I know what I’ve been doing wrong.
A candy engineer explains the science behind the Snickers bar - Ars Technica
In this age of science deniers, one does wonder how the Snickers bar could be invented today. I mean, just look at it. It’s science from top to bottom!
Meet ZachXBT, the Masked Vigilante Tracking Down Billions in Crypto Scams and Thefts | WIRED
This is really fascinating. I’m all for crypto scammers being unmasked (and arrested, preferably). I can only imagine at least some number of angry crypto crooks are trying to figure out who ZachXBT really is. I hope they never find out.
Iceland embraced a shorter work week. Here’s how it turned out | CNN Business
Who will think of the capitalism?? How can it possibly survive if people get an extra day off? Pretty well, actually, but there’s no way anyone with any say in the US will allow this to happen here.
‘Infinite monkey theorem’ challenged by Australian mathematicians
It’s the monkeys against the universe, and these mathematicians are betting on the universe. It may be a lost cause, but I’m rooting for the monkeys. I assume they’re busy typing already. I hope… please.
With four more years like 2023, carbon emissions will blow past 1.5° limit - Ars Technica
I believe humanity has given up and we aren’t collectively really trying anymore. I know some people are still trying, but for the most part, humanity’s actions speak louder than its words. We aren’t trying, and we aren’t going to do what we need to in order to avoid giant catastrophe.
I got dysentery so you don’t have to | Eukaryote Writes Blog
Talk about taking one for the team. There’s even a good reference to The Oregon Trail in here, which I’ll admit is the first thing I thought of when I read the headline.
Why birds are smart: Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Hey, bird brain! No, I mean this is a study about bird brains. Birds have small brains but can be as intelligent as primates that we consider relatively smart. I can only dream of being called bird brain.
The Thought Experiments That Fray the Fabric of Space-Time | Quanta Magazine
Apparently we only live in an approximation of reality or at least a view of reality that’s not fundamental. I KNEW IT!! Most of the stupid stuff we’re required to do to stay fed and housed doesn’t seem very fundamental to reality either.
Taiwan Makes the Majority of the World’s Computer Chips. Now It’s Running Out of Electricity | WIRED
This story is kind of playing out all over the world whether it be power or water, whether it be about semiconductor manufacturing or data centers. This stuff takes resources, and we’re kind of running out of them.
Ancient supermassive black hole is blowing galaxy-killing wind, James Webb Space Telescope finds | Space
This is wild. I always think of black holes as sucking everything in, and now they’re blowing it all out. Kind of reminds me of Spaceballs.
Thousands of Linux systems infected by stealthy malware since 2021
OH HAY THANK GOODSNESEZ LINUS IS IMPERVIOUS TO HAXORS!!?? Oh, yeah. It’s not.
This college dropout was bedridden for 11 years. Then he invented a surgery and cured himself | CNN
Forget about that giant black hole, this is REALLY wild. A college dropout developed his own surgical cure and then talked someone into performing it on him. This guy does not take “lie in bed quietly for the rest of your life” for an answer!
A brief history of defragging – The Eclectic Light Company
It’s fun to spend hours mocking Windows users for defragging their hard drives, but Macs used to need it too. Also, no one on Windows defrags anything anymore either, let’s be real. But you should still spend hours mocking Windows users anyway.
