LINKS 07 – 2023 01 – 16
16
Passport Index
However, not all passports are equal. The Passport Index ranks them from most powerful (United Arab Emirates) to least (Afghanistan). The determining factor is the Mobility Score, which is based on the number of countries you can enter with the least visa hassles.
https://www.passportindex.org
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/100
300,000-Year-Old Snapshot: Oldest Human Footprints from Germany Found
In a study published today in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, an international research team led by scientists from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment presents the earliest human footprints known from Germany. The tracks were discovered in the roughly 300,000-year-old Schöningen Paleolithic site complex in Lower Saxony. The footprints, presumably from Homo heidelbergensis, are surrounded by several animal tracks – collectively, they present a picture of the ecosystem at that time. The project is funded by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony and the University of Tübingen.
Ravens in Prehistory: Scientists Unearth a 30,000-Year-Old Relationship With Humans
Scientists from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment examine human-raven relationships.
Long before the establishment of the first Neolithic settlements around 10,000 years ago, humans and wild animals had already formed diverse relationships.
14 & 15
Photosynthesis is nearly 100% efficient. A quantum experiment shows why
In terms of energy, the “holy grail” of any physical system is 100% efficiency. It’s a near-impossible goal under most conditions, as from the moment any form of energy first gets transferred into a system, it inevitably gets lost to a variety of factors — heat, collisions, chemical reactions, etc. — before finally accomplishing the ultimate task it was designed for. The only ways that physicists have managed to create systems with near-perfect efficiency is to push nature to its extremes:
at temperatures near absolute zero,
by firing monochromatic (laser) photons at (crystalline) systems with absorptive lattices,
or under extreme circumstances such as superconductivity and superfluidity.
The Remote Mexican Restaurant Reviving Jalisco’s Forgotten Cuisine
Entering Maru Toledo’s Santina de Covadonga restaurant on a hot, dry day feels like traveling back in time. Visitors who walk up to the gate, dirt crunching under their feet, will likely encounter a dog lazing about and bougainvillea waving gently in the breeze. After passing through the 19th century – style kitchen, filled with dark-red earthenware pottery, old cookbooks, and the smell of smoke, they’ll sit beneath a tin roof and watch as women use pre-Columbian tools to make tostadas raspadas (“scraped” tostadas), grinding corn with a metate and cooking with a traditional firewood stove known as a tecuil. Everything, from the menu to the equipment to the décor, is meant to evoke the historic, nearly-forgotten traditional kitchens of Jalisco.
Hallucination (artificial intelligence)
Hälfte der Österreicher für Legalisierung der Abgabe von Cannabis
Kill the Newsletter!
Convert email newsletters into Atom feeds
https://kill-the-newsletter.com
Internet Archive Targets Book DRM Removal Tool With DMCA Takedown
The Internet Archive has taken the rather unusual step of sending a DMCA notice to protect the copyrights of book publishers and authors. The non-profit organization asked GitHub to remove a tool that can strip DRM from books in its library. The protective move is likely motivated by the ongoing legal troubles between the Archive and book publishers.
Producers allegedly sought rights to replicate extras using AI, forever, for just $200
Hollywood’s top labor union for media professionals has alleged that studios want to pay extras around $200 for the rights to use their likenesses forever.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/14/actors_strike_gen_ai
Actors say Hollywood studios want their AI replicas — for free, forever
During today’s press conference in which Hollywood actors confirmed that they were going on strike, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator, revealed a proposal from Hollywood studios that sounds ripped right out of a Black Mirror episode.
In a statement about the strike, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said that its proposal included “a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.”
Meta to release open-source commercial AI model to compete with OpenAI and Google
Developers could use the open-source LLM to build generative AI applications, like ChatGPT, for startups or established businesses.
An Art Installation that Listens to Zombie Satellites
Thank you to Stéfane Perraud, Aram Kebabdjian and team for submitting news that they have recently launched an art project in Lausanne, Switzerland called “Hystérésia”. The installation is technical art, which consists of an autonomous satellite receiving station designed to receive beacons from old “zombie” satellites, and then broadcast their signals audibly. A description of the ground station can be seen here.
13
FTC investigating OpenAI on ChatGPT data collection and publication of false information
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Online Anonymity
This guide is a work in progress. It will probably never be “finished”.
No affiliation with the Anonymous [Wikiless] [Archive.org] collective/movement.
There might be some wrong or outdated information in this guide because no one is perfect.
Your experience may vary. Remember to check regularly for an updated version of this guide.
This guide is a non-profit open-source initiative, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (cc-by-nc‑4.0 [Archive.org])
https://anonymousplanet.org/guide.html
The Oppenheimer 70mm Film Reel Weighs 600 Pounds and is 11 Miles Long
The first-known public museum opened over 2,500 years ago – and it was curated by a woman.
http://www.leningrad.su/museum/main.php?lang=0
China beats rivals to successfully launch first methane-liquid rocket
More Than 6,800 LEGO Kits at the Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/lego-set-instructions
Sabotage an Nord Stream: Ermittler bestätigen Boot als heiße Spur
Auch zehn Monate nach dem Sabotage auf Nord Stream 1 und 2 gestalten sich die Ermittlungen schwierig. Jetzt äußerten sich Deutschland, Dänemark und Schweden.
Google-KI “Bard” ist in Österreich online
OpenAI will use Associated Press news stories to train its models
50 years ago, teenagers partied in the Bronx — and gave rise to hip-hop
Webb Celebrates its First Year with Phenomenal 153-Megapixel Photo of Star Birth
NASA’s deepest 3D fly-through of the Universe
From the present day all the way to less than 400 million years after the Big Bang, we’re seeing how the Universe grew up like never before.
Hacker manipulierten QR-Codes in Kunstsammlung eines Waffenfabrikanten
Quantum proton billiards: ATLAS experiment reports fundamental properties of strong interactions
The quantum nature of interactions between elementary particles allows drawing non-trivial conclusions even from processes as simple as elastic scattering. The ATLAS experiment at the LHC accelerator reports the measurement of fundamental properties of strong interactions between protons at ultra-high energies.
https://phys.org/news/2023 – 07-quantum-proton-billiards-atlas-fundamental.html
Iconic San Francisco brewery closes: Anchor Brewing is no more
A new, thin-lensed telescope design could far surpass James Webb – goodbye mirrors, hello diffractive lenses
The US may soon get its first new source of nuclear fuel in 70 years
Next-gen nuclear plants could be critical to the energy transition, but first, they’ll need fuel. Centrus has overcome a key regulatory barrier to meeting that need.
OpenAI’s DALL‑E will train on Shutterstock’s library for six more years
Scientists Have Found a Hot Spot on the Moon’s Far Side
Data from two Chinese orbiters helped a team of scientists explain why a patch of lunar terrain is so much warmer than the surrounding area.
Modern EU policies need the voices of the fourth sector
Zubehör aus dem 3D-Drucker für Wago-Klemmen
Wago-Klemmen sind super praktisch für Elektriker, aber auch Maker verwenden sie gerne. Natürlich wird dann auch 3D-gedruckt und Wago hakt hier ein.
ComfyUI A powerful and modular stable diffusion GUI with a graph/nodes interface.
https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI
awesome-linuxaudio
A list of software and resources for professional audio/video/live events production on Linux
https://github.com/nodiscc/awesome-linuxaudio
Our best black hole image ever, inside and out
Some 55 million light-years away lies the giant galaxy Messier 87. Its supermassive black hole, inside and out, looks better than ever.
Due to the chip shortage I’m having a hard time buying a Raspberry Pi, all the stores say sold out. Even after the most recent announcement from Raspberry Pi they are still hard to find. Where’s the secret place to buy one without paying more than MSRP?
Easy HTTPS for your private networks
getlocalcert offers free subdomains rooted in the public DNS which are suitable for hosting internal applications. The managed DNS service is compatible with Let’s Encrypt, allowing issuance of free certificates. Read more about our security-first and developer-friendly design.
https://www.getlocalcert.net/
Österreich ist das unfreundlichste Land der Welt
Sehr hohe Lebensqualität und sehr unfreundliche Menschen – insgesamt belegt Österreich damit Platz 42 von 53 Ländern im Expat-Ranking
Mexiko, Spanien und Panama sind heuer die beliebtesten Länder unter internationalen Beschäftigten, gefolgt von Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Costa Rica, den Philippinen, Bahrain und Portugal. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt die neue “Expat Insider”-Studie von Internations, einem Netzwerk für Personen, die im Ausland leben und arbeiten.
Demystifying the Activist Graffiti Art of Keith Haring: A Video Essay
Delete your digital footprint
The only platform that allows you to automatically clean up your old posts from services like Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, Discord and more all in one place
The Full Trailer for Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon
Fatboy Slims Mix zu 25 Jahren “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby”
Produktionsprozess einer Bleistiftminenfabrik in Japan
Kurzfilm über die Berliner Club-Legende Tresor: A Story of Survival
Europarat setzt Zivilgesellschaft vor die Tür
Nicht nur die Europäische Union will „Künstliche Intelligenz“ (KI) regulieren, sondern auch der Europarat. Er hat vor mehr als einem Jahr Verhandlungen zur Regulierung von Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI-Konvention) aufgenommen. Der Europarat ist eine europäische internationale Organisation und kein institutionelles Organ der EU. Ihm gehören seit dem Ausschluss Russlands im vergangenen Jahr 46 Staaten an.
Archaeologists Keep Unearthing Mysterious ‘Giant’ Prehistoric Hand Tools
Archaeologists have unearthed a “giant” handaxe in southern England that was crafted by early human relatives more than 300,000 years ago, reports a new study. Measuring nearly a foot long from tip to butt, the artifact is the third biggest prehistoric handaxe ever found in Britain and belongs to a special class of big tools with mysterious origins.
c’t 3003: Mit KI jede Stimme kopieren
Ein paar Sätze einsprechen und schon hat man eine digitale Kopie seiner Stimme. Geht das so einfach? c’t 3003 macht den Test und klont die Stimme von Host Keno.
Researcher Early Access SDXL 0.9
Researcher Early Access
Einstein erneut bestätigt: Die Zeit lief im frühen Universum deutlich langsamer
Eine Milliarde Jahre nach dem Urknall liefen die Uhren fünfmal langsamer als heute. Diese Vorhersage von Albert Einstein wurde jetzt doch bestätigt.
‘Windows Update Restored’ Site Provides Updates for Classic Windows Versions
Currently the site provides Windows 95, 98 (and SE), and NT 4.0 updates.
London Medieval Murder Map
Each pin represents the approximate location of one of 142 homicides cases in late medieval London. Click on a pin to open a window that displays the story behind the event, based on the original record produced by the Coroner. For more information on how to use the map, visit this page.
Otherworld tells real stories of people who have experienced something paranormal or unexplainable. Host Jack Wagner takes an open minded and journalistic approach to the subject matter and aims to uncover some of the biggest mysteries of the world and how people react to it.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/otherworld/id1647611444
In case there was any doubt, Google’s privacy policy now explicitly states that it’s going to suck up all your data to train its AI
How to Capture Ultraviolet-Induced Fluorescence (UVIF) Photos
Ultraviolet-induced fluorescence (UVIF) occurs when molecules in an object are excited (energized) by high-energy ultraviolet wavelengths (from our UV flashlight) and as a result, emit longer wavelengths in the visible portion of the spectrum (red, green, and blue). These emitted longer wavelengths are what we are photographing.
Earth is at its hottest in thousands of years. Here’s how we know.
Observations from both satellites and the Earth’s surface are indisputable — the planet has warmed rapidly over the past 44 years. As far back as 1850, data from weather stations all over the globe make clear the Earth’s average temperature has been rising.
In recent days, as the Earth has reached its highest average temperatures in recorded history, scientists have made a bolder claim: It may well be warmer than any time in the last 125,000 years.
4 writers that pushed dark humor to its absolute limits
Thanks to streaming services and stand-up, dark humor is more popular today than ever before. But dark humor, also known as black comedy, can be found in classic literature, where the tradition originally flourished. From Seneca to Charles Bukowski, these writers demonstrate the power of dark humor.
https://bigthink.com/high-culture/dark-humor-writers/
Starlink satellite electronics interfere with radio telescopes
Just like us, using mobile phones, satellites also communicate with each other and with receiving stations on Earth using radio waves. Ideally, however, elaborate agreements with Network Agencies prevent satellites to interfere with radio astronomy observatories. An exception that has not been researched so far is the interference radiation that emanates from the on-board electronics of certain satellites, for exmple the Starlink satellite constellation of SpaceX.
https://www.mpg.de/20610867/radi-satellite-constellations
QasarBeach created Blue Monday by New Order. I’m very happy with the results and you can see lots of new features of QasarBeach in recreating the Fairlight CMI. Ao it shows you how accurate this software is!
Snowden: Today’s Surveillance Technology Makes 2013 Look Like “Child’s Play”
“We trusted the government not to screw us,” said Edward Snowden.
“But they did. We trusted the tech companies not to take advantage of us. But they did. That is going to happen again, because that is the nature of power.“
With this week marking 10 years since whistleblower Edward Snowden disclosed information to journalists about widespread government spying by United States and British agencies, the former National Security Agency contractor on Thursday joined other advocates in warning that the fight for privacy rights, while making several inroads in the past decade, has grown harder due to major changes in technology.
“If we think about what we saw in 2013 and the capabilities of governments today,” Snowden told The Guardian, “2013 seems like child’s play.”
Google passt Privatsphäre-Einstellungen an, um mehr Daten sammeln zu dürfen
Sprachmodelle und KI-Modelle
Wie eine Sprecherin von Google via “The Verge” wissen lässt, sei das Unternehmen immer transparent gegenüber der Datensammlung für die eigenen KI-Modelle. Das neueste Update stelle lediglich klar, “dass auch neuere Dienste wie Bard enthalten sind”. Im Einklang mit den KI-Grundsätzen von Google würde man “Datenschutzgrundsätze und ‑schutzmaßnahmen in die Entwicklung unserer KI-Technologien” integrieren.
Magenta Green Screen: Spectrally Multiplexed Alpha Matting with Deep Colorization
We introduce Magenta Green Screen, a novel machine learning – enabled matting technique for recording the color image of a foreground actor and a simultaneous high-quality alpha channel without requiring a special camera or manual keying techniques. We record the actor on a green background but light them with only red and blue foreground lighting. In this configuration, the green channel shows the actor silhouetted against a bright, even background, which can be used directly as a holdout matte, the inverse of the actor’s alpha channel. We then restore the green channel of the foreground using a machine learning colorization technique. We train the colorization model with an example sequence of the actor lit by white lighting, yielding convincing and temporally stable colorization results. We further show that time-multiplexing the lighting between Magenta Green Screen and Green Magenta Screen allows the technique to be practiced under what appears to be mostly normal lighting. We demonstrate that our technique yields high-quality compositing results when implemented on a modern LED virtual production stage. The alpha channel data obtainable with our technique can provide significantly higher quality training data for natural image matting algorithms to support future ML matting research.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.13702
Sandboxing Phone Apps
A difficult problem with Linux desktop systems (which includes phones and tablets) is restricting application access so that applications can’t mess with each other’s data or configuration but also allowing them to share data as needed. This has been mostly solved for Android but that involved giving up all “legacy” Linux apps. I think that we need to get phones capable of running a full desktop environment and having Android level security on phone apps and regular desktop apps. My interest in this is phones running Debian and derivatives such as PureOS. But everything I describe in this post should work equally well for all full featured Linux distributions for phones such as Arch, Gentoo, etc and phone based derivatives of those such as Manjaro. It may be slightly less applicable to distributions such as Alpine Linux and it’s phone derivative PostmarketOS, I would appreciate comments from contributors to PostmarketOS or Alpine Linux about this.
https://etbe.coker.com.au/2023/07/08/sandboxing-phone-apps/
The mysterious ‘other Petra’ of Saudi Arabia
Wonders of street view
https://neal.fun/wonders-of-street-view/
Fedora 40 Plans to Trample User Privacy with Telemetry Integration
https://linuxiac.com/fedora-40-plans-to-use-telemetry/
Meet the Competing Apps Battling for Twitter’s Market Share
Hallstatt – Neues Grab der frühen Eisenzeit entdeckt
Das bekannte Gräberfeld von Hallstatt ist größer als bislang angenommen. In einer neu entdeckten prähistorischen Brandbestattung am Salzberg wurden Bronzebeigaben und Textilreste gefunden.
Valley of the Planets, one of Libya’s treasures
How to find Alien Throne and Valley of Dreams New Mexico?
https://thevanescape.com/valley-of-dreams-new-mexico/
AI Art Weekly #41 Hello there, my fellow dreamers, and welcome to issue #41 of AI Art Weekly! ????
https://aiartweekly.com/issues/41
Julian Bilcke
This is just a prototype / proof of concept / tech demo reel, based on a pool of 1400 short videos snippets, like for a web radio.
The prompts have been generated using GPT‑4, and passed to Zeroscope_V2_576w.
The files are then assembled with a Bash script to create a playlist .txt file that ffmpeg will read and stream to node-media-server, using RTMP/FLV.
https://huggingface.co/spaces/jbilcke-hf/AI-WebTV
07.04.23. Italy’s Fascist UFO Files: Crashes, Coverups, & the RS/33 Cabinet
Keine Kommentare