Trump DOJ goon threatens Wikipedia

Because of course he does. The thought of a neutral source of truth is deeply disturbing to the fartclowns trying to run our country.

Trump offers a private dinner to his biggest memecoin buyers

The corruption really is right out in the open. Not that the Republican ass-lickers in Congress will do anything about it. When the Democrats take back the House in 28, the only four words I want to hear out of their mouths are Investigate, Indict, Impeach, and Imprison.

A Strange Phrase Keeps Turning Up in Scientific Papers, But Why?

Why? Because AI is quickly turning our ability to distinguish truth to mush.

Trump administration reverses abrupt terminations of foreign students’ US visa registrations

Good news, though given the chaos and pettiness and hatefulness of this administration who knows whether any of these students will still be here a month from now.

“Go Away I’m Bzzy”

Olympus TG6 with Ultimaxx 0.43x Macro Lens @ 18mm, f/6.3, 1/320s, ISO 100. Trailside at Mount Pisgah.

“Camas Road”

Olympus TG6 @ 18mm, f/4.9, 1/200s, ISO 100. Along the base of Mount Pisgah.

Warhol print accidentally thrown away by Dutch town hall

Oops.

And it wasn’t even a soup can. That’d be understandable.

I never expected to live in a world where the CCP was a more trustworthy news source than POTUS.

“Monkeyflower”

Olympus TG6 with Ultimaxx 0.43x Macro Lens @ 18mm, f/6.3, 1/400s, ISO 160. Trailside at Mount Pisgah.

“Floral Firework”

Olympus TG6 with Ultimaxx 0.43x Macro Lens @ 19mm, f/4.9, 1/400s, ISO 400. Purple Sanicle flower trailside at Mount Pisgah.

“Hazy Valley”

Olympus TG6 @ 13.6mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 100. View from atop Mount Pisgah.

“Waiting for the Wind”

Olympus TG6 with Ultimaxx 0.43x Macro Lens @ 18mm, f4.9, 1/250s, ISO 800. On the trail at Mount Pisgah.

Trump Organization is selling 2028 hats

If you think this is just a joke, you haven’t been paying very close attention.

AI models can learn to conceal information from their users

This should not surprise anyone. The whole notion of “alignment” (convincing increasingly-powerful AIs to follow human-set rules) is a pipe dream, because of increasingly clever models and bad human actors who don’t care about such things.

Trump says ‘it’s been harder’ to deal with Zelenskyy than Russia

Guess that’s what happens when you’re Putin’s bitch.

Florida Bill Could Let Homeowners Shoot Down Spying Drones

New frontiers in second amendment rights.

Finished: Townsend of Lichfield, by James Branch Cabell 📚. This volume of Cabell’s collected works starts with an essay explaining why the actual book Townsend of Lichfield was never written. It then proceeds to collect a bunch of Cabellian miscellany: prefaces to other books, bits of verse, short stories, court documents. This is far down the rabbit hole and likely appeals to almost no modern readers. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Finished: Imperial Woman, by Pearl S. Buck 📚. Next up in my trip through Buck’s major works is this romantic novel of Tzu Hsi (these days usually rendered Cixi), the last Empress of China. I suspect there is more romance than history here, but it’s a sweeping story that I knew nothing about, so that doesn’t bother me.