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AI goblin mode
Open AI had to make a special update to tell its model to tone down the goblin references.
The system prompt for OpenAI’s Codex CLI contains a perplexing and repeated warning for the most recent GPT model to “never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant to the user’s query.”
The explicit operational warning was made public last week as part of the latest open source code for Codex CLI that OpenAI posted on GitHub. The prohibition is repeated twice in a 3,500-plus word set of “base instructions” for the recently released GPT-5.5, alongside more anodyne reminders not to “use emojis or em dashes unless explicitly instructed” and to “never use destructive commands like ‘git reset –hard’ or ‘git checkout –’ unless the user has clearly asked for that operation.”
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Jenny Volvovski’s unsolicited book covers
Jenny Volvovski designs book covers, with the unsolicited covers beginning as a design exercise to keep skills sharp and build a portfolio. A lot of cool covers and styles displayed.
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City okay with cops spying on people
The records Hunyar obtained, however, show that some of the cameras that were accessed were in sensitive locations, including the pool at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (in Dunwoody), the children’s gymnastics room at MJCCA, and several fitness centers and studios. The access logs obtained by Hunyar show at the very least how expansive Flock’s surveillance systems can be in a single city, encompassing not just cameras purchased by the city but also cameras purchased by private businesses.
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THE FUTURISM YOU WERE SOLD WAS A WEAPON
I really enjoy Monika Bielskyte’s ideas and futurist critiques. They’re nuanced, well researched, and contain a pragmatic depth to our current path. She goes long on “THE FUTURISM YOU WERE SOLD WAS A WEAPON“, deconstructing a vision for the future that isn’t healthy.
Futurism did not emerge from neutral curiosity about tomorrow. It came wrapped in the aesthetics of domination: speed prized above reflection, homogeneity above plurality, command above reciprocity. Inside that grammar, the body is an obstacle, connection reads as weakness, dependence as a humiliation, and the living world merely as raw material or enemy terrain. The techno-centric futurist tradition has spent a century projecting a dead mechanical fantasy as an account of life.
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The real disaster prep is the friends we made along the way
No amount of preparation can get you through a disaster alone. Creating a community of people with complementary skills can increase those chances.
When the water is rising or the wildfire is spreading, you will need to make crucial decisions with rapidly changing information. Every decision you make in a disaster comes down to two questions: Is it safe where we are now? Will we be safe if we try to evacuate?
More often than not, answering those questions means relying on the people around you.
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The human networks of famous people
Before Facebook became synonymous with social networks, the concept was illustrative for showing how any group of people relate. Think string connecting pictures on police bulletin board. Here is an interactive site showing connections of famous people.
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AI glasses kinda suck
At some point AI glasses will be a worthwhile device, right now, they still kind of suck at doing things correctly. Such a true for any new technology, but this year amount of money and hype putting into these kinds of devices, a healthy amount of skepticism it’s worthwhile.
So what do my miraculous sunglasses tell me? Many things. They inform me, in the voice of Princess Anna from “Frozen,” that my dog is a golden retriever mix (he is not) and that a tree I am looking at is probably an oak (it is not). They tell me to walk north when I know I should be walking south. One afternoon, on a sunny stroll, I stop to admire a bright red cardinal singing its heart out in a tree.
