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Rib :ms_red_panda: (@Rib) | fedi.rib.gay
Today Melissa Lewis over on BlueSky pointed out that the font used in the infamous "You wouldn't steal a car" anti-piracy campaign was actually designed by Just van Rossum, whose brother, Guido, created the Python programming language (https://bsky.app/profile/melissa.news/post/3ln7hx5rhcj2v)

She also pointed out that the font had been cloned and released illegally for free under the name "XBAND Rough". Naturally, it would be hilarious if the anti-piracy campaign actually turned out...
1 minute ago by chetan
Learning Dynamics of LLM Finetuning | OpenReview
Learning dynamics, which describes how the learning of specific training examples influences the model's predictions on other examples, gives us a powerful tool for understanding the behavior of deep learning systems. We study the learning dynamics of large language models during different types of finetuning, by analyzing the step-wise decomposition of how influence accumulates among different potential responses. Our framework allows a uniform interpretation of many interesting observations about the training of popular algorithms for both instruction tuning and preference tuning. In particular, we propose a hypothetical explanation of why specific types of hallucination are strengthened after finetuning, e.g., the model might use phrases or facts in the response for question B to answer question A, or the model might keep repeating similar simple phrases when generating responses. We also extend our framework and highlight a unique ``squeezing effect'' to explain a previously observed phenomenon in off-policy direct preference optimization (DPO), where running DPO for too long makes even the desired outputs less likely. This framework also provides insights into where the benefits of on-policy DPO and other variants come from. The analysis not only provides a novel perspective of understanding LLM's finetuning but also inspires a simple, effective method to improve alignment performance.
learning_bias_dynamics  large_language_models  fine-tuning 
2 minutes ago by rvenkat
David Harvey, On Sraffa’s Trail, NLR 152, March–April 2025
--- This begins and ends as a nice essay; there is a long section in the middle which is DH vaporizing about contradictions in motion. (_He_ thinks what he says is meaningful.) But it's also an account of fundamentally mathematical controversies by someone who, by his own account, lacks the mathematics to actually follow the points at issue. (His attitude towards his own incapacity here might be described as "cheerfully embarrassed", the way I'd laugh at myself if someone asked me to play music or even follow a beat.) This makes this an almost actively-misleading guide to the debate.
--- I will say, without indulging in any math myself, that it's incredible DH doesn't realize how much of what (following Robinson and Sraffa) he taxes the neo-classicals with also applies to Marx, at least if one takes Marx seriously. The latter's economics relies entirely on measuring the heterogeneous use-values of different sorts of capital good in homogeneous units of exchange value. It's true that Marx says exchange value is itself measured by quantity of socially-necessary labor time, or rather quantity of socially necessary abstract homogeneous labor, but that's interconvertible with money. (There's a wage rate.) If the neo-classicals aren't allowed to aggregate heterogeneous sorts of capital, why is Marx? If the neo-classicals are in trouble because the monetary values of different sorts of concrete capital goods change with the structure of demand, but (per DH) "socially necessary labor" also changes with the structure of demand, why isn't Marx in just as much trouble?
economics  sraffa.piero  harvey.david  via:henry_farrell  marx.karl  have_read 
7 minutes ago by cshalizi
The 4 Essential Design Elements of Your Commercial Awning
These four essential design elements will help you create a stylish new commercial awning with Carroll Architectural Shade.
commercial-awning  awning-design  custom-awnings 
11 minutes ago by Adventure_Web
Rare Music at Stanford - Spotlight at Stanford
Music materials digitized by the Stanford University Libraries: "Our holdings span nearly a thousand years and represent a diversity of formats, from medieval books and fragments to score manuscripts, correspondence, first and early editions, documents, engravings, and photographs. These rare materials, and in particular score manuscripts and musicians' letters, are increasingly being made available digitally to a worldwide audience through this website"
digital_score  historical_musicology  manuscripts  correspondence 
12 minutes ago by HarvardMusicLib
ESA - A new space age for forests – but groundwork still matters
A new era of forest monitoring is quite literally taking off, ushering in what scientists are calling the ‘forest space age’. On April 29, ESA will launch its revolutionary Biomass mission, the first satellite to carry a P-band radar into space – technology that is set to transform how we understand forests and the carbon they store. Along with other space agencies’ instruments already in orbit or soon to be launched, there has never been so many ‘eyes in the sky’ focused on forests.Yet, the work of people on the ground –often in the most remote and challenging forest regions – also remains essential. Posted 24 (24) April 2025
European_Space_Administration_(ESA)_article:_&  European_Space_Administration_(ESA)_article:_Illustration(s)_Image(s)_Infographic(s)_Photo(s)_PhotoGallery(ies)_or_Video(s)  ESA-/_Applications_/_Observing_the_Earth_/_FutureEO_/_Biomass_Earth_Explorer_(BioEE)_/_article: 
12 minutes ago by Dave005
AK4458VN | Audio D/A Converters | Audio Components | Products | Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM)
115dB 768kHz / 32-bit 8 ch Premium DAC

The AK4458VN is a new generation of premium 32-bit DAC, with 8 channels of AKM’s VELVET SOUND architecture that has been widely adopted by well-established high-end audio companies.
dac 
13 minutes ago by stahl
ESA - Watch Biomass launch live
ESA's Biomass mission is on the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Don’t miss the live coverage of liftoff on Tuesday 29 April, on ESA WebTV. Coverage will start at 10:55 CEST with commentary live from Kourou and ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Germany. The Vega-C rocket carrying Biomass is scheduled for liftoff at 11:15.
European_Space_Administration_(ESA)_article:_&  European_Space_Administration_(ESA)_article:_Illustration(s)_Image(s)_Infographic(s)_Photo(s)_PhotoGallery(ies)_or_Video(s) 
16 minutes ago by Dave005
When Theodore Roosevelt Urged Americans to “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick”
When Theodore Roosevelt Urged Americans to “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick” via Instapaper https://ift.tt/oSQ4uPH
IFTTT  Instapaper 
17 minutes ago by rickardg
ESA - Sentinel-1 captures ground shift from Myanmar earthquake
On 28 March 2025, a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck central Myanmar, sending shockwaves through the region. While the country is still dealing with the devasting aftermath, scientists have used radar images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites to reveal a detailed picture of how the ground shifted as a result of the quake – offering new insights into the mechanics of the tectonic Sagaing Fault and the scale of the seismic rupture.
European_Space_Administration_(ESA)_article:_&  European_Space_Administration_(ESA)_article:_Illustration(s)_Image(s)_Infographic(s)_Photo(s)_PhotoGallery(ies)_or_Video(s) 
19 minutes ago by Dave005
like query works in access but not from pyodbc ? - Kagi Search
Better search results with no ads. Welcome to Kagi (pronounced kah-gee), a paid search engine that gives power back to the user.
like  query  pyodbc  fail  wildcard  characters 
21 minutes ago by kevinma
Forderndes Puzzle-Roguelike: c’t zockt spielt Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop
Kleine Reparaturen und komplette Schrotthaufen: In diesem Raumschiff-Werkstatt-Simulator drängt die Zeit. c't zockt hat das humorvolle Indie-Game angespielt....
via:feedly 
21 minutes ago by frapelo
elfutils: a collection of utilities and libraries to read, create and modify ELF binary files, find and handle DWARF debug data, symbols, thread state and stacktraces
elfutils: a collection of utilities and libraries to read, create and modify ELF binary files, find and handle DWARF debug data, symbols, thread state and stacktraces
22 minutes ago by nicoandmee
Citizenship as a Service
Micro-states like Saint Kitts and Nevis now earn more from selling passports than all other exports combined. While tech utopians dream of digital republics, the growing marketplace for citizenship is already virtualizing sovereignty from within.
25 minutes ago by mymarkup
Digitale Souveränität: Bundesinnenministerium serviert ZenDiS-Chefin ab
Nach einem halben Jahr muss Jutta Horstmann die bundeseigene GmbH, die unter anderem OpenDesk entwickelt, wieder verlassen....
via:feedly 
26 minutes ago by frapelo
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