Moody: the works

A list of links to all my non-tech writings:

Essays

Glanglish - with audio versions

Moody Essays 

Travel writings

Moody Travels (with photos)
Walks with Lorenzetti
A Partial India

Novels

Doing the Business
Egyptian Romance

Poems

Moody Sonnets - with audio versions

261105

Scammers using #AI-generated images of missing pets to demand reward money - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx8080nq74o  "Threats to "sell or murder" her pet soon followed when she discovered the images of Buddy were AI-generated and questioned the woman's authenticity." 

‘I never understood wind’: midterms spark hope for #renewables after Trump’s hostility - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/nov/05/democrats-midterms-triumph-renewable-energy-industry-donald-trump "future was even brighter for developers hoping to build new onshore renewable energy projects, including #batteries, which are typically decided at state level"

Multiple planes diverted as bomb threats to commercial flights reported across Europe – https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/nov/05/aer-lingus-plane-bomb-threat-europe-latest-news-updates gosh I wonder who could possibly have an interest in sowing fear and chaos in EU? #russia

#Chicken farms’ waste crises caused illness and suffering for 20 million birds - https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-11-05/chicken-farms-waste-crisis-caused-pain-and-suffering-for-20-million-animals "#Foodsafety records reveal millions of birds destined for UK shelves were found with illnesses linked to dirty litter on farms"

Axiom Math wants to keep #AI slop out of #mathematics - https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/05/axiom-math-wants-to-keep-ai-slop-out-of-mathematics/

On #Congress - https://emptywheel.net/2026/11/05/on-congress/ "I want to talk a bit about how I understand Congress to work. I’m going to focus on the House because what happens with Chuck Schumer is still in play (and because as a Michigander I’d be perfectly happy if people use the Haley Stevens fiasco as an excuse to challenge him)."

261104

 Rewriting #Copyright Law For Generative #AI Would Hurt Everyone - https://www.techdirt.com/2026/11/03/rewriting-copyright-law-for-generative-ai-would-hurt-everyone/

#Impeachment. That’s what happens next. - https://emptywheel.net/2026/11/04/what-happens-next/ "Tom Massie has promised to bring his articles of impeachment against Pete #Hegseth when the House returns to work next week. And because there are things the House needs to do (or try to do), I doubt Mike Johnson will find a way to forestall that."

‘I’m 100 Percent at War with #Trump’: #MAGA Revolts After Midterms Wipeout - https://www.wired.com/story/im-100-percent-at-war-with-trump-maga-revolts-after-midterms-wipeout/ 

#Cyberattack on French plasma stores is enough to make your blood boil - https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/11/04/cyberattack-on-french-plasma-stores-is-enough-to-make-your-blood-boil/5307519 " Attackers reportedly set cold-room controls to 110°C, but safeguards prevented stock losses" #russia, presumably 

 Boffins use machine-learning tricks to create a starlight dimmer switch - https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/11/04/boffins-use-machine-learning-tricks-to-create-a-starlight-dimmer-switch/5307625 " FLIP reveals a planet hidden in Webb data, boosting detection sensitivity by up to 15 times"

Action Against Data Centers Goes Europe-Wide This Weekend - https://netzpolitik.org/2026/london-paris-berlin-action-against-data-centers-goes-europe-wide-this-weekend/ "„Stop Dirty Data Centres” is planning protests and community-led actions on November 6 and 7"

North Korean fake job interview led to $6.3B #Binance heist - https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/11/03/north-korean-fake-job-interview-led-to-63b-binance-heist/5307398 it's always the humans that are weakest...

Drax wants to feed Britain's #AI habit with £20B datacenter at #biomass power station - https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2026/11/03/drax-wants-to-feed-britains-ai-habit-with-20b-datacenter-at-biomass-power-station/5307237 #drax needs shutting down, not extending

IronEar: the privacy-first audio sensor that recognises 500 sounds on-device - https://www.open-electronics.org/ironear-the-privacy-first-audio-sensor-that-recognises-500-sounds-on-device/ #opensource

#Anthropic warns that it’s very close to #RSI capability, aka self-building #AI -https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/02/anthropic-warns-that-its-very-close-to-rsi-capability-aka-self-building-ai/

Third person dies of #birdflu since virus started jumping to livestock - https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/11/third-person-dies-of-bird-flu-since-virus-started-jumping-to-livestock/ this is not good...

261103

I discovered a sound that leaks your exact location (and it's everywhere) - https://simonwillison.net/2026/Nov/3/a-sound-that-leaks-your-exact-location/ "background noise of planes from a video soundtrack, figure out their Doppler curves, then cross reference them against ADS-B data to find the exact location of the video" #whoa

#LLMs can natively read & write neural network #weights - https://rikiyat.github.io/blog/weight-space-programming/ "frontier LLMs are surprisingly good at natively reading and writing neural network weights, well past what we’d expect from humans or conventional algorithms. This might be a big deal for both optimization and interpretability."

Sam #Altman’s Case Against Your #RAM Is Efficient. That’s The Problem - https://www.techdirt.com/2026/11/02/sam-altmans-case-against-your-ram-is-efficient-thats-the-problem/ "It’s the same logic by which a fascist dictator may seem “more efficient” to those sick of democratic quirks and bureaucratic red tape. It only sounds good if your mental model is completely screwed up and simplistic."

#Denmark pushes for #EU ban on ‘turbo chickens’ as secret footage causes outrage - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/nov/03/denmark-pushes-for-eu-ban-on-turbo-chickens-as-secret-footage-causes-outrage great move, #denmark; others must follow suit around the world

#AIs #Hacking the #Law - https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/11/ais-hacking-the-law.html  "AIs finding vulnerabilities and exploits—hacking—the legal system."

261102

 US funding for ‘#TuftonStreet’ think tanks up 29% - https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/new-us-funding-for-tufton-street "UK political parties cannot accept #donations from impermissible foreign sources, but think tanks face few rules." this must be changed

#Ford launches a ‘#privacy promise’ and explains how and why it uses customer data - https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/02/ford-launches-a-privacy-promise-and-explains-how-and-why-it-uses-a-customers-data/ well, we will see, won't we?

 Horrific discovery at cemetery renews debate over fate of stray dogs in #Georgia - https://jam-news.net/horrific-discovery-at-cemetery-renews-debate-over-fate-of-stray-dogs-in-georgia/ " Judging by the condition of the bodies, veterinarians believe the dogs suffered greatly before they died."  bad things happening in #tbilisi 

Britain's driverless dream hits a roundabout of awkward questions  - https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/11/02/britains-driverless-dream-hits-a-roundabout-of-awkward-questions/5306715 "Will Britain become dependent on #autonomous vehicle services for any key activities and what fallback options will exist if a supplier fails or withdraws?"

"new analysis from Fossil Free Politics reveals that EU governments to have brought hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists to the previous three #COPs between 2023-25. " - https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2026/11/eu-governments-cop31-break-past-or-business-usual absurd practice; shame on @ec.europa.eu

#Palantir #AI tech unused or little used by 29 #NHS trusts said to be benefiting from it - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/nov/02/palantir-unused-nhs-hospital-trusts "Gap between NHS claim and trusts’ comments described as ‘very misleading’ by senior health official" #ukgov needs to wake up

A Right-Wing Think Tank Has a Plan to Prevent #Democrats From Being Seated in Congress - https://www.wired.com/story/a-right-wing-think-tank-has-a-plan-to-prevent-democrats-from-being-seated-in-congress/ “neo-Marxist progressives and anti-Western Muslims” can’t sincerely swear to protect the Constitution - rather rich given #trump has trashed constitution so much

261101

 Why This #Palantir Billionaire Is Backing A Plan To Breed 30,000 #Monkeys - https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2026/10/27/why-this-billionaire-is-betting-on-us-bred-lab-monkeys/ these people just can't stop being evil... #animalcruelty 

Study finds self-immolation accounts for 16% of #Iran's burn admissions - https://www.iranintl.com/en/202611016130 awful

Are #LLMs good or bad #Bayesians? - https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/11/are-llms-good-or-bad-bayesians.html "LLMs tend to treat a plausible counterargument as evidence in favor of its conclusion, rather than comparing the counterargument to what they should have expected to hear" #ai 

The New Age of #Reading. - https://languagehat.com/the-new-age-of-reading/ contrary to claims and fears, reading is doing fine #ai #literacy

#BayeuxTapestry - https://moodysonnets.blogspot.com/2026/10/bayeux-tapestry.html a #sonnet provoked by the #BritishMuseum exhibition (well-worth seeing if you can get tix). with audio fwiw...

261031

 Electrocutions, ‘mental terror’ and withheld wages: The exploited workers building Europe’s #datacentres - https://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/electrocutions-mental-terror-and-withheld-wages-the-exploited-workers-building-europes-data-centres "harsh realities facing some working on the continent's vast #AI infrastructure developments."

More than 30 senior Tories named in new #Covid #PPE ‘VIP lane’ records - https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-more-than-30-senior-tories "Full details of ‘politically connected’ fast track lane for lucrative PPE contracts released after Democracy for Sale reporter's five-year legal battle."

Backbone of a beast – charting #Nvidia's rise to networking titan - https://www.theregister.com/networks/2026/10/31/backbone-of-a-beast-charting-nvidias-rise-to-networking-titan/5306499 " How a $6.9B bet on Mellanox made Nvidia bigger than Cisco, and the world's most valuable company to boot "

 Flesh-eating #screwworms spread to third state and are attacking #pets - https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/flesh-eating-screwworms-are-feasting-on-pets-4-dogs-and-cat-attacked-this-week/ " USDA has identified 74 animal cases in US since parasitic flies invaded in June. " not good

Even more #ads are coming to #Google #search, Google says - https://mashable.com/tech/more-ads-are-coming-to-google-search-ai-mode I'm sure that will drive lots of traffic...

#US cancels #G20 ‘family photo’ after #Australia, #UK and others refuse to appear with #Russia - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/31/us-cancels-g20-family-photo-after-australia-uk-and-others-refuse-to-appear-with-russia "Rubio pulls plug on traditional photo op at meeting of foreign ministers after about one-third of countries threaten boycott" damn right

Twice as many plants and animals sold in #wildlife trade as previously thought, says report - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/30/twice-as-many-plants-and-animals-sold-in-wildlife-trade-as-previously-thought-says-report "100,000 species are traded globally, whether illegally smuggled, sold as ornaments or in fisheries, timber and fashion industries" awful trade by awful people