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

261030

 The #Iran War’s Impact on Oil Is Hitting Key Senate Races Hard - https://www.wired.com/story/iran-war-impact-on-oil-hits-key-senate-races/ "Democrats are using the high price of diesel, heating oil, and fertilizer to tie Republicans to President Donald #Trump’s unpopular, costly war in Iran."

Why #Wikimedia Is Speaking Up in a Major #AI #Copyright Case - https://diff.wikimedia.org/2026/10/30/why-wikimedia-is-speaking-up-in-a-major-ai-copyright-case/ 

Your Diary Has A Creditor: What Character.ai’s Bankruptcy Does To Freedom Of Thought  - https://www.techdirt.com/2026/10/29/your-diary-has-a-creditor-what-character-ais-bankruptcy-does-to-freedom-of-thought/ "The law, in most cases, already understands that a diary deserves protection because of what it contains, not because of who manufactured the notebook." #ai #privacy

 #EU #Satellite Imagery Delayed Over #Gaza and Parts of West Bank by 24-hours - https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/10/29/eu-satellite-imagery-delayed-over-gaza-and-parts-of-west-bank-by-24-hours/ "While the delay remains relatively short at just 24 hours, this can still impact the speed at which analysts and researchers can observe what is happening in the region."

Auch der #EU-Datenschützer rügt geplantes Polizeiabkommen mit den USA - https://netzpolitik.org/2026/grenzpartnerschaft-auch-der-eu-datenschuetzer-ruegt-geplantes-polizeiabkommen-mit-den-usa/ "Der Europäische Datenschutzbeauftragte fordert schärfere Grenzen für einen Austausch von heiklen Polizeidaten mit US-Behörden. Die Bundesregierung hält ihre Verhandlungen dazu sogar im Parlament geheim. " #privacy 

‘Amateur morons’: Flávio #Bolsonaro’s short-lived ‘president-elect’ claim met with mockery - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/30/flavio-bolsonaros-president-elect-claim-mockery-brazil wow, this is wonderful #brazil

#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...

261029

The #Metric Is Not The Mission: The Full Paper - https://www.techdirt.com/2026/10/28/the-metric-is-not-the-mission-the-full-paper/ "a deep exploration of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly shaping it around its own metrics, incentives and assumptions."

#EU #Copyright Overhaul Risks Forcing #VPNs to Police the Internet - https://project-disco.org/european-union/eu-copyright-overhaul-risks-forcing-vpns-to-police-the-internet/ "putting user privacy and secure access at risk "

 Euro #opensource specialist proposes #LLM gateway to ease token bills - https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/26/euro-open-source-specialist-proposes-llm-gateway-to-ease-token-bills/5305170 " Aiven hopes to do for LLMs what it does for databases "

Revealed: government raised concerns over #chicken firm’s waste ‘exports’ - https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-10-29/cargill-gamber-wye-chicken-farms-waste "Under-fire meat giant Avara has hired middlemen to ship waste out of the Wye region. But has that just created more problems?"

Never Mind The #Deepfakes, #Chatbots Have To Deal With Election Lies Being Free, While Truth Is Paywalled - https://www.techdirt.com/2026/10/28/never-mind-the-deepfakes-chatbots-have-to-deal-with-election-lies-being-free-while-truth-is-paywalled/

#Discord messages: How to stop messages from appearing in #Google #Search - https://mashable.com/tech/discord-messages-how-to-remove-them-from-google-search "Your public Discord servers and messages are going to be included in Google Search starting next month."

#Iran targets art, sports events where women defy #hijab rules - https://www.iranintl.com/en/202610285537 pathetic bullying

#Albania imposes $6,000 fine for demonstrators present at a protest that turns violent - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/29/albania-protest-attendance-fine-law " will apply to people present at violent protests, even if they don’t personally commit violent acts" #abanian gov getting desperate

‘Feels like we’ve gone backwards’: #Indonesia’s choking haze provides spark for wider protests - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/29/indonesia-protests-fire-haze-economy such environmental protests will be common

I set up a free school for Afghan girls – and the #Taliban blindfolded me and broke my nose and jaw - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/oct/29/i-set-up-a-free-school-for-afghan-girls-and-the-taliban-blindfolded-me-and-broke-my-nose-and-jaw brave chap #afghanistan

#Oracle wants to bill you for every #AI task, not just every seat  - https://www.theregister.com/applications/2026/10/29/oracle-wants-to-bill-you-for-every-ai-task-not-just-every-seat/5306403 "Big Red says AI units will add to subscriptions, as it juggles $90BN-plus capex, mounting debt and a $225BN revenue goal for 2030 " yeah, sure

Iranian parents enroll children in foreign online schools, defying ministry warnings - https://www.iranintl.com/en/202610291571 #iran #education

#Mistral Says Its AI Model ‘Le Chonk’ Has Leapfrogged #China in the #OpenWeight Race - https://www.wired.com/story/mistral-says-le-chonk-surpasses-chinese-models-cybersecurity/ "The French AI lab claims its latest release matches or outperforms even the best models from #DeepSeek and Z.ai in coding and cybersecurity." big if true

#Finland launches criminal investigation into #Google’s clearing of forest for #datacentre site - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/29/finland-criminal-investigation-google-clearing-forest-datacentre damn right; lock them up

A Defense Contractor Gave Their Personal #AI #Agent Access to a Secure #Pentagon System - https://www.wired.com/story/a-defense-contractor-gave-their-personal-ai-agent-access-to-a-secure-pentagon-system/ "Accenture employee’s personal Claude agent ran on a DOD network for two months before it was identified and the vulnerability could be patched." this will be common and disastrous

The #Streisand Effect Case Might Have Played Out Differently In Germany - https://www.techdirt.com/2026/10/29/the-streisand-effect-case-might-have-played-out-differently-in-germany/ #privacy 

261028

Big Tech lobbying pushes EU towards sweeping deregulation of data protection rules, new research reveals - https://corporateeurope.org/en/2026/10/big-tech-lobbying-pushes-eu-towards-sweeping-deregulation-data-protection-rules-new #privacy #surveillance #ai

“For € 500 million, we’d set up an independent Tuta Drive instance on BND infrastructure – with quantum-resistant encryption.” - https://tuta.com/blog/german-bnd-to-use-google-cloud using #google for #bnd is utter folly

#Jio shares surge 21% in market debut after blockbuster #India IPO -https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/27/jio-shares-surge-21-in-market-debut-after-blockbuster-india-ipo/ valued Jio at around ₹12.5 trillion (around $131.9 billion)

#China’s top-secret #spaceplane can’t hide in low-Earth orbit -https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/chinas-top-secret-spaceplane-cant-hide-in-low-earth-orbit/ " The DIA’s threat assessment suggests China may soon place directed energy weapons in space. "

“No human at the helm”: Delaware plan would let #AI #agents run entire businesses -https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/no-human-at-the-helm-delaware-plan-would-let-ai-agents-run-entire-businesses/ " Owners of AI-run firms would evade liability for “reckless” AI, US Rep. Comer says. " what could go wrong...?

#Anthropic #IPO warns its #AI could blackmail people, become sentient, end humanity -https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/10/anthropic-ipo-warns-its-ai-could-blackmail-people-become-sentient-end-humanity/ no biggie, right?

#Discord will let public server messages be discoverable in #Google Search -https://mashable.com/tech/discord-public

ED138: What a New Dwarf Planet Portends - https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/10/28/ed138-what-a-new-dwarf-planet-portends/ "ED138 turns out to be the largest trans-Neptunian object we’ve found in the last two decades" #space 

#Microsoft faces potential vote: Shareholders curious about its plans to tackle emissions  - https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2026/10/28/microsoft-faces-potential-vote-shareholders-curious-about-its-plans-to-tackle-emissions/5305953 " #Greenhouse gas output has risen dramatically since the company promised to become carbon-negative by 2030 " aren't we all?

Rise of Palestinian parties in Knesset will redraw Israel’s political landscape - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/27/palestinian-parties-knesset-election-exit-polls-redraw-israel-political-landscape glimmer of hope

200211

Moody’s Microblog Daily Digest https://moodysmdd.blogspot.com/2020/02/200210.html yesterday’s tweets as a single page

Virtuoso mourns beloved £150,000 piano smashed by movers - https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/11/virtuoso-mourns-beloved-150000-piano-smashed-by-movers poor Angela Hewitt…

Gove criticises US and Brazil for climate crisis scepticism - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/11/michael-gove-criticises-us-brazil-climate-crisis-scepticism-cop-26 well done, gove…

200210

Moody’s Microblog Daily Digest https://moodysmdd.blogspot.com/2020/02/200209.html yesterday’s tweets as a single page

Fires and floods: maps of Europe predict scale of climate catastrophe - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/10/fires-floods-maps-europe-climate-catastrophe and these are probably optimistic scenarios… #climatecrisis

Government ‘actively looking into’ Scotland-Northern Ireland bridge - https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/10/boris-johnson-northern-ireland-scotland-bridge-plan-being-actively-looked-into-no-10 I’m sure a united Ireland will be delighted by this free transport infrastructure

An ad showing a woman’s body after birth is still too radical for the Oscars - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/10/oscars-banned-ad-womans-body-childbirth-pregnancy-frida-mom ads for guns would doubtless by fine

200209

Quest to save ancient #Yazidi music comes to Britain - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/04/quest-to-save-ancient-yazidi-music-comes-to-britain great initiative

Mathematicians Prove Universal Law of Turbulence - https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-prove-batchelors-law-of-turbulence-20200204/ George Batchelor’s Law, to be precise; when he taught us fluid dynamics many years ago we did get the impression he understood this better than anyone…

Sinn Féin to try to form ruling coalition after Irish election success - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/09/sinn-fein-to-try-to-form-ruling-coalition-after-irish-election-success never a dull moment these days… #ireland