“Shit can be traced back to the Old English verb scitan (which meant exactly what it does today), and further back to Proto-Germanic skit (the Germans still say scheisse), and all the way back to the Proto-Indo-European word (c. 4000 BC) skhei, which meant to separate or divide, presumably on the basis that you separated yourself from your faeces. Shed (as in shed your skin) comes from the same root, and so does schism. An odd little aspect of this etymology is that when Proto-Indo-European arrived in the Italian peninsula they used skhei to mean separate or distinguish. If you could tell two things apart then you knew them, and so the Latin word for know became scire. From that you got the Latin word scientia, which meant knowledge, and from that we got the word science This means that science is, etymologically, shit. It also means that knowing your shit, etymologically, means that you’re good at physics and chemistry.”
— Mark Forsyth (The Inky Fool), The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language (via wordsspentinvain)
A cluster of tetrapods is seen near the High Island Reservoir in Hong Kong. These concrete structures are used to reinforce shoreline defenses and prevent coastal erosion by breaking up incoming waves. The specific shape of the tetrapod allows water to flow around rather than against the concrete and reduces displacement by interlocking.
The nth program to be submitted must run in n different languages; specifically, all the languages added in previous programs to be submitted, plus one more. The program must output 1 when run in the first language used in answers to this question, 2 when run in the second language, and so on.
A polyglot program is closely related to a quine relay; where a quine relay is run in one language to produce a program in another, a ployglot program is a single program which can be interpreted as-is in more than one language – often to produce different results.
It begins with a Python 3 program, that prints 1:
print(1)
To which a program in V (vim) was added, which prints 2, respecting the Python 3′s program:
print(1)#i2
This works because everything up to the # is ignored by V, and the i following the # is read as insert, inserting the value 2, while # marks a comment in Python 3.
From there, a string of 2D languages are added, which adds alternate program flows to the program, useful in that it’s easier to avoid problematic characters intended for other languages, but adding another complication to keep track of as the program evolves.
Many entries take advantage of symbols that denote comments in one language and not another, like with the Python example above. Others use differences in whether a value is treated as true or false:
In Python 2, ½ is 0, which is a falsy value, which makes Python print 5. In Python 3, ½ is 0.5, which is a truthy value, which makes Python print 1
The great feature of this thread is the detail given by many of the participants in their explanations of how and why their entry works. It is a great intro in how to write a polyglot. Also, it’s still an open contest, meaning there’s time to take part in expanding this monstrosity of code. It officially closes when there are 14 days of inactivity, at which point the second-to-last entry wins (to make sure people don’t intentionally post changes that make their entry imposible to follow).
As of the time of writing, it’s at 191 languages (over 9k of text!), the latest adding PHP, and it looks like this (good luck making sense of it):
<code>#16 "?63(o+?50;+'51;' # #@ " /*"r"{\D-v e-'[fa5.q]PkPPX)\( 9 '#CO"14"^ 92 7 222222222222222222222222 ##*/
#/*1&7//```"` [>.>.] )[-'][(7 >77*,68*,@'_ 7 )(22)S / \iiipsddpsdoh#####(#######?? #### ## ###### #### ###### # #### ####### #### ###### # #### ####### a5# \7aa*+42@n; 7 999993 1 7 3 1 8 1 1 55 EEEEEδΘΔΔΔΘΔΘλa k zzzzkf kf k zzzzzd kf k zzzzza kf bfz coding=utf8 p''53'S^' ! 1>?7ДOq#t#>2/Wr#t#t#q#68#r#t#t#68#q#63#r#t#t#6v#>#</Wr#6}#y/===Wr#7ЯOq#>J7Д/Wr#y<Wr#>5/Wr#t#t#6y#>-=/Wr#6|#>6/Wr122! 1退
#>x#z#111#y#y#y#_#0111118&1& 111/"78"oo@ xxxxxxxxxxxx /112\ ##### ####### # # ##### h#115# o# ##### #### ### #### # # ##### # ##### #### ### #### # # ##### # #
# 36!@`D e ++++++::@ L R.----._ x-----x ########8=,_## ### ###### ######## #### ##### ####### ##### ### # # #### ### ##### ####### ##### ### # # #### ### ##### #
#comment -[af] xxxxxxxxxxxx\#184O@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # ########## ### ## ##### ## #### ## # ##### ## ##### #### ##### ## # ## ## #### ## ##### #### ##### ## # ## ## ####
#~==RtRtRtMbMbMbPSPSPS # ????!?!??!??!!!!???!?!??!!?!?!!!!!?!!!!?????!????????????????????!
#[#[]]QhQhQhQrQrQrHnHnHnbqbqbqLzLzLzQtQtQtTcTcTcRQRQRQ #
#<<<#++R++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++U+++.._+++++++._ #
############################################################################## 4O6O@
#-]+-}}[.^x+;;+;;+;;+<>;;+;;+;;+;;;;;;+;;+;;.._]}--<^>++[+++++[>+++++++<-]>._ ++++._+++._^<]+-+<[<<._>>>-]^>[<+++++[>++++++++++<-]>@@+.---@._+>][[
#{
#=
#*
#cs
#2""/*
#9999 9 9
#9 999 99 9999 9
#9
# 9 9999
#`<`(+?+?0l0v01k1kMoOMoOMoOMoOMOOx0l0ix0jor0h0h1d111 0eU0y0yx0moO1d0y0e0e00m1d0i0fx0g0n0n11yxMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOMoOmOotMOo0moo0n0tx0t0moO0f0t0gOOM0g0f0h0j0j0i000x1k1x0vx0v0l11110000011100^_)\
[ "`e```.1'.0'.6''i]56pq\{}26q",'_\['];#/s\\/;print 24; exit}}__END__/
###<$+@+-@@@@=>+<@@@=>+<?#>;?\:-._++._++++._#/<?\>3-++._6+---2._#</++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++._++._++++++.>!\
'wWWWwWWWWwvwWWwWWWwvwWWWwWWW\WWWWWwWWWWwWWWW/WW\WwWWWWWWWWwwwwvwW/WWwWWWWwvwWWwWWWwvwWWwWWWwvwWWwWWW ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO dO MU ([]) ({}<(((((()()())){}{})){}{})>)(({})){}{(<(<()>)({})({}<{}>({}){})>){({}[()])}}({}){}({}()<()()()>) (<><()>){({}[()])}{ #((((((\'; a=$(printf \\x00);b=$(echo -n $a|wc -c);case $b[1] in 1*)echo 54;;4*)echo 78;;8*)echo 166;;*1*)echo 50;;*)echo 58;;esac;exit;#)'; print (0and eval('(defined?pp)&&190||(defined?__dir__)&&13||\'_\'[0]==95&&108||110')or(None and 9or 1/2and 1or 5<<64>>64or 68));"[${ print(g+91) }$/]es";exit; "$'#{print(187);exit}'$/"; #< ?>wWWssss {}#(prin 45)(bye) 46(8+9+9+9+9+=!) </>* * * * *[[3+4*7*@]]xxxxxxxxxx
###;{a=1}={a:null};console.log a&&39||180;\
__DATA__=""""
#p \
__END__
set pr'[puts 59][exit]\'':;@echo 185 #';set pr'-';pr 89;exit#ss
ifdef x
#
#
#:1*23!/5x%6E0 !|*****[[[828+*+@+*99]]]*****|!
#
[mxf]-main=-[165]- ###jxf*#p 173#*
p now 70 dollar off!
p has been selling out worldwide!
#PLACET,2<- #2FAC,2SUB#1<- #52FAC,2SUB#2<- #32FACREADOUT,2PLEASEGIVEUPFACs>>>
seeeemPaeue_ewuuweeee_eeeeeeCisajjapp_ppppxf⠆⠄⡒⡆⡘😆😨😒😨💬95💬👥➡😻😹😸🙀🙀😹😼😿🙀🙀😼😼😸🙀🙀🙀🙀
👋🔢🌚🌝🌝🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚▲▲▲²²²²▲¡▼¡▲▲¡→
밠밠따빠빠맣박다맣받다맣희맣희うんたんたんたんたんうんうんうんうんうんたんうんうんうんたんうんたんたんうんたんたんうんたんたんうんたんたんうんたんたんたんたんたんうんうんうんうんたんたんうんたんたんたんうんうんうんたんうんうんたんうんうんたんうんうんたんうんたんうんうんうんたんたんうんたんたんうんたんたんうんたんたんうんたんたんたんうんうん
😊♈💖
😇♈♈
😊♉♈
😇♈♈ +------+
😇♈♉ |/0110@|
😇♈💜 |/0011 |
😊♉♈ |/0010 |
😊📢♈ |/0011 |
😈♈💜 |/0001 |
😊📢♈ |/$0011|
😇♉💞 +------+
😊📢♉⠀⢃⠛⠋
#-49,A,-1 #
#-5,A,-1 #
#6,A,-1 #
1<<<< ! !
2<<<!< !
1+`` +!!
1= *
53 +
1> *
51 +
#
1+ * x+x x x
49 x+ xx+xxx+ x+x + x B+ ===+
x= xx x x=== x x >8 xxx +++= +
x+ +x + x,_8=>+ xB x+x
x==+R _*=x== x +x==+> x x +
x +R"12"+8=Dx B=xD + + xxx+
`+ x`=>8=x> x+~ x x +x+B+
x +====+x>~+B+= x x + x
xD~+x 8=++>8x += x+ +,_ +
15 + x x + + xx + ? ?@ %"18"_ !
1 + x + x ++ xx + ?@ ?
1 \+* x + + x + + *
1 ! x +x + + ? ! ?
1 ! x xx --... ...-- ? @ ?
x + ++ xx ++ ++ +
+xxxxx + +
# +
+ * +
# + *
***************************************<>***********+
+ +$$$
<>"3"O._+ rk:start | print: "69" rk:end e$P+++++*D*+++1++1E!s
+ + *
$'main' *****+
-+3o4o# +
++ +
* *
+*****
# +
(printout t 164 )
(exit )
#cepp
MsgBox (0,"",169 )
#cs
Yo::=~147
::=
You can see an x here.<<<<
>{-<<<<<
> 176
>> Output 1
>SET x TO 120. [0]{472454523665721469465830106052219449897} @,-1,:*b5<>␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␌␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␌␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋␋
>X x. PPQ-}
>x--/2
> =157;y=146--/2
>main=print y{-ss s
\begin{code}
{-x ␉␉␉␉
␉
␉
-}
open import IO;main = run(putStr"159" )
\end{code}
ppppppppppppp
out &49 &1
out &56 &1
out &50 &1
Take Northern Line to Tooting Bec
Take Northern Line to Charing Cross
Take Northern Line to Charing Cross
Take Northern Line to Bank
Take District Line to Hammersmith
Take District Line to Upminster
Take District Line to Hammersmith
Take District Line to Upminster
Take District Line to Embankment
Take Bakerloo Line to Embankment
7 UP
Take Northern Line to Mornington Crescent
7 RIGHT
7 RIGHT
7 TEACH
6 BOND
6 BOND
6 BOND
5 RIGHT
5 LEFT
5 RIGHT
7 BOND
7 TEACH
5 TEACH
6 YELL
5 TEACH
6 YELL
6 YELL
set ! 57,,...,,.,,..,,,,,,..,,,.$^
set ! 51. #e.0,1,_ _ye{--}besizeString xflos1''gem x=4721en nd ogola=1$0C0 cod/|puts_e25y $"3"91/2 <5>6#"5"8=6028=+ codefn;#6or [9]=x 3 8[]p#s4;93
More 91 of this
How much is it
red down one blue up red down one blue up red up one red right two blue up sss
baa baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa bleeeeeeeeeeeeet bleeeeeeeeeeeeet bleeeeeeeeeet baaaa bleet bleeeeeeeeeet bleeet bleeeeeeeeeet
wwWWWwWWWWWwWWWWWWW wWWWWWWWWpppppp
When this program starts:
There is a scribe called x
x is to write 179
*/
#if 0
.int 2298589328,898451655,12,178790,1018168591,84934449,12597
#endif//*
#1""//*
#include<stdio.h>
#define x(a) #a
#define u8 "38\0 "//"
char*x="24 10 31 1"
"a c #FFC0FF""B c #0000C0""d c #58007B""e c #0C8302"
"h c #E60001""i c #CAFFFF""j c #280000""k c #CA0000""l c #CA007F""n c #330001 ""q c #E60000"
"o c #FF8000""t c #FF00BC""u c #008080"
"A c #0040C0""E c #808000""F c #00C040""G c #008000 ""R c #800000"
"H c #0000AA""I c #00AA00""J c #55FFFF""K c #AAAAAA"
"r c red""g c green""b c blue""c c cyan""m c magenta""y c #FFFF00""x c black""_ c #FFFFFF"
"HHHahtdegggggggyrggggggc"
"IHHaixuEFbGGbggbryAEGRgc"
"JJHajyurbgbgggggggb____o"
"IJHakmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye"
"I__almyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye"
"K__anmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy_y_e"
"HH_aqggyyyyyyyyg____m_Je"
"JH_axxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
"K__aaaam___bbbbbBm_bbBab"
"K__________bbbbb___bbxbb";//"
int f(char*a,char*b ){puts(a?"124":sizeof(0,u8)-5?u8"67":*u8""?"37":x(0'0 "'\"")[9]?"75":'??-'&1? "79":"77");}main(){f(x,x=0);}//<*/
#1""/*/
>import Text.Heredoc--WWWWWWWWWWWWWW<<W
>instance Num B where fromInteger _=B 170;negate _=B$x#x
>data B=B{u::Integer};g=[here|here<-"W>W"] --WWWWWWWWWW570rt Unc27<<[|]
>x=1;y#a=128;x#a = 174;(! )=seq
>main|let p!_=0=print$sum[0!61,{-_-}last$172:[u$[-1]!!0|g<"Z>"]] --}
console.log 178;
#1""/*/
#if 0
#fi`le. :-write(186). end_of_file. `
#endif//*
/*/
p=sizeof(" (\");print'(''72'')';end!");main(){puts('??-'&1?"101":"92" );return 0;}
#if 0
#endif//*
print 61
#}
disp 49
#{
}{}<> K yya+- & g+$
/._++.._#<!._++.-.>@ A=AgRA; AC
# /
\? -/!+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<>^+++++<\>+R++.-.
endif
#<<<#/<+>/>>>\
"""#"; print(85)
#< ~#class C{function:Main(a:String[])~Nil{83->Print();}}#+</.---.>/
#endcOmment
#nocOmment outtext("155")
#ce pS9^7^8^MUOUOF @0:8:8 \ @,,1'1'<> @125iRE
#p|o51~nJ;#:p'34'3 \=# print(size([[1] [3]][1,:])[1]==2?158+4:17)#>say 27#>>say 170-3#]#print(47 )#]#echo 21#>/#print(171)#s-#print 175#s
#8M`| <esc>dggi2<esc>// $}<}}<}>}[<< }<<<<<}<<}<<<<}</<<}}}<}}<}}<} }<}}<}}<}}}<}}<<<<<<<<<<<}}}<}}<}}<}}<}}<}}<}}}<<<<<<<<<<}]~-<~-<~-<<<~-<<COprint("65")#`=>ass^_^_#
#9'>+/' 25 xpppppppeeee*n*n*n*es*s*s*^ee*n*n*n*e*sss*e*n*n*n*ee*s<* 5>1 e*///\)Q222999686#</code>
Tugboat crews routinely encounter what few of us will ever see. They easily read a vessel’s size, shape, function, and features, while deciphering at a glance the mysterious numbers, letters, and symbols on a ship’s hull. To non-mariners, the markings look like hieroglyphs. For those in the know, they speak volumes about a particular ship and also about the shipping industry.
“There’s a much quoted proverb in the world of finance that I hate: Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime. I say bullshit to this. Do the poor really not know how to fish? And what good is it to know how to fish if the rights to fish are owned by powerful landlords? And if the river is polluted by upstream tyrants? And what good is it to be taught to fish if the price and distribution of fish is controlled by conglomerate monopolies?””
— Ananya Roy, “Who Profits From Poverty?“ (via kuanios)
In 2016, Colombian officials made a similar decision regardingthe Atrato River in the country’s northwest corner. Last week’s ruling is truly extraordinary though—in fact, this ruling is a first among this kind of “nature-as-person” climate litigation. The court based its decision on people and on future generations, not on the trees or the plants. A growing body of litigation is using future generations as an argument, but none have resulted in legally granting a piece of nature personhood.
Two pandas are formed by solar panels at the Panda Green Energy power plant in Datong, Shanxi Province, northern China. Built in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program, this solar farm covers roughly 1,500 acres and includes an education center that teaches children about sustainable and renewable energy.
She explains: “Phosphorus is one of just six chemical elements on which Earth organisms depend, and it is crucial to the compound adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which cells use to store and transfer energy. Astronomers have just started to pay attention to the cosmic origins of phosphorus and found quite a few surprises. In particular, P is created in supernovae – the explosions of massive stars – but the amounts seen so far don’t match our computer models. I wondered what the implications were for life on other planets if unpredictable amounts of P are spat out into space and later used in the construction of new planets.”
Ice can be a terrible pest, freezing to surfaces like roads and airplane wings and causing all sorts of havoc. Some surfaces, though, can actually prompt a freezing drop to scrape itself off. There are a couple key effects in play here. The first is that the surface is nanotextured – in other words, it has extremely small structures on its surface. This makes it hydrophobic, or water-repellent. The second key ingredient is that the drop is cooling evaporatively; that means heat is escaping along the air-water interface instead of conducting through the solid surface. As a result, the freezing front forms at the interface and pushes inward. Water expands as it freezes, which tries to force the interior liquid out, toward the bottom of the drop. On a normal surface, this would force the contact line – where air, water, and surface meet – to push outward. But the nanotexture of the hydrophobic surface pins that line in place. So the expanding ice pushes the frozen drop upward, scraping it off the surface! (Video and image credit: G. Graeber et al., source)
Meshpoint is a Croatian open source hardware company that turns out rugged, meshing, battery-powered wifi hotspots that get their backhaul from cellular networks; they’re based on the widely used DD-WRT free/open wifi routing software, and use open source hardware designs that are intended to stand up to punishing field conditions like those found in refugee camps.
Meshpoint was created by people who lived through the Balkan conflict and keenly remembered the experience of being threatened and displaced by war; when Syrian refugees arrived in their vicinity, the public-spirited hackers behind Meshpoint felt solidarity with their plight and started to create tools to allow refugees to stay in touch with one another and with diasporic populations around the world.
Meshpoint has had several trial deployments by different relief agencies and is under continuous revision to further ruggedize the hardware and to smooth out administration by non-expert users.
Like music fans everywhere, Dusted writers spent Friday reminiscing about the great Cecil Taylor. We’re sharing our conversation, and some of the man’s music, in this post.
“Ultimately among the many arguments advanced by nationalists for claiming particular territories over the years, geology has seldom been a prominent one. But, looking at these maps, its hard not to imagine an alternative history in which geologic rather than ethnic nationalism became the foundation for modern European states. Iceland, it appears, would emerge as the one pure Litho-state, built on a solid foundation of Trachyte and Basalt. A greater Scandinavia would also emerge, united by its common granite identity, after suppressing or assimilating minority regions of Devonian-era rock. England, in turn, would be the Balkans of this alternative world order, hopelessly divided between rival clans tracing their origins back to obscure fault-lines in the Eocene, Pliocene, and even Ordovician.”
Wat Phra Dhammakaya is a Buddhist temple in the Khlong Luang District of Thailand, roughly 30 miles north of Bangkok. Established in 1970, the temple uses modern methods and technology to encourage a revival of traditional Buddhist values. Its methods have stirred controversy in Thailand and even caused the ruling military junta to temporarily lock it down in 2017.
The following essay, originally written in 2001 for the literary magazine BigCityLit, examines Ms. Le Guin’s novel The Dispossessed in conjunction with Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy. The ideas expressed and implied in these works continue to be highly relevant for activists wishing to find a path toward a better world.
History has proven it hasn’t ended. The concept should have been too laughable to even been contemplated; the very fact that ever shriller cacophonies of propaganda are hurled at us ought to prove the point, if it needed to be proved at all.No matter how many times Margaret Thatcher’s “There is no alternative” is pompously declared; no matter how many times Francis Fukuyama is invoked to declare the end of history — a quote sure to be one of the 21st century’s reliable laugh lines — much of the world persists in refusing its assigned role. Unless we’re paying close attention, most of this is yet under the radar, save for the occasional spectacle when the World Bank or International Monetary Fund or a hemispheric “free trade” conference convenes, and we are shown a backdrop of protesters while a befuddled television talking head scratches his head and says “I don’t get it.” If the talking head is planning on a nice career as a media personality, he’d better not get it.
There is a subset of the “no alternative” grouping. Well, yes, maybe capitalism isn’t all wonderful, but look at how socialism failed. Actually, “socialism” did not fail; one distorted version did. The story of how that distortion, solidifying the incredible twists and turns taken by one country weighed down by the horrors of its absolutist history and further bent out of recognition by a single-minded dictator, is fascinating for those with much patience. That country, if we care to be precise, was never close to achieving socialism. Nonetheless, that country, which also faced relentless pressures from the West, including an invasion by 14 countries as soon as they could stop fighting World War I, had its uses. Western anti-Marxists didn’t want people to think there could be an alternative to capitalism. They still don’t.
We’ve begun the 21st century. Stalinism is dead. It will remain dead. Still, the desire for a better life remains. But what? It’s too easy to say “we don’t know.”
When Ars briefly went through some of the old posts saved on the Internet Archive, it seemed that relatively few posts were directly pertinent to the presidential campaign. Many of the posts, for instance, touched on black-oriented social justice topics. We did find one post that specifically advocated in favor of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.
Combined with that, this makes even less sense. A tumblr post isn’t the same as a fake news post unless it carries direct misinformation for the purpose of emotional reactions to non-existent problems. But that isn’t what happened. All of these blogs were mostly dedicated to heavily tagged social issues in America. While some of the listed ones could be accused of being communist, they definitely weren’t pro-Putin, and even fewer of the mere 84 total revealed accounts went anywhere close to the point of encouraging people not to vote against Trump in the election. Unlike many of the Facebook Russian bots that produced massive misinformation campaigns, none of the Tumblr ones seemed to have attempted to reach such massively deceptive levels.
What
they did do, however, is establish an
apparent connection between social discourse and social unrest and the ability to
label and discredit such online social media displays as something stemming only from Anti-American Foreign Powers and something to be censored/policed as dangerous by American authorities and corporations.
And that, regardless of who created those accounts and for what reason, is
far more terrifying.
It didn’t undermine America. It undermined
the ability to express about America.
“This origin story underlines how agriculture made cities possible, by providing enough food to feed a settled crowd on a regular basis. Cities can’t work without farms, nor without watersheds that provide their water. So as central as cities are to modern civilisation, they are only one aspect of a system.”
“The global city is not London, New York, Tokyo or Jo’berg — it is the part of each which is connected to an analogous part in each of the others. The global city is a distributed phenomenon. There is only one global city, and it floats on top of the others like lace.”
Check out this incredible shot of a cargo ship in Kronstadt, Russia, passing through frozen waters of the Gulf of Finland. The record low temperature in this region of the country is −35.9°C (−32.6 °F).
A group of Chinese computer scientists from academia and industry have published a paper documenting a tool for fooling facial recognition software by shining hat-brim-mounted infrared LEDs on the user’s face, projecting CCTV-visible, human-eye-invisible shapes designed to fool the face recognition software.
The tactic lets the attacker specify which face the categorizer should “see” – the researchers were able to trick the software into recognizing arbitrary faces as belonging to the musician Moby, the Korean politician Hoi-Chang and others.
Their experiment draws on the body of work on adversarial examples: blind spots in machine-learning models that can be systematically discovered and exploited to confuse these classifiers.
The gadget used in their attack is not readily distinguishable from a regular ball-cap, and the attack only needs a single photo of the person to be impersonated in order to set up the correct light patterns. It worked with a 70% success rate used in a “white-box” attack (where the classifier is well understood), and they believe they could migrate this to a “black-box” attack (where the classifier’s workings are a secret) using a technique called “Particle Swarm Optimization.”
“The establishment of the Chancery of Westminster in the 1430’s set standard spellings for official state documents. In particular, the use of ‘I’ in preference to ‘ich’ and a variety of other usages of the first person pronoun. The spelling of other words such as ‘land’ (the ‘lond’ of Chaucer) also became standardized in the modern form, alongside words like 'such,’ 'right,’ 'not,’ 'but,’ 'these,’ 'shall,’ 'should,’ and 'could’. The influence of Chancery Standard was keenly felt in the quest to develop Standard English. The East Midlands dialect had gained cultural dominance over the other dialects and flowed in through the political, commercial and cultural 'triangle’ that joined London, Oxford and Cambridge. However, the advent of the printing press and mass publication necessitated further developments in the standardization process. The Chancery clerks had adopted the East Midland variants, and this naturally rubbed off on the London print houses. Some choices made by printers seem to have been quite arbitrary, however. For example, the adoption of the Northern dialect form 'they,’ 'their’ and 'them’ for plural and possessive pronouns, when the more common Southern dialect favoured 'hi,’ 'hir’ and 'hem’ (although this may have been simply to create a clear distinction with singular pronouns such as 'he,’ 'her’ and 'him’). …Early proof readers must have had a near-impossible task, as books often contained multiple variations of spellings of the same word. Particular confusion centred on the use of double vowels and consonants; for example, 'booke’ and 'boke’ and 'fellow,’ 'felow’ and 'felowe’. …Punctuation was another area in which usage and forms gradually became more standardized through printed language. Full stops became common at the end of sentences, and the convention of using capital letters for proper nouns and at the beginning of sentences became commonplace.”
— “The Story of English: How an Obscure
Dialect Became the World’s Most-Spoken Language” (via mostly-history)
“The establishment of the Chancery of Westminster in the 1430’s set standard spellings for official state documents. In particular, the use of ‘I’ in preference to ‘ich’ and a variety of other usages of the first person pronoun. The spelling of other words such as ‘land’ (the 'lond’ of Chaucer) also became standardized in the modern form, alongside words like 'such,’ 'right,’ 'not,’ 'but,’ 'these,’ 'shall,’ 'should,’ and 'could’. The influence of Chancery Standard was keenly felt in the quest to develop Standard English. The East Midlands dialect had gained cultural dominance over the other dialects and flowed in through the political, commercial and cultural 'triangle’ that joined London, Oxford and Cambridge. However, the advent of the printing press and mass publication necessitated further developments in the standardization process. The Chancery clerks had adopted the East Midland variants, and this naturally rubbed off on the London print houses. Some choices made by printers seem to have been quite arbitrary, however. For example, the adoption of the Northern dialect form 'they,’ 'their’ and 'them’ for plural and possessive pronouns, when the more common Southern dialect favoured 'hi,’ 'hir’ and 'hem’ (although this may have been simply to create a clear distinction with singular pronouns such as 'he,’ 'her’ and 'him’). …Early proof readers must have had a near-impossible task, as books often contained multiple variations of spellings of the same word. Particular confusion centred on the use of double vowels and consonants; for example, 'booke’ and 'boke’ and 'fellow,’ 'felow’ and 'felowe’. …Punctuation was another area in which usage and forms gradually became more standardized through printed language. Full stops became common at the end of sentences, and the convention of using capital letters for proper nouns and at the beginning of sentences became commonplace.”
— “The Story of English: How an Obscure
Dialect Became the World’s Most-Spoken Language” (via mostly-history)
