iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Nathan Lambert @natolambert.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Most people working in the cutting edge of AI seem to have no long-term plan for their unsustainable work habits.

Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

After a long gap, another layout update. Just finished the roads on the far end of the layout in the industrial area. Now to get on with adding textures #modeltrains

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Simon Willison @simonwillison.net · 25/08/2025

Some notes on the insecurity baked into Perplexity's Comet "AI Browser" - the Brave security team reported serious prompt injection vulnerabilities in it, but Brave themselves are developing a similar feature that looks doomed to have similar problems simonwillison.net/2025/Aug/25/...

simonwillison.net

Agentic Browser Security: Indirect Prompt Injection in Perplexity Comet

The security team from Brave took a look at Comet, the LLM-powered "agentic browser" extension from Perplexity, and unsurprisingly found security holes you can drive a truck through. The vulnerability...

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Nathan Lambert @natolambert.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

I made a snarky Western list to show how far behind we are in fostering an ecosystem vis a vis China.

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Michael Pettis @michaelpettis.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

14/16 The important point here is that when an economy invests $100 of resources in a project that creates more than $100 in economic value, it becomes richer. If the project creates less than $100 in economic value, it becomes poorer.

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Nathan Lambert @natolambert.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Is it "bad" that everyone is distilling from / training on Chinese models? While not directly bad, there is a large soft power component. Many completions that soapbox about Chinese socialist ideals / PRC values that filter into future AI models / spread all over the internet.

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

The commercial area on my layout is coming together. I added an oil depot #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

After reading @natolambert.bsky.social ‘s latest article on Kimi, I’m more baffled than ever on how much money Meta is spending!

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Got the shopping center and Dairy Queen in place on the layout. It’s clear I’ll need to add a lot of trees in this area #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Finished with base textures on the scene divider hill and added gravel to the roadway going up the hill. Tried out the wind turbine to see how it looks . I’m pleased with it overall #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Some of the more expensive textures I use. Grass tufts by Martin Welberg (Netherlands) and foliage mats by Heki (Germany) . These absolutely look the best in my opinion. Walthers does offer some decent weed clumps too #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

I’ve been busy adding texture to the layout. It really helps to have a wide palette of textures. I use ground foam, static grass, and foliage nets #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

After ballasting half the tracks in the layout with actual rock from Arizona Rock & Mineral, I’ve switched back to good old Woodland Scenics #modeltrains WS ballast is much coarser and is less likely to get caught in turnout mechanisms.

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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

I imagined the Chatsubo in 1984. 41 years later I opened its door. Neuromancer is in production.

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Ben Carlson @bencarlson007.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

"The 80s was the first time that young guys could make a lot of money fast. Never existed before. And it has poisoned our culture to this day. It’s poison.” -Jerry Seinfeld Thoughts on the potential downsides of becoming rich when you're young: awealthofcommonsense.com/2025/06/how-...

awealthofcommonsense.com

How to Get Rich When You're Young - A Wealth of Common Sense

Some thoughts on how young people can build wealth.

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

Completed the basic ground cover on about 1/4th of the layout. Still need to add shrubs and trees and a lot of details including building lighting

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

Scenery work is proceeding on the layout. One of my favorite components are these grass mats from Martin Welberg Scenic Stdios in the Netherlands. You just pull out clumps with tweezers and stick them on the layout #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

The residential area is coming along nicely. I used the static grass applicator and it worked really well with Noch 2mm static grass. #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

In contrast to my current N-scale project, I used Atlas flex track and turnouts on my HO scale switching layout. Ballasting that track, especially the turnouts was a lot more challenging but fun #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

It’s just amazing how much of an improvement you get by just painting the rails. I use this rust colored paint from Micromark applied with a fine brush #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Soldering all non-insulated track joiners before painting the track. Long experience has taught me that this is essential. You just can’t depend on the conductivity of track joiners. #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Starting to add textures to the scenery. This is the first time I’m using actual stone ballast. Needs another pass of ballasting to shape the shoulder #modeltrains (That’s Kato Unitrack incidentally)

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Having a wide range of ground cover - colors and textures really helps when working on scenery

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Started to add texture and color to one corner of the layout #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Finished painting the base coat on the layout. I don’t quite like this shade of brown (a little too red) but I had a lot of it on hand from previous projects. But it’s ok. Also spray painted the road a light grey. #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

I have the Microsoft Copilot app in my phone. I just got this mind bogglingly crazy popup. Does Copilot do therapy now?😬

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

This is what the underside of the layout looks like. I’m using ESP32 microcontrollers to send track occupancy data to the controller via MQTT. Turnouts are controlled via Digitrax stationary decoders. Every bit of track has occupancy detection since this is a fully automated layout #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

I mocked up the scenery before I started gluing things down. There will be a district residential, commercial and industrial areas. Roadways are made from styrene sheets #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

My N-scale layout is intended to be semi-portable so I’m using carved foam for the basic landscape form. The main tools for this are a hot wire foam cutter and a Stanley Surform scraper. I use a thin layer of Sculptamold to clean up the surfaces #modeltrains

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Had fun slathering sculptamold on my N scale layout. Messy but fun 😀 #modeltrains

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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 08/04/2025

Polls conducted after Trump's new tariffs are just brutal for him: - Net approval rating hits a new low of -4 - Disapproval over 50% for the first time in his second term - Econ approval at -15 - Tariffs underwater by 30 Will be updating this post with more: www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-appr...

gelliottmorris.com

Live updates: Trump's approval hits new low after "Liberation Day" tariffs

His average economic approval also hits a new low (-13), and his tariffs are underwater by 30 points

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George Pearkes @peark.es · 04/04/2025

Export controls are definitely a fun “oh that’s going to cause a mess” weapon that China is using. Lots of similar ones around the world if countries get serious about fighting US tariffs.

(Bloomberg) -- China is imposing export controls on several rare-earth elements that have become a focal point in US President Donald Trump's drive to strengthen America's industrial supply chains.
China is immediately restricting global exports of a group of rare earths, such as samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, Beijing said Friday. The Asian nation is the world's dominant supplier of many of these materials, accounting for almost 70% of the global production of rare earths, according to the US Geological Survey estimates.
Read More: What Are the Rare Earth Metals Trump
Has His Eye On?: QuickTake
China's export controls are similar to last year's restrictions on germanium and gallium, materials key for the defense and technology sectors. The expanded list is expected to have broad impacts on US companies since these rare earths are used in optical lasers, radar devices, high-powered magnets for wind turbines, jet engine coatings and the latest generations of communications technology.

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Gary Marcus @garymarcus.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

What’s up with Trump’s horrible tariff plan? As a former psychology, I consider four explanations, from dementia to stupidity and more: open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...

open.substack.com

Questions about President Trump from a former psychology professor

Is he well?

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 03/04/2025

on CNBC, @carlquintanilla.bsky.social describes the Trump administration as "burning down the house to cook a steak."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Hey journalism school students! And profs! Here's fodder for essay-question analyses. Both headlines from same paper, 11 months apart. Apr 2024 on left, March 2025 on right. Inflation rate same both times (2.9%) Any subtle difference you see? (I no longer think this "matters" but still)

Two headlines, one saying that inflation was a blow for Joe Biden, another saying that Trump bets Americans will swallow higher prices.

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Joe Weisenthal @weisenthal.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

MUST READ IN THE NEWSLETTER: Oil and gas executives just gave scathing comments on this administration and the state of the industry> Read the full thing here from @tracyalloway.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

On the one hand you really need a car in most parts of the US but cars are going to become unaffordable for a lot people after these tariffs go into effect 🤔

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Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

A List of Complaints from 1925 🧵

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Karan Desai @somecloudguy.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

One of the most underrated travel experiences is First AC on a premium train of Indian Railways

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Rangachari Anand @2sk22.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

There were many circular vendor financing deals like this at the height of dotcom bubble in the 1990s (from The Information)

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altNOAA 🇺🇸 @altnoaa.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Twice per day at various locations throughout this country (and the world), a meteorologist walks outside and let's go of a balloon with an instrument pack attached to it that radios back info it observed as it ascended. That info is mission critical to the success of our economy. 🧵

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 04/03/2025

Freeland: "If these tariffs are put in place, it is going to hurt Americans ... your grocery prices are gonna go up, bc you know what you need to grow food in the US? You need fertilizer. 80% of it comes from Canada and you're gonna be a 25% tax on it? ... the WSJ is right. This is dumb."

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Patrick De Haan @gasbuddyguy.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Link w/ video: gasbuddy.com/go/canadian-...

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Joe Weisenthal @weisenthal.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Virtually every comment in today's ISM manufacturing report is someone expressing concern about the tariffs

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