Akhenaten or Amenhotep IV (d. c. 1336 BCE) was an 18th dynasty pharaoh of Egypt, son of Amenhotep III and his Chief Queen Tiye, and the husband of the beautiful Nefertiti. He is best known as the heretic king who tried to change the religion of the Egyptians. Akhenaten established a new capital at Amarna to go along with his new religion that focused on the god Aten, whence the pharaoh's preferred name. Following his death, much of what Akhenaten had constructed was destroyed deliberately. Shortly afterward, his successors returned to the old Amun god. Some count Akhenaten as the first monotheist.
Aeschylus (c. 525–456 BCE) was the first great tragic poet. He introduced dialogue, the characteristic tragic boot (cothurnus) and mask. He established other conventions, like the performance of violent acts offstage. Before he became a tragic poet, Aeschylus, who wrote a tragedy about the Persians, fought in the Persian War in the battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea.
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (c. 60–12 BCE) was a renowned Roman general and close friend of Octavian (Augustus). Agrippa was consul first in 37 BCE. He was also governor of Syria. As general, Agrippa defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Upon his victory, Augustus awarded his niece Marcella to Agrippa for a wife. Then, in 21 BCE, Augustus married his own daughter Julia to Agrippa. By Julia, Agrippa had a daughter, Agrippina, and three sons, Gaius and Lucius Caesar and Agrippa Postumus (so named because Agrippa was dead by the time he was born).
Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Caesar Augustus, Cleopatra, Confucius, Constantine the Great, Hannibal, Herodotus, Homer, Jesus, Julius Caesar, Moses, Saul (Paul) of Tarsus, Pericles, Plato, Siddhartha Gautama, Socrates, Solon, and Thucydides. That’s nineteen.
In the second tier I would place Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Attila the Hun, St. Augustine, Demosthenes, Euclid, Euripides, Hammurabi, Hippocrates, Nebuchadnezzar II, Pindar, Sappho, Scipio Africanus, Sophocles, Thales, Virgil, Xerxes, and Zoroaster. Another eighteen.
My third tier would contain Archimedes, Cato, Empedocles, Galen, Justinian I Mithridates VI, Ovid, Plutarch, Ramses II, and Spartacus, making the list total 47.
Anaximander of Miletus (c. 611–c. 547 BCE) was a pupil of Thales and teacher of Anaximenes. He is credited with inventing the gnomon on the sundial and with drawing the first map of the world in which people live. He may have drawn a map of the universe. Anaximander may also have been the first to write a philosophical treatise. He believed in an eternal motion and a boundless nature.
This is something that Moderne is setting out to solve. The company analyzes all the components that make up a company’s stack, handles framework and library migrations to ensure that they’re up-to-date, fixes security vulnerabilities, and even upgrades older tech to modern cloud-native equivalents.
Anaximenes (d. c. 528 BCE) accounted for natural phenomena like lightning and earthquakes though his philosophical theory. A student of Anaximander, Anaximenes did not share his belief that there was an underlying boundless indeterminateness or apeiron. Instead, Anaximenes thought the underlying principle behind everything was air/mist, which had the advantage of being empirically observable. Different densities of air (rarified and condensed) accounted for different forms. Since everything is made of air, Anaximenes' theory of the soul is that it is made of air and holds us together. He believed the earth was a flat disk with fiery evaporations becoming heavenly bodies.
Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287–c.212 BCE), a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer, determined the exact value of pi and is also known for his strategic role in the ancient war and the development of military techniques. Archimedes put up a good, almost single-handed defense of his homeland. First, he invented an engine that threw stones at the enemy, then he used glass to set the Roman ships on fire—maybe. After he was killed, the Romans had him buried with honor.
Ashoka (304–232 BCE), a Hindu convert to Buddhism, was king of the Mauryan Dynasty in India from 269 until his death. With his capital at Magadha, Ashoka's empire extended into Afghanistan. Following bloody wars of conquest, when Ashoka was considered a cruel warrior, he changed: He eschewed violence, promoting tolerance and the moral welfare of his people. He also established contact with the Hellenistic world. Ashoka posted "the edicts of Ashoka" on great animal-topped pillars, chiseled in the ancient Brahmi script. Mostly reforms, the edicts also list public works projects, including universities, roads, hospitals, and irrigation systems.
Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus (63 BCE–14 CE) and known as Octavian, was the grand-nephew and primary heir of Julius Caesar, who began his career by serving under Julius Caesar in the Spanish expedition of 46 BCE. Upon his grand-uncle's assassination in 44 BCE, Octavian went to Rome to be recognized as the (adopted) son of Julius Caesar. He dealt with the assassins of his father and the other Roman power contenders, and made himself the one-man head of Rome—inventing the role we know of as emperor. In 27 BCE, Octavian became Augustus, restored order and consolidated the principate (the Roman Empire). The Roman Empire that Augustus created lasted for 500 years.
Caligula or Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (12–41 CE) followed Tiberius to be the third Roman emperor. He was adored at his accession, but after an illness, his behavior changed. Caligula is remembered as sexually perverted, cruel, insane, extravagant, and desperate for funds. Caligula had himself worshiped as a god while still alive, instead of after death as had been done before. Several assassination attempts are thought to have been made before the successful conspiracy of the Praetorian Guard did him in, on January 24, 41.
Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 BCE), a novus homo from Tusculum, in Sabine country, was an austere leader of the Roman Republic known for coming into conflict with his contemporary, the more flamboyant Scipio Africanus, winner of the Second Punic War.
Cato the Younger is the name of one of Julius Caesar's staunchest opponents. Cato the Elder is his ancestor.
Cato the Elder served in the military, especially in Greece and Spain. He became consul at 39 and later, censor. He influenced Roman life in law, foreign and domestic policy, and morality.
Cato the Elder despised luxury, especially of the Greek variety his enemy Scipio favored. Cato also disapproved of Scipio's leniency towards the Carthaginians at the conclusion of the Second Punic War.
King Ying Zheng (Qin Shing) unified the warring states of China and became the First Emperor or Emperor Ch'in (Qin) in 221 BCE. This ruler commissioned the gigantic terracotta army and subterranean palace/mortuary complex found, via pottery sherds, by farmers digging in their fields, two millennia later, during the tenure of one his greatest admirers, Chairman Mao.
The sagacious Confucius, Kongzi, or Master Kung (551–479 BCE) was a social philosopher whose values became dominant in China only after he died. Advocating living virtuously, he put emphasis on socially appropriate behavior.
Constantine the Great (c. 272–337 CE) was famed for winning the battle at the Milvian Bridge, reuniting the Roman Empire under one emperor (Constantine himself), winning major battles in Europe, legalizing Christianity, and establishing a new eastern capital of Rome at the city, Nova Roma, formerly Byzantium, that was to be named Constantinople.
Constantinople (now known as Istanbul) became the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which lasted until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
It is unclear how many people will be affected by the layoffs, but in September 2024, Meta employed around 72,000 people, so a 5% reduction could reduce staff by roughly 3,600 jobs, Bloomberg reported.
Hiring replacements for laid-off employees could take until mid-March
A separate internal memo, posted by Meta's VP of Engineering for Monetization Peng Fan on Friday, asked employees to assist with the hiring process for machine learning engineers and other "business critical engineering roles," Reuters reported. This process would begin on Feb. 11 and last until March 13, Fan said, per the outlet.
Schneider says Moderne was well-suited to LLMs due to OpenRewrite’s Lossless Semantic Tree (LST) code representation — a structured representation of source code that enables deeper semantic understanding while retaining the original details (e.g. whitespace, comments, and syntax). Originally, this was designed for an OpenRewrite feature called Recipes, but it ended up being the “ideal data source” for what OpenRewrite is now doing with AI.
“These [LLM] models are data-hungry, and LST has proven to be an invaluable data source for code,” Schneider said. “The LST captures deep structural and semantic context across thousands of repositories. This unique capability allows Moderne to fuel AI models with vital context, enabling agentic experiences that can drive modernization, security, and code analysis efforts on a massive scale.”
Titus Flavius Domitianus or Domitian (51–96 CE) was the last of the Flavian emperors. Domitian and the Senate had a mutually hostile relationship, so although Domitian may have balanced the economy and done other good works, including rebuilding the fire-damaged city of Rome, he is remembered as one of the worst Roman emperors, since his biographers were mainly of the senatorial class. He strangled the Senate's power and executed some of its members. His reputation among Christians and Jews was tainted by his persecution.
Following Domitian's assassination, the Senate decreed damnatio memoriae for him, meaning that his name was removed from records and coins minted for him were re-melted.
Hammurabi (r.1792–1750 BCE) was an important Babylonian king responsible for what is known as the Code of Hammurabi. It is generally referred to as an early law code, although it's actual function is debated. Hammurabi also improved the state, building canals and fortifications. He united Mesopotamia, defeated Elam, Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari, and made Babylonia an important power. Hammurabi started the "Old Babylonian period" that lasted for about 1500 years.
Put simply, technical debt is always going to be a problem as companies pursue that “north star” architecture.
“Ask any tech executive if they ever reach that ‘north star’ before it moves,” Schneider said. “Codebases are in a constant state of evolution, requiring updates, security fixes, consolidation, improvements — modernization never ends. Ironically, the most modern tech stacks are the ones most susceptible to breakage from the rapid iteration of the third-party and open-source dependencies on which they rely.”
Heraclitus (fl. 69th Olympiad, 504–501 BCE) is the first philosopher known to use the word kosmos for world order, which he says ever was and ever will be, not created by god or man. Heraclitus is thought to have abdicated the throne of Ephesus in favor of his brother. He was known as Weeping Philosopher and Heraclitus the Obscure.
Heraclitus uniquely put his philosophy into aphorisms, like "On those stepping into rivers staying the same other and other waters flow" (DK22B12), which is part of his confusing theories of Universal Flux and the Identity of Opposites. In addition to nature, Heraclitus made human nature a concern of philosophy.
Under former President Joe Biden, appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, and gas stoves had to conform to stringent climate standards, which manufacturers and experts have said could lead to more expensive, and less effective, alternatives than currently available models.
In a Truth Social post early Tuesday, Trump called on Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to immediately cancel Biden's climate mandates and reinstate the environmental orders from his previous administration.
Trump signed an executive order Monday to reverse a Biden-era federal move away from plastic straws, saying that paper straws "don't work" and do not last long enough to be useful.
"It's a ridiculous situation," the president said. "We're going back to plastic straws."
Trump's order will launch a review of federal purchasing policies that restrict plastic straws and targets a policy from the Biden administration that sought to phase out federal purchases of single-use plastics from food service packaging, operations and events by 2027, and ultimately from all federal operations by 2035.
In response to Trump's comments, CEO Daniel Mamadou of Kvanefjeld license holder Energy Transition Minerals, said: "I think it certainly puts everything related to minerals back on the map."
Kvanefjeld is among the world's top three rare earth deposits outside China, capable of supplying up to 15% of global production of the critical components used in manufacture of consumer electronics and weapons, according to Mamadou.
However, the project's development was halted four years ago following the election of the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, which had pledged to stop the Kvanefjeld project due to its uranium content and proximity to populated areas.
Its government coalition partner Siumut, which did not vote for the passing of the uranium ban in 2021, has since the election was called not said if it wants to scrap the uranium law. However, Siumut says in its party constitution that it should be possible to develop mines with uranium as a biproduct.
The head of Greenland's biggest labor union SIK with 8,000 members supports the development of Kvanefjeld.
Before the halt, Energy Transition Minerals had invested over 1 billion Danish crowns ($138 million) in the project. The company has since launched an arbitration case seeking compensation from the Greenlandic and Danish state.
Vance Rails Against 'Excessive Regulation' of AI at Paris Summit
Excessive regulation could cripple the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry in a rebuke to European efforts to curb AI's risks, Vice President J.D. Vance warned Tuesday.
Vice President J.D. Vance on Tuesday warned global leaders and tech industry executives that "excessive regulation" could cripple the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry in a rebuke to European efforts to curb AI's risks.
The speech underscored a widening, three-way rift over AI.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, champions a hands-off approach to fuel innovation, while Europe is tightening the reins with strict regulations to ensure safety and accountability. Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding AI through state-backed tech giants, vying for dominance in the global race.
The Jericho River is more than it seems on the surface and is not just one more adventure story. Advertised to be a subtle teaching of history in an action adventure wrapper, it is certainly that. You experience the history first hand from the characters that are living it and that experience is more real than dates and names in a history book. And while it may be geared to the adolescent reader, it fits the adult fun equation as well.
If you want to look beneath the fun and get philosophical, you can do that too by contemplating one of the great moral themes in the history of man -- the role of science and its impact on human spirituality. Man has embarked on a 2000 year journey to explain the world and, as he has done so, gradually replaced fear of the unknown with science. Where does this process end and what do we have when all is known?
The Trump administration will "ensure that AI systems developed in America are free from ideological bias," Vance said and pledged the U.S. would "never restrict our citizens' right to free speech."
Vance also took aim at foreign governments for "tightening the screws" on U.S. tech firms, saying such moves were troubling. His remarks underscored the growing divide between Washington and its European allies on AI governance.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that, "AI needs the confidence of the people and has to be safe″ and detailed EU guidelines intended to standardize the bloc's AI Act but acknowledged concerns over regulatory burden.
"At the same time, I know that we have to make it easier and we have to cut red tape and we will," she added.
She also announced that the "InvestAI" initiative had reached a total of €200 billion in AI investments across Europe, including €20 billion dedicated to AI gigafactories.
The summit laid bare competing global AI strategies — Europe pushing to regulate and invest, China expanding AI through state-backed giants, and the U.S. doubling down on an unregulated, free-market approach.
French President Emmanuel Macron positioned Europe as a "third way" in the AI race, one that avoids dependence on major powers like the U.S. and China.
"We want a fair and open access to these innovations for the whole planet," he said in his closing speech, arguing that the AI sector "needs rules" on a global scale to build public trust and urging greater "international governance."
Concerns over AI's potential dangers have loomed over the summit, particularly as nations grapple with how to regulate a technology that is increasingly entwined with defense and warfare.
"I think one day we will have to find ways to control AI or else we will lose control of everything," said Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO's commander who oversees the alliance's modernization efforts.
Beyond diplomatic tensions, a global public-private partnership is being launched called "Current AI," aimed at supporting large-scale AI initiatives for the public good.
Analysts see this as an opportunity to counterbalance the dominance of private companies in AI development. However, it remains unclear whether the U.S. will support such efforts.
French President Emmanuel Macron, addressing the energy demands of AI, contrasted France's nuclear-powered approach with the U.S.‘s reliance on fossil fuels, quipping: France won't "drill, baby, drill," but "plug, baby, plug."
Vance's diplomatic tour will continue in Germany, where he will attend the Munich Security Conference and press European allies to increase commitments to NATO and Ukraine. He may also meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Vance will discuss Ukraine and the Middle East over a working lunch with Macron.
Unknown to Caesar was the blockade set up by Pompey using his fleet under the command of Bibulus. Caesar was very fortunate in that he caught Bibulus off guard with a winter crossing and was able to reach the coast of Epirus (1). When Caesar sent the fleet back to retrieve the rest of the army, it was intercepted, blocked, and many ships were lost (2). Caesar now faced the prospect of fighting Pompey’s army of 45,000 with an army of 15,000. He attempted to treat with Pompey several times but was rebuffed. Resigned to doing battle, Caesar instructed the newly arrived Anthony to break the blockade and head north to meet him at Dyrrhachium (3,4). Pompey, hearing of Caesar’s movements, marched from Macedonia to try and get between Caesar and Anthony (5). Unsuccessful, he set up camp along the coastline south of Dyrrhachium.
Imhotep was a famous Egyptian architect and physician from the 27th century BCE. The step pyramid at Saqqara is thought to have been designed by Imhotep for 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser (Zoser). The medicine of the 17th century B.C. Edwin Smith Papyrus is also attributed to Imhotep.
Julius Caesar (102/100–44 BCE) may have been the greatest man of all times. By age 39/40, Caesar had been a widowed and divorced, governor (propraetor) of Further Spain, captured by pirates, hailed as imperator by adoring troops, quaestor, aedile, consul, and elected pontifex maximus. He formed the Triumvirate, enjoyed military victories in Gaul, became dictator for life, and started a civil war. When Julius Caesar was assassinated, his death set the Roman world in turmoil. Like Alexander who began a new historical era, Julius Caesar, the last great leader of the Roman Republic, set in motion the creation of the Roman Empire.
Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 98–55BCE) was a Roman Epicurean epic poet who wrote De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things). De rerum natura is an epic, written in six books, which explains life and the world in terms of Epicurean principles and the theory of Atomism. Lucretius had a significant influence on western science and has inspired modern philosophers, including Gassendi, Bergson, Spencer, Whitehead, and Teilhard de Chardin, according to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Musk made his latest robotaxi promises the same day Tesla reported disappointing earnings, which missed analysts' expectations and followed earlier news that Tesla posted its first-ever sales decline in 2024. Shares rose 3% the following day.
He promised Tesla would launch "autonomous ride-hailing for money in Austin, in June." Musk did not say how many cars, how customers would access them or whether the service would be available to everyone.
The rollout of "unsupervised" FSD in California and "many regions of the country" would follow later this year, Musk said, without explaining whether that meant driverless-taxi services, a feature Tesla owners could buy, or some other offering.
Akhenaten or Amenhotep IV (d. c. 1336 BCE) was an 18th dynasty pharaoh of Egypt, son of Amenhotep III and his Chief Queen Tiye, and the husband of the beautiful Nefertiti. He is best known as the heretic king who tried to change the religion of the Egyptians. Akhenaten established a new capital at Amarna to go along with his new religion that focused on the god Aten, whence the pharaoh's preferred name. Following his death, much of what Akhenaten had constructed was destroyed deliberately. Shortly afterward, his successors returned to the old Amun god. Some count Akhenaten as the first monotheist.
!summarize #joerogan #losangeles #skidrow #homeless
!summarize #lancelynn #mlb #freeagent
Aeschylus (c. 525–456 BCE) was the first great tragic poet. He introduced dialogue, the characteristic tragic boot (cothurnus) and mask. He established other conventions, like the performance of violent acts offstage. Before he became a tragic poet, Aeschylus, who wrote a tragedy about the Persians, fought in the Persian War in the battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea.
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (c. 60–12 BCE) was a renowned Roman general and close friend of Octavian (Augustus). Agrippa was consul first in 37 BCE. He was also governor of Syria. As general, Agrippa defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Upon his victory, Augustus awarded his niece Marcella to Agrippa for a wife. Then, in 21 BCE, Augustus married his own daughter Julia to Agrippa. By Julia, Agrippa had a daughter, Agrippina, and three sons, Gaius and Lucius Caesar and Agrippa Postumus (so named because Agrippa was dead by the time he was born).
!summarize #georgefriedman #china #exports #economics
Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Caesar Augustus, Cleopatra, Confucius, Constantine the Great, Hannibal, Herodotus, Homer, Jesus, Julius Caesar, Moses, Saul (Paul) of Tarsus, Pericles, Plato, Siddhartha Gautama, Socrates, Solon, and Thucydides. That’s nineteen.
In the second tier I would place Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Attila the Hun, St. Augustine, Demosthenes, Euclid, Euripides, Hammurabi, Hippocrates, Nebuchadnezzar II, Pindar, Sappho, Scipio Africanus, Sophocles, Thales, Virgil, Xerxes, and Zoroaster. Another eighteen.
My third tier would contain Archimedes, Cato, Empedocles, Galen, Justinian I Mithridates VI, Ovid, Plutarch, Ramses II, and Spartacus, making the list total 47.
Anaximander of Miletus (c. 611–c. 547 BCE) was a pupil of Thales and teacher of Anaximenes. He is credited with inventing the gnomon on the sundial and with drawing the first map of the world in which people live. He may have drawn a map of the universe. Anaximander may also have been the first to write a philosophical treatise. He believed in an eternal motion and a boundless nature.
This is something that Moderne is setting out to solve. The company analyzes all the components that make up a company’s stack, handles framework and library migrations to ensure that they’re up-to-date, fixes security vulnerabilities, and even upgrades older tech to modern cloud-native equivalents.
!summarize #grayscale #cardano #etf #crypt0
Anaximenes (d. c. 528 BCE) accounted for natural phenomena like lightning and earthquakes though his philosophical theory. A student of Anaximander, Anaximenes did not share his belief that there was an underlying boundless indeterminateness or apeiron. Instead, Anaximenes thought the underlying principle behind everything was air/mist, which had the advantage of being empirically observable. Different densities of air (rarified and condensed) accounted for different forms. Since everything is made of air, Anaximenes' theory of the soul is that it is made of air and holds us together. He believed the earth was a flat disk with fiery evaporations becoming heavenly bodies.
Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287–c.212 BCE), a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer, determined the exact value of pi and is also known for his strategic role in the ancient war and the development of military techniques. Archimedes put up a good, almost single-handed defense of his homeland. First, he invented an engine that threw stones at the enemy, then he used glass to set the Roman ships on fire—maybe. After he was killed, the Romans had him buried with honor.
!summarize #scottgalloway #elonmusk #doge
Ashoka (304–232 BCE), a Hindu convert to Buddhism, was king of the Mauryan Dynasty in India from 269 until his death. With his capital at Magadha, Ashoka's empire extended into Afghanistan. Following bloody wars of conquest, when Ashoka was considered a cruel warrior, he changed: He eschewed violence, promoting tolerance and the moral welfare of his people. He also established contact with the Hellenistic world. Ashoka posted "the edicts of Ashoka" on great animal-topped pillars, chiseled in the ancient Brahmi script. Mostly reforms, the edicts also list public works projects, including universities, roads, hospitals, and irrigation systems.
!summarize #jordanpeterson #canada #government
Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus (63 BCE–14 CE) and known as Octavian, was the grand-nephew and primary heir of Julius Caesar, who began his career by serving under Julius Caesar in the Spanish expedition of 46 BCE. Upon his grand-uncle's assassination in 44 BCE, Octavian went to Rome to be recognized as the (adopted) son of Julius Caesar. He dealt with the assassins of his father and the other Roman power contenders, and made himself the one-man head of Rome—inventing the role we know of as emperor. In 27 BCE, Octavian became Augustus, restored order and consolidated the principate (the Roman Empire). The Roman Empire that Augustus created lasted for 500 years.
Caligula or Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (12–41 CE) followed Tiberius to be the third Roman emperor. He was adored at his accession, but after an illness, his behavior changed. Caligula is remembered as sexually perverted, cruel, insane, extravagant, and desperate for funds. Caligula had himself worshiped as a god while still alive, instead of after death as had been done before. Several assassination attempts are thought to have been made before the successful conspiracy of the Praetorian Guard did him in, on January 24, 41.
!summarize #nygiants #matthewstafford #nfl
Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 BCE), a novus homo from Tusculum, in Sabine country, was an austere leader of the Roman Republic known for coming into conflict with his contemporary, the more flamboyant Scipio Africanus, winner of the Second Punic War.
Cato the Younger is the name of one of Julius Caesar's staunchest opponents. Cato the Elder is his ancestor.
Cato the Elder served in the military, especially in Greece and Spain. He became consul at 39 and later, censor. He influenced Roman life in law, foreign and domestic policy, and morality.
Cato the Elder despised luxury, especially of the Greek variety his enemy Scipio favored. Cato also disapproved of Scipio's leniency towards the Carthaginians at the conclusion of the Second Punic War.
King Ying Zheng (Qin Shing) unified the warring states of China and became the First Emperor or Emperor Ch'in (Qin) in 221 BCE. This ruler commissioned the gigantic terracotta army and subterranean palace/mortuary complex found, via pottery sherds, by farmers digging in their fields, two millennia later, during the tenure of one his greatest admirers, Chairman Mao.
The sagacious Confucius, Kongzi, or Master Kung (551–479 BCE) was a social philosopher whose values became dominant in China only after he died. Advocating living virtuously, he put emphasis on socially appropriate behavior.
Constantine the Great (c. 272–337 CE) was famed for winning the battle at the Milvian Bridge, reuniting the Roman Empire under one emperor (Constantine himself), winning major battles in Europe, legalizing Christianity, and establishing a new eastern capital of Rome at the city, Nova Roma, formerly Byzantium, that was to be named Constantinople.
Constantinople (now known as Istanbul) became the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which lasted until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
It is unclear how many people will be affected by the layoffs, but in September 2024, Meta employed around 72,000 people, so a 5% reduction could reduce staff by roughly 3,600 jobs, Bloomberg reported.
Hiring replacements for laid-off employees could take until mid-March
A separate internal memo, posted by Meta's VP of Engineering for Monetization Peng Fan on Friday, asked employees to assist with the hiring process for machine learning engineers and other "business critical engineering roles," Reuters reported. This process would begin on Feb. 11 and last until March 13, Fan said, per the outlet.
Schneider says Moderne was well-suited to LLMs due to OpenRewrite’s Lossless Semantic Tree (LST) code representation — a structured representation of source code that enables deeper semantic understanding while retaining the original details (e.g. whitespace, comments, and syntax). Originally, this was designed for an OpenRewrite feature called Recipes, but it ended up being the “ideal data source” for what OpenRewrite is now doing with AI.
“These [LLM] models are data-hungry, and LST has proven to be an invaluable data source for code,” Schneider said. “The LST captures deep structural and semantic context across thousands of repositories. This unique capability allows Moderne to fuel AI models with vital context, enabling agentic experiences that can drive modernization, security, and code analysis efforts on a massive scale.”
!summarize #ai #superbowl #commercials
Titus Flavius Domitianus or Domitian (51–96 CE) was the last of the Flavian emperors. Domitian and the Senate had a mutually hostile relationship, so although Domitian may have balanced the economy and done other good works, including rebuilding the fire-damaged city of Rome, he is remembered as one of the worst Roman emperors, since his biographers were mainly of the senatorial class. He strangled the Senate's power and executed some of its members. His reputation among Christians and Jews was tainted by his persecution.
Following Domitian's assassination, the Senate decreed damnatio memoriae for him, meaning that his name was removed from records and coins minted for him were re-melted.
Euclid of Alexandria (fl. 300 BCE) is the father of geometry (hence, Euclidean geometry) and his "Elements" is still in use.
Hammurabi (r.1792–1750 BCE) was an important Babylonian king responsible for what is known as the Code of Hammurabi. It is generally referred to as an early law code, although it's actual function is debated. Hammurabi also improved the state, building canals and fortifications. He united Mesopotamia, defeated Elam, Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari, and made Babylonia an important power. Hammurabi started the "Old Babylonian period" that lasted for about 1500 years.
!summarize #europeans #trump #politics
Put simply, technical debt is always going to be a problem as companies pursue that “north star” architecture.
“Ask any tech executive if they ever reach that ‘north star’ before it moves,” Schneider said. “Codebases are in a constant state of evolution, requiring updates, security fixes, consolidation, improvements — modernization never ends. Ironically, the most modern tech stacks are the ones most susceptible to breakage from the rapid iteration of the third-party and open-source dependencies on which they rely.”
!summarize #chriscuomo #doge #usaid
Heraclitus (fl. 69th Olympiad, 504–501 BCE) is the first philosopher known to use the word kosmos for world order, which he says ever was and ever will be, not created by god or man. Heraclitus is thought to have abdicated the throne of Ephesus in favor of his brother. He was known as Weeping Philosopher and Heraclitus the Obscure.
Heraclitus uniquely put his philosophy into aphorisms, like "On those stepping into rivers staying the same other and other waters flow" (DK22B12), which is part of his confusing theories of Universal Flux and the Identity of Opposites. In addition to nature, Heraclitus made human nature a concern of philosophy.
Under former President Joe Biden, appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, and gas stoves had to conform to stringent climate standards, which manufacturers and experts have said could lead to more expensive, and less effective, alternatives than currently available models.
In a Truth Social post early Tuesday, Trump called on Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to immediately cancel Biden's climate mandates and reinstate the environmental orders from his previous administration.
Trump signed an executive order Monday to reverse a Biden-era federal move away from plastic straws, saying that paper straws "don't work" and do not last long enough to be useful.
"It's a ridiculous situation," the president said. "We're going back to plastic straws."
Trump's order will launch a review of federal purchasing policies that restrict plastic straws and targets a policy from the Biden administration that sought to phase out federal purchases of single-use plastics from food service packaging, operations and events by 2027, and ultimately from all federal operations by 2035.
In response to Trump's comments, CEO Daniel Mamadou of Kvanefjeld license holder Energy Transition Minerals, said: "I think it certainly puts everything related to minerals back on the map."
Kvanefjeld is among the world's top three rare earth deposits outside China, capable of supplying up to 15% of global production of the critical components used in manufacture of consumer electronics and weapons, according to Mamadou.
However, the project's development was halted four years ago following the election of the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, which had pledged to stop the Kvanefjeld project due to its uranium content and proximity to populated areas.
Its government coalition partner Siumut, which did not vote for the passing of the uranium ban in 2021, has since the election was called not said if it wants to scrap the uranium law. However, Siumut says in its party constitution that it should be possible to develop mines with uranium as a biproduct.
The head of Greenland's biggest labor union SIK with 8,000 members supports the development of Kvanefjeld.
Before the halt, Energy Transition Minerals had invested over 1 billion Danish crowns ($138 million) in the project. The company has since launched an arbitration case seeking compensation from the Greenlandic and Danish state.
Vance Rails Against 'Excessive Regulation' of AI at Paris Summit
Excessive regulation could cripple the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry in a rebuke to European efforts to curb AI's risks, Vice President J.D. Vance warned Tuesday.
Vice President J.D. Vance on Tuesday warned global leaders and tech industry executives that "excessive regulation" could cripple the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry in a rebuke to European efforts to curb AI's risks.
The speech underscored a widening, three-way rift over AI.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, champions a hands-off approach to fuel innovation, while Europe is tightening the reins with strict regulations to ensure safety and accountability. Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding AI through state-backed tech giants, vying for dominance in the global race.
The Jericho River is more than it seems on the surface and is not just one more adventure story. Advertised to be a subtle teaching of history in an action adventure wrapper, it is certainly that. You experience the history first hand from the characters that are living it and that experience is more real than dates and names in a history book. And while it may be geared to the adolescent reader, it fits the adult fun equation as well.
If you want to look beneath the fun and get philosophical, you can do that too by contemplating one of the great moral themes in the history of man -- the role of science and its impact on human spirituality. Man has embarked on a 2000 year journey to explain the world and, as he has done so, gradually replaced fear of the unknown with science. Where does this process end and what do we have when all is known?
The Trump administration will "ensure that AI systems developed in America are free from ideological bias," Vance said and pledged the U.S. would "never restrict our citizens' right to free speech."
Vance also took aim at foreign governments for "tightening the screws" on U.S. tech firms, saying such moves were troubling. His remarks underscored the growing divide between Washington and its European allies on AI governance.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that, "AI needs the confidence of the people and has to be safe″ and detailed EU guidelines intended to standardize the bloc's AI Act but acknowledged concerns over regulatory burden.
"At the same time, I know that we have to make it easier and we have to cut red tape and we will," she added.
She also announced that the "InvestAI" initiative had reached a total of €200 billion in AI investments across Europe, including €20 billion dedicated to AI gigafactories.
The summit laid bare competing global AI strategies — Europe pushing to regulate and invest, China expanding AI through state-backed giants, and the U.S. doubling down on an unregulated, free-market approach.
French President Emmanuel Macron positioned Europe as a "third way" in the AI race, one that avoids dependence on major powers like the U.S. and China.
"We want a fair and open access to these innovations for the whole planet," he said in his closing speech, arguing that the AI sector "needs rules" on a global scale to build public trust and urging greater "international governance."
Concerns over AI's potential dangers have loomed over the summit, particularly as nations grapple with how to regulate a technology that is increasingly entwined with defense and warfare.
"I think one day we will have to find ways to control AI or else we will lose control of everything," said Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO's commander who oversees the alliance's modernization efforts.
Beyond diplomatic tensions, a global public-private partnership is being launched called "Current AI," aimed at supporting large-scale AI initiatives for the public good.
Analysts see this as an opportunity to counterbalance the dominance of private companies in AI development. However, it remains unclear whether the U.S. will support such efforts.
French President Emmanuel Macron, addressing the energy demands of AI, contrasted France's nuclear-powered approach with the U.S.‘s reliance on fossil fuels, quipping: France won't "drill, baby, drill," but "plug, baby, plug."
Vance's diplomatic tour will continue in Germany, where he will attend the Munich Security Conference and press European allies to increase commitments to NATO and Ukraine. He may also meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Vance will discuss Ukraine and the Middle East over a working lunch with Macron.
Unknown to Caesar was the blockade set up by Pompey using his fleet under the command of Bibulus. Caesar was very fortunate in that he caught Bibulus off guard with a winter crossing and was able to reach the coast of Epirus (1). When Caesar sent the fleet back to retrieve the rest of the army, it was intercepted, blocked, and many ships were lost (2). Caesar now faced the prospect of fighting Pompey’s army of 45,000 with an army of 15,000. He attempted to treat with Pompey several times but was rebuffed. Resigned to doing battle, Caesar instructed the newly arrived Anthony to break the blockade and head north to meet him at Dyrrhachium (3,4). Pompey, hearing of Caesar’s movements, marched from Macedonia to try and get between Caesar and Anthony (5). Unsuccessful, he set up camp along the coastline south of Dyrrhachium.
!summarize #tactics #taxes #trump #Tariffs
Imhotep was a famous Egyptian architect and physician from the 27th century BCE. The step pyramid at Saqqara is thought to have been designed by Imhotep for 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser (Zoser). The medicine of the 17th century B.C. Edwin Smith Papyrus is also attributed to Imhotep.
Julius Caesar (102/100–44 BCE) may have been the greatest man of all times. By age 39/40, Caesar had been a widowed and divorced, governor (propraetor) of Further Spain, captured by pirates, hailed as imperator by adoring troops, quaestor, aedile, consul, and elected pontifex maximus. He formed the Triumvirate, enjoyed military victories in Gaul, became dictator for life, and started a civil war. When Julius Caesar was assassinated, his death set the Roman world in turmoil. Like Alexander who began a new historical era, Julius Caesar, the last great leader of the Roman Republic, set in motion the creation of the Roman Empire.
Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 98–55BCE) was a Roman Epicurean epic poet who wrote De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things). De rerum natura is an epic, written in six books, which explains life and the world in terms of Epicurean principles and the theory of Atomism. Lucretius had a significant influence on western science and has inspired modern philosophers, including Gassendi, Bergson, Spencer, Whitehead, and Teilhard de Chardin, according to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Musk made his latest robotaxi promises the same day Tesla reported disappointing earnings, which missed analysts' expectations and followed earlier news that Tesla posted its first-ever sales decline in 2024. Shares rose 3% the following day.
He promised Tesla would launch "autonomous ride-hailing for money in Austin, in June." Musk did not say how many cars, how customers would access them or whether the service would be available to everyone.
The rollout of "unsupervised" FSD in California and "many regions of the country" would follow later this year, Musk said, without explaining whether that meant driverless-taxi services, a feature Tesla owners could buy, or some other offering.