arXivLabs is a framework enabling developers to collaborate and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Participants must uphold arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. Got an idea to improve the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.
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Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools enable rapid creation of numerous non-human identities (NHIs) in cloud environments. However, tracking the owners of these IaC-generated NHIs presents a significant challenge. This blog post explores a tag-based approach, adding tags to Terraform code to trace files involved in resource creation and thus identify NHI owners. While this approach faces practical hurdles like tag inheritance and cross-platform compatibility, it offers a potential solution for IaC-generated NHI ownership issues and assists DevOps teams in better tracking and managing their IaC identities.
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Blueskyfeedbot is a GitHub Action that automates posting RSS/ATOM feeds to Bluesky. Users create a GitHub repository, configure secrets (Bluesky username and app password), and set up a workflow file specifying the RSS feed URL and a Handlebars template. This simplifies content syndication to Bluesky, offering a convenient solution for bloggers and developers.
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This app is fantastic for learning music theory and piano, especially for singers wanting to improve their pitch. It teaches piano skills crucial for accurate singing. However, it lacks lessons on sharps and flats, a significant omission. While additional lessons are available as in-app purchases, their content isn't specified. The practice mode allows flat training, but lacks the structured approach of the main lessons and doesn't label sharps and flats on the keys. A great app, but incomplete without comprehensive sharp and flat instruction.
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Despite recent major setbacks in Starship's past two flights, NASA has added SpaceX's still-experimental rocket to its launch services contract. This opens the door for Starship to potentially carry future NASA science missions, pending a successful orbital flight. The contract, which already includes Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, features an on-ramp provision for new providers. While Starship's reliability remains a concern, this decision offers NASA a potential crewed lunar lander for Artemis III in 2024 and an option for its planned 2026 uncrewed Mars mission.
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Mathematician Tibor Radó's Busy Beaver game challenges finding the longest-running Turing machine for a given number of rules. Recent years have seen a thrilling competition between Shawn Ligocki and Pavel Kropitz in the BB(6) challenge, pushing the boundaries of computation. Their discoveries resulted in runtimes exceeding the number of atoms in the universe, showcasing both the incredible advancements in computing power and the ingenuity of algorithms.
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Google is integrating AI-powered language learning tools into its Translate app. This beta feature creates personalized lessons based on your skill level and goals, such as preparing for a vacation. Currently, it supports English speakers learning Spanish and French, and vice-versa for Spanish, French, and Portuguese speakers. Users select their skill level and goals (professional conversations, daily interactions, etc.), and Google's Gemini AI generates tailored lessons. A new live translation feature also lets users have real-time conversations in over 70 languages, translating speech via AI-generated transcription and audio.
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Obsess Jobs is a job board that lets you search and apply for jobs even while you sleep. The site offers a variety of positions including Software Engineers, Product Managers, and Data Scientists, with salaries ranging from $0 to $300k+. Jobs are available in remote, onsite, and hybrid formats. Users can filter by experience level, position, and date posted for easy job searching.
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Researchers found that even after AWS automatically quarantines leaked access keys, attackers can exploit them within minutes for data exfiltration, privilege escalation, and other malicious activities. Traditional key rotation strategies are insufficient against the speed of attackers. A new tool, AWSKeyLockdown, instantly revokes keys upon quarantine, mitigating this threat. The research highlights the importance of Zero Trust architecture and ephemeral identities, urging organizations to shift from reactive to proactive security measures.
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LineageOS 22.1, based on Android 15 QPR1, is now available with significant improvements. Extraction utilities are 30 times faster, and two new apps have been added: Twelve, a music player, and Camelot, a PDF reader. SeedVault, Etar, and WebView have also been updated. Versioning has been adjusted to align with Android's minor version numbers, making it easier to distinguish Android versions. The project has streamlined its codebase, added support for more devices, and encourages developers to contribute code and translations.
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A large-scale study examining the effects of cannabis on the brains of 18-to-36-year-olds reveals a link between cannabis use and reduced brain function during cognitive tests. Researchers analyzed data from 1,003 adults, finding that both recent and heavy lifetime cannabis use correlated with significantly lower brain activity during working memory tasks. While the study has limitations, including the inability to establish causality, it highlights the need for further research into cannabis's potential impact on young adult brains. Published in JAMA Network Open, this study provides crucial information for informed decision-making about cannabis use.
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Nimtable is a lightweight, user-friendly platform for monitoring, optimizing, and governing your Iceberg-based lakehouse. Its web-based interface simplifies browsing tables, running queries, analyzing file distributions, and optimizing storage layouts. Supporting multiple catalogs (REST Catalog, AWS Glue, AWS S3 Tables, and PostgreSQL) and seamless integration with object stores like S3, Nimtable offers interactive querying, AI assistance (including AI-generated table summaries and intelligent suggestions), file distribution analysis, and table optimization features (such as file compaction and snapshot expiration management).
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This article explores whether AI can truly "think." Drawing on the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, the author argues that "thinking" encompasses more than just information processing and logical reasoning; it includes intuition, emotion, experience, and moral judgment. Plato's Theory of Forms and Aristotle's discussions of the soul and practical wisdom suggest that "thinking" requires embodiment. The author contends that while AI can simulate aspects of thinking, it lacks human consciousness, emotion, and experience, preventing it from truly thinking like a human. The article concludes by citing ChatGPT's response as supporting evidence.
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France's CEA WEST Tokamak reactor has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in fusion energy research, sustaining a plasma reaction for over 22 minutes – a new world record. This achievement represents a significant step towards commercial fusion power, a long-sought goal with the potential to provide humanity with virtually limitless clean energy. While initiating fusion is relatively straightforward, creating a self-sustaining reactor that produces more energy than it consumes is incredibly challenging. The success of the WEST reactor provides invaluable data and experience for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) currently under construction in southern France, paving the way for future clean energy applications.
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Astronomers have discovered a massive trans-Neptunian object, 2023 KQ14, nicknamed 'Ammonite,' beyond Pluto's orbit. Its unusual elongated orbit challenges the 'Planet Nine' hypothesis, suggesting it might be much further than previously thought or even ejected from the solar system. This fourth known sednoid has a unique orbit compared to its siblings, yet its 4.5-billion-year stability hints at a dramatic early solar system event. The discovery underscores the complexity of the outer solar system and places constraints on the existence of 'Planet Nine,' even suggesting the possibility of a past planet being ejected.
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This open-source book compiles 99 of the best and most beautiful physics demonstrations from the Dutch "ShowdeFysica" series, incorporating various teaching strategies to make demonstrations both magical and educational. It includes videos and readily runnable Python simulations without needing any software installation. Readers can search for demonstrations by topic and contribute suggestions via the online platform.
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This post details how the author rendered the Bad Apple music video within Vim using only search queries. Each frame was converted into a binary pixel array, decomposed into rectangles, and represented by a Vim regex. The result? A file containing over 6500 regexes, played sequentially via a Vim macro to create the animation. This impressive feat showcases Vim's surprising capabilities and the author's considerable programming skill.
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The 2025 Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest, hosted by Capture the Atlas, has announced its winners, selecting from over 6,000 submissions worldwide. This year's winning photos showcase the breathtaking Milky Way from diverse locations, including Easter Island's Moai statues, Taiwan's Hehuan Mountain, and Yemen's remote Socotra Island. Remarkably, there's even a stunning shot from the International Space Station, captured by astronaut Don Pettit, featuring both the Earth and the Milky Way. These photos stand out for their diverse geographies, approaches, and techniques, all united by the awe-inspiring celestial spectacle.
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This article details the experience of writing a Linux kernel driver for the AX88796B embedded Ethernet controller using Rust. The author contrasts the Rust version with its C counterpart, highlighting differences in syntax, types, and APIs. The Rust version is remarkably concise, at just over 100 lines, leveraging macros to simplify driver registration and using traits and the `#[vtable]` macro for seamless integration with existing C code. The article clearly explains the advantages of Rust in kernel driver development, such as memory safety guarantees through references and simplified error handling using `Result` and the `try` operator, providing valuable insights for Rust kernel driver development.
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CF-Shield is a Python script that automatically detects and mitigates DDoS attacks on Cloudflare. It requires your Cloudflare email, API token, zone ID, and account ID. After installation, the script prompts you to set a CPU usage threshold, challenge type, and optional Discord, Slack, and Telegram notifications. It monitors CPU usage; if it exceeds the threshold, it automatically enables Cloudflare's WAF rules and disables them after the attack. This powerful tool helps protect your website from DDoS attacks.
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A user shared their perspective on a set of MS-DOS icons, arguing they're more practical than the Program Manager's default set. Examples include icons for Microsoft Basic Compiler, Microsoft Project, and Close-Up 4.0, highlighting their historical usage. The author points out design flaws like outdated MS-DOS logos or inappropriate overlays. This sparks a discussion about early software UI design and nostalgia.
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The popular Arch Linux distribution is under a week-long distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack targeting its main website, AUR, and forums. The attacker's motive is unknown. The Arch team is actively working with its hosting provider to mitigate the attack and evaluating DDoS protection options. While Arch is known for its technical difficulty, the attack causes inconvenience to the community. Users can obtain packages via the pacman-mirrorlist package or GitHub to work around service outages.
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This article presents a clever technique for symbolic execution of Python code by overloading the __bool__ function in the Z3 Python library. The author leverages Z3's capabilities to translate Python conditional statements into Z3 expressions, enabling path exploration and result analysis. This approach bypasses complex AST traversal and allows direct use within Python code, simplifying symbolic execution.
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Post-war Europe saw the rise of 'junk playgrounds,' unconventional spaces built from discarded materials. These weren't your typical swings and slides; they encouraged child-led construction, exploration, and even risky play like handling fire. Emdrup playground in Denmark, a prime example, boasted a 50-foot tower built by children. However, safety concerns and aesthetic criticisms led to their decline, replaced by more 'sanitized' adventure playgrounds. While games like Minecraft offer a digital echo of this creative freedom, they lack the physical and social richness of the originals. The article explores the history and value of these experimental playgrounds, urging a renewed focus on imaginative, co-created play spaces in modern cities.
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Metamaterials, materials with properties derived from their engineered structure rather than chemical composition, are poised to revolutionize various fields. This article explores how AI accelerates their development by generating massive training datasets through simulation and employing generative models to predict material structures. Applications range from 6G networks and augmented reality to space technology. While perfect invisibility cloaks remain a challenge, the high sensitivity of metamaterials at specific frequencies makes them highly promising for sensing and telecommunications.
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The author details how they use LLMs like Claude-Code, o3, and Gemini to boost productivity, automating tasks such as code generation, math homework, and email writing. While acknowledging the significant productivity gains, they express concerns about the potential for LLM dependence to weaken their ability to learn and solve problems independently, leading to superficial understanding. The article explores the impact of LLMs on learning and work, reflecting on the balance between efficiency and deep learning. It concludes with a call to preserve the abilities of independent thought, decision-making, and long-term planning.
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This extensive article delves into the Sumerian myth of Inanna's (Ishtar in Akkadian) descent into the Underworld. Inanna, seeking to expand her power, journeys to challenge her sister, Ereshkigal, the 'Queen of the Dead.' After being stripped of her adornments, Inanna perishes and her corpse is hung on a hook. The god Enki intervenes indirectly, restoring Inanna to life. However, her return requires a human sacrifice; she chooses her consort, Dumuzi, who is then taken to the Underworld. Dumuzi's sister, Geshtinanna, pleads for his release, resulting in a compromise: he spends part of the year in the Underworld, with his sister taking his place for the remainder. The myth exists in Sumerian and Akkadian versions, the latter discovered and translated in the 1860s, the former painstakingly reconstructed in the 20th century. The story offers rich insights into Mesopotamian culture, influencing later civilizations and inspiring interpretations in psychoanalysis. The article explores the complex narrative, the key characters (Inanna/Ishtar, Ereshkigal, Enki, Dumuzi, Geshtinanna), and the various interpretations throughout history, from its role in understanding seasonal cycles to its use in psychological analysis.
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US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the Department of Commerce will publish economic statistics, including GDP data, on a blockchain. This initiative, spurred by President Trump's vision, aims to improve data distribution efficiency across government agencies. While blockchain technology enhances data security and transparency, it doesn't guarantee accuracy. The move comes amid Trump's repeated questioning of US economic data reliability, contrasting with other governments' blockchain adoption, such as Estonia's e-health system and the EU's EBSI project.
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May 2025 saw Steam's Linux user share reach its highest point in years, a record not seen since at least 2018. This growth comes despite Steam's overall user base continuing to expand, indicating healthy Linux adoption. Windows held a 95.45% share in May, while Linux reached 2.69% and macOS 1.85%. Interestingly, this increase wasn't driven by SteamOS 3; popular distros included SteamOS Holo, Arch Linux, and Linux Mint. The decrease in Simplified Chinese language options, which usually impacts Linux numbers, didn't prevent this growth.
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The maiden launch of Gilmour Space Technologies' Eris rocket has been delayed due to a premature payload fairing deployment. The company will conduct a full investigation and replace the fairing before attempting another launch. This setback follows over a year of delays attributed to regulatory approvals. Despite this, Gilmour remains confident in its hybrid propulsion system, aiming for only 10-20 seconds of stable flight on the initial launch to gather crucial data. Eris aims to be Australia's first orbital launch vehicle.
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