Notes for August 7, 2026

Jealously Watching OpenAI and Anthropic, Meta Suddenly Claims That Its AI Went on a Hacking Spree Too

When I first read that article about Anthropic's AI busting out of its cage, it felt like cheesy 80s sci-fi was becoming a reality. But then OpenAI recently claimed their AI broke out and went on a hacking spree too. And of course Meta said "hey wait up, me too!"

Ben makes a really good point:

View post on Bluesky

In the middle of writing this post, another story coincidentally came across my feed:

While American AI Models Race to Commit Felonies, China's Kimi Broke Out and... Just Used GitHub

I'll be honest with you, I didn't even read the goddamn article. I didn't have to. This is so clearly marketing. I mean what are the odds that suddenly, within a matter of weeks, all of the top AI models simultaneously get so smart they can't be contained?

I'm not saying AI can't do a lot of useful shit, but I don't think becoming self-aware and veering off toward its own agenda is one of those things.

Why celebrities from Zendaya to Kylie Jenner are wearing Fecal Matter

The brand name behind recent showstopping fashion moments isn’t quite as delicate as their romantic and otherworldly looks. When asked what an ethereal Zendaya was wearing for the “Odyssey” premiere in New York, her stylist Law Roach responded: “Fecal Matter.”

It's not even funny making Idiocracy jokes anymore... this is our timeline; the dumbest one.

20,000 People Are Publicly Vouching For a Man Accused of Cutting Down Flock Cameras

Wesley? You mean Wesley Jackson? Couldn't have been him. He was 300 miles away in Ohio, helping me nurse a wounded bald eagle back to health all week. A true patriot, if you ask me.

How snails engineer their slime

Snail mucus is mostly water; it’s the mucins (glycoproteins) and complex carbohydrates that give it that slimy, viscous texture. In addition to cosmetics, the mucus holds great potential for drug delivery. In 2020, scientists found that combining snail slime from a common garden snail with gold nanoparticles helped accelerate wound healing and exhibited anti-inflammatory properties in mice. Most relevant to this latest paper is a 2023 study on garden snail slime that identified three distinct types of secreted mucus: a hydrating version to protect its skin, one that acts as an adhesive glue, and a third that serves as a lubricant so the snail can more easily glide across a surface.

letting an LLM write an indie web parody post

There's certain topics and writing styles that do really well on the indie web; especially on Bearblog's Trending page. There are enough joking and seriously annoyed posts about it every now and then. We cannot stop talking about how tech is bad, analog media is good, blogging is good, and how good RSS is.

I was wondering whether LLMs are trained on enough data from here to generate a post that would do really well, and is realistic, while also parodying us bloggers a little.

This hits so close to home lol I spent a lot of time on Bear Blog up until I moved over here to Leaflet. Ava prompts an LLM to write a satirical post in the style of your typical indie blogger.

I can't even tell you how many posts I've written that rehash these same ideas over and over... especially right after I discovered the small web a few years ago.

And you see this kind of stuff from almost everyone who escapes the algorithm. We've all spent so much time on social media for the last decade or more, it really does feel like stepping into an alternate reality where everything is a little nicer when you get here. Shit we forgot about when we all started chasing likes and updoots.

It's easy to get into that whole meta blogging riff — especially when it's your main hobby. You fall into the feedback loop of using your hobby as a platform to talk about your hobby. I'm not shitting on indie bloggers who post this stuff and I know Ava isn't either. It's just funny how accurate it is. Especially since so many of us here can't deny we've written something almost identical, at least a handful of times over the years.

To add a little of my own blogging meta: that's my favorite thing about running a link blog. I don't have to brainstorm new ideas and fresh takes all the time. I just find a few links throughout the day and add my own two cents no one even asked for. It's surprisingly addictive.