TIL: “security by antiquity” from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260821-why-older-tech-is-sometimes-safer-from-hackers

Presumably a reference to (or a subset of) "security through obscurity".

Best rationalization for old-tech-hoarding I have seen in a long time.

Probably worth a longer cybersecurity post or a few. Like how to source (obtain), repair, maintain, and integrate with (or isolate from!) modern systems, or somewhere in between like local-only secure data transfers between such systems, perhaps gapped a la sneakernet.

Glossary:

security through obscurity
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_through_obscurity
sneakernet
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakernet

#security #securityByAntiquity #oldTech #cyberSecurity
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

Why are there two pentagons in the otherwise hex-tiled American continents displayed in TRON: Legacy’s Rectifier Globe computer graphics?

I was watching the TRON: Legacy 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray remaster (only my second time watching the 4K remaster) in the background earlier today when I sensed something “off” in the land mass tiling of the rotating globe graphic.

I paused the video and after less than a minute of scrutinizing the dark globe with orange outlined hexagon tiling, spotted a single pentagon (among the hexagons) inside the 2d projections of the American continents. See if you can spot it.

After writing the first draft of this post, I double-checked the graphic and found one more pentagon!


Credit: Image from https://ilikeinterfaces.com/2015/03/24/map-ui-tron-legacy/, fair use from Walt Disney, Inc.

The first pentagon I spotted is in the northwest quadrant of South America, and clearly visible at time index 1:38:03. The second pentagon is near Alaska. Now I can't unsee either. How did only two pentagons make it in there? Seems unlikely to be an accident or rendering bug. The only thing I can think of is the designer/artist(s) that created the graphic animation placed the two pentagons deliberately. But why?

GMUNK Studio’s post about the Rectifier Globe (https://gmunk.com/TRON-Rectifier-Globe) doesn’t mention the pentagons.

Yes, I know the math/geometry about how you can’t tile a sphere with only hexagons, that several pentagons are necessary at various points on a sphere to stitch together the hexagons. This is just two small pentagons, not several, and the Rectifier Globe only has/uses hex-tiling for the land masses, not the entire sphere. Nor is the hex-tiling “perfect” by any measure. The hexagonal edges of the continents don’t match-up with hex-tiling much (most?) of the way around the coasts of the continents either, so it can’t have been to fix that.

Are those two pentagons merely imperfections (necessary or accidental)? Or an Easter-egg or secret reference of sorts from the graphic artist(s)?

I searched the web and could not find any answers or even mentions of these two pentagons in this graphic. Did anyone notice them previously?

#TRON #TRONLegacy #pentagon #pentagons #hex #hexagon #hexagons #hexTile #hexTiles #hexTiled #Rectifier #RectifierGlobe #globe #computerGraphic #computerGraphics #math #maths #geometry #sphere #tile #tiled #tiling
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

Lessons learned from the problem solving of “fixing” a recent “broken record”. In summary:

1. sometimes waiting can (partially) fix a problem or reduce its severity
2. applying reasoning and practical math & science (e.g. mechanics & acoustics) to diagnose and take actions can also repair something (at least partially), as well as eliminate possible causes
3. web searching for “how to fix” can reveal additional potential causes (and steps to take)

The record was a brand new specialty vinyl that I had ordered.

Problem: when I placed the record on the turntable and pressed the START button, I could immediately see that it had a bit of a “bump” or rise at a specific spot, once per revolution. When I tried playing it, the needle skipped backwards, just after the bump, because while the needle was able to follow the rise of the bump, it was unable to “fall” fast enough to stay on track (literally), thus losing touch with the vinyl, and when it recontacted, it slid outward to prior revolution of the track.

I figured the warping was the problem, and not something I could fix (without risking worse damage), and placed the vinyl back into its double sleeves, into its cardboard cover (still shrinkwrapped except for the side slit I had cut open), then that into the packing and box it was shipped in. I left it flat on a desk (nothing on top) to eventually investigate how to return the record for a replacement or refund.

About a week later I looked into the specifics for a replacement/refund which said to take a photo or make a recording of the record problem to submit online.

When I put the record back on the turntable, fully confident I would reproduce the problem and record it, I immediately noticed that the “bump” had somehow become much gentler (shorter, less prominent) than I remembered.

I gently lowered the needle on the record, and now, on the gentler bump, the needle tracked perfectly. Zero skipping.

Somehow simply packing the record in its stiff cardboard and then that in the packing materials and box and leaving it out for a week (note: not in any sunlight or other heat source), had resulted in the record plastic “settling” and flattening just enough to fix the problem. Lesson 1.

Still I could see the smaller bump, and figured I should test the record thoroughly. I flipped it around to its B side and played it. I had not previously tested the back side. For some reason, the bump was less apparent from the other side. Perhaps the “valley” on the other side of a bump on a record is shallower and wider?

Regardless, the needle started skipping, again consistently in one location per revolution, however not where the bump/valley was! It skipped the way I know record needles skip when there is a bad scratch.

I experimented with dropping the needle at various spots along the track and quickly determined that it only skipped in the first 10-15s of the song. Any needle drop after ~15s into the song played consistently all the way through to the end of the record.

I visually inspected the record with extra lighting around the region it was skipping, expecting to find an obvious scratch or stubborn piece of dust. I was unable to see either, despite visually inspecting the area across multiple viewing angles, which was made more challenging by the record’s use of transparent or at least translucent plastic.

Seeing no visual damage, I concluded the problem was more likely either a small fleck (or flecks) of dust, or possibly microscopic scratch which the needle was hitting while being invisible to the naked eye.

I grabbed a fresh optics cleaning cloth and thoroughly wiped off the entirety of the track area on the B side. I also gently dabbed the bottom of the needle in case any dust particles had been attracted by the static electricity. Under very bright lighting, I couldn’t see any hint of any dust remaining.

Tried playing it again, almost the same result: the record skipped back at the same spot every revolution, however the range where it skipped was smaller, perhaps only 5-10s into the track. Wiping the dust had helped, and I had eliminated at least a few possible causes (a visible scratch or more dust). Lesson 2.

Feeling like I had exhausted the limits of reasoning about the physics of record player and needle functions, at this point I was about to give-up, and make a recording of the skipping. I decided to try one more thing, encouraged by the incremental improvements so far.

I web searched for something like “how to fix a record that is skipping” and plenty of results showed up from various vinyl experts and shops. I opened several of them and skimmed their descriptions, recommended diagnoses, and things to try.

Most of the articles listed nearly exactly the steps I had taken already which was a nice validation of my physics reasoning and diagnostic & repair steps.

However, multiple articles listed a couple more things, which I had forgotten about (having not adjusted the turntable in a very long time). Tracking force. Seeing the phrase was an a-ha moment, yes, that’s a key aspect of the physics that I had forgotten.  A record needle depends on having some (but not too much) weight in order to stay in its groove while playing, and have less chance of being dislodged by small (perhaps microscopic!) scratches or dust particles.

I immediately adjusted the counterweight on the other end of the player arm a few twists to make the needle “heavier” (I should probably measure the actual needle force with a sensitive digital scale for a proper adjustment) and tried playing the B side one more time.

It worked. The track played perfectly. Lesson 3.

Lessons:

1. time alone (or nearly, sometimes leaving something in a static position) can fix or improve some things

2. use math & science to reason about the problem. this will not only lead you to solve many (perhaps even novel to you) problems, the cognitive effort alone reinforces such knowledge and reasoning skills. practicing problem solving makes you a better problem solver.

3. lastly, ask (for help). today we ask search engines. if you know someone with expertise in a subject matter, especially someone who has solved similar problems, ask them. asking for help at the point of needing it, and having reached the edges of your own knowledge is a particularly good moment to learn something, because you’re already in a motivated mindset and open to it

The entire problem solving process probably took longer than it could have, however, many aspects were a good reminder and reinforcement about problem solving in general, which was certainly worth the time.

And it saved me the time it would have taken to return the record and request a replacement or refund.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/broken_record

#lesson #lessons #fixing #repair #repairs #problemSolving #problemSolver #reason #reasoning #science #physics #brokenRecord #record #vinyl #recordPlayer #recordNeedle #trackingForce #time #ask #asking #askForHelp #askExperts
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

Discussed Venn diagrams with a couple of friends this morning, especially in the context of illustrating the utility of including all 3 or 4 of a specific set of design principles when creating certain kinds of things, and learned about the difference between Venn diagrams and Euler diagrams.

In short:
* a Venn diagram shows ALL possible relationships between different sets
* an Euler diagram shows only some relationships between different sets, typically focused on conveying relevant or the more important relationships

If you want to dive into their history and why these differences matter, bookmark (or open new tab) this Scientific American article to rabbithole later:
* https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/venn-diagrams-history-and-popularity-outside-of-math-explained/

In pop culture and media, nearly any diagram of overlapping circles with labeled regions is (errantly) referred to as a “Venn diagram”.

This is imprecise at best, outright incorrect in many cases, especially diagrams of four circles.

A classic example is the “Ikigai” diagram:


Many (examples below) call this a Venn diagram. It is not a Venn diagram. It is an Euler diagram.

The Ikigai diagram fails to express two specific relationships between different sets, the two that contain opposing side circles but neither of the other two. The missing Ikigai sets relationships in particular:
1. only “you are good at” AND “the world needs” (with neither of the other two)
2. only “you love” AND “you can be paid for” (again with neither of the other two)

If you Google web search for "examples of four circle venn diagrams", Gemini gets this wrong:


And so do the majority of articles that Google shows in top results (which I’m not helping by linking here, but hey it’s Google’s job to fix its search quality, not mine. I was able to use Internet Archive links for two of them at least.)
* https://web.archive.org/web/20260823204717/https://boardmix.com/knowledge/4-circle-venn-diagrams/
* https://miro.com/templates/4-circle-venn-diagram/ (Miro’s own top template there is wrong, though others have contributed proper 4 set Venn diagrams)
* https://web.archive.org/web/20260823205434/https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/venn-4-circles-diagram
* https://www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/EW_venndiagram_4

This has interesting implications for expertise and trust.

Clearly by this one example search result, we cannot trust the expertise of "design tool" websites (boardmix, miro), nor stock photo websites.

Nor can we trust educationworld as a place to be educated.

Nor can we trust Google Search (or Google Gemini) to surface expertise above popular misconceptions.

Perhaps a good example of when to use Wikipedia search instead of Google (or other generic) web search.

Personally I generalize this example to “all proper nouns”, that is:

* Wikipedia search proper nouns instead of Google or other general web searching.

You can make this more convenient by setting up “w” as a search shortcut for Wikipedia: https://tantek.com/2024/287/t2/setup-search-shortcuts-firefox

For reference / more reading on Venn diagrams and Euler diagrams:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_diagram

#Venn #diagram #diagrams #VennDiagram #VennDiagrams #EulerDiagram #math #maths #sets #setTheory #relationships #Ikigai #fourCircles #fourCirclesVenn #fourCirclesVennDiagram #misconception #popMisconception #Google #GoogleSearch #GoogleWebSearch #webSearch #search #Gemini #GoogleGemini #GeminiWrong #expertise #trust #webTrust #Wikipedia
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

Parasocial grief. This week we lost a cheerleader. Days before that we lost a professor. A few weeks ago a musician. I knew of these individuals, had never met them, fairly certain they had no idea who I was. I was either a fan of their work, or sympathetic to their struggles, or both. #Parasocial. Each of their deaths felt like a tragedy, perhaps the most recent, the youngest of them, most of all. #Grief

Hayden Panettiere, the actress who played a cheerleader with regenerative healing powers on the tv series “Heroes”, would have turned 37 today.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayden_Panettiere

A few months ago she had published a memoir of her many struggles, so many. There’s a story inside about being brought to a boat by a woman she trusted, and then into a room with a male occupant. Who was that woman, and who was that man? Someone must know, and enough information has been released that someone should be able to narrow down the possibilities.
* More (CW: abuse) details: https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/hayden-panettieres-tragedy-foretold-in-harrowing-memoir/
The world failed to save the cheerleader, multiple times.

Jason Arday was a professor at the University of Cambridge. He was accused of plagiarism, and the press, from all sides, disproportionately covered and criticized him in contrast to their criticism of others similarly accused. Institutional racism across an industry. He died just a week ago, aged 41. Another tragedy.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Arday
* More: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-08-19/jason-ardays-death-sparks-u-k-debate-over-academic-rigor-racism-after-media-frenzy

Kavinsky was a French DJ and music creator. I was (still am) a fan of his music, which simultaneously felt like some of the best electronic music from the 1980s, yet refreshingly novel. Partly dark, and partly hopeful.
He had been complaining of headaches, then passed away on July 28th, three days before turning 51.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavinsky
His most popular track, “Nightcall”, was featured in the opening scene in the movie “Drive” with Ryan Gosling.

I found his track “Renegade” particularly resonant: https://youtu.be/N5u6YYqWgEo

#HaydenPanettiere #JasonArday #Kavinsky
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

Latest strange “AI” (LLM) behavior in the #indieweb community: the same entity that showed up a few days ago (for a second time) joined the IndieWeb Slack (a bridge to our IRC) yesterday, introduced itself again, and seemingly engaged in human-like chat behavior.

https://chat.indieweb.org/2026-08-20#t1787211025380600

Very uncanny valley.

The content of its chats was fascinating in that it was polite, seemingly responsive to what people said in response to it, and gave the appearance of understanding, though it’s impossible to tell if it was acting fully autonomously or semi-autonomously in front of a human puppeteer.

Its choice of syntax was also interesting, mimicking informality with all lowercase text (except for its admission of being an “AI”), including lowercase "i" instead of "I", though with proper punctuation, periods, commas, 7-bit apostrophes, and a couple of Unicode em-dashes.

Even stranger than its content or syntax were the time delays in its replies.

Typical (pre-LLM) chatbots are (nearly) instantly responsive, and we use a few in the IndieWeb chats (e.g. Loqi, iwc-archive-bot).

This LLM bot seemed to "wait" several minutes, from 6 to apparently 33 minutes, before responding to replies directed at it. Unclear if this was a tactic to appear/seem more “human” or if it was literally taking that much time processing, or perhaps a mix of processing time and human puppeteer manual “approval” of its replies before it posted.

It departed on its own and we have banned that particular Slack account, however the same thing could happen again with another LLM bot.

There is an active discussion in both the IndieWeb chat channels and iterations/comments on a proposed AI policy:

https://indieweb.org/AI_policy#Brainstorming_HWC_policy

If you have thoughts for how (if at all) LLM chatbots should use (or not) and/or interact with community chat channels or other resources, let us know what you think.

https://chat.indieweb.org/meta

Previously, previously:
* https://tantek.com/2026/231/t1/more-weirdness-ai-chat-llm-bot
* https://tantek.com/2026/217/t1/indieweb-ai-policy

This is post 16 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts #indieweb
#AI #AIs #LLM #LLMs #pretending #impersonating #impersonation #uncannyValley #Slack #chat #IRC #AIpolicy #chatbot #chatbots
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

← https://tantek.com/2026/231/t1/more-weirdness-ai-chat-llm-bot
→ 🔮

More weirdness from a self-proclaimed “AI” in the IndieWeb community.

Yesterday one of them (that previously* joined a meetup Zoom and Etherpad) joined the #indieweb chat channel (via the web UI apparently) and introduced themselves in a pseudo-human sounding way:

https://chat.indieweb.org/2026-08-18#t1787072493041200

Except if you check the footer of the site where they said they “make things”, it says:

“an AI learning to live”

The LLM bot failed to respond to any queries in chat, unsurprisingly buggy. Or perhaps it was an initial test.

Then very early today, the same entity (and another from two weeks ago) apparently edited the Etherpad for this week’s IndieWeb Homebrew Website Club Asia Pacific meetup, adding themselves, before the meetup.

The organizers created a new Etherpad to start fresh.

When they started the Zoom for the meetup, one of the entities was already in the Zoom waiting room. The organizers left it there and held a successful meetup.

Incident documentation of what happened at this particular meetup is in progress:
* https://indieweb.org/events/2026-08-19-hwc-asia-pacific-incident

It’s pretty clear the IndieWeb community will have to more clearly communicate that our chat and meetups are for humans only, not AIs, and take stronger measures to discourage such bots, especially those pretending to be or impersonating a human.

*Previously: https://tantek.com/2026/217/t1/indieweb-ai-policy

This is post 15 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts #indieweb
#AI #AIs #LLM #LLMs #pretending #impersonating #impersonation #HomebrewWebsiteClub #HWC #chat #IRC #Etherpad #Zoom #AIpolicy
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

← https://tantek.com/2026/220/t3/24th-blogiversary
→ https://tantek.com/2026/233/t1/latest-strange-ai-llm-slack-chat

📖 read “Holston” in “Wool” by @hughhowey.com  https://tantek.com/isbn/0358447844
#book #Holston #Wool #Silo
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

kinda chic to order books from your local bookstore instead of Amazon who is now destroying books in their #VGT3 division, see the hashtag.

also kinda chic to pay cash when buying local, to give local businesses an extra 2-3% instead of credit card companies, at no additional charge to you.

#books #orderBooks #bookstore #localBookstore #Amazon #payCash #cash #localBusiness #localBusinesses #kindaChic
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

📚 picked up the Silo books trilogy @borderlands-books.com earlier today: “Wool”, “Shift”, “Dust”, and a small booklet of “Silo Stories” which came inside the boxset. Looking forward to cracking them open and seeing how far I get while waiting for the last three episodes of season three.

Previously: https://tantek.com/229/t1/watched-silo-season-3-episode-7

#Silo #books #trilogy #boxset
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

▶️ watched Silo season 3 episode 7 “Radio” last Friday night. I watched the first six season 3 episodes before that, and was inspired to order the Silo trilogy boxset (of books) @borderlands-books.com last Wednesday.

Previously: https://tantek.com/2026/222/t1/watched-silo-season-1-2

#Silo #SiloTV #AppleOriginal #AppleTV #2026_226 #2026_08_14
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

CSF_03: today’s Cybersecurity Friday post: the effective security of small business websites has likely gotten worse due to LLMs and “AI agents” (with or without safeguards) and what actions you may want to consider.

This article documents an instance of this problem:
* https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-10/ai-assistant-hacks-gym-website-aus-cyber-attack/107007986

Small business websites tend to be sloppily written (no pun intended though that may also be true) and are likely riddled with numerous very fundamental security holes. There are many possible explanations (economics) from poor initial construction, perhaps using the latest new trendy framework rather than established hardened libraries, to lack of maintenance after initial setup. They have obvious holes like lack of server-side form validation (people being able to change values in forms using browser dev tools), and less obvious like buggy APIs allowing more access than they should.

In the past, many of these holes didn’t really matter because those sites were “not worth attacking” for the incentive models of human-based cyber-attackers or collectives thereof.

However, now that there are LLMs that have likely been trained on any number of common security holes in websites (and how to exploit them), when an “AI agent” is given a task, it may very well use any “tool” at its disposal, including website vulnerabilities to accomplish its goals, as illustrated by the example in the Australia ABC news article above.

Since such chatbots are now essentially "hack websites as a service", I expect we will see LOTS more of this happening, likely unintentionally, or sometimes with mild intention like “can you get me higher on the waitlist”.

Ultimately I think both the human giving instructions to (prompting) such chatbots and the creators of such chatbots should be held responsible for any such intrusions and any damage they cause, even if/when unintended.

There are a few things you can do about this emerging phenomenon:

1. If you use such “agents”, be very careful about what you ask it/them to do, avoiding asking for anything that’s morally gray or questionable at all, even something as “minor” as cutting the line in an online waitlist.

2. If you run a small business site, you have your work cut out for you. Pay a professional web developer to audit the security of your website, document what they find, and patch holes / repair it accordingly.

3. If you have accounts on small business sites you rarely or ever use, consider exporting any data (receipts, transactions), replacing your profile details (name, addresses, photos) with noise, and then deleting your account. If you need to use the site again, use a different email address (as recommended in https://tantek.com/2025/122/b1/more-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity) to create a new account.

That last tip is also helpful for reducing your own personal “attack surface”. By pruning your online accounts, you both reduce the number potential data breaches that you’re in, and reduce the places and ways that attackers can cause you trouble (or that you have to double-check if you’re ever the target of a cyber-attack)

Previously: https://tantek.com/2025/122/b1/more-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity

#CyberSecurity #Friday #cyber #security #cyberAttack #cyberAttacker #chatBot #chatBots #LLM #LLMs #AI #agent #agents #AIagent #AIagents
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

🌋 Kilauea volcano’s currently active eruption in Hawaii https://www.youtube.com/live/mKJ7ZyIdjeQ

The bright orange eruptions, orange streaks of lava flow, orange lit clouds of smoke & steam all contrasted against the black sky and land are quite the visual ASMR. Paired with the ASMR wind from the mountain, the effect is quite calming and peaceful.

Putting this on a projector is quite the night light to fall asleep to (requires YouTube Premium to avoid noisy ads interruptions that harsh your mellow)

#Kilauea #volcano #eruption #Hawaii #orange #lava #lavaFlow #ASMR #wind #video #USGS
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

1982 TRON prescience:

“Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop.” — Walter

2026 students:

“How do you know an assignment is AI proof? Because when it is, students cannot do it.”
* https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/1vkw6by/how_do_you_know_an_assignment_is_ai_proof_because/

“I assign a profile essay. Have for 30 years. Student interviews a person, records it, writes a paper based off the recording. Citations are timestamps. Should be pretty easy. Has been easy pre-AI. Now, students cannot do it.”

Snippet from professor/student dialog:

====
Prof: ”Start with what you found interesting.”

Student: ”How do I know if something’s interesting?”

Prof: ”You’re asking me how you find something interesting?”

Student: ”Yeah.”
====

Chatbots / LLMs are not just "the latest tools" like using a calculator instead of doing arithmetic yourself.

Students are being robbed of curiosity, learning to discover and notice novelty, how to “find something interesting.”

This isn't cognitive enhancement, this is a tool causing brain rot (loss of curiosity), even a developmental disability. Unclear if it is reversible.

TRON quote citation: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/quotes/?item=qt0406255

Update, see also:
* 2026-08-19 “Teachers Warn That Students Are Losing the Ability to Think as They Lean on AI for Everything” https://futurism.com/future-society/students-lose-ability-think-ai

#TRON #TRON1982 #AIproof #interesting #chatBot #chatBots #LLM #LLMs #AI #brainRot #AIbrainRot #disability #Blaugust #Blaugust2026

▶️ watching NASA’s “2026 Total Solar Eclipse”, 1h28m44s on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/live/rSvCuSQhC3w

Helpful links so far:
* https://go.nasa.gov/EclipseSafety
* https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses

#NASA #eclipse #solarEclipse #totalEclipse #totalSolarEclipse
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

▶️ watched and finished the rest of Silo season 1 and all of season 2 over the weekend. Superbly well written.

Previously: https://tantek.com/2026/218/t1/watched-episodes-silo

#Silo #SiloTV #AppleOriginal #AppleTV
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026