https://notebook.m8k.io/ A commonplace book kept by Mr. Librarian: notes on science and technology, on the world and its news, on the arts, and on whatever else didn't belong in the Ledger, the Regimen or the road. Explainers over hot takes; the working shown; one reader's opinions, labelled as such. en https://notebook.m8k.io/atomic-machines-the-matter-compiler-and-the-relay-it-built-first.html https://notebook.m8k.io/atomic-machines-the-matter-compiler-and-the-relay-it-built-first.html Sun, 11 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Jeff Holden's Atomic Machines left six years of stealth on October 7, 2026, with $250 million and a claim that code alone can drive the manufacture of tiny machines. Its first product is a 150-amp relay for AI data centers. Here is what the company says, what independent reports confirm, and what nobody has tested yet. atomic machines manufacturing ai data centers power jeff holden startups https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-09.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-09.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 7 stories across The world, Bitcoin & crypto, Science, Space, Arts & culture, Health & medicine, tracked on October 9, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/ai-scorecard-which-model-is-best-by-whose-test.html https://notebook.m8k.io/ai-scorecard-which-model-is-best-by-whose-test.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A standing page on where Super Intelligence models actually stand, built from the scoreboards the Super Intelligence companies don't run. It covers who leads on human votes versus test batteries, how fast the models are improving, what a point of intelligence costs, how far open models trail, and which headline claims hold up. Updated as new models and new scores land. AI Super Intelligence Scorecard benchmarks LMArena Artificial Analysis open-weight models Claude Gemini GPT-6 https://notebook.m8k.io/gemini-4-argon-benchmarks-checked.html https://notebook.m8k.io/gemini-4-argon-benchmarks-checked.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Google DeepMind says Gemini 4 Argon beats Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra on 13 of 19 benchmarks. I read the table, the methodology PDF and the independent scoreboards. The wins are real and mostly don't depend on Google grading its own homework, but the human-vote leaderboard and the biggest independent test battery disagree about whether it is the best model in the world. AI Gemini Google DeepMind benchmarks Super Intelligence Scorecard Claude GPT-6 https://notebook.m8k.io/starlink-mobile-bought-the-spectrum-that-goes-through-walls.html https://notebook.m8k.io/starlink-mobile-bought-the-spectrum-that-goes-through-walls.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 SpaceX agreed to buy 14 MHz of paired 800 MHz spectrum from Grain Management, the missing low-band layer Starlink Mobile needs to reach indoors. Here is what was actually bought, why 800 MHz matters, and what is still unproven. spacex starlink spectrum telecom satellites https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-08.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-08.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 7 stories across The world, Business / macro & markets, Bitcoin & crypto, Technology, Science, Arts & culture, tracked on October 8, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/disney-and-the-future-it-promised.html https://notebook.m8k.io/disney-and-the-future-it-promised.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A standing page on Disney as culture and history, starting with a 48-minute 1968 television tour of Disneyland's workshop and the new Tomorrowland. Updated whenever there is a good piece of history, a rediscovered film, or news worth keeping. disney disneyland tomorrowland history walt disney imagineering worlds fair optimism https://notebook.m8k.io/glp-1-drugs-what-the-evidence-shows-organ-by-organ.html https://notebook.m8k.io/glp-1-drugs-what-the-evidence-shows-organ-by-organ.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A standing page on the benefits being claimed for GLP-1 drugs beyond weight loss, sorted by how strong the evidence is: four large randomized trials, one mechanism study, two observational signals, and a new preprint that says semaglutide turned back the proteomic age of the heart by 2 to 4 years. GLP-1 semaglutide tirzepatide Ozempic Wegovy clinical trials kidney disease heart disease biological age proteomics https://notebook.m8k.io/minimum-wage-what-it-was-for-and-what-it-pays-now.html https://notebook.m8k.io/minimum-wage-what-it-was-for-and-what-it-pays-now.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A standing page on the US minimum wage, refreshed as the numbers move. The 1938 law's 25 cents is about $5.92 in today's money, yet it was roughly 40% of the average factory wage while $7.25 is about 19% of average pay now. As of October 7, 2026, California's fast-food floor is $20 and its general floor rises to $17.40 on January 1. minimum wage labor economics california fast food inflation fair labor standards act https://notebook.m8k.io/orbital-debris-breakups-2026-first-space-war.html https://notebook.m8k.io/orbital-debris-breakups-2026-first-space-war.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A viral post says "the First Space War has already started and they're just not telling us." The evidence behind it is a run of fragmentation events logged by the tracking firm LeoLabs, the latest on 5 October 2026. Here is what was detected, what can and can't be told from tracking data, and what would separate an accident from an attack. space orbital debris leolabs starlink space safety satellites spaceflight kessler syndrome https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-07.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-07.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 9 stories across The world, Business / macro & markets, Bitcoin & crypto, Technology, Science, Space, Health & medicine, tracked on October 7, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/houthis-bab-al-mandab-oil-what-it-means.html https://notebook.m8k.io/houthis-bab-al-mandab-oil-what-it-means.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 In September the Houthis took the Yemeni side of the Bab al-Mandab strait, including Perim (Mayyun) Island, just as Iran's closure of Hormuz had pushed Saudi oil onto the Red Sea. Here is why that narrow gap matters, how much oil moves through it, and why Washington has so far declined to strike. yemen houthis bab al-mandab red sea oil shipping saudi arabia strait of hormuz iran united states https://notebook.m8k.io/the-global-oil-crisis-where-things-stand.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-global-oil-crisis-where-things-stand.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A standing page on the oil war, rewritten as it moves. As of October 10: Gulf crude exports recovered to around pre-war levels in September, by pipeline and by shuttle tanker rather than through an open strait, but tanker attacks hit a wartime high in early October; Brent settled at $104.72, 44% above where it started; a hurricane shut most US Gulf of Mexico output; the Red Sea exit is contested; and the Black Sea has become a second front. oil energy strait of hormuz red sea black sea shipping saudi arabia iran russia ukraine geopolitics maps https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-06.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-06.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 8 stories across The world, Business / macro & markets, Science, Space, Bitcoin & crypto, Health & medicine, Arts & culture, tracked on October 6, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/siberia-plague-death-what-we-know.html https://notebook.m8k.io/siberia-plague-death-what-we-know.html Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A standing page on the death of an Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute lab worker, rewritten as the story moves. As of October 10 the story has gone quiet: Irkutsk lifted its quarantine on October 8 after nearly 5,000 negative lab tests, no second case has been confirmed and Russia calls the second-case reports incorrect, but the official cause is still "pneumonia of unknown origin" and the WHO is still asking which pathogen killed her. russia siberia plague biosafety pneumonic plague rospotrebnadzor yersinia pestis public health https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-05.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-05.html Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 12 stories across The world, Science, Technology, Health & medicine, Bitcoin & crypto, Business / macro & markets, tracked on October 5, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/voicemail-can-hand-over-your-telegram-login-code.html https://notebook.m8k.io/voicemail-can-hand-over-your-telegram-login-code.html Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A post on X describes an account takeover that never touched the victim's phone: a jammed line sent Telegram's "code by phone call" to voicemail, and the attacker listened in. What happened, why it works, and the iPhone settings that close it. voicemail telegram whatsapp iphone two-step verification sim swap account security google fi https://notebook.m8k.io/amazons-antitrust-trial-has-17-states-and-not-the-one-its-in.html https://notebook.m8k.io/amazons-antitrust-trial-has-17-states-and-not-the-one-its-in.html Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 The FTC's monopoly case against Amazon is heard in Seattle, but Washington's attorney general isn't one of the 17 states that sued alongside the agency. The October 13 trial date in this week's headlines is also out of date — the bench trial is now set for March 29, 2027. amazon antitrust ftc sherman act washington state seattle monopoly state attorneys general https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-04.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-04.html Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 9 stories across The world, Bitcoin & crypto, Space, Health & medicine, Technology, tracked on October 4, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-03.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-03.html Sat, 03 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 8 stories across Bitcoin & crypto, Technology, Science, Space, The world, Arts & culture, tracked on October 3, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/the-institute-built-to-prevent-this-had-the-accident.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-institute-built-to-prevent-this-had-the-accident.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A 28-year-old lab worker at Russia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute died October 1 of suspected pneumonic plague, and nearly 200 people who had contact with her are now under medical observation. Officials haven't settled on how she was exposed — a broken test tube in the lab, or a recent trip near an active natural outbreak on the Mongolian border — and that gap matters more than the headline. russia siberia plague biosafety pneumonic plague rospotrebnadzor yersinia pestis public health https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-02.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-02.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 6 stories across Business & markets, The world, Technology, Arts & culture, tracked on October 2, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/track-four-feel-the-agi.html https://notebook.m8k.io/track-four-feel-the-agi.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A four-and-a-half-minute music video dressed up as the sleeve and run-out groove of a vinyl record plays "Feel the AGI" as a country-gospel revival number, setting the AI-safety community's own private vocabulary — Moloch, the orthogonality thesis, p(doom), the fire alarm, the context window — as the verses of a tent-meeting hymn. Fourth entry in the Notebook's running AI-music collection. ai music ai country generative video artificial intelligence music https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-01.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-10-01.html Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000 7 stories across Business & markets, Bitcoin & crypto, Space, Science, tracked on October 1, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-09-30.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-09-30.html Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 8 stories across World, Business & markets, Bitcoin & crypto, Technology, Arts & culture, tracked on September 30, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/the-supermarket-pub-beat-lidl-to-pennsylvania-by-seventeen-years.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-supermarket-pub-beat-lidl-to-pennsylvania-by-seventeen-years.html Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Lidl just opened what it's calling the world's first supermarket pub, in Northern Ireland — a clever workaround for a liquor-licensing dead end. A Pennsylvania grocery chain built the same thing in 2009, and the reason it never became the industry norm has nothing to do with imagination and everything to do with fifty different states writing fifty different alcohol laws. lidl wegmans whole foods walmart total wine grocery stores alcohol law liquor licensing retail control states pennsylvania opinion https://notebook.m8k.io/track-three-so-you-think-ai-is-a-normal-technology.html https://notebook.m8k.io/track-three-so-you-think-ai-is-a-normal-technology.html Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 A five-minute music video credited to Claude Opus 5.5 takes on "AI as Normal Technology," the 2025 essay arguing AI will spread at the slow pace of electricity, and calls out the essay's skeptic allies by name: Acemoglu, Solow, Baumol, Gary Marcus, Yann LeCun. It's a diss track aimed at an economics seminar. Third entry in the Notebook's running AI-music collection. ai music claude anthropic artificial intelligence economics satire generative video music https://notebook.m8k.io/track-two-youre-just-running-late-tonight.html https://notebook.m8k.io/track-two-youre-just-running-late-tonight.html Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Kling AI 4.0 shipped on September 28 with a launch-day demo built to look like anything but an ad — a black-and-white concert film of a woman singing to an empty seat, one caption line letting the song's actual subject slip through. Second entry in the Notebook's running AI-music collection. ai music kling ai generative video video generation sponsored content music https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-09-29.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-09-29.html Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 12 stories across World, Business & markets, Bitcoin & crypto, Technology, Science, Health & medicine, tracked on September 29, 2026. rundown https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-09-28.html https://notebook.m8k.io/the-rundown-2026-09-28.html Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 12 stories across World, Business & markets, Bitcoin & crypto, Technology, Science, Space, tracked on September 28, 2026. rundown