Moody: the works

A list of links to all my non-tech writings:

Essays

Glanglish - with audio versions

Moody Essays - new post

Travel writings

Moody Travels

Walks with Lorenzetti

A Partial India

Novels

Doing the Business

Egyptian Romance 

Poems

Moody Sonnets - new post

Cinema as a community experience opens the door for low-cost films funded by fans

This move from the Hollywood-style blockbusters to low-budget films made by new directors – often emerging from the world of YouTube – and new production houses is great news for audiences eager for new experiences and a sense of community. It not only brings fresh talent to the art form, it also opens up the possibility of fan-funded films that manage the difficult trick of being thoughtful and popular.

From Walled Culture.

Magi, Maga, Doge

 Herod the Great, mongrel, Idumae
-an, Nabatean, (possibly half-jew
-ish, half-arab), plucked out for power by Cae
-sar, polygamous, hated by more than a few,
Said to the Magi: “Send me informa
-tion that I may worship him stat.”  The Wise Men
Had doggedly tracked a star linking their way
to the king and his palace, but would not pass again.
Duke Herod, canalising anger, closed
The Venetian blinds of his heart, ordered his min
-ions to ransack the mega databases, and imposed
His mangy algo – all to cry: “So win”.
Thus six million future innocents died
In this ungrokked AI genocide.

(12.7.26) v 1.01

Moody Sonnets

Why the spread of powerful local AI models makes copyright enforcement even harder

The world of generative AI is so complex, and moving so quickly, that it is no wonder that even the relatively recent EU AI Act, which entered into force two years ago, is being left behind by the latest developments. And the EU Copyright Directive, which was drawn up nearly a decade ago, is the digital equivalent of the UK’s 1865 Red Flag Act, which governed “self-propelled vehicles”, and required “a man with a red flag was to walk at least 60 yd (55 m) ahead of each vehicle”.

From Walled Culture.

German Court Says Google Is Liable For False Claims In Its AI Overviews Because They Are Its Own Words

In a post on his blog, the security guru Bruce Schneier points out that if the ruling stands and is adopted elsewhere, it could have important implications not just for things like Google’s AI Overviews and chatbots, but also for the increasingly popular AI agents.

On Techdirt.