AI Self Competition Nets Better Fakes -Technology Review has an interesting description of a new machine learning tech. Two AIs are paired one is set with the task of creating fake images and intersperse them with real photos. The other AI is configured to spot the fakes and report how it found them. Then the first AI learns and makes better and better fake images.

Intel Patches Spectre - Intel finally releases their microcode for the Spectre...again.

AMD Isn't Immune To Spectre Lawsuits Either - Speaking of, AMD gets their round of lawsuits for the vulnerability.

He's Not Crazy, He's Evil! - American Thinker is usually fit for the reactionary take on nearly everything, so take it with a grain of salt. This article features the biggest problem I have with supernatural thinking. If you merely shrug off things as "evil" and don't explore causes nothing will ever change. That we accept the worldview that there is "good" and "evil" without exploring the nature of "evil" and its causes is the pathway to new dark ages. We simply huddle up awaiting punishment from the sky. That isn't to say that we can't have ethical values that define our ideas of right and wrong. The worldview here is that we must focus on evil and punishment, instead of pathology. Considering that societies focused on rehabilitation have vastly lower crime rates than those focused on punishment is probably just a coincidence.

It's RT Or The Bread Line - Speaking of ethics, Canadaland explores the ethical line of working for a propaganda outlet like RT.

It's About Time You Showed Up Fox - Nintendo’s space furry, er... furry space franchise turns 25. Do a barrel roll! Crap, I’m old.

The Culling Of The Bots. - It’s not a conspiracy to remove followers when your audience is mostly python scripts.

I Wonder How Many Of These Were Taken With Drones. - Some tremendous aerial photography skills in the Skypixel contest.

Think Slower, Read More - Most of this is relatively common advice. In this video, CSICon speakers give their guidance on making better decisions with evidence. Avoid people who make outlandish claims, doubt information that reinforces your assumptions, check sources, avoid now or never offers, don’t be an asshole to people who believe dumb stuff, and cultivate good sources.

The Placebo Industry - A Harvard study shows which supplements are legal placebos and which are helpful (not many, and only in some circumstances).

Map App Showdown - A showdown between the three prominent mapping apps. I’m surprised how Waze fared. Moreso that despite being owned by Google, the information sharing is one way.

Fair And Balanced HR - Like Damore, this guy needs to understand the difference between being fired for your beliefs and being fired for being an asshole. When your boss tells you to tone it down, it might be wise to listen. No matter how many kudos your coworkers give you.

I ARE ANGRY - ONE STAR - Most things fall between two and four stars. So it shouldn’t surprise you that people who go ragingly review something with a single star are frustrated or trolling, and thus less likely to take care when writing their review. Five-star reviews are going to be the true believers that want to sell you on how great something is.

Fewer Companies, Less Competition. - This isn't that far out of the orthodox. The era of trust-busting happened for a reason. Our culture seems driven to relearn all the old economic lessons the hard way. From trying to create currencies that can be cornered, combing deposit and investment banks, and now monopolies, we have reinvented everything that drove government regulation in the early 20th century. I await the rebirth of the East India Tea Company for genuinely old-fashioned economics.