Confessions of a researchaholic

2025-09-24

AI languages

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 8:52 am
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I often find the patent disclosures hard to read (to the point that they could be good sleep inducers when one has a hard time falling asleep), and seem to be generated by some automatic procedures instead of directly written by humans even before the emergence of large language models (LLMs).
(If you have knowledge about this, feel free to let me know. I am pretty sure that in the minimum the patent law firms must have some sorts of document-templates even if not software.)

Fortunately, nowadays we can also use LLMs to summarize such documents (e.g., built-in within Acrobat Reader), which hints to a potential future in which all documents are synthesized and analyzed by AI, through which humans communicate with each other and with their AI agents, while the AI agents may evolve to communicate via their own languages that are more efficient than human languages but incomprehensible to humans.

2025-09-21

Studio 8 Film Festival – Lawrence Jordan Tribute at SFMOMA

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 3:52 pm
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Attended this screening of Lawrence Jordan’s films which I really enjoyed due to the sound tracks and his unique cut-out animation style.

During the QA session, he shared how he chose from his large collection of materials for use in his works, and I was impressed by how sharp he still was over the age of 90.

2025-09-18

Conservatism is a reflection of stagnancy or even decline

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 9:01 am
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For those who view the past as better than the present or the potential future and thus would like to move forward by moving backward.

Nvidia and Intel Make a $5 Billion Bargain

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 8:58 am
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Motley fool

25 April-1st fool’s days ago I joked that NVIDIA is buying Intel.
I think they should still do it, keep the design division and sell the manufacturing division.
(If only the antitrust regulators would allow it, which seems unlikely.)

2025-09-06

Pulpo a la Catalana

Filed under: Imaginary,Real — liyiwei @ 10:43 am
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On September 2 2025 I tried the lunch special “pulpo a la Catalana” in which the octopus leg segment prompted my imagination of the whole body the leg belonged to.

Thanks to the Adobe Bon Appétit chefs who made all these delicious and nutritious meals for us.

https://www.instagram.com/kub1ai/p/DORVsHvD4G6/

2025-09-01

SIGGRAPH production talks

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 10:18 am
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While at SIGGRAPH conferences I usually spent the majority of my “attendance time” in the animation festivals and production talks primarily because (1) the contents are usually not recorded for later consumption, (2) the effects look nice, and (3) the topics tend to be something I am less familiar with, even after 20+ years in the field.

The animation creations and effects productions are hybrids of art and science/engineering.
Each effect is tailored for the specific style and story and created by a combination of artistic practices and off-the-shelf/bespoke tools.
The presentations tend to focus on the design process and tools deployment, instead of technical methods and implementations.

2025-08-28

Deaf death

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 9:12 pm
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This lecture/performance by Christine Sun Kim at the SFMOMA looks interesting so I did a bit of background research on her works and found this video from the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The artist was born deaf, which has become a major driving force behind her works on using drawings, texts, and info-graphics to convey her experiences as a deaf person and how the society treats the deaf.

Being deprived of a major sensory input (like sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch) closes the door for many life experiences and yet opens alternative modes of communication and expression, often challenging the dominant narratives around disability.

In the end I did not attend the lecture/performance due to scheduling constraints, but hope to catch up with her works in the future.

2025-08-20

Rise against hunger

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 2:29 pm
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Today he participated in a company volunteer activity to help fight hunger by packing dried food.

Within a large conference room were multiple stations of two types, one for mixing powdered vitamins, dried and chopped vegetables, powdered soy, and rice grains into bags, and another for weighing and sealing the bags.
Multiple volunteers were assigned to each station, and the process was repeated ad infinitum with pop music blasting in the background.

It was kind of fun to work and chat with other volunteers, but he started to wonder the value and goal of this activity.
All the equipments and materials had to be brought to and from the event venue, and the repetitive tasks seemed more suitable for robots than humans, not to mention employees who are paid (potentially high) hourly wages to do this.
So this volunteer activity looks like a form of employee benefits but with a more positive spin than the usual corporate parties.

Old man-child

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 9:17 am
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In the beginning of his talk on the possible futures of computer displays, Peter Shirley mentioned that he was expecting only people from the European time zone or over the age of 50 to show up in this early morning session.

The session was too early for me as well – I watched the recording afterwards. But since I am no longer young, I wonder if it is a sign that I am growing into an irresponsible old man.

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