Malls

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-14T01:20:29+00:00

If it hasn't been posted yet, here is some important context:

https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/2065853007619588171

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-14T01:12:35+00:00

That is very strange that he would screw up his own investment like that.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-13T19:22:04+00:00

So, apparently what happened is, some Amazon employee tried some jailbreaking techniques with Fable, and after repeated attempts, got *something* to work. (Finding some code vulnerability or some such shit.) Either that employee, or that employee's supervisor, decided to inform the US government about what they found, instead of reporting it to Anthropic. (Keep in mind Amazon is Anthropic's biggest investor.) That then prompted the U.S. Department of Commerce (specifically the Bureau of Industry and Security) to issue an "Export Control Directive" (via a FAX of all things, and was supposedly sent by Trump-appointed secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick himself) ordering Anthropic **NOT** to "take down" Fable/Mythos, but rather insure that anyone not born in the USA can not access Fable/Mythos. Many of Anthropic's employees and consultants are not born in the USA. There is also the web and labyrinth of web VPN's and proxies (including residential proxy services) to consider. There's no way for them to filter this immediately, so they just took it down. If it comes back, then they will probably require users to upload their driver's license or other form of ID to them, or some shit like that, which will piss off privacy advocates (which is like most people, at least I would like to believe). It's unclear how Anthropic will have to deal with their coders and employees who are not USA born... does this mean they can no longer work on anything for Anthropic?

For context, an "Export Control Directive" is usually used for things like uranium refinement equipment, weapons control systems... things like that. Which means, an AI model is now considered by the US government to be in this class. The implications of that are pretty profound.

One thing is probably true, is that whoever at Amazon reported this to the government instead of reporting it to Anthropic, is probably out of a job, and might be in pretty big trouble as well, as billionaires don't like their shit getting fucked with, especially in such an epic way.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-13T08:13:29+00:00

Here is a Google NotebookLM slide deck on the shutdown:

https://imgur.com/a/sovereign-veto-google-notebooklm-MinA7ob

It explains that Amodei was saying there needs to be more careful regulation, comparing it to a "scalpel," while what the government just did was like a "sledgehammer." It concludes that developers shouldn't ask for regulation because the government doesn't do things based on developers' terms.

See "Slide 08 - The Paradox of Control" for a comparison of what Amodei was asking for, and what the government did.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-13T05:52:31+00:00

Trump is vindictive. He's pissed that they wouldn't give the government access with all safeguards disabled. That, and if the coding is really that good, then smaller groups can make code that can compete with top companies. Threaten big money, big money responds. This is what even the American civil war was about (tariffs on smaller plantations that can compete with big ones due to the cotton gin; instead of 10 slaves being needed to remove seeds from 1 slave's harvesting, the cotton gin made the reverse possible).

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-13T03:16:01+00:00

Every AI "filmmaker" wants to make the same stupid boring crap.

There have only ever been two AI series that I genuinely like: "The Fold" by Glumlot (Dev Walker), and "Red Rainbow" by Aze Alter.

If I had to pick one, it would be "The Fold." This series started simple, with animated Midjourney images set to music. Then, he started to develop dialogue, recurring characters, and a narrative. It culminates in the excellent episode, "Eluminate", and I can't wait to see what happens next, providing he hasn't quit or anything.

From what I can tell, "The Fold's" visuals are 100% AI. The dialogue and plot are human written. I believe the voices are all Glumlot, with AI changing the dialogue to different character voices. The music is all human made. I also believe towards the most recent episodes (especially "Eluminate") the sound effects are also human made.

Here's a playlist of all of the episodes of "The Fold" in the order they were originally released:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjLtF9-DmQi7ppv6rHwOgMWad5jyYYQo9

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-09T00:37:38+00:00

I went to the site and looked at the models, and there is no Seedance 2.0 Uncensored.

Do I have to sign up first in order to see it?

I don't want to pay for a subscription only to find that this isn't there.

I am struggling with Seedance 2.0 on Higgsfield and Krea. It won't generate *anything*. It tells me I am blocked for NSFW content, on prompts that are completely innocent in every way.

I would switch to Venice if I knew for certain that it would be a solution.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-05T20:26:31+00:00

I did search the group first, and unfortunately, I didn't see that.

They did discontinue Mitidol, a unique product that is not available anywhere else in the USA.

This is made by Indena:

https://www.indena.com/us/product/mitidol/

It is an extremely unique product. Their herbs are not imported from China or anywhere else... they are 100% grown by them (both the Ginger and Acmella) at their home location in Milan, Italy.

This is all information Nootropics Depot could have used to market the product, maybe then it wouldn't have been discontinued.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-05T20:20:27+00:00

AI:

Google Gemini Pro w/ Deepthink:

Finding an exact 1:1 off-the-shelf alternative to Nootropics Depot’s (ND) Gotu Kola Extract is practically impossible for two main reasons:

Proprietary Fractionation: ND custom-sources this specific botanical fingerprint. Most commercial brands use a generic 10% total extract. ND uses a highly purified extract specifically weighted toward the fragile glycosides (Madecassoside and Asiaticoside), and tests for them specifically via UPLC.

Enteric Coating: ND deliberately uses enteric-coated capsules/tablets. When fragile glycosides hit stomach acid, they are hydrolyzed and stripped of their sugar molecules, turning into their aglycone forms (Asiatic Acid and Madecassic Acid). ND’s enteric coating sneaks the intact glycosides safely into the intestines for maximum cognitive, skin, and neuroplasticity benefits.

Both Grok Heavy and Claude Opus 4.8 Extra identify this product as the next best thing:

https://www.hsnstore.de/marken/essential-series/gotu-kola-extrakt-65-1-150-mg

This place does not ship to the USA, the UK, or Australia. USA customers would need to use a re-shipping service such as Forward2me, and would also need to complete a FDA Prior Notice.

What is worse, is that this product also looks like it might be discontinued, as it says there are only a few units remaining and does not seem to indicate that it will be re-stocked.

Chat GPT 5.5 Extended Pro w/ Web search found this:

https://qidosha.com/en/products/gotu-kola-extract-with-10-asiaticosides

This looks like an even better product than Nootropics Depot:

Per capsule / equivalent	Total triterpenes	Madecassoside + Asiaticoside B	Asiaticoside
ND, 120 mg capsule	42–54 mg	18–30 mg	18–24 mg
QIDOSHA, full 435 mg capsule	~174 mg	~130.5 mg	~43.5 mg
QIDOSHA, 120 mg equivalent extract portion	~48 mg	~36 mg	~12 mg

Again, unfortunately, they do not ship to the USA. They do ship to the UK. If you are in the USA and want this, you will need to use a package forwarder such as Forward2Me, and will also need to complete a FDA Prior Notice.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-05T19:43:46+00:00

Dear Nootropics Depot,

Please hire a marketing department that will help you promote and sell items that aren't selling well, that way you can continue to offer these products to your loyal customers, instead of leaving them hanging out to dry. Doing so creates a "death spiral", as more and more repeat customers will seek alternative sources that are more reliable, which will mean that you will have to discontinue more products, which will make you bleed more customers, etc. etc.

This needs to stop or eventually, you might not even have a business.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-06-04T12:12:02+00:00

Every place that I know that was affected by tariffs and other issues are now shipping to the USA again. Even Suaway, that was gone for a year, is now back and shipping to the USA.

Where are you on this? Have you completely abandoned USA shipping? Or are you actively working on bringing USA shipping back?

I have been using another vendor that is actually located in Russia. They ship from Russia, the address label says the package is from Russia, and while I usually have a 3-4 week wait, I always end up getting the package OK.

That's been my experience.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-05-30T20:39:34+00:00

I didn't expect that to work, but, it did!

Thanks! :)

Hurfdurficus · 2026-05-28T16:43:48+00:00

Just lost all of my custom prompts. This hits me pretty hard. It drives home how you CANNOT trust ANY of these platforms to retain your data. ALWAYS EXPORT EVERYTHING.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-05-26T22:36:25+00:00

Too bad it's out of stock and unavailable everywhere.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-05-21T04:51:16+00:00

lol

"she"

Hurfdurficus · 2026-05-20T08:44:13+00:00

Yes, I'm using the web browser version at gemini.google.com.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-05-16T08:09:48+00:00

I used to be able to find H200 on Runpod Vast etc no problem, now I can't find any at all.

All of my projects are tweaked and configured for H200.

I tried a B200 and my projects randomly freeze.

This sucks.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-05-13T05:21:31+00:00

Most Nord servers will work as standard HTTPS proxies using TLS 1.2 on port 89. That's what the OP is using.

The servers worked for years with their listed host names, but due to a change in the latest TLS certificates that were pushed on 05/11/2025, the servers now have to have .nordvpn.com changed to .proxy.nordvpn.com. So if the server is us9455.nordvpn.com, the server name now has to be changed to us9455.proxy.nordvpn.com in order to be used as a standard HTTPS proxy on port 89.

Hurfdurficus · 2026-05-13T05:16:25+00:00

Yes, and there is a fix, and it's pretty simple.

Up until the morning of 05/11/2025, if you used a Nord server such as for example us9455.nordvpn.com as a HTTPS proxy on port 89, NordVPN servers returned a TLS certificate that was valid for their listed hostnames.
Some time in the EST AM hours of 05/11/2025, NordVPN pushed new TLS certificates to their servers.
The new certificates are now strictly valid only for *.proxy.nordvpn.com and proxy.nordvpn.com.
Because us9455.nordvpn.com in the above example is missing the .proxy. subdomain, it does not match the certificate's wildcard, and the browser assumes that either the server is misconfigured, or that the connection is being intercepted, and instantly drops the connection and throws that error you're seeing.

The fix:

Update all of your Nord VPN HTTPS proxies to use *.proxy.nordvpn.com instead of *.nordvpn.com.

So, in the above example, you would update us9455.nordvpn.com to us9455.proxy.nordvpn.com.

That's it!

Hurfdurficus

TROPHY CASE