This video is a bit goofy in content, but I came across this youtube short of an MMA fighter "Seamus O'Grady". I don't know all that much about MMA, but I find it somewhat interesting and look up more clips about the dude. I then try looking up who this guy is online, and he's entirely AI generated from what I can gather (youtube comments say he's AI and there are no pages online about him).

These videos are basically indistinguishable from reality. The biggest "tell" is just how surreal the actual situation is, not necessarily the ability of AI to generate something life-like. And, of course, AI generated video will only get better. As far as I'm concerned, we've officially reached the point, in a completely non-hyperbolic way, where there's basically no reason to believe that what you're seeing online is real, unless it's coming from the verified account of a "legacy" creator.

There are some major questions that now get raised. Is video as evidence at all basically a thing of the past? How can we admit video evidence into a court of law, perhaps unless it's played directly off a recording device that's technologically incapable of having video uploaded to it? Is citizen journalism even possible now? How can we trust, from today onwards, that we aren't being fed a narrative by even traditional media that's a complete literal fiction?

What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!

The recent post on EU's search index got me thinking: the real reason I (personally) haven't been able to shift to other search engines (like duckduckgo; I currently cannot afford Kagi) is Google has these information cards that "summarize" useful information in an information card. For example, it can give you the recent results of the sports team you searched for. Or it can give you synopsis of a movie and the list of its cast and crew.

However, recently Google has started replacing these information cards with AI-generated content. Not to be against AI summaries, but the whole UX is pretty bad (I can't just click the cast member and go to their information card on Google); and it seems it is only going to get worse.

So my question: Are there any search engines that do this well?

I know duckduckgo has an information card which usually is a summary of the wikipedia page of whatever you searched for. I would use something like letterboxd or goodreads on the first go but I have found (a) the websites to be a bit clunky for a quick search (b) they are not as good for fuzzy search.

I've been craving a lot of popcorn recently after discovering hulless varieties that don't get super stuck in your teeth. Historically, my preferred method was the microwave because of simplicity, but our current microwave simply fails to pop popcorn. I've switched to stove-top with a standard pot and a lid wrapped in a dishcloth to limit moisture. Combined with butter-flavored coconut oil and Gold Medal Flavacol, I've been making some excellent popcorn.

Come to today, I've ordered an air popper (Presto PopLite) because I want the quickest and easiest method with the least clean-up, but I'm not sure how to evenly distribute liquid toppings nor how to make kettlecorn with popped popcorn. I'd be interested in a whirlypop if they were dishwasher safe. Tramontina's new Gold Pop looks reasonable, but I couldn't find any thorough reviews since it's fairly new.

Anyhow, what's your history with popcorn? How do you make it? What toppings do you like?

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Singapore Grand Prix
Marina Bay Street Circuit
October 9-11, 2026

Next race:
United States Grand Prix
Circuit of the Americas
October 23-25, 2026