The likeness preservation and natural realism coming out of Gemini #Omni Flash is absolutely unreal 🤯
Huge shoutout to the insanely talented team for pushing these boundaries. The team absolutely cooked. 👨🍳🔥
If Flash is this good... imagine what Pro is about to unleash. 👀✨
LLM Knowledge Bases
Something I'm finding very useful recently: using LLMs to build personal knowledge bases for various topics of research interest. In this way, a large fraction of my recent token throughput is going less into manipulating code, and more into manipulating knowledge (stored as markdown and images). The latest LLMs are quite good at it. So:
Data ingest:
I index source documents (articles, papers, repos, datasets, images, etc.) into a raw/ directory, then I use an LLM to incrementally "compile" a wiki, which is just a collection of .md files in a directory structure. The wiki includes summaries of all the data in raw/, backlinks, and then it categorizes data into concepts, writes articles for them, and links them all. To convert web articles into .md files I like to use the Obsidian Web Clipper extension, and then I also use a hotkey to download all the related images to local so that my LLM can easily reference them.
IDE:
I use Obsidian as the IDE "frontend" where I can view the raw data, the the compiled wiki, and the derived visualizations. Important to note that the LLM writes and maintains all of the data of the wiki, I rarely touch it directly. I've played with a few Obsidian plugins to render and view data in other ways (e.g. Marp for slides).
Q&A:
Where things get interesting is that once your wiki is big enough (e.g. mine on some recent research is ~100 articles and ~400K words), you can ask your LLM agent all kinds of complex questions against the wiki, and it will go off, research the answers, etc. I thought I had to reach for fancy RAG, but the LLM has been pretty good about auto-maintaining index files and brief summaries of all the documents and it reads all the important related data fairly easily at this ~small scale.
Output:
Instead of getting answers in text/terminal, I like to have it render markdown files for me, or slide shows (Marp format), or matplotlib images, all of which I then view again in Obsidian. You can imagine many other visual output formats depending on the query. Often, I end up "filing" the outputs back into the wiki to enhance it for further queries. So my own explorations and queries always "add up" in the knowledge base.
Linting:
I've run some LLM "health checks" over the wiki to e.g. find inconsistent data, impute missing data (with web searchers), find interesting connections for new article candidates, etc., to incrementally clean up the wiki and enhance its overall data integrity. The LLMs are quite good at suggesting further questions to ask and look into.
Extra tools:
I find myself developing additional tools to process the data, e.g. I vibe coded a small and naive search engine over the wiki, which I both use directly (in a web ui), but more often I want to hand it off to an LLM via CLI as a tool for larger queries.
Further explorations:
As the repo grows, the natural desire is to also think about synthetic data generation + finetuning to have your LLM "know" the data in its weights instead of just context windows.
TLDR: raw data from a given number of sources is collected, then compiled by an LLM into a .md wiki, then operated on by various CLIs by the LLM to do Q&A and to incrementally enhance the wiki, and all of it viewable in Obsidian. You rarely ever write or edit the wiki manually, it's the domain of the LLM. I think there is room here for an incredible new product instead of a hacky collection of scripts.
✅ نوشتهای که قرار بود دیشب منتشر شود:
♦️عزیز خارج از وطن طرفدار صلحم سلام. تویی که در هوای پاک برلین یا اسلو با تورنتو یا هرجای دیگر نشستهای و داری راجع به حماقت، بیسوادی، سادهلوحی ما مینویسی یا در استوریهایت راجع به کودکان به خاک و خون کشیده شده وطن مینویسی. یا بزرگترین پروژه احمقسازی توده مردم را متکبرانه معرفی میکنی، معتقدی ما فریبخوردگان اسرائیل بودیم چون تفکرمان با تویی که سالها پیش عطای وطن را به لقایش بخشیدی متفاوت است.
من از تهران برایت مینویسم اما بینام آخر ما اینجا اسلحه زیر گلویمان گرفتهاند و گفتهاند هرکس متفاوت از ما فکر کند را میکشیم، به همین دلیل نمیتوانم در صفحه رسمیم به میزان نفهمی و حماقت شما یا توهینهایتان پاسخ دهم عزیز وطن دوستم که ما را وطن فروش مینامی. فقط در حین خواندن این متن ثانیهای دلایل خروجت از وطن را مرور کن! چرا تو الان اینجا نیستی؟ یادت میآید؟
[ ] میدانی دیروز وقتی انبار نفت را زدند شیشههایمان حسابی لرزید و بعضی طبقات هم شیشههایشان ریخت،دختر ۹ سالهام از ترس در آغوشم میلرزید تصمیم گرفتم برای تو بنویسم. تویی که هرگز نپرسیدی چهشد که ما به اینجا رسیدیم.
برای خودت در حالیکه در جامعه آزاد نشستهای بریدی و دوختی و ما را احمق و خیالباف نامیدی. که انقدر بیچاره و نفهمیم که میتوانند به ما رویا بفروشند! چقدر این نگاه برایم آشناست! سالها ج.ا خواست قیم ما باشد چون معتقد بود ما آنقدر صلاحیت نظر نداریم که آزاد باشیم. حالا شما هم ما را کودکانی هیجانی میپندارید که فریب خوردهایم .اما نه دوست من آن روزها که تو ترک وطن کردی و ما ماندیم و این کفتارها من و امثال من امید داشتیم که اصلاح کنیم دوام بیاوریم و بسازیم. سال ۷۸ از کنکور برمیگشتم که یهو جلوی من و برادرم را گرفتند و ما را بردند، قبل از آن با اولین رای ام به خاتمی فکر میکردم تغییرات میآیند. دانشجو که شدم تو را خوب یادم هست که حتی نمیدانستی چه روزنامه ای چاپ میشود، دیروز دیدم که ما را محکوم کردی که ما کارهای لازم را نکردیم، خواستم یادآوری بکنم که من از سال ۷۶ از ۱۶ سالگی خودم در تمام رفتارهای مدنی، اعتراضات و رایگیریها و بازی بد و بدتر شرکت کردم و از امثال تو فحش خوردم. اما من ماندم چون میخواستم بمانم چون وطن دوستم اما پاسخم گلوله بود. گفتم روزنامه گفتند بمیر، گفتم رای، گفتند بمیر، گفتم پلاسکو گفتند بمیر، گفتم زندگی گفتند بمیر گفتم چرا هواپیما را زدید گفتم چرا تفاهم نمیکنید گفتم چرا میکشید، گفتم چرا واکسن نمیآورید گفتم گفتم و پاسخش گلوله بود و بس فقط هر چهار سال یکبار دروغگوی جدیدی آوردند و بعد هم همان رویه.
من بیش از ۳۰ سال به صورت مدنی و صلح دوستانه گفتم اما چیزی جز مرگ پاسخم نبود.
تو فکر میکنی اسراییل رویا فروخت نه عزیز همهچیزدان و کتابخوانم. این جمهوری اسلامی بود که زندگی را گرفت و حالا در حالیکه آسمان تهران زیبایم که هرگز حاضر به خروج از آن نشدم سیاه است، درست به رنگ ذات جمهوری اسلامی، با قاطعیت میگویم حتی به قیمت جنگ جمهوری اسلامی باید برود. هر یک روزی که این کثاقت بر سر وطن است آینده من و فرزندان مایی که ماندیم (چون نخواستیم برویم وگرنه میتوانستیم)، بیشتر در خطر است.
حالا لطف کن و انقدر ژست آدم فرهیخته برای مایی که ماندیم اینجا و کار کردیم و تلاش کردیم بسازیم نگیر. بگذار ما از این بدبختی نجات پیدا کنیم ما آنقدر میفهمیم که جنگ زشت است ما میدانیم هیچ کشوری عاشق چشم و ابروی ما نیست اما ما خیلی خوب میفهمیم که ماندن جمهوری اسلامی مساوی با نابودی ایران است و از هر جنگی مخربتر. من از زیر بمب و موشک برایت مینویسم دوست ایرانی، ایران نادیده من ژستهای روشنفکریت را چندماهی برای خودت نگه دار و آن کشوری که برای زندگی برگزیدهای. بگذار کشورمان را پس بگیریم. ما چیزی را تجربه کردیم که تو نکردی، حداقل آنقدر به ما احترام بگذار و بفهم که تو نمیدانی به ما چه گذشت که به اینجا رسیدیم. دوست عزیز تو ما را از عراق و سوریه شدن میترسانی اما من در کرهشمالی زندگی میکنم! کدام بهتر است؟
جمهوری اسلامی ۴۷ سال برای تخریب ایران انرژی گذاشت ما دیگر با دشمنان وطن مدارا نمیکنیم. دیگر بس است، کاش تو هم به جای فرورفتن در ژست روشنفکری و انسان دوستی با حقیقت نازیستیک این رژیم روبرو شوی و تکلیفت را روشن کنی. شاید اگر لرزههای انفجارها از تنم رفت برایت از تخریبی که ج.ا برای ایران داشت نوشتم که بدانی ما سالهاست
در حال جنگیم ..
هموطن شما زیر جنگ و بمباران #ایران
#پایگاه_خبری_جانبازان_جنگ_تحمیلی
@janbazanesabz
✅ The post that was supposed to be published last night: ♦️
Greetings, my peace-loving compatriot abroad.
You, sitting in the clean air of Berlin or Oslo or Toronto or anywhere else, writing about our stupidity, ignorance, and naivety, or posting stories about the children of our homeland who have been dragged through blood and soil.
Or arrogantly presenting the biggest project of mass dumbing-down of the people, believing that we were deceived by Israel just because our thinking differs from yours, you who long ago abandoned the homeland and spat on its offer.
I’m writing to you from Tehran, but anonymously, because here they’ve put guns to our throats and said they’ll kill anyone who thinks differently from us.
That’s why I can’t respond on my official page to the level of your ignorance and stupidity, or to your insults, dear compatriot friend who calls us traitors to the homeland.
Just take a second while reading this to recall the reasons you left the homeland! Why aren’t you here right now?
Remember?
You know, yesterday when they hit the oil depot, our windows shook hard, and some floors had their glass shattered.
My 9-year-old daughter was trembling in my arms from fear.
I decided to write this for you, you who never once asked what happened that brought us to this point.
You sat in your free society, cut and sewed your judgments, and called us idiots and dreamers.
That we’re so pathetic and clueless that they can sell us dreams!
How familiar this attitude feels to me!
For years, the Islamic Republic wanted to be our guardian because it believed we weren’t qualified to be free.
Now you too see us as emotional children who’ve been deceived.
But no, my friend, back in those days when you left the homeland, and we stayed, we hyenas among us hoped we could reform, endure, and build. In 1998–99, after the university entrance exam, they suddenly stopped my brother and me and took us away.
Before that, with my first vote for Khatami, I thought change was coming.
When I became a student, I remember you well; you didn’t even know which newspapers were being published.
Yesterday, I saw you condemning us for not doing what was necessary.
I wanted to remind you that since 1997, at 16, I’ve participated in every civil action, every protest, every election, every “bad vs. worse” game, and I've been cursed at by people like you.
But I stayed because I wanted to stay, because I love my homeland.
My answer was bullets. I said newspaper, they said die.
I said vote—they said die.
I said Plasco—they said die.
I said life—they said die.
I said, " Why did you shoot down the plane?
I said why don’t you make an agreement?
I said why are you killing?
I said, "Why don’t you bring vaccines?"
I said and said, and the only answer was bullets.
Every four years, they just bring a new liar, and then the same routine.
For more than 30 years, I spoke civilly and peacefully, but the only response was death.
You think Israel sold us dreams—no, my all-knowing, well-read friend.
It was the Islamic Republic that took life away.
And now, while the sky of my beautiful Tehran, which I never agreed to leave, is black, exactly the color of the Islamic Republic’s nature, I say with certainty: even at the cost of war, the Islamic Republic must go.
Every single day this filth remains over the homeland puts the future of me and the children of those of us who stayed (because we didn’t want to leave, though we could have) in greater danger.
Now, please, stop striking the pose of the enlightened intellectual for those of us who stayed here, worked, struggled, and tried to build.
Let us escape this misery.
We understand enough to know war is ugly.
We know no country is in love with our eyes and eyebrows.
But we understand very well that the continued existence of the Islamic Republic equals the destruction of Iran, and is more destructive than any war.
I’m writing to you from under bombs and missiles, my Iranian friend, my unseen Iran, keep your enlightened intellectual poses to yourself and to the country you chose for your life for a few months.
Let us take our country back.
We’ve experienced something you haven’t.
At the very least, have enough respect for us to understand that you don’t know what happened to us to bring us to this point.
Dear friend, you scare us with becoming like Iraq or Syria, but I’m living in North Korea! Which is better?
The Islamic Republic spent 47 years pouring energy into destroying Iran.
We no longer tolerate enemies of the homeland. Enough is enough. I wish you would confront the fascistic truth of this regime instead of sinking into poses of intellectualism and humanism, and clarify your position.
Perhaps once the tremors from the explosions leave my body, I’ll write to you about the destruction the Islamic Republic has inflicted on Iran, so you’ll know we’ve been at war for years…
Your compatriot under war and bombardment
#Iran
#News_Base_of_Veterans_of_the_Imposed_War
@janbazanesabz
@iampatt بازی با کلامت ساده است، فاشیست؟ یکنگاخی به لغتنامه بکن ، فاشیست اینجا که به مار بردی یه فحش سیاسی شیک بی معنی بیشتر نیست، میتونی از همون فحش های اونطرفی هم بدی هیچ فرقی با فاشیست خواندن بقیه نداره، این فقط یک ژست اخلاقیه، جنگ بده بله، سرطان هم بده، شیمی درمانی هم بده مرگ هم بده
This investigation from @OCCRP, published a few weeks ago, uncovered how a person running two UK-registered crypto exchanges was actually a fake front linked to laundering for Iran's regime.
One of the links in the investigation relied on facial matching a cat. Brilliant.
To non Iranian who reading this,
Military operation against Islamic republic must be regarded in your mind like a hostage rescue operation, shooting at hostage properties won’t discourage or disrupt hostage taker’s operations nor lead to their surrender
ما میفهمیم تو از زیر بمبارون بودن کشورت ناراحتی.
ولی تو میفهمی صبح تا شب کاور جسد باز کنی دنبال عزیزت یعنی چی؟
تو میفهمی دنبال یخ برای جسد عزیزت باشی یعنی چی؟
تو میفهمی یه عمر به بچههای این مملکت خدمت کنی، بچه خودت رو تکتیرانداز کنارت بکشه یعنی چی؟
میفهمی جسد دخترت رو با رحم باز شده تحویل بگیری یعنی چی؟
ما مشکلمون فقط همینجاست، که تو نمیفهمی، وگرنه یک ترقه هم رو خاک اون مملکت دردناکه.
Parece que los ayatolas, en su infinita misericordia, rematan a los protestantes que fueron heridos, en los hospitales.
Gracias al cielo que el “derecho internacional” no ha sido vulnerado.
ESO si que sería grave.
Just spoke with someone last night who is astounded by the overall silence about what's happening in Iran, while his family is being murdered (he just found out several have been shot).
I don't know what kind of mental gymnastics people do to convince themselves those lives don't matter but they are the good guys.
Every life taken is a family shattered, a community broken, and a future stolen.
To the people of Iran: you are not alone.
I see you. I hear you. I stand with you!
Killing civilians is not “security.” It is violence. It is oppression. It is unacceptable.
The people of Iran deserve life, freedom, and dignity. They deserve to speak, to protest, to exist—without fear.
I stand with the Iranian people! #PeopleOfIran