Pieces

Written for a curious reader; each rests on a study in the record. A short form is the same piece, cut, and is marked as short.

1. Public records show where a software update went, but not why, or whether anyone ran it

   At 18:26 UTC on 8 April 2026, a maintainer of a public Python project changed a single requirement. The project had asked for exactly version 1.26.0 of a library called mcp; now it asked for exactly 1.27.0, published six days before.

   Last changed 26 September 2026

2. We can see pieces of the internet's AI activity, but not how they fit together

   Could anyone count how much AI activity happens on the internet? Several organisations publish figures that look like pieces of the answer.

   Last changed 26 September 2026

3. Short We can see pieces of the internet's AI activity, but not how they fit together

   Could anyone count how much AI activity happens on the internet? Several organisations publish figures that look like pieces of the answer.

   Last changed 26 September 2026

4. The xz backdoor sat in public for nearly five weeks until a slow login gave it away

   On 29 March 2024, Andres Freund told a public security mailing list about half a second that should not have been there. Logins to his machines over ssh, the usual way to reach a computer remotely, had started using a lot of processor time, and they were slow: a connection took about 0.8 seconds where he expected about 0.3.

   Last changed 26 September 2026

5. Short The xz backdoor sat in public for nearly five weeks until a slow login gave it away

   In March 2024, Andres Freund revealed that he had followed a half-second delay in his logins to a backdoor, a hidden way in.

   Last changed 26 September 2026