Hague Conventions of 1899

Convention (II) with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land. The Hague, 29 July 1899.

Regulations: Art. 23. Besides the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially prohibited
(e) To employ arms, projectiles, or material of a nature to cause superfluous injury;

Regulations: Art. 25. The attack or bombardment of towns, villages, habitations or buildings which are not defended, is prohibited.

Gordian Knot(ゴルディアスの結び目)

The cutting of the Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend associated with Alexander the Great in Gordium in Phrygia, regarding a complex knot that tied an oxcart. Reputedly, whoever could untie it would be destined to rule all of Asia. In 333 BC, Alexander was challenged to untie the knot. Instead of untangling it laboriously as everyone expected, he dramatically cut through it with his sword. This is used as a metaphor for inventing an unexpected method to solve a seemingly intractable problem.

Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian Knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter

Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 1 Scene 1. 45–47

八百万の神(やおよろずのかみ)

日本では古くから、山の神様、田んぼの神様、トイレの神様(厠神)、台所の神様(かまど神)など、米粒の中にも神様がいると考えられてきた。少なくとも古墳時代には、現在の神社につながる自然崇拝の痕跡がある。
『古事記(712年)』には、天照大御神が天岩戸に隠れて世界から光が失われた際に八百万の神が集まって相談したという記述があり、『延喜式(928年)』の『六月晦大祓』には、八百万の神が相談して皇孫が豊葦原ノ瑞穂ノ国を治めるように決定したと書いてある。

Harvard Commencement 2025 (Yurong “Luanna” Jiang)

If a girl who skips school out of fear of harassment, that threatens my dignity. If a little boy dies in a war that he didn’t start and never understood, part of me dies with him.
But today, that promise of a connected world is giving way to division, fear, and conflict. We’re starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently, or pray differently, whether they are across the ocean or sitting right next to us, are not just wrong. We mistakenly see them as evil. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
What I’ve gained most from Harvard isn’t just calculus or regression analysis. It’s to sit with discomfort, listen deeply, and stay soft in hard times. Because if we still believe in a shared future, let us not forget those who we label as enemies, they too are human. In seeing their humanity, we find our own.
In the end, we do not rise by proving each other wrong. We rise by refusing to let one another go.

AI is considered “smarter” than humans in specific tasks

Wikipedia volunteers spent years cataloging AI tells. Now there’s a plugin to avoid them.
The web’s best guide to spotting AI writing has become a manual for hiding it.

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Wikipediaの「AI検出ガイド」が、逆にAIを“人間らしく見せる”ためのマニュアルになっている
Wikipedia編集者たちが、AIが書いた文章を見抜くためにまとめたガイドが、いまやAIに「人間らしい」文を書かせるための指針として転用されている。