Not really a snowflake challenge entry
Jan. 16th, 2026 10:03 pmANYWAY all this is a long-winded way to ask for music recs.
We spent the end of October and whole of November rolling out improvements across the site—from multiple fixes to the Download and Chapter Index menus on small screens to refreshing our footer and error pages to link to the status page. We also made an important security change: password resets can now only be requested using an email address when logged out. For some exciting news, we also finished our work making AO3 emails translatable! We're now going to target other areas of AO3 for internationalization.
Special thanks and welcome to first-time contributors Danaël / Rever, Daniel Haven, Edgar San Martin, Jr, Jennifer He, Kiyazz, Lisa Huang, mgettytehan, ProtonDev, quen, ryeleap, Snehal Mane, and TangkoNoAi!
On October 28, we made some small changes to a variety of areas of the site, including updating our footer and error pages to link to the status page.
On November 5, we made some improvements to the admin side of AO3 and deployed the first of what would be several changes to fix issues with the Chapter Index and Download menus on small screens.
On November 8, we deployed a single-issue release to fix menus having problems on multi-chapter works.
On November 17, we deployed a grab bag release targeting bugs and improvements in a variety of areas. We also made a change to improve account security by only allowing password resets using an email address (as compared to a username) if you're logged out. We announced this change on social media as well to get the word out.
Our November 25 release was a big milestone: all existing AO3 emails have been internationalized and are ready to be translated!
(Our deploy script accidentally bumped us ahead, so this ended up being released as 0.9.445 instead of 0.9.444.)
Our November 30 release focused on changes submitted by first-time contributors to our project!
A generally healthy 63-year-old man in the New England area went to the hospital with a fever, cough, and vision problems in his right eye. What his doctors eventually figured out was that a dreaded hypervirulent bacteria—which is rising globally—was ravaging several of his organs, including his brain.
According to the man, the problems had started three weeks before his hospital visit, when he said he ate some bad meat and started having vomiting and diarrhea. Those symptoms faded after about two weeks, but then new problems began; he started coughing and having chills and a fever. His cough only worsened from there.
At the hospital, doctors took X-rays and computed tomography (CT) scans of his chest and abdomen. The images revealed over 15 nodules and masses in his lungs. But, that's not all they found. The imaging also revealed a mass in his liver that was 8.6 cm in diameter (about 3.4 inches). Lab work pointed toward an infection. So, doctors admitted him to the hospital and provided oxygen to help with his breathing, as well as antibiotics. But, his chills and cough continued.
On Friday, OpenAI announced it will begin testing advertisements inside the ChatGPT app for some US users in a bid to expand its customer base and diversify revenue. The move represents a reversal for CEO Sam Altman, who in 2024 described advertising in ChatGPT as a "last resort" and expressed concerns that ads could erode user trust, although he did not completely rule out the possibility at the time.
The banner ads will appear in the coming weeks for logged-in users of the free version of ChatGPT as well as the new $8 per month ChatGPT Go plan, which OpenAI also announced Friday is now available worldwide. OpenAI first launched ChatGPT Go in India in August 2025 and has since rolled it out to over 170 countries.
Users paying for the more expensive Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers will not see advertisements.
Security firm Mandiant has released a database that allows any administrative password protected by Microsoft’s NTLM.v1 hash algorithm to be hacked in an attempt to nudge users who continue using the deprecated function despite known weaknesses.
The database comes in the form of a rainbow table, which is a precomputed table of hash values linked to their corresponding plaintext. These generic tables, which work against multiple hashing schemes, allow hackers to take over accounts by quickly mapping a stolen hash to its password counterpart. NTLMv1 rainbow tables are particularly easy to construct because of NTLMv1’s limited keyspace, meaning the relatively small number of possible passwords the hashing function allows for. NTLMv1 rainbow tables have existed for two decades but typically require large amounts of resources to make any use of them.
On Thursday, Mandiant said it had released an NTLMv1 rainbow table that will allow defenders and researchers (and, of course, malicious hackers, too) to recover passwords in under 12 hours using consumer hardware costing less than $600 USD. The table is hosted in Google Cloud. The database works against Net-NTLMv1 passwords, which are used in network authentication for accessing resources such as SMB network sharing.
the Ents loved the great trees, and the wild woods, and the slopes of the high hills; and they drank of the mountain-streams, and ate only such fruit as the trees let fall in their path; and they learned of the Elves and spoke with the Trees. (The Two Towers, Book III, chapter 4: "Treebeard")
There are millions of pizza recipes in the world, including the wildly beloved Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza, our 2020 Recipe of the Year, not to mention conve

In Paris, the 14th arrondissement is rarely visited by tourists. Yet many places there are worth a visit. The Villa Seurat is one of them.
Contrary to what its name might suggest, it is not a large and luxurious country house, because in Paris, the term "villa" refers to a street or cul-de-sac lined with individual houses.
This one was built between 1920 and 1926 on land that had previously been used for stables and sheds. It is named after the painter Georges Seurat, inventor of pointillism, and is unique in that it houses several studios that were designed from the outset for artists.
The villa—and the eight artists' studios it contains—was designed by architect André Lurçat, who was commissioned by his artist friends.
Architecturally, the studios he designed for this villa are characterized by : large bay windows to let in light ; high ceilings for working in good conditions, especially for sculpture ; a fairly minimalist modernist style that highlights raw materials such as reinforced concrete, cement, and bricks.
Salvador Dali and his muse Gala lived at No. 1 between 1932 and 1934. It was here that he painted his painting The Enigma of William Tell.
At No. 7 is the house of the sculptor Chana Orloff. It is worth noting that on the ground floor, the double-height studio opens onto large wooden doors that allowed the large blocks of stone used by the artist to be brought in.
At No. 18, Henry Miller began writing his novel Tropic of Cancer in 1931, which was published in 1934 (and banned in France until 1964).
Beyond its history, this dead-end street is worth a visit for its charm, especially in spring when it's bursting with flowers. After exploring it, you can continue your stroll in the Parc Montsouris, which is right next door.

