Why old people should have to pass a "how shit invented in the last 50 years works" test before they're allowed to make government-level decisions...
Supreme Court upholds childproofing porn sites theconversation.com/supreme-co…Supreme Court upholds childproofing porn sites
Kids face risks online, but whether and how the law can protect them is a thorny issue. The Supreme Court weighed in to say states can try with age-gating – essentially requiring ID at the online door.The Conversation
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Source: "Internet" 🫣
Edit: Apparently, the original images are due to Allie Brosh at hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com… . Still don't know who added the text.
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Is the theory here that if you let a child know that a particular other kind of person exists, even if there is no overlap between what defines that kind of person and religion, even if that kind of person is statistically likely to be the same religion as the child, then somehow that teaches the child a different religion?!?!?
I feel like if you get shot on active duty for the US military, it ought to just be an automatic citizenship, or something...
hawaiinewsnow.com/2025/06/24/u…
U.S. Army Purple Heart veteran forced to self-deport from Hawaii
Kunia resident Sae Joon Park, a decorated Army veteran, was given three weeks to return to South Korea, after 48 years in the U.S.Annalisa Burgos (Hawaii News Now)
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That is a whole new level of F'd-UP.
In my opinion anyone who is allowed to serve in The United States military should be made a citizen (nationalized). Whether shot or not they served this country. It should be an automatic. Besides we should not have non-citizens serving in the military, it is a security issue. So when they are vetted and allowed to join it should be an automatic citizenship period.
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Somewhere Barbara Streisand can heave a huge sigh of relief. It will henceforth be known as "the Vance effect."
#JDVance #fascism #couchfucker
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This one paragraph sums up a decade of MS-DOS use for me:
"The original MS-DOS Editor represented a major step forward for Microsoft's command-line text-editing capabilities at the time of its release. Before 1991, DOS users suffered through EDLIN, a line-based editor so primitive and user-hostile that many people resorted to typing "COPY CON filename.txt" and hoping for the best."
Microsoft's relaunch of EDIT for Linux implies that they're relaunching QBASIC for Linuxarstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/0…
Microsoft surprises MS-DOS fans with remake of ancient text editor that works on Linux
It’s funny how useful a 34-year-old software design can still be.Benj Edwards (Ars Technica)
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Edlin was a MS/DOS compatible version of the Unix ed utility and it was awkward to use. I was very happy to see edit though I was not using it long before I migrated to GNU/Linux and found I preferred vi and later vim which I still use today.
If someone is a basic developer on GNU/Linux I am sure they would find gambas far more useful than qbasic though I do have a soft spot for these nostalgic applications. 😉
So I did build a copy of edit and installed it on my system. 😀
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So I'm reading in the Times that recruiters and HR departments, who for a decade or more have been using AI tools to generate false job postings and manipulate labor-pools, are "Inundated" by an "applicant tsunami" of AI generated resumes and AI-faked confirmation video calls. Apparently, using automated systems to spam an entire industry doesn't result in everyone just shrugging and accepting the situation.
Who could possibly have predicted this...
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So I spent about 3 hours working with an AI to develop an AI prompt optimized for minimal execution time that would tell the AI to identify product data, product claims, and scientific evidence on a few hundred products, cross reference those data and rank products by likelihood of working as claimed.
We're not there yet, but I really like that on our trial run, the same AI that had helped me write the prompt, upon realizing that it was the chosen executor of that prompt, began it's response with, "OK, This is a massive undertaking..."
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Are you using a custom LLM or are you using one out of the box? By custom I mean one you built yourself not just one you trained. The results are going to be very interesting as product claims can rarely be accounted for in product data. Marketers have a way of ... well lying is the only appropriate term I can think of. I would love to hear more about this project as it continues. Please keep posting to keep us up to date.
@Unus Nemo No, I'm experimenting to see how much useful work you can get out of a free, public AI service. I generally start with Grok, then attempt to reproduce on ChatGPT and Claude.
My whole project may come to nothing, in the end, because the damned things keep making up some percentage of the data, even if you spoonfeed all the research materials to it and specifically ask it to use only, and all of the data provided. And they lie about what and why they did what they did at least 80% of the time...
I'm at best only about 80% there. I'm not sure my theory of getting the AI to help me write the prompt will turn out to be helpful...
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Me: What? Why would you want that many beds?
11-yr-old: Dad! So I can defeat the Ender Dragon, duh!
Help me out here. I definitely understand photographers have a challenging job that requires both skill and talent, and deserve to be paid for their work.
However, if I pay someone to take a picture, is it really reasonable for me to have to pay separately for every copy, be denied a digital copy, and be woke-shamed for musing out loud about just scanning a print and being done with it?
The whole thing seems completely outrageous, but massive numbers of people seem to see no problem with it...
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I just don't get it. If a picture is worth "x", charge me "x" for the picture, and be done with it. I can certainly guarantee that people are *always* pissed off about it, which is bad for business, and it can't really be making the photographer *that* much money. I mean, how often do people make requests for a picture more than a month or two after they are first delivered? It just seems like bad thinking/bad business.
Besides, we're talking about a commissioned work. Does the guy who first drew Donald Duck retain control of the pictures he made? No, of course not, Disney did.
To be honest, it also concerns me a bit that raw photos of my children are perpetually housed in the "collections" of at least two-dozen photographers whose security procedures most likely range from "what's a virus?" to "Microsoft has that firewall, they say I'm safe"...
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It all boils down to your appreciation of the photographer‘s craft and how much you are wiling to pay for a picture. If you expect him to sell the raw file to you, you will need to calculate in the fact that he is losing business, no matter how probable you think it is that your re-ordering. Other customers will, and why should he change his business model to accomodate you.
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> Besides, we're talking about a commissioned work. Does the guy who first drew Donald Duck retain control > of the pictures he made? No, of course not, Disney did.
That’s not the point, copyright is - and what you agreed to when signing that agreement. If that photographer was working for a company you might now be talking to their lawyer about this.
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> To be honest, it also concerns me a bit that raw photos of my children are perpetually housed in the
> "collections" of at least two-dozen photographers whose security procedures most likely range from > "what's a virus?" to "Microsoft has that firewall, they say I'm safe"...
So you are saying that that data would be safer with you than with him? Just don‘t commission pictures of your children. Everybody would be better off, I guess.
Laws are vague at best. Though as a rule of thumb the one that took the picture has rights to it, not the subject of the photograph. Though consult a lawyer, as I am not one, for better legal advice on the topic. The same as a painting. Unless a contract is specifically drawn up to give rights to the contractor. You can be sure that the photos taken by a media platforms photographer belong to the media platform and not the photographer (unless they are freelance and have no specific contract then if they sell them to the media they insist on full rights not copies in most cases). The next time you hire a photographer draw up a contract the clearly states that you own the negative (raw files) and all parts of the photographs taken and that you you are only contracting their services and nothing more and that they have no right to maintain a copy of the images for any purpose. This will cause the photographer to ask for more money for their services though it seems you would be okay with that?
Seriously, though, it's time to move back to the open web again. The writing was on the wall a decade or more ago. And yet, here we are, all still trapped in Meta's data-prison. Unless the AI banned us from the platform for no reason, of course, then we don't even have access to our friends to tell them we left!
Come on, try Friendica. Or Mastodon's fine too, but *I'm* on Friendica, so clearly that's where it's at...
newyorker.com/business/currenc…
Why Are We Still on Facebook?
What makes the social network thrive? Not our desire to connect with others but our desire to do so publicly.Maria Konnikova (The New Yorker)
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Per my last post, I give you, "the apples"...
LAPD shoot US woman with a rubber bullet for trying to get into her home, they were blocking her entrance and there was no protest in sight. “Holy fuck — They literally just shot her point blank… I live here…” ( www.tiktok.com/@labyrinthlore) #3E #StopICE
A Few Bad Apples...
... Spoil the bunch. - Why do police and police enthusiasts use the first half of this idiom to describe officers who act unethically/immorally/illegally, get caught, and then are protected by the police? Does it not occur to them that *they* are the "bunch"?
@plan-A " but not all " - This is the basis of the irony. If the "not all" ones accept and protect the behaviour of the corrupt ones, then *they* are the corrupt ones, too.
"*I* didn't shoot a peaceful, unarmed woman point-blank with a rubber bullet just because she wanted to go into her home" is only an acceptable defense if it's followed by, "but I recommended the officer who did for punitive action", or, "and I tried to stop the officer who did". Any other answer means our 'good' officer is as guilty as the trigger-happy officer...
@plan-A "if he so anonymous then why does he have a profile on tiktok??" - "Anonymous" isn't a description, it is the name of an organization that acts publicly, but hides the identity of its members to protect them from illegal reprisals from governments or corporations.
"rest does not hurt me" - I'm not sure what this means... Are you trying to say that since you personally are not being shot by a cop for trying to peacefully enter your own home, then it's OK for them to do to others?
I will always apply the heat-shrink first, *THEN* solder.
I will always apply the heat-shrink first, *THEN* solder.
I will always apply the heat-shrink first, *THEN* solder.
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I will always apply the heat-shrink first, THEN solder.
I will always apply the heat-shrink first, THEN solder.
I will always apply the heat-shrink first, THEN solder.
Well, I guess we know why ICE called for a full-on military invasion of Los Angeles...
" 'What they didn’t think was going to happen was that the people would resist.' Over eight hours on Saturday, he said, after a battle with Border Patrol—'and it was a battle, because there were people throwing back tear gas, people throwing anything that they could to defend themselves and to defend the workers that were being surrounded'—the Border Patrol retreated."
It's almost like the only way to prevent your entire life from being used against you is for someone to pass a law...
404media.co/airlines-dont-want…
Airlines Don't Want You to Know They Sold Your Flight Data to DHS
A contract obtained by 404 Media shows that an airline-owned data broker forbids the feds from revealing it sold them detailed passenger data.Joseph Cox (404 Media)
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The current regime is an embarrassment to this country. You might think that the Russians mocking our "leaders" is just a stunt, but this shit affects their attitude on the world stage!
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Are there really still people who don't believe that working for Donald Trump will end badly for them?
We always knew President Trump and Elon Musk would break up at some point, but we didn't expect it to be this messy. pcmag.com/news/musk-trump-brea…Musk, Trump Relationship Implodes Over Budget Bill, President Threatens EV Credits, SpaceX Contracts
Trump hits back at Musk's criticism of his Big Beautiful Bill, arguing that the Tesla CEO is mad about him canceling the 'EV mandate.' Musk denies it, and uses X to unload on the president.Emily Forlini (PCMag)
I love this Onion headline!
Wait a minute...
thedailybeast.com/donald-trump…
Trump Appoints 22-Year-Old Ex-Gardener and Grocery Store Assistant to Lead U.S. Terror Prevention
Counter-terror chief was pulling up weeds just five years ago.Tom Latchem (The Daily Beast)
Privacy advocates are worried about mobile driver’s licenses
Dozens of privacy advocates, along with top digital rights groups, have signed onto a campaign to remove the surveillance capabilities native to mobile driver’s license technology.Colin Wood (StateScoop)
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Rich guys get rich, and stay rich, by getting the public to pay for whatever they need...
thecity.nyc/2025/06/02/cuomo-l…
Inside Cuomo’s State-Funded Legal War Against the Women Who Accused Him of Sexual Harassment
A review by THE CITY of thousands of pages of court documents paints the most complete picture of how intensely he is battling the women who stepped forward.Rosalind Adams (THE CITY - NYC News)
Won't it be a surprise when it turns out that the party of bad losers, who've been trying to convince everyone that they could only have been beaten with election fraud for years, turns out to be the primary source of election fraud?
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Government, brought to you by the people who paid people to take their tests in college....
"Nobody has ever accused RFK Jr. of academic rigor,” said Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. "The speed (of the MAHA report) suggests that it could not have been vetted carefully and must have been whisked through standard clearance procedures. The citation problem suggests a reliance on AI."
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Microsoft put their half-assed AI assistant into fucking Notepad?!?!?
On second thought, that's probably just it's speed...
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I do not use any server based AI at all. If the LLM does not run locally on my machine on ComfyUI, LLama.cpp or Ollama then I do not need it.
note: I do not use the term cloud as that is a marketing term not an IT term and I am a developer not a marketer.
マーティン・ステンツェル。 ケルン在住。
in reply to Marcel Waldvogel • • •