Dave T-W @davoloid@qoto.org

Petition to bring back the term "Cybercrud" for what's happening right now with "AI" (from "Computer Lib", 1974)

ME: We have a color named after you

SALMON: Really? Is it silvery-blue like my scales?

ME: No, uh …

SALMON: Wait why is it pink?

ME: …

SALMON: WHY IS IT PINK?!?

It occurs to me that if pressing the “On” button for the Large Hadron Collider doesn’t do the sound effect of the Death Star powering up, then they’ve absolutely missed a trick.

#cern #largehadroncollider

History is curiously quiet on what "minor repairs" the Royal George required in 1782, but I'd cautiously venture the toolbox talk was inadequate.

I mean, killing up to 800 people and leaving the ship 20m deep at the bottom of the Royal Navy's most important anchorage doesn't *imply* a safe system of work...

After 60 years the wreck was removed - along with windows 6 miles away - by the traditional application of [checks notes] a shit-ton of explosives. Top work all round, lads.

#FailureFriday

The next time, the so-called tech leaders throw up their hands, asking, "What more could we have done?" I'll point to bullshit like this - where inclusion takes a backseat, and even the fucking girls' club is run by the boys' club.

To Blackbird let me just say this: the standard you walk past is the standard you accept.

When you read this investor memo, were you proud of where your money is going?

https://joanwestenberg.com/blog/dear-blackbird-women-in-tech-are-not-corporate-girlies

Wait wait WAIT this just occurred to me, how did it take all the way until now for this to occur to me—

BitTorrent: Software Pirate

Bitcoin: Software Pyrite

Just switched on the TV. The BBC has an item about people booking holidays through a company called "On The Beach" and being disappointed.

Have none of them read Nevil Shute's novel ? They got off lightly...
#onthebeach #nevilshute

Here we go again. Unbelievable that for *4th year running* this reckless Govt is giving green light to banned pesticide meant to be used only in an “emergency”. The real emergency is the state of our embattled nature & wildlife - these toxic pesticides will only destroy more
<p>
https://nitter.cz/neill_pippa/status/1748000483636027697#m
</p>

🐦🔗: https://nitter.cz/CarolineLucas/status/1748051426280886311#m

[2024-01-18 18:35 UTC]

The BBC's 6 month trial of using the Fediverse will be ending soon.
They want to measure if they have enough reach and engagement for the effort they expend running their Mastodon instance.
Give these accounts a follow if you agree that public broadcasters should live in the Fediverse:

@BBCRD
@BBC5Live
@BBCRadio4
@BBCTaster
@Connected_Studio
@BBC_News_Labs

👍

Each ChatGPT query consumes the equivalent amount of energy of running a 5W LED bulb for 26.5 hrs
https://medium.com/@zodhyatech/how-much-energy-does-chatgpt-consume-4cba1a7aef85

An exchange with AI costs 10-times more energy than a standard keyword search,
https://www.reuters.com/technology/tech-giants-ai-like-bing-bard-poses-billion-dollar-search-problem-2023-02-22/

Training GPT-3 used 700,000 liters of clean freshwater,
https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.03271

ChatGPT needs a 500-ml bottle of water for a short conversation of roughly 20 to 50 questions and answers.
https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2023/04/15/the-secret-water-footprint-of-ai-technology

'All the while, the handful of opposition MPs just looked on in amazement. Was this really a party of government? These just weren’t serious people. Rats in a sack. The amendments were going nowhere. And we would all be back tomorrow for more.'

Tories reach new levels of derangement as MPs debate Rwanda bill | John Crace | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/16/tories-reach-new-levels-of-derangement-as-mps-debate-rwanda-bill

Fantablack

Since David Cameron promised a coalition of chaos with Ed Miliband and Nicola Sturgeon we've had 5 different Tory prime ministers

We're on round 4 (?) Of the Conservative Cabinet falling on their swords to protest something their own government is legislating for (Brexit Agreements, Bojo, The Truss Budget, and now the Rwanda plan).

It's over. Call an Election already.

#UKPolitics #Tory

On being listed in the court document of artists whose work was used to train Midjourney with 4,000 of my closest friends and Willem De Kooning (1/3)

"It's waste heat." This climate myth had its time in the sun; just see comments dating back to 2010 and then dribbling on for the next 11 years. Our rebuttal still lands a few reads per week.

In reality, energy (mostly stored in fossil fuels) we're liberating via waste heat pales in comparison to feedback effects of combustion CO2 emissions.

We've revised our treatment of this topic to make it easier to understand. Reviews welcome!

#ClimateMythDebunking

https://skepticalscience.com/waste-heat-global-warming-basic.htm?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

The British Library's online catalogue is coming back online today! Hurray! I dread to think how hard they have had to work to get things back online.
When organizations ask you to change your password, or demand two-factor authentication, don't mutter and whinge. Just do it. Public institutions are under just as much threat as big companies.

Private Eye have just made their Post Office Horizons report available online - for free.

https://www.private-eye.co.uk/special-reports/justice-lost-in-the-post

@Daojoan agreed.

Real-time chat does not have curation or conversation structure for it to hold useful knowledge for posterity.

There is no inbuilt “posterity”, only forever present “now”.

Analogy - it’s like trying to read a book whose paragraphs are random ordered, some are missing, some pages are gummed together, etc.