Paul Sutton @zleap@qoto.org

‘If 1 out of 10 working Americans use GPT4 once a week for a year (52 queries total by 17 million people), the corresponding power demands of 121,517 MWh would equal the electricity consumed by every household in Washington DC for 20 days. An unrealistically light use case for GPT’s audience.

The Washington Post included quotes from OpenAI, Meta, Google & Microsoft representatives, most of which reaffirmed commitment to reducing environmental demand rather than giving actual courses of action.’

1/2 Dear fellow Europeans, I am respectfully asking you to consider signing this European Citizen Initiative to institute a billionaire tax. It was invented by leading French economist Thomas Piketty; I read the whole thing, and it is technically excellent. Hit me if you have questions, but please sign it, it is important.

https://www.tax-the-rich.eu/

It needs 1 million signatures (currently 300K) and seven countries over their threshold (currently three: Denmark, France, Germany).

For the next update, I'm not planning on changing any underlying points, it is going to be more of a supplement.

One thing I'm thinking on commenting on is Covid (although, sometimes there is a better way to bring up a particular point, so that plan might change).

Social media and online video firms are conducting ‘vast surveillance’ on users, FTC finds

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/19/social-media-companies-surveillance-ftc

Update: moved this to my new writing site so there’s a new URL.

Every hashtag on every post on every platform should ALWAYS be pascal case. I wrote this to illustrate how screenreaders read hashtags based on their case.

It’s a small thing that all of us can do to build a more inclusive, accessible internet for all. Please take the time to use pascal case.

Read more:
https://markwrites.io/hashtag-accessibility-by-everyone-for-everyone

#Accessibility #WebAccessibility #Usability #Readability #Hashtags #SocialNetworking #Blogging #UX

Researchers uncover the secrets of “plant puberty”

Researchers have uncovered genetic changes behind the timing of plants’ transition from leaf growth to reproduction, akin to “puberty.” This discovery reveals variations in developmental timing even under identical conditions. Understanding these genetic factors could enhance crop uniformity and nutrition, benefiting farmers and consumers alike.

https://globalplantcouncil.org/researchers-uncover-the-secrets-of-plant-puberty/ via University of York #PlantScience #PlantSci #Science #Plants #Crops

We're on our way to Open Source Summit Europe this week! Look for @krakenbuerger, @tarakiyee, Paul Sharratt, @mechko, @kelset, and @polexa in Vienna. Don't miss our talks and sessions:

✴️ Tue. 17 Sep at 11:55am: How Stakeholders Across Government, Enterprise, & Civil Society can Accelerate Open Source for Good! (Fiona) https://sched.co/1izL3

1/2

#OSSEU #OSSEU2024 #OSSummit

When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example. - Roxane Gay

During its flyby of Earth the, Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (#Juice) probe found ingredients for #life in Earth’s #atmosphere.

The #flyby provided the opportunity to test out and calibrate Juice’s science instruments in space, ensuring that they are ready for arrival at #Jupiter.

In the Jupiter system, Juice will fly through dust and gas emitted from the icy moons #Europa, #Ganymede and #Callisto, and search for signatures of life under their icy crusts.

#astrobiology
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/Juice_confirms_that_Earth_is_habitable/

To my last boost. Please boost this for wide spread. This is an opportunity for #braille dice sets to enter the realm of #mainstream and mass manufacturing. I haven't been able to read of full set of #dice as a #TTRPG player in 20 years since I went #blind. It would be beautiful for something like this to be added to life and make me feel like I'm right up there with everyone else. Thank you!

Just going to add the link directly here as well.

https://itch.io/b/2623/ttrpgs-for-accessible-gaming-charity-bundle

@vk2gpu @GrantMeStrength #Usborne has graciously made PDFs of many of their classic 1980s computer books freely downloadable: https://usborne.com/books/computer-and-coding-books

#RetroComputing

X is doing real harms with its lack of moderation and algorithms that push material to you- the proliferation of posts promoting eating disorders is extremely worrying https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/07/worrying-lack-of-moderation-how-eating-disorder-posts-proliferate-on-x?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It is encouraging to see that Google's monopoly power is being challenged in a second antitrust case within a few weeks. Authorities around the world are increasingly taking action against monopoly power. Breaking up Big Tech would be the right step to limit their power and stop the damage to the public, democracy and consumers. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/09/technology/google-ads-antitrust-trial.html #Google #BreakUpBigTech

Today there will be a vote on withdrawing the pensioner's winter fuel allowance.

One side effect of this is that applications for pension credits poverty benefits has gone up dramatically. It's said that a very large proportion of those eligible for these benefits don't claim them. Now why isn't it simply automatic? Why do you actually need to claim anything?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/10/first-edition-labour-winter-fuel-payment

#NFL Week 1 Scores:

Ended Games:
#BAL 20 @ 27 #KC
#GB 29 @ 34 #PHI
#PIT 18 @ 10 #ATL
#ARI 28 @ 34 #BUF
#TEN 17 @ 24 #CHI
#NE 16 @ 10 #CIN
#HOU 29 @ 27 #IND
#JAX 17 @ 20 #MIA
#CAR 10 @ 47 #NO
#MIN 28 @ 6 #NYG
#LV 10 @ 22 #LAC
#DEN 20 @ 26 #SEA
#DAL 33 @ 17 #CLE
#WSH 20 @ 37 #TB
#LAR 20 @ 26 #DET
#NYJ 19 @ 32 #SF

#nfl #nflfootball #football