Ben Taylor @VoxDei@qoto.org
Software Engineer, Trade Unionist, Gamer, Geek, Dad. Lives in Devon
Joined Nov 2022
Ben Taylor
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The publisher of a small imprint of roleplaying games magazines/speculative fiction shuts down after 22 years because their submissions have been flooded with AI to the extent they cannot wade through them:
“The problem with AI is the people who use AI. These are people who think their ‘ideas’ are more important than the actual craft of writing, so they churn out all these ‘ideas’ and enter their idea prompts and think the output is a story.”
https://www.404media.co/bards-and-sages-closing-ai-generated-writing/
Ben Taylor
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Do me a favor.
Quit making fun of people (of any age but especially kids) who ask genuine questions.
I have to pull questions out of adults now because at some point someone made fun of them for being curious.
It's not embarrassing to learn, you shouldn't feel guilty for thinking of a question and asking an expert.
You should feel happy that you are still curious about the universe.
Make learning a positive experience? Please?
Argh... reviewing a colleague's python code, and he's used ChatGPT or Copilot or some other AI "helper" to write a bunch of the code. And it's just got a load of "Why the hell have you done this?" bits. Especially in the unit tests - it really doesn't know how to write pytest tests.
If you don't know what you're doing it looks halfway reasonable, and it kind-of-sort-of works, but... you'd never write that code if you were doing it yourself.
I find this utterly baffling. You're a non-dom and you're complaining that removing that status will mean you have to pay so much tax that you'll leave. Right, well...
1. From what I've seen, the evidence that the super-rich actually do leave when taxes go up isn't there. So you might leave, but most of your fellows will pay more.
2. If you aren't paying your tax at the moment, then your argument that you have value to the country is essentially trickle-down economics. You have money, therefore you will spend it or give it to others. Trickle down has been shown to be bullshit.
So. You will leave and take your very small contribution with you. Fine. Most of your friends won't, they will compensate for the loss of your (to you) pittance. If you don't want to pay your share like everyone else, then *you are not a loss to this country when you leave*. Piss off and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Ben Taylor
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What on earth?! Amazon S3 charges you for unauthorised requests to S3?!
That's just absolutely insane! I better check my AWS account and delete any unused buckets I have in there …
Ben Taylor
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"If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders."
Hal Abelson
(04/26/1947 – )
US professor, parodying Newton
Ben Taylor
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Ben Taylor
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Opinions on Daniel Dennett will almost certainly vary, but this advice on writing remains a banger:
"Take courage and set out to write up the Great Discovery; if after many hours of red-hot thinking and writing you discover to your dismay a fatal flaw . . . all is not lost. Go back to the first paragraph and write something along the lines of 'It is tempting to think that...'"
Ben Taylor
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This magical bookcover is just one of the gems of type and lettering in the latest James E. Arsenault & Co newsletter.🧙
https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/6396/p-didion/le-livre-magique-tombe-de-la-lune-1500-ans-avant-la-creation-du-monde-et-retrouve-en-1870-chez-mm
Ben Taylor
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"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities."
Sir Josiah Stamp
(06/21/1880 – 04/16/1941)
English economist
My PC has just told me that it can't run Windows 11, but that Windows 10 will be out of support from October 2025. I have news for you Microsoft, I don't have a spare £1k (or even half that) for a new gaming rig just because you don't like mine. It'll be Linux for me if you force me.
Ben Taylor
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Do you think an average #Mastodon user with a couple hundred followers could post a silly #poll to the #Fediverse, and get a million or more votes in 7 days?
Please boost to widen the sample. ;-)
Ben Taylor
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Good morning Internet, and a @HappyGoodFriday to all who care about such things.
#Easter #EasterBunny #StephenCollins #comic #funny #humor #webcomic #TheGuardian #comicstrip #funnypages #paganism #christianity #daylightsavingtime #daylightsavingstime
Ben Taylor
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Every time I see some nob going on about 'cancel culture' I immediately suspect one to many of the following is true:
1. They were a complete ass to someone before they were 'cancelled'
2. I would not be welcome to speak freely in their spaces
3. They don't understand 'free speech' means you are free to talk – while others are just as free to ignore you; actively if necessary
4. They are narcissists and everything they say – including about cancel culture – is all about THEM
"Yet, for all that, Hong Kong flourished... under the aegis of empire. ... Though denied full democratic rights, its people eventually prospered."
Simon Tisdall in the Guardian decrying China's destruction of Hong Kong's democracy by, er... harking back to the British Empire's undemocratic treatment of Hong Kong. China's treatment of Hong Kong is a disgrace, but I'm not sure this is the killer argument Tisdall seems to think.
Ben Taylor
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† Vernor Vinge (79)
Rest in peace. Loved the Zones of Thought series.
#books #amreading #reading #kindle #literature #bookwyrm #booktoot #book #books #knihy #scifi #sff @bookstodon @scifi @knihy
Ben Taylor
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“We want to make sure that we’re not leaving any pricing on the table. We want to take as much as we can.”
—CFO of Constellation Brands, producer of popular beers like Corona and Modelo
Corporate price gouging has gotten so bad that they aren't even trying to hide it anymore.
Ben Taylor
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Rancher faces prison for trying to breed absolute unit of a sheep
Ewe-nique endeavor aimed to create Jurassic Baaa-rk experience for hunters In a case that could have been lifted from a bad movie about a "mad scientist," a Montana rancher has pleaded guilty to wildlife trafficking charges in his quest to genetically engineer an ubersheep for hunting.…
#theregister #IT
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/rancher_hybrid_sheep/
Ben Taylor
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OMG!!!
For years, the antivirus software company #avast harvested information from users’ web browsers without their consent.
And SOLD that data!
Though I have never used any of their products, I pray that this company is sued into oblivion.
What an abhorrent deception! https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080135/avast-security-privacy-software-ftc-fine-data-harvesting
Ben Taylor
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Palantir is looting the UK’s National Health Service, under cover of vulture capitalism’s Big Lie: “There is no alternative.” — @pluralistic https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/08/the-fire-of-orodruin/
Software Engineer, Trade Unionist, Gamer, Geek, Dad. Lives in Devon
Joined Nov 2022
