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I’m not worried about…
As often repeated, I’m not worried about AI output taking over the world. I’m pissed that it STEALS COPYRIGHTS WITHOUT PAYING, regardless of what the output is doing. So far it’s not doing much, and some early adopters are realizing that it doesn’t help. It just gives them a new excuse to raise their Share…
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First new idea!
Via Spokesman-Review: Bob Chase, one of the current state legislators from the Spokane area, has proposed a different way of separating Bezos Manor from the potentially legitimate State of Washington. Instead of creating two new states, which is UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE, he proposes two semi-autonomous ‘regions’ without changing the federally recognized state. His bill doesn’t specify…
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More pointless pondering on Ponzi
Ponzi has lost its meaning, partly because we’re unwilling to distinguish between Professional Criminals and incidental Lawbreakers. The majority of situations we call Ponzi are NOT repeats of Carlo Ponzi’s original intention and method. Social Security is not a Ponzi. It’s a well-designed investment fund, which was ruined for many years by Demon Bush’s demonic…
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Inadequate story
Via LiveScience. Students at a tech school in Rome had been exploring under the school for a long time, as students will do. Last year they finally told their Latin teacher. She brought in archeologists who excavated more of the filled in parts. Turns out the caverns were once an above-ground mansion owned by the…
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Less, not more
I’ve been trying to argue, from a fairly expert viewpoint, that AI can’t improve programming. Most of the front-facing web code is already programs generated by programs. The big platforms like browsers and operating systems DO NOT NEED MORE CODE OR MORE FEATURES. Windows desperately needs VASTLY LESS FEATURES so it won’t slow down workflow.…
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Popymarket
History Today has a feature on the long-lasting Italian industry of Pope betting. It focuses on the 1500s, a time with way too much history packed into the tiny geography of the Vatican. The church had reached a peak of secular control and wealth, then a series of wars and secessions broke it. Meanwhile, Italian…
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Pleasant surprise
Interesting article on the recent deplaneting of Pluto. In 2006 a group of official assholes decided for no obvious reason to change the definition. Since then, science writers have automatically forgotten Pluto, rubbing it in by headlining new discoveries of a ninth planet. GODDAMN IT, WE ALREADY HAVE A NINTH PLANET, AND IT’S CALLED PLUTO.…
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Why they fail
Via Nieman. A husband and wife spent 10 years building up a children’s story hour broadcast on WBUR, the educational station of Boston University. They’re leaving after a decade of frustration. Repeatedly the university refused to give them what they needed, even though their program was a major revenue source for the station. The couple…
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We could
Long quote from David Lilienthal’s magnificent little book on the TVA. = = = = = There is a grand cycle in nature. The lines of those majestic swinging arcs are nowhere more clearly seen than by following the course of electric power in the Tennessee Valley’s way of life. Water falls upon a mountain…
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Creating vs destroying value
Rehashed and condensed from 2023. = = = = = While feebly attempting to “think” about REAL VALUE vs FAKE VALUE in banking, I noticed a basic fact. So far I can’t find any mention of this basic fact in online discussions of the subject, but the word combinations are probably not hitting the right…
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Why did you have to spoil it?
A speech by Sulzberger of the NYTimes, summarized by Graham Lovelace. In general Sulzberger verifies my feeling that publishers are the best defense against AI. Publishers don’t need to apologize for hating technology! Publishers started modern technology in 1455, and have been at the forefront ever since. Publishers also understand what’s especially new and especially…
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Bucky was a fucking idiot
Reprinting and adding from 2016 because I’m in a mathy mood. = = = = = Cool people have always admired Bucky Fuller, and academic mathematicians spend lots of time dealing with optimal packings of shapes in space. Mathy packings always have a Bucky flavor. Fancy polyhedra jumbled in fancy ways. In THEORY a sphere…
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Used to be odd
Old newspaper and radio features poked fun at absurd elections. Somebody ran a wooden cigar store Indian against a judge, and the Indian won. President Atchison slept through his entire (one-day) term in a drunken stupor. Weird stuff! Now most of Congress is like President Atchison. If they actually died we wouldn’t know the difference.…
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1891 teeth
The British government has ruled that Google must allow publishers to opt out of being eaten by AI. This is a good move, but it’s only one company and one country, and it DOESN’T REQUIRE PAYMENT for the gobbled-up material. It’s time for a new international agreement with enough teeth to bite back. A similar…
Polistra's Mill
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Polistra's Mill 