Notices by Professor_Stevens (professor_stevens@mastodon.gamedev.place)

@aral

No, we shouldn't. But democracy means you can do any shitheaded thing more than half the voters want you to do. (We used to have a document here that put limits on that, but it looks different now.)

"...there were too many red flags, such as a clause waiving the right to sue if the government failed to honor its side of the deal."

That's not a red flag. That's an absolute show-stopper. A contract that allows one party to choose whether or not to perform its side of the deal, while binding the other party, is legally not a contract.

No federal worker should even consider this, particularly in light of whom that other party is, and his history of not paying people.

https://apnews.com/article/buyout-offer-deadline-trump-federal-workers-ce854b19c41b90cd657f75cf09511e96

"DeepSeek 'distilled' knowledge from OpenAI’s AI models, a process that Sacks compared to theft."

Let me see if I've got this right. These vultures have been gobbling up everyone else's intellectual property to repackage it as original output from their Gort-level Teddy Ruxpin, justifying it with Mad Hatter logic about internet distribution being some kind of public domain conversion, but when their work gets borrowed, it's stealing.

Got it.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/28/david-sacks-claims-theres-substantial-evidence-that-deepseek-used-openais-models-to-train-its-own/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon&guccounter=1

They're making it harder all the time.

Despite my love of overnight (or sometimes same-day!) delivery, I have adopted the practice of buying whatever I can from someone OTHER than Jeff Bezos and Amazon. This time, it was a door lock from eufy.com. I bought it direct off their web site, yesterday.

Eufy has informed me that my lock has shipped. Indeed, it will be delivered today.

By Amazon.

@aral

We need an example that proves the viability of alternatives. Who has got the best system today?

@aral

There is a subtlety to this that I hope is noted: The point is not that the reporter must report whether or not it is raining, nor that the reporter cannot avoid the question of whether or not it is raining by reporting that one side says it is and the other says it is not.

The point is that the reporter must report what both sides have said AND report whether or not it is raining.

That way, we don't just know the truth. We also know who we can trust, and who we can't.

@aral

According to Google, this is the only page where your name and the phrase "The Web We Deserve" appear together.

Now, you have an ethical dilemma here. Since you are getting free advertising out of this dumb AI, if you wrote some quickie books with those titles, they'd probably sell.

If only there were some kind of software that could write a book for you in a hurry...

https://notes.baldurbjarnason.com/archive/

@aral

You got a little typo there, brother.

The Republicans: Proving that you think for yourself means not just doing whatever Elon Musk says. It means just doing whatever Donald Trump... wait, which way is it again? I forget.

https://newrepublic.com/post/189580/trump-reaction-pissed-elon-musk-spending-bill

@aral @jan

Got room for another user on yours?

@georgetakei

Thanks, George. You've just saved me hours of time interviewing job candidates.

@aral

If Windows were a watch...

@georgetakei

There is no truth in labeling anymore. Like, I turned up the brightness on my TV, but it's just as dumb as ever.

@sjvn

Meanwhile...

https://nul.org/news/be-equal-hate-crime-surge-continues-burning-black-churches

@aral

Is that the pub at the end of the video you posted a few weeks back? If it is, we may be having a drink together there sooner than I had originally expected. It looks quite restful and, for some reason, I'm lately feeling a need to get the hell out of this place.

@rbreich

Specifics, Robert!

1. Write short, plain letters to local editors and officials. Take a position. You need not prove it.

2. Help local candidates run.

3. Join a community or government advisory group.

4. Donate. Yes, even ten bucks. Even five.

5. Buy local.

6. Speak at town/county public input sessions.

7. Wear a message on your tee-shirt.

8. Consider running for school board.

9. Plant a BLM yard sign. (Have spares.)

10. Fly a pride flag.

@WarnerCrocker

Same here in Maryland. Poll workers said it has NEVER been this busy this early. Cons always vote in everything. There is no "red surge" in voting. We don't vote in everything. When there's a surge, it's blue.

"Bibles that don’t include the Declaration of Independence or Constitution are available online for less than $20."

Did anyone tell them that complete copies of several versions of the Christian bible, as well as the Declaration, are available online for free?

https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-bible-schools-trump-amend-99bec8ed6b67acd2d836913783c4fe7b

@FediThing @hamishcampbell @aral

This is an inversion of the constitutional American principle that inventors should have exclusive rights to their useful inventions only for limited times. After that, anyone can use those inventions. That's why patents expire. A patent insures an inventor's exclusive rights. But, to get a patent, the inventor has to completely explain how to duplicate the invention, and the patent is a public document.

@thomasfuchs

Please name two or three, along with a link for each to what it is that outlaws them.