Notices by Charles U. Farley (freakazoid@retro.social), page 3

Someone I recently soft-blocked said "AI just needs better training data".

Sure, but it seems pretty clear that AI isn't economically viable if they have to pay people to produce that data. To be economically viable, they have to steal it. Therefore, the point is really "AI just needs to steal more."

Anyway, 404 Media have uncovered proof that Runway stole their training data from YouTube creators while at the same time saying publicly that they knew doing so would violate YouTube's ToS. So they're stealing from creators on a platform which is itself built on theft.

It's like all of tech is just theft these days.

https://www.404media.co/email/64056c13-be6e-46e7-8c90-b53dd30026f2/

Wow, listening to AOC talk almost restores my faith in politicians.

I hope she runs and wins in 2028.

The security failures of both the Secret Service and the local police seem pretty extreme. I imagine this is providing ample fodder for Trumpist conspiracy theories. Not that they need fodder.

Here's a theory: they're all just really fucking incompetent and always have been.

Has anyone else noticed that the twelfth Doctor is basically Gregory House?

Speaking of which, when is Hugh Laurie going to play The Doctor? There is apparently a rumor that he was a top contender for the role before David Tennant was cast but was ultimately not selected. While I liked David Tennant fine, it's hard to imagine Hugh Laurie not being much better in the role.

And then there's the guy I thought should play The Doctor who actually did, just never in the TV series: David Warner.

@Outersider Neoliberalism is pre-fascism. There's no "prevent" about it. It's always been the destination.

Hot & windy in #Pittsburgh. Fire weather, but unlike in California it's also 40% humidity and everything's green instead of brown.

Of course, California's wildfire response is also second to none. PA isn't used to big or multiple wildfires. So it's still a big deal, but western wildfires can be *apocalyptic*. Easterners got a bit of a taste when the smoke from the Canadian wildfires blew down here. It's still pretty hard to grasp until you've been evacuated or driven through an area that's burned to the ground though. Or is currently on fire, like I experienced driving from the SF Bay Area to Oregon for the 2017 solar eclipse.

It was amusing to read an article about Pennsylvania's wildfire risk increasing because of climate change. It said we could start losing HUNDREDS of acres per year to wildfires. Being from California I can't even count that low.

@smote Also "blkgoddess" then I guess?

Peak late stage capitalism: jewelry leasing targeted at people with no credit.

Thinking about how pollyannish "peak oil" was. If only.

You actually can't say how much renewables are reducing carbon output, because you have no idea how much energy consumption there would be without renewables. If 100% of the growth in energy consumption is caused by increased use of renewable energy, then renewable energy hasn't reduced carbon output at all. We could have achieved precisely the same carbon output simply by reducing our energy consumption.

Those who do not understand the Jevons Paradox are doomed to destroy the planet. It's about efficiency, but it applies to anything that reduces the cost (by any metric we care about) of consumption.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox?wprov=sfla1

The fact that this person got a follow request from Nostr means that momostr.pink is bridging every instance that federates with it into Nostr. Without consent.

Another day, another step closer to opt-in federation.

https://tenforward.social/@MindmeshLink/112505898716037528

I guess we have no right to be surprised that Google has destroyed the Internet given that they destroyed street addresses and then XMPP.

Literally the most basic thing a restaurant can have on their web site is their address. But thanks to Google Maps all we get is a Google Maps link, which is kind of like a street address with DRM, where you have to give up some privacy to find out what it is by clicking on the link.

I've been using fluticasone propionate in the morning, but it wears off by evening. I was hoping the drowsy effect of cetirizine would last for less time than the antihistimine effect, but nope.

Diphenhydramine lasts only 4 hours for me, but I'm still groggy when I wake, and unlike with cetirizine the sleep is bad because it depresses my breathing too much.

I used to take loratidine, but I stopped because even though it doesn't make me nearly as drowsy as cetirizine it still impacts my ability to focus. Maybe I should try taking it at night?

Anyway, it turns out you can do one spray of fluticasone propionate in the morning and one in the evening, so I'm going to try that.

My journey toward anarchism hasn't been about changing values, but rather gaining a deeper understanding of the values I was raised with. I still consider those values to be "American" in some sense, even if claims that the United States actually imbues those values were mostly lies.

As expected, TikTok and Bytedance are suing the US government. I hope they win.

TikTok sues America to undo divest-or-die law
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/tiktok_bytedance_sue_usa/

@clacke I realized this time through (probably my fourth) that Tuvok is by far the funniest character in Voyager.

@aral @taki @senj Perhaps he wants to lose so Trump can "finish the job" and take the blame while the Democrats tsk tsk at him and the Republicans.