They *had* to know what they were doing…
New York Times slammed over ‘swastika’ crossword on first day of Hanukkah: ‘Disgusting’
Dec 202022
Dec 192022
Artists stage mass protest against AI-generated artwork on ArtStation
At best they’ll *slightly* delay the development and deployment of AI that will render them utterly obsolete. Welcome to being just like everybody else.
So wouldn’t it make sense, rather than *not* producing art right now, to instead take this time to crank out as much art, and the best art, so that they can to try to maximize their income potential while they actually can? Artists are no more going to prevent the introduction of AI art than factory workers prevented automation.
Dec 192022
Artwork circa 1983 depicting the Bell BAT (“Bell Advanced Tiltrotor”… so… ummm… the “Bell Bell Advanced Tiltrotor”) single-seat small military tiltrotor designed to compete in the LHX program. It is shown here in two modes. The nearest aircraft is in full forward flight; the aircraft in the background is hovering. Both are in the process of firing unknown anti-tank missiles at a column of Soviet armor.
Dec 192022
So today twitter posted a new rule:
We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) December 18, 2022
It’s a little odd, to be sure. But at a glance, a *lot* of people read that and started screeching about how this is against EU law, how they are outraged, how this is a violation of free speech how they are – yet again – going to quit Twitter and go somewhere else (Mastodon seems to be the popular choice). But as is traditional for these sort of folk, they didn’t actually bother to read the whole thing:
We still allow cross-posting content from any social media platform. Posting links or usernames to social media platforms not listed above are also not in violation of this policy.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) December 18, 2022
we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links
That’s… pretty clear. It’s not, as many of these brain damaged morons seem to suggest, a rule that prevents casual linking to other sites, but a rule against setting up accounts solely for promoting other platforms. Is that a little strange? Maybe. But I have noticed that whenever I go to a movie theater and look at the *insanely* high prices for popcorn and soda, there is often also a sign that says “outside food and drink are prohibited.” I’m pretty sure if you went into a McDonalds and nailed a poster for Wendys on the wall, they might object. Send a “shop at Target” marching band into Walmart, and you might find yourself asked to leave.
How many of the people freaking out are really that dumb, and how many are just using performative outrage, I can’t say. But in either case, these are people who aren’t useful or beneficial in public discourse. So if they want to wander off to some self-segregated niche like Mastodon… hey, great. Twitter was supposed to utterly collapse within days of Elon Musk taking over; so far it seems to be running just fine. A lot of objectively awful people have been suspended for *clear* TOS violations, and they have discovered the wonders of being treated like everyone else.
I have wondered if Elon bought Twitter simply to shut it down. That may still be the case, and if so, it would be a net benefit to mankind… so long as TikTok and Instagram and all the rest go down as well. Perhaps he is just screwing around with Twitter before he pulls the plug… might as well, I suppose.
Dec 182022
Ran two prints today. The second one, the 4th test of the new setup, turned out to be pretty much there with just a few minor issues. The main issue I’m looking at now is getting proper coverage of the paper. For whatever reason, the cyanotyping fluid doesn’t really like the vellum paper and you get occasional blotchiness. This was a constant problem before, and was solved largely by tossing prints that weren’t up to code. Experiments will continue…
Dec 182022
Yes, I’m shocked too… I’m linking to a New York times article that is both interesting and informative:
Putin’s War
A Times investigation based on interviews, intercepts, documents and secret battle plans shows how a “walk in the park” became a catastrophe for Russia.
For no readily apparent reason, YouTube of late has been tossing videos at me that suddenly started focusing on people reading aloud stories posted on Reddit (handy for when I’ve been working on the cyanotypes). In particular, “HFY” stories… “Humanity F Yeah!” stories, science fiction short tales featuring, generally, aliens deciding to attack dumb ol’ weak humanity and getting their asses handed to them by those hairless monkeys who turn out to be *insanely* capable in the art of war. They are generally fun little tales… usually not *great* by any stretch, often fairly bad by the usual measures of such things, but entertaining. And the idea that Plucky Humans could save the day against galaxy-spanning ravening hordes and evil empires is always fun. But then I read stuff like this NYT article describing the state of the Russian war machine and war effort.
Yes, sometimes humans can be spectacularly expert at the art of war. But often we are phenomenally incompetent. If the Russia that launched this war against Ukraine was the standard of human military capability, even the most mediocre and half-assed alien invasion fleet would mop up Mankind in a lazy afternoon.
Dec 172022
The more challenging you try to appear, the more people will challenge you. Armored trains these days seem like the sort of thing that everyone with a surface-to-surface missile, an air-to-surface missile, a drone, a handful of plastic explosive or a cup full of thermite will try their luck at.
Dec 172022
There was a time when vigilantes were more legend than fact, because the police and justice system did the job that needed doing. I guess those times are over. We entered a period of lawlessness… and I suspect that we’ll be seeing more stories like this, where vigilantes start doing the job that cops and security guards aren’t allowed to anymore.
Of course, some places want to pretend that crime *isn’t* a problem. That if you cover it up, people will forget about it. Let’s see how well *that* works…
Dec 162022
When Twitter banned the New York Post for accurately reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop story, the progressive media said nothing. When twitter suspended some “journalists” for doxxing Elon Musk… suddenly, that’s a threat to democracy. The world will fall into ruin unless journalists are allowed to violate the established Twitter terms of service.
President Trump was banned from Twitter while Jihadi/Islamist terrorists were allowed to remain and continue to spit hate and threats. So, no, some journalists finding that the rules apply to them too is not a “precede
A Major Announcement
AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., Meh., news, politics, youtube, ಠ_ಠ
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Dec 162022
WTF.
A guy who made his billions by selling stuff is… selling stuff. Just… ridiculous stuff. This doesn’t really seem to be the actions of someone who thinks he’s destined to retake the White House.