Ian

Why Defending 'Woke' Defends Democracy YouTube video by Richard J Murphy

Why Defending 'Woke' Defends Democracy youtu.be/hRd6GLC_p5c?...

Pancake Tuesday already. It really creped up on us this year.

The Edinburgh Symphony Orchestea rehearsing in an empty Usher Hall for tonight’s Chinese New Year concert.

Definitely my favourite venue. What an experience to play here with the ESO for Chinese New Year. #livemusic #usherhall #edinburgh #chinesenewyear #yearofthehorse

"Is it progress if a cannibal uses knife and fork?" — Stanisław Jerzy Lec

Text of a Reddit comment: Already refunded. Chatbot isn't supposed to be making financial decisions. It's supposed to be answering customer questions between 6pm and 9am when I'm not around. It's worked fine for 6+ months, then this guy spent an hour chatting with it, talked it into showing how good it was at maths and percentages, diverted the conversation to percentage discounts off a theoretical order, then acted impressed by it. The chatbot then generated him a completely fake discount code and an offer for 25% off, later rising to 80% off as it tried to impress him.

Another day, another #AI disaster. Company deployed customer service chatbot, customer flattered chatbot, chatbot invented an 80% discount out of thin air. #AIDisaster www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdvic...

Just saying ...

The things we now have to explain.

This is absolutely what happened.

Who cannot be deprived of their citizenship? There is also a cohort of people who cannot be deprived of their citizenship in any circumstances. The law does not permit people who were born British (as opposed to acquiring their citizenship by naturalisation or registration) to be deprived if that would leave them stateless. That means people who have only one nationality (British) have legal protection against deprivation that people with multiple nationalities do not. Some commentators say this gives the appearance of discrimination against people from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds, who are more likely to have dual nationality than people whose recent ancestors were all born in the UK.S° The government has stressed that "law-abiding people have nothing to fear" from citizenship deprivation merely because they are a dual national. 51

This is the key point and I don’t know about you but I don’t find it very reassuring.

(It’s from the House of Commons briefing which has the whole shameful history of how governments have given themselves powers they really should not have)
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN...

According to my other half, my most common phrase while working is ‘just fucking work you fucking piece of fucking shit’.

Computers are supposed to be tools. If I bought a screwdriver that worked this badly I’d hurl it into the fucking sea.

#technology #enshittification #computers

Fucking hell, that vile ‘caricature’ of Zack Polanski in the Daily Mail (on the same day they’re claiming to care about antisemitism in relation to another story). Revolting.

A screenshot from Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give you up music video

A screenshot from Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give you up music video

A screenshot from Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give you up music video

A photograph of the seminary gym in knives out. It has the same window.

Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up.

I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.

They exist to cause suffering and inflict pain. They are not nice people. They are school bullies who grew up and miss that thrill of exploiting the weak and punching down at the poor. 2/2 #ReformUK

It’s occurred to me that being upset and anxious about #ReformUK is exactly what they want. They like the thought of tearful and desperate left-wing folk being frightened of them. 1/2

Board Member at Catskill Animal Sanctuary Northampton, Massachusetts, United States

Not the best place for an animal sanctuary. #catskill #cats

Now trying #Vivaldi as an alternative to #Firefox. Spent a good 20 minutes in the settings, turned a load of stuff off, and all good so far. And no mention of AI \o/

#Mozilla could have played an absolute blinder and said ‘sick of #AI in everything? Use #Firefox, we promise no AI ever!’ And *bang*, everyone who hates that nonsense immediately flocks to Firefox. Instead all we have left are some forks with unknown longevity.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Prescott himself doctored Trump quote in his anti-BBC report A report alleging Panorama broadcast misleading Trump quotes contains misleading quotes itself

Here’s the full original story in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social from several weeks ago, where we pointed out the issues in Prescott’s dossier:
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e...

>>> print(bool('False')) True

I know there is a good reason for this but it just halted my sleep-deprived brain. #python

Excellent thread.

The attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney today was a vile act of antisemitic terror. I mourn those who were murdered and will be keeping their families, the Jewish community, and the Chabad movement in my prayers. May the memories of all those killed be a blessing. While we are still waiting for all the facts to emerge, what we already know is devastating. At least 11 dead, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who held deep ties to Crown Heights. At least 29 injured. Another Jewish community plunged into mourning and loss, a holiday of light so painfully reduced to a day of darkness. This attack is merely the latest, most horrifying iteration in a growing pattern of violence targeted at Jewish people across the world. Too many no longer feel safe to be themselves, to express their faith publicly, to worship in their synagogues without armed security stationed outside. What happened at Bondi is what many Jewish people fear will happen in their communities too. On Bondi Beach today, as men with long guns targeted innocents, another man ran towards the gunfire and disarmed a shooter. Tonight, as Jewish New Yorkers light menorahs and usher in a first night of Hanukkah clouded by grief, let us look to his example and confront hatred with the urgency and action it demands. When I am Mayor, I will work every day to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe—on our streets, our subways, at shul, in every moment of every day. Let this be a purpose shared by every New Yorker, and let us banish this horrific violence to the past.

Well this wasn’t a good day to wake up and read the news.

A whiteboard with ‘#include <decorations.h>’ written at the top in black market.

Minimum viable product #christmas

I've decided it's marginally less harmful to convince my Dad not to trust any media, rather than leave him in his current state of trusting *all* media.

Hey folks - I'm looking for a reasonable cost, preferable nice social enterprise in Cambridge who could do some hot drinks throughout a day at a conference, possibly some bakes/biscuits.

Any ideas?

Hear hear

Satire is dead.