Random Geezer

Kemi Badenoch at the dispatch box for PMQs

This imported Trumpian tactic of politicians point blank denying blatant reality is a further degradation of our political discourse. In adopting this strategy, Badenoch isn't just damaging the Tories, she's damaging our democracy.

#pmqs #politicslive

Been getting the same train for the past year. The same person sits opposite me every day. This morning we struck a conversation. Needless to say I won't be getting that train again. Worried they're thinking the same and we both end up getting the same train again.

Farage accused of U turn as he says UK should stay out of Iran war

Farage, leading, as usual, by watching which way the crowd is moving and running to the front.

The Texas Quote of the Day: "You don't need to hire a shrink. If you're looking for a therapist, just listen to Willie Nelson."

---- Charley Crockett, a fair musician himself, offers words of wisdom
3d

Yes, AI prose fails soon after three or four sentences.

And here's an explanation from a computer scientist about why: LLMs smooth out all the concrete texture—the surprising metaphors, the narrative examples—in favor of "semantic ablation," or a bland reversion to the linguistic mean.

Home security systems are safety theater. They make us feel like we’re in control, but they don’t actually reduce the risk of violence.

If anything, they’re a part of a broader, predatory industry that exploits our fears and *increases* the risk of violence to keep us spending money.

After revelations that companies like Ring have been selling home security footage to ICE, the most common defense of keeping a camera up seems to be, “But what if I’m stalked?”

And as a violence researcher, I’m just here to state for the record that police do not care about your security footage.

Square format in bold painterly acrylics on canvas. Yellow and orange large leaves float over your head in the foreground against a background of tall straight black trunks and green foliage of evergreen trees with some blue sky peeping through on the right and in even smaller gaps in the top left corner. Above is a canopy of smaller yellow leaves with darker yellow leaves behind them and in between are some small twisted branches of almost black, whereas the large leaves in the foreground have no obvious branches connecting them so appear to float. The ground is a small glimpse of deep orange. Signed bottom left in light blue, Liam Daly

A #painting from a couple of years back. "Golden Leaves V" was started many years ago when I had a studio in an old cobbled stableyard, and a few acres of woods led down to the River Liffey so I would happily lose and find myself in them all the time. And who wouldn't? #art #SpeirGhorm

Yes, hello, is that God? Yeah, hi. I have a complaint. You gave me this brain that’s designed for finding berries and avoiding lions and now people are ‘just circling back’ to see if we can ‘move the needle’ on ‘key initiatives’? NONE of those things are berries.

The painting, View of Sheffield from Shrewsbury Road by William Cowen, suggests a society with distinct social stratification by contrasting the modes of transport and apparent dress of the people depicted. The foreground of the painting shows different groups of people. On the right, a covered horse-drawn carriage, likely belonging to wealthier individuals, travels along the road. On the left, a more open cart, possibly for transport of goods or working-class travel, is also present. The backdrop of the painting is a sprawling industrial city, Sheffield, with numerous smoking chimneys. This industrial landscape was typical of the era and the rapid changes it brought, creating both immense wealth for factory owners and challenging working and living conditions for the working class. The composition places these different social elements within the same frame: the apparent leisure or comfort of those in carriages contrasting with others walking or sitting by the roadside, all against the backdrop of the industrial production that likely fuelled the era's economy and social divisions.

🧵In 1845, Benjamin Disraeli described Victorian England as: “Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by 1/3

Every time I socialize I'm like ok that's enough for the next 6 months

Not that anyone needs to know this, but I couldn't name a Taylor Swift song if my life depended on it. Never knowingly heard one either.

#music

Surely this cannot be real?

#dontcallmeshirley

Just pondering, and concluded that the Precautionary Principle should only ever be implemented after careful consideration.

#thoughtfortheday

The most useful thing I ever read about social media was that every time you look at a screen there are 50 people on the other side of it working to keep you there.

#tech

Today, groups of peaceful sign-holders like this one in Exeter are showing up across England & Wales in opposition to David Lammy’s attack on juries.

They have one simple message to MPs ahead of a vote on the Courts & Tribunals Bill:

Defend Our Juries

www.defendourjuries.net

Unironically, AI could lead to the greatest dumbing down in world history.

It is the endgame of most tech.

#ai #tech

‘I wish I could push ChatGPT off a cliff’: professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI As AI has upended the way students learn, academics worry about the future of the humanities - and society at large

“…in fields most explicitly associated with the production of critical thought – what is collectively referred to as the “humanities” – most scholars see AI as a unique threat, one that extends far beyond cheating on homework and casts doubt on the future of higher education itself…”

A black and white cat sitting in a blind it has destroyed, looking pleased with itself.

Not even remotely sorry. Cat bastard.

This would be the #pluralism which allows them to speak their hateful garbage.

The exception to this rule is, obviously, carbon capture, when the article should be immediately spiked.

#geoengineering

Testing the waters: can pumping chemicals into the ocean help stop global heating? To some it was a reckless experiment but scientists hope the dispersal of 65,000 litres of sodium hydroxide into the Gulf of Maine could ease the climate crisis

For every article suggesting the potential of some geoengineering idea there should be a compulsory five on the Law of Unintended Consequences.

#lastresorts #arewethereyet?

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Goodwin’s “pure English blood” theory exposed by Mehdi Hasan. #UKPolitics

You were saying something about the difference between bad and evil earlier. Tough call here.

All the time.

LinkedIn nonce.

Need to think on it more but first thoughts: CA's seem appropriate and even necessary for large societal or constitutional issues - assisted dying would have been a good candidate,for example.

This measure feels more like a) polling on a technocratic issue b) seeking legitimacy. Not their purpose.

I'm a fan of them too, but somehow I'm instinctively suspicious of this one.

Some people are never happy!

Ministers to ask 100 UK citizens to advise on digital ID plans Exclusive: Randomly selected panel will feed into consultation as government seeks to counter conspiracy theories and public mistrust

Now *that* is interesting. (Confession: I'm a fan of citizens' assemblies).