It’s just insane how it’s never enough even for huge countries. It’s an entirely cultural thing.
In Europe, you have many small countries in cooperation, and none of them think to deny other countries. Russia and China are huge, and have so much. But it’s systematically and culturally different, with a specific type of people and apparatus in control.
You look from a small country to these behemoths, and it’s just insane that they would even feel a want or need to expand like that, at the cost of so much.
When the medical (Hippocratic) oath directly opposes the law, what’s a medical professional to do?
It’s a moral, personal, and individual dilemma.
It’s insane and tragic that we have to see this development, against professional expertise and statistical and scientific knowledge. At the evident and predictable cost of people and their well being.
Trump Republicans tried to take over the hall (assisted by the Secret Service confiscating noisemakers) and hijack the Libertarian convention. They lined up early then stole the front row seats marked reserved. It all backfired wonderfully.
- Gazprom posted a loss of $7 bln in 2023, first since end-1990s***- Gazprom’s pipeline gas sales to Europe slump******- Russia banks on business with Asia******- Price of Russian gas for China seen gradually declining***...
From Forbes and Money content farms, to Google search algorithm changes promoting generic and generated content and big media platforms over specific results, to Google prioritizing ads, overpriced, and other worse results.
Patriarchy has everything to do with men, but at the same time, nothing at all. In a male-centered society where maleness is associated with power, what’s really being centered is power itself. What’s suppressed is mutual relationality. Patriarchy is intertwined with colonialism, racism, and other oppressive social...
China is determined not just that it won’t be left behind, but that it will lead the generative AI trends of the future. But this comes with substantial political risk for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership....
What is this reporting? The tone sounds like a personal Twitter post.
which Google recently launched as a way to search the web without Google’s alpha-quality AI junk. It’s actually pretty nice, showing only the traditional 10 blue links, giving you a clean (well, other than the ads), uncluttered results page that looks like it’s from 2011.
A furious China launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to “separatist acts”, sending up heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated President Lai Ching-te....
The elected president is far from separatist. He’s supporting the status quo. China shows how utterly selfish and uncooperable they are.
I hope this provocative behavior leads to further preparation, unification, and separation within Thailand, and international allies supporting them. China clearly shows where they stand and where they will move towards.
It’s “only” buffing right now, but Tibet and Hong Kong showed they will act eventually if let be.
British defence minister Grant Shapps accused China on Wednesday of providing or preparing to provide Russia with lethal aid for use by Moscow in its war against Ukraine....
Under the slogan ‘Think of the children’, the European Commission tried to introduce total surveillance of all EU citizens. When the scandal was revealed, it turned out that American tech companies and security services had been involved in the bill, generally known as ‘Chat Control’ – and that the whole thing had been...
Stefan Hector, a representative of the Swedish Police Authority, said that “a society cannot accept that criminals today have a space to communicate safely in order to commit serious crimes.” A week later, it was revealed that the Swedish police had been infiltrated and were leaking information to criminals.
Does anyone know, or can anyone guess, the business case for predictive text? On phone apps, it is often incredibly difficult to turn off. Why is that, do you think? (The examples I have recent experience with are Facebook and Outlook mobile apps.)...
I assume you don’t mean keyboard text predictions, which would be a different thing, but the platforms.
It’s a new convenience feature. Something they as a platform can shine with, retain users, and set themselves apart from other platforms.
Having training data is not the primary potential gain. It’s user investment, retention, and interaction. Users choosing the generated text is valid training data. Whether they chose similar words, or what was suggested, is still input on user choice.
It does lead to a convergence to a centralized standard speak. With a self-strengthening feedback loop.
The Web Archive “Wayback Machine” is a project from archive.org, which does much more in archiving and accessibility efforts. An alternative service for websites is archive.ph.
Chinese military releases bold video simulation of Taiwan invasion (www.news.com.au)
Archived link...
Sterilization, Murders, Suicides: Bans Haven’t Slowed Abortions, and They’re Costing Lives (theintercept.com)
Libertarians Boo Trump when he Hijacks Their Convention (youtu.be)
Trump Republicans tried to take over the hall (assisted by the Secret Service confiscating noisemakers) and hijack the Libertarian convention. They lined up early then stole the front row seats marked reserved. It all backfired wonderfully.
Russia: Loss of state-owned energy giant Gazprom, the first in decades, shows the Kremlin's struggle to fill EU gas sales gap with China (www.reuters.com)
- Gazprom posted a loss of $7 bln in 2023, first since end-1990s***- Gazprom’s pipeline gas sales to Europe slump******- Russia banks on business with Asia******- Price of Russian gas for China seen gradually declining***...
Nicki Minaj Released After Detention in Netherlands for Drug Possession Allegations (thenarinder.in)
Samsung Requires Independent Repair Shops to Share Customer Data, Snitch on People Who Use Aftermarket Parts, Leaked Contract Shows (www.404media.co)
The contract requires repair shops to “immediately disassemble” devices that have parts “not purchased from Samsung.”
The Birth, Boom and Bust of the Hard Disk Drive (www.youtube.com)
The Man Who Killed Google Search (www.wheresyoured.at)
I found this article a bit too elaborate and digressive, but it has a lot of content and sourcing....
HouseFresh disappeared from Google Search results. Now what? - An elaborate historical analysis and overview of Google search results and media landscape (housefresh.com)
From Forbes and Money content farms, to Google search algorithm changes promoting generic and generated content and big media platforms over specific results, to Google prioritizing ads, overpriced, and other worse results.
Patriarchy has everything to do with men, but at the same time, nothing at all (bikepacking.com)
Patriarchy has everything to do with men, but at the same time, nothing at all. In a male-centered society where maleness is associated with power, what’s really being centered is power itself. What’s suppressed is mutual relationality. Patriarchy is intertwined with colonialism, racism, and other oppressive social...
China is eager to show the world that it can lead in generative AI technology. But one of its first challenges is chillingly unique - how to make its chat bots speak like the Communist Party. (chinamediaproject.org)
China is determined not just that it won’t be left behind, but that it will lead the generative AI trends of the future. But this comes with substantial political risk for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership....
Google Search’s “udm=14” trick lets you kill AI search for good (arstechnica.com)
Here's Why Microsoft Buying Valve Is A Terrible Idea (www.thegamer.com)
Bing outage shows just how little competition Google search really has (arstechnica.com)
Was wondering what the hell was going on this morning.
China launches 'punishment' war games around Taiwan (www.reuters.com)
A furious China launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to “separatist acts”, sending up heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated President Lai Ching-te....
UK defence minister says intelligence has evidence of Chinese lethal aid to Russia in its war against Ukraine (www.reuters.com)
British defence minister Grant Shapps accused China on Wednesday of providing or preparing to provide Russia with lethal aid for use by Moscow in its war against Ukraine....
Going Dark: The war on encryption is on the rise. Through a shady collaboration between the US and the EU. (mullvad.net)
Under the slogan ‘Think of the children’, the European Commission tried to introduce total surveillance of all EU citizens. When the scandal was revealed, it turned out that American tech companies and security services had been involved in the bill, generally known as ‘Chat Control’ – and that the whole thing had been...
Microplastics found in every human testicle in study (www.theguardian.com)
Why is predictive text so hard to disable?
Does anyone know, or can anyone guess, the business case for predictive text? On phone apps, it is often incredibly difficult to turn off. Why is that, do you think? (The examples I have recent experience with are Facebook and Outlook mobile apps.)...
Russian court seizes assets from European banks UniCredit, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank (www.morningstar.com)
Archived link...
Online Content Is Disappearing (www.pewresearch.org)
cross-posted from: lemy.lol/post/25166889
The Streets - Fit But You Know It (Official Video) (youtu.be)
Can’t believe this album is 20 years old now. I prefer Original Pirate Material, but this is probably my favorite concept album.
Valve’s hero shooter Deadlock leaks with screenshots, gameplay details - Polygon (www.polygon.com)
Self-balancing commuter pods ride old railway lines on demand (newatlas.com)