LLS

LLS, 19 days ago (edited 19 days ago) to random

What we have is…

> a strategy that not only produces forever reinfections, it is dependent upon forever reinfections. It not only doesn’t protect vulnerable people, it is dependent on harming and killing them. It not only can’t prevent reinfections, it incorporates continual reinfections as critical to its “success”.

And as a result, in the US we get over 100k new infections every week.

Yeah, those “colds” you’ve been getting? Think again

https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/does-the-public-understand-that-variant

#Covid #LongCovid

scalzi, 20 days ago to random

Over at Uncanny Magazine, I have an essay about the aesthetics of spectacle, relating to the Dune films of 1984 and the 2020s: How spectacle in each film was treated and why, and what makes the look and feel between the eras so very different.

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/scalzi-on-film-the-aesthetics-of-spectacle-a-look-at-dune-in-1984-and-2024/

carnage4life, 21 days ago to random

AI voiced audiobooks have been a boon to indie creators by giving them access to the audiobook market without having to paying for studio time for human narrators.

It means there’s now even more content for readers that needs filtering and narrators are losing gigs. This is what #disruption looks like. Two steps forward and one step back.

LLS, 21 days ago to random

In case you haven’t read this yet…

Compelling on-the-ground reporting by student journalists, w first-hand accounts & multiple quotes from students & faculty with varied perspectives on what’s happening. Far more informative and revealing than the glib, shallow, misleading coverage thrown up by mainstream corporate cable news & newspaper platforms.

NY Magazine does us all a service highlighting this:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/columbia-university-protests-israel-gaza-campus.html

More: https://www.columbiaspectator.com/

LLS, 22 days ago to random

also if bears could type, they wouldn’t do this

https://localghost.dev/blog/twitter-reply-guys-were-bad-but-mastodon-is-no-better/

morgandawn, 22 days ago to disability

Dr Ruth Ann Crystal: "A new report from the Economist shows the enormous economic costs of Long COVID in the US and in other countries because people with Long #COVID are no longer able to work.

In the United States, Long COVID is estimated to cause a whopping $152.6 Billion GDP loss this year due to lost work hours. In the UK, the equivalent of US$15.5 Billion is expected to be lost in 2024 because of #LongCOVID #disability.

The report also reports data on expected economic losses from Long COVID in Brazil, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Spain. Preventing COVID infections and Long COVID disability should be a priority for all countries for many reasons"

https://impact.economist.com/perspectives/health/incomplete-picture-understanding-burden-long-covid

mike, 22 days ago to random

Well, I got my first white supremacist reply from the fediverse after posting an article about Elon from Flipboard.

I reported and blocked the account. I also looked at the instance admin's account and it's clear he's also a white supremacist. So that instance will be blocked on flipboard.com and flipboard.social as well as shared with other instance admins as a problematic instance for them to take action if they also deem appropriate. Took all of 2 minutes to help make the fediverse a bit better for everyone.

And the best thing is that anyone in the fediverse can do this too. Decentralized moderation FTW.

LLS, 23 days ago to random

“How are you?”

me: You want the long truth, the short truth, or can we just move on and pretend I said “fine”?

carnage4life, 23 days ago to random

One of the most important lessons I learned as an adult is that you don’t want to be happy, you want to be contented.

LLS, 24 days ago to ChatGPT

Thinking is so yesterday, our machine will do it for you!

“Writing a paper the old-fashioned way is not going to be the thing. Using the tool to best discover and express, to communicate ideas, I think that’s where things are going to go in the future.”

Doctor Fantastic’s Amazing Incredible Ideas Unguent On Sale Now!

#ChatGPT “#AI”

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/05/did-student-or-chatgpt-write-that-paper-does-it-matter/

lauren, 24 days ago (edited 24 days ago) to random

In 1968, massive campus protests against the Vietnam war spread to the Democratic national convention in Chicago that year, which became a violent confrontation between protesters and police. The result was the election of Republican Richard Nixon, who enormously escalated the war, including the invasion and mass bombing of Cambodia.

LLS, 24 days ago to random

pro tip: that AI-generated image you’re inserting into your report/article/post? Don’t. It only undermines your credibility

Edent, 25 days ago (edited 25 days ago) to random

You receive a call on your phone.
The caller says they're from your bank and they're calling about a suspected fraud.

"Oh yeah," you think. Obvious scam, right?

The caller says "I'll send you an in-app notification to prove I'm calling from your bank."

Your phone buzzes. You tap the notification This is what you see.

Still think it is a scam?
1/3

mishellbaker, 27 days ago to random

Is there a touch-based control for iPad brightness I am unaware of? Mine keeps getting dimmer without my explicit permission, even at 100% battery.

LLS, 27 days ago to random

I never got my degrees properly framed, but now I’m not going to bother. I feel so fortunate to have been able to grow through those educational experiences, but now those institutions, never perfect, have utterly shamed themselves and I won’t have their names on my wall. Not now.

yogthos, 28 days ago to random

MRI brain imaging has previously revealed that Covid reduces the thickness of grey matter within the frontal and temporal lobes.

This would mimic symptoms of Frontotemporal Dementia.

It should also be noted that damage to this specific area of the brain within the cerebral cortex can cause sociopathic behaviour. Additionally, this induces the “slow and insidious loss of the capacity for moral rationality.”

#covid

https://today.tamu.edu/2022/03/07/even-mild-cases-of-covid-19-can-leave-a-mark-on-the-brain-such-as-reductions-in-gray-matter/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139561/

of moral and conventional rules. This report describes four FTD patients who committed criminal violations in the presence of clear consciousness and sufficiently intact cognition. They understood the nature of their acts and the potential consequences, but did not feel sufficiently concerned to be deterred. FTD involves a unique pathologic combination affecting the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, with altered moral feelings, right anterior temporal loss of emotional empathy, and orbitofrontal changes with disinhibited, compulsive behavior. These case histories and the literature indicate that those with right temporal FTD retain the capacity to tell right from wrong but have the slow and insidious loss of the capacity for moral rationality. Patients with early FTD present a challenge to the
The team found marked differences in gray matter – or the neurons that process information in the brain – between those who had been infected with COVID-19 and those who had not. Specifically, the thickness of the gray matter tissue in brain regions known as the frontal and temporal lobes was reduced in the COVID-19 group, differing from the typical patterns seen in the people who hadn’t had a COVID-19 infection.

evan, 28 days ago (edited 27 days ago) to random

Do you judge a Web page by its embedded ads?

#EvanPoll #poll

LLS, 1 month ago to random

Now a new DOT regulation!

“air carriers must provide prompt automatic refunds and and ticket agents must provide prompt refunds upon request when airlines cancel or significantly change their flights”

Another piece of Reaganism undone

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/biden-harris-administration-announces-final-rule-requiring-automatic-refunds-airline

https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/refundsfinalruleapril2024 https://wandering.shop/@LLS/112322625829519674

LLS, 1 month ago to random

“existing noncompetes for the vast majority of workers will no longer be enforceable”

🎉

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes

LLS, 1 month ago to random

Important Thing happens

news media: sensationalist headlines about some other thing

nobody hears about Important Thing

news media: sensational headlines about how nobody knows about Important Thing

repeat with other important things

news media: sensationalist headlines declare nobody cares about important things

people stop trusting news media

news media: learns nothing, turns up the volume https://mas.to/@BruceMirken/112321142268162811

blogdiva, 1 month ago to random

PEOPLE, I BEG YOU
post links directly to the source, don't use Apple News or Bitly or other links hijackers. if they decide to change the service or go out of business, we have lost link to the original source.

keep the web as open as possible. say no to link shorteners and traffic hijackers 👍🏾

shippychaos, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

#poll

Which term do you use?

kgajos, 1 month ago to LGBTQ

@zm003 and Yiyang Mei co-led a study investigating how #LGBTQ and straight individuals use #LLM based chatbots for mental health support. Their LGBTQ+ participants were much more likely than the straight ones to use chatbots for consequential help because they felt they had nobody else to turn to. Chatbots were appreciated for ease of access and non-judgmental responses. But they also demonstrated lack of empathy or understanding of LGBTQ-specific issues.

#CHI2024

http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~kgajos/papers/2024/ma2024evaluating.shtml

pseudonym, 4 months ago to random

My million dollar idea I want someone to steal and do, so I can be a customer.

"Dumb Stuff" we sell electronic appliances that aren't Internet connected. That's all.

That's it. That's the pitch. I would buy the <bleep> out of this company if their electronic gadgets were even half way decent, and repairable.

Electronic, no wifi, regular screws to open it up. That's it. Do those three things, and you can be sold by this store.

I will pay this business to curate and find these devices for me.