Posts by Elongated Muskrat

Shove your office mandates, people still prefer working from home

Work is transactional. I provide a service to my employer, I get paid for it. I don't work because I love it, I work because I need to buy food and pay bills. I work to earn money to spend on things when I'm not working.

My company is owned by a US-based multinational. Why the fuck should my "heart be in it"? If my employer decided to try to force me into the office, the person making that decision would almost certainly know nothing about me, or the work that I do to earn money for them. They may well not even be in the same country as me, almost certainly not in the same city. Any such decision would not be based on whether it would make me more productive, or be of any tangible benefit to the business. If your heart is in that, then you are delusional.

Convincing yourself that you love working to make money for someone who essentially owns your job, and almost certainly doesn't do any work themselves beyond being an "investor" is an ugly joke, a product of peak capitalism.

SEC sues Elon Musk for allegedly screwing investors out of $150M before Twitter takeover

Re: Mr Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is

Shouldn't you be on 4chan? Isn't that where the "Hitler did nothing wrong" meme originated?

NATO's newest member comes out swinging following latest Baltic Sea cable attack

I was thinking of the Russian tanker that recently sank in the Black Sea (not Baltic, my mistake) spilling 4,000 tonnes of heavy oil into the already poisoned environment there.

The one you're thinking of was a "cargo ship" that was suspected of being a military transport in disguise.

Reading that wiki article linked above is quite enlightening. It seems they have slow-turning props to avoid cavitation. How fast they can move when "slow turning" is anyone's guess though.

Since they're quiet enough to creep up on US aircraft carriers in naval exercises, I reckon they'd not have much of an issue with a Russian floating shit-heap trawler that has been retrofitted for grey ops.

Come to think of it, didn't a rusty old Russian tanker recently have a "fire in the engine room" and sink in the Baltic?

Hulk smash Musk and Zuck! Actor Mark Ruffalo and non-billionaire pals back network tech underpinning Bluesky

Re: It's an admirable cause

From what I read, the rumour is that TikTok's Chinese owners are considering offloading the US operations to Musk, rather than close it down there. This makes sense for them for two reasons:

1) They will get money for it.

2) The Chinese state (just like Russia) stands to gain from destabilising the West. A clear fascist like Musk being in control of multiple social media platforms accomplishes this goal.

Re: It's an admirable cause

Ooh, looks like the RWNJs and billionaire simps didn't like that!

Re: Nah

When the Chinese Communist Party controls Twitter and Facebook, I'll be as concerned about it as Musk and Zuckerberg controlling them. Will that do?

The fact is that the two main social media platforms we have in the West appear to be controlled by fascists. Especially Musk. If you don't happen to think that Musk is a fascist, then I suggest that firstly, you go and learn what the word fascism means, and secondly, get out of the fascist echo chamber you are in.

Re: Nobody's mentioning the Mastodon in the room

I bet you're a right hoot at parties.

Everyone is talking to each other and enjoying themselves, run into the middle of the room, stand on a table and shout "ECHO CHAMBER" until the room empties.

I'm joking, of course. Nobody in their right mind would invite you to a party.

Re: It's an admirable cause

Two things are killing social media: Advertising (especially advertising masquerading as genuine content, such as "sponsored posts") and "the algorithm," when that algorithm isn't used to promote things that coincide with your interests, but is used instead to promote things that are in the interests of the owners of that platform, especially when that is used to either change your interests through constant "engagement bait", or is used to skew political opinions by promoting one viewpoint over another.

Both of these things have made Twitter unusable, and the advertising part has made Facebook considerably less useful than it once was.

Bluesky (for now) has no ads, and if the idea is to allow the algorithms that control various feeds to be open, it would massively reduce the capacity for powerful individuals to skew public opinion. I wonder how long it is before Trump and Musk denounce it as some sort of communist plot and ban it in the US?

Life lesson: Don't delete millions of accounts on the same day you go to the dentist

Re: LDAP?

Probably depends on how many of those systems have a rule where changing the password invalidates existing auth tokens (i.e. logs out all instances where the password is changed).

A more sensible alternative is to allow you to see the "currently logged in instances" and terminate them individually as required (which is something everyone should regularly do with things like various google services, web mail, etc.)

British Army zaps drones out of the sky with laser trucks

If we ever manage to replace warfare with love, they could have amoured vehicles.

Ok, I'll get my coat.

Re: Sadly not a item of bad englishes

Oddly enough, there's very little evidence to ever suggest that this was the majority opinion. The ancient Greeks knew the Earth was curved, they just didn't know how big it was.

Re: "capable of "neutralizing" targets at distances greater than 1 km"

Someone has been playing too much Eve Online and is thinking about tracking speed here I see.

Re: pew pew lasors!

I am very pleased that this was the first comment. Have a beer, sir.

Tesla sued over alleged Autopilot fail in yet another fatal accident

Re: You’re the driver, not the flaky AI

It's his responsibliity to ensure that the wheel nuts are present and secure before driving the vehicle. He is fortunate that the wheel detached while the car was stationary.

Re: Perspective, perhaps.

It's a horrible story. However, if someone informs you that they are going to get into a motor vehicle and drive it, when they are not in a fit state to do so, be it through inebriation, sleep deprivation, or other cause (such as suffering a serious migraine), you should do your utmost to discourage them from doing so, and certainly not reply with the equivalent of "OK, see you shortly". This is exactly the reason why.

Bluesky keeps growing, and so do its problems

Re: B.S. worst kind of echo chamber

"Otiose."

That's a good word, I'll gladly add it to my lexicon.

Re: Bluesky seems halfway decent... for the moment

...or, indeed, removed the "Discover" feed, if they don't want to see it. It's only there by default, you're not forced to follow it, unlike X.

Re: Enjoy BlueSky while we can.

Worth noting that Bluesky does allow pornographic images and videos to be posted, but both expects users to flag their own posts as such, and seems to have some reasonably good algorithms for identifying and flagging them. Images/videos flagged as adult content are hidden by default, and I believe there is a setting for whether you see such posts at all, which is off by default (and unavailable to users under 18).

In other words, you can post a dick pic to BlueSky if you want, but nobody is going to see it unless they actively choose to do so. You're likely to get put onto block lists, and not get many followers either, apart from people who like seeing dick pics. I should think that if you post something like that in response to someone else's post, that hasn't explicitly (natch) asked for it, you'd get banned.

Still not giving a shit, eh?

You "don't give a shit" so much that you bothered to compose a reply. Interesting priorities you have there.

Re: New York Times having 55.2 million followers

Probably more like 55.1M

Re: Twitter was hidding posts from people I follow

...and mysteriously removing followers from people he doesn't like. My wife has had to re-follow several people due to this "bug".

Re: B.S. worst kind of echo chamber

For example, I have seen a couple of videos where someone signs up for B.S. (Blue Sky), then enters his first post with something frequently said on X, such as "there are two biological sexes", or "man made climate change is a hoax" (or similar).

Perhaps the problem here, is that this sort of divisive language is not only allowed, but seemingly promoted on Twitter?

Both things are, by the way, absolute bollocks. Ask anyone with a medical degree*, or anyone who has studied basic physics or chemistry about why. It's exhausting having to continuously correct this sort of bullshit, and the cynical amongst us would posit that this is exactly why idiots keep repeating it.

*well, almost anyone. You can probably cross people like the discredited fraudster Andrew Wakefield off the list.

The thing is, your comment didn't come across as facetious, it came across as one of many similar posts with people complaining that the content on Bluesky isn't like that of Twitter, which heavily over-promotes misogyny, transphobia, and a certain kind of right-wing authoritarian populist political belief system.

It's only natural to find people posting introductory posts with things like "came here from The Other Place. Nice to not see all the hate speech", that sort of thing.

I've not actually seen very much of what might be described as radical, or hard-left content, not even in meme form (you know, "seize the means of production", that sort of thing), despite the fact that I follow several people who are of that political bent (I don't typically follow those people for their political beliefs, either).

This probably indicates that most people want social media that isn't constantly deluged with exhausting political diatribe, because the vast majority of people (the ones not shouting their political beliefs from the rooftops) are pretty much centrists. You know, the sort of people who don't want to live in either a commune and live a life of subsistence farming, or be a corporate slave in a fascist dictatorship (extreme positions chosen for emphasis only, please don't write in). Believe it or not, those loudly-shouted political opinions that are becoming very commonplace not only on Twitter, but also on Meta's offerings, are extremist. The very problem with Twitter is that Musk has chosen to promote those, because they align with his own beliefs. This is probably a very good illustration of how being vastly rich separates people from the reality of the common every-day experience everyone else shares. Most people are of the opinion that we should be generally nice to one another, and try not to do things that cause problems for other people, as long as they do the same. It's the constant promotion of culture war and divisive political talking points that drives people away from this neutral position. Like what you get on Twitter.

If you haven't got an account, how do you know about the prevalence of CSA material?

What I actually suspect, is that you did open an account, and went looking for illegal material. Because I've seen none of it whatsoever.

You do know that this would constitute a criminal offence on your part, don't you? Just entering those search terms is enough to convict you.

Re: Enjoy BlueSky while we can.

Bingo. Not having to listen to the same, repeated, shouty, hate speech over, and over, and over again. Being able to ignore all that shit, and read the posts that contain interesting content instead.

Are you one of those people who thinks "freeze peach" is the freedom to shout over everybody else and demand to be heard? That's not how it works, cupcake.

Re: B.S. worst kind of echo chamber

There is much scientific debate to be had wrt subjects like 'climate change'.

Not about the existence of anthropogenic climate change, there isn't. If you think there is not scientific consensus on this, then you either have no clue at all about how the scientific method works, or you are just trolling on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.

I mean, we've all seen your posting history, and I think most people will conclude it's both.

There is the fact, of course, that the term "scientific debate" is a massive red flag, because that is not how science works. Discussion, sure, but the scientific method doesn't have some concept of whoever shouts the loudest is the winner, like you seem to think there is. it is an incremental process of discovery and publication, not some opinion to be discredited. For reference, the process of discovery about climate change started in the nineteenth century, and the fundamental principles discovered by John Tyndall in 1861 remain unchanged.

Re: B.S. worst kind of echo chamber

"Onoes! I signed up to Bluesky, posted some hate speech and got banned."

System working as designed. Ticket closed.

"I blocked everything I hate, and now I can't see anything at all," is maybe more of an indication of your own proclivities towards hating things.

Yeah, ironically the people whining about Bluesky being an echo chamber are exactly the people who don't think Twitter is a toxic environment, which is clearly algorithmically promoting one political viewpoint over others, and actively hiding content from dissenters. You know, pretty much a spot-on definition of an echo-chamber.

So, the real criticism these people have, is that Bluesky isn't a far-right echo chamber. The fact that a plurality of views and opinions is available there, and you can follow who you like, and see their content, instead of Elmo's actually makes it a lot more open, but right-wing rhetoric never let facts get in its way before.

BOFH: The devil's in the contract details

Re: Sounds far too familiar

...or the men who assume that the salesperson with the breasts is there because of the breasts, and not because they have had to fight their way into that position by being vastly more competent than all the sleazy men that that industry is massively overpopulated with.

I mean, it might be news to many in the IT industry that normal women have tits, because many people who work in what is, unfortunately, a bit of a sausage-fest don't get to see or interact with them very often, and are only familiar with the unrealistic Barbie-doll version on Pornhub.

Having said that, the woman member of our sales team where I work is just as incompetent as the men, and let's never forget what sort of personality type is attracted to a career that is largely comprised of skirting around the truth in the most plausibly deniable way.

Musk and Trump to fall out in 2025, predicts analyst

Re: Poor old Trump

And Trump, in retaliation, would find a way to ban or block X in the US.

All these things, and more, may well come to pass when the inevitable falling out happens.

0/10 - must troll harder.

Re: They will fall out over ego

It's as predictable as night following day.

Put two narcissists in a room together who have something to gain from cooperating with each other, and each will cooperate for exactly as long as it takes to achieve their own goals, and not an attosecond longer. Like the Highlander, after that, there can be only one.

Each has an absolute ego-driven need to be in total control, and that includes of the other, so there is no way that they won't turn on each other the moment one of them realises that they don't have this total control. This will start with each undermining the other whilst pretending to cooperate, and then the gaslighting and public denial will start. There is no other way this can play out.

Judge again cans Musk's record-setting $56B Tesla package

Because the more liquidity Musk has, the more potential harm he can cause to others. At this scale, the scope of "others" is everyone on the entire planet. Make no mistake about it, billionaires do not get to be billionaires by performing acts of public good, they get this way by at best exploiting, and at worst harming others for profit. Musk has demonstrated some very harmful beliefs, and, quite frankly, everyone should be concerned about his ability to follow through on these.

That's why everyone should care.

Re: Odd

I think we should rename it Xodus, after all the real users fleeing the platform for greener pastures (with bluer skies).

Brits are scrolling away from X and aren't that interested in AI

Re: It's not just Brits...

I was going to read your response in full, but I got to the point where you mentioned project 2025, which I don't think I have ever mentioned, once, in this forum, and realised that you're arguing against a shibboleth in your own head.

I don't think I'll bother with the rest of your culture-war talking points. Free speech includes the right to ignore such nonsense.

Re: It's not just Brits...

Time for a nice holiday in Cambodia?

Re: It's not just Brits...

It's exactly the aspect of human nature that they are exploiting. I believe it was Goebbels who said, "Repeat a lie often enough, and it becomes the truth" (obviously paraphrasing, because he would have said it in German for starters). This is exactly what those posters here are doing, and what is going on wholesale on Twitter, where the same opinions are repeatedly presented as fact, despite being demonstrably false. This is also why these people are absolutely losing their shit about people fleeing Twitter to Bluesky, where the same narrative is not algorithmically promoted.

Anyway, the counter to people repeating the same lies over and over again, is to repeat the truth back at them. They might not be affected, because the odds are they don't believe their own lies*, but the purpose of propaganda is not to convince yourself, it's to convince others, and it is for those people that we post eh rebuttals, and should continue to do so.

*It's usually obvious when people have started to drink their own kool-aid in this regard, because their behaviour tends to become increasingly erratic. Case in point: Elon Musk tweeting the word "Yes" repeatedly in the middle of the night. Perhaps we should have a sweepstake on which of Musk, Trump, or several others, such as Giuliani, has a massive heart attack first? Musk, from the side-effects of his (alleged) heavy ketamine habit, Trump, from his diet of foodlike substances, and so on and so forth...

Re: It's not just Brits...

To be fair, once you've annoyed certain denizens of these boards, you'll always get downvoted, for even the most neutral and factual comment you can produce. If you deem to comment on any article which references Musk (or worse, Trump), in anything other than a positive and glowing light issuing effusive praise for those paragons of humanity, then expect to get down-voted in swathes. They don't seem to realise that posts here don't get promoted or demoted like they might on "X", depending on whether they align with Elmo's world-view. At least the down-votes mean those people might have read your post. Some of the words might seep in eventually.

Re: It's not just Brits...

"Woke" would appear to be whatever the fuck you want to rail against today, doesn't it sweetie?

Being forced to acknowledge the existence of refugees fleeing for their lives? Woke.

Not being horrifically sexist or homophobic? Woke.

Recognising the existence of transexual people, and not belittling and victimising them? Woke!

Not denying the entire corpus of scientific research into climate? WOKE!

Young people wanting to be paid (proportionately) as much as baby-boomers were in the 1960s and 1970s, so that they can afford basics like food and housing? Wokey wokey woke woke woke...

Do you know what? I think I quite like this "woke" thing. I wonder what the antonym for "woke" is? Perhaps "cunt"?

Re: It's not just Brits...

Surely "wokeism", if it ever were a real word (and my spell-checker agrees with me in thinking it isn't), would, like other "isms" such as racism and sexism, refer to discrimination against "wokes", whatever they are. Since you seem to be an expert on this subject, perhaps you could enlighten us, as you seem to be "against the wokes" yourself, so surely, you have a type in your original post when you say "as opposed to"?

Or, perhaps, you are just a childish pillock, who thinks it's great to discriminate against others? In which case, I'm sure you're quite happy in the cultural desert that Twitter has become.

Re: re: Aren't all the rest of the social media platforms doing this as well

I'll chime in with this as well: Unlike X, or anything run by Meta (FB / Instagram / Threads / WhatsApp), BlueSky has been quite clear that they will not use any data for "AI" training; that's part of the reason for the flood of users from X, because Musk changed their terms to explicitly say that everything posted there will be slurped up and used to train "Grok". They can't guarantee that nobody else will be using their APIs to slurp up data to train AIs, of course, because the whole point is that it's an open platform for which people can build their own clients, via those APIs. I'd imagine that if someone were doing so, however, on a large scale, it would become obvious, and the handle associated with that slurping would get put on block lists pretty quickly (or just banned).

My money is on that sort of pattern-matching "AI" producing a confidence interval as a result, and those that are very high numbers (say, 99-100%) being automatically accepted, and those that are indeterminate (say 50%-70%) being flagged for review by a human. I'd be very doubtful about whether they are allowed to provide "answers" with no human interaction at all, as they are essentially tools for automating repetitive tasks, such as reviewing a large number of slides, where inattention blindness sets in in humans.

To be fair, I'd not trust the output of a lot more than 18% of people, and that 18% would definitely be included in that.

I'm more worried about children using it for schoolwork, because the point of schoolwork isn't to produce answers to assignments, it's to learn the material those assignments cover by doing them. The result of this will be that children don't learn at school, and an undereducated population is a danger to everyone (see current politics just about everywhere). On these grounds alone, I reckon the access to "AI" by children should be controlled in a similar way that access to alcohol and pornography (nominally) are.

Musk, America PAC sued for allegedly rigging $1M election prize

51% of the ones who voted, 63.7% of the eligible population apparently. For those who can't do the maths themselves, that's 32.5% or thereabouts, so only one in three Americans were daft enough to vote for fascism, and still not quite as much as the 38.9% of the eligible vote that a certain angry Austrian got in March 1933. Maybe there's hope yet (or maybe T___p is less well-liked than H_____r?)

Yup, half of that thought-leader crap on LinkedIn is indeed AI scribbled

I think you just described every single salesman I've ever met. Can you be more specific?

Just remember, the "Type-A" personality is named that way, because it's the first one they came up with, and as such, it's missing vital features, and doesn't work properly.

note - personality "types" have, of course, been thoroughly discredited, once it was revealed that they were invented by the tobacco industry as a marketing ploy. What I'm really referring to here is the tendency for salespeople to exhibit traits of narcissistic personality disorder, because lying to people for a living is pretty much a natural fit for a narcissist. "Type-A" is a nice shorthand for this, though, and I shall continue to use it.

"Thought Leader"

Sounds like some drivel spewed up by a LLM asked to invent a new job title for a role that is both unnecessary and useless.

Bluesky too opaque about user figures for Euro watchdogs

I don't think they've hit 2M users a day on any day, the growth peaked at a little over 1M a day and around 12 new users per second, and, as I write this, they are a little short of 23M, and gaining around 3 users a second, which is about 0.2M a day, give or take.

You can check it yourself if you're really interested in seeing a number going up in near-real time (interpolated between 60s updates from the API).