Posts by Trigun

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison

Re: Those eyes

That was my reaction when I watched the Cold Fusion video on this quite some time back. She looked fake and sounded fake. A guess what? Her product was fake in the end.

FTX disarray declared 'unprecedented' by exec who cleaned up after Enron

I hope that they not only manage to extradite Sam Bankman-Fried, but they get the rest of the core group as well.

This little venture of theirs has done enormous damage and it's going to sink lots of companies, putting many people out of work. For the ones that survive, they are going to have large holes to fill in their balance sheets and let's not even talk about the pension schemes which had invested.

Also, there will probably be suicides related to this, as some will find their lives and futures wiped out. This is something which gets forgotten sometimes. You can blame them to a degree for their foolishness, but some of this is on the con merchants who peddle these dodgy crypto "investments", hiding the level of risk as they do so.

If I knew that I was part of this, I would be finding somewhere which doesn't extradite to anywhere and where hit men can't find me. Perhaps Pluto.

Or maybe the insanely large political donations that FTX made in recent years will help them.

Musk tells of risk of Twitter bankruptcy as tweeters trash brands

If what is in this COMMENT article is accurate, then it certainly doesn't look good. Very few people will work 80 hour weeks for no additional benefit. Again, if this is accurate.

I make that "if accurate" distinction, because I see an enormous amount of bias in the press about this subject and some people are eating it up uncritically.

Doesn't mean Elon Musk isn't mucking things up badly, but only time will tell on that, so I'm going to sit back and reserve judgement for a while longer.

Twitter employees sue over lack of 60-day layoff notice

Re: The situation in Ireland is perhaps more interesting

I don't thinkit's illegal though. Those laid off are getting paid until February.

Those being laid off are being paid until February, from what I understand. So effectively they're getting gardening leave which pretty much sorts 60 days notice. Also, as others have said, CA is an at-will state (in my mind being ejected from your job at-will without cause is just an abuse) so one could argue Elon Musk is actually being generous - but more likely he's just being careful.

Re: handling layoffs

Yep, this is what I read.

Elon Musk jettisons Twitter leadership, says takeover was 'to try to help humanity'

That's not what I'm saying. My issue is with the media itself: It's just way too much in the pocket of one group or another. I'm sure that Elon Musk can take care of himself.

Fair enough, but people will naturally interpret it as news as everything is a "commentary" these days. So really it doesn't matter if one marks an article as such.

Also, if someone posts an article which presents a given view then anyone reading it may assume that the views within it are those of the website/organsation who's banner it is published under. If it's a powerful or well known org then that may carry significant weight. Not so good if the article happens to be unbalanced/biased because it's a commentary.

Well, we'll see, although it just feels like everyone has built Elon Musk up to be this terrible ogre, mostly seemigly pushed by the media (which is why I mentioned them in my original post). Should he be cirtised for acting unprofessionally at times? Yep, although sometimes it's good to see someone as a human being. Is he up for a bit of free speech? Yes, which is good, btw, as long as it's fairly applied to all sides and not absolute ( you still need rules against genuine hate, stalking, doxxing, etc.). And will it be good to see those opaque rules become less so? Yes.

What Elon Musk should do in my admittedly less than expert opinion, is to set up a transparent set of rules, set up systems within twitter to safe guard neutrality and fairness which operate in the open and then go very obviously hands off. I.e. he stays out of twitter completely (no twitter commentry, etc.), but keeps a beady eye on the systems he has put in place to ensure that they keep functioning as intended.

Good grief, but that article was a tad negative, shall we say? In fact, I've noticed a trend of that in the media. It would be good (and I'm talking about the media in general here, not just the reg) to see some impartiality like the old days.

That's not to say Elon Musk is an angel, saint, etc because he isn't and it remains to be seen as to whether he will be a force for good or the opposite.

Platform-wise, I hope that, whatever the rules end up being that they are applied evenly and fairly. A big complaint which comes up repeatedly is that the rules are applied unevenly. It could also possibly have a facelift when it comes to how it's implemented to allow people not get less reactionary/worked up.

I'm not at all surprised that the previous administration was given the heave-ho, as that's not unusual if you want to make a culture change within an organisation. Sounds like they're landing on their feet with their compensation, though: I could use a cool $40 million, personally.

Anyway, going to be interesting to see where this goes.

'Chief Twit' Musk delivers bathroom furniture to Twitter HQ ... but not Tesla results

Re: What a joker

Perhaps. I'm not a fan of twitter and it's role in helping divide people. However, I'm sure that not everyone who works there is ultra sensorious. At least I hope not.

Another side of this is just simple professionalism and courtesy. I'd hate for my boss to just announce to the world that he's going to dump 75% of staff in the company that I work for.

Don't take this as a dump on Elon Musk, btw: It's just that I think there are better ways of handling this kind of thing.

Re: What a joker

As much as a dislike twitter and what it represents, Elon should have kept his mouth shut with regards letting anyone go at this time. Announcing it like he has seems a tad cruel.

Re: Incorrect

Given what Paypal have been up to recently, I'm not entirely sure that we should hold that against him.

Twitter's most valuable users are ghosting the platform

I'm not entirely surprised that people are abandoning twitter. It seems to wind people up and given that everyone has spent 1-2 years more online than offline, it's probably made that worse.

India's – and Infosys's – favorite son-in-law Rishi Sunak is next UK PM

Re: Easing of Visa requirements for Indian travellers?

Fair enough: I clearly misunderstood. I shall hopefully get my ligament repaired soon!

Re: Talking points

Like I said: There may have been people who did racially abuse her, but from what I saw there people criticising her and then getting accused of being racist, when race hadn't even come into it. As for the Royals abusing her racially: I very much doubt it, but I cannot say for definite, one way or the other.

Lasty: Take a chill pill, or possibly a frog one, as clearly your meds have run out going by your foul reply to me and other comments you've left here.

Re: Easing of Visa requirements for Indian travellers?

That's a heck of an accusation and, as far as I've seen, utter rubbish.

Not wanting to be swamped is not "didn't want any brown people mucking up the English country(side)".

Those who voted for Brexit have been lied to repeatedly and that's not their fault. The fault lies with the people in power, and throwing vile generalisations about racism at 52% of the population is not at all helpful, to say the least.

BTW Liz Truss said she was going to increase immigration, not limit it.

Re: Talking points

Two wrongs don't make a right.

As far as Megan Markle is concerned: There have been quite a number of articles about her, many of which are ciritical of her actions, not her race. That doesn't mean that there aren't *rsehats banging on about her race (those should always be called out), but there have been some people who have conflated the two things. Race should never trump actions/opinions, good or bad.

Re: Talking points

This is (was) my attitude as well, but it's increasingly difficult to sit back and watch people call out disdain against one group*, but espouse it against another. In this country, we're supposed to have equal opportunity where possible and to not be derided or elevated based off of immutable characteristics.

I'm now starting to call out the hypocrisy, no matter the group* being attacked, because main stream society is going backwards when it comes to things like race and sex. Martin Luther King Jr would be appalled, I think.

* as defined by immutable characteristics

Talking points

I don't really care if Sunak is prime minister or not, but I find it very interesting indeed that people are talking abour race so much. The same people who seem to promote negativity in relation to straight white men / white people in general, bordering sometimes on blantant racism and sexism. I.e. the progressive far left (who aren't actually progressive, as bigotry never is).

Re: Easing of Visa requirements for Indian travellers?

No, we don't need to iincrease immigration - it's already at super insane levels.

From the Great Resignation to demand for more overtime

Re: Present to my successor!

I've seen this repeatedly: We know someone is quitting, so let's do nothing at all until they are gone and then panic when no one has done the tasks that the person did and foist the job role on an existing employee who is already over burdened as it is.

It's an insane approach to management that you'd think anyone in their right mind would not do, but it just keeps happening.

New measurement alert: Liz Truss inspires new Register standard

Re: Prime Minister

Well done. Have an up vote.

How I made a Chrome extension for converting Reg articles to UK spelling

Swapping from UK-centric to US-centric is not something I wanted to see with this site as part of the charm is that it has UK roots with UK humour. That's not to say there's anything wrong with being US centric, but it does make it more generic, less interesting, more corporate. If you hadn't noticed, your readership, in general, are a bit anti-corporate. So it does feel like a sell-out in some way.

Liz Truss ousted as UK prime minister, outlived by online lettuce

Bah

What a complete fiasco. During covid I had a feeling that the Conservatives would be done afterwards, as any party or leader linked with a major societally negative event gets ousted eventually - people just want to remove unpleasant reminders. The only thng keeping them in longer was a silent majority feeling that the other parties weren't viable/a choice. However, Conservatives own infighting has defeated them. Perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised what with all of the contentions in 2014 *still* rumbling on.

"Since Monty Python star John Cleese seems determined to demonstrate exactly how cancelled he is by appearing all over the media"

Personally, I admire the fact that he is standing up for his beliefs in the face of a bunch of censorious people who think that only their opinions should be heard.

YouTube loves recommending conservative vids regardless of your beliefs

Interesting timing

All social media tends to skew one way or another. I tend to think of youtube as centre/centre-right due to the content and reddit/twitter as centre to hard left. It's not absolute of course - I'm speaking in general trends as I see it. And it's going to happen as they can and do all function as echo chambers.

What I am interested in is the timing of this "study". Almost as if something else involving another platform might have prompted it. Almost as if someone somewhere is concerned that the left leaning media are perhaps losing a little ground. Generally speaking nothing wrong with that as long as it hovers in the centre and doesn't go full on right-wing as much as it's been left wing in recent years.

Lastly: The title of this article seems a bit off, as if all youtube video are (queue the german accent) "You *vill* vatch ze right-wing video!" When of course that's not at all the case.

Ok, ok, that might be a over the top, but article titles can sometimes indicate the tone (and sometimes bias) of a piece.

Re: You're not obliged to watch their suggestions

"And yes it probably is true that left wingers are more likely to play on both sides of the fence, specifically because of our more academic tendencies. Whereas right wingers tend more towards wilful ignorance and dogmatism. So it isn't really surprising that the algorithm is skewed to the right."

I think that people, not "left wingers", nor "right wingers", get tribalised and make sweeping, disparaging and ignorant statements about the other side. I have seen good, intelligent videos from both sides. Similarly, I've seen what I can only term mental illness as well.

It's the people, not the "side" so it's better not to take a dump on "other side" - treat people as individuals if you can and assess them by what they say and do.

Children should have separate sections in social media sites, says UK coroner

Chiling effect

'The bill, first drafted under former prime minister Theresa May in 2019, was revised this year to authorize imprisonment — up to two years — for anyone whose social media message could cause "psychological harm amounting to at least serious distress."'

'A particularly controversial aspect of the original bill was its aim to curb what it calls "legal but harmful" expression by netizens.'

How the heck does anyone not think that such a system:

- will lead to a massive chilling efefct on free speech in the UK

- be abused by the unscupulous to get the people that they don't like criminalised, possibly jailed

With our current hate crime and non-crime legistaltion coupled with the above, you have a pefect ability to arrest and criminalise anyone for anything they say, usually based on how someone else feels.

I think our politicians are living on another planet at this point - or just mailicious on a societal scale.

Infosec still (mostly) a boys club

Re: What can be done to stop that

The way that you phrase that makes me think that you're suggesting that they discriminate based on sex. As such, wouldn't that make the quite hypercrital and also in violation of anti-discrimination laws? We've seen this before and most people know that positive discrimination for one group is negative and unfair for another.

Of course, if all you're saying is that they should consider employing women based on their skills & knowledge then that's fine - but would just mean that they are doing as most western companies do.

Re: Bricklaying, plumbing and electrical work

I believe that women are indeed given a fair crack. In fact I suspect that they get a little extra help - not as a result of them asking or even desiring it, but because women are seen with less agency than they actually have. It's a well meaning type of condenscenion in my opinon.

Now if you head over to some non-western countries then you will definitately see what discrimination and misogony look like.

Although always worth checking into why there is a skew, it seems to me that people always jump to the conclusion that women are being held back or super under-payed in every single industry/instance. Perhaps this might just be something that many women just do not want to do, or at least not as a long term profession? It's been known in academic circles for many years that men and women tend to be attracted to different professions and have different interests. Just something to consider as an alternative to the standard go-to answer.

Just $10 to create an AI chatbot of a dead loved one

No

I have zero interest in speaking with a fake version of my dad who passed away in 2019. It would be deeply disrespectful to his memory and I'd also know it wasn't actually him.

The Metaverse is the internet no one wants

Re: Call me old fashioned

Same with adult (I don't mean porn) "comics" in the late 80's & early 90's, if memory serves. Usually the pack few pages.

Yep, red is defo cheaper :)

PayPal decides fining people $2,500 for 'misinformation' wasn't a great idea

They haven't just targeted Alex Jones type people, as recent weeks have shown.

As for Alex Jones: You can like him or you can hate him, but he deserves legal due process (just like you and I), not to have funds "taken" by PayPal. There's a greater principle here.

Re: Think who this is targeting

I thoroughly agree. As for lawyers: That option will be available for those who can afford it, it should be noted. If you're a middle to low income private citizen or a small business then you may not have the funds, particuarly if paypal have locked funds or "taken" them.

By itself you might construe that this was indeed a mistake, a terrible miswording, etc.. It can happen, some people make mistakes and there should always be room for forgiveness for such.

However, when you frame this against the background of Paypal attempting to deplatform the Free Spoeech Union and UsForThem recently, amongst many organisations historically, because they didn't tow the main stream line (and I'm not talking about people supporting terrorism), then it becomes something different.

The main issue, which always gets over-shadowed by the debate as to the merits of the organisation being deplatformed, is the fact that a main stream banking/financial organisation is 1) banning people from something we all need to exist: fincances & banking, particularly as we're soon to go cashless, 2) freezing funds for up to 180 days: Imagine that if you're a business? It would potentially kill it and you probably won't have the funds to hire a solicitor.

Looking at this with a wider lense; This is something that has been happening for many, many years, but was, until recently, reserved for violent extremist organisations and usually at the behest of a government. It's now being used more often against private citizens and organisations who don't hold "acceptable" opinions and politics, particularly in the U.S. and Canada. Banking is becoming weaponised.

As for those who think "So what? They are a private company and have the right to decide who they do business with", consider this: Deplatforming for wrong-think is becoming normalised and has spread to banking. If it spreads further into that area and into, say, your ISP, your electricty supplier, etc then saying the wrong thing online which your ideological opponents report you for will make life unliveable. Also keep in mind that the overton window (what is "acceptable" for public discourse) can move rapidly and can and has narrowed significantly and your opinions might be on the chopping block next.

People are coming out of retirement due to cost-of-living crisis

Re: I will never be able to afford to retire.

I am, but it's not a huge amount and I'm not sure if it'll be there if we have another surprise "mini budget" as we've had recently ;).

EIther way, it is what it is and I might not need it anyway if things go further south than they already have in the world :p.

And there's me wishing to retire 15 years ealy... nah just kidding. I will never be able to afford to retire. I envy (not in a nasty way) those who will be able to.

Bank of England puts cloud analytics on todo list after seeing off market collapse

Disagree with just one part of your statement: "Short term pain, long term gain."

Because all of our parties are absolute naf. We get rid of the conservatives and then we get someone else who is just as bad, but just in their own special way.

Appeals court already under fire for upholding Texas no-content-moderation law

Re: I will throw my 2p worth

Not an expert on the U.S. votiing, but I thought the whole point of the way it currently works is to stop the cities having undue influence and also to ensure states with larger populations doen't completely (and forever) dominate and get their way for their own interests against the interests of smaller ones.

Re: Here we go...

Nor left wing ones either, one hopes.

Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II – Britain's first high-tech monarch

Re: Not my Queen

Even if I loathed someone, I wouldn't crack jokes as they were dying.

As others have said; You're welcome to your opinion - as unplesant as it is.

A momentous and sad day. The Queen has joined Prince Philip. May they rest in peace together.

Cloudflare stops services to 'revolting' hate site

Re: This is how it starts

I'm of the same opinion, but it's good to be sure that what people are claiming about a given site is true. People have been known to lie.

Re: This is how it starts

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Those sound pretty horrendous, but it seems that, unless there are more facts or the above is somehow erroneous, that these suicides aren't really related to Kiwifarms then?

Re: This is how it starts

Well, don't antifa brutalise people that they don't agree with?

Also, on the coin that Fascism exists, on the other side is communism & marxism. Both are very authoritarian and all eventually lead to a terrible end game. There are plenty of examples in the 20th century. BTW both sides would absolutely refute what I've just said, pointing to the otherside as being the worst, but they are ultimately the same.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory

Indian tech minister picks a fight with Wikipedia over cricketer's dropped catch

Not a new issue

This isn't a great surprise or a new issue. Wikipedia has been known to be open to abuse just because of it's open nature.

Don't like someone or something? Edit their wikipedia page to twist facts or even outright lie.