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  The *idea* of mini-computers appeals to me so much, but the don't come with keyboards, screens, etc., so I don't have a use for them. But they're so ~cool~! #computers #tech #technology #MiniComputers #laptops #notepads

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  This interview is a great summation of how utterly screwy the "AI" industries finances are. Really short version: it doesn't make enough money to support itself, and the money it does make are from other companies that can't support themselves. Tee hee! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sDzlv-VI2U&t=1537s #AI #LLM #Bubble #tech #technology #BigTech #VentureCapitalism #Venturecapital

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  This interview is great bc Doctorow (@pluralistic@mamot.fr ) is discussing/debating "AI" with someone who disagrees with him but can be persuaded by logic and evidence. Doctorow is countering common beliefs about "AI" using evidence straight from his books. #AI #computers #LLM #hype #AIBubble https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTqCVJFr7XM&list=WL&index=2

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  I'm so glad I never gave #Framework my money. Dodged a Nazi bullet. I would have learned about #Omarchy and then *hated* the machine I was using. I wouldn't even be able to give it away in good conscience. #FOSS #FLOSS #OpenSource #Linux #computers #laptops #fascism

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  "AI" is a normal technology. It's an algorithm that does a handful of things quite well and a dumptruck of things very poorly. The "AI" industry is vile. Its goal is to convince your boss to "fire you and replace you with a chatbot that can't do your job" (@pluralistic@mamot.fr), and it will happily destroy the economy and egg on environmental destruction to do it. #AI #LLM #capitalism #labour #labor

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  I think I said this already, but it's bizarre to me that people are now talking about the Republican Party as if they'll simply be defeated in the next election, and things will go back to normal. #politics #USPol #Republicans #TheRepublicanParty

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  I had a conversation with a colleague who's partner is in VFX. Said partner gets asked pretty frequently by clients to have "no AI!" in the production process, and his answer is: That's not really possible. #AI #VFX #LLM

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  I think I'm done with Batman. The vigilante fantasy parallels the cop-as-enforcer fantasy where they're in a "war" (as in this trailer). There are literal cop seminars where they preach that there are wolves in sheeps' clothing (criminals), sheepdogs (cops), and sheep (everyone else). It's the ideological angle on the problem with policing. They think they're at war with *us*. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeAuNll34dg

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  @liquor_american@universeodon.com @MissConstrue@mefi.social The anti-communist propaganda is very powerful. On an airplane, I one spoke for twenty minutes once with an American about what a nightmare healthcare is there and how much he'd love the Canadian system, so I said, "Yeah, socialism works!" He literally went stiff, and said, "Well, let's not go there..." Like dude, what do you think we've been talking about?

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  RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116997210062423037 This articulates the exact problem I've had with this tech since the beginning. This tech is useful only if you're already an expert in whatever you're asking it about. If you're not, you have no idea if the answer it gives you is grammatical gibberish. To put that in businesspeak, you have zero quality assurance.

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  This is the future of leftist political organizing. Learn from the Black Panthers and the trade unionists: making people's lives better is *how* you organize them and mobilize them. @katabu@newsie.social #politics #USpol #organize #solidarity #MutualAid #TradeUnions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRhtI1SrxGw

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  People will say you have no expectation of privacy in public, and that is true, but it's not what we're actually talking about. For the VAST majority of human history, we had no expectation of being *recorded*. It's only the last few decades that that was even possible. Our laws need to catch up. #privacy #politics #data

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  I don't know who needs to hear this, but #Linux is political. You personally might not be into it for the politics, which is fine I guess, but anything that pushes back against America's global tech monopoly is a political project. It can't not be. Just saying. #FOSS #FLOSS #OpenSource #Linux #Debian #Gnome

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  @dramypsyd@ohai.social FWIW, I'm a prof too, and I went out of my way to include my face in order to humanize the lessons when I did that kind on online learning. And yes, absolutely it will be more tiring. Performance always is. I don't say that to imply you have to just suck it up, to be clear. I'm just telling you my experience. Although my experience is as a man, which is a very different thing when it comes to being "presentable."

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  @farah@beige.party I have honestly asked myself, at various moments of contemplating history, "Have white people invented *anything*?" And I mean, we have, but AT THE VERY LEAST (since the time when there was such thing as "whiteness"), white innovation has been *on the backs* of BIPOC: stolen resources, stolen ideas, exploited labour, etc.

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  I tried a back stroke at the pool for the first time today. My shoulders are sore. My sides are shore. I constantly splashed water in my own face. I'll get better. :) #exercise #health #swimming

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  Saw a video, today, of 3D-printed #LapDock for a smart phone: portable monitor, chonky battery, USB-C for the phone to be a "side monitor." #computers #SmartPhones

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  This moment, where we're expected to treat transphobes like they're merely taking a position in a live, social/political debate... I cannot express to you emphatically enough that it's EXACTLY the same as homophobes in the 90s/2000s. It was bullshit then. It's bullshit now. No quarter for bigots. #transphobia #homophobia #politics

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  The sequence in #DareDevil S02E03 where he "listens" his way into the prison based on a blindfolded person's observations is just the right level of ridiculous for a superhero show. Pretty good "oner" fight sequence, too, although boy is it ever obvious where they hid the cuts! #MarveLCinematicUniverse #MCU #TV

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  RE: https://social.mondoweiss.net/@mondoweiss/116461598221135598 Many years ago, I had a Jewish roommate, and she told me about taking a trip to Israel and, when she was leaving, being grilled by the border official. "Why don't you want to stay?" "I'm Canadian." "But you could stay." "I don't want to. I'm Canadian. I'm going home."

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  Regarding #TheYearOfTheLinuxLaptop: WIndows is becoming increasingly odious as Linux distros are decreasingly frustrating, and a LOT of people are hopping from one to the other as they cross over. #Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #Scriberspace

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  Goddammit, I had just somewhat gotten over my seething desire to buy a Framework laptop, and they came out with one that looks even cooler. #computers #RightToRepair #Framework

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  *Turns out I'm neurodiverse ("what, really?" said no one), and currently sorta kinda disabled, but you get my point.

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  @Canageek I love that #Debian is a combination of "Debbie" and "Ian." The creator named it after himself and his girlfriend.

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  I thought this was obvious, but: The US president openly threatening war crimes against the people of Iran is *far* more significant than him saying "fuck." The fact that "fuck" is more bothersome than war crimes *to the media class* is, itself, a sign of their unfitness for the job at hand. #Trump #USPol #POTUS #politics #Iran #WarCrimes #media #news #journalism

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  God job, you human testicles, you *empowered* the government of Iran by *brutalizing* its civilian population. #Iran #America #politics #USPol

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  We had my sister-in-law's boyfriend to our house yesterday, who is from #Iran, and my kids were making coloured eggs. He pointed out that they do that in Iran, too, for #Nowruz, and now I *must* find out if these practices are related! Nowruz is an *ancient* holiday, and #Easter is an old #pagan word for a very #Christian holiday, but "Easter" for many people is eggs and bunnies (ie, #RitesOfSpring), so this stuff could ALL be related. #history #AncientWorld #religion

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  Heard myself say something smart today. The inverse of the male gaze, where women on film are presented as sexual objects to be looked at by presumed-straight male audiences, is not to ogle shirtless men. The inverse of the male gaze is when films treat women like people. #film #MaleGaze #FemaleGaze #objectification #feminism #FilmTheory

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  Guys! [panting] Guys! Guys! [wiping sweat off my forehead] Garnets make natural dodecahedrons!!

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  I bought a refurbished #Thinkpad T14 when I switched to Linux, and aside from one *serious* problem when I first got it, it's been smooth sailing for the most part. I read other people's struggles with Linux, and I finally realize *why* all the websites said, "JFC, just get a Thinkpad!!" #FOSS #FLOSS #OpenSource #Linux #Debian #Gnome