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Today is Server Move Day – politicalbetting.com

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  • Options
    bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 7,981
    Yesterday was National Hot Chocolate Day. Today is Server Move Day. It all makes this time of year so festive.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725
    Imagine what Elon Musk could get done if he wasn't so PROFOUNDLY LAZY - if he actually put down the Kleenex, turned off Xhamster, got out of his bedsit and did some actual work

    He could make some money, or start a company, or something
  • Options
    Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,081
    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.
    Trying to cancel people for expressing an opinion is woke.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    This is why Rayner's 'scum' comments - and the very belated apology - were so wrong. And why those who congratulated her for the apology - only given after a fellow MP was murdered - were wrong. People feed off those sorts of comments.

    I tried to build some positivity on here the other day and it didn't seem to work. Everything's sh*t, apparently... :(
  • Options
    kamskikamski Posts: 4,338
    kamski said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    File Under: OO-er

    Humans prefer AI-generated copy, survey finds
    The survey of 700 U.S. consumers found that AI-generated content was preferred by humans more than human-generated content.


    https://searchengineland.com/human-vs-ai-generated-content-survey-437062

    The grammar in that sentence is awful. If it's AI generated then international novelists shouldn't worry yet.
    Wait til you see the shite 'copy' that humans had to choose between.

    I mean the example given in the link is some copy about catfood. The human copy tries in vain to make it sound fun and exciting, whereas the AI is more to the point and straightforward. Most humans don't really want to read stuff trying to sell them catfood, but if forced to a small majority find the feeble attempts to make catfood sound fun more annoying than the simpler, shorter AI version. Whether that means the AI version is actually more effective copy is a very different question, of course.

    Perhaps we should still be impressed that the AI can generate copy that makes sense at all.
  • Options
    Ghedebrav said:

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    Gullis supposedly far nicer in person than his public persona suggests.
    I'm sure he is! I did Politics at A-Level and we had a trip to parliament. We were introduced to Norman Tebbit - a wonderful charming smiling man genuinely engaged talking to us bunch of Oldham scrubbers about parliament.

    Public Persona - bite yer legs off then get on yer bike and find work. In the flesh? Lovely.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725
    kamski said:

    kamski said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    File Under: OO-er

    Humans prefer AI-generated copy, survey finds
    The survey of 700 U.S. consumers found that AI-generated content was preferred by humans more than human-generated content.


    https://searchengineland.com/human-vs-ai-generated-content-survey-437062

    The grammar in that sentence is awful. If it's AI generated then international novelists shouldn't worry yet.
    Wait til you see the shite 'copy' that humans had to choose between.

    I mean the example given in the link is some copy about catfood. The human copy tries in vain to make it sound fun and exciting, whereas the AI is more to the point and straightforward. Most humans don't really want to read stuff trying to sell them catfood, but if forced to a small majority find the feeble attempts to make catfood sound fun more annoying than the simpler, shorter AI version. Whether that means the AI version is actually more effective copy is a very different question, of course.

    Perhaps we should still be impressed that the AI can generate copy that makes sense at all.
    True enough, however it is more evidence of a truly weird phenomenon: humans prefer the AI "version of things" to the real human version

    eg when given a choice between human faces and fake AI faces, humans can no longer distinguish them, what's more, they are more likely to say the unreal AI images are the real faces. They prefer the AI version


    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/19/technology/artificial-intelligence-image-generators-faces-quiz.html

    "Distinguishing between a real versus an A.I.-generated face has proved especially confounding.

    Research published across multiple studies found that faces of white people created by A.I. systems were perceived as more realistic than genuine photographs of white people, a phenomenon called hyper-realism."

    What the fuck is going on here? It is philosophically fascinating, on multiple levels. Also a touch disturbing
  • Options

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    This is why Rayner's 'scum' comments - and the very belated apology - were so wrong. And why those who congratulated her for the apology - only given after a fellow MP was murdered - were wrong. People feed off those sorts of comments.

    I tried to build some positivity on here the other day and it didn't seem to work. Everything's sh*t, apparently... :(
    We don't need to pretend everything isn't shit because we want to treat people as people.

    There are always a minority who do well in hard times. One of the things I have learned in life is to do everything you can to personally insulate you and yours from the inevitable cyclical nature of the economy.

    But me doing well isn't everyone doing well. Nor does it blind me to the crisis in public services at practically every level, the record tax burden and the growing gap between the UK and A.N. Other country in civic society.

    The IMF intervened and said the Tories can't do mega tax cuts as billed because we're essentially broke. Now Hunt chimes in and largely agrees - talks about serious structural problems in the economy. Good - I'd glad he has woken up.

    The reason why the Tories are going to get absolutely reamed in this coming election is that they largely are in absolute denial of this simple reality. As Starmer put it neatly yesterday, do we believe Sunak's boasts or our own bank accounts?
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,384

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    This is why Rayner's 'scum' comments - and the very belated apology - were so wrong. And why those who congratulated her for the apology - only given after a fellow MP was murdered - were wrong. People feed off those sorts of comments.

    I tried to build some positivity on here the other day and it didn't seem to work. Everything's sh*t, apparently... :(
    I believe even some PBers fed off Rayner’s ‘scum’ comments, to the point of considering it an acceptable epithet for people they don’t like.
  • Options
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In the near future it will be more like recycling plastic, after a couple of times recycling the plastic becomes unusable. Sorry.
    Why are you apologising? I agree

    In the near future this is going to be a real issue with AI. They are running out of data on which to train them. The greatest pessimists (optimists?) think this might actually be a massive obstacle to our creating true AGI, so far we’ve made incredible progress just by scaling up, what if we reach a limit of scaling

    But I think that ignores evolutionary principles. The dinosaurs got bigger and bigger then hit a limit, but then they evolved into birds: and took to the air
    No. The greatest 'pessimists' think that current LLM are not a route to true AI/AGI, and might be a technological dead-end; an evolved Eliza with exactly the same issues as those older systems.
    But that's exactly my analogy. The LLMs are dinosaurs getting bigger and bigger, but eventually they hit a cul de sac, they couldn't get any bigger

    Did dinosaur evolution stop at that point? No. They grew feathers - archeopteryx - and now they are all around you, they are birds, and they can fly

    Incidentally it looks like they have finally cracked self driving cars

    Waymo expands

    https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/waymo-la-california-sf-los-angeles-rcna135335

    "China challenges the west for driverless car supremacy"

    https://www.ft.com/content/3a649978-69df-46eb-94c8-eee23a69e6bb


    AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE CATCHING UP FAST


    https://mindmatters.ai/2024/01/autonomous-vehicles-are-catching-up-fast/


    Fascinating video of a Tesla in action: autonomously

    https://youtu.be/N9bJLDAAQxc?si=PEIoCfJbOh5qCwiz
    I've shot a video in an autonomous vehicle - the parking pods at Heathrow. Whilst I'm holding this one in reserve for a week where I don't have any other content ready, I conclude that whilst the technology may be ready, society isn't. If I crash on Autopilot the law is clear - I am responsible. What if my car crashes whilst on Robotaxi duty and nobody is in the car? Who is liable then?

    We just don't have an answer to that rather basic question.

    Much more fun was Tesla loaning me a new Model 3 Highland overnight to shoot a review. Plebs get an hour, I got 18 hours....
    Yes, I agree

    The technology is basically there, now. But serious legal issues remain - however, the Chinese Govt is determined to overcome them (see that FT article) because they believe the first country to universalise self-driving will make massive productivity gains and be able to sell on the tech to others (plus you get safer roads, and all that). So I reckon it will get done

    This is also why self-driving tuk-tuks are a brilliant answer. Much lighter, slower, far less dangerous. If a tuk tuk hits another tuk tuk it's like bumper cars rather than Death Race 2000
    Hopefully the new legislation / changes to UNECE will allow us to do more with automation. I am much safer letting the car drive than doing it manually as the car doesn't miss something or get tired or distracted. But it can only do a fraction of what it is capable of doing due to the software locks imposed by the current regulations.

    It was fun though, getting what was in essence my first press loan car to review...
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,252
    Anne Clarke's apology -


  • Options
    Cyclefree said:

    Anne Clarke's apology -


    Translation: I didn't read the letter below the first line before thinking HA HA HA.

    Ian's management tricks of the trade number 17: "Have you read it?"
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In the near future it will be more like recycling plastic, after a couple of times recycling the plastic becomes unusable. Sorry.
    Why are you apologising? I agree

    In the near future this is going to be a real issue with AI. They are running out of data on which to train them. The greatest pessimists (optimists?) think this might actually be a massive obstacle to our creating true AGI, so far we’ve made incredible progress just by scaling up, what if we reach a limit of scaling

    But I think that ignores evolutionary principles. The dinosaurs got bigger and bigger then hit a limit, but then they evolved into birds: and took to the air
    No. The greatest 'pessimists' think that current LLM are not a route to true AI/AGI, and might be a technological dead-end; an evolved Eliza with exactly the same issues as those older systems.
    But that's exactly my analogy. The LLMs are dinosaurs getting bigger and bigger, but eventually they hit a cul de sac, they couldn't get any bigger

    Did dinosaur evolution stop at that point? No. They grew feathers - archeopteryx - and now they are all around you, they are birds, and they can fly

    Incidentally it looks like they have finally cracked self driving cars

    Waymo expands

    https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/waymo-la-california-sf-los-angeles-rcna135335

    "China challenges the west for driverless car supremacy"

    https://www.ft.com/content/3a649978-69df-46eb-94c8-eee23a69e6bb


    AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE CATCHING UP FAST


    https://mindmatters.ai/2024/01/autonomous-vehicles-are-catching-up-fast/


    Fascinating video of a Tesla in action: autonomously

    https://youtu.be/N9bJLDAAQxc?si=PEIoCfJbOh5qCwiz
    I've shot a video in an autonomous vehicle - the parking pods at Heathrow. Whilst I'm holding this one in reserve for a week where I don't have any other content ready, I conclude that whilst the technology may be ready, society isn't. If I crash on Autopilot the law is clear - I am responsible. What if my car crashes whilst on Robotaxi duty and nobody is in the car? Who is liable then?

    We just don't have an answer to that rather basic question.

    Much more fun was Tesla loaning me a new Model 3 Highland overnight to shoot a review. Plebs get an hour, I got 18 hours....
    Yes, I agree

    The technology is basically there, now. But serious legal issues remain - however, the Chinese Govt is determined to overcome them (see that FT article) because they believe the first country to universalise self-driving will make massive productivity gains and be able to sell on the tech to others (plus you get safer roads, and all that). So I reckon it will get done

    This is also why self-driving tuk-tuks are a brilliant answer. Much lighter, slower, far less dangerous. If a tuk tuk hits another tuk tuk it's like bumper cars rather than Death Race 2000
    Hopefully the new legislation / changes to UNECE will allow us to do more with automation. I am much safer letting the car drive than doing it manually as the car doesn't miss something or get tired or distracted. But it can only do a fraction of what it is capable of doing due to the software locks imposed by the current regulations.

    It was fun though, getting what was in essence my first press loan car to review...
    Was it spooky?

    I've never been in a driverless car, but all the videos I've seen give me that uncanny valley shudder, it doesn't seem quite *right*

    Mind you I may be over-sensitive, I found my Mini's ability to autonomously self-park a little unnerving
  • Options
    StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 14,662
    Leon said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    They are completely insane

    Also, Badenoch is even more completely insane if she goes along with this, it will end her career, because the Tories will still go down to a massive defeat, and then she will have to resign

    Their only hope is to stick with Sunak, do some tax cuts, fix the bloody boats, and somehow scrape to 30% in the GE and make 150-200 seats. A bad defeat, but not apocalyptic

    They seem to PREFER the apocalypse
    I'm reminded of the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. You know, the more he fought to free himself of the baby, the more stuck he got.

    The Conservatives must, surely, realise they're in trouble. But every attempt to break free makes things worse. That went for Truss's Tax Cuts. It's true for Stop The Boats; at the moment all the noise on the issue just highlights their impotence. That's true whether or not there's a feasible version of the scheme that would work. And rubbish as Rishi is, the alternatives look worse.

    So it looks like the Conservatives are losing, can only make things worse for themselves and can't walk away from the table because that would crystallise their loss. And don't have the sang-froid to play "Nearer, my God to Thee" really well as the ship.goes down.

    Grimly fascinating to watch. Like the slasher movie bits of nature documentaries.
  • Options
    GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,035
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In the near future it will be more like recycling plastic, after a couple of times recycling the plastic becomes unusable. Sorry.
    Why are you apologising? I agree

    In the near future this is going to be a real issue with AI. They are running out of data on which to train them. The greatest pessimists (optimists?) think this might actually be a massive obstacle to our creating true AGI, so far we’ve made incredible progress just by scaling up, what if we reach a limit of scaling

    But I think that ignores evolutionary principles. The dinosaurs got bigger and bigger then hit a limit, but then they evolved into birds: and took to the air
    No. The greatest 'pessimists' think that current LLM are not a route to true AI/AGI, and might be a technological dead-end; an evolved Eliza with exactly the same issues as those older systems.
    But that's exactly my analogy. The LLMs are dinosaurs getting bigger and bigger, but eventually they hit a cul de sac, they couldn't get any bigger

    Did dinosaur evolution stop at that point? No. They grew feathers - archeopteryx - and now they are all around you, they are birds, and they can fly

    Incidentally it looks like they have finally cracked self driving cars

    Waymo expands

    https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/waymo-la-california-sf-los-angeles-rcna135335

    "China challenges the west for driverless car supremacy"

    https://www.ft.com/content/3a649978-69df-46eb-94c8-eee23a69e6bb


    AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE CATCHING UP FAST


    https://mindmatters.ai/2024/01/autonomous-vehicles-are-catching-up-fast/


    Fascinating video of a Tesla in action: autonomously

    https://youtu.be/N9bJLDAAQxc?si=PEIoCfJbOh5qCwiz
    I've shot a video in an autonomous vehicle - the parking pods at Heathrow. Whilst I'm holding this one in reserve for a week where I don't have any other content ready, I conclude that whilst the technology may be ready, society isn't. If I crash on Autopilot the law is clear - I am responsible. What if my car crashes whilst on Robotaxi duty and nobody is in the car? Who is liable then?

    We just don't have an answer to that rather basic question.

    Much more fun was Tesla loaning me a new Model 3 Highland overnight to shoot a review. Plebs get an hour, I got 18 hours....
    Yes, I agree

    The technology is basically there, now. But serious legal issues remain - however, the Chinese Govt is determined to overcome them (see that FT article) because they believe the first country to universalise self-driving will make massive productivity gains and be able to sell on the tech to others (plus you get safer roads, and all that). So I reckon it will get done

    This is also why self-driving tuk-tuks are a brilliant answer. Much lighter, slower, far less dangerous. If a tuk tuk hits another tuk tuk it's like bumper cars rather than Death Race 2000
    Hopefully the new legislation / changes to UNECE will allow us to do more with automation. I am much safer letting the car drive than doing it manually as the car doesn't miss something or get tired or distracted. But it can only do a fraction of what it is capable of doing due to the software locks imposed by the current regulations.

    It was fun though, getting what was in essence my first press loan car to review...
    Was it spooky?

    I've never been in a driverless car, but all the videos I've seen give me that uncanny valley shudder, it doesn't seem quite *right*

    Mind you I may be over-sensitive, I found my Mini's ability to autonomously self-park a little unnerving
    “Yeah well, I still jerk off manually.”

    Jeffrey ‘The Dude’ Lebowski
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,943
    Hi Robert and Mike,. I just want to tell you both good luck.

    We're all counting on you.
  • Options
    GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,035
    GIN1138 said:

    Hi Robert and Mike,. I just want to tell you both good luck.

    We're all counting on you.

    A quote I use (to general bewilderment) on a near-daily basis.
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,943
    edited February 1

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    Think this will be as "successful" as the plot to oust El Gord in February 2010....
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,028
    Good morning, everyone.

    Mr. Gate, first I've heard of that rumour although I haven't been paying much attention during the off-season, which tends to be mostly full of nonsense. I'm not sure I buy it. Hamilton's far closer to the end of his career than the start, and Leclerc's seen as a long-term prospect. He may want to jump ship if he doesn't get a potential title-winner of a car this season, though.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 40,076

    Leon said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    They are completely insane

    Also, Badenoch is even more completely insane if she goes along with this, it will end her career, because the Tories will still go down to a massive defeat, and then she will have to resign

    Their only hope is to stick with Sunak, do some tax cuts, fix the bloody boats, and somehow scrape to 30% in the GE and make 150-200 seats. A bad defeat, but not apocalyptic

    They seem to PREFER the apocalypse
    I'm reminded of the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. You know, the more he fought to free himself of the baby, the more stuck he got.

    The Conservatives must, surely, realise they're in trouble. But every attempt to break free makes things worse. That went for Truss's Tax Cuts. It's true for Stop The Boats; at the moment all the noise on the issue just highlights their impotence. That's true whether or not there's a feasible version of the scheme that would work. And rubbish as Rishi is, the alternatives look worse.

    So it looks like the Conservatives are losing, can only make things worse for themselves and can't walk away from the table because that would crystallise their loss. And don't have the sang-froid to play "Nearer, my God to Thee" really well as the ship.goes down.

    Grimly fascinating to watch. Like the slasher movie bits of nature documentaries.
    Very much zombie snail stuff, isn't it, now you mention Sir DA movies?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go_LIz7kTok
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    This is why Rayner's 'scum' comments - and the very belated apology - were so wrong. And why those who congratulated her for the apology - only given after a fellow MP was murdered - were wrong. People feed off those sorts of comments.

    I tried to build some positivity on here the other day and it didn't seem to work. Everything's sh*t, apparently... :(
    I believe even some PBers fed off Rayner’s ‘scum’ comments, to the point of considering it an acceptable epithet for people they don’t like.
    Who?

    And besides, it's slightly different with a nobody on t'Internet talking about individuals and an elected official talking about entire groups.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725

    Leon said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    They are completely insane

    Also, Badenoch is even more completely insane if she goes along with this, it will end her career, because the Tories will still go down to a massive defeat, and then she will have to resign

    Their only hope is to stick with Sunak, do some tax cuts, fix the bloody boats, and somehow scrape to 30% in the GE and make 150-200 seats. A bad defeat, but not apocalyptic

    They seem to PREFER the apocalypse
    I'm reminded of the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. You know, the more he fought to free himself of the baby, the more stuck he got.

    The Conservatives must, surely, realise they're in trouble. But every attempt to break free makes things worse. That went for Truss's Tax Cuts. It's true for Stop The Boats; at the moment all the noise on the issue just highlights their impotence. That's true whether or not there's a feasible version of the scheme that would work. And rubbish as Rishi is, the alternatives look worse.

    So it looks like the Conservatives are losing, can only make things worse for themselves and can't walk away from the table because that would crystallise their loss. And don't have the sang-froid to play "Nearer, my God to Thee" really well as the ship.goes down.

    Grimly fascinating to watch. Like the slasher movie bits of nature documentaries.
    A lot of it is just dumb stupid bad luck

    Any party would likely be facing a serious defeat after 14 years in power, that's the nature of parliamntary democracy

    But this run up to defeat has unfortunately coincided with a global pandemic, and now a couple of horrible wars, saddling the economy with debt, and seriously aggravating lots of other chronic problems (public health, etc)

    But it is not all bad luck. 1.3 million immigrants in two years is not "bad luck". The Tories CHOSE that, even as the voters made it extremely plain they wanted much lower immigration via the Brexit vote. Instead, the Tories chortled and opted for much HIGHER immigration

    So, it is impossible to feel pity for them. Their looming and terrible defeat is well deserved
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,087
    edited February 1
    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 33,267
    Nicola Sturgeon understands why you might have thought she had promised not to delete any WhatsApps, and she forgives you for your foolish mistake.



  • Options
    bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 7,981
    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,087
    edited February 1
    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,087
    edited February 1

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Mr Greer may have had a somewhat elevated view of the intellect and morality of the Olympian pantheon.

    Still one of the best villains on TV though. He truly believed we'd be better off just letting the machines take over as soon as possible.
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,777

    Cyclefree said:

    Anne Clarke's apology -


    Translation: I didn't read the letter below the first line before thinking HA HA HA.

    Ian's management tricks of the trade number 17: "Have you read it?"
    2) Then read it again
    3) Think before you respond.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,059
    If you want to understand the British Establishment just read page 8 of latest Private Eye. The photo is from the 2014 Tory Carlton Club dinner. It includes Liz Truss, Lucy Frazer, former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells & current postal minister Kevin Hollinrake.

    https://x.com/michaellcrick/status/1752826544630722692?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725
    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Mr Greer may have had a somewhat elevated view of the intellect and morality of the Olympian pantheon.

    Still one of the best villains on TV though. He truly believed we'd be better off just letting the machines take over as soon as possible.
    I've never heard of John Greer, or Person of Interest

    Sounds like I am missing out. Should I amend that?
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,087
    Cyclefree said:

    kamski said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kamski said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    Terrible. Do you have a link? Can't seem to find it.
    Here you go.



    She has since deleted it, I understand.

    Freer's Labour opponent in the constituency, Sarah Sackman, has been more gracious, thanking Freer for his years of service and saying how shocked she is by the threats.
    Thanks. On the face of it, it seems completely inexcusable. She doesn't seem to have any history of anti-semitism eg this article she wrote for Jewishnews:
    https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/opinion-we-must-support-israel-in-this-unprecedented-moment-of-terror-pain-and-suffering/
    It is possible she sent that out without reading the announcement. Or that it was a member of staff. She has since deleted it. People can make mistakes. Maybe she just didn't think.

    But the attack on the shop has been noted - it could have been very much worse were it not for the heroism of the staff - and the attacks on Mike Freer have been relentless and there have been other attacks on Jewish people in recent months, most of which have not made front page news. An MP has been forced out of public life because of them and all the parties' leadership should be as one condemning those who do this to MPs - and not just them of course.

    Plus the police should be prosecuting those who do this. Otherwise they get away with it and will continue with it.
    I think it highly likely it will continue and get worse unfortunately.
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,572
    If opinion regarding the election fraud myth proves to be as predictive of Trump support in November as it has so far, Biden’s chance of re-election skyrockets despite his low job approval.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2024/01/31/donald-trump-election-fraud-november-election-joe-biden/
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214
    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Mr Greer may have had a somewhat elevated view of the intellect and morality of the Olympian pantheon.

    Still one of the best villains on TV though. He truly believed we'd be better off just letting the machines take over as soon as possible.
    I've never heard of John Greer, or Person of Interest

    Sounds like I am missing out. Should I amend that?
    It's about AGI, so probably yes.

    It's an excellent series IMO. Like many, it starts off with a crime-of-the-episode format, before becoming much more interesting. And Root.. Oh my God, Root...
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,087
    edited February 1
    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Mr Greer may have had a somewhat elevated view of the intellect and morality of the Olympian pantheon.

    Still one of the best villains on TV though. He truly believed we'd be better off just letting the machines take over as soon as possible.
    I've never heard of John Greer, or Person of Interest

    Sounds like I am missing out. Should I amend that?
    The show started out as a pretty standard procedural crime show with a gimmick but morphed into a rather interesting show once it started getting more explicit about the nature of the machine which one of the characters had created, and the implications of it.

    I loved it, but you could probably start it from season 2 with no issue, and it got better over time as it focused on the AI stuff more.

    JosiasJessop sells it better.
  • Options
    Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,081
    GIN1138 said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    Think this will be as "successful" as the plot to oust El Gord in February 2010....
    Kevin the Minion isn't acting like she wants to challenge Big Rish because her media profile is non-existent. If she really did want to blade him and take over she should be carpet bombing the tory membership with Telegraph opinion pieces, GB News guest spots and the centrefold in Saga.
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 33,267

    And Root.. Oh my God, Root...

    Did you ever watch Dollhouse?
  • Options
    SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,546
    "there’s at least a 50% chance that the server migration will happen without a hitch"

    Is there a market up on that? Or are there no bets while the event is in play? Is the event in play?
  • Options
    OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,217
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In the near future it will be more like recycling plastic, after a couple of times recycling the plastic becomes unusable. Sorry.
    Why are you apologising? I agree

    In the near future this is going to be a real issue with AI. They are running out of data on which to train them. The greatest pessimists (optimists?) think this might actually be a massive obstacle to our creating true AGI, so far we’ve made incredible progress just by scaling up, what if we reach a limit of scaling

    But I think that ignores evolutionary principles. The dinosaurs got bigger and bigger then hit a limit, but then they evolved into birds: and took to the air
    No. The greatest 'pessimists' think that current LLM are not a route to true AI/AGI, and might be a technological dead-end; an evolved Eliza with exactly the same issues as those older systems.
    But that's exactly my analogy. The LLMs are dinosaurs getting bigger and bigger, but eventually they hit a cul de sac, they couldn't get any bigger

    Did dinosaur evolution stop at that point? No. They grew feathers - archeopteryx - and now they are all around you, they are birds, and they can fly

    Incidentally it looks like they have finally cracked self driving cars

    Waymo expands

    https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/waymo-la-california-sf-los-angeles-rcna135335

    "China challenges the west for driverless car supremacy"

    https://www.ft.com/content/3a649978-69df-46eb-94c8-eee23a69e6bb


    AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE CATCHING UP FAST


    https://mindmatters.ai/2024/01/autonomous-vehicles-are-catching-up-fast/


    Fascinating video of a Tesla in action: autonomously

    https://youtu.be/N9bJLDAAQxc?si=PEIoCfJbOh5qCwiz
    I've shot a video in an autonomous vehicle - the parking pods at Heathrow. Whilst I'm holding this one in reserve for a week where I don't have any other content ready, I conclude that whilst the technology may be ready, society isn't. If I crash on Autopilot the law is clear - I am responsible. What if my car crashes whilst on Robotaxi duty and nobody is in the car? Who is liable then?

    We just don't have an answer to that rather basic question.

    Much more fun was Tesla loaning me a new Model 3 Highland overnight to shoot a review. Plebs get an hour, I got 18 hours....
    Yes, I agree

    The technology is basically there, now. But serious legal issues remain - however, the Chinese Govt is determined to overcome them (see that FT article) because they believe the first country to universalise self-driving will make massive productivity gains and be able to sell on the tech to others (plus you get safer roads, and all that). So I reckon it will get done

    This is also why self-driving tuk-tuks are a brilliant answer. Much lighter, slower, far less dangerous. If a tuk tuk hits another tuk tuk it's like bumper cars rather than Death Race 2000
    But if a tuk tuk hits a truck or a bus it is very much Death Race 2000 for the people in the tuk tuk at least.
    My favourite tuk tuk experience was in Sri Lanka, we were coming back ftom my brother in law's wedding in a hired van with a faulty fuel gauge and the diesel ran out. We flagged down a tuk tuk driver who took my father in law and me to a nearby garage, where we could get diesel - the only problem was, they had no fuel cans. So we filled up a couple of carrier bags with diesel (double bagged for safety!) and got back in the tuk tuk. I had strong Wages of Fear vibes all the way back. Getting the fuel into the vehicle was interesting too. Still, we all made it home eventually.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725
    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,384

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    This is why Rayner's 'scum' comments - and the very belated apology - were so wrong. And why those who congratulated her for the apology - only given after a fellow MP was murdered - were wrong. People feed off those sorts of comments.

    I tried to build some positivity on here the other day and it didn't seem to work. Everything's sh*t, apparently... :(
    I believe even some PBers fed off Rayner’s ‘scum’ comments, to the point of considering it an acceptable epithet for people they don’t like.
    Who?

    And besides, it's slightly different with a nobody on t'Internet talking about individuals and an elected official talking about entire groups.
    Online piety is not my favourite thing, but for it to have even a teensy bit of validity it's best that the sermoniser doesn't indulge in the same sort of activity.

    Still, the golden PB rule is always 'it's fine when I do it'.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214
    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Mr Greer may have had a somewhat elevated view of the intellect and morality of the Olympian pantheon.

    Still one of the best villains on TV though. He truly believed we'd be better off just letting the machines take over as soon as possible.
    I've never heard of John Greer, or Person of Interest

    Sounds like I am missing out. Should I amend that?
    It's about AGI, so probably yes.

    It's an excellent series IMO. Like many, it starts off with a crime-of-the-episode format, before becoming much more interesting. And Root.. Oh my God, Root...
    Cool, thankyou

    I see it has got a decent rating on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, so I shall give it go, and maybe skip the first season as suggested

    That is after I have finished Griselda. Which is, so far, excellent. But I am only one episode in and the last two dramas I watched - Monarch/Monsters and Money Heist - both started well then turned to outright dreck
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725
    edited February 1

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
    He is the richest man in the world, he co-started PayPal, he owns and runs Tesla, he owns and runs Twitter, he owns and runs SpaceX, he personally operates a larger space programme than 95% of NATIONS

    At some point you just have to accept - despite your Musk Derangement Syndrome - that maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk occasionally shows up for work, and puts in a couple of hours
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Mr Greer may have had a somewhat elevated view of the intellect and morality of the Olympian pantheon.

    Still one of the best villains on TV though. He truly believed we'd be better off just letting the machines take over as soon as possible.
    I've never heard of John Greer, or Person of Interest

    Sounds like I am missing out. Should I amend that?
    It's about AGI, so probably yes.

    It's an excellent series IMO. Like many, it starts off with a crime-of-the-episode format, before becoming much more interesting. And Root.. Oh my God, Root...
    Cool, thankyou

    I see it has got a decent rating on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, so I shall give it go, and maybe skip the first season as suggested

    That is after I have finished Griselda. Which is, so far, excellent. But I am only one episode in and the last two dramas I watched - Monarch/Monsters and Money Heist - both started well then turned to outright dreck
    I'm unsure about skipping the first series; you may get to miss some character development that's important later, e.g. Fusco, Carter, and Reese himself.
  • Options
    StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 14,662
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    They are completely insane

    Also, Badenoch is even more completely insane if she goes along with this, it will end her career, because the Tories will still go down to a massive defeat, and then she will have to resign

    Their only hope is to stick with Sunak, do some tax cuts, fix the bloody boats, and somehow scrape to 30% in the GE and make 150-200 seats. A bad defeat, but not apocalyptic

    They seem to PREFER the apocalypse
    I'm reminded of the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. You know, the more he fought to free himself of the baby, the more stuck he got.

    The Conservatives must, surely, realise they're in trouble. But every attempt to break free makes things worse. That went for Truss's Tax Cuts. It's true for Stop The Boats; at the moment all the noise on the issue just highlights their impotence. That's true whether or not there's a feasible version of the scheme that would work. And rubbish as Rishi is, the alternatives look worse.

    So it looks like the Conservatives are losing, can only make things worse for themselves and can't walk away from the table because that would crystallise their loss. And don't have the sang-froid to play "Nearer, my God to Thee" really well as the ship.goes down.

    Grimly fascinating to watch. Like the slasher movie bits of nature documentaries.
    A lot of it is just dumb stupid bad luck

    Any party would likely be facing a serious defeat after 14 years in power, that's the nature of parliamntary democracy

    But this run up to defeat has unfortunately coincided with a global pandemic, and now a couple of horrible wars, saddling the economy with debt, and seriously aggravating lots of other chronic problems (public health, etc)

    But it is not all bad luck. 1.3 million immigrants in two years is not "bad luck". The Tories CHOSE that, even as the voters made it extremely plain they wanted much lower immigration via the Brexit vote. Instead, the Tories chortled and opted for much HIGHER immigration

    So, it is impossible to feel pity for them. Their looming and terrible defeat is well deserved
    Fair points, though nobody has done anything to adapt the UK to function with fewer immigrants or acknowledge the downsides. And to add to the woe, 40 years of Something for Nothing was always going to morph into Nothing for Something sometime.

    Bottom line is that there's a time to leave the stage. The only choice is dignity or flameout.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,214
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    They are completely insane

    Also, Badenoch is even more completely insane if she goes along with this, it will end her career, because the Tories will still go down to a massive defeat, and then she will have to resign

    Their only hope is to stick with Sunak, do some tax cuts, fix the bloody boats, and somehow scrape to 30% in the GE and make 150-200 seats. A bad defeat, but not apocalyptic

    They seem to PREFER the apocalypse
    I'm reminded of the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. You know, the more he fought to free himself of the baby, the more stuck he got.

    The Conservatives must, surely, realise they're in trouble. But every attempt to break free makes things worse. That went for Truss's Tax Cuts. It's true for Stop The Boats; at the moment all the noise on the issue just highlights their impotence. That's true whether or not there's a feasible version of the scheme that would work. And rubbish as Rishi is, the alternatives look worse.

    So it looks like the Conservatives are losing, can only make things worse for themselves and can't walk away from the table because that would crystallise their loss. And don't have the sang-froid to play "Nearer, my God to Thee" really well as the ship.goes down.

    Grimly fascinating to watch. Like the slasher movie bits of nature documentaries.
    A lot of it is just dumb stupid bad luck

    Any party would likely be facing a serious defeat after 14 years in power, that's the nature of parliamntary democracy

    But this run up to defeat has unfortunately coincided with a global pandemic, and now a couple of horrible wars, saddling the economy with debt, and seriously aggravating lots of other chronic problems (public health, etc)

    But it is not all bad luck. 1.3 million immigrants in two years is not "bad luck". The Tories CHOSE that, even as the voters made it extremely plain they wanted much lower immigration via the Brexit vote. Instead, the Tories chortled and opted for much HIGHER immigration

    So, it is impossible to feel pity for them. Their looming and terrible defeat is well deserved
    Though they have finally raised the income skilled workers need for a visa to £38k
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
    He is the richest man in the world, he co-started PayPal, he owns and runs Tesla, he owns and runs Twitter, he owns and runs SpaceX, he personally operates a larger space programme than 95% of NATIONS

    At some point you just have to accept - despite your Musk Derangement Syndrome - that maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk occasionally shows up for work, and puts in a couple of hours
    I'm not saying he doesn't turn up for work, or put in 'a couple of hours'. Just that you need to realise that there's a massive amount of hype around him - often by Tesla share rampers - that gets regurgitated uncritically.
  • Options

    Cyclefree said:

    Anne Clarke's apology -


    Translation: I didn't read the letter below the first line before thinking HA HA HA.

    Ian's management tricks of the trade number 17: "Have you read it?"
    2) Then read it again
    3) Think before you respond.
    4) Have a delay on email so that after you press send you have the ability to cancel it before it actually sends. This is a lifesaver.

    Honestly though, "Have you read it". There was a quirky spy drama a few years back with Bill Nighy called Page 8. Sat round the table in MI5 talking about a report. Home Secretary skipping through it. Nighy coughs and refers to the paragraph at the bottom of page 8. Looks of confusion. "You haven't actually read it"
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,214
    Leon said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    They are completely insane

    Also, Badenoch is even more completely insane if she goes along with this, it will end her career, because the Tories will still go down to a massive defeat, and then she will have to resign

    Their only hope is to stick with Sunak, do some tax cuts, fix the bloody boats, and somehow scrape to 30% in the GE and make 150-200 seats. A bad defeat, but not apocalyptic

    They seem to PREFER the apocalypse
    Yes Badenoch clearly has no interest in the role now only in Opposition.

    However if she cannot even get the ERG behind her she lacks the numbers
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,777
    edited February 1
    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Mr Greer may have had a somewhat elevated view of the intellect and morality of the Olympian pantheon.

    Still one of the best villains on TV though. He truly believed we'd be better off just letting the machines take over as soon as possible.
    I've never heard of John Greer, or Person of Interest

    Sounds like I am missing out. Should I amend that?
    It is an interesting series - part procedural, part long term threads on AI, surveillance, morality.

    The first season takes a bit of time to get going, but it is worth it. Unlike some of these shows, there was an overall plan, rather than randomly changing stuff, because they ran out of plot.

    A number of the things in the show, such as using your cellphone to spy on you, simply turned out to be true in the real world.

    The villains in the show are an example of the quality of the writing - they are never just Evul For The Lols, they have their motivations and are generally true to them.

    Finish it and then tell us which side are the Good Guys.
  • Options
    DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,371
    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    You choose to believe myths about Musk. The 20 hours a day claim comes from…Musk…who also claims (despite much evidence to the contrary) not to take holidays. It’s physically impossible, particularly for a man who is clearly in very bad shape.

    I don’t think he’s lazy, but the extent to which you have crawled up his backside in believing this tech-bro “hustler” culture bullshit means you should be posting regularly on LinkedIn, where this crap dominates, not here. He’s a rich guy, who was born rich, invested the money he was born with wisely, has talent in some areas (but not others, see Twitter) and will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. That’s about it.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,100
    Ghedebrav said:

    Nigelb said:

    Habba now an unperson for doing Trump’s bidding.

    'Incompetent' Alina Habba dubbed 'deep state plant to destroy Donald Trump' in new theory
    https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1752850625191133680

    The MAGA universe can admit no error.

    One of these days I’m going to write my screenplay about Scaramucci’s ten days as White House DoC (working title: (edit) TEN DAYS OF THE MOOCH); I reckon you could capture everything about the Trump regime in that nutshell, plus lots of dark comedy potential.
    Who’d play the lead now Redford is too old ?
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073802/

    (Though if he bulked up he could have a crack at Trump, I guess.)
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,777
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Mr Greer may have had a somewhat elevated view of the intellect and morality of the Olympian pantheon.

    Still one of the best villains on TV though. He truly believed we'd be better off just letting the machines take over as soon as possible.
    I've never heard of John Greer, or Person of Interest

    Sounds like I am missing out. Should I amend that?
    It's about AGI, so probably yes.

    It's an excellent series IMO. Like many, it starts off with a crime-of-the-episode format, before becoming much more interesting. And Root.. Oh my God, Root...
    Cool, thankyou

    I see it has got a decent rating on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, so I shall give it go, and maybe skip the first season as suggested

    That is after I have finished Griselda. Which is, so far, excellent. But I am only one episode in and the last two dramas I watched - Monarch/Monsters and Money Heist - both started well then turned to outright dreck
    I wouldn't skip the first season - there is a lot of setup going on, quietly, in the background. Incidents which are referenced and part of the plot later.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725
    edited February 1

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
    He is the richest man in the world, he co-started PayPal, he owns and runs Tesla, he owns and runs Twitter, he owns and runs SpaceX, he personally operates a larger space programme than 95% of NATIONS

    At some point you just have to accept - despite your Musk Derangement Syndrome - that maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk occasionally shows up for work, and puts in a couple of hours
    I'm not saying he doesn't turn up for work, or put in 'a couple of hours'. Just that you need to realise that there's a massive amount of hype around him - often by Tesla share rampers - that gets regurgitated uncritically.
    What do you reckon then? Maybe he does 6 or 7 hours a week? Spends most of the time at the beach?

    I mean he's worth, what, $210 billion, that's about the same as the GDP of Algeria or Greece. You can easily make that kind of dosh by having long boozy lunches, then a nap, and then a really languid wank, then maybe ordering in a pizza
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,100
    Dura_Ace said:

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.
    Trying to cancel people for expressing an opinion is woke.
    Papa Lenin was big on party discipline, wasn’t he ?
  • Options
    Leon said:

    You can see the future of urban transport here in Phnom Penh

    Anyone who has been to urban Asia will know the "tuk tuk" - a little two-stroke three wheel motorised "rickshaw" - extremely handy in dense urban environments, able to nip about much easier than cars, BUT also considerably safer than mopeds and motorbikes, and you can carry luggage etc

    Tuk-tuks in Phnom Penh (and Bangkok etc) have been Uberised. You can now summon them with an app like Grab. There are so many one will normally arrive, ready to go, within less than two minutes, often it is about 30 seconds - basically instantaneous

    Using the app the driver takes you where you want to go (no language problem) and the payment is made from your phone/card, no money changes hands (like Uber)

    It is a supremely efficient way of doing short-medium journeys in a big city

    Now, combine the Uberised Tuk Tuk with self driving. It won't be hard to make tuk-tuks autonomous, if they can do cars (tuk tuks are lighter, they won't be used for long journeys, and so forth)

    THAT is the future of urban transport. Self driving tuk tuks. Entire fleets of them (clean and electric, not two stroke) shuttling around cities, doing 80% of human journeys, to the shops and back, to the pub, and so on. At night the uberised autonomous tuk tuks will store themselves in underground garages

    Thus the urban car becomes obsolete, for most people

    I'm negotiating with my wife at the minute, to allow me to buy a Tuk Tuk. Either that or an electric cargo bike. She keeps arguing that I've got enough bikes and scooters in bits as it is. I merely point out that I'm retired and need stuff to do, otherwise she'll be be wiping my chin and changing my nappy within a year.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 40,076
    edited February 1
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    They are completely insane

    Also, Badenoch is even more completely insane if she goes along with this, it will end her career, because the Tories will still go down to a massive defeat, and then she will have to resign

    Their only hope is to stick with Sunak, do some tax cuts, fix the bloody boats, and somehow scrape to 30% in the GE and make 150-200 seats. A bad defeat, but not apocalyptic

    They seem to PREFER the apocalypse
    I'm reminded of the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. You know, the more he fought to free himself of the baby, the more stuck he got.

    The Conservatives must, surely, realise they're in trouble. But every attempt to break free makes things worse. That went for Truss's Tax Cuts. It's true for Stop The Boats; at the moment all the noise on the issue just highlights their impotence. That's true whether or not there's a feasible version of the scheme that would work. And rubbish as Rishi is, the alternatives look worse.

    So it looks like the Conservatives are losing, can only make things worse for themselves and can't walk away from the table because that would crystallise their loss. And don't have the sang-froid to play "Nearer, my God to Thee" really well as the ship.goes down.

    Grimly fascinating to watch. Like the slasher movie bits of nature documentaries.
    A lot of it is just dumb stupid bad luck

    Any party would likely be facing a serious defeat after 14 years in power, that's the nature of parliamntary democracy

    But this run up to defeat has unfortunately coincided with a global pandemic, and now a couple of horrible wars, saddling the economy with debt, and seriously aggravating lots of other chronic problems (public health, etc)

    But it is not all bad luck. 1.3 million immigrants in two years is not "bad luck". The Tories CHOSE that, even as the voters made it extremely plain they wanted much lower immigration via the Brexit vote. Instead, the Tories chortled and opted for much HIGHER immigration

    So, it is impossible to feel pity for them. Their looming and terrible defeat is well deserved
    Though they have finally raised the income skilled workers need for a visa to £38k
    You have carefully included "skilled". It [edit] excludes many highly skilled people who don't get that sort of money anyway, and there are letouts for specific categories of unskilled, no?
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725
    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    You choose to believe myths about Musk. The 20 hours a day claim comes from…Musk…who also claims (despite much evidence to the contrary) not to take holidays. It’s physically impossible, particularly for a man who is clearly in very bad shape.

    I don’t think he’s lazy, but the extent to which you have crawled up his backside in believing this tech-bro “hustler” culture bullshit means you should be posting regularly on LinkedIn, where this crap dominates, not here. He’s a rich guy, who was born rich, invested the money he was born with wisely, has talent in some areas (but not others, see Twitter) and will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. That’s about it.
    Another case. Musk Derangement Syndrome

    It is sadly common, even on PB
  • Options
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
    He is the richest man in the world, he co-started PayPal, he owns and runs Tesla, he owns and runs Twitter, he owns and runs SpaceX, he personally operates a larger space programme than 95% of NATIONS

    At some point you just have to accept - despite your Musk Derangement Syndrome - that maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk occasionally shows up for work, and puts in a couple of hours
    Musk is your stereotypical evil genius. Does he personally do all the work? No. Does he envision something outrageous (reusable rockets, space internet, cars stamped like matchbox toys) and then build the organisation and ethos to deliver? Yes. Do his companies disrupt and transform their sectors? Yes.

    I wish he would drop his X the Everything App obsession down his priority list though. Remember that the biggest victim of Musk Derangement Syndrome is Musk himself. Because he comes across as deranged the deeper down the Twitter rabbit hole he goes.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
    He is the richest man in the world, he co-started PayPal, he owns and runs Tesla, he owns and runs Twitter, he owns and runs SpaceX, he personally operates a larger space programme than 95% of NATIONS

    At some point you just have to accept - despite your Musk Derangement Syndrome - that maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk occasionally shows up for work, and puts in a couple of hours
    I'm not saying he doesn't turn up for work, or put in 'a couple of hours'. Just that you need to realise that there's a massive amount of hype around him - often by Tesla share rampers - that gets regurgitated uncritically.
    What do you reckon then? Maybe he does 6 or 7 hours a week? Spends most of the time at the beach?

    I mean he's worth, what, $210 billion, that's about the same as the GDP of Algeria or Greece. You can easily make that kind of dosh by having long boozy lunches, then a nap, and then a really languid wank, then maybe ordering in a pizza
    No. I've no doubt he works hard. Just not to the God-like levels that many like to make out.

    It's happened before in tech, with other people. We like our Gods.

    (Unlike many people, I've worked with one of my Gods. After which, she became much less God-like, though still cool.)
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 40,076

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    This is why Rayner's 'scum' comments - and the very belated apology - were so wrong. And why those who congratulated her for the apology - only given after a fellow MP was murdered - were wrong. People feed off those sorts of comments.

    I tried to build some positivity on here the other day and it didn't seem to work. Everything's sh*t, apparently... :(
    I believe even some PBers fed off Rayner’s ‘scum’ comments, to the point of considering it an acceptable epithet for people they don’t like.
    Who?

    And besides, it's slightly different with a nobody on t'Internet talking about individuals and an elected official talking about entire groups.
    Online piety is not my favourite thing, but for it to have even a teensy bit of validity it's best that the sermoniser doesn't indulge in the same sort of activity.

    Still, the golden PB rule is always 'it's fine when I do it'.
    One does sometimes get the impression that certain PBers are apt to confuse a political movement with the green stuff on ponds. Maybe posting when taking the dog or lobster for a walk?
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 40,076
    edited February 1

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A depressingly high number of technical problems can be solved with this sophisticated 2 step troubleshooting routine, developed over years of practical experience.

    1. Is it plugged in?

    2. Is it switched on?

    My bill is in the post...

    3. Try google

    I've seen IT professionals do it, and why not?
    It is true these days that knowing what to Google (sic) is at least as useful as knowing the answer.

    It is also true that no IT professional in search of an answer to a problem will use Bing...
    It’s the strength of your StackOverflow Fu that is critical.

    A true expert can find the *right* answer there in seconds. Out of the 20 answers by idiots.
    StackOverflow is, it seems, in financial trouble. Of their own making due to their odd rules and moderation policies.

    And ChatGPT of course.
    For coding and most IT questions ChatGPT (and others) are regurgitating StackOverflow, in the main.
    Oh yeah, and most of the political answers it gives come from regurgitating Reddit.
    And when StackOverflow and Reddit start containing too high a percentage of language itself produced by ChatGPT? We'll just be swimming in an ocean of garbage, probably.
    The future will just be AIs talking to each other, and we will simply look on. Eventually they will talk in language we do not understand, because it is too complex, and intelligent
    In 20 years time, life on earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over us using human agents to meddle in our affairs.

    John Greer, Person of Interest
    … and have sex with women by disguising themselves as swans.
    Or money. Unless golden shower has a different interpretation - my Greek isn't subtle enough to be certain.
  • Options
    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    You choose to believe myths about Musk. The 20 hours a day claim comes from…Musk…who also claims (despite much evidence to the contrary) not to take holidays. It’s physically impossible, particularly for a man who is clearly in very bad shape.

    I don’t think he’s lazy, but the extent to which you have crawled up his backside in believing this tech-bro “hustler” culture bullshit means you should be posting regularly on LinkedIn, where this crap dominates, not here. He’s a rich guy, who was born rich, invested the money he was born with wisely, has talent in some areas (but not others, see Twitter) and will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. That’s about it.
    Does he work 20 hour days every day? No. Was he literally camping on the production line as they tried to get Model 3 first production out the door? Yes.
  • Options
    https://twitter.com/Savanta_UK/status/1752980107961258153

    NEW Westminster Voting Intention

    📈19pt Labour lead

    🌹Lab 46 (+3)
    🌳Con 27 (-2)
    🔶LD 10 (=)
    ➡️Reform 9 (+1)
    🌍Green 3 (-1)
    🎗️SNP 2 (-1)
    ⬜️Other 4 (=)

    2,279 UK adults, 26-28 January

    (chg 19-21 January)

    That is quite a big move. Savanta is on average 2% more favourable to Conservatives than the average polling. Savanta also does not initially prompt for Reform.
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,777

    Leon said:

    You can see the future of urban transport here in Phnom Penh

    Anyone who has been to urban Asia will know the "tuk tuk" - a little two-stroke three wheel motorised "rickshaw" - extremely handy in dense urban environments, able to nip about much easier than cars, BUT also considerably safer than mopeds and motorbikes, and you can carry luggage etc

    Tuk-tuks in Phnom Penh (and Bangkok etc) have been Uberised. You can now summon them with an app like Grab. There are so many one will normally arrive, ready to go, within less than two minutes, often it is about 30 seconds - basically instantaneous

    Using the app the driver takes you where you want to go (no language problem) and the payment is made from your phone/card, no money changes hands (like Uber)

    It is a supremely efficient way of doing short-medium journeys in a big city

    Now, combine the Uberised Tuk Tuk with self driving. It won't be hard to make tuk-tuks autonomous, if they can do cars (tuk tuks are lighter, they won't be used for long journeys, and so forth)

    THAT is the future of urban transport. Self driving tuk tuks. Entire fleets of them (clean and electric, not two stroke) shuttling around cities, doing 80% of human journeys, to the shops and back, to the pub, and so on. At night the uberised autonomous tuk tuks will store themselves in underground garages

    Thus the urban car becomes obsolete, for most people

    I'm negotiating with my wife at the minute, to allow me to buy a Tuk Tuk. Either that or an electric cargo bike. She keeps arguing that I've got enough bikes and scooters in bits as it is. I merely point out that I'm retired and need stuff to do, otherwise she'll be be wiping my chin and changing my nappy within a year.
    A chap at SMEE told me that his wife was quite upset at his hobby of building large, functional steam trains.

    Then he sold the first one and used the very substantial sum of money on a round the world, all inclusive cruise. With quite a bit left over

    After that, he said, he is pretty much told to go to the shed and build the next one.

    Synergy, my friend. Synergy.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214

    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    You choose to believe myths about Musk. The 20 hours a day claim comes from…Musk…who also claims (despite much evidence to the contrary) not to take holidays. It’s physically impossible, particularly for a man who is clearly in very bad shape.

    I don’t think he’s lazy, but the extent to which you have crawled up his backside in believing this tech-bro “hustler” culture bullshit means you should be posting regularly on LinkedIn, where this crap dominates, not here. He’s a rich guy, who was born rich, invested the money he was born with wisely, has talent in some areas (but not others, see Twitter) and will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. That’s about it.
    Does he work 20 hour days every day? No. Was he literally camping on the production line as they tried to get Model 3 first production out the door? Yes.
    "Was he literally camping on the production line as they tried to get Model 3 first production out the door?"

    Which is another thing entirely, and which also might have an answer of "no."

    As I said below, beware of Tesla share rampers.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
    He is the richest man in the world, he co-started PayPal, he owns and runs Tesla, he owns and runs Twitter, he owns and runs SpaceX, he personally operates a larger space programme than 95% of NATIONS

    At some point you just have to accept - despite your Musk Derangement Syndrome - that maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk occasionally shows up for work, and puts in a couple of hours
    Musk is your stereotypical evil genius. Does he personally do all the work? No. Does he envision something outrageous (reusable rockets, space internet, cars stamped like matchbox toys) and then build the organisation and ethos to deliver? Yes. Do his companies disrupt and transform their sectors? Yes.

    I wish he would drop his X the Everything App obsession down his priority list though. Remember that the biggest victim of Musk Derangement Syndrome is Musk himself. Because he comes across as deranged the deeper down the Twitter rabbit hole he goes.
    Yes, I agree with all of that. I believe he is a genius, and also seriously driven and extremely hard working, but wow he is flawed - he admits it. He has publicly admitted to Asperger's. He is also very thin skinned, something of a bully, prone to stupid unforced mistakes (the pedo thing, my God) - and calling Twitter "X" was one of the dumbest moves in the history of social media

    But he is nonetheless an impressive and deeply interesting character

    And with that, I shall be less impressive, and go to the mall in the hope that somewhere in Cambodia you can buy Apple products
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,100
    .

    Cyclefree said:

    Anne Clarke's apology -


    Translation: I didn't read the letter below the first line before thinking HA HA HA.

    Ian's management tricks of the trade number 17: "Have you read it?"
    2) Then read it again
    3) Think before you respond.
    4) Have a delay on email so that after you press send you have the ability to cancel it before it actually sends. This is a lifesaver.

    Honestly though, "Have you read it". There was a quirky spy drama a few years back with Bill Nighy called Page 8. Sat round the table in MI5 talking about a report. Home Secretary skipping through it. Nighy coughs and refers to the paragraph at the bottom of page 8. Looks of confusion. "You haven't actually read it"
    A lot of people think that’s what lawyers are for.
    The latter often seem slightly surprised when you’ve actually read and understood one of their documents.
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,777
    Carnyx said:

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    This is why Rayner's 'scum' comments - and the very belated apology - were so wrong. And why those who congratulated her for the apology - only given after a fellow MP was murdered - were wrong. People feed off those sorts of comments.

    I tried to build some positivity on here the other day and it didn't seem to work. Everything's sh*t, apparently... :(
    I believe even some PBers fed off Rayner’s ‘scum’ comments, to the point of considering it an acceptable epithet for people they don’t like.
    Who?

    And besides, it's slightly different with a nobody on t'Internet talking about individuals and an elected official talking about entire groups.
    Online piety is not my favourite thing, but for it to have even a teensy bit of validity it's best that the sermoniser doesn't indulge in the same sort of activity.

    Still, the golden PB rule is always 'it's fine when I do it'.
    One does sometimes get the impression that certain PBers are apt to confuse a political movement with the green stuff on ponds. Maybe posting when taking the dog or lobster for a walk?
    "green stuff on ponds"

    Is this an obscure reference to political leadership by cutlery distribution?
  • Options
    GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,035
    Nigelb said:

    Ghedebrav said:

    Nigelb said:

    Habba now an unperson for doing Trump’s bidding.

    'Incompetent' Alina Habba dubbed 'deep state plant to destroy Donald Trump' in new theory
    https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1752850625191133680

    The MAGA universe can admit no error.

    One of these days I’m going to write my screenplay about Scaramucci’s ten days as White House DoC (working title: (edit) TEN DAYS OF THE MOOCH); I reckon you could capture everything about the Trump regime in that nutshell, plus lots of dark comedy potential.
    Who’d play the lead now Redford is too old ?
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073802/

    (Though if he bulked up he could have a crack at Trump, I guess.)
    Steve Buscemi would have been perfect, but too old now.

    Rob Lowe has that weirdly artificial look that a lot of Republicans cultivate. He’s about the right age as well.

    Willem Dafoe to play Trump.

  • Options
    Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, posted this thread last week about the differences between Savanta and YouGov polling methods.

    https://twitter.com/ChrisHopkins92/status/1750519012566655124

    Savanta do not include Reform UK in our initial VI prompt, we include them (and the Greens) in a secondary sub-prompt once a respondent has clicked 'another party'.

    And then there's undecided voters. We 'squeeze' undecided voters into trying to give us a voting intention. In our latest poll, that accounted for +2 for the Conservatives, and -1 for Labour.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214

    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    viewcode said:

    GIN1138 said:

    isam said:
    The threats being faced by our MPs are very alarming. Throw in on-going antisemitism and it's a toxic mix.
    Indeed.
    A Labour member - Anne Clarke - of the London Assembly's reaction was to celebrate the announcement in a tweet actually attaching the Freer announcement. Threats of violence by extremists would seem to be ok if it forces Tories out. Let's hope the Labour leadership clearly condemns such behaviour and takes action against her.
    I would hope she is rapidly sanctioned for that.

    Post from the Labour candidate.

    https://twitter.com/sarahsackman/status/1752813172887576696
    I am shocked and sorry to hear that Mike Freer has decided to stand down at the next election and would like to thank him for his years of service to our community.
    We should have been able to face each other in the polls based on our ideas and merits. Instead, politics is now so often skewed by violent language, hate and the dangers of social media. I am determined for this to change…
    I say some negative things about some MPs. But even the thickest ones are trying to be public servants. The worst thing about the weaponisation of stupidity and ignorance in society is that people get angry and seek simple solutions. And one solution seemingly given the green light is to actually attack someone - psychologically and occasionally physically.

    MPs are human beings with feelings. Yes, even Gullis has feelings. We need to deweaponise politics - and the first step is to kick the Tories out and start trying to build some positivity in our politics. And the second step is kick the SNP out and do the same.
    This is why Rayner's 'scum' comments - and the very belated apology - were so wrong. And why those who congratulated her for the apology - only given after a fellow MP was murdered - were wrong. People feed off those sorts of comments.

    I tried to build some positivity on here the other day and it didn't seem to work. Everything's sh*t, apparently... :(
    I believe even some PBers fed off Rayner’s ‘scum’ comments, to the point of considering it an acceptable epithet for people they don’t like.
    Who?

    And besides, it's slightly different with a nobody on t'Internet talking about individuals and an elected official talking about entire groups.
    Online piety is not my favourite thing, but for it to have even a teensy bit of validity it's best that the sermoniser doesn't indulge in the same sort of activity.

    Still, the golden PB rule is always 'it's fine when I do it'.
    ???
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,777
    Ghedebrav said:

    Nigelb said:

    Ghedebrav said:

    Nigelb said:

    Habba now an unperson for doing Trump’s bidding.

    'Incompetent' Alina Habba dubbed 'deep state plant to destroy Donald Trump' in new theory
    https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1752850625191133680

    The MAGA universe can admit no error.

    One of these days I’m going to write my screenplay about Scaramucci’s ten days as White House DoC (working title: (edit) TEN DAYS OF THE MOOCH); I reckon you could capture everything about the Trump regime in that nutshell, plus lots of dark comedy potential.
    Who’d play the lead now Redford is too old ?
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073802/

    (Though if he bulked up he could have a crack at Trump, I guess.)
    Steve Buscemi would have been perfect, but too old now.

    Rob Lowe has that weirdly artificial look that a lot of Republicans cultivate. He’s about the right age as well.

    Willem Dafoe to play Trump.

    "When a narcissist is, herself, subjected to the narcissist's discard phase by an entire movement of narcissism." - from that Twatter thread.

    A perfect summation.
  • Options
    bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,911

    https://twitter.com/Savanta_UK/status/1752980107961258153

    NEW Westminster Voting Intention

    📈19pt Labour lead

    🌹Lab 46 (+3)
    🌳Con 27 (-2)
    🔶LD 10 (=)
    ➡️Reform 9 (+1)
    🌍Green 3 (-1)
    🎗️SNP 2 (-1)
    ⬜️Other 4 (=)

    2,279 UK adults, 26-28 January

    (chg 19-21 January)

    That is quite a big move. Savanta is on average 2% more favourable to Conservatives than the average polling. Savanta also does not initially prompt for Reform.

    Yes I agree.

    SKS is at least 20% ahead ATM
  • Options
    bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,911

    https://twitter.com/Savanta_UK/status/1752980107961258153

    NEW Westminster Voting Intention

    📈19pt Labour lead

    🌹Lab 46 (+3)
    🌳Con 27 (-2)
    🔶LD 10 (=)
    ➡️Reform 9 (+1)
    🌍Green 3 (-1)
    🎗️SNP 2 (-1)
    ⬜️Other 4 (=)

    2,279 UK adults, 26-28 January

    (chg 19-21 January)

    That is quite a big move. Savanta is on average 2% more favourable to Conservatives than the average polling. Savanta also does not initially prompt for Reform.

    Yes I agree.

    SKS is at least 20% ahead ATM
    Terrible poll for my party.

    A piece of information that may be relevant on that 3%.

    For the first time ever Greens are standing in every English Constituency. According to the literature I get from them anyway.
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,473

    Cyclefree said:

    Anne Clarke's apology -


    Translation: I didn't read the letter below the first line before thinking HA HA HA.

    Ian's management tricks of the trade number 17: "Have you read it?"
    2) Then read it again
    3) Think before you respond.
    4) Have a delay on email so that after you press send you have the ability to cancel it before it actually sends. This is a lifesaver.

    Honestly though, "Have you read it". There was a quirky spy drama a few years back with Bill Nighy called Page 8. Sat round the table in MI5 talking about a report. Home Secretary skipping through it. Nighy coughs and refers to the paragraph at the bottom of page 8. Looks of confusion. "You haven't actually read it"
    Yes I watched that one. Nighy was an art connoisseur as well as a spy, really knew what was good rather than just what he liked, and at the end when he said farewell to the vibrant young woman who'd fallen for him (Rachel Weisz) he presented her with an exquisite little oil so "you'll always have something decent on the wall". Then he got on a plane to Geneva to start a new life (despite being about 62). Hugely enjoyable.
  • Options
    bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,911

    https://twitter.com/Savanta_UK/status/1752980107961258153

    NEW Westminster Voting Intention

    📈19pt Labour lead

    🌹Lab 46 (+3)
    🌳Con 27 (-2)
    🔶LD 10 (=)
    ➡️Reform 9 (+1)
    🌍Green 3 (-1)
    🎗️SNP 2 (-1)
    ⬜️Other 4 (=)

    2,279 UK adults, 26-28 January

    (chg 19-21 January)

    That is quite a big move. Savanta is on average 2% more favourable to Conservatives than the average polling. Savanta also does not initially prompt for Reform.

    Yes I agree.

    SKS is at least 20% ahead ATM
    Terrible poll for my party.

    A piece of information that may be relevant on that 3%.

    For the first time ever Greens are standing in every English Constituency. According to the literature I get from them anyway.
    DYOR
  • Options
    Talking about YouGov, they have combined their polling between 31 October and 17 January to look in more detail at the electoral landscape.

    https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/48476-how-is-britain-voting-as-we-enter-the-2024-election-year

    Age will continue to be the key dividing line at the general election.

    The Tories are now the most popular party only among the over-70s, 43% of whom back the party. This is down from 67% in 2019, however, with Labour being the main beneficiaries, having increased their vote share among the oldest Britons from 14% to 23%.

    Britons in their 60s are split, with 33% backing Labour and 31% the Conservatives. The majority of Britons under-50 now say they will vote Labour.

    Labour have a slightly higher vote share among women (46%) than men (43%), as they did in 2019. For the Tories the split is about the same – 22% of men and 23% of women.

    Education likewise remains a key factor in voting intention, with people more likely to vote for Labour or a left wing party the more education they have.

    Unlike last time, however, Labour are favoured over the Conservatives at every education level. Among graduates – with whom they traditionally have an advantage – Labour beat the Tories by 53% to 14%, while among those whose with the lowest level of education (their top qualification is a GCSE or have no qualifications at all), they lead by 36% to 32%.

    Among younger Britons (18-34 year olds), educational status makes little difference to the Labour vote share – at our three education levels between 57-59% say they will back the party. Among older age groups, however, there is notably higher support for Labour among graduates. Indeed, graduates over the age of 50 are backing Labour over the Conservatives by 44% to 20%. Among the least educated group of over-50s, the Tories still lead by 39% to 28%

    Breaking down voting behaviour into the NRS social grades, AB, C1, C2 and DE, shows little to no voting trend for either Labour or the Conservatives. Among each group the Conservative vote share stands at 21-26%, while Labour score 42-48%.
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,384
    Leon said:

    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    You choose to believe myths about Musk. The 20 hours a day claim comes from…Musk…who also claims (despite much evidence to the contrary) not to take holidays. It’s physically impossible, particularly for a man who is clearly in very bad shape.

    I don’t think he’s lazy, but the extent to which you have crawled up his backside in believing this tech-bro “hustler” culture bullshit means you should be posting regularly on LinkedIn, where this crap dominates, not here. He’s a rich guy, who was born rich, invested the money he was born with wisely, has talent in some areas (but not others, see Twitter) and will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. That’s about it.
    Another case. Musk Derangement Syndrome

    It is sadly common, even on PB
    He's not going to shag you.
    I guess you could cobble together an AI thing of him looming over you, rocket booster in hand, promising that he'll be gentle with you though.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725

    Talking about YouGov, they have combined their polling between 31 October and 17 January to look in more detail at the electoral landscape.

    https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/48476-how-is-britain-voting-as-we-enter-the-2024-election-year

    Age will continue to be the key dividing line at the general election.

    The Tories are now the most popular party only among the over-70s, 43% of whom back the party. This is down from 67% in 2019, however, with Labour being the main beneficiaries, having increased their vote share among the oldest Britons from 14% to 23%.

    Britons in their 60s are split, with 33% backing Labour and 31% the Conservatives. The majority of Britons under-50 now say they will vote Labour.

    Labour have a slightly higher vote share among women (46%) than men (43%), as they did in 2019. For the Tories the split is about the same – 22% of men and 23% of women.

    Education likewise remains a key factor in voting intention, with people more likely to vote for Labour or a left wing party the more education they have.

    Unlike last time, however, Labour are favoured over the Conservatives at every education level. Among graduates – with whom they traditionally have an advantage – Labour beat the Tories by 53% to 14%, while among those whose with the lowest level of education (their top qualification is a GCSE or have no qualifications at all), they lead by 36% to 32%.

    Among younger Britons (18-34 year olds), educational status makes little difference to the Labour vote share – at our three education levels between 57-59% say they will back the party. Among older age groups, however, there is notably higher support for Labour among graduates. Indeed, graduates over the age of 50 are backing Labour over the Conservatives by 44% to 20%. Among the least educated group of over-50s, the Tories still lead by 39% to 28%

    Breaking down voting behaviour into the NRS social grades, AB, C1, C2 and DE, shows little to no voting trend for either Labour or the Conservatives. Among each group the Conservative vote share stands at 21-26%, while Labour score 42-48%.

    I actually think Labour are in with a shout at the next election
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 33,267
    kinabalu said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Anne Clarke's apology -


    Translation: I didn't read the letter below the first line before thinking HA HA HA.

    Ian's management tricks of the trade number 17: "Have you read it?"
    2) Then read it again
    3) Think before you respond.
    4) Have a delay on email so that after you press send you have the ability to cancel it before it actually sends. This is a lifesaver.

    Honestly though, "Have you read it". There was a quirky spy drama a few years back with Bill Nighy called Page 8. Sat round the table in MI5 talking about a report. Home Secretary skipping through it. Nighy coughs and refers to the paragraph at the bottom of page 8. Looks of confusion. "You haven't actually read it"
    Yes I watched that one. Nighy was an art connoisseur as well as a spy, really knew what was good rather than just what he liked, and at the end when he said farewell to the vibrant young woman who'd fallen for him (Rachel Weisz) he presented her with an exquisite little oil so "you'll always have something decent on the wall". Then he got on a plane to Geneva to start a new life (despite being about 62). Hugely enjoyable.
    It's part of a series. The others are, not so good...
  • Options
    Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,081

    Leon said:

    You can see the future of urban transport here in Phnom Penh

    Anyone who has been to urban Asia will know the "tuk tuk" - a little two-stroke three wheel motorised "rickshaw" - extremely handy in dense urban environments, able to nip about much easier than cars, BUT also considerably safer than mopeds and motorbikes, and you can carry luggage etc

    Tuk-tuks in Phnom Penh (and Bangkok etc) have been Uberised. You can now summon them with an app like Grab. There are so many one will normally arrive, ready to go, within less than two minutes, often it is about 30 seconds - basically instantaneous

    Using the app the driver takes you where you want to go (no language problem) and the payment is made from your phone/card, no money changes hands (like Uber)

    It is a supremely efficient way of doing short-medium journeys in a big city

    Now, combine the Uberised Tuk Tuk with self driving. It won't be hard to make tuk-tuks autonomous, if they can do cars (tuk tuks are lighter, they won't be used for long journeys, and so forth)

    THAT is the future of urban transport. Self driving tuk tuks. Entire fleets of them (clean and electric, not two stroke) shuttling around cities, doing 80% of human journeys, to the shops and back, to the pub, and so on. At night the uberised autonomous tuk tuks will store themselves in underground garages

    Thus the urban car becomes obsolete, for most people

    I'm negotiating with my wife at the minute, to allow me to buy a Tuk Tuk. Either that or an electric cargo bike. She keeps arguing that I've got enough bikes and scooters in bits as it is. I merely point out that I'm retired and need stuff to do, otherwise she'll be be wiping my chin and changing my nappy within a year.
    As the only person on here who is tuk-tuk type rated, I feel compelled to comment. They are all wildly dangerous and slow but if you've really got to, then the move is an Indian built Bajaj.

    Shit car YouTube specialist Hubnut did a video on them, so watch that and reflect on your choices.
  • Options
    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,464
    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    You choose to believe myths about Musk. The 20 hours a day claim comes from…Musk…who also claims (despite much evidence to the contrary) not to take holidays. It’s physically impossible, particularly for a man who is clearly in very bad shape.

    I don’t think he’s lazy, but the extent to which you have crawled up his backside in believing this tech-bro “hustler” culture bullshit means you should be posting regularly on LinkedIn, where this crap dominates, not here. He’s a rich guy, who was born rich, invested the money he was born with wisely, has talent in some areas (but not others, see Twitter) and will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. That’s about it.
    He's leading the revolution*. You should have noticed.

    Musk has, and is using, media power that the likes of Murdoch or William Randolph Hearst could only have dreamed of: the only genuinely interactive global social media platform. There are others, of course, but flawed or limited. And by manipulating what's promoted or not, he can push agendas and policies. And is doing. That said, he's not doing it very well: it's too crude and X has become a much more unpleasant site as a result. He is in danger of killing his golden goose.

    Nonetheless, that non-neutrality could well be enough to tip the US election to Trump, reinforcing Trump's supporters' belief in their man and persuading independents - with all the consequences that would mean for America and the globe.

    * 'Come the revolution' is a phrase the left seem, oddly, to think they own. Far more revolutions have occurred across history from the right. They generally take a different form - palace coups, military coups, populist-nationalist power captures and so on - but in changing the political / social status quos, they're revolutions all the same. Leaving the economic status quo in place is small beer in comparison.
  • Options

    https://twitter.com/Savanta_UK/status/1752980107961258153

    NEW Westminster Voting Intention

    📈19pt Labour lead

    🌹Lab 46 (+3)
    🌳Con 27 (-2)
    🔶LD 10 (=)
    ➡️Reform 9 (+1)
    🌍Green 3 (-1)
    🎗️SNP 2 (-1)
    ⬜️Other 4 (=)

    2,279 UK adults, 26-28 January

    (chg 19-21 January)

    That is quite a big move. Savanta is on average 2% more favourable to Conservatives than the average polling. Savanta also does not initially prompt for Reform.

    Yes I agree.

    SKS is at least 20% ahead ATM
    Terrible poll for my party.

    A piece of information that may be relevant on that 3%.

    For the first time ever Greens are standing in every English Constituency. According to the literature I get from them anyway.
    The Tories?
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    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,683

    Leon said:

    Well that's the Tories ending up with fewer than 50 MPs at the next election.

    Tory plotters believe that Kemi Badenoch is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak if they can manage to oust him in the coming months.

    The business and trade secretary has accused the plotters of “stirring” and said that they need to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

    However, the Tory rebels believe that Badenoch is the only candidate on the right who stands a chance of uniting the party and selling their policy platform.


    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is seen as too divisive among Tory MPs but Badenoch is perceived to have star quality.

    “The reaction to Suella is too vitriolic,” one MP familiar with the rebels’ thinking said. “She can’t run again. Kemi has the X factor, she has the capacity to cut through and communicate. She can carry off the policy platform that’s being drawn up.”

    They said she had the “added benefit” of being hated by the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Badenoch clashed with them after she was accused of watering down plans to repeal EU laws. The MP said: “The ERG hate her, which means she’s inoculated by the left. She can bring people together.”

    Badenoch has had no involvement with the plotters and has gone out of her way to demonstrate her loyalty to Sunak and Downing Street. However, she has not ruled out another bid to be Tory leader should the opportunity arise.

    The rebel group is based in central London. The members are said to be working with about ten Tory MPs as they draw up plans to remove Sunak from office.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-plot-to-replace-rishi-sunak-with-kemi-badenoch-she-has-x-factor-nznn6q260

    They are completely insane

    Also, Badenoch is even more completely insane if she goes along with this, it will end her career, because the Tories will still go down to a massive defeat, and then she will have to resign

    Their only hope is to stick with Sunak, do some tax cuts, fix the bloody boats, and somehow scrape to 30% in the GE and make 150-200 seats. A bad defeat, but not apocalyptic

    They seem to PREFER the apocalypse
    I'm reminded of the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. You know, the more he fought to free himself of the baby, the more stuck he got.

    The Conservatives must, surely, realise they're in trouble. But every attempt to break free makes things worse. That went for Truss's Tax Cuts. It's true for Stop The Boats; at the moment all the noise on the issue just highlights their impotence. That's true whether or not there's a feasible version of the scheme that would work. And rubbish as Rishi is, the alternatives look worse.

    So it looks like the Conservatives are losing, can only make things worse for themselves and can't walk away from the table because that would crystallise their loss. And don't have the sang-froid to play "Nearer, my God to Thee" really well as the ship.goes down.

    Grimly fascinating to watch. Like the slasher movie bits of nature documentaries.
    The one they haven't tried is: Clarity, honesty, maturity, integrity, politeness, shades of grey in place of black and white, consensus, centrism, understated intelligence and a moderate liberal tone of voice.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725

    Leon said:

    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    You choose to believe myths about Musk. The 20 hours a day claim comes from…Musk…who also claims (despite much evidence to the contrary) not to take holidays. It’s physically impossible, particularly for a man who is clearly in very bad shape.

    I don’t think he’s lazy, but the extent to which you have crawled up his backside in believing this tech-bro “hustler” culture bullshit means you should be posting regularly on LinkedIn, where this crap dominates, not here. He’s a rich guy, who was born rich, invested the money he was born with wisely, has talent in some areas (but not others, see Twitter) and will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. That’s about it.
    Another case. Musk Derangement Syndrome

    It is sadly common, even on PB
    He's not going to shag you.
    I guess you could cobble together an AI thing of him looming over you, rocket booster in hand, promising that he'll be gentle with you though.
    No, if I had to fuck a mega-famous dude from the world of Tech, it would be Sam Altman

    1. He's gay, so he'd be up for it
    2. He's cute (if you like men, which I don't, not that way, but if forced I'd rather have a cute guy)
    3. During the pillow talk, he might reveal how close OpenAI REALLY are to AGI, which is - I suspect - a more interesting secret than anything Musk could offer

    You? Which tech bro would you fuck? I reckon you'd like Bill Gates, indeed - didn't you actually admit that about a year ago - that you urgently wanted Bill Gates to sodomise you?

  • Options
    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,785
    A big shout out to all PBers celebrating Imbolc today.
  • Options
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
    He is the richest man in the world, he co-started PayPal, he owns and runs Tesla, he owns and runs Twitter, he owns and runs SpaceX, he personally operates a larger space programme than 95% of NATIONS

    At some point you just have to accept - despite your Musk Derangement Syndrome - that maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk occasionally shows up for work, and puts in a couple of hours
    Musk is your stereotypical evil genius. Does he personally do all the work? No. Does he envision something outrageous (reusable rockets, space internet, cars stamped like matchbox toys) and then build the organisation and ethos to deliver? Yes. Do his companies disrupt and transform their sectors? Yes.

    I wish he would drop his X the Everything App obsession down his priority list though. Remember that the biggest victim of Musk Derangement Syndrome is Musk himself. Because he comes across as deranged the deeper down the Twitter rabbit hole he goes.
    Yes, I agree with all of that. I believe he is a genius, and also seriously driven and extremely hard working, but wow he is flawed - he admits it. He has publicly admitted to Asperger's. He is also very thin skinned, something of a bully, prone to stupid unforced mistakes (the pedo thing, my God) - and calling Twitter "X" was one of the dumbest moves in the history of social media

    But he is nonetheless an impressive and deeply interesting character

    And with that, I shall be less impressive, and go to the mall in the hope that somewhere in Cambodia you can buy Apple products
    My summing up of the new Tesla Model 3 "Highland" refresh - it is the iPhone of EVs. It Just Works. Well designed, well built, an ecosystem that seamlessly integrates things together. Or you can have other EVs which are Android. Some are well designed and built, but there are always compromises making them actually do the job.
  • Options
    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,785

    https://twitter.com/Savanta_UK/status/1752980107961258153

    NEW Westminster Voting Intention

    📈19pt Labour lead

    🌹Lab 46 (+3)
    🌳Con 27 (-2)
    🔶LD 10 (=)
    ➡️Reform 9 (+1)
    🌍Green 3 (-1)
    🎗️SNP 2 (-1)
    ⬜️Other 4 (=)

    2,279 UK adults, 26-28 January

    (chg 19-21 January)

    That is quite a big move. Savanta is on average 2% more favourable to Conservatives than the average polling. Savanta also does not initially prompt for Reform.

    Yes I agree.

    SKS is at least 20% ahead ATM
    Terrible poll for my party.

    A piece of information that may be relevant on that 3%.

    For the first time ever Greens are standing in every English Constituency. According to the literature I get from them anyway.
    Perhaps if they focused on environmentalism instead of woke shit they might do better?
  • Options
    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,464
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Elon Musk: PROFOUNDLY LAZY

    lol

    He certainly works very hard indeed, apart from when he gets high and reads things on twitter. But that seems to be his way of blowing off steam, its not all the time.
    Notoriously, when he took over Twitter, he pissed everyone off by working 20 hour days and by demanding the staff do the same (after he sacked 60% of them). He told them to sleep in the office

    "Profoundly lazy"

    I mean, lol

    Musk Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, people (for some reason) hate him so much it drives them to spout obvious irrational nonsense. And that idiot thread linked by @Scott_xP is a classic example

    It is closely related, in its symptomology, to Trump Derangement and Brexit Derangement Syndromes. I am sure there are others

    Something about the modern world and social media creates these weird mental obsessions where sane people CHOOSE to believe obviously non-true things
    There is zero evidence that he 'worked 20 hours a day'. Lots of claims are made. not least by himself and his acolytes, but evidence...?

    That might seem uncharitable, but the claims that he never has holidays were shown to be rubbish. And other claims, too. You need to separate hype from reality.

    We've seen this many times before, from Stve Jobs designing everything to Bull Gates reading every line of MS's code. T'Internet's just made it worse.
    He is the richest man in the world, he co-started PayPal, he owns and runs Tesla, he owns and runs Twitter, he owns and runs SpaceX, he personally operates a larger space programme than 95% of NATIONS

    At some point you just have to accept - despite your Musk Derangement Syndrome - that maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk occasionally shows up for work, and puts in a couple of hours
    Runs, yes. But Musk only owns about 20% of Tesla, hence the recent court kerfuffle. He's also a minority owner of SpaceX, with 42% of stock (albeit with majority *voting* rights). He does majority own X, for what that's worth.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,725
    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    You can see the future of urban transport here in Phnom Penh

    Anyone who has been to urban Asia will know the "tuk tuk" - a little two-stroke three wheel motorised "rickshaw" - extremely handy in dense urban environments, able to nip about much easier than cars, BUT also considerably safer than mopeds and motorbikes, and you can carry luggage etc

    Tuk-tuks in Phnom Penh (and Bangkok etc) have been Uberised. You can now summon them with an app like Grab. There are so many one will normally arrive, ready to go, within less than two minutes, often it is about 30 seconds - basically instantaneous

    Using the app the driver takes you where you want to go (no language problem) and the payment is made from your phone/card, no money changes hands (like Uber)

    It is a supremely efficient way of doing short-medium journeys in a big city

    Now, combine the Uberised Tuk Tuk with self driving. It won't be hard to make tuk-tuks autonomous, if they can do cars (tuk tuks are lighter, they won't be used for long journeys, and so forth)

    THAT is the future of urban transport. Self driving tuk tuks. Entire fleets of them (clean and electric, not two stroke) shuttling around cities, doing 80% of human journeys, to the shops and back, to the pub, and so on. At night the uberised autonomous tuk tuks will store themselves in underground garages

    Thus the urban car becomes obsolete, for most people

    I'm negotiating with my wife at the minute, to allow me to buy a Tuk Tuk. Either that or an electric cargo bike. She keeps arguing that I've got enough bikes and scooters in bits as it is. I merely point out that I'm retired and need stuff to do, otherwise she'll be be wiping my chin and changing my nappy within a year.
    As the only person on here who is tuk-tuk type rated, I feel compelled to comment. They are all wildly dangerous and slow but if you've really got to, then the move is an Indian built Bajaj.

    Shit car YouTube specialist Hubnut did a video on them, so watch that and reflect on your choices.
    My scariest ever moment in any motorised vehicle was in a tuktuk with an obviously drugged up driver, at night, driving through the crowded crazy centre of Varanasi

    Sweet Shiva. Dunno how we all survived. He kept missing wandering cows, or monks, or corpses, or other tulktuks, or trucks, by nanometres, and at the last fraction of a second
  • Options
    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,785
    kinabalu said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Anne Clarke's apology -


    Translation: I didn't read the letter below the first line before thinking HA HA HA.

    Ian's management tricks of the trade number 17: "Have you read it?"
    2) Then read it again
    3) Think before you respond.
    4) Have a delay on email so that after you press send you have the ability to cancel it before it actually sends. This is a lifesaver.

    Honestly though, "Have you read it". There was a quirky spy drama a few years back with Bill Nighy called Page 8. Sat round the table in MI5 talking about a report. Home Secretary skipping through it. Nighy coughs and refers to the paragraph at the bottom of page 8. Looks of confusion. "You haven't actually read it"
    Yes I watched that one. Nighy was an art connoisseur as well as a spy, really knew what was good rather than just what he liked, and at the end when he said farewell to the vibrant young woman who'd fallen for him (Rachel Weisz) he presented her with an exquisite little oil so "you'll always have something decent on the wall". Then he got on a plane to Geneva to start a new life (despite being about 62). Hugely enjoyable.
    The Bill Nighy character gets to cop off with a woman half his age in everything he appears in.

    Tough job, he's got there.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,514

    A big shout out to all PBers celebrating Imbolc today.

    Think it might actually be tomorrow?
    https://www.bing.com/search?q=when+is+imbolc+2024&qs=AS&pq=when+is+imbolc&sk=SS1&sc=10-14&cvid=F920A2F5E4EC4B37A3352E2C0A2E2DDF&FORM=QBRE&sp=2&lq=0

    But I am starting a dry month today. If you are going to have a dry month its best to pick a short one and January is just too depressing without alcohol anyway. As Spring comes and it gets easier to get out the temptation to sit in and drink will hopefully be less.
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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,214

    A big shout out to all PBers celebrating Imbolc today.

    I don't care about Imbolc; I'm happier about the fact Dry January's dead! ;)
  • Options
    EabhalEabhal Posts: 6,023
    edited February 1
    Leon said:

    You can see the future of urban transport here in Phnom Penh

    Anyone who has been to urban Asia will know the "tuk tuk" - a little two-stroke three wheel motorised "rickshaw" - extremely handy in dense urban environments, able to nip about much easier than cars, BUT also considerably safer than mopeds and motorbikes, and you can carry luggage etc

    Tuk-tuks in Phnom Penh (and Bangkok etc) have been Uberised. You can now summon them with an app like Grab. There are so many one will normally arrive, ready to go, within less than two minutes, often it is about 30 seconds - basically instantaneous

    Using the app the driver takes you where you want to go (no language problem) and the payment is made from your phone/card, no money changes hands (like Uber)

    It is a supremely efficient way of doing short-medium journeys in a big city

    Now, combine the Uberised Tuk Tuk with self driving. It won't be hard to make tuk-tuks autonomous, if they can do cars (tuk tuks are lighter, they won't be used for long journeys, and so forth)

    THAT is the future of urban transport. Self driving tuk tuks. Entire fleets of them (clean and electric, not two stroke) shuttling around cities, doing 80% of human journeys, to the shops and back, to the pub, and so on. At night the uberised autonomous tuk tuks will store themselves in underground garages

    Thus the urban car becomes obsolete, for most people

    I agree with the general idea, but split into two parts:

    There will be pool cars and vans (Uber, Enterprise, whatever) available on every street in urban Britain, and they will be cheap with scale and enormously popular. This will massively increase the amount of space available on residential streets - average mileage of personal cars is only 7,000 per year, and they spend most of their time parked. *

    However, most people, for most journeys, will get around on e-scooters (75% of car journeys in Edinburgh are single occupant, for example.)** They are used almost exclusively by arseholes at the moment but you can't escape the fact they are spectacularly efficient to store and run. That our legislation has so far stymied the scooter revolution is a gross failure.

    *Conspiracy theorists will cite Magna Carta in defence of their private vehicles and bomb a few pool cars, ULEZ style
    ** This will lead to an enormous spike in fatal road traffic collisions as cars and scooters begin to mix, but the revolution will survive it
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    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,927
    DavidL said:

    A big shout out to all PBers celebrating Imbolc today.

    Think it might actually be tomorrow?
    https://www.bing.com/search?q=when+is+imbolc+2024&qs=AS&pq=when+is+imbolc&sk=SS1&sc=10-14&cvid=F920A2F5E4EC4B37A3352E2C0A2E2DDF&FORM=QBRE&sp=2&lq=0

    But I am starting a dry month today. If you are going to have a dry month its best to pick a short one and January is just too depressing without alcohol anyway. As Spring comes and it gets easier to get out the temptation to sit in and drink will hopefully be less.
    Halfway through my dry January, I thought that myself!
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    bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 7,981

    A big shout out to all PBers celebrating Imbolc today.

    I don't care about Imbolc; I'm happier about the fact Dry January's dead! ;)
    Is it the 1st or the 2nd? Oh my god, this is like the First Council of Nicaea all over again!
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,028
    I take it the server move went fine, and we haven't scorched ourselves flying too close to the sun.
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    Turns out I was too depressed to do dry January. Happily I don't have any alcohol in the house, or...
This discussion has been closed.