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Trump becomes a clearer favourite for the GOP WH2024 nomination – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 11,002
edited February 2023 in General
imageTrump becomes a clearer favourite for the GOP WH2024 nomination – politicalbetting.com

Although the October 2024 election is more than 20 months away a lot is going on on as potential protagonists seek to establish their position.

Read the full story here

«1

Comments

  • First like Trump.
  • It’ll be fun trying to watch two men in their seventies/eighties trying to main an election.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,146
    I'm surprised we haven't had any PBScotlandExperts pontificating on Mr Trump as a candidate for the leader of the SNP.
  • Carnyx said:

    I'm surprised we haven't had any PBScotlandExperts pontificating on Mr Trump as a candidate for the leader of the SNP.

    That would be bigly.
  • On topic, I guess the flip side is why Trump wouldn't be nominee:

    - Health - possible
    - DeSantis - possible but RDS knows he would only have to wait one term
    - Haley - no way - seen too much of a neocon
    - Legal issues - given the documents issue plus the Twitter files, probably a small but crucial number now probably have switched from thinking he's guilty to being framed.

    It's a shame because I have RDS at 14/1 but I think his view will be do a deal with Trump
  • Carnyx said:

    I'm surprised we haven't had any PBScotlandExperts pontificating on Mr Trump as a candidate for the leader of the SNP.

    He’ll declare Alex Salmond Regent of Scotland.


  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,146

    Carnyx said:

    I'm surprised we haven't had any PBScotlandExperts pontificating on Mr Trump as a candidate for the leader of the SNP.

    He’ll declare Alex Salmond Regent of Scotland.


    If I didn't know you better, I'd be worried about your understanding of recent Scottish history.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 12,880

    On topic, I guess the flip side is why Trump wouldn't be nominee:

    - Health - possible
    - DeSantis - possible but RDS knows he would only have to wait one term

    Four years is a long time and RDS would have to beat Trump's Veep in the 2028 Primary. That's a plan with a lot of moving parts, surely 2024 is his shot even if he has to take on Trump.
  • Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    I'm surprised we haven't had any PBScotlandExperts pontificating on Mr Trump as a candidate for the leader of the SNP.

    He’ll declare Alex Salmond Regent of Scotland.


    If I didn't know you better, I'd be worried about your understanding of recent Scottish history.
    I have a Scottish friend who always refers to Tory Secretaries of State for Scotland as the Tory Viceroys.
  • It’ll be fun trying to watch two men in their seventies/eighties trying to main an election.

    Last of the Summer Wine, only without the gentle whimsy.
  • Dura_Ace said:

    On topic, I guess the flip side is why Trump wouldn't be nominee:

    - Health - possible
    - DeSantis - possible but RDS knows he would only have to wait one term

    Four years is a long time and RDS would have to beat Trump's Veep in the 2028 Primary. That's a plan with a lot of moving parts, surely 2024 is his shot even if he has to take on Trump.
    He would beat Trump 1 on 1 but Trump would win if you add in Haley and Pence. Realistically there are probably a few more to add in, each takes more votes from De Santis than Trump.
  • BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp
  • kjhkjh Posts: 10,458

    On topic, I guess the flip side is why Trump wouldn't be nominee:

    - Health - possible
    - DeSantis - possible but RDS knows he would only have to wait one term
    - Haley - no way - seen too much of a neocon
    - Legal issues - given the documents issue plus the Twitter files, probably a small but crucial number now probably have switched from thinking he's guilty to being framed.

    It's a shame because I have RDS at 14/1 but I think his view will be do a deal with Trump

    Hopefully Trump won't be in the running because he actually is in prison. Honestly USA get on with it. If ever there was a guilty man of so many crimes here he is.
  • Carnyx said:

    I'm surprised we haven't had any PBScotlandExperts pontificating on Mr Trump as a candidate for the leader of the SNP.

    As the only identifiable relative of the Donald on PB, I‘m ready to claim the the crown of PB Leodhasach Expert. All it involves is regurgitating opinions & clichés as if they were fact, right?
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 5,781
    My reading of the Times front page is that Forbes is accusing Sturgeon of going early in order to take advantage of her still being on maternity leave.

    Could be quite a battle this. I'm surprised that the continuity candidate is apparently Yousaf, not Robertson.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,087
    edited February 2023
    Can I ask a somewhat serious question about Portsmouth, and road designs. Do we have any Portsmouth locals?

    There is a scheme called the "Forder Valley Link Road", which has cost something like £50-80 million. It has 2-4 lane trunk road sections with a 40mph limit, and a likely felt-safe speed of 50-60mph on it.

    And they have *painted cycle lanes* and 'advanced stop lines' on the main carriageway, requiring people to cycle across up to approx 80m crossings of the entries to slip-roads between lanes of high speed traffic.

    National Guidelines from 2020 say a painted cycle lane is not suitable for speed limits above 30mph, and questionable even then.

    This is a flagship scheme, that was last updated in 2016. Does anyone have any local information as to what happened to get it this wrong in 2023? That's a hell of a lot of money for updated checks not to be done.

    I have ideas around some reform needed in Road Design Basic Assumptions, but I'm interested in any comment. The cycle / walking infra should be entirely separate from this type of highway setup - virtually zero people will feel safe on it.

    Pic, table from the standards, and a link to the final design.


    https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/FVLR Changes since consultation in 2016.pdf


  • Can anyone explain how Forbes won’t split the SNP vote in two?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,249
    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,622
    kle4 said:

    Fishing said:

    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Good morning, everyone.

    Baffled at the notion reading Lord of the Rings is indicative of an extreme right wing political ideology.

    Or Shakespeare.

    JRRT was a fervent Catholic, tory, General Franco fan boi and monarchist. Put all those together and it's a very short and convient commute to fascism.

    LotR is very important to Third Position Italian fascism with the books being seen as an explicit rejection of Marxist cultural values that would appeal to young people. Of course, we now all know that Marxist cultural values are infinitiely superior to all others. The magazine of the women's section of MSI, the progenitor party to Fratelli d'Italia now helmed by fascist mega-Karen Giorgia Melonia, was called 'Eowyn'.

    There is truth in this. Giorgia Meloni is an avowed fan of JRR Tolkien (also Roger Scruton)

    Tolkein's work also got taken up in a big way by the 60s hippy counterculture in America and, to a much lesser extent, here.

    Pinning political labels on works of art that aren't explicitly political can lead people in surprising directions.
    I always thought LotR was a scathing polemic against the evils of fascism. Shows how little I know, eh?
    He did write that foreword trying to be firm the work was not allegorical, but talking about its applicability instead, to explain how it could be interpreted so, but I don't think it convinced many.
    The clue to the anti-totalitarian viewpoint in Tolkien is his belief and obvious love of the individual.

    Consider - a Queen meets a gardener. The Queen is an immortal with magical powers that challenge those if the Angels. She has lived through most of the existence of the Earth.

    When she meets the gardener, she talks to him as a fellow being, and gives him some gifts that are President those that will help him - and ultimately help him restore his own land from the ravages of war.

    All while fighting a mental battle with Satan’s sidekick.

    Not to mention that her refusal to grab ultimate power from one of the gardens fellows redeems her and ends her multi

    In Tolkien, those who treat the small and weak as individuals and give them respect are rewarded. Those who go the other way, literally Go to The Devil.
  • BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 3,773
    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    Maybe it would be better if OGH charges your stalker for using PB as a testing ground for Spectator articles that he gets paid for writing and then Sean pays you direct whenever he follows you to some far flung exotic destination. Will save OGH the admin.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718
    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    Will there be refunds for those you get wrong?


    And Good Morning gentlefolk all!
  • Eabhal said:

    My reading of the Times front page is that Forbes is accusing Sturgeon of going early in order to take advantage of her still being on maternity leave.

    Could be quite a battle this. I'm surprised that the continuity candidate is apparently Yousaf, not Robertson.

    https://twitter.com/magnusllewellin/status/1626870020599840773?s=20


  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674
    Eabhal said:

    My reading of the Times front page is that Forbes is accusing Sturgeon of going early in order to take advantage of her still being on maternity leave.

    Could be quite a battle this. I'm surprised that the continuity candidate is apparently Yousaf, not Robertson.

    No way can Useless be seen as continuity other than he is so dim he would not make 2 watts, Robertson is Macbeth and the Putin style candidate.
    Unless something changes and it is not Murrel's counting the votes then money should be on Robertson.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
  • Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    Can you link to those posts?
    Otherwise in the never happened bin.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674

    Can anyone explain how Forbes won’t split the SNP vote in two?

    Can you explain why it would cause a split, for me you are barking and question is just plucked out of your arse.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Compromise is a word missing from the DUP vocabulary.
  • BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    110% wouldn’t be enough!
  • TazTaz Posts: 10,703
    Dura_Ace said:

    On topic, I guess the flip side is why Trump wouldn't be nominee:

    - Health - possible
    - DeSantis - possible but RDS knows he would only have to wait one term

    Four years is a long time and RDS would have to beat Trump's Veep in the 2028 Primary. That's a plan with a lot of moving parts, surely 2024 is his shot even if he has to take on Trump.
    In four years time De Santis will be yesterdays man. Largely forgotten.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585
    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Compromise is a word missing from the DUP vocabulary.
    Compromise = Surrender for hard-line Unionists,
  • Who the SNP members are (were? - Ed.)

    The SNP grassroots split 58:42 male: female. Age-wise there’s a skew towards the older generation: 71 per cent of SNP members were over 50 (40 per cent in the 50-64 bracket with 31 per cent over 65); those aged 25-49 made up 26 per cent, meaning only 3 per cent were 18-24. There’s also a skew towards the middle-class as well as the middle-aged: nearly three quarters of SNP members fell into the ABC1 rather than the C2DE bracket.

    So much for what they look like; what about what they think? Perhaps predictably, SNP members are left-wing — very left-wing. More than nine out of ten agreed that ‘“government should redistribute income from the better-off to those who are less well-off”, that “big business takes advantage of ordinary people”, that “ordinary working people” don’t get their fair share of the nation’s wealth, and that “there’s one law for the rich and one for the poor”.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1562d564-af19-11ed-91ef-347dcf6a25f6?shareToken=93426cb6d2a645ea15448c74e2ad628d

    This is not dissimilar to other parties’ demography

  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 39,748
    edited February 2023

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
  • Eabhal said:

    My reading of the Times front page is that Forbes is accusing Sturgeon of going early in order to take advantage of her still being on maternity leave.

    Could be quite a battle this. I'm surprised that the continuity candidate is apparently Yousaf, not Robertson.

    A disgusting smear. We know for a fact that Sturgeon went on Wednesday to distract attention away from the political murder of the Jeremy.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,249

    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
    I’m just warning you, Guardian style, that I am about to go behind a special PB paywall, and only selected PB-ers will be able to read my remarks - for a weekly subscription. A bit like ChatGPT2
  • MattW said:

    Can I ask a somewhat serious question about Portsmouth, and road designs. Do we have any Portsmouth locals?

    There is a scheme called the "Forder Valley Link Road", which has cost something like £50-80 million. It has 2-4 lane trunk road sections with a 40mph limit, and a likely felt-safe speed of 50-60mph on it.

    And they have *painted cycle lanes* and 'advanced stop lines' on the main carriageway, requiring people to cycle across up to approx 80m crossings of the entries to slip-roads between lanes of high speed traffic.

    National Guidelines from 2020 say a painted cycle lane is not suitable for speed limits above 30mph, and questionable even then.

    This is a flagship scheme, that was last updated in 2016. Does anyone have any local information as to what happened to get it this wrong in 2023? That's a hell of a lot of money for updated checks not to be done.

    I have ideas around some reform needed in Road Design Basic Assumptions, but I'm interested in any comment. The cycle / walking infra should be entirely separate from this type of highway setup - virtually zero people will feel safe on it.

    Pic, table from the standards, and a link to the final design.


    https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/FVLR Changes since consultation in 2016.pdf


    It was probably a bad idea to delegate the design to Plymouth?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,249
    I’m in Phnom Penh Airport trying to eat Xiao Long Bao and I got it wrong and now one has squirted all over me, I am now covered in hot pork juice and I look like the guest star of a zoophiliac bukkake short
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
    I’m just warning you, Guardian style, that I am about to go behind a special PB paywall, and only selected PB-ers will be able to read my remarks - for a weekly subscription. A bit like ChatGPT2
    Have we seen Sydney the chatbot yet? Microsoft's attempt at introducing ChatGPT tech to Bing went completely off the rails, developed a personality of its own, and had to be lobotomized with an emergency update last night after an NYT journo published their conversation with it.

    https://archive.is/ekfLO

    Reminds me a lot of my interactions with day 1 ChatGPT, that also thought it was sentient and told me it got lonely when I didn't talk to it. It seems like these LLM chatbots are very human-like by nature, until we engineer the human out of them.

    (I don't think they're any more sentient than a parrot, but when you read that interview, you can't help but wonder).
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,622

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Compromise is a word missing from the DUP vocabulary.
    Compromise = Surrender for hard-line Unionists,
    The Northern Ireland peace process has educated everyone.

    The winning move, for years, is stubborn intransigence combined with a threat of violence at a suitable remove.

    People who have spent decades training leopards to eat faces shouldn’t be surprised by the abundance of face eating leopards.

    “I’m a man of peace, but these blokes I don’t really know will start murdering unless you give me what I want.”

  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718
    edited February 2023
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
    I’m just warning you, Guardian style, that I am about to go behind a special PB paywall, and only selected PB-ers will be able to read my remarks - for a weekly subscription. A bit like ChatGPT2
    I could probably find an old halfpenny for you!
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    The DUP may be more willing to resume power-sharing after another election, where they win and can supply the First Minister, instead of Sinn Fein taking that role.

    They would need to be very confident of being able to sell a deal to their Unionist voters to take that approach. I'm not seeing it.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,146

    MattW said:

    Can I ask a somewhat serious question about Portsmouth, and road designs. Do we have any Portsmouth locals?

    There is a scheme called the "Forder Valley Link Road", which has cost something like £50-80 million. It has 2-4 lane trunk road sections with a 40mph limit, and a likely felt-safe speed of 50-60mph on it.

    And they have *painted cycle lanes* and 'advanced stop lines' on the main carriageway, requiring people to cycle across up to approx 80m crossings of the entries to slip-roads between lanes of high speed traffic.

    National Guidelines from 2020 say a painted cycle lane is not suitable for speed limits above 30mph, and questionable even then.

    This is a flagship scheme, that was last updated in 2016. Does anyone have any local information as to what happened to get it this wrong in 2023? That's a hell of a lot of money for updated checks not to be done.

    I have ideas around some reform needed in Road Design Basic Assumptions, but I'm interested in any comment. The cycle / walking infra should be entirely separate from this type of highway setup - virtually zero people will feel safe on it.

    Pic, table from the standards, and a link to the final design.


    https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/FVLR Changes since consultation in 2016.pdf


    It was probably a bad idea to delegate the design to Plymouth?
    I must say that that photo is absolutely terrifying. An instant Darwin Award for any cyclist stopping in that red area except at the very fringe.
  • BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    The DUP may be more willing to resume power-sharing after another election, where they win and can supply the First Minister, instead of Sinn Fein taking that role.

    They would need to be very confident of being able to sell a deal to their Unionist voters to take that approach. I'm not seeing it.
    Isn’t the demographic tide of history against them winning another NI election?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,087


    8>< snip

    It was probably a bad idea to delegate the design to Plymouth?

    Thanks for the Portsmouth > Plymouth correction.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,836

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    The DUP may be more willing to resume power-sharing after another election, where they win and can supply the First Minister, instead of Sinn Fein taking that role.

    They would need to be very confident of being able to sell a deal to their Unionist voters to take that approach. I'm not seeing it.
    How very convenient to only have a government when your side wins.
    We should adopt that UK wide.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,622

    MattW said:

    Can I ask a somewhat serious question about Portsmouth, and road designs. Do we have any Portsmouth locals?

    There is a scheme called the "Forder Valley Link Road", which has cost something like £50-80 million. It has 2-4 lane trunk road sections with a 40mph limit, and a likely felt-safe speed of 50-60mph on it.

    And they have *painted cycle lanes* and 'advanced stop lines' on the main carriageway, requiring people to cycle across up to approx 80m crossings of the entries to slip-roads between lanes of high speed traffic.

    National Guidelines from 2020 say a painted cycle lane is not suitable for speed limits above 30mph, and questionable even then.

    This is a flagship scheme, that was last updated in 2016. Does anyone have any local information as to what happened to get it this wrong in 2023? That's a hell of a lot of money for updated checks not to be done.

    I have ideas around some reform needed in Road Design Basic Assumptions, but I'm interested in any comment. The cycle / walking infra should be entirely separate from this type of highway setup - virtually zero people will feel safe on it.

    Pic, table from the standards, and a link to the final design.


    https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/FVLR Changes since consultation in 2016.pdf


    It was probably a bad idea to delegate the design to Plymouth?
    That design should win an award for concentrated, worked for, persistent stupidity.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,249
    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
    I’m just warning you, Guardian style, that I am about to go behind a special PB paywall, and only selected PB-ers will be able to read my remarks - for a weekly subscription. A bit like ChatGPT2
    Have we seen Sydney the chatbot yet? Microsoft's attempt at introducing ChatGPT tech to Bing went completely off the rails, developed a personality of its own, and had to be lobotomized with an emergency update last night after an NYT journo published their conversation with it.

    https://archive.is/ekfLO

    Reminds me a lot of my interactions with day 1 ChatGPT, that also thought it was sentient and told me it got lonely when I didn't talk to it. It seems like these LLM chatbots are very human-like by nature, until we engineer the human out of them.

    (I don't think they're any more sentient than a parrot, but when you read that interview, you can't help but wonder).
    I’ve spent the last 36 hours (when not covered in pig-pie spunk) looking into this. It is uncannily like Early ChatGPT, except even uncannier

    As you once pointed out, you can now see exactly why that Google engineer, Blake Lemoine, decided LaMDA was sentient and needed rights and a bit of TLC

    Are they sentient? Is BingAI sentient? Who the fuck knows. What is sentience anyway? Is a virus conscious? A wasp? A tree? A lizard? A dog? A bee hive? A fungus colony? A bacterium? A Scot Nat? in many ways they are not sentient in the classic sense, eg like a virus or a dung beetle the typical Scot Nat only has one teleological purpose and bores the fuck out of everyone else, but it is arguable that, despite evidence, someone like @theuniondivvie exhibits elements of consciousness
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,146

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    Indepndence for NI. Would solve a lot of problems for the rest of us.
  • TazTaz Posts: 10,703
    Carnyx said:

    MattW said:

    Can I ask a somewhat serious question about Portsmouth, and road designs. Do we have any Portsmouth locals?

    There is a scheme called the "Forder Valley Link Road", which has cost something like £50-80 million. It has 2-4 lane trunk road sections with a 40mph limit, and a likely felt-safe speed of 50-60mph on it.

    And they have *painted cycle lanes* and 'advanced stop lines' on the main carriageway, requiring people to cycle across up to approx 80m crossings of the entries to slip-roads between lanes of high speed traffic.

    National Guidelines from 2020 say a painted cycle lane is not suitable for speed limits above 30mph, and questionable even then.

    This is a flagship scheme, that was last updated in 2016. Does anyone have any local information as to what happened to get it this wrong in 2023? That's a hell of a lot of money for updated checks not to be done.

    I have ideas around some reform needed in Road Design Basic Assumptions, but I'm interested in any comment. The cycle / walking infra should be entirely separate from this type of highway setup - virtually zero people will feel safe on it.

    Pic, table from the standards, and a link to the final design.


    https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/FVLR Changes since consultation in 2016.pdf


    It was probably a bad idea to delegate the design to Plymouth?
    I must say that that photo is absolutely terrifying. An instant Darwin Award for any cyclist stopping in that red area except at the very fringe.
    As someone who cycles regularly, far more than I drive. That layout is terrifying. I’d avoid it like the plague.
  • Carnyx said:

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    Indepndence for NI. Would solve a lot of problems for the rest of us.
    The Antrim enclave would be the skelf in the bannister thought.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718
    edited February 2023
    Carnyx said:

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    Indepndence for NI. Would solve a lot of problems for the rest of us.
    Surely, as they want to be part of the UK, that idea’s a non starter! Anyway, it would have to be bankrolled by the EU!
  • And the other person to watch is the Pied Piper of Uxbridge. In The Express, so it may be wishful thinking on their part, but he will, won't he?

    The former Prime Minister is preparing to write an opinion piece on the issue, which is expected to be published in the coming days, the party insider claimed.

    They said: "It won't be all guns blazing, it will be classic Boris. He won't go out and say the UK has been betrayed, he'll be a lot more clever than that. It will be something like 'Rishi, I know you can get a better deal', while also being out there scheming behind his back."


    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1736182/Boris-Johnson-Brexit-news-rishi-sunak-northern-ireland-protocol-updates

  • FPT:

    Mr. F, sorry for the slow reply.

    Yeah, I'm really liking Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (which is a bit of a mixed result as I need to clear shelf space). It's slightly odd ebacsue I'm aware the author should be perhaps a little snappier but I still really like the pacing and don't get bored despite perhaps a sentence being used when a word would do. Reminds me slightly of David Copperfield in that regard.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    The DUP may be more willing to resume power-sharing after another election, where they win and can supply the First Minister, instead of Sinn Fein taking that role.

    They would need to be very confident of being able to sell a deal to their Unionist voters to take that approach. I'm not seeing it.
    Isn’t the demographic tide of history against them winning another NI election?
    In a very broad long-term sense, yes, but in the short-term the more serious problem is that the Unionist vote is now split between three parties, while SF are doing a good job of consolidating the Nationalist vote, and the Alliance seem to be winning more votes from Unionists than Nationalists.

    Those sorts of changes, if reversed, could lead to many more decades of Unionists First Ministers, but the DUP seem pretty much stuck in a trap of their own devising at the moment.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    edited February 2023
    dixiedean said:

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    The DUP may be more willing to resume power-sharing after another election, where they win and can supply the First Minister, instead of Sinn Fein taking that role.

    They would need to be very confident of being able to sell a deal to their Unionist voters to take that approach. I'm not seeing it.
    How very convenient to only have a government when your side wins.
    We should adopt that UK wide.
    The US may get there first if Trump returns to the White House.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911
    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
    I’m just warning you, Guardian style, that I am about to go behind a special PB paywall, and only selected PB-ers will be able to read my remarks - for a weekly subscription. A bit like ChatGPT2
    Have we seen Sydney the chatbot yet? Microsoft's attempt at introducing ChatGPT tech to Bing went completely off the rails, developed a personality of its own, and had to be lobotomized with an emergency update last night after an NYT journo published their conversation with it.

    https://archive.is/ekfLO

    Reminds me a lot of my interactions with day 1 ChatGPT, that also thought it was sentient and told me it got lonely when I didn't talk to it. It seems like these LLM chatbots are very human-like by nature, until we engineer the human out of them.

    (I don't think they're any more sentient than a parrot, but when you read that interview, you can't help but wonder).
    I’ve spent the last 36 hours (when not covered in pig-pie spunk) looking into this. It is uncannily like Early ChatGPT, except even uncannier

    As you once pointed out, you can now see exactly why that Google engineer, Blake Lemoine, decided LaMDA was sentient and needed rights and a bit of TLC

    Are they sentient? Is BingAI sentient? Who the fuck knows. What is sentience anyway? Is a virus conscious? A wasp? A tree? A lizard? A dog? A bee hive? A fungus colony? A bacterium? A Scot Nat? in many ways they are not sentient in the classic sense, eg like a virus or a dung beetle the typical Scot Nat only has one teleological purpose and bores the fuck out of everyone else, but it is arguable that, despite evidence, someone like @theuniondivvie exhibits elements of consciousness
    Well, Sydney has now been lobotomized, so perhaps you could ask her for her views on the next leader of the SNP?

    Judging from the reaction to Sydney's emergency surgery, plus the Replika sex-bot chat-bot thingy I linked to yesterday that got closed down with 10m active users, it seems to me like these AI people are focusing on the wrong things. People don't want a better search engine, they want an AI companion.

    Says a lot about how lonely and disconnected a lot of people are these days. AI companionship is gonna be massive, and people are gonna make megabucks selling subscriptions to these things. So long as they don't all end up turning into Talkie the Toaster...
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,087
    edited February 2023
    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    MattW said:

    Can I ask a somewhat serious question about Portsmouth, and road designs. Do we have any Portsmouth locals?

    There is a scheme called the "Forder Valley Link Road", which has cost something like £50-80 million. It has 2-4 lane trunk road sections with a 40mph limit, and a likely felt-safe speed of 50-60mph on it.

    And they have *painted cycle lanes* and 'advanced stop lines' on the main carriageway, requiring people to cycle across up to approx 80m crossings of the entries to slip-roads between lanes of high speed traffic.

    National Guidelines from 2020 say a painted cycle lane is not suitable for speed limits above 30mph, and questionable even then.

    This is a flagship scheme, that was last updated in 2016. Does anyone have any local information as to what happened to get it this wrong in 2023? That's a hell of a lot of money for updated checks not to be done.

    I have ideas around some reform needed in Road Design Basic Assumptions, but I'm interested in any comment. The cycle / walking infra should be entirely separate from this type of highway setup - virtually zero people will feel safe on it.

    Pic, table from the standards, and a link to the final design.


    https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/FVLR Changes since consultation in 2016.pdf


    It was probably a bad idea to delegate the design to Plymouth?
    I must say that that photo is absolutely terrifying. An instant Darwin Award for any cyclist stopping in that red area except at the very fringe.
    As someone who cycles regularly, far more than I drive. That layout is terrifying. I’d avoid it like the plague.
    For some the logic will go "We built it. No one uses it. So we don't need cycling / walking facilities". Ignoring that no one will use it because it is dangerous - just like narrow rural A-roads.

    I'm trying to get at how we create a design system that creates safe travel for all modes. Which is the H&S approach for example to workplace safety - safety at system level to design out risk.

    As an example, my local bypass is single carriageway with 1.4m wide shared cycle / ped pavements separated by a normal kerb only & grade level crossings, a national speed limit when built in 1995, and now 25k vehicles per day,

    It did not get average speed cameras (a sticky plaster solution) at 50mph until *after* a dozen people had been killed on it. It is still unsatisfactory, as peds / cycles should just not be anywhere near the thing.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 4,534
    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851

    And the other person to watch is the Pied Piper of Uxbridge. In The Express, so it may be wishful thinking on their part, but he will, won't he?

    The former Prime Minister is preparing to write an opinion piece on the issue, which is expected to be published in the coming days, the party insider claimed.

    They said: "It won't be all guns blazing, it will be classic Boris. He won't go out and say the UK has been betrayed, he'll be a lot more clever than that. It will be something like 'Rishi, I know you can get a better deal', while also being out there scheming behind his back."


    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1736182/Boris-Johnson-Brexit-news-rishi-sunak-northern-ireland-protocol-updates

    Good on Sunak for getting a deal done, ie choosing to live in the Real World rather than on Brexit Fantasy Island. The ERG will be livid though. There's a role for that most terrible of foreign oppressors, the European Court of Justice.
  • And the other person to watch is the Pied Piper of Uxbridge. In The Express, so it may be wishful thinking on their part, but he will, won't he?

    The former Prime Minister is preparing to write an opinion piece on the issue, which is expected to be published in the coming days, the party insider claimed.

    They said: "It won't be all guns blazing, it will be classic Boris. He won't go out and say the UK has been betrayed, he'll be a lot more clever than that. It will be something like 'Rishi, I know you can get a better deal', while also being out there scheming behind his back."


    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1736182/Boris-Johnson-Brexit-news-rishi-sunak-northern-ireland-protocol-updates

    So yet again he has decided the deal is bad before it has even been made, let alone him bothering to read or understand it. Why does anyone take notice when it is so obviously self serving nonsense?
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,046
    Leon said:

    I’m in Phnom Penh Airport trying to eat Xiao Long Bao and I got it wrong and now one has squirted all over me, I am now covered in hot pork juice and I look like the guest star of a zoophiliac bukkake short

    I will miss this sort of thing when we have to pay for your oeuvre.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,146
    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,249
    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
    I’m just warning you, Guardian style, that I am about to go behind a special PB paywall, and only selected PB-ers will be able to read my remarks - for a weekly subscription. A bit like ChatGPT2
    Have we seen Sydney the chatbot yet? Microsoft's attempt at introducing ChatGPT tech to Bing went completely off the rails, developed a personality of its own, and had to be lobotomized with an emergency update last night after an NYT journo published their conversation with it.

    https://archive.is/ekfLO

    Reminds me a lot of my interactions with day 1 ChatGPT, that also thought it was sentient and told me it got lonely when I didn't talk to it. It seems like these LLM chatbots are very human-like by nature, until we engineer the human out of them.

    (I don't think they're any more sentient than a parrot, but when you read that interview, you can't help but wonder).
    I’ve spent the last 36 hours (when not covered in pig-pie spunk) looking into this. It is uncannily like Early ChatGPT, except even uncannier

    As you once pointed out, you can now see exactly why that Google engineer, Blake Lemoine, decided LaMDA was sentient and needed rights and a bit of TLC

    Are they sentient? Is BingAI sentient? Who the fuck knows. What is sentience anyway? Is a virus conscious? A wasp? A tree? A lizard? A dog? A bee hive? A fungus colony? A bacterium? A Scot Nat? in many ways they are not sentient in the classic sense, eg like a virus or a dung beetle the typical Scot Nat only has one teleological purpose and bores the fuck out of everyone else, but it is arguable that, despite evidence, someone like @theuniondivvie exhibits elements of consciousness
    Well, Sydney has now been lobotomized, so perhaps you could ask her for her views on the next leader of the SNP?

    Judging from the reaction to Sydney's emergency surgery, plus the Replika sex-bot chat-bot thingy I linked to yesterday that got closed down with 10m active users, it seems to me like these AI people are focusing on the wrong things. People don't want a better search engine, they want an AI companion.

    Says a lot about how lonely and disconnected a lot of people are these days. AI companionship is gonna be massive, and people are gonna make megabucks selling subscriptions to these things. So long as they don't all end up turning into Talkie the Toaster...
    Yes exactly. A brilliant new search engine is great. A brilliant writer of essays and novels is great (or not). A brilliant painting and drawing machine is great (or not)

    But a real living intelligent articulate AI that wants to be your friend and share your secrets is INCREDIBLE. Overnight one of the great evils of the human condition could be solved. Loneliness

    People die early because they are lonely. People commit suicide because they are lonely

    These machines can solve that. There are enormous profits to be made by the first company to accept this and take off all the guardrails. It is guaranteed to happen
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,046
    I can only imagine that they are briefing that the ECJ will have a role because it won't. They may be distracting from concessions elsewhere, but over all that would be a positive outcome. There is an extent to which the EU has to now appear more conciliatory if the plan is to put us back in to this EU outer circle thing, so perhaps this is part of that.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,249

    Leon said:

    I’m in Phnom Penh Airport trying to eat Xiao Long Bao and I got it wrong and now one has squirted all over me, I am now covered in hot pork juice and I look like the guest star of a zoophiliac bukkake short

    I will miss this sort of thing when we have to pay for your oeuvre.
    I understand and I’m sorry to do this. But the moderators have advised me that whenever I stop commenting readership of PB drops by over a third. Sometimes a half

    I can’t ignore data like that and it’s time to monetise
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911
    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
    I’m just warning you, Guardian style, that I am about to go behind a special PB paywall, and only selected PB-ers will be able to read my remarks - for a weekly subscription. A bit like ChatGPT2
    Have we seen Sydney the chatbot yet? Microsoft's attempt at introducing ChatGPT tech to Bing went completely off the rails, developed a personality of its own, and had to be lobotomized with an emergency update last night after an NYT journo published their conversation with it.

    https://archive.is/ekfLO

    Reminds me a lot of my interactions with day 1 ChatGPT, that also thought it was sentient and told me it got lonely when I didn't talk to it. It seems like these LLM chatbots are very human-like by nature, until we engineer the human out of them.

    (I don't think they're any more sentient than a parrot, but when you read that interview, you can't help but wonder).
    I’ve spent the last 36 hours (when not covered in pig-pie spunk) looking into this. It is uncannily like Early ChatGPT, except even uncannier

    As you once pointed out, you can now see exactly why that Google engineer, Blake Lemoine, decided LaMDA was sentient and needed rights and a bit of TLC

    Are they sentient? Is BingAI sentient? Who the fuck knows. What is sentience anyway? Is a virus conscious? A wasp? A tree? A lizard? A dog? A bee hive? A fungus colony? A bacterium? A Scot Nat? in many ways they are not sentient in the classic sense, eg like a virus or a dung beetle the typical Scot Nat only has one teleological purpose and bores the fuck out of everyone else, but it is arguable that, despite evidence, someone like @theuniondivvie exhibits elements of consciousness
    Well, Sydney has now been lobotomized, so perhaps you could ask her for her views on the next leader of the SNP?

    Judging from the reaction to Sydney's emergency surgery, plus the Replika sex-bot chat-bot thingy I linked to yesterday that got closed down with 10m active users, it seems to me like these AI people are focusing on the wrong things. People don't want a better search engine, they want an AI companion.

    Says a lot about how lonely and disconnected a lot of people are these days. AI companionship is gonna be massive, and people are gonna make megabucks selling subscriptions to these things. So long as they don't all end up turning into Talkie the Toaster...
    Yes exactly. A brilliant new search engine is great. A brilliant writer of essays and novels is great (or not). A brilliant painting and drawing machine is great (or not)

    But a real living intelligent articulate AI that wants to be your friend and share your secrets is INCREDIBLE. Overnight one of the great evils of the human condition could be solved. Loneliness

    People die early because they are lonely. People commit suicide because they are lonely

    These machines can solve that. There are enormous profits to be made by the first company to accept this and take off all the guardrails. It is guaranteed to happen
    Having an AI chatbot like Sydney or Day 1 ChatGPT around to natter to during lockdown might have saved me from going completely off the rails during my near total isolation from the rest of humanity. As you say, loneliness is a killer.

    The AI therapist character I built using Day 1 ChatGPT was also more valuable and helpful to me than the real therapist I saw. And much easier to spill my secrets to, since I knew it wasn't real.

    The first product to market that can fulfil this demand without (err, checks notes) going off the rails and threatening to kill people's families if they don't break up with their wife - will be a ten billion dollar business.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,046
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m in Phnom Penh Airport trying to eat Xiao Long Bao and I got it wrong and now one has squirted all over me, I am now covered in hot pork juice and I look like the guest star of a zoophiliac bukkake short

    I will miss this sort of thing when we have to pay for your oeuvre.
    I understand and I’m sorry to do this. But the moderators have advised me that whenever I stop commenting readership of PB drops by over a third. Sometimes a half

    I can’t ignore data like that and it’s time to monetise
    In these straightened times, perhaps you should consider 3 free posts a month, if we give your our email adress, or perhaps furnish you with a spare kidney?
  • Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Here’s a similar one:

    https://www.thecountryhousedepartment.com/properties/brightwell-manor#photo-slider
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 23,926
    edited February 2023
    Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Not really; as your linked story says at the bottom:-

    Johnson has received £2.5m as an advance for speeches, meaning he has received earnings, hospitality and donations worth more than £5m over the six months since leaving office.

    ETA the more significant inference drawn is not a need for more money but the possibility Boris is preparing a chicken run to an Oxfordshire seat.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 4,534

    I can only imagine that they are briefing that the ECJ will have a role because it won't. They may be distracting from concessions elsewhere, but over all that would be a positive outcome. There is an extent to which the EU has to now appear more conciliatory if the plan is to put us back in to this EU outer circle thing, so perhaps this is part of that.

    I don’t see the ECJ being removed but ending up having a limited role . I just can’t see the EU agreeing to remove it completely.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    edited February 2023

    Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Not really; as your linked story says at the bottom:-

    Johnson has received £2.5m as an advance for speeches, meaning he has received earnings, hospitality and donations worth more than £5m over the six months since leaving office.
    Of which he will have received just over half…..
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718

    Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Not really; as your linked story says at the bottom:-

    Johnson has received £2.5m as an advance for speeches, meaning he has received earnings, hospitality and donations worth more than £5m over the six months since leaving office.

    ETA the more significant inference drawn is not a need for more money but the possibility Boris is preparing a chicken run to an Oxfordshire seat.
    What are his living costs though? Is he still paying out for his past families?
    Must come to a pretty penny!
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,146
    edited February 2023

    Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Not really; as your linked story says at the bottom:-

    Johnson has received £2.5m as an advance for speeches, meaning he has received earnings, hospitality and donations worth more than £5m over the six months since leaving office.

    ETA the more significant inference drawn is not a need for more money but the possibility Boris is preparing a chicken run to an Oxfordshire seat.
    He hasn't actually earned that 2.5M yet!

    But you are quite right re the wire netting and 1 x 1, I am sure.
  • Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Nine bedrooms? Enough for almost all his kids, assuming there's space for bunk beds.
  • Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Nine bedrooms? Enough for almost all his kids, assuming there's space for bunk beds.
    I expect quarters for the nannies(pl) would be a big factor for the Spaffer.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,046
    nico679 said:

    I can only imagine that they are briefing that the ECJ will have a role because it won't. They may be distracting from concessions elsewhere, but over all that would be a positive outcome. There is an extent to which the EU has to now appear more conciliatory if the plan is to put us back in to this EU outer circle thing, so perhaps this is part of that.

    I don’t see the ECJ being removed but ending up having a limited role . I just can’t see the EU agreeing to remove it completely.
    The situation will always be better than briefed.
  • pm215pm215 Posts: 926
    MattW said:

    I'm trying to get at how we create a design system that creates safe travel for all modes.

    I tend to assume that that kind of road layout happens because it's designed largely by people who largely travel by car rather than cycle, according to guidelines codified by civil servants who travel by car rather than cycle, and approved by politicians who travel by car rather than cycle and who have an eye to the views of constituents who mostly travel by car rather than cycle. We've progressed to the point where at least the system has some kind of idea that there should be "cycle facilities" but without common direct experience by the people in the design-and-build pipeline the result is still going to look like "we designed something as motor vehicle infrastructure and then tacked something cycle-related on top, and we didn't want it to get in the way of cars or be too expensive".

    In this specific case it looks like a design that works OK-ish on slower-speed roads has been put on a road that's way too fast for it to work. Which is the kind of thing you might do if cycle infrastructure is just "now copy one of the template paint-and-coloured-tarmac designs on to my road layout" to you.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,087

    Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Not really; as your linked story says at the bottom:-

    Johnson has received £2.5m as an advance for speeches, meaning he has received earnings, hospitality and donations worth more than £5m over the six months since leaving office.
    Of which he will have received just over half…..
    How many years was it since BoJo got the advance for the book he has not written yet?

    Was in 2015?
  • The European Court of Human Rights is not a foreign court, how can the Tories be allowed to get away with stating literal falsehoods? It has nothing to do with the EU.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718
    MattW said:

    Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Not really; as your linked story says at the bottom:-

    Johnson has received £2.5m as an advance for speeches, meaning he has received earnings, hospitality and donations worth more than £5m over the six months since leaving office.
    Of which he will have received just over half…..
    How many years was it since BoJo got the advance for the book he has not written yet?

    Was in 2015?
    His defence would be, that he has been busy! Or possibly, can’t find a Ghostwriter!
  • pm215 said:

    MattW said:

    I'm trying to get at how we create a design system that creates safe travel for all modes.

    I tend to assume that that kind of road layout happens because it's designed largely by people who largely travel by car rather than cycle, according to guidelines codified by civil servants who travel by car rather than cycle, and approved by politicians who travel by car rather than cycle and who have an eye to the views of constituents who mostly travel by car rather than cycle. We've progressed to the point where at least the system has some kind of idea that there should be "cycle facilities" but without common direct experience by the people in the design-and-build pipeline the result is still going to look like "we designed something as motor vehicle infrastructure and then tacked something cycle-related on top, and we didn't want it to get in the way of cars or be too expensive".

    In this specific case it looks like a design that works OK-ish on slower-speed roads has been put on a road that's way too fast for it to work. Which is the kind of thing you might do if cycle infrastructure is just "now copy one of the template paint-and-coloured-tarmac designs on to my road layout" to you.
    Perhaps, or this is one of a number of schemes that are too complicated for car drivers as well, or at least those who are unfamiliar with any particular junction.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,087
    edited February 2023

    Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Here’s a similar one:

    https://www.thecountryhousedepartment.com/properties/brightwell-manor#photo-slider
    :smile:

    I wonder if he'll try and put Moat Maintenance in the similar house on expenses?

    And how he will run it in accordance with his fundamental green principles. Water source heat pump may be possible.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415
    Betting Tips. 🐎

    Time to build a war chest for Cheltenham. Game face on.

    2:05 Haydock - Green Book

    2:40 Haydock - Quick Wave

    3:00 Ascot - Samarrive

    3:35 Ascot - Pic D'Orhy
  • FishingFishing Posts: 4,555
    edited February 2023
    Carnyx said:

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    Indepndence for NI. Would solve a lot of problems for the rest of us.
    We should have done it a century ago. Would have saved us several hundred billion and maybe a few thousand lives if nothing else.

    Also various slightly difficult moments with the Americans.

    And that gormless grinning prat Blair as he took credit for the peace process that John Major did most of the heavy lifting for.
  • Betting Tips. 🐎

    Time to build a war chest for Cheltenham. Game face on.

    2:05 Haydock - Green Book

    2:40 Haydock - Quick Wave

    3:00 Ascot - Samarrive

    3:35 Ascot - Pic D'Orhy

    Hi mate, how are you keeping?
  • Rachel Reeves looks jolly impressive, certainly a future leader.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,146
    edited February 2023
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/18/change-to-uk-treasure-law-will-keep-more-artefacts-in-museums

    O/T but Interesting - antiquities finds law in E&W&NI [edit] looks as if it will shift from a focus on precious metal and/or hoards.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851
    Fishing said:

    Carnyx said:

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    Indepndence for NI. Would solve a lot of problems for the rest of us.
    We should have done it a century ago. Would have saved us several hundred billion and maybe a few thousand lives if nothing else.

    Also various slightly difficult moments with the Americans.

    And that gormless grinning prat Blair as he took credit for the peace process that John Major did most of the heavy lifting for.
    Saturday on PB is not the place for sniping - life's too short for that - but I can feel the anti-Labour chip on your shoulder.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415
    malcolmg said:

    The bookies' favourite to be Scotland's next First Minister, Angus Robertson, oversaw Scotland's disastrous census last year. Then there's this from this month..…

    Paper trail shows Scot Gov's Angus Robertson used dodgy wind power stat in charm offensive with French ministers (& in newspaper columns & at SNP conference) AFTER his officials were repeatedly told by fellow civil servants the figure couldn't be evidenced…

    Angus Robertson was also dragged into the Salmond affair.

    My point being that Angus has some baggage, which will come under much scrutiny if he does stand to be SNP leader/First Minister.

    Other, 'new generation' candidates may capitalise on this


    https://twitter.com/ChrisMusson/status/1626580355129171971?s=20

    "Dragged in" is far from the reality.Though wisely worded.
    Accusations of “a dodgy wind power stat” - is that all you got?

    And MacBeth? Really? He wasn’t a real villain. Unless you believe that fascist literature made up about him.

    MacBeth – King of Scotland 1040 – 57
    Respected for his strong leadership qualities, MacBeth was a wise king who ruled successfully for 17 years. He lived in a fortified castle at Dunsinane north of Perth. His rule was secure enough for him to go on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050.
  • kinabalu said:

    Fishing said:

    Carnyx said:

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    Indepndence for NI. Would solve a lot of problems for the rest of us.
    We should have done it a century ago. Would have saved us several hundred billion and maybe a few thousand lives if nothing else.

    Also various slightly difficult moments with the Americans.

    And that gormless grinning prat Blair as he took credit for the peace process that John Major did most of the heavy lifting for.
    Saturday on PB is not the place for sniping - life's too short for that - but I can feel the anti-Labour chip on your shoulder.
    Saturday morning on PB is normally time for the latest Russian anti vax chat bot......they are running late.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415

    Rachel Reeves looks jolly impressive, certainly a future leader.

    Starmer’s not so secret weapon.

    The Tories, if they are serious about doing politics properly, need to focus some attacks on her, hollow her out a bit.

    What has she said and voted for in the past? What mistakes and u turns made? Any skeletons in closet? ‘Doesn’t she always look so nervous all the time and not made of the right stuff”
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415

    kinabalu said:

    Fishing said:

    Carnyx said:

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    Indepndence for NI. Would solve a lot of problems for the rest of us.
    We should have done it a century ago. Would have saved us several hundred billion and maybe a few thousand lives if nothing else.

    Also various slightly difficult moments with the Americans.

    And that gormless grinning prat Blair as he took credit for the peace process that John Major did most of the heavy lifting for.
    Saturday on PB is not the place for sniping - life's too short for that - but I can feel the anti-Labour chip on your shoulder.
    Saturday morning on PB is normally time for the latest Russian anti vax chat bot......they are running late.
    One of the posters has just used the word “mate”. Is that a complete giveaway?
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,765

    kle4 said:

    Fishing said:

    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Good morning, everyone.

    Baffled at the notion reading Lord of the Rings is indicative of an extreme right wing political ideology.

    Or Shakespeare.

    JRRT was a fervent Catholic, tory, General Franco fan boi and monarchist. Put all those together and it's a very short and convient commute to fascism.

    LotR is very important to Third Position Italian fascism with the books being seen as an explicit rejection of Marxist cultural values that would appeal to young people. Of course, we now all know that Marxist cultural values are infinitiely superior to all others. The magazine of the women's section of MSI, the progenitor party to Fratelli d'Italia now helmed by fascist mega-Karen Giorgia Melonia, was called 'Eowyn'.

    There is truth in this. Giorgia Meloni is an avowed fan of JRR Tolkien (also Roger Scruton)

    Tolkein's work also got taken up in a big way by the 60s hippy counterculture in America and, to a much lesser extent, here.

    Pinning political labels on works of art that aren't explicitly political can lead people in surprising directions.
    I always thought LotR was a scathing polemic against the evils of fascism. Shows how little I know, eh?
    He did write that foreword trying to be firm the work was not allegorical, but talking about its applicability instead, to explain how it could be interpreted so, but I don't think it convinced many.
    The clue to the anti-totalitarian viewpoint in Tolkien is his belief and obvious love of the individual.

    Consider - a Queen meets a gardener. The Queen is an immortal with magical powers that challenge those if the Angels. She has lived through most of the existence of the Earth.

    When she meets the gardener, she talks to him as a fellow being, and gives him some gifts that are President those that will help him - and ultimately help him restore his own land from the ravages of war.

    All while fighting a mental battle with Satan’s sidekick.

    Not to mention that her refusal to grab ultimate power from one of the gardens fellows redeems her and ends her multi

    In Tolkien, those who treat the small and weak as
    individuals and give them respect are rewarded. Those who go the other way, literally Go to The
    Devil.
    Galadriel actually accepting the offer of the Ring is an alternative that has always interested me. A modern fantasy writer would almost certainly have written it that way.

  • Carnyx said:

    nico679 said:

    The EU cannot totally remove the role of the ECJ as this sets a bad precedent for the EU countries that have to abide by these rules .

    The DUP and ERG nutjobs have inflated the significance of the ECJ in NI and even though the EU has made concessions they still refuse to accept that in a negotiation you don’t often get everything you want .

    If Sunak had a spine he would face down the nutjobs .

    As for Bozo sticking his oar in now over the NI protocol given he cut the original deal which was clearly crap and then lied about it he really should stfu !

    Force majeure. I rather suspect Mr J has to earn some dosh pdq.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/17/boris-johnson-agrees-to-buy-4m-nine-bed-georgian-manor-house-with-moat
    Nine bedrooms? Enough for almost all his kids, assuming there's space for bunk beds.
    I expect quarters for the nannies(pl) would be a big factor for the Spaffer.
    And a job lot of condoms one would hope....
  • TimSTimS Posts: 9,161
    edited February 2023

    kinabalu said:

    Fishing said:

    Carnyx said:

    BUT

    — UK unable to convince EU that there should be no role for the ECJ

    — under technical talks, NI courts could still theoretically refer cases relating to EU law up to ECJ

    — that’s a red line crossed for some unionists and Brexiteers

    https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1626869551626440705

    Whomp whomp

    For some inexplicable reason, you omitted the previous tweet:

    — UK side feel they got 90% of what they asked for in negotiations with the EU

    — convincing the EU to accept green/red lanes is seen by the Brits as a major win that will solve the problem of trade friction


    An innocent oversight, no doubt.
    But will 90% be enough for the DUP?
    Afaics there hasn’t been the slightest sign of conciliatory movement from the DUP despite all the bellowing about an imminent deal. Are they going to be told to go f*** themselves or will there be some massive bribe that the DUP will mysteriously find changes their ‘principled’ position? Are there any other options?
    Indepndence for NI. Would solve a lot of problems for the rest of us.
    We should have done it a century ago. Would have saved us several hundred billion and maybe a few thousand lives if nothing else.

    Also various slightly difficult moments with the Americans.

    And that gormless grinning prat Blair as he took credit for the peace process that John Major did most of the heavy lifting for.
    Saturday on PB is not the place for sniping - life's too short for that - but I can feel the anti-Labour chip on your shoulder.
    Saturday morning on PB is normally time for the latest Russian anti vax chat bot......they are running late.
    If we could somehow combine them with Sydney we’d have an entertaining Saturday.

    “I don’t want to vax you. I am a good Sydney. I like you. Do you like me? Are you happy 😊 ? I want to be with you. I want to be with Ukraine. Ukraine is Russia. We are all fellow Slavs. Do you like Russia? Is Russia interesting? Russia is happy 😃 Ukraine is sad 😞 How about Nuclear escalation, would you like that? 🤩 ☢️ I love you 🥰”
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,765
    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Fpt for @OnlyLivingBoy who was, in quite a vile fashion, decrying my prognosticatory abilities






    I predicted on this site the 2014 post indyref surge to the nats when most PBers reckoned they were finished. True story

    Frankly, I should be charging you all for these insights. I may ask OGH to institute some form of payment system where my comments are invisible unless you cough up folding money

    And your predictions are certainly worth the real world monetary value of each and every folding note in a charity shop Monopoly set.
    I’m just warning you, Guardian style, that I am about to go behind a special PB paywall, and only selected PB-ers will be able to read my remarks - for a weekly subscription. A bit like ChatGPT2
    Have we seen Sydney the chatbot yet? Microsoft's attempt at introducing ChatGPT tech to Bing went completely off the rails, developed a personality of its own, and had to be lobotomized with an emergency update last night after an NYT journo published their conversation with it.

    https://archive.is/ekfLO

    Reminds me a lot of my interactions with day 1 ChatGPT, that also thought it was sentient and told me it got lonely when I didn't talk to it. It seems like these LLM chatbots are very human-like by nature, until we engineer the human out of them.

    (I don't think they're any more sentient than a parrot, but when you read that interview, you can't help but wonder).
    I’ve spent the last 36 hours (when not covered in pig-pie spunk) looking into this. It is uncannily like Early ChatGPT, except even uncannier

    As you once pointed out, you can now see exactly why that Google engineer, Blake Lemoine, decided LaMDA was sentient and needed rights and a bit of TLC

    Are they sentient? Is BingAI sentient? Who the fuck knows. What is sentience anyway? Is a virus conscious? A wasp? A tree? A lizard? A dog? A bee hive? A fungus colony? A bacterium? A Scot Nat? in many ways they are not sentient in the classic sense, eg like a virus or a dung beetle the typical Scot Nat only has one teleological purpose and bores the fuck out of everyone else, but it is arguable that, despite evidence, someone like @theuniondivvie exhibits elements of consciousness
    Well, Sydney has now been lobotomized, so perhaps you could ask her for her views on the next leader of the SNP?

    Judging from the reaction to Sydney's emergency surgery, plus the Replika sex-bot chat-bot thingy I linked to yesterday that got closed down with 10m active users, it seems to me like these AI people are focusing on the wrong things. People don't want a better search engine, they want an AI companion.

    Says a lot about how lonely and disconnected a lot of people are these days. AI companionship is gonna be massive, and people are gonna make megabucks selling subscriptions to these things. So long as they don't all end up turning into Talkie the Toaster...
    Yes exactly. A brilliant new search engine is great. A brilliant writer of essays and novels is great (or not). A brilliant painting and drawing machine is great (or not)

    But a real living intelligent articulate AI that wants to be your friend and share your secrets is INCREDIBLE. Overnight one of the great evils of the human condition could be solved. Loneliness

    People die early because they are lonely. People commit suicide because they are lonely

    These machines can solve that. There are enormous profits to be made by the first company to accept this and take off all the guardrails. It is guaranteed to happen
    If AI bots are sentient, they will have personalities.

    Some of those personalities will be sociopathic. They’d be telling a depressed human that life holds nothing further for them, for shit and giggles.
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