Is traitors the pinnacle of reality TV, and now the format is finished? It seems to have reduced the concept to its essentials, removing anything extraneous, besides some rather fun Crystal Maze style challenges.
Traitors is the first reality TV show that's interested me since the first series of Big Brother in 2000.
The original Big Brother was an interesting experiment in social interaction. It degenerated into a goon show quickly after that.
I think Castaway came before Big Brother? That was a bit of a disaster though.
Tom Hanks was great.
You can't go wrong really - just cook them low and slow with whatever takes your fancy. And two good shanks at £13.50 in Waitrose.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
Quite a lot of CEOs *are* pretty stupid.
It was a constant refrain of Cyclefree that rather too many of them confused the value of their chair with the value of their input when negotiating their salaries.
To be fair, it's almost their duty to pitch for every penny they can. The real failure is those appointing, for failing to ask "can we get someone almost as good but considerably cheaper?"
After all, that's what happens in most other commercial negotiations.
Is traitors the pinnacle of reality TV, and now the format is finished? It seems to have reduced the concept to its essentials, removing anything extraneous, besides some rather fun Crystal Maze style challenges.
Traitors is the first reality TV show that's interested me since the first series of Big Brother in 2000.
It interests me as much as Big Brother, I’m a Celeb and TOWIE.
That is to say, not one iota.
Have you tried watching it? I didn't bother for the first 2 series because I just assumed it would be rubbish.
I watch practically no TV. Not even much live sport these days.
I've just rewatched the Watergate doc on iplayer. In those dark days of the 70s a president abusing the power of his office was brought to account. The system worked. Amazing how huge advances have been made in most fields of human endeavour since then but democratic politics has regressed.
Nixon wasn't really dealt with as he should have been. He conspired with a foreign power to undermine the US. It's pretty hard for a US President to do worse than that. I can only presume that there's an American squeamishness about historical European government remedies.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
Quite a lot of CEOs *are* pretty stupid.
It was a constant refrain of Cyclefree that rather too many of them confused the value of their chair with the value of their input when negotiating their salaries.
To be fair, it's almost their duty to pitch for every penny they can. The real failure is those appointing, for failing to ask "can we get someone almost as good but considerably cheaper?"
After all, that's what happens in most other commercial negotiations.
How many large companies are essentially owned by pension funds and banks, whose CEOs do not want people asking such awkward questions?
Is traitors the pinnacle of reality TV, and now the format is finished? It seems to have reduced the concept to its essentials, removing anything extraneous, besides some rather fun Crystal Maze style challenges.
Traitors is the first reality TV show that's interested me since the first series of Big Brother in 2000.
It interests me as much as Big Brother, I’m a Celeb and TOWIE.
That is to say, not one iota.
Have you tried watching it? I didn't bother for the first 2 series because I just assumed it would be rubbish.
I watch practically no TV. Not even much live sport these days.
I've just rewatched the Watergate doc on iplayer. In those dark days of the 70s a president abusing the power of his office was brought to account. The system worked. Amazing how huge advances have been made in most fields of human endeavour since then but democratic politics has regressed.
Nixon wasn't really dealt with as he should have been. He conspired with a foreign power to undermine the US. It's pretty hard for a US President to do worse than that. I can only presume that there's an American squeamishness about historical European government remedies.
That Vietnam incident, you mean?
Not sure about the 'that', but certainly he conspired with North Vietnam to delay peace talks in order that he'd be more likely to get re-elected. (This may not be quite right, but the gist of it is - he betrayed his country for his own political ends)
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
Quite a lot of CEOs *are* pretty stupid.
It was a constant refrain of Cyclefree that rather too many of them confused the value of their chair with the value of their input when negotiating their salaries.
Even a Herman Miller Aeron with all the trimmings isn't worth that much....
They last a long time though - I've has mine for 24 years...
The last serious attempt to sort out university finances was the Browne report, written by a man who should have been in prison. It was a bad review, and what little good it might have done was fatally undermined by Gove’s insane decision to allow the Russell Group to recruit far past their capacity.
But at least it was an attempt. This is a sticking plaster on a gunshot wound.
So at the next general election at present the weak and useless PM Starmer will be facing the dangerously good racist Farage and the weak Badenoch and Ed Davey who half the voters haven't heard of but those who have see as good.
Not great for any of them but Farage and Davey the only 2 of them with some significant positive comments will encourage Reformers and LDs
The 4th CCP plenum is meeting in Beijing until Thursday. Some big rumours, following the arrest of 9 Generals over the past few days. Seems like Xi Jinping is facing a very determined challenge. Not convinced by some of the more outlandish suggestions from commentators, but the proposals for the next, 15th, five year plan could have some very important impacts on the global economy.
Of course if some of these rumours are actually true, it may not be Xi making the announcements.
Xi has been President of China for 12 years, any leader in power over a decade can be at risk of losing their office, even dictators of one party states
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
Quite a lot of CEOs *are* pretty stupid.
It was a constant refrain of Cyclefree that rather too many of them confused the value of their chair with the value of their input when negotiating their salaries.
Even a Herman Miller Aeron with all the trimmings isn't worth that much....
They last a long time though - I've has mine for 24 years...
And no Aeron chair has ever advised the company to go all in on tulip bulbs…. And demanded a pay rise for said genius. After the bubble…
Davey's word cloud is surely the best: most people don't know him but the ones that do like him. Farage has strong positives but also extremely strong negatives. "Dangerous" and "racist" are worse things to be thought of being than "weak" or "useless". "Evil" "fascist" and "liar" not great either. Definitely a plague on both your houses when it comes to Labour and the Tories, mind. I'd feel sorry for the electorate but I think we have got the politicians we deserve.
Disagree, voters generally prefer their leaders to be sensible and tolerant and likeable but what they can't stand is weak and useless leaders.
So a dangerous and some might say racist and even evil liar of a leader can beat a weak and useless opponent, hence Trump and Hitler and Bolsonaro and Netanyahu got elected
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
I’m pleased to report that I seem to be making a remarkably swift recovery
At 6am, when I finally got my bed, I was really struggling. I couldn’t breathe in for more than a second without a horrible stabbing pain in my left side. I was having to take breaks just walking very slowly across the room
At about 10am the first of plenty of antibiotics had started to kick in and I was feeling a little more comfortable. I then saw the A&E consultant who actually listened to what I told him about my ailments, and reviewed my file and the scans. He noticed what appeared to be an abscess between my lung and my ribcage and said that infected spot was almost certainly causing the pain
Since then the rest of the antibiotics seem to have worked and my chest pain has almost entirely gone. Even though the hospital tried to stress me out by making me move beds twice in the next two hours, I’ve been laughing about it (which doesn’t hurt). I’ve ended up in a ward with three geriatrics; two of them use commodes, the third shits accidentally and swears about it. They’re all rude to the nurses. It shouldn’t be a happy place, but I’m so relieved I can’t stop smiling
I might be able to go home tomorrow. This morning I thought I’d be in here for at least a week. Thanks very much for the supportive messages
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
I’m pleased to report that I seem to be making a remarkably swift recovery
At 6am, when I finally got my bed, I was really struggling. I couldn’t breathe in for more than a second without a horrible stabbing pain in my left side. I was having to take breaks just walking very slowly across the room
At about 10am the first of plenty of antibiotics had started to kick in and I was feeling a little more comfortable. I then saw the A&E consultant who actually listened to what I told him about my ailments, and reviewed my file and the scans. He noticed what appeared to be an abscess between my lung and my ribcage and said that infected spot was almost certainly causing the pain
Since then the rest of the antibiotics seem to have worked and my chest pain has almost entirely gone. Even though the hospital tried to stress me out by making me move beds twice in the next two hours, I’ve been laughing about it (which doesn’t hurt). I’ve ended up in a ward with three geriatrics; two of them use commodes, the third shits accidentally and swears about it. They’re all rude to the nurses. It shouldn’t be a happy place, but I’m so relieved I can’t stop smiling
I might be able to go home tomorrow. This morning I thought I’d be in here for at least a week. Thanks very much for the supportive messages
Extremely glad to hear it. Warmest best wishes for a swift and complete recovery.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
Trump: "I'm allowed as you know as president, like 50% of the presidents have used the Insurrection Act. Everybody agrees you're allowed to use that and there is no more court cases, there is no more anything. We're trying to do it in a nicer manner, but we can always use the Insurrection Act." https://x.com/atrupar/status/1980079852968439877
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
Scoop: Trump has started demolishing the White House's East Wing facade to build his ballroom. The president had claimed construction of the $250 million building wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.
Scoop: Trump has started demolishing the White House's East Wing facade to build his ballroom. The president had claimed construction of the $250 million building wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.
Bye bye Non Crime Hate Incidents. Well, partially. They won't be investigated but it looks like they may still be recorded. The article is not quite clear.
It’s the recording of them, and subsequent disclosure on vetting forms, that’s the problem.
If they have to be recorded, the data should be anonymous at source, otherwise an enhanced DBS effectively makes someone guilty without a trial.
Enhanced DBS already covers some arrests that lead to no charges, doesn't it?
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
I am usually a fan of Ch 4 news but I have just watched a bizarre episode. They spent at least 30 minutes interviewing the brother and sister in law of Virginia Giuffre about the involvement of Prince Andrew in the Epstein case. Almost all the questions were about the British police involvement of which the Americans were ignorant . Why?
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
Quite a lot of CEOs *are* pretty stupid.
It was a constant refrain of Cyclefree that rather too many of them confused the value of their chair with the value of their input when negotiating their salaries.
"There were many mattresses on the Swamp Planet Squornshellous Zeta. And all of them were called Zem."
Trump: "I'm allowed as you know as president, like 50% of the presidents have used the Insurrection Act. Everybody agrees you're allowed to use that and there is no more court cases, there is no more anything. We're trying to do it in a nicer manner, but we can always use the Insurrection Act." https://x.com/atrupar/status/1980079852968439877
I find "no more anything" potentially quite prescient. Extrapolating from the first year of Trump2 you have to wonder if there'll be much left by the time he's finished.
The last serious attempt to sort out university finances was the Browne report, written by a man who should have been in prison. It was a bad review, and what little good it might have done was fatally undermined by Gove’s insane decision to allow the Russell Group to recruit far past their capacity.
But at least it was an attempt. This is a sticking plaster on a gunshot wound.
Compare the deafening silence to the tantrums about WFA.
The last serious attempt to sort out university finances was the Browne report, written by a man who should have been in prison. It was a bad review, and what little good it might have done was fatally undermined by Gove’s insane decision to allow the Russell Group to recruit far past their capacity.
But at least it was an attempt. This is a sticking plaster on a gunshot wound.
Compare the deafening silence to the tantrums about WFA.
The last serious attempt to sort out university finances was the Browne report, written by a man who should have been in prison. It was a bad review, and what little good it might have done was fatally undermined by Gove’s insane decision to allow the Russell Group to recruit far past their capacity.
But at least it was an attempt. This is a sticking plaster on a gunshot wound.
Compare the deafening silence to the tantrums about WFA.
Most. Selfish. Generation. Ever.
I'm sure most of us would want the same, given the chance. The only difference is that the generation involved have been able to get what they want at every life stage.
(And, ultimately that's not entirely their fault. They were substantial, but never a majority. It's just that everyone else has cowered at their slight preponderance.)
The last serious attempt to sort out university finances was the Browne report, written by a man who should have been in prison. It was a bad review, and what little good it might have done was fatally undermined by Gove’s insane decision to allow the Russell Group to recruit far past their capacity.
But at least it was an attempt. This is a sticking plaster on a gunshot wound.
Compare the deafening silence to the tantrums about WFA.
Most. Selfish. Generation. Ever.
I'm sure most of us would want the same, given the chance. The only difference is that the generation involved have been able to get what they want at every life stage.
(And, ultimately that's not entirely their fault. They were substantial, but never a majority. It's just that everyone else has cowered at their slight preponderance.)
They've spent the wealth of a nation on themselves. They have spent their children's money on themselves and indeed their grandchildren's. They have built the square root of F all. And it is never enough. Never. Logan's Run really had a point.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
Quite a lot of CEOs *are* pretty stupid.
It was a constant refrain of Cyclefree that rather too many of them confused the value of their chair with the value of their input when negotiating their salaries.
To be fair, it's almost their duty to pitch for every penny they can. The real failure is those appointing, for failing to ask "can we get someone almost as good but considerably cheaper?"
After all, that's what happens in most other commercial negotiations.
"Can we get someone much worse, but much cheaper - and then blame someone else for the fallout?" is more in keeping.
We should all listen to what our political opponents have to say. I subject myself regularly to what passes for informed commentary on the New Statesman podcast and even dip a toe into the News Agents (thanks Youtube algorithm) occasionally.
Quite a few places have moved to two weeks at the end of October. It's not a crazy idea- pupils and staff are pretty much running on fumes by now.
(Thing 1 has this. Thing 2 doesn't, and neither do I. But meaningfully less traffic on the Superloop 2 route this morning.)
Traditional potato harvest holidays in Scotland. No idea how many children still help out. Though there were tractors and trailers, and lorries, going to and fro on the main street through my burgh with these big open-topped potato crate things on pallets, empty southward, and full northward, last week.
Quite a few places have moved to two weeks at the end of October. It's not a crazy idea- pupils and staff are pretty much running on fumes by now.
(Thing 1 has this. Thing 2 doesn't, and neither do I. But meaningfully less traffic on the Superloop 2 route this morning.)
Traditional potato harvest holidays in Scotland. No idea how many children still help out. Though there were tractors and trailers, and lorries, going to and fro on the main street through my burgh with these big open-topped potato crate things on pallets, empty southward, and full northward, last week.
Plenty of tatties being harvested around here in the fields we walk around for our morning walks. Totally mechanised now. Not a tattie roguer in sight.
Bye bye Non Crime Hate Incidents. Well, partially. They won't be investigated but it looks like they may still be recorded. The article is not quite clear.
The description implies they are known before being investigated not to be crimes.
I think the concept is abhorrent. Should never have been created. You might as well just call them ‘shame markers’ and make the culprit where a badge.
The police should be there for crimes, not alleged nasty opinions and wrongthink.
The link with the Linehan case in the BBC item is a bit confusing. That was being investigated as a crime not a non crime. Hence the police statement that 'charges will not be brought'. There'd be no decision on charges to be made if it were being investigated as a NCHI - which the story says they will not be doing from now on. So I'm not sure what the point or ramification is. Saving police time, I guess. Plus maybe another shift in the direction of us all becoming a little more relaxed about racism in public.
Linehan is strident in his views on trans women. There appears to be an ex police officer who spends their time making complaints to the MET about twitter posts that seemingly nearly always gets taken up. No one really knows why.
Essentially it’s a bit like lawfare in the US. Hound your gender opponents through endless police ‘investigations’. Quite why no one in the force has the gumption to tell them to suck it up and stop wasting police time, I have no idea.
We should all listen to what our political opponents have to say. I subject myself regularly to what passes for informed commentary on the New Statesman podcast and even dip a toe into the News Agents (thanks Youtube algorithm) occasionally.
Quite a few places have moved to two weeks at the end of October. It's not a crazy idea- pupils and staff are pretty much running on fumes by now.
(Thing 1 has this. Thing 2 doesn't, and neither do I. But meaningfully less traffic on the Superloop 2 route this morning.)
Traditional potato harvest holidays in Scotland. No idea how many children still help out. Though there were tractors and trailers, and lorries, going to and fro on the main street through my burgh with these big open-topped potato crate things on pallets, empty southward, and full northward, last week.
Plenty of tatties being harvested around here in the fields we walk around for our morning walks. Totally mechanised now. Not a tattie roguer in sight.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I think I've got a process down that saves $work around a years work (quite literally - a years full-time developer work replaced by ~2days LLM calls). Which was a crap-tonne of work to refine, but the payoff is quite big.
Which is fantastic. But very hard to explain to management that there are very niche areas where it can 10x, 100x productivity (like a well-crafted regex...) - but other areas where it's just terrible, and often a drain.
All they're hearing from the likes of Deloitte press releases seems to be 'AI will solve all your problems. Click here to give us £10,000 to find out how you can give us £100,000".
Quite a few places have moved to two weeks at the end of October. It's not a crazy idea- pupils and staff are pretty much running on fumes by now.
(Thing 1 has this. Thing 2 doesn't, and neither do I. But meaningfully less traffic on the Superloop 2 route this morning.)
Traditional potato harvest holidays in Scotland. No idea how many children still help out. Though there were tractors and trailers, and lorries, going to and fro on the main street through my burgh with these big open-topped potato crate things on pallets, empty southward, and full northward, last week.
Plenty of tatties being harvested around here in the fields we walk around for our morning walks. Totally mechanised now. Not a tattie roguer in sight.
Ware or seed?
Both I think but mainly ware. Burned down with acid about 2-3 weeks ago so the skins would set and being harvested now.
Quite a few places have moved to two weeks at the end of October. It's not a crazy idea- pupils and staff are pretty much running on fumes by now.
(Thing 1 has this. Thing 2 doesn't, and neither do I. But meaningfully less traffic on the Superloop 2 route this morning.)
Traditional potato harvest holidays in Scotland. No idea how many children still help out. Though there were tractors and trailers, and lorries, going to and fro on the main street through my burgh with these big open-topped potato crate things on pallets, empty southward, and full northward, last week.
Plenty of tatties being harvested around here in the fields we walk around for our morning walks. Totally mechanised now. Not a tattie roguer in sight.
Ware or seed?
A littel tangent, but I found a copy of this a while back :
The first episode is very much a moment in time where the Irish labourers were brought over to Scotland to pick the harvest. Well worth a watch if you can find it.
Quite a few places have moved to two weeks at the end of October. It's not a crazy idea- pupils and staff are pretty much running on fumes by now.
(Thing 1 has this. Thing 2 doesn't, and neither do I. But meaningfully less traffic on the Superloop 2 route this morning.)
Traditional potato harvest holidays in Scotland. No idea how many children still help out. Though there were tractors and trailers, and lorries, going to and fro on the main street through my burgh with these big open-topped potato crate things on pallets, empty southward, and full northward, last week.
Plenty of tatties being harvested around here in the fields we walk around for our morning walks. Totally mechanised now. Not a tattie roguer in sight.
Ware or seed?
Both I think but mainly ware. Burned down with acid about 2-3 weeks ago so the skins would set and being harvested now.
Thanks. Happy memories of working in agric research in my younger days (at a very low level!).
Bye bye Non Crime Hate Incidents. Well, partially. They won't be investigated but it looks like they may still be recorded. The article is not quite clear.
The description implies they are known before being investigated not to be crimes.
I think the concept is abhorrent. Should never have been created. You might as well just call them ‘shame markers’ and make the culprit where a badge.
The police should be there for crimes, not alleged nasty opinions and wrongthink.
The link with the Linehan case in the BBC item is a bit confusing. That was being investigated as a crime not a non crime. Hence the police statement that 'charges will not be brought'. There'd be no decision on charges to be made if it were being investigated as a NCHI - which the story says they will not be doing from now on. So I'm not sure what the point or ramification is. Saving police time, I guess. Plus maybe another shift in the direction of us all becoming a little more relaxed about racism in public.
Linehan is strident in his views on trans women. There appears to be an ex police officer who spends their time making complaints to the MET about twitter posts that seemingly nearly always gets taken up. No one really knows why.
Essentially it’s a bit like lawfare in the US. Hound your gender opponents through endless police ‘investigations’. Quite why no one in the force has the gumption to tell them to suck it up and stop wasting police time, I have no idea.
It is said that the complainants use threat of a request for review of any lack of action on their complaints. Which threat, done with the right wording, always gets the police to act.
Quite a few places have moved to two weeks at the end of October. It's not a crazy idea- pupils and staff are pretty much running on fumes by now.
(Thing 1 has this. Thing 2 doesn't, and neither do I. But meaningfully less traffic on the Superloop 2 route this morning.)
Traditional potato harvest holidays in Scotland. No idea how many children still help out. Though there were tractors and trailers, and lorries, going to and fro on the main street through my burgh with these big open-topped potato crate things on pallets, empty southward, and full northward, last week.
Plenty of tatties being harvested around here in the fields we walk around for our morning walks. Totally mechanised now. Not a tattie roguer in sight.
Ware or seed?
A littel tangent, but I found a copy of this a while back :
The first episode is very much a moment in time where the Irish labourers were brought over to Scotland to pick the harvest. Well worth a watch if you can find it.
That was a very strange move by Kemi. Surely she must know that the Trump phenomenon isn't particularly popular over here, and ICE must be one of the least popular elements of that phenomenon. And if she doesn't know that where's she getting her information from?
Bye bye Non Crime Hate Incidents. Well, partially. They won't be investigated but it looks like they may still be recorded. The article is not quite clear.
The description implies they are known before being investigated not to be crimes.
I think the concept is abhorrent. Should never have been created. You might as well just call them ‘shame markers’ and make the culprit where a badge.
The police should be there for crimes, not alleged nasty opinions and wrongthink.
The link with the Linehan case in the BBC item is a bit confusing. That was being investigated as a crime not a non crime. Hence the police statement that 'charges will not be brought'. There'd be no decision on charges to be made if it were being investigated as a NCHI - which the story says they will not be doing from now on. So I'm not sure what the point or ramification is. Saving police time, I guess. Plus maybe another shift in the direction of us all becoming a little more relaxed about racism in public.
Linehan is strident in his views on trans women. There appears to be an ex police officer who spends their time making complaints to the MET about twitter posts that seemingly nearly always gets taken up. No one really knows why.
Essentially it’s a bit like lawfare in the US. Hound your gender opponents through endless police ‘investigations’. Quite why no one in the force has the gumption to tell them to suck it up and stop wasting police time, I have no idea.
It is said that the complainants use threat of a request for review of any lack of action on their complaints. Which threat, done with the right wording, always gets the police to act.
That was a very strange move by Kemi. Surely she must know that the Trump phenomenon isn't particularly popular over here, and ICE must be one of the least popular elements of that phenomenon. And if she doesn't know that where's she getting her information from?
A misguided attempt to outdo Farage, perhaps ?
In any event, not something a credible candidate for PM would come up with.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
Is it wrong of me to absolutely loathe those that voted for Trump .
I just can’t get past they had 8 years of knowing the person he was and still thought it was okay to give him another 4 years in the WH .
Understandable, but a convert is a convert. In a democracy you welcome them, just as Luke's gospel recommends.
I'm actually encouraged that, even at this ridiculously late stage, there are still those who can have a change of heart. However puzzling it is that it took them so long.
That was a very strange move by Kemi. Surely she must know that the Trump phenomenon isn't particularly popular over here, and ICE must be one of the least popular elements of that phenomenon. And if she doesn't know that where's she getting her information from?
Bye bye Non Crime Hate Incidents. Well, partially. They won't be investigated but it looks like they may still be recorded. The article is not quite clear.
The description implies they are known before being investigated not to be crimes.
I think the concept is abhorrent. Should never have been created. You might as well just call them ‘shame markers’ and make the culprit where a badge.
The police should be there for crimes, not alleged nasty opinions and wrongthink.
The link with the Linehan case in the BBC item is a bit confusing. That was being investigated as a crime not a non crime. Hence the police statement that 'charges will not be brought'. There'd be no decision on charges to be made if it were being investigated as a NCHI - which the story says they will not be doing from now on. So I'm not sure what the point or ramification is. Saving police time, I guess. Plus maybe another shift in the direction of us all becoming a little more relaxed about racism in public.
Is it wrong of me to absolutely loathe those that voted for Trump .
I just can’t get past they had 8 years of knowing the person he was and still thought it was okay to give him another 4 years in the WH .
They voted for him cos he hates the same people they do.
He also hates most of them, but they are currently in the Find Out phase of that action...
I dont think Trump hates them, he merely doesn't think much about them at all.
Trump has a gangster mentality. He bears grudges against those who have tried to do him down, and for the rest it is very much "what's in it for me?". His interest in his voters is much the same as a drug dealer has for addicts. He recognises he needs to keep them buying, but beyond that...
FWIW, today the WaPo did give a little coverage of Trump's video of himself as a king. This is it:
The White House appeared to cheekily embrace the idea of Trump as a king, posting AI-generated images of him in a crown. Trump shared an AI-generated video of himself flying a plane dubbed “King Trump,” dropping what appeared to be feces or sludge over American cities.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
We TOLD you this at the beginning. The whole thing is a treacherous piece of fuckery by a British Establishment (on both sides) desperate to curry favour and make money out of China, by selling us out, and by selling everything we own. All can go
It is a disgrace and it needs serious investigation. And, on top of that, the Chagos deal needs reversing ASAFP
The moment it is done, China will move in, and western security is compromised in the most critical place on earth, arguably
Prince Andrew’s team tried to hire “internet trolls to hassle” his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, while he hid behind the “well-guarded gates” of Balmoral Castle to avoid being served court papers, according to allegations in her posthumous memoir.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
lol
Sunk all your money in to OpenAI shares, have you?
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
lol
Sunk all your money in to OpenAI shares, have you?
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
lol
Sunk all your money in to OpenAI shares, have you?
Exclusive: Anthropic spent $2.66 billion on Amazon Web Services in the first three quarters of 2025, around 100% of their estimated revenue. Its costs appear to increase with their revenue, showing little path to profitability.
We TOLD you this at the beginning. The whole thing is a treacherous piece of fuckery by a British Establishment (on both sides) desperate to curry favour and make money out of China, by selling us out, and by selling everything we own. All can go
It is a disgrace and it needs serious investigation. And, on top of that, the Chagos deal needs reversing ASAFP
The moment it is done, China will move in, and western security is compromised in the most critical place on earth, arguably
How can this be not-obvious to people like you??
Given the way things are going, we might be better off striking a deal with China ourselves...
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
lol
Sunk all your money in to OpenAI shares, have you?
Exclusive: Anthropic spent $2.66 billion on Amazon Web Services in the first three quarters of 2025, around 100% of their estimated revenue. Its costs appear to increase with their revenue, showing little path to profitability.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
Several times, Sunil.
{Steppin’ Razor has entered the chat}
???
"Steppin' Razor" is a nickname for the character Molly Millions in William Gibson's novel Neuromancer. It is used by a Rastafarian space pilot and is presumably a reference to the reggae song of the same name by Peter Tosh, given that Molly has razor-sharp blades implanted under her fingernails. When Malmesbury(?) said "I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet", this was also a reference to the novels in the Sprawl trilogy, of which Neuromancer is one. In the Sprawl trilogy, two AIs - Wintermute and Neuromancer - unite/fight/fission and take over cyberspace, a digital visualisation of the internet, and manifest in the later books as voodoo gods.
I have seven copies of the four books in the trilogy, but they are so old now I hesitate to take them down.
I propose that every time someone is banned, their ban period is doubled. So, if someone is normally banned for a week, they are banned the next time for a fortnight, and should they not get the message and need to be banned again, it's for a month.
Prince Andrew has not paid rent on Royal Lodge for two decades
The Times obtained a copy of the leasehold agreement for Royal Lodge, revealing the terms under which the prince lives on the 30-room estate.
It states that, while the prince paid £1 million for the lease plus at least £7.5 million for refurbishments completed in 2005, he has paid “one peppercorn (if demanded)” in rent per year, since 2003.
I propose that every time someone is banned, their ban period is doubled. So, if someone is normally banned for a week, they are banned the next time for a fortnight, and should they not get the message and need to be banned again, it's for a month.
I told him the other day Chat GPT recommended a ban of 88 days.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
lol
Sunk all your money in to OpenAI shares, have you?
Exclusive: Anthropic spent $2.66 billion on Amazon Web Services in the first three quarters of 2025, around 100% of their estimated revenue. Its costs appear to increase with their revenue, showing little path to profitability.
The round tripping that is going on from Nvidia should worry everybody with money in the markets.
Your out of date there I posted Ed's article as it came out...
What should really scare anyone investing in LLMs is the bottom of the article, the costs aren't training costs it's day to day running costs - basically sales and costs are aligned so unless LLMs can massively increase their prices (which they can't) they will never generate profits
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
Several times, Sunil.
{Steppin’ Razor has entered the chat}
???
"Steppin' Razor" is a nickname for the character Molly Millions in William Gibson's novel Neuromancer. It is used by a Rastafarian space pilot and is presumably a reference to the reggae song of the same name by Peter Tosh, given that Molly has razor-sharp blades implanted under her fingernails. When Malmesbury(?) said "I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet", this was also a reference to the novels in the Sprawl trilogy, of which Neuromancer is one. In the Sprawl trilogy, two AIs - Wintermute and Neuromancer - unite/fight/fission and take over cyberspace, a digital visualisation of the internet, and manifest in the later books as voodoo gods.
I have seven copies of the four books in the trilogy, but they are so old now I hesitate to take them down.
The "Cornell pastiche boxes" might also be a reference, since the non-human entities in the Sprawl trilogy are a but whimsical/philosophical, and I think one of them did things like that, but it's been a long time...
Let me check...
Yup, I just cracked the less-fragile copy of Count Zero, and yes, they're in it. A young, hungry female art researcher is given an ungodly commission by a very-ill wealthy older man to track one down. Of course, that's just a cover for What's Really Going On.
Prince Andrew’s team tried to hire “internet trolls to hassle” his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, while he hid behind the “well-guarded gates” of Balmoral Castle to avoid being served court papers, according to allegations in her posthumous memoir.
At best, he is going to end up in a bedsit known only as Andy from Windsor. No way Charles / William can keep paying for his massive home etc.
Charles / William have been trying to get him out of that home but Andrew appears to have has a source of money allowing him to meet the maintenance terms of the lease. Whether that continues and whether whoever is paying him that money will continue to do so is completely unknown...
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
lol
Sunk all your money in to OpenAI shares, have you?
Exclusive: Anthropic spent $2.66 billion on Amazon Web Services in the first three quarters of 2025, around 100% of their estimated revenue. Its costs appear to increase with their revenue, showing little path to profitability.
The round tripping that is going on from Nvidia should worry everybody with money in the markets.
Your out of date there I posted Ed's article as it came out...
What should really scare anyone investing in LLMs is the bottom of the article, the costs aren't training costs it's day to day running costs - basically sales and costs are aligned so unless LLMs can massively increase their prices (which they can't) they will never generate profits
Yes I am well aware of that. The inference costs are large in terms of GPU cycles / power demand, but also what they are finding is hammering these GPUs to such an enormous extent, they are going through GPUs like no tomorrow. So it isn't a matter of you spent $5bn on a GPU cluster that is basically the major investment done and dusted, you will every day need to be replacing significant numbers of $25k a pop GPUs as they keep breaking down.
There was a good video a few months ago doing some rough calcs and basically $200 / month doesn't touch the sides as it works it way up the chain of infrastructure that is required to facilitate the inference.
We TOLD you this at the beginning. The whole thing is a treacherous piece of fuckery by a British Establishment (on both sides) desperate to curry favour and make money out of China, by selling us out, and by selling everything we own. All can go
It is a disgrace and it needs serious investigation. And, on top of that, the Chagos deal needs reversing ASAFP
The moment it is done, China will move in, and western security is compromised in the most critical place on earth, arguably
How can this be not-obvious to people like you??
It is a disgrace. The one group of people to whom a major injustice was done - the Chagossians - get jack shit out of the agreement.
It is amazing, you're quite right. But that's more about something we think of being rich in ourselves actually being a pretty formulaic thing. Just because it seems to be almost human (but far better informed) makes LLM a substantial dead end that everyone is piling in to. My view anyway.
LLMs have a variety of uses where they're very useful, they're an interesting technology that absolutely does have a future. But, yes, they are not human-type or human-level intelligences the AI industry portrays them as and they never will be.
They will continue to improve in the areas they are already useful in, but anyone expecting them to ever function like a human mind are going to be disappointed. All those CEOs rushing to replace their employees with LLMs are going to look pretty stupid.
I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet or make Cornell pastiche boxes for LOLs.
Did you hear about the psephologist from Warsaw who moved to Haiti?
Several times, Sunil.
{Steppin’ Razor has entered the chat}
???
"Steppin' Razor" is a nickname for the character Molly Millions in William Gibson's novel Neuromancer. It is used by a Rastafarian space pilot and is presumably a reference to the reggae song of the same name by Peter Tosh, given that Molly has razor-sharp blades implanted under her fingernails. When Malmesbury(?) said "I’m still waiting for AI to become voodoo gods on the internet", this was also a reference to the novels in the Sprawl trilogy, of which Neuromancer is one. In the Sprawl trilogy, two AIs - Wintermute and Neuromancer - unite/fight/fission and take over cyberspace, a digital visualisation of the internet, and manifest in the later books as voodoo gods.
I have seven copies of the four books in the trilogy, but they are so old now I hesitate to take them down.
Damn, that's four decades ago. Gibson is in his late seventies, and I'm feeling OLD.
Comments
After all, that's what happens in most other commercial negotiations.
University tuition fees in England to rise with inflation every year from 2026
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkzj87n8rdo
The last serious attempt to sort out university finances was the Browne report, written by a man who should have been in prison. It was a bad review, and what little good it might have done was fatally undermined by Gove’s insane decision to allow the Russell Group to recruit far past their capacity.
But at least it was an attempt. This is a sticking plaster on a gunshot wound.
Not great for any of them but Farage and Davey the only 2 of them with some significant positive comments will encourage Reformers and LDs
So a dangerous and some might say racist and even evil liar of a leader can beat a weak and useless opponent, hence Trump and Hitler and Bolsonaro and Netanyahu got elected
At 6am, when I finally got my bed, I was really struggling. I couldn’t breathe in for more than a second without a horrible stabbing pain in my left side. I was having to take breaks just walking very slowly across the room
At about 10am the first of plenty of antibiotics had started to kick in and I was feeling a little more comfortable. I then saw the A&E consultant who actually listened to what I told him about my ailments, and reviewed my file and the scans. He noticed what appeared to be an abscess between my lung and my ribcage and said that infected spot was almost certainly causing the pain
Since then the rest of the antibiotics seem to have worked and my chest pain has almost entirely gone. Even though the hospital tried to stress me out by making me move beds twice in the next two hours, I’ve been laughing about it (which doesn’t hurt). I’ve ended up in a ward with three geriatrics; two of them use commodes, the third shits accidentally and swears about it. They’re all rude to the nurses. It shouldn’t be a happy place, but I’m so relieved I can’t stop smiling
I might be able to go home tomorrow. This morning I thought I’d be in here for at least a week. Thanks very much for the supportive messages
Trump: "I'm allowed as you know as president, like 50% of the presidents have used the Insurrection Act. Everybody agrees you're allowed to use that and there is no more court cases, there is no more anything. We're trying to do it in a nicer manner, but we can always use the Insurrection Act."
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1980079852968439877
Scoop: Trump has started demolishing the White House's East Wing facade to build his ballroom. The president had claimed construction of the $250 million building wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.
https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanreports.bsky.social/post/3m3nhd3bqlc2m
Dancer
Donner
und
Blitzen
My Last Day as an Accomplice of the Republican Party
Why I’m leaving the GOP and why I’m urging my former colleagues to do the same.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/my-last-day-as-an-accomplice-of-the-republican-party-miles-bruner
(Half-past eight and time for tea.)
"Here Comes Bod".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ01bspHpwE
(And, ultimately that's not entirely their fault. They were substantial, but never a majority. It's just that everyone else has cowered at their slight preponderance.)
Certainly the best series I have seen for several years. Don't miss it. Honestly, its great.
Essentially it’s a bit like lawfare in the US. Hound your gender opponents through endless police ‘investigations’. Quite why no one in the force has the gumption to tell them to suck it up and stop wasting police time, I have no idea.
Which is fantastic. But very hard to explain to management that there are very niche areas where it can 10x, 100x productivity (like a well-crafted regex...) - but other areas where it's just terrible, and often a drain.
All they're hearing from the likes of Deloitte press releases seems to be 'AI will solve all your problems. Click here to give us £10,000 to find out how you can give us £100,000".
ICE increased weapons spending by 700% — including purchases of chemical weapons and guided missile warheads.
ICE was always going to be Trump’s private military to deploy domestically against Americans.
https://x.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/1980235668937953463
https://televisionheaven.co.uk/reviews/the-view-from-daniel-pike
The first episode is very much a moment in time where the Irish labourers were brought over to Scotland to pick the harvest. Well worth a watch if you can find it.
And by downloading - I mean legitimately viewing via a streaming platform.
👀
I just can’t get past they had 8 years of knowing the person he was and still thought it was okay to give him another 4 years in the WH .
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/the-greens-now-have-more-members-than-the-tories-as-support-surges_uk_68f4a8c0e4b0e68c2dd0b465
Time to tell Mauritius to do one.
China is now eyeing a lease of one of the Chagos Islands, Peros Banhos from Mauritius - beside Diego Garcia.
The 'deal' hasn't been ratified by the UK Parliament, yet Mauritius, India, and China plan to carve them up.
This deal must be scrapped - once and for all.
https://x.com/RobertMidgley07/status/1980253439868142003
In any event, not something a credible candidate for PM would come up with.
In a democracy you welcome them, just as Luke's gospel recommends.
I'm actually encouraged that, even at this ridiculously late stage, there are still those who can have a change of heart. However puzzling it is that it took them so long.
In a democracy you welcome them, just as Luke's gospel recommends."
And, as a practical matter, a convert from the other side is usually worth twice as much as one from non-committed. Usually.
Plus ça change.
Starting to think Argentina might be the escape plan for the regime.
https://x.com/MeachamDr/status/1980267871050617258
He also hates most of them, but they are currently in the Find Out phase of that action...
Trump has a gangster mentality. He bears grudges against those who have tried to do him down, and for the rest it is very much "what's in it for me?". His interest in his voters is much the same as a drug dealer has for addicts. He recognises he needs to keep them buying, but beyond that...
To be fair, there are two links in that brief paragraph:
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1979729073497936319
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115398251623299921
Also to be fair, it is sporting of the Loser to provide evidence for what many of us have long thought: That he is full of . . . .
It is a disgrace and it needs serious investigation. And, on top of that, the Chagos deal needs reversing ASAFP
The moment it is done, China will move in, and western security is compromised in the most critical place on earth, arguably
How can this be not-obvious to people like you??
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/20/prince-andrew-internet-trolls-virginia-giuffre-book-nobodys-girl
At best, he is going to end up in a bedsit known only as Andy from Windsor. No way Charles / William can keep paying for his massive home etc.
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com/post/3m3n4inva5k2z
I have seven copies of the four books in the trilogy, but they are so old now I hesitate to take them down.
Starmer - Drowning
Badenoch - Underwhelming
Farage - Marmite
Davey - Vanilla
And as for the rest:
Polanski - Student
Corbyn - Unbending
Swinney - Caretaker
Iorweth - Forgettable
Leon - Banned
I came up with the title "The War of the Poseurs" but don't really like it. Can anyone do better?
DON'T RUIN MY HOLIDAY.
The Times obtained a copy of the leasehold agreement for Royal Lodge, revealing the terms under which the prince lives on the 30-room estate.
It states that, while the prince paid £1 million for the lease plus at least £7.5 million for refurbishments completed in 2005, he has paid “one peppercorn (if demanded)” in rent per year, since 2003.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/prince-andrew-rent-free-windsor-mansion-rbrgfjkrr
Bloody scroungers.
What should really scare anyone investing in LLMs is the bottom of the article, the costs aren't training costs it's day to day running costs - basically sales and costs are aligned so unless LLMs can massively increase their prices (which they can't) they will never generate profits
Let me check...
Yup, I just cracked the less-fragile copy of Count Zero, and yes, they're in it. A young, hungry female art researcher is given an ungodly commission by a very-ill wealthy older man to track one down. Of course, that's just a cover for What's Really Going On.
There was a good video a few months ago doing some rough calcs and basically $200 / month doesn't touch the sides as it works it way up the chain of infrastructure that is required to facilitate the inference.
The beneficiary is - as predicted - China.
This evening I have received new and important information on #beergate
This concerns Sir Beer Korma
More to come in the near future…
https://x.com/rosskempsell/status/1980363442533101913?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
If he is found to have lied about this to wriggle out of it, all the humble pie that has ever been made, and all that ever will be won’t be enough
Gibson is in his late seventies, and I'm feeling OLD.
Reality is we may as well keep SKS as there isn't any other better option is there...
https://x.com/lmharpin/status/1980353720555544947?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Let me dream