News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

rUsHeYaFuBu

If it squawks like a Nazi; salutes like a Nazi; then it's probably a Nazi.

Maybe they're like Witches and we can apply the Holy Grail test for witches to prove if someone is a Nazi or not.

Re:If Wall Street Wants to Buy More Houses, Let It on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @11:58AM (#42867675)
https://archive.ph/JAnDF

Basically, if you currently own a home this good. If you don't, maybe rent will go down at the expense of being able to purchase a home. And deregulation may lower the cost of housing (at the expense of quality of life).

Enjoy a lifetime of never owning is what this article proposes.

Re:US pauses all Federal aid and grants on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @11:46AM (#42867439)
Their sacrifice is one he's willing to make.
Re:US pauses all Federal aid and grants on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @11:44AM (#42867390)
Not all white Americans voted for Trump. The one's that did are certainly okay with racism and for a not insignificant number it was a selling point.
Re:CIA Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid's Origins on Monday January 27, 2025 @11:01PM (#42848700)
Let's be honest, if their is a global conspiracy to spread disease I think it's to kill off the masses due to AI replacing jobs and lowering the amount of green houses gasses people produce.
> If you sprayed your skin purple and think it is tan, that is delusional. If you didn't spray your skin at all and now magically believe it is now tan, that is delusional. If you believe your fake tan is natural, that is delusional.

Good. So we understand there's a difference from a delusion and one branding themselves.

> And? That's not the claim you made earlier.

It was queried a couple times.

> Yes, we can observe delusional people.

Good. Maybe you understand the difference between someone whom is actually being persecuted and someone whom is suffering from a delusion. I'm glad you got there!

Using an analogy: If I believe that society sees those with tan skin as being more valuable and successful, and I spray tan in order to match that appearance, then I am delusional? (Regardless of whether I sincerely believe my spray tan is believable or not)?

> I did not make this claim

I mean, you specifically pointed towards the "left" in particular, multiple times... Whatever.

> People will delusionally believe fictional things as "evidence" that they are being persecuted.

We're talking about observing someone that's claiming to be persecuted...

Re:Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a total disaster on Sunday January 26, 2025 @07:58PM (#42836113)
Maybe they want to collect data on people using copilot in order to train copilot to be better?
I'm not sure I follow.

How is one pretending to possess a quality that is viewed by society at a given place in time as being "virtuous" related to someone suffering from a delusion that they're being persecuted and also related to someone actually experiencing persecution?

Furthermore, I am still confused how you can conclude it's tied to a particular area on the political spectrum.

To be clear, if there's evidence of someone is being persecuted then that is it likely real while in the absence of evidence it is likely that they are suffering from a delusion.

Re:Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a total disaster on Sunday January 26, 2025 @12:24PM (#42831767)
I think these things have potential to improve over time.

If nothing else I do like being able to get a relative quick explanation for how to change some obscure or minute functionality in the Windows OS.

Now, would it be better if the Win OS, by default wasn't obnoxiously in the way with the pretense of being "simpler"? Yes!

At least there are some truly free OS's out there that keep the interface consistent through iterations and generally improve overtime.

Re:Paxo: A DIY Phone on Sunday January 26, 2025 @12:10PM (#42831642)
Apprendre le Français?
They often mention the environmental implicat of lithium mining. I wonder how that compares to the environmental impact of green house gasses though.
Re:Over Engineered Cars Are Pushing Technicians Away on Sunday January 26, 2025 @11:54AM (#42831473)
There is a disconnect. And information on how to properly insulate and isolate away from the voltages that you may be dealing is also easily found.

It requires maybe a bit of research but it's not impossible.

Are you also able to rebuild your engine and transmission? Service every sensor on board your car? Have access to a diagnostic computer and dicern those codes?

> There isn't enough materials on the planet

There is more than enough lithium on the planet for it.

Additionally, there's growing recycling technology and significant advances in battery technology and engineering the vehicle itself to be more efficient with the battery it's tied to. Structural and management systems for example.

There's also growing research and use cases for second-life applications for batteries no longer useful for an automotive application such as additional grid storage. Some key applications for this include grid balancing and lesson length of outages.

Re:AI Will Write Complex Laws on Sunday January 26, 2025 @11:00AM (#42830949)
It's certainly a challenge.

Clearly the language spoken today is not entirely the same language spoken a few hundred years ago.

The meaning and intent behind a word written a century or two earlier has the ability to morph and change.

So, that is to say if it's indeed possible to truly make a communication system that is entirely unambiguous and only as complex as is necessary for it to achieve its goal, I do not know.

Even if it is not provably possible however, that should not remove the intent to aim towards that. Especially with regards to legislation or law writing.

I can't recall the source but I think with programming there is an aphorism along the lines that just about every program can be shorter and it is not without bugs. It seems to be something similar is applicable for laws.

Aside, I'll have to look into lojban as I am unfamiliar with it. It looks interesting though.

Re:AI Will Write Complex Laws on Sunday January 26, 2025 @10:18AM (#42830596)
If anything, the superhuman AI should be used to write simpler laws that are unambiguous and free from exploitation and/or loopholes. Well, at least better than we humans do today.
Re:Over Engineered Cars Are Pushing Technicians Away on Sunday January 26, 2025 @10:03AM (#42830499)
Have you seen the inside of a modern ICE vehicle?

You pretty much need trade school to become a qualified mechanic anyways.

Additional, with trade school one can increase the amount they can get paid.

They educate on all vehicle types too, not just ICE.

I am not sure this works entirely as intended.

For example, I typed in "homogeneous system of equations".

It gives me a structured outline of bits about what I typed it. Good.

Then, for example, I click the first section for "definition".

Instead of a definition for "homogeneous systems" I receive a similar outline for what a definition is.

Similar experience with other options and topics.

Please enlighten me to the point you were hoping to make with a clip from South Park.

I've seen the episode before but I fail to recall the entire context of the episode or exactly the relevancy of this clip from it.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=y1XaSxfK0Ok

Understand that it is not an exclusive concept for particular side in the political spectrum.

I find it curious that you associate terms like "rugged", "vegan" and "compassionate" with a particular leaning on the political spectrum.

Re:CIA Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid's Origins on Saturday January 25, 2025 @04:37PM (#42825092)
I think the issue falls into the problem of getting reliable information out of China.

Because of a lack of access and free speech it's hard to get verifiable evidence to it's origin being from a lab leak or a market in either direction.

Unfortunately, because of that lack of access mistrust and conspiracy theories spread like wild fires.

It's important with science to understand that there is what happened or what is observed and to separate that away from wishful thinking or feelings.

Possessing a persecution complex and actually experiencing persecuion are separate things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecutory_delusion

Re:ANN Altman vs. Samuel Altman [pdf] on Thursday January 23, 2025 @09:15PM (#42809944)
> Ann Altman, the sister of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, filed a federal lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing her for several years, an allegation the billionaire tech CEO and his family said was “untrue” and claimed Ann faces “mental health challenges.”

> “Our family loves Annie” the statement read before claiming that she “faces mental health challenges” and the family has tried “many ways to support Annie and help her find stability.”

> “This situation causes immense pain to our entire family. It is especially gut-wrenching when she refuses conventional treatment and lashes out at family members who are genuinely trying to help,” the statement added.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/01/08/openais...

I question the validity of the claim that this is due to her mental health. Maybe she has mental health problems because of abuse.

https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/4.htm

> For the most part, the collateral damage assessment process for the air war in Iraq worked well, especially with respect to preplanned targets. Human Rights Watch’s month-long investigation in Iraq found that, in most cases, aerial bombardment resulted in minimal adverse effects to the civilian population.

> Human Rights Watch recommends that if the United States bombs populated areas, it should:

    Complete a collateral damage estimate in advance and balance this against the expected direct and concrete military advantage of the attack.

    Use the smallest effective precision munitions to limit civilian harm.

    Carry out a bomb damage assessment as soon as possible after the attack and apply immediate lessons learned.
The United States has committed itself to all these steps, but it needs to implement them more consistently.

Human Rights Watch also recommends that the United States abandon aerial attacks on leadership targets until the targeting and intelligence failures have been corrected. In particular,

    Strikes should not be based solely on satellite phone intercepts.

    There should be no strikes in densely populated areas unless the intelligence is considered highly reliable.


You can argue all you want about justification of wars. I'm not going to because frankly that's not the point and it's irrelevant. It's irrelevant because we're going to go to war as a species. It's a fact of life.

What's relevant is if more precise targeting of strikes equates to less collateral damage, or as I prefer being more directly descriptive, innocent civilians, which is appears to be true.

Older »