Recent posts

#1

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Richard Hakluyt - Today at 04:37:07 AM

I don't think that we in the UK want to take the blame for everything unpleasant posted in English.

#2

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 04:36:30 AM

I'd rather not have any of it.
But the monopoly is in the same company controlling all this.

That's not what monopoly means.  Monopoly means they are the sole supplier in a given market and can therefore charge whatever they want.  Google as we're describing it is an example of horizontal integration.

#3

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Josquius - Today at 04:09:14 AM

It's not about how they operate. It's about the fact they're all interlinked and give very complete advertising profiles /advertising power.
It's not email or search or whatever where googles monopoly is the real problem. It's data and advertising.

So let me see if I've got it.  You don't mind youtube collecting data about your clip viewing habits, or google search collecting data about your search habits, it's that they share this data with each other.  Is that right?

I'd rather not have any of it.
But the monopoly is in the same company controlling all this.

#4

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 04:08:02 AM

It's not about how they operate. It's about the fact they're all interlinked and give very complete advertising profiles /advertising power.
It's not email or search or whatever where googles monopoly is the real problem. It's data and advertising.

So let me see if I've got it.  You don't mind youtube collecting data about your clip viewing habits, or google search collecting data about your search habits, it's that they share this data with each other.  Is that right?

#5

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Josquius - Today at 03:28:08 AM

I do often play with chat gpt. I think I have a pretty good grasp of its foibles. It is genuinely useful for some things. Less for others

I randomly saw and asked last night....

I read online that crows will kill and eat rats.
A rat has entered my garden and is taking food meant for the birds. This is not appropriate. The crows seem afraid of him. He is a pretty small rat. What is going on.

And got a pretty rational and sensible seaming explanation about how yeah a crow could knack a rat but it's not going to look for trouble as there's easier food sources out there and a rat can certainly injure a crow
Fair enough.

Moved onto how to be rid of rats.... That this sounds like a young rat dispersing from its nest. Common in cold weather (yep).
Advice.
Clean up food (yep)
Block entry spaces (yep)
Create hostile terrain such as floodlights, gravel etc.... (ehh yep but money)
Predator scent (yep)

I explain I don't have a pet and installing a floodlight isn't really practical right now.

So chat gpt...suggests using human scent.
Old clothes, human pee, human hair....

There then followed something quite funny when I talked about the children refusing be sheared and chat gpt switched to joke mode but it kept reiterating I don't need the children's hair. The hair from my freshly bald head would be enough.

Though. Thing is.
Human hair doesn't deter rats! At all! Maybe it even attracts them!
And it's dangerous for birds.
As to human pee.... At least chat gpt said no to pooping on my gate but still. It wanted me to place containers of pee in the garden. Health and safety nightmare AND pointless for the rat.

Google is one of many many many poster children for why monopolies shouln't be allowed. The government should have broken up Google a decade ago.

What would be achieved by breaking up Google?  If you object to the way they operate search, or email, or youtube, how would breaking up the company change that?

It's not about how they operate. It's about the fact they're all interlinked and give very complete advertising profiles /advertising power.
It's not email or search or whatever where googles monopoly is the real problem. It's data and advertising.

#6

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis GOP?

Last post by garbon - Today at 02:22:12 AM

#7

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis GOP?

Last post by HVC - Today at 02:19:45 AM

Speaking of MTG, she just quit Congress after Trump called her a traitor.     I don't understand the world anymore.

I'm not sure MTG puts much political calculus in anything she does, but I guess she wants to duck a nasty year for the GOP, and prime herself for the post-Trump years.

Does she have a career being in the bad side of trump?

#8

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis GOP?

Last post by celedhring - Today at 02:17:07 AM

Speaking of MTG, she just quit Congress after Trump called her a traitor.     I don't understand the world anymore.

I'm not sure MTG puts much political calculus in anything she does, but I guess she wants to duck a nasty year for the GOP, and prime herself for the post-Trump years.

#9

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Razgovory - Today at 01:18:24 AM

Looks like that "no Israelis on our campus" thing in Britain is really taking off. Someone set up a website offering bounties for the murder of Israeli academics.   

https://www.timesofisrael.com/anonymous-website-offers-100000-to-kill-top-israeli-research-academics/

An anonymous anti-Israel website was discovered on Friday to be offering payments of up to $100,000 for the execution of senior Israeli academics whom it accused of being complicit in Israel's war in Gaza.

The English-language site, The Punishment For Justice Movement, appeared to have been taken down by Friday afternoon, hours after garnering significant media attention.

The site called for the execution of a list of Israeli academic figures whom it said were deemed to be "criminals and collaborators with the occupation army" and "distributors of weapons of mass destruction to the Israeli army," who are "involved in the murder of Palestinian children."


An anonymous anti-Israel website was discovered on Friday to be offering payments of up to $100,000 for the execution of senior Israeli academics whom it accused of being complicit in Israel's war in Gaza.

The English-language site, The Punishment For Justice Movement, appeared to have been taken down by Friday afternoon, hours after garnering significant media attention.

The site called for the execution of a list of Israeli academic figures whom it said were deemed to be "criminals and collaborators with the occupation army" and "distributors of weapons of mass destruction to the Israeli army," who are "involved in the murder of Palestinian children."



Among the dozens listed on the site as "special targets" were Shikma Bressler, an anti-government protest leader who is a physicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Ben Gurion University President Danny Chamovitz.

In addition to rewards for their execution, the site offered a reward of $1,000 for placing signs in front of targets' homes and $20,000 for burning their vehicles.


It claimed that all of the academics were given warnings over the past few months to "abandon criminal activity," but because they did not, they "have been chosen as legitimate targets for the movement."

Hundreds of other Israeli academics or students were also listed, and a $50,000 reward was offered for their deaths.


The movement "invites all unofficial military groups, armed groups and fighters to join the movement to confront these criminals and benefit from the rewards of punishing these victims and killers while trying to defend human rights and help the oppressed children of Gaza," the webpage declared.

Some of those listed live outside of Israel, including in the US.

Hours after Hebrew media reports broke about the website, it was unavailable, apparently having been removed, although it was not clear by whom.

Chamovitz, who has been the president of Ben Gurion University since 2019, said in response to the site, which called for his death, that he was "mostly worried about the extremist discourse that encourages violence."


He said he trusts the security services in Israel and other countries will "know how to deal with this incident."

The Committee of Research Universities, which sits under the Council for Higher Education in Israel, said in a statement that it was "a dangerous and horrific escalation."

The forum said the incident "joins the wave of antisemitism and hatred of Israel from abroad, creates a toxic and deadly mix that may end in harm to human life, God forbid."


According to the Ynet outlet, which first reported on the site, the page is hosted in a Western nation, potentially the US, and is using virtual private networks (VPN) and ciphers as security precautions.

A source familiar with the case told Ynet that it represents "a most serious rise in the level of threat against Israeli citizens."

The "open call to cause physical harm and the offering of remuneration make this a real threat that requires immediate attention," the source said.

The Mossad spy agency and Shin Bet security service have launched a swift probe into the matter, the report said. Officials suspect that Iran is behind the website.

Israel's universities have sent messages to academics warning them to be cautious and avoid publicizing details of trips abroad, and report anything suspicious, Ynet reported.

#10

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis GOP?

Last post by Razgovory - November 21, 2025, 10:27:20 PM

Speaking of MTG, she just quit Congress after Trump called her a traitor.     I don't understand the world anymore.