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In-reply-to » I’ve started collecting reasons against AI usage here, so I don’t have to repeat myself all the time:

Of course, @movq@www.uninformativ.de! Most of my points are also included in your list.

First of all, programming is what I really do enjoy the most. So, it doesn’t make any sense at all to not do this anymore. ā€œBut you could use your now free time to do something much cooler and more valuable!ā€, others might reply. Fuck no, I don’t want to waste my time with other shit that doesn’t fulfill me, why on earth would I want to do that?

All this hallucination reduces quality badly. In my experience, it’s also happening much more rapidly than I expected. Even though developers are still supposed to own and understand whatever has been generated under their name and even be responsible for that, the sad reality is that teammates often blindly trust the AI output. ā€œBut I asked the AI and it told me that $this was impossibleā€, ā€œI’ve no idea either, but the AI just generated itā€ are responses I get more often. What really makes my angry is when I point out a flaw and suggest an alternative and this is the reaction. It happened several times that just trying it out and seeing it clearly work to proof my point only took me half a minute, but people still did something handwavy else instead.

The learning effect is drastically reduced. The more time I spend on a topic, the better the odds that whatever I learned actually makes it over into long-term memory. It’s like if a collegue just says ā€œdo it like thatā€ or ā€œthis solves your problemā€, but neither explains the why or how. Somehow, people are still convinced that it’s a completely different story when you replace the human counterpart with a computer program in this equation.

Skills are unlearned. It’s like with automation in general, just much worse. You end up in a state where you’ve no clue how anything works under the hood or how to actually find out important information that are needed to solve your problem. You’re screwed when a process breaks out of the blue. Even though it can become also rather terrible, with classical automation you’re typically still be able to decipher how exactly the thing was supposed to do something.

The energy consumption is sooo high, I absolutely do not want to be a part in burning down our planet. I’m sure I find (and probably have long found without knowing) other ways to contribute to worsen our climate crisis.

The scraper part is already covered in detail in your list. :-)

I’m convinced that license and copyright violations are only played down or even refused entirely because companies want to make big money quickly. With the work of others of course. Their double standards are obvious, they still try to actively keep their own stuff secret and out of any training sets. At most for internal use only. Virtually noone in charge is interested in good long-term solutions. Short-term for the win, when disaster eventually strikes, the causers are long gone, the responsibilities in other hands.

Vendor lock-in is something that lots of folks are only realizing very slowly. It’s completely crazy to me. This drug dealer routine should be well-known by now. It’s fucking everywhere. Yet, people are always surprised when they found themselves caught in it.

Adding new AI stuff only increases complexity. But complexity is the enemy that everybody should fear and reduce as much as possible. Of course, this is not limited to AI at all. And everywhere I look around, people in charge looooove to make things way more complicated than they ever need to be. Yet, simplicity is the real art and much harder to achieve.

I don’t understand why we have to go back full force to the ambiguity of natural languages. This alone should be more than enough to realize what a stupid idea all that is. Linked to that is that the ā€œinstruction setā€ is interpreted differently with newer model versions. I mean, is has to be. Why else would somebody want to upgrade in the first place than to get more Powerfulā„¢ Featuresā„¢?

Some people argue that with AI the democratization is empowered. However, in my view, the exact opposite is the case. Models are getting so large that you can basically not run them locally or even train them. So, you have to rely on whatever the vendor offers you and runs for you. In the end, this only gives the owners more power, the multi billionaires. Not exactly what I understand by democratization.

Finally, technology assessments are missing completely. Or they are faked such that mostly only the (questionable) benefits are listed. But all the negative impact is just ignored.

Let’s keep some popcorn around for when this all explodes. :-)

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In-reply-to » On the weekend just gone we also visited Twin Falls, which was absolutely magnificent! Media Media

@bender@twtxt.net I believe it’s been money well spent if I’m to be honest. It’s a great ā€œget awayā€ and ā€œadventureā€ for not just myself but the family too. Getting away from it all, experiencing nature and what this wonderful country has to offer is pretty nice šŸ‘ As long as we keep up the adventures over the long time, use it several times a year, it will be very well wroth the investment šŸ‘Œ

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In-reply-to » And a trip to my backyard mountain again. It was very windy, so the 16°C felt even cooler than that. But it will be back in the twenties tomorrow when I visit a mate for a hike, oof.

I completely forgot, I saw my very first badger in the wild the day before yesterday. :-) That was absolutely cool! <3

I heard something comparatively large rustling in the bush right next to me and thought that it must be dear. Naturally, I stopped and tried to see what’s in there. The rustling went up the bank and it suddenly came down again towards the road I was on. That’s when I first layed eyes on it and identified it as a badger. For a split second I thought that it’s going to get after me and was ready to get running. But it just hadn’t noticed me yet. When it eventually spotted me, it froze for a few seconds and ran off uphill. My camera took too long to boot, so it was already gone by the time the photo machine was good to go.

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Another AI rant:

One of the ā€œkey featuresā€ of LLMs is that you can use ā€œnatural languageā€, because that is supposed to be easier than having to learn a programming language. So, when someone says to me, ā€œI automated this process using AI!ā€, what they mean is: They have written a very, very large Markdown document. In this document, they list what the AI is supposed to do.

In prose.

This is a complete disaster.

Programming and programming languages have one crucial property: They follow a well-defined structure and every word has a well-defined meaning. That is absolutely brilliant, because I can read this and I can follow the program in my head. I can build a mental model. I can debug this, down to the precise instructions that the CPU executes. This all follows well-defined patterns that you can reason about.

But with these Markdown files, I am completely lost. We lose all these important properties! No debugging, no reasoning about program flow, nothing. It’s all gone. It’s a magic black box now, literally randomized, that may or may not do what you wanted, in some order.

People now throw these Markdown files at me … and … am I supposed to read this? Why? It’s completely random and fuzzy.

Sadly, these AI tools are good enough to be able to mostly grasp the authors intentions. Hence people don’t see the harm they cause, because ā€œit worksā€.

We already have a ton of automations like this at work: Tickets get piped through an LLM and these Markdown files / prompts determine what will happen with the ticket, and maybe they trigger additional actions as well, like account creation or granting permissions. All based on fuzzy natural language – that no two humans will ever properly agree on.

Jesus Christ, we’re now INTENTIONALLY bringing the ambiguity of legal texts and lawyers into programming.

Using natural language is NOT easier than using a programming language. It is HARDER. Have you people never read a legal contract? And that stuff can STILL be debated in a court room.

I can’t begin to comprehend why we, tech folks, push this so hard. What is wrong with you? Or me?

(And, once again, we’re ignoring other factors here. LLMs use a ton of energy and ressources, that we don’t have to spare. It’s expensive as fuck. It doesn’t even run locally on our servers, meaning we give all these credentials and permissions to some US company. It’s insane.)

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In-reply-to » It's blackbird time again! https://lyse.isobeef.org/amsel-2026-03-29/

I called it quits a bit earlier and enjoyed the sunny 19°C blue sky in nature. I just sat an entire hour on a bench (12) near a habitat (07) and enjoyed the sun rays and singing birds around me. When I returned, the batteries were almost drained. The sunset finished them off, so that I could not record Azabache’s concert shortly after. However, I saw that amazing bird this morning and got him on film. Enjoy!

https://lyse.isobeef.org/waldspaziergang-2026-04-08/

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In-reply-to » Via https://github.com/newsboat/newsboat/issues/3220#issuecomment-4198066671 I came across this nice selection on why not to use AI: https://github.com/Vxrpenter/AIMania/blob/main/WHY.md#why

Everything changes, right? I know we sound like curmudgeons, and perhaps AI is the next step. We are living its early infancy, the struggles and dislikes, the errors and flaws, and generations after us will simply benefit from it, and see it as natural as my children see the Internet today (it isn’t natural to me, I was born way before it).

Or maybe AI isn’t the next step. Either way, whether we like it or not, there is truly absolutely nothing (or close to) we can do. Well, complain we can, of course. :-P

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The only good thing about this absolute craziness is that I can restock my rocket sticks. I picked up twelve along the way. Unfortunately, it looks like 99.999% of ammunition is bombs instead of rockets. Some sections of my street look exactly like an arbitrary Pakistanian town that I’ve seen online.

There was surprisingly much snow in the woods. Also, all ponds have frozen over. I didn’t expect that. Not at all. There were even illegal ice skating tracks in the natural reserve. We came across a large puddle and it was at least 10cm solid ice to the ground. Crazy!

https://lyse.isobeef.org/waldspaziergang-2026-01-01/

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Hi everyone šŸ‘‹

I’ve been experimenting with different creative tools recently, mostly around image and video editing, and I came across an interesting AI-based face editing website:
https://remakeface.ai/

What I found useful is that it focuses on realistic face replacement and quick previews, which can be handy for creative projects, short videos, or just experimenting with ideas before doing more detailed work elsewhere.

I’m curious if anyone here has tried similar tools or has recommendations for AI-assisted image or face editing that feels natural rather than overly artificial. Always interested in learning what others in the community are using or testing lately.

Looking forward to your thoughts šŸ™‚

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I had no meetings this arvo, so I made an appointment with the woods in my extended lunch break. The 6°C warm sun was out all day long and there was only a very light breeze. So, a very nice autumn day.

When I stopped to take a photo in the forest, a deer behind me took off into the woodland. I didn’t see it before. Also, I came across one or the other clearing. Sadly, it’s all commercial timberland here. Luckily, in a year or so, when nature slowly took over and reclaimed some spots, the apocalyptic sites are then looking a bit more decent again.

Cleaning of the ruin walls on my backyard mountain slowly takes shape. They made some progress and moved on to the other section. The flag on top is halfway disintegrated again, all the yellow half is completely gone. I’m wondering if they just stop replacing it at some point in time. But probably not.

Enjoy! https://lyse.isobeef.org/waldspaziergang-2025-11-19/

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In-reply-to » Boi am I glad I made the decision to get off of Clownflare back in Jan of this yaer 🤣

@prologic@twtxt.net yeah, all eggs in one basket has never been a sensible approach. Sadly, even without that, this outage is affecting many due to the interconnected nature of services these days.

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In-reply-to » For the innocent bystanders (because I know that I won’t change @bender’s opinion):

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Gemini liked your opinion very much. Here is how it countered:

1. The User Perspective (Untrustworthiness)

The criticism of AI as untrustworthy is a problem of misapplication, not capability.

  • AI as a Force Multiplier: AI should be treated as a high-speed drafting and brainstorming tool, not an authority. For experts, it offers an immense speed gain, shifting the work from slow manual creation to fast critical editing and verification.
  • The Rise of AI Literacy: Users must develop a new skill—AI literacy—to critically evaluate and verify AI’s probabilistic output. This skill, along with improving citation features in AI tools, mitigates the ā€œgaslightingā€ effect.
2. The Moral/Political Perspective (Skill Erosion)

The fear of skill loss is based on a misunderstanding of how technology changes the nature of work; it’s skill evolution, not erosion.

  • Shifting Focus to High-Level Skills: Just as the calculator shifted focus from manual math to complex problem-solving, AI shifts the focus from writing boilerplate code to architectural design and prompt engineering. It handles repetitive tasks, freeing humans for creative and complex challenges.
  • Accessibility and Empowerment: AI serves as a powerful democratizing tool, offering personalized tutoring and automation to people who lack deep expertise. While dependency is a risk, this accessibility empowers a wider segment of the population previously limited by skill barriers.
3. The Technical and Legal Perspective (Scraping and Copyright)

The legal and technical flaws are issues of governance and ethical practice, not reasons to reject the core technology.

  • Need for Better Bot Governance: Destructive scraping is a failure of ethical web behavior and can be solved with better bot identification, rate limits, and protocols (like enhanced robots.txt). The solution is to demand digital citizenship from AI companies, not to stop AI development.

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In-reply-to » There are no really good GUI toolkits for Linux, are there?

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Don’t you worry, this was meant as a joke. :-D

There was a time when I thought that Swing was actually really good. But having done some Qt/KDE later, I realized how much better that was. That were the late KDE 3 and early KDE 4 days, though. Not sure how it is today. But back then it felt Trolltech and the KDE folks put a hell lot more thought into their stuff. I was pleasantly surprised how natural it appeared and all the bits played together. Sure, there were the odd ends, but the overall design was a lot better in my opinion.

To be fair, I never used it from C++, always the Python bindings, which were considerably more comfortable (just alone the possibility to specify most attributes right away as kwargs in the constructor instead of calling tons of setters). And QtJambi, the Java binding, was also relatively nice. I never did a real project though, just played around with the latter.

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In-reply-to » Oh man, if the EU actually rolled out this horribd idea called ChatControl that actually threatens the security and privacy of secure e2e encrypted messaging like Signalā„¢, fuck me, I'm out šŸ¤¦ā€ā™‚ļø I'll just rage quit the IT industry and become a luddite. I'm out.

@movq@www.uninformativ.de LOL. I wish and hope they keep proposing it until the proposers die of natural causes, and then it vanishes. Hopeful thinking, I know…

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In-reply-to » TNO Threading (draft):
Each origin feed numbers new threads (tno:N). Replies carry both (tno:N) and (ofeed:<origin-url>). Thread identity = (ofeed, tno).

@prologic@twtxt.net I think a counter in the client is not a good choice given the decentralized nature of twtxt, especially if someone use multiple cients together.

After thinking about it for a while I got to two solutions:

Proposal 1: Thread syntax (using subject)

Each post have an implicit and an optional explicit root reference:

  • Implicit (no action needed, all data required are already there)

    • URL + timestamp
  • Explicit (subject required)

    • Identity (client generated)
    • External reference
    • Random value

We then add include a ā€œrootā€ subject in each post for generating explicit theads:

1. `[ROOT_ID] (REPLY_ID)`: simpler with no need of prefixes
2. `(root:ROOT_ID) (reply:REPLY_ID)`: more complex but could allow expansions
	- `(rt:ROOT_ID) (re:REPLY_ID)`: same but with a compact version
	- `($ROOT_ID) (>REPLY_ID)`: same but with a single characters

Each post can have both references, like the current hash approach the reference can be treated as a simple string and don’t have a real meaning.

Using a custom reference this way allows a client to decide how to generate them:

  • Identity: can be a content hash or signature or anything else, without enforcing how it is generated we can upgrade the algorithm/length freely
  • External references: can be provided from another system (Eg. 7e073bd345, yarnsocial/yarn latest commit)
  • Random value: like a UUID (Eg. 9a0c34ed-d11e-447e-9257-0a0f57ef6e07)

Proposal 2: Threaded mentions (featuring zvava)

Inspired by @zvava@twtxt.net’s solution it could be simplified into: #<nick url#timestamp> or #<url#timestamp>

It can be shown like a mentions or hidden like a subject.

If we’re using thinking of using a counter in the client, I think there’s no point in avoiding the timestamp anymore.

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In-reply-to » @zvava @lyse I also think a location based reference might be better.

@alexonit@twtxt.alessandrocutolo.it Personally, I find the reversed order of URL first and then timestamp more natural to reference something. Granted, URL last would be kinda consistent with the mention format. However, the timestamp doesn’t act as a link text or display text like in a mention, so, it’s some different in my opinion. But yeah.

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In-reply-to » @lyse You might enjoy this one: https://github.com/TheMozg/awk-raycaster

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Holy shit, that’s insane! :-D I tried it, but i’m absolutely terrible at these type of games. I’m having trouble with the keys to move around. Maybe after ages I would pick it up and it becomes natural. I just was never a real gamer.

I will definitely try to read through the code, though! This looks sick. 8-)

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Distrobox is pretty handy and kind of amazed I haven’t played with it before now. I wanted to quickly try out Proton’s Authenticator they just released, but they only had binaries for Ubuntu and Fedora (naturally), but I’m on Void Linux on this laptop.

Installed the latest basic Fedora image with Distrobox, used dnf to install the downloaded rpm file within it, and presto, running the app within Void like I’d just downloaded it though the normal repos.

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In-reply-to » Gopher server is back online and I’ll be phasing out Mastodon.

@bender@twtxt.net Both Gopher and Mastodon are a way for me to ā€œbabbleā€. šŸ˜… I basically shut down Gopher in favor of Mastodon/Fedi last year. But the Fediverse doesn’t really work for me. It’s too focused on people (I prefer topics) and I dislike the addictive nature of likes and boosts (I’m not disciplined enough to ignore them). Self-hosting some Fedi thing is also out of the question (the minimalistic daemons don’t really support following hashtags, which is a must-have for me).

I’ll probably keep reading Fedi stuff, I just won’t post that much, I think.

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In-reply-to » on timeline the mention looks OK. Is there an issue on Yarn?

@eapl.me@eapl.me I wouldn’t call it natural, it is the way Bluesky decided to handle handles (not meaning to make a pun, or anything). There is no other way, but that.

The bottomline is, there are agreed upon ā€œstandardsā€, right? From example, on Yarnd you show as ā€œeapl.meā€, from ā€œeapl.meā€. A kind of weird redundancy because on twtxt, ever since I started using it, one will expect to see a ā€œnickā€ (equivalent to a person’s first name), from ā€œa domainā€ (like a surname).

There is nothing holding back someone from giving themselves the nick:

thisismyawesomenickforwhichiwillbeknownforeverandeveritsgreatisntit

But, do we really want that? šŸ˜…

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In-reply-to » I guess mentions with .(s) / dot(s) like @eapl.me are valid? šŸ¤” Or nicks even? šŸ¤”

on timeline the mention looks OK. Is there an issue on Yarn?

It’s an interesting topic. For example on Bsky it’s natural to allow domains https://bsky.social/about/blog/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial

Although TwiXter only allows (letters A-Z, numbers 0-9 and of underscores)
https://help.x.com/en/managing-your-account/x-username-rules

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In-reply-to » A mate and I had an amazing but also exhausting hike to the highest of the Three Emperor Mountains yesterday with perfect weather conditions. Sunny 18°C, blue sky with barly a cloud and a little welcoming breeze, just beautiful.

@prologic@twtxt.net @movq@www.uninformativ.de @bmallred@staystrong.run @ionores@twtxt.net Thank you! Yeah, the yellow meadows look truly awesome.

Watching ā€œHappy People: A Year in the Taigaā€ in German the evening before, this thing totally looked like a trap to us. So, we decided to sit on another, more rustic bench nearby. :-) Oh neat, it turns out, there is a much longer four part series of the documentary in English on YouTube. Highly recommended! This is part one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbhPIK-oBvA

Judging by the surroundings, I think this is actually a forest altar or something of that nature. But it looks like they started with the chappel’s reinforcement steel and then they ran out of money before completing it or even placing the concrete forms. :-P

Yeah, 78 might be photo of the month. It’s one of my favorites.

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In-reply-to » @eapl.me You asked me for private keys for testing purposes. I have added it to the bottom of this page: https://dm-echo.andros.dev/ It will soon be running. It won't be long now.

@eapl.me@eapl.me When it is up and running, I promise to add it to the specification. I will also include some corrections.
The nature of twtxt does not allow us to selectively hide clients. It’s a problem not with DM, but with any extension.
@prologic@twtxt.net Yes, it is a security hole. All dm-echo messages are readable. I intend it to be a debugging tool. Maybe I can include a warning message. If many of you see that it is a serious problem, I can remove the links.
@xuu@txt.sour.is It’s already much better than Mastodon :P . Maybe we can remove the sender and receiver references with an intermediary register.

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In-reply-to » @lyse I do agree "the rules of the web", are far too loose - at least the syntax ones. I do think backwards compatibility is necessary.

@thecanine@twtxt.net My apologies, mate! :-( As @david@collantes.us pointed out, this was definitely not my intent at all.

For the easter egg hunt, I first looked for a hidden image map link on the pixel dog in the right lower corner itself. Maybe one giant pixel just links to somewhere else, I figured. But I couldn’t find any and then quickly moved on. Hence, I naturally viewed the HTML source. Because where else would be a good hiding place for easter eggs, right?

Next, I noticed the <font> tags. I thought I had read quite some time ago that they are not an HTML5 thing, but wasn’t entirely sure about it. So, I asked the W3C HTML validator. Sure enough. I thought I let you know about the violations. If somebody had found a mistake on my site, I’d love to hear about it, so I could fix it. I’m sorry that my chosen form of report didn’t resonate with you all that well. I reckoned you’ll also find it a bit funny, but I was clearly very wrong on that.

I actually followed the dog cow link to the video, so I ended up on the easter egg. However, I didn’t recognize it as such. ĀÆ_(惄)_/ĀÆ Oh well.

Regarding my message about the browser quirks: I read your answer that you were arguing against the HTML validator findings. Of course, everybody can do with their sites whatever they likes.

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In-reply-to » This time, I brought my cam along. We checked out a piece of ex-forest they've cut down. It looks terrible now. :-( At least the spruce resin smell was nice. https://lyse.isobeef.org/waldspaziergang-2025-03-27/

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org This is so crazy to me. When I think ā€œforestā€, I assume ā€œuntouched natureā€, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. 🫤

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Short summary of Project2025 and Trump’s plans for the US:

  • Abolish the Federal Reserve
    Why? To end what is seen as an unelected, centralized body that exerts too much influence over the economy and monetary policy, replacing it with a more transparent, market-driven approach.

  • Implement a national consumption tax
    Why? To replace the current federal income tax system, simplify taxation, and increase government revenue through a broader base that includes all consumers.

  • Lower corporate tax rates
    Why? To promote business growth, increase investment, and stimulate job creation by reducing the financial burden on companies.

  • Deregulate environmental policies
    Why? To reduce government intervention in the economy, particularly in energy and natural resources sectors, and to foster a more business-friendly environment.

  • Restrict abortion access
    Why? To align with conservative pro-life values and overturn or limit abortion rights, seeking to restrict the practice at a federal level.

  • Dismantle LGBTQ+ protections
    Why? To roll back protections viewed as promoting LGBTQ+ rights in areas like employment and education, in line with traditional family values.

  • Eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs
    Why? To end policies that are seen as divisive and to promote a merit-based system that prioritizes individual achievements over group identity.

  • Enforce stricter immigration policies, including mass deportations and detentions
    Why? To prioritize border security, reduce illegal immigration, and enforce existing laws more aggressively, as part of a broader strategy to safeguard U.S. sovereignty.

  • Eliminate the Department of Education
    Why? To reduce federal control over education and shift responsibilities back to local governments and private sectors, arguing that education decisions should be made closer to the community level.

  • Restructure the Department of Justice
    Why? To ensure the department aligns more closely with the administration’s priorities, potentially reducing its scope or focus on areas like civil rights in favor of law-and-order policies.

  • Appoint political loyalists to key federal positions
    Why? To ensure that government agencies are headed by individuals who are committed to advancing the administration’s policies, and to reduce the influence of career bureaucrats.

  • Develop training programs for appointees to execute reforms effectively
    Why? To ensure that political appointees are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the proposed changes quickly and effectively.

  • Provide a 180-day transition plan with immediate executive orders
    Why? To ensure that the incoming administration can swiftly implement its agenda and make major changes early in its term without delay.

Do y’all agree with any/all/some of these poliices? Hmmm šŸ¤”

#Project2025 #US #Trump

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In-reply-to » Linear feeds are a dark pattern - A proposal for Mastodon https://tilde.town/~dzwdz/blog/feeds.html

@eapl.me@eapl.me Read flags are so simple, yet powerful in my opinion. I really don’t understand why this is not a thing in most twtxt clients. It’s completely natural in e-mail programs and feed readers, but it hasn’t made the jump over to this domain.

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In-reply-to » Healthy new world war!

@movq@www.uninformativ.de It’s not any better on the ā€œgroundā€ with trees and buildings around. They don’t dampen at all, in fact the houses just cause reverb and amplify the bangs. Rest assured, I did not hear any people laughing or anything in that nature. Just grenades going off. Talking to my mates, it appears that I live in an especially bad shithole, they reported a noticable reduction of explosions around 00:20. Over here, there was constant fire till around 02:00.

Yep, that’s exactly how I imagine a war zone, too.

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In-reply-to » So I am really curious, now that I am building upon @sorenpeter's Timeline app, how other users write/add their twtxt, and how you follow conversations. Comment svp!

due to the gemini-centric nature of my setup, I don’t get webmentions. I just scrape the network and grep. maybe my aggregator will produce notifications at some point lol

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In-reply-to » Alright, before I go and watch Formula 1 šŸ˜…, I made two PRs regarding the two ā€œcompetingā€ ideas:

I’m still more in favor of (replyto:…). It’s easier to implement and the whole edits-breaking-threads thing resolves itself in a ā€œnaturalā€ way without the need to add stuff to the protocol.

I’d love to try this out in practice to see how well it performs. šŸ¤” It’s all very theoretical at the moment.

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In-reply-to » New Research Reveals AI Lacks Independent Learning, Poses No Existential Threat ZipNada writes: New research reveals that large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT cannot learn independently or acquire new skills without explicit instructions, making them predictable and controllable. The study dispels fears of these models developing complex reasoning abilities, emphasizing that while LLMs can genera ... ⌘ Read more

@prologic@twtxt.net The headline is interesting and sent me down a rabbit hole understanding what the paper (https://aclanthology.org/2024.acl-long.279/) actually says.

The result is interesting, but the Neuroscience News headline greatly overstates it. If I’ve understood right, they are arguing (with strong evidence) that the simple technique of making neural nets bigger and bigger isn’t quite as magically effective as people say — if you use it on its own. In particular, they evaluate LLMs without two common enhancements, in-context learning and instruction tuning. Both of those involve using a small number of examples of the particular task to improve the model’s performance, and they turn them off because they are not part of what is called ā€œemergenceā€: ā€œan ability to solve a task which is absent in smaller models, but present in LLMsā€.

They show that these restricted LLMs only outperform smaller models (i.e demonstrate emergence) on certain tasks, and then (end of Section 4.1) discuss the nature of those few tasks that showed emergence.

I’d love to hear more from someone more familiar with this stuff. (I’ve done research that touches on ML, but neural nets and especially LLMs aren’t my area at all.) In particular, how compelling is this finding that zero-shot learning (i.e. without in-context learning or instruction tuning) remains hard as model size grows.

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In-reply-to » @abucci / @abucci Any interesting errors pop up in the server logs since the the flaw got fixed (unbounded receieveFile())? šŸ¤”

@stigatle@yarn.stigatle.no @xuu@txt.sour.is @lyse@lyse.isobeef.org ā€œNot coolā€? I was receiving many broken (HTTP 400 error) requests per second from an IP address I didn’t recognize, right after having my VPS crash because the hard drive filled up with bogus data. None of this had happened on this VPS before, so it was a new problem that I didn’t understand and I took immediate action to get it under control. Of course I reported the IP address to its abuse email. That’s a 100% normal, natural, and ā€œcoolā€ thing to do in such a situation. At the time I had no idea it was @xuu@txt.sour.is .

The moment I realized it was @xuu@txt.sour.is and definitely a false alarm, I emailed the ISP and told them this was a false positive and to not ban or block the IP in question because it was not abusive traffic. They haven’t yet responded but I do hope they’ve stopped taking action, and if there’s anything else I can do to certify to them that this is not abuse then I will do that.

I run numerous services on that VPS that I rely on, and I spent most of my day today cleaning up the mess all this has caused. I get that this caused @xuu@txt.sour.is a lot of stress and I’m sincerely sorry about that and am doing what I can to rectify the situation. But calling me ā€œnot coolā€ isn’t necessary. This was an unfortunate situation that we’re trying to make right and there’s no need for criticizing anyone.

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I’ve been out a few hours again. I came across a dozen or so forest mice. I heard tons of squeaking and saw a lighting fast moving seething mass under leaves and groves. It was impossible to capture anything but I could watch it for two, three minutes. They even seemed to come as close as 20Ā centimeters judging by the rustle and moving plant leaves. Pretty cool.

But heaps of people had to fire up their noise machines today. That clouded my overall joy in nature. Once a commercial airliner was about to fade away in the distance, the next one already adumbrated itself. Lots of prop planes and even a helicopter. Obnoxious loud super cars and motorcycles with broken off mufflers or I don’t know what. My felt hat amplifies the sound I noted.

Luckily, the sun hid behind the clouds most of the time, so I survived the 25°C. Even hotter tomorrow, yikes!

https://lyse.isobeef.org/waldspaziergang-2024-04-07/

Forest monster

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