Ah, British society. So sophisticated:
Never fear, Daily Star: I wouldn’t touch one with yours.
Working on a post about Labour’s big policy announcement from Monday, but I get so overwhelmed by the idiocy of it I keep stopping. Basically, they are going all in on AI. Sometimes I think I should just retreat into the woods, you know?
Whilst that’s brewing, here’s an open thread.
Chat Noir
Which star from “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” died? I loved the British version of that show. Comedy Central had a New Year’s Day marathon of it back in 2000 and I spent the day watching it.
scav
@Chat Noir: Tony Slatterly.
Steve LaBonne
I’m pretty depressed that in one of the very few countries where an allegedly social democratic party has recently done well in an election (I know, not all that well) and taken power, it’s busy shitting the bed. Looking for economic growth high enough to fill the coffers while refusing to even think about working towards rejoining the single market is a circle that can’t be squared, and Trump is about to increase the degree of difficulty markedly.
@mistermix.bsky.social
My newish MacBook Pro just prompted me that it’s ready for Apple Intelligence and wanted me to install something. Well, I’m not ready. Hard pass.
Rose Judson
@@mistermix.bsky.social: I am clinging to my wheezing Windows 10 machine for this reason.
MattF
@@mistermix.bsky.social: Yeah, I got that notice on my iPad. Ed Zitron is a good source for the AI skeptic.
ETA: About halfway down Zitron’s Never Forgive Them post (search for ‘direct example’) is a genuinely scary report of installing Win11 on a cheap laptop.
Baud
I for one welcome our new nanobot overlords.
narya
@@mistermix.bsky.social: all of my devices have been prompting me (just got a new MacBook in December), and I have turned on exactly none of it.
Steve LaBonne
@Baud: Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
Ten Bears
The End of Biscuits and Tea? Truly, the End Times …
Steve LaBonne
My midrange Samsung phone isn’t eligible for “Galaxy AI”. I’m so broken up, not.
dc
This is great news (sorry, it’s in Spanish, I assume it’s elsewhere in English too): https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c203nrnwvqyo
Biden has removed Cuba from the terrorist sponsoring nation list and Cuba has released over 500 prisoners.
TBone
Pam Bondi hearing. Just another fascist in a skirt. I’m pre-mourning our DOJ. This
liarlawyer will usher in grievouserrorera.BUT watching Padilla, Hirono, et al. is fun. They’ve been hitting her where it counts, repeatedly.
I wish I’d met her in an alley when she was here in PA.
Leto
@Rose Judson: the other day I had a video recommended to me from a person in your neck of the woods. She’s a luthier, specifically making guitars, but it’s pretty cool and relaxing. Thought I’d share.
sab
@Steve LaBonne: UK will never be allowed back in the EU. It was a miracle that they were allowed in in the first place, and they were always a difficult partner.
Chris
@Steve LaBonne:
In complete fairness, there’s a pretty big obstacle to Britain rejoining the EU that isn’t any British politician’s fault: we don’t want them back. I don’t believe for a second that the lesson of “Brexit was a mistake” has actually sunk in; if we let them in, it’d take all of six months before a majority of them was once again wailing that things are worse than ever, the Eurocrats In Brussels are making them that way, and oh God Boris Johnson would never have stood for this! Meanwhile, the EU has enough internal problems right now without reintroducing the thunderclap headache that is the United Kingdom.
Still, the entire Brexit saga was indeed a pretty big case in point of the phenomenon where the far right scores a win, and the entire political spectrum just decides that it would be dirty pool to try to take it away from them.
TBone
Stylish report on Hegseth hearing yesterday
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/pete-hegseth-is-a-nasty-piece-of
Plus tariffs
sab
@Rose Judson: I am a retired accountant. I used to have a lot of things on my computer, but after almost forty years I am back to green ledger paper for everything.
I am tired oc computer fuckups. I am tired of the old stuff being inaccessible because of computer updates and new better computers. I am tired of spending thousands of dollars for new capabilities I don’t need or want.
Last computer update my printer is now doing everything front and back but it can’t manage it and always jams. The computer is overriding the printer setting. Things worked fine before the update. So I have to print one page at a time, and it takes forever.
TBone
@sab: I don’t even use my printer anymore, for anything except scanning digital images. If I need a hard copy print job I go to my local library and they do a fabulous job, cheap. I will never buy another ink cartridge.
I hope someday you don’t have to futz around with printing either.
Shalimar
@TBone: The sad thing is, as horrible and corrupt as Bondi is and will be, she’s still like a junior high version of Bill Barr
edit: sad as in the vast majority of people do not realize how evil Barr was
Captain C
@Shalimar:
Between his Iran Contra coverups, and his copious assistance to TCFG’s criminal activities, Barr has as much to do with the destruction of democracy in the US as Moscow Mitch.
TBone
@Shalimar: I’m not sure stupid and immature is any better. She’s an ambitious, greedy bimbo & there is prolly kompromat out the wazoo on her in a dossier somewhere across the pond.
She herself mentioned the fact that she has no security clearance more than a few times.
azlib
Does anyone believe that the AI marketing hype has gotten way ahead of the current technical reality? Tulips anyone?
Spanky
For those of us who don’t mind petty, I’m hoping this comes to pass in spades:
sab
@azlib: That’s what I think. Another tech bubble.
TBone
@azlib: AI is going full Nazi
https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/14/openai-quietly-revises-policy-doc-to-remove-reference-to-politically-unbiased-ai/
sab
@Shalimar: The problem was and is that he is really good at his evil job.
Shalimar
@azlib: AI doesn’t actually do anything I need done, and I don’t see where it will in the foreseeable future. And that’s totally setting aside the letting it learn human behavior from Twitter and Facebook problem. I admit I don’t see why anyone cares about AI at this point.
sab
@Spanky: Around here in Ohio that qualifies as normal pleasant winter. I would be hoping for low teens, but Bidens and Obamas and Bushes will also be there.
It is weird to think of an inauguration without Carter.
lowtechcyclist
Night before last, I was Googling stuff about the night sky because Mars was about to go behind the Moon, from our POV. Google’s AI told me it was a good night for viewing the sky because it was a new moon, so stargazers wouldn’t have to work around its light. It was a full moon
ETA: If AI can’t get basic stuff like that right, I’d hate to have to trust it for anything more complex.
Also, it seems that AI burns a shitload of power, to the extent that they’ve been at least trying to reopen shuttered power plants just to be able to power it. So in addition to everything else, AI is going to help hasten global warming.
sab
@Shalimar: I have commented repeatedly that we tried AI scanning for tax returns years ago, and the results were hilarious, and very time consuming to fix.
Sister Golden Bear
@azlib:
Tulips with too many fingers.
Tech CEOs and VCs have gotten completely addicted to the next shiny thing that will supposedly power hyper growth, and absolutely lost any touch with what customers actually want and need.
Sister Golden Bear
@Spanky: I’m hoping for meteors. Especially a few well placed ones.
dr. luba
@TBone: Laserjet. I have an HP, and use refilled cartridges (2 for $36 on Amazon). They last me at least a year, and that includes the magnum opus that is my 4 page annual letter (~300 copies). So good value.
evodevo
@Rose Judson:
Me too. I dread having to switch to Win11 if I have to get a new computer. I hate having to learn everything all over again, and deal with a new set of glitches.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Chat Noir:
@Chat Noir: Tony Slattery. Great show; go to show for my spouse and I to decompress after work. Also where I first saw the genius and power of Steve Carrell and Stephen Colbert (improve rap song about downhill skiing).
sab
@evodevo: I remember Microsoft forced us into going out and buying new computers for Windows 10 back in March 2020 when Covid first hit and everything was shut down. I had been dragging my heels about updating before then.
I suppose I will be buying a new computer next year for Windows 11 when avian flu takes off.
sab
@dr. luba: I now have an Epson and its ink is cheap and longlasting. I refill it about annually at most. My HP was a money hog. Every 200 pages it needed a new cartrisge.
ascap_scab
Are you familiar with the saga of Bat Boy?
LeftCoastYankee
@TBone:
Possibly, but more likely taking out a goal which is unachievable, and was only put in place to placate RWNJ, who were sad AI didn’t amplify their latest “nonsense of the week” causes
Musk’s comments show he doesn’t understand how the tech works and/or is lying for the love of his fanboys.
Heidi Mom
@sab: Only one Obama will be there. Michelle suffered through the first one, and apparently said “never again.”
Trollhattan
@sab:
My Epson ecotank died of death late last year and despite my going Youtube and cleaning the nozzles and replacing some other bits, it was not coming back to life.
Looked at color laser; specifically an HP Laserjet Pro with individual cartridges for CYMK. Same price, same capabilities (I scan and copy as much as I print) and no clogging ink. Almost pulled the trigger then read reviews: it comes with shipping cartridges that soon deplete and must be replaced with retail versions. Those are a hundred bucks each, meaning my new $350 printer will be costing me $400 within the first couple months. Nope.
So I replaced the Epson with another Epson, with a new self-assignment to print CYMK color patches weekly to keep ink from sitting unused. Also to monitor the ink dump container and make sure it never fills completely. Not so bad, turns out the old Epson started life January 2018.
NotMax
AI is the Olestra of tech.
//
MattF
@Trollhattan: Here’s a page with a few nice CYMK images.
Steve LaBonne
@Heidi Mom: Her admirable refusal to be a hypocrite is why she (alas) will never run for public office.
Trollhattan
@MattF: Hah, thanks! Those are very neat–can’t decide their cruelty level as puzzles, but have seen worse.
MattF
@Trollhattan: Not that bad, actually, since each piece is a different color. But keep some eyedrops handy,
rikyrah
@Shalimar:
Including his cheerleaders in the MSM, who pretended that he was a “normal Republican”. They were desperate for one, to continue the ignoring of the horrors of the first Orange Menace term. Wanted Barr to give them cover….to continue the gaslighting of the nightmare that we knew existed all the while they pretended it didn’t.😡😡😡
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: 🎯 it’s all so fucking stupid, this timeline.
Especially printer ink.
karen gail
Trump declares a new “war;” this time on windmills.
‘Should be ripped down ASAP’: Trump declares war on windmills in angry rant
NotMax
@karen gail
Can’t slap a tariff on wind crossiing the borders, don’tcha know.
//
scav
@karen gail: 🎶