urgelmer

Latest Posts by urgelmer

ed zitron, a tech beat reporter, wrote an article about a recent paper that came out from goldman-sachs calling AI, in nicer terms, a grift. it is a really interesting article; hearing criticism from people who are not ignorant of the tech and have no reason to mince words is refreshing. it also brings up points and asks the right questions:

if AI is going to be a trillion dollar investment, what trillion dollar problem is it solving?

what does it mean when people say that AI will "get better"? what does that look like and how would it even be achieved? the article makes a point to debunk talking points about how all tech is misunderstood at first by pointing out that the tech it gets compared to the most, the internet and smartphones, were both created over the course of decades with roadmaps and clear goals. AI does not have this.

the american power grid straight up cannot handle the load required to run AI because it has not been meaningfully developed in decades. how are they going to overcome this hurdle (they aren't)?

people who are losing their jobs to this tech aren't being "replaced". they're just getting a taste of how little their managers care about their craft and how little they think of their consumer base. ai is not capable of replacing humans and there's no indication they ever will because...

all of these models use the same training data so now they're all giving the same wrong answers in the same voice. without massive and i mean EXPONENTIALLY MASSIVE troves of data to work with, they are pretty much as a standstill for any innovation they're imagining in their heads

By the way, you know how sometimes on this site we talk about right to repair and preventing excessive e-waste? If you're a visual learner, I have an example for you.

I replaced my computer fans today. Technically only one needed replaced, but I wasn't sure if it was one or both when I ordered parts, so I replaced both and the older-but-still-working fan will be stored in case I need a backup.

Here's what capitalism would have liked me to throw out.

Here's what's actually going away.

Oh, and also it cost $19 and an hour of my time instead of $900 and many hours doing setup and import.

Fix your stuff. I used a combination of my roommate's IT knowledge and a YouTube tutorial and now have a functioning fan (and my computer's guts are much cleaner). If it's a thing you can't do--for example, you have an iPhone and need a new screen--there are professionals out there who would be delighted to have your business and it'll still be cheaper than buying new most of the time. Sometimes you may have to convince them that yes, you really do want the $250 repair on the five-year-old laptop because you're not interested in shelling out a grand for a new one. Do it. It's worth it.

Happy freedom weekend to all who celebrate!

(Link to post)

Gee, maybe filling social media with far-right neo-Nazi content with Elon and the GOP's open white supremacy, and filling it with far-left neo-Nazi content with celebrations over Jews being slaughtered, promoting blood libel and conspiracy theories, and presenting antisemitism as social justice, have rotted young people's brains.

Literally sobbing. A judge, a US judge defended us. A judge brought up intersex people, uaing the term intersex, to *defend* us by not allowing our erasure. I'm having a lot of feelings right now

This is the flag that once used to hang above the Azovstal metallurgy plant in Mariupol. Both the city and the plant were completely destroyed, the flag was damaged by the constant shelling, and yet, it’s still here.

Слава Україні. Героям слава.

(Local Conflicts Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine)

I am literally begging Queer people on this site to realize the Holocaust was not about them

Yes gay and trans people were also targeted, we're denying that, but it was because homosexuality and transgenderism was seen as something caused by the Jews

The holocaust was about the Jews. Please stop pretending like it wasn't

Ok so, I just remembered how people in the comments of a tiktok video were being assholes, and I want to rant now :3

The video showed two wheelchair users at a train(?), who had just arrived to their stop to find nobody was there with a ramp so they could leave the train. One of them blocked the door so it wouldn't close, and this lasted for 15 minutes. The train was stopped for said 15 minutes. There was a button by the door, that said that it'd contact the driver when pressed. It didn't. People offered to go find the driver, and they came back with the news that there were no people in the platform to put the ramp. In the end, passengers had to go out, and place the ramp themselves, before the train could carry on. The wheelchair users had warned they were coming, and asked to have the ramp put there so they could get down. The platform turned out to have workers, they all just ran away because they'd never encountered the situation in which they needed to do this simple task.

Because of the workers' negligence, the train was forced to stop for 15 minutes.

Everyone's comments?

"Why did they block the doors and stop the train? So selfish" Selfish were workers who refused to do their job.

"What if someone had needed to get to their stop urgently? They shouldn't have stopped the train" It wasn't the disabled people's fault, it was the workers who were negligent.

"Why didn't they just wheel themselves down those steps?" They shouldn't have to risk their (expensive) chairs just because people didn't do what they were paid to do.

"If I had been in that train I would've been pissed, how dare you stop it" And you probably wouldn't have even thought about fixing the problem yourself, would you?

"Entitled assholes" Ok I'll leave you stranded in a train with everyone who could help you get down outright refusing to. Let's see who's an entitled asshole now.

If someone fights for accessibility, as much as it might be a bother for you, you do not have the right to be mad at them. If someone fights for accessibility, it is exclusively the fault of a world catered exclusively for able-bodied people.

So next time you think, "hey the consequences of these disabled people fighting for their rights bother me", instead of blaming them for this, help them solve the issue. This way, next time they will not have to fight at all.

Able bodied people, go out and fight for a fucking accessible world if you're not an asshole.

[ Able-bodied people are encouraged to reblog this post, but try not to derail ]

Its frustrating that people are going "hey look at all these things which trump is doing which is similar to what Hitler did when he was in power, we are so fucked" and then just not mentioning the rise in antisemitism.

Like antisemitism was a major part in why hitler was elected into power.

Hitler blamed Germanys issues on jews. During his election, he pulled back from spouting antisemitism to make himself look more sane, but all the issues he campaigned on were issues that were blamed on the jews.

He didn't say "jews are ruining the economy but I can fix it", he knew that people were already blaming jews and campaigned on that.

According to the ADL, only 3 months after Oct 7th, antisemitism increased 360%. And it's not like rates of antisemitism has started to go down.

You cannot talk about how facisiam in the US is on the rise, compare it to the rise of hitler and not mention the rise of antisemitism.

Jew hatred was essential to hitlers rise to power and his actions. You cannot talk about jewish history and erase us from the picture.

80 years ago, today, Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the Allies. The camp, one of six death camps created specifically to end all Jewish and Romani life in Europe, was the site of unspeakable horrors and over one million deaths.

It is probably the most infamous and recognizable portion of the tragic and evil story of the Shoah, the Holocaust. The date of its liberation was designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

But by now, I think, it is quite clear that too few gentiles actually remember.

Like many Jews, the Shoah is not some history lesson I read in a textbook with black and white pictures in middle or high school. It’s personal. It profoundly impacted my family in every conceivable way.

None of my relatives were at Auschwitz-Birkenau, that we know of. No, they died in Ravensbrück, at SS Polizei stations, and in pits in Lithuania. Five survived. Two are with us still. And we’ve all watched as the world has forgotten.

We’ve watched as, regardless of politics, a murderous regime that destroyed two-thirds of European Jewry - over six million people, one and half million of them five years old or younger - has been used as nothing more than a rhetorical weapon. We’ve watched as phrases used to justify our deaths 80 years ago, in living memory, are casually used again today.

We’ve watched as, once again, we are blamed for the harms others inflict on us. We weren’t loud enough, we were too loud, we didn’t say the right things, we didn’t say anything at all, we didn’t look how we should, we looked too much like ourselves. And so violence against us is not only understandable, but acceptable.

I remember the Holocaust. I have no choice. It is deep in my bones. It’s in my DNA. I can never forget what happened. No Jew can.

And it disturbs me, profoundly, that so much of the rest of the world has.

May the memories of the victims of the Holocaust be for a blessing. And please, remember them.

Why did “be critical of your media” turn into “find all its flaws and hate it” why did people become allergic to FUN

Don't get me wrong, I am happy about every hostage released. But yeah...

If you're upset that Elon Musk threw up a Nazi salute today, but have spent the last 15 months harassing (((Zionists))) in the name of Gaza/Palestine, then you're not mad about the Nazi salute, you're just looking for an excuse to dunk on Musk.

You're not an ally against Nazis, you never were, and you're not fooling anyone who actually is.

everyone is becoming way too comfortable about being horrible people

Ukrainian Children about the War

The Circleville Herald, Ohio, April 2, 1928

there's a really funny 3d printing controversy going on btw.

if you don't know, there's a very popular 3d printing model out there called "benchy". this is used for benchmarking your 3d printer because it's a difficult print and will help test it out.

this is so widely used that people make their own little versions of it, remixing the 3d model to make benchy look cooler and stuff. however, a new company owns the benchy license. they are sending copyright takedowns to all those who wrongfully uploaded the benchy model.

of course, this is pissing off the 3d printing community greatly. everyone loved benchy and have used it for years. so someone on reddit decided to make a new model that is designed as a 3d printing stress test. one that works a lot like benchy, and people are freely able to edit it as they please. you know what they called it?

boaty.

Saying this these days really is like yelling at a brick wall but here goes again:

You cannot gleefully take part in the dehumanisation of an entire group of people based on their nationality, their ethnicity, what have you, rejoice in the suffering of that group, and be on the side of human rights, ethics and morals.

You just cannot. But so many of you try to square that circle. You want so badly to be seen as righteous, that when people call you out for your violent, rancid rhetoric, you throw a paddy and hurl insults through inboxes (always on anon, though, because you’re spineless fucking cowards).

Made a little something on slur reclamation.

so can we start hunting down white liberals now or what

I don’t care if you make fun of Catholicism as long as it’s accurate! The best humour has its roots in the truth.

I found this and I love this picture so much.

It hurt so many butts.

But like...