Jules @afewbugs@librem.one

@L_howes
A friend of mine at the university library spent quite a bit of time helping a customer trying to find some elusive references, before they said that the "references" came from ChatGPT.

Here's a first... I just got an email because ChatGPT suggested an article I wrote to somebody. Could I send them a copy? Except, I never wrote the article, it doesn't exist. PLEASE realize right now that this tool isn't pulling out cool references for you. It's making plausible titles and matching them to authors names.

Has anyone done any writing on the use of neo pronouns in contemporary sci-fi? I've noticed a good majority of the books I've picked up has some form, and I've found it pretty comfortable - wondering what an academic look at this might show.

Again, for the people at the back: deterring stalking is more important than deterring the theft of property. People's safety is more important property. Even your property. Even my property. Even stuff I would be very angry at having stolen.

Thanks to the Met Office archives, these sheets were scanned & made openly available, but how could the observations be extracted?

The answer? Ask for help: https://bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52040822

16,000 volunteers stepped forward during the first UK COVID lockdown to transcribe every observation.

@sasha_strange “Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.

That word is "Nazi." Nobody cares about their motives anymore.”

― A.R. Moxon

Is there anyone out there who’s in the Los Angeles area with a 3D printer or wood who could cook up a kickstand for a smartphone that can be used by a hospital patient confined to their bed? Off-the-shelf solutions assume a flat and perfectly even surface, which is definitely not the case here.

Bit of a long shot, I know. But if I’m gonna find anyone with the requisite expertise and equipment, it’s here on the #fediverse.

I don’t usually ask, but—please boost!

Checkout the stunning "living bridges" in India. They become stronger over time and, because they're alive, do not rot in the humid tropics.

Whoever did this and I would get along well.

Latest data from the Open Repair Alliance is out!

🥳 >81,000 repair attempts logged by community groups all around the world

📈 Signs point to community repair events on the up again after the pandemic

🛠️ Most common items at events are lamps, vacuum cleaners and laptops, with the most fixable being lamps, sewing machines and hair dryers

🇩🇰 Repair Cafe Denmark joins the fold

More info and downloads at the ORA website

https://openrepair.org/news/open-repair-alliance-dataset-increases-to-81000-records-of-community-repair/

#OpenData #RepairData #RepairCafe #Repair

I'm so old I remember when we thought the internet would cut out the middleman.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-13/amazon-amzn-takes-half-of-each-sale-from-2-million-small-businesses

It's often said that those who crave power are the last people who should be allowed to have it.

Looks like Jacinda Ardern and Nicola Sturgeon have nicely demostrated the corollary to that, namely that those who can be reasonably trusted with power are happy to give it up.

Our friends at Freegle (UK #reuse and sharing platform) are looking for help to cover web hosting costs.

Please donate if you can, and spread the word. Reuse infrastructure doesn't come for free!

“An MIT Technology Review investigation last April found that self-driving companies, including Tesla, took advantage of the collapse of Venezuela's economy by getting workers in the country to label self-driving data for an average of just over 90 cents an hour.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-ai-will-not-take-jobs-create-future-work-opportunities-2023-2

My kid is in a club at school, and they meet 4x a week for 4 hours. So all the parents chip in and stock a "snack cabinet" (granola bars, juice boxes, etc.) because teenagers are hungry goblins.
I went to fill the cabinet and noticed a padlock on it, apparently someone had been "stealing."
I admit, this triggered me.
I spoke to the coach and told him that perhaps he should talk to the kids and find out if one of them is food insecure instead of locking up some two dollar box of granola bars.
The look on his face, I could tell it kinda clicked, he didn't even think of that, just assumed it was some punk kid breaking rules.
People who grow up with wealth don't even realize that it changes the way they think. Luckily, he's a cool guy, and he was horrified that one of 'his kids' might be hungry at home. Sometimes it just takes one comment to open up someone's eyes to their privilege.

As I tell my own children: If you see someone stealing food, no you didn't.

This is how they arrive on Earth.

People sometimes confuse the plural of octopus.

Here’s a guide:
• one octopus
• two octopuses
• three octopods
• 3.14 octopi

Patriotic Alternative ‘trying to inflame local tensions’ in Britain to spread far-right stance

I see that racists are rebranding again.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/15/patriotic-alternative-trying-to-inflame-local-tensions-in-britain-to-spread-far-right-stance