Humor Random Comments Thread

[steph]

Speaking of the energy and prices crisis, I realised quite a while ago that things got more expensive here too, but it progressed in a somewhat odd way, with the no-name or store brands getting more expensive first For a while, I just used to buy more 'normal' brands as the cheapest way .The only noticeable change is that I more or less switched to wine, since I realised a good wine costs basically as much or less as two or three relatively expensive belgian beers I used to enjoy. But, as a benchmark, I can absolutely still function on a, say, 5 to 10 bucks per day budget without feeling any strain. Shopping trips have become more rare, but that's a good thing considering how much I used to waste. Despite attempts to lose some weight, pizza is actually stil too cheap here, so it's my go-to junk food. Unless I get it from the dispenser, where it's like 4 times the price in the shop. Still using mostly the console for room heating. I usually let it idle or download throughout the night for background noise, I'm not sure if it isn't actually more wasteful than just using heating

The weird part was the fuel 'crisis' this autumn. Normally, the gas stations belong to the store chains like Carrefour, Auchan etc. Despite some reports of it running out in some places, I've never seen that happen, all they did was instate some measures to prevent hoarding. Buuuut, the 'premium' gas stations, like Total and Esso, actually started selling the cheapest fuel, thus leading to huge queues and shortages there. One time, only the premium, full of additives etc fuel was available and actually the cheapest. Didn't notice any change in mileage or, at the very least, it was something like 0.1-0.2 L/100km, so around a mile per US gallon gained at most.

While I'm absolutely certain there are places where it has gotten bad; at least in France/the West , it's not so noticeable for people like me. At the very least, it made me realise just how much I was wasting and how much I could normally save with just a little discipline

 

[Fabri91]

Cycling at -5°C is quite something!

 

[steph]

Cycling at -5°C is quite something!

View attachment 31701

Well, gloves and hat mandatory, but probably not that different otherwise. Unless you're on a roadbike . Nice bike path too

 

[Fabri91]

Well, gloves and hat mandatory, but probably not that different otherwise. Unless you're on a roadbike . Nice bike path too

It's so smooooooth and an absolute exception here.

 

[Urwumpe]

It's so smooooooth and an absolute exception here.

Looks very new.

Also, -5°C means only the cap below the bike helmet is mandatory (just like the long pants, soft shell jacket and gloves). Its still too warm for the additional leg warmers and wearing the cold weather shirt below the jacket, as I had to find out after prepping for a winter that never came. But at least, I am now sure I could still ride my bike at -20°C (including wind effect) without freezing.

 

[Notebook]

This is a very old UK sketch from two comedians. just wondering how it goes down today?

 

[clipper]

I like to visit ArtStation from time to time to check on cool art from industry professionals and hobbyists alike, and apparently artists are raging against the machine now; so aside from usual anime tiddies, the average front page is now dominated with images like these:


It all started a couple weeks back or so when people noticed AI art being featured and the topic of theft got brought up since software like Stable Diffusion is trained on copyrighted images amongst others - without the consent or knowledge of the original creator that is.

ArtStation's response so far was giving people the option to opt-out from their creations being used to train AI models (so you're opted-in by default) which apparently caused even more of an outcry and many prominent artists have since decided to delete all their uploads and cancel their subscriptions as well. For reference, ArtStation is pretty much the go-to portfolio place for both video game and movie VFX industry, and was bought not too long ago by Epic Games who've been aggressively cornering the video game development market with their tools in the last couple of years now - so this whole development is a pretty big deal and no side is looking like they're backing down any time soon (nor is ArtStation doing anything about these protests, so I'm really curious to see where this goes).

 

[jedidia]

apparently artists are raging against the machine now

Expected, but I don't think they have a chance in the long run. The genie has just about hatched long enough to start emerging from the bottle. There's no way of keeping it in.
And copyright does explicitly not apply to derrivative work, and artists would be the first to protest if it did. And that's ultimately what AI-generated art falls under, and interpreting it differently will be a difficult proposal legally.

 

[Linguofreak]

And copyright does explicitly not apply to derrivative work, and artists would be the first to protest if it did. And that's ultimately what AI-generated art falls under, and interpreting it differently will be a difficult proposal legally.

If it could be demonstrated that, with the right prompt, an AI could be induced to closely reproduce an image that had been used to train it, copyright might become an issue. OTOH, there are other cans of worms that that would open up.

 

[jedidia]

Honestly, those aren't the things that worry me the most about AI. What I think we should be talking about is AI ownership. Not that I'd worry about AIs developing sentience anytime soon and there being an issue with personhood. No, that's so far in the future (if ever) that I'm not worried about it in the slightest for now. What I am worried about is the massive distribution of wealth these things will cause once they become truly viable for productive purposes (still a gen or two ahead, but it will come about relatively quickly now. The groundwork is done).

In my opinion, we can't treat AI as just a software product legally. There needs to be a public domain equivalent for neural networks, into which they have to be released after a decade or two (two is stretching it extremely, though...). There's no chance of this happening, obviously, but the consequences of it not happening will be severe as signifficant niches for creative small business will be gobbled up by corporations that are already channeling obscene amounts of money into the hands of only a tiny few people.

 

[Linguofreak]

In my opinion, we can't treat AI as just a software product legally. There needs to be a public domain equivalent for neural networks, into which they have to be released after a decade or two (two is stretching it extremely, though...). There's no chance of this happening, obviously, but the consequences of it not happening will be severe as signifficant niches for creative small business will be gobbled up by corporations that are already channeling obscene amounts of money into the hands of only a tiny few people.

I don't see that as a problem limited to AI. Copyright is already problematic if you believe that free markets are optimal to the degree that the modern West does (though copyright holders have spent the last few centuries trying to spin it as just another part of property law), and it becomes even moreso in a computerized society where physical cost of duplication is near zero, and that's before you even start discussing the damage that DRM does to society when copyright holders try to cling to the copyright model (far from being a natural part of property law, copyright is inimical to actual property rights, and directly and acutely so when DRM schemes that erode an owner's root access to their computing hardware are thrown into the mix). We're probably headed for dystopia if copyright continues to be a thing at all.

Actually, though, "a decade or two" fairly well describes what the original duration of copyright was in the US: 14 years, with a possible 14 year extension, and both had to be applied for, they weren't automatic (OK, that's more like a sesquidecade or two, so sue me). The current regime under the Berne Convention is just about optimal for technically being constitutional while completely violating the spirit of the US constitution. The clause that empowers Congress to make laws regarding copyright only empowers Congress to grant copyright "for limited Times". Life of the author + 70 years is technically a limited time, but the author's grandchildren will be elderly before the work enters the public domain.

 

[jedidia]

I don't see that as a problem limited to AI. Copyright is already problematic if you believe that free markets are optimal

Oh, I agree entirely. And the copyright extension runaway is only likely to continue. Disney will never allow that Micky Mouse enters the public domain. That's why I don't see any reasonable laws concerning AI ownership coming forth anytime, because right now we're just making those worse that we have for similar cases.
It's just that AI adds another layer on top of that where not only something is withheld from benefitting the public and kept under corporate control, it will very actively take things away from the public by making them uncompetitive and put them under corporate control, because they're the only ones that can afford the initial investments. For which I don't begrudge them a profit, but the way things will be going we'll just lose entire creative industries without really ever getting anything back from it other than cheaper artwork at a severe cost to cultural development.

 

[Linguofreak]

Oh, I agree entirely. And the copyright extension runaway is only likely to continue. Disney will never allow that Micky Mouse enters the public domain.

I doubt that we'll see extension rates exceeding 1 year per year in the long term: AFAIK Disney isn't currently lobbying for any term extensions, and they have less than two years at this point to do so if they want to keep Steamboat Willie out of the public domain. And they have to realize that the closer they get to 1 year per year, or the further they go beyond it, the more likely a US court is to actually take seriously the argument that successive copyright extensions violate the "limited Times" language.

But the majority of the damage is done simply by the US being a signatory to the Burn-it convention. Life plus fifty already keeps a work under copyright for a period that is effectively forever to everyone that's likely to ever care.

 

[MaxBuzz]

cold is approaching me -32°

 

[Urwumpe]

cold is approaching me -32°

Want to switch to the lukewarm side of the jetstream? We have the most extreme winter heat wave ever since new year turned. Warsaw reached almost 19°C on the last day of the year, 10K above average.

 

[Evil_Onyx]

It would be the first time I fly international alone, and I miss the connection due to the airline. Time to brush up on my German as I wait for the new connection.

 

[Urwumpe]

It would be the first time I fly international alone, and I miss the connection due to the airline. Time to brush up on my German as I wait for the new connection.

If you sit around in Frankfurt, try Hessian. German language ends north of the Main river, the airport is south of it.

So, better start with "Guude!" instead of "Hallo!" there and get yourself a "Schöppsche" (small glass of apple wine).

 

[Evil_Onyx]

If you sit around in Frankfurt, try Hessian. German language ends north of the Main river, the airport is south of it.

So, better start with "Guude!" instead of "Hallo!" there and get yourself a "Schöppsche" (small glass of apple wine).

Thank you. My day should have been Manchester to Heathrow to Salzburg, now it's Manchester to Heathrow to Frankfurt to Salzburg. I think my attitude of not worrying about things that are out of my control (until I can do something about it) is going well today.

 

[Urwumpe]

I think my attitude of not worrying about things that are out of my control (until I can do something about it) is going well today.

A great attitude, I wish I could do that.

I need at least one therapeutic swear word every 20 minutes to stay sane in such situations.

 

[jedidia]

I need at least one therapeutic swear word every 20 minutes to stay sane in such situations.

That's very little... I think I swear more than that when I'm in a good mood
I usually don't get worked up much when travelling alone, but last summer we were supposed to travel Zurich-Vienna-Sarajevo, and ended up travelling Zurich-Vienna, spend night in Vienna, Vienna-Beograd-Sarajevo, bad weather in Sarajevo so back to Beograd, take Bus to Sarajevo to arrive at one o'clock in the morning. With two 10 year olds, one of them autistic.
Now that warranted a lot of swearing, but not half as much as trying to get our lost luggage information registered in Sarajevo... I spent more money calling that airport than I usually spend on my cellphone in 3 months or so...