Microsoft's carbon emissions up nearly 30% thanks to AI

Company will require certain suppliers to run on 100% carbon-free electricity ... by 2030 Microsoft has increased carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 30 percent since 2020, making its goal of becoming carbon-negative by 2030 even more difficult, and it looks like AI is to blame.…
#theregister #IT
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/16/microsoft_co2_emissions/

Microsoft's carbon emissions up nearly 30% thanks to AI

^{Dan Robinson (The Register)}

Teenagers could help fill train driver shortage

The government is asking for views on reducing the minimum age for train drivers from 20 to 18 as an attempt to handle the dwindling number of drivers as more retire over the next 5 years

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz747krrw9lo

#ukRailway #ukRailways

Teenagers could help fill train driver shortage

The government has put forward plans to reduce the age to qualify as a train driver from 20 to 18.

^{Katy Austin (BBC News)}

Carbon credits are pollution permits for the rich

Offsets allow companies and countries to make 'carbon neutral' claims without taking real steps to decarbonis

https://www.context.news/net-zero/opinion/carbon-credits-are-pollution-permits-for-the-rich

#MassExtinction #pollution #ecology #environment #climate

Carbon credits are pollution permits for the rich

Offsets allow companies and countries to make ‘carbon neutral’ claims without taking real steps to decarbonise

^{Mohamed Adow (Context)}

Btw, it's perfectly fine to not "be mutual" with someone (not a fan of that concept) or to unfollow them

There are all kinds of reasons, their posts don't interest you, maybe your mental health suffers rn from them sharing your life etc.

Unfollow is not unfriend, this isn't facebook

I finally did it. I used an LLM. A couple of months ago, MS added its Copilot to Windows. I turned it off. But the latest update shoved it back in my face and tried to get me to let it use my data. So I asked it a question: How do I get rid of Copilot? It suggested I uninstall it like any other program, but MS removed that option. But Copilot went on to tell me the exact registry key to change to block it from loading, and now it's gone.

ETA: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-uninstall-copilot-i-dont-want-to-disable-it/b301b77d-b879-4433-9979-f8795805e9f1

I wrote a fairly mundane post on Reddit that led to me getting an AI-prompted message with suicide prevention resources.

I was completely mystified but then I realized it was probably because I included the phrase: "I find it hard to manage" (in a context like "I find it hard to manage the crabgrass in my garden ... ").

This is the future isn't it? AI pestering us with context-free misunderstood nonsense. I guess I should just count myself lucky that the AI didn't institutionalize me.

Q: Why did you need to wait in a long line at Radio Shack to buy a 6502 microprocessor?

A: Not enough registers.

We don't know who needs to hear or read this today, but:

• Your gender identity is valid.
• Your sexuality and romanticity are valid.
• Your mental and physical health struggles are valid.
• Your disabilities are valid.
• You are worthy of love and friendship.
• You're not faking it.
• You deserve the healthcare and support you need.
• You are not a burden.
• Others struggling does not invalidate your own struggles.
• You are not responsible for the bigotry, prejudice, racism, misogyny, classism, or hatred that others aim towards you.
• You are not being selfish for wanting to live your life as your authentic self.

There are so many more things we could say or add, but we hope you get the gist 🩷

"UK firms accused of profiteering as study finds margins rose 30% post-pandemic"

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/15/uk-firms-accused-of-profiteering-study-finds-margins-rose-30-percent-post-pandemic

UK firms accused of profiteering as study finds margins rose 30% post-pandemic

Unite union study of 17,000 firms shows sectors from energy to banking, and vets to car dealerships, profited from inflation crisis

^{Hazel Sheffield (The Guardian)}

#throwbackthursday to Nev 1 at AC2012. There’s always something exciting about visiting a new place you’ve never been before both then and now (with me attending my first FWA this past weekend).
📸 - TMFox

#fursuit #fursuiter #fursuiting #mascot #furry #furries #furryfandom #fursuitphotography #foxfursuit #costume #cosplay

whenever anyone uses the phrase "for the time being" i like to capitalize it in my head.

"ive done all i can for the Time Being"

"for the Time Being, these are the available options"

"this is the situation for the Time Being"

all hail the Time Being

hot take: the 5.25" floppy diskette was the most reliable storage format we had.

it did not appear to have any resilience whatsoever, so if something was important and unique, you would commit it to multiple diskettes.

every storage format since has something about it that implies a resilience that it just does not carry through on, making it less trustworthy than good ol' 5-and-a-quarter.

3.5" floppies straight through "the cloud", they're all fibbers.

good night, fedi.

GREMLIN MODE ACTIVATED

#FursuitFriday

🪡: @wolf_daz on twitter
📸: @syntaxruntime.bsky.social

🥺pwease.. can I have your soul and all your belongings. You'll get a hug in exchange, that's a deal right?

#fursuit #kemonofursuit #fursuiteveryday #kemono #furry #furryfandom #fursuiter #fursuiting #kemonosuit #fursuitphotography #furrycommunity #catfurry #catfursuit #fursuits #nfc2024 #nordicfuzzcon #nordicfuzzcon2024

You didn’t see anyone’s deadname on a payment processing app

You didn’t see anyone shoplifting

And you didn’t see anyone pirating

“Create art with our AI”

how about go fuck yourself

Don't be fooled. This is not a serious effort. It's merely a capitalist performance, acting as if they want to cut emissions while making absolutely *certain* that Business As Usual will continue.

In other words, it's greenwashing.
________________________________

Hopes that replacement fuels for airplanes will slash carbon pollution are misguided, and support for these alternatives could worsen the climate crisis, a new report has warned.

There is currently “no realistic or scalable alternative” to standard kerosene-based jet fuels, and touted “sustainable aviation fuels” are well off track to replace them in a timeframe needed to avert dangerous climate change.

“To bring these fuels to the scale needed would require massive subsidies, the trade-offs would be unacceptable and would take resources aware from more urgent decarbonization priorities," said Chuck Collins, co-author of the report. “It’s a huge greenwashing exercise by the aviation industry. It’s magical thinking that they will be able to do this.”
________________________________

FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/14/sustainable-jet-fuel-report

#Politics #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #Greenwashing

What better to go with my computer from 1994 than a guide to the Internet (I think it genuinely is more than the web!) from 1993?!

I mean, sod it, I might as well open a computer museum at this point.

Or at least buy a display case.

The question of "what is web 1, web 2, and web 3 anyhow" came up in a chat with friends yesterday. Here's the answer I gave in case any one else is curious:

• Web 1: Old school HTML only. Pages do not have any functionality themselves. They must refresh for each interaction.

• Web 2: The concept that web pages could leverage XMLHttpRequest to update themselves via JavaScript without a full refresh. (First seen in 2000) We call this a Single Page App (SPA) today.

• Web 3: The silly idea that JavaScript could be loaded from a blockchain and bypass a "web server" completely. This was a bad idea and should feel bad.

Web 2.0 changed the web completely. Almost all (maybe even all) of the modern web is built on it. If you're using Mastodon via a web browser, you're using it right now. Same with Discord, Slack, YouTube, any mail service, and really basically all modern web services that we enjoy today.

We don't need to talk about Web 3.0. It was a bad idea from the start. 😅

Students at a London university, LSE, have not only occupied it – protesting against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza – but have also produced a huge report. It details the university’s complicity in not only war crimes but also the climate crisis.

https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2024/05/15/lse-israel-protests/

LSE protests, occupation, demands, and damning report over Israel

LSE students have not only occupied it with protests against Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza - but have also produced a huge report

^{The Canary}

Paws done

Part of a fursuit commission of a charr character. Next part will be... interesting. The head

(Please ignore my terrible t-shirt for crafting stuff but it's one where random paint and glue is less likely to ruin something :D)

#Fursuit #Sewing