Everyone: Hello, we would like society to improve.
Billionaires: Too bad, go scream into the void instead.
Everyone: Okay.
Billionaires: Also, we have bought all the voids. It now costs $100 to scream into the void.
Study in hamsters indicates vaccines targeting nose, mouth may be key to controlling spread of respiratory infectionsTamara Schneider (Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis)
Content warning: Mini-Fiction, ~1000 Words, Shapeshifting, Very Mild Non-Permanent Comic Body Horror
Content warning: Mini-Fiction, ~1000 Words, Shapeshifting, Very Mild Non-Permanent Comic Body Horror
Fascinating report from 404 Media's Samantha Cole on a trove of leaked NVIDIA Slack messages and emails about how they're scraping millions of YouTube videos to train their own new foundation video generation model: https://www.404media.co/nvidia-ai-scraping-foundational-model-cosmos-project/
Posted a few of my own notes here: https://simonwillison.net/2024/Aug/5/nvidia-scraping-videos/
It's not surprising to learn that they're doing this - that's practically the industry standard right now - but is still really interesting to see internal details of what they're collecting and why
Internal emails, Slack conversations and documents obtained by 404 Media show how Nvidia created a yet-to-be-released video foundational model.Samantha Cole (404 Media)
Scientists show high concern and engagement on climate change.
A global survey of over 9,000 scientists reveals that 83% are highly concerned about climate change, with 91% advocating for fundamental social and economic changes. Many have altered their lifestyles, with 69% driving less and 39% adopting plant-based diets.
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-scientists-climate-extreme-high-engagement.html
#scientist #scientists #science #climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction #environment #earth #nature #GlobalWarming
Scientists from across academic disciplines are extremely concerned about climate change. Many of them have already changed their own lifestyles or engaged in advocacy and protest, with even more being willing to do so in future.Science X (Phys.org)
Classic claims from the right of 'two-tier policing' which won't cut much ice after the sentencing of the Just Stop Oil protesters...
I'm all for the end of two tier policing - lets prosecute the far-right thugs on the same basis as those who've been victimised by the Police for years....
Bring it on, Nigel.
pwetty pwease🥺
#fursuit #kemonofursuit #kemono #furry #furryfandom #fursuiter #fursuiting #kemonosuit #fursuitphotography #furrycommunity #catfurry #catfursuit #fursuits
I have no idea if I could do this — I don't feel I know anyone well enough! But then, maybe that's the point of these things. So, let's give it a go. I might not reply soon (Real Life™), but I will try to reply eventually. :)
ahahaha yes sickos
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k44x6mge3o
The decision could reshape how technology giants do business in the future.Nadine Yousif (BBC News)
GOOGLE WAS JUST RULED A MONOPOLY!
This wild day just got wilder! 😲
Here’s what the judge wrote:
After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.
This ruling won’t just affect Google but also Apple, Amazon, Meta, and every other Big Tech company that the DOJ is going after!
Let me be blunt. After decades of not doing anything about tech monopolies, the U.S. government just showed it is not playing games!
Content warning: psa about unclear content warnings drug, fat fetish, & sex mentioned as examples
This is your semi-regular reminder that if you're an Admin but not the Owner for a TG chat, make sure you know who the Owner is and that you feel you can trust them.
Because when push comes to shove, being an Admin will mean nothing if the Owner decides they want to exercise nuclear options.
The wave of racist attacks taking place around the UK is, in part, the consequence of right-wing billionaires acquiring control of social media. After Elon Musk bought Twitter, he reinstated the accounts of Tommy Robinson and many other fascists. One of Tommy Robinson's key henchmen posted the video that contributed to setting off this wave of attacks. Musk has continued to stoke the fires.
While liberals may respond by calling for more crackdowns on "extremism" on social media, such crackdowns would inevitably target the anti-fascists who represent the last line of defense against despotism. Instead, let's start by asking what billionaires like Elon Musk stand to gain from scapegoating immigrants and promoting civil war, then consider what it will take to stop them.
https://crimethinc.com/twittercanary
Is there life after social media? Will reactionary billionaires determine all we can imagine and do, or will we establish other forms of connection?CrimethInc.
In the past, “just asking questions” was limited by the reach of one’s voice. Now, anyone with a Twitter account can broadcast their “inquiries” to millions. This has given rise to a new breed of pseudo-intellectual, the “Just Asking Questions” influencer.
Social media has given rise to armies of self-proclaimed skeptics and truth-seekers who wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped them in the fucking face. We’ve all encountered these assholes. They…Joan Westenberg (@westenberg)
THIS is the moment I've been waiting for!
I've always wanted a "solar skin" on my car. Or even on my backpack, with a USB port inside for charging my devices.
Four decades ago the only available candidate was amorphous semiconductors that you can put on a flexible substrate: look up Sharp and Ovonics for those. The (big) problems:
1. the efficiency sucked;
2. the semiconductors degraded under solar UV exposure.
It was frustrating.
But no more!
https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/oxford-scientists-ultra-thin-solar-cell-27-energy-efficiency/
Scientists at the University of Oxford have revealed an ultra-thin solar cell that can deliver over 27% energy efficiency.George Heynes (Solar Media Limited)
A decade ago, I did an optimistic back-of-the-envelope estimate that said a Nissan Leaf with PV on its horizontal area could get 20 miles from a one-sunny-day charge.
But you can hardly mount three solar panels on top of your Leaf, can you.
A solar skin changes everything.
And with the efficiency of the perovskite material, you can cover most commutes, charging your car while you're at work. No charging station required.
http://www.cellomomcars.com/2012/01/ev-unplugged-truly-zero-emission.html
There has been a lot of noise lately about plug-in electric vehicles. Of course, those are not really zero-emission cars : in the US, th...www.cellomomcars.com
Part of why perovskites are great for PV is that it is well matched with the spectrum of the solar light on the surface of our planet . Our eyes are likewise matched, tuned to the peak of the spectrum, at "visible" wavelengths!
Because silicon and other semiconductor solar cells kick in in the infrared, you can build efficiency by stacking cells made with a variety of spectral response. Of course, people have done / are doing just that.
https://qdsolarinc.com/technology/
Our Technology Traditional solar technologies, such as the common silicon solar cell, only capture a fraction of the available solar radiation, because of their intrinsic material properties.qdsolarinc.com
"So when someone keeps “just asking questions” about whether vaccines are safe, or if climate change is real, or if a particular ethnic group should be put in a fucking camp, they’re not engaged in a genuine search for truth. They’re exploiting our cognitive biases to make their ideas seem more plausible through sheer repetition."
"Continuing to entertain long-debunked ideas in the name of “just asking questions” isn’t open-mindedness — it’s a waste of time and mental energy."
On the way back from a night out partying.
Hope you all had a relaxed weekend.
/w @/courgus
/w @/Midas_Qu
📸 @HypiTheFox
🪡 @Areksim (Vino Studios)
Mythies with a dash of pony I see ;) I see:
1 Gilda
2 Twilight Sparkle
1 MLP styled hippogriff
1 Celestia
1 Ember
1 King Sombra
I'm sorry; I can't stop laughing.
Apparently at least 6 big companies won't insure Tesla's $80k+ Cybertruck in some states. Partly because they're so incredibly expensive to repair, and partially because parts are only available directly from Tesla and they're very expensive. Plus the liability of a vehicle that is marketed as being rigid so as to protect the passengers - the part not said out loud is that it does so at the expense of the people in the other vehicle.
In those states the only viable insurance is from Tesla. That's right, Tesla. Otherwise, they can't be driven & they can't be sold. Which might not be so bad except Tesla's policy is expensive and Tesla gets real time constant surveillance of driving habits AND ADJUST RATES ACCORDINGLY.
Also? The states where nobody will insure the Cybertruck & the 12 states where Tesla is licensed to sell insurance ARE NOT THE SAME STATES. NY, for instance.
I can't see why Cybertruck owners would complain though; it seems like a Libertarian dream to me!
☑️
@LALegault
Fuck that, The People can organize a guillotine party on Matrix... After two, maybe three heads roll, they'll fall into line.
Also, we ain't paying shit to scream into the void, we took those voids and they're ours now
The Scream, 1893 by Edvard Munch
#art