millie

@millie@beehaw.org

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Well, that's no ordinary rabbit!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I think it’s just jabbing at our early assumptions about dinosaurs seemingly lacking much in the way of bulk. We used to interpret them as these ultra-skinny weirdly mummified looking things rather than the plumper creatures many of them probably were.

  The idea is that aliens find skeletons of animals we’re more familiar with and come to the same kind of wildly mistaken conclusions about them that we might have if we’d found rabbit skeletons without having first hand experience of modern rabbits.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I Believe That It's Important For All of Us to Understand What 'Decentralization' Truly Means. Please, Let's Talk About That⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  What is this shady, unsubstantiated, posted yesterday ass random github repo trying to encourage people to compromise their email security and why is it worth posting?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨nature is music⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Once I sat in a field listening to Victor Wooten and whistling along with him. On a fence nearby was I think a brushed shouldered blackbird? Brushed shouldered something. It started singing with me and doing a little dance. Eventually it even started syncopating its part. Like, you could see it waiting for the timing to be just right for each note. On key and everything. Went on for about half an hour.

  Birds are cool.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do AI company logos look like buttholes?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s what I was thinking. Maybe they’re just Community fans.

  … Should we be pinching our nipples at their AI?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨We just love cabbage⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Tompato!!!

  Potamto!!!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why you should be polite to AI⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not sure that checks out. I mean, fair, I do think that someone being habitually cruel toward AI might not be the greatest indicator of their disposition in general, though I’d hesitate to make a hasty judgement on that. But if we take AI’s presentation as a person as fictional, does that extend to other fictional contexts? Would you consider an evil play-through in a video game to indicate an issue? Playing a hostile character in a roleplay setting? Writing horror fiction?

  It seems to me that there are many contexts where exhibiting or creating simulated behavior in a fictional environment isn’t really equivalent to doing so with genuine individuals in non-imaginary circumstances. AI isn’t quite the same as a fictional setting, but it’s potentially closer to that than it is to dealing with a real person.

  By the same token, if not being polite to an AI is problematic, is it equally problematic to repeatedly say things like “human” and “operator” to an automated phone system until you get a response? Both mimic human speech, while neither ostensibly have a legitimate understanding of what’s being said by either party.

  Where does the line get drawn? Is it wrong to curse at fully inanimate objects that don’t even pretend to be people? Is verbally condemning a malfunctioning phone, refrigerator, or toaster equivalent to berating a hallucinating AI?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘Black Mirror’ Creator Charlie Brooker Doesn’t Want to Hear Your ‘Severance’ Comparisons⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Neither does he deserve them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨purpose⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  If humans went extinct… um…

  Um.

  UUMMMM …!!!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨ain't your buddy, pal!⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Massachusetts has much more dude than this.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Midjourney introduces first new image generation model in over a year⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I know that when I’m playing cards in a dress that’s melted into my skin, with my favorite half-bracelet draped over my wrist, I love to intimidate my opponent by flashing them two face cards. Who wouldn’t be shaken by the Kinmb of Back of Card and the Quing of 21s?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Cheap TVs’ incessant advertising reaches troubling new lows⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I picked up a projector on sale for $50 on Newegg, usually I think they’re like $80 or something. Only problem is, I don’t know how to get the dust out of the inside of the projector lens. I’ve tried spraying canned air into the cracks around it, but it didn’t work. I even took the thing apart intending to wipe it down myself, but I couldn’t figure out how to get to the back of the lens.

  Still, for $50 it’s not too bad. The little bits of dust are kind of annoying, but they’re not in focus and it’s pretty alright for watching movies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jon Lovitz Wants A Reboot Of ‘The Critic’⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Do you think we’re past the point of reboots having to do cell phone jokes? I hope so. They stink.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hillary Clinton: How Much Dumber Will This Get?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  We literally would not be in this situation if it wasn’t for Hilary Clinton. Imagine what the timeline where Bernie Sanders just finished his second term must be like. I want to go there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mozilla Foundation Calls on Tech Industry to Block ICE Contractor⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Mozilla seems to be doing fine to me. Most of the people complaining about them don’t give any indication that they themselves are doing anything particularly helpful either.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Discord heightens ad focus by introducing video ads to mobile apps in June - Ars Technica⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  In my experience discord literally feels like I’m in the room with someone. I use it constantly and it’s been great for me. Phones on the other hand are kinda garbage. The signal is consistently unreliable. Sometimes I literally get calls where one of us can’t hear the other. Sometimes several calls in a row. Occasionally calls just don’t even go through.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Discord heightens ad focus by introducing video ads to mobile apps in June - Ars Technica⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Gimme push to talk.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Discord heightens ad focus by introducing video ads to mobile apps in June - Ars Technica⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It depends on whether the server you’re on is boosted, also. But even a standard voice server is better quality than a phone. Phones may technically be able to play audio with a higher bitrate, but that’s limited by both cell service and speaker quality.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Discord heightens ad focus by introducing video ads to mobile apps in June - Ars Technica⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  More reliable too, honestly. Plus the video streaming is indispensable. Honestly, discord voice chat is a big part of the reason I haven’t made a serious attempt to use Matrix for much if anything. The lack of push to talk is a deal breaker. Also like, none of my friends are there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Discord heightens ad focus by introducing video ads to mobile apps in June - Ars Technica⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I would never engage in marketing… except for my own indie projects.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Slop Is a Brute Force Attack on the Algorithms That Control Reality⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Being relatively a relatively unknown outlet that forces extra steps on anyone who wants to read their articles probably sets the bar pretty low. Especially when a lot of people will just share archive links.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Elon Musk says X hit by 'massive cyber attack' as users unable to log in⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Heyyy, it’s chanology style anonymous. Nice.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Christie's First-Ever AI Art Auction Earns $728,000, Plus Controversy⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  In what world does it take two people to “make” a piece of malformed AI schlock?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Trump’s Crypto Reserve Is Really Happening⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  So he’s going to do the same thing he did to his fanboys to the government? Oh good. Can we impeach this guy yet?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pokémon games have become consistently ugly, and it's alright to wish they weren't⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  To be fair, it’s almost infinitely cheaper to hire a bunch of people to post in threads muddying the waters of any discussion than it is to fix any given issue. If any public criticism devolves into bickering, it’s hard for outside observers to make enough sense of it to heavily impact sales.

  Look how well it worked for the election. With a proof of concept that dramatic lying around, what money-grubbing executive wouldn’t want to follow the example?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Nightshade Family⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I remember hearing that but I’d forgotten the specifics! Thanks!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Nightshade Family⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Just be glad they didn’t turn into crabs or cats.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Nightshade Family⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Europeans used to think tomatoes were poisonous. They referred to them as poison apples.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why can't we go back to small phones?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  You can. You just can’t have a small iPhone. Android phones are also a mainstream product, they’re just not popular with people who have thousands of dollars to blow on iPhones.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hundreds of your Warner Bros DVDs probably don't work anymore⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Damn shame there isn’t some distributed network of backups for nearly all media.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Firefox deletes promise to never sell personal data, asks users not to panic⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah. That’s certainly a possibility. Thinking about it won’t give me the answer, though. It could be that, it could also be something else. We don’t learn the truth of what’s going on in the world by just making up a good-sounding explanation.