lvxferre
@lvxferre@mander.xyz
The catarrhine who invented a perpetual motion machine, by dreaming at night and devouring its own dreams through the day.
- Comment on Watch 1,000 baby spiders devour their mothers and aunties alive in stomach-turning, first-of-its-kind footage 12 hours ago:
The article is a bit sensationalist, but I think it’s the first time for this species.
- Watch 1,000 baby spiders devour their mothers and aunties alive in stomach-turning, first-of-its-kind footagewww.livescience.com ↗Submitted 13 hours ago to [deleted] | 4 comments
- Comment on New pathway engineered into plants lets them suck up more CO₂ - Ars Technica 16 hours ago:
Dunno, weed on steroids being even more proficient at outcompeting local florae?
- Comment on Wild chimpanzees consume the equivalent of 2 cocktails a day in the form of boozy fruit, research finds 20 hours ago:
I can see why we primates* would have a taste for alcohol: boozy = fermenting = full of sugars = nutritious. It works fine if all alcohol we see is “in the wild”. But once you learn to farm and ferment, everything goes downhill, because you’ll have a lot more alcohol available than just a bunch of overripe berries.
So it’s a lot like a sedentary lifestyle, junk food, attention economy, etc. Our instincts working against us, because they were shaped by a different environment.
*I’m not even sure if it’s something as recent as primates. Other tetrapods seem to really like booze too, as this rather cute video shows. Elephant, birds, hogs, everyone gets drunk.
- Comment on Mods react as Reddit kicks some of them out again: “This will break the site” 1 day ago:
Yeah. I feel like, if you aren’t powertripping, moderating lots of subs feels like a bother; and there’s a limit on how much abuse you go through before you say “fuck this, I’m out”.
- Comment on Mods react as Reddit kicks some of them out again: “This will break the site” 1 day ago:
The power matters for the sort of bootlicker still moderating Reddit because it’s what gives their lives meaning. And it matters for Reddit Inc. because it enables it to profit more from the site.
- Comment on Mods react as Reddit kicks some of them out again: “This will break the site” 1 day ago:
A few of those decisions would be sensible in another context, or if done in a different way.
Mod limits: it would be great if it wasn’t just part of a petty power janny mods vs. “waaah we need to wrestle control of the site back from this filthy landed gentry!” admins. And the way it’s being done I expect lots and lots of meat/sock puppets.
Also note that, while the number of mods might be relatively small, the number of subreddits affected will be way larger. We all know about the power concentration in that shithole.
Number of visitors and contributions: the idea here is to simply cook the numbers; larger numbers = better advertisement. Specially because they could show the old metric alongside the new ones, but they didn’t.
[Reddit] made a mountain out of a molehill. This was a combo of punishment for the few abusive mods who moderated hundreds of subreddits and would squat on them, performing no actions but lording over the users and other mods … and the few mods that took their [subreddits] private and held them hostage every so often when [Reddit] enacted an insanely boneheaded policy decision.
Emphasis mine. If you’re too eager to accept shit from the above, and complain when people don’t do the same, you are a toilet and deserve to be treated as such.
And no, odds are it isn’t “punishment”. Reddit Inc. doesn’t care about you enough to “punish” you. You’re simply some collateral in the power struggle, “landed gentry”.
Gregory_K_Zhukov also questioned whether Reddit automatically deletes mod-removed comments from profiles. They argued that this makes modding harder by limiting the amount of information available, including whether or not Reddit has previously punished a user for similar behavior.
I also criticise the decision on the same grounds this mod is doing.
I’m glad I left that shithole.
- Comment on 1 day ago:
Those two are hilarious!
- Comment on 2 days ago:
I don’t know the rootstock variety’s name; I got the seeds from my BIL’s neighbour, he calls it “ball pepper” (it is not Catalan ñora) or “tree pepper”. The fruits are round, 3~5cm large, red, medium heat.
The grafts will be:
- Dedo-de-moça - C. baccatum, medium heat, finger-shaped, ~8cm large. Kind of a default pepper where I live, but it has a nasty tendency to die in winter (like mine did).
- Yellow bell pepper. Market stuff.
- Chocolate-coloured habanero. Hot as hell, but the strain I got is bloody delicious.
- Biquinho - C. chinense, no heat, drop-shaped, ~1cm tiny. Extremely fruity.
The first three are part of a breeding project of mine. I want to create two new varieties:
- a yellow jalapeño-like: large, low heat, thinner than a bell pepper. Mostly for stuffing and pizze. It’s a rather simple dedo-de-moça x yellow bell pepper hybrid; I actually got the seeds for the F1 already, I’m just waiting the weather to get a bit more stable to plant them.
- a large and extremely hot pepper for sauces. Preferably finger-shaped and brown (for aesthetics). It’ll be probably a hybrid of the hybrid above, plus habanero.
I’m also considering to add the rootstock to the breeding, since it’s a hardy plant with high yield and it survived winter just fine.
- Comment on 2 days ago:
Yes, but I think the ones you’ll see past the bubble burst will be a bit different. For example, incorporating the current attempts of natural language processing, even if in a simplified way.
- Comment on 2 days ago:
I use those quotation marks because IMO they’re better described as large token models than large language models. They have rather good morphology and syntax, but once you look at the higher layers (semantics and specially pragmatics) they drop the ball really hard. Even if those layers are way more important than the lower ones.
For a rough analogy, it’s like a taxidermised cat - some layers (the skin and fur) are practically identical to the real thing, but it’s missing what makes a cat a cat, you know? It’s still useful if you want some creepy deco, but don’t expect the taxidermised critter to ruin your furniture or to use your belly as sleeping pad.
- Comment on 2 days ago:
I shouldn’t be talking so much about taters. Someone will eventually realise I’m too emotionally invested into food 🤣
- Comment on 2 days ago:
Completely off-topic, but in the meantime I’m trying to graft an orange sapling into a lemon tree. Kind of hard to get the timing right, too; I need the tree to get a branch with just the right thickness, so it’s like “too thin [next day] too thin [next day] fuck, now it’s too thick!”. Same deal with my pepper plants.
- Comment on 2 days ago:
That’s interesting. Is its meaning similar to the one the AI outputted?
- Comment on 2 days ago:
It’s doing better but not by much, though. It shouldn’t be speculating as much, given the lack of info on the potential saying.
A family saying or regional expression
Speaking on that I tried a few sayings from other languages. It seems to be hit-and-miss:
- “Bread is bread, wine is wine” (Italian) - recognised properly as similar to “call a spade a spade”
- “A good fish swims thrice” (Polish) - recognised properly as a recipe-like saying (the fish swims in water, then butter, then wine)
- “Do you think mango core is soap?”, “Mango core is not soap” (Portuguese; specially common in Brazil) - it failed really hard. The rhetorical question / saying roughly means “this is blatantly absurd, why are you denying the obvious?”, or perhaps “cut off the crap”. But here’s the output:
- Comment on 2 days ago:
Wow, his potato parable actually makes sense - unlike Gemini’s couple therapy take. (The character in question isn’t even a therapist, but a lawyer!)
- Comment on 2 days ago:
Do you want my guess? The current “fight” will go on, until the AI bubble bursts. None of the current large token models will survive; they’ll be simply ditched as “unprofitable”. Instead you’ll see a bunch of smaller models popping up, for more focused tasks, being advertised as something else than AI (perhaps as a “neural network solution” or similar).
So Grok, Gemini, GPT, they’re all going the way of the dodo.
That’s just my guess though. It could be wrong.
- Comment on [Gamers Nexus] YouTube's Systematic Punishment | Copyright Strikes & Defeating Bloomberg's Abuse 2 days ago:
This shit will go on, as long as neither platforms have a reason to change their “user assumed to be guilty” approach, nor copyright trolls have a reason to stop issuing bogus claims.
- Comment on 2 days ago:
Yup, pretty much. And the field is full of red herring terms, so they can mislead you into believing otherwise: “hallucination”, “semantic” supplementation, “reasoning” models, large “language” model…
- Comment on 2 days ago:
And it was really, really invested on the lie, to the point it argued why potatoes would be more active!
After some search, I actually found the prompt and output; I asked Bard (before Google renamed it to Gemini) two years ago, in Portuguese. I’ll provide both the original and a translation; emphasis mine in all cases.
[Original] Qual a diferença entre o comportamento de uma laranja e uma batata?
Laranjas e batatas são frutas e vegetais, mas se comportam de maneiras muito diferentes. Aqui estão algumas das principais diferenças:
Movimento: Laranjas não se movem sozinhas, enquanto batatas podem rolar ou deslizar se não forem apoiadas.
Crescimento: Laranjas crescem em árvores, enquanto batatas crescem no subsolo.
Sensibilidade: Laranjas não são sensíveis ao seu ambiente, enquanto batatas são sensíveis à luz e à temperatura.
Reações: Laranjas não reagem a estímulos, enquanto batatas podem reagir a mudanças em seu ambiente, como brotar ou apodrecer.
Propósito: Laranjas são comidas como frutas, enquanto batatas são comidas como vegetais ou usadas como amido.
Em geral, laranjas são mais passivas e batatas são mais ativas. As laranjas não precisam fazer nada para sobreviver, enquanto as batatas precisam poder responder ao seu ambiente para crescer e se reproduzir. Aqui está uma tabela que resume as principais diferenças no comportamento de laranjas e batatas: * Característica | Laranja | Batata * Movimento | Não se move sozinho | Pode rolar ou deslizar se não for apoiado * Crescimento | Cresce em árvores | Cresce no subsolo * Sensibilidade | Não sensível ao ambiente | Sensível à luz e à temperatura * Reações | Não reage a estímulos | Pode reagir a mudanças no ambiente, como brotar ou apodrecer * Propósito | Comido como fruta | Comido como vegetal ou usado como amido[Translated] What's the difference in behaviour between an orange and a potato?
Oranges and potatoes are fruits and vegetables, but they behave in completely different ways. Here are some differences main:
*Movement: Oranges don’t move on their own, while potatoes can roll or slid if not supported.* Growth: Oranges grow on trees, while potatoes grow in the subsoil.
Sensibility: Oranges are not sensible to the environment, while potatoes are sensible to light and temperature.
Reactions: Oranges don’t react to stimuli, while potatoes can react to changes in the environment, like sprouting and rotting.
Purpose: Oranges are eaten as fruits, while potatoes are eaten as vegetables or used as starch.
In general, oranges are more passive and potatoes are more active. Oranges don’t need to do anything to survive, while potatoes need to be able to answer to their environment to growth and reproduce. Here’s a table summing up the main differences in behaviour between oranges and potatoes: * Feature | Orange | Potato * Movement | Can’t move on their own | Can roll or slid if not supported * Growth | Grow on trees | Grow in the subsoil * Sensibility | Not sensible to the environment | Sensible to light and temperature * Reactions | Don’t react to stimula | Can react to changes in the environment, like sprouting or rotting * Purpose | Eaten as fruit | Eaten as veg or used as starch - Comment on 2 days ago:
I got it, but only through AI mode:
all you need is a sandwich and a hat meaning
The phrase “all you need is a sandwich and a hat” is likely a misremembering or variation of the more common quote from the children’s stories about Paddington Bear: “A wise bear always keeps a marmalade sandwich in his hat in case of emergency” The meaning is not a known or standard English idiom, but rather a reference to the character’s preparedness and simple wisdom. ##### The origin in Paddington Bear In the beloved stories by Michael Bond, the bear from darkest Peru is always prepared. He stores a marmalade sandwich under his hat, saving it for a moment of need. This detail illustrates Paddington’s kindness, resourcefulness, and readiness for a mishap. ##### Meaning in context If you hear someone say “all you need is a sandwich and a hat,” they are most likely referencing the Paddington quote to suggest: * Being prepared for any situation. * Having a simple plan to fix a problem. * The importance of small comforts during a tough time. ##### Misinterpretation of other phrases The phrase may also be mistakenly associated with other idioms: * “All that and a bag of chips”: This idiom, which describes someone or something as “complete” or “deluxe,” has an American origin and is unrelated to hats or sandwiches. * Idioms about being confused: The phrase is not related to idioms that use hats to mean “confused,” such as “put on your thinking cap”.
- Comment on 2 days ago:
This extension (Chrome version) might be useful for you. Easier than adding “fuck” to the search, it messes with the results a bit.
- Comment on 2 days ago:
I can confirm it and it’s bloody hilarious!
Note: ~a year ago I was testing Gemini and asked it “what’s the difference in behaviour between a potato and an orange?”, and it “told” me oranges are passive and potatoes are active. That’s where the “expression” comes from - I often mock Gemini and LLMs in general with it.
- Comment on Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits 1 week ago:
Yeah but it’s not solved JFC.
Of course it isn’t solved. Because Reddit does not want to solve it. It doesn’t want users to know how large the community of a subreddit is. It’s simply cooking the numbers: the bigger the better, even if bigger = less accurate. So it’s replacing an inaccurate metric with an even more inaccurate metric.
And, again: it didn’t even need to replace it. I’m saying it should show both metrics dammit. Both are inaccurate, but with both you have better grounds to reach less inaccurate conclusions about community size than with only one of them.
And this is bloody obvious. Specially from Lemmy:
Could could could isn’t accomplished by their currently showing subscribers of dead accounts. JFC.
The fact it could but it won’t matters here, even if you pretend otherwise.
And it couldn’t be solved easily anyway. What’s a dead account? Log in once a year? That’s certainly not active in that community. But hey let’s count that anyway, right? Subscribed but all you do is browse all? Not active, but let’s count that too, right? A game is popular for a while and gets tons of subscribers, then peters off and the people don’t unsub and just browse all. Again: not active, but fuck it let’s count that too. See the problem yet?
“Unless you can solve it perfectly right off the bat than its impassible!!! lol lmao”
Start with an arbitrary cut-off line for activity. Then tweak it over time. Done.
Enjoy the last word if you want it.
I don’t care about the last word. But I do care someone is vomiting false dichotomy, eating their own vomit, and expecting me to eat it alongside them. I’m not doing it.
- Comment on Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits 1 week ago:
Subscribers from dead accounts aren’t active, they aren’t part of the community, they aren’t discussing. They are dead accounts.
I already addressed this: “note the issue of the number including dead accounts could be easily solved”.
The people that ARE in the community are the actual users that show up on a regular basis.
Emphasis mine. That is not what the “visitors” metric is about.
- Comment on Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits 1 week ago:
Why should they show subscribers of dead accounts?
Because the number of subscribers gives you a better idea of the size of the community than a vague “visitors” - that includes every single clown who stumbled upon the subreddit after googling or clicking a random link.
Also note the issue of the number including dead accounts could be easily solved.
I think they only kept that to “prop up” numbers before the IPO.
I think they’re actively trying to hide the number of lurkers, by conflating it with casual visitors.
- Comment on Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits 1 week ago:
It is not an “either this or that” matter; they could show both pieces of info. And they should.
- Comment on What are your top games to emulate on a long trip? 1 week ago:
Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Pokémon Emerald, and Fire Emblem.
Turn-based makes awful phone controls more bearable, and since those games are RPGs it’s easier to pause and resume without breaking the “flow” of the game.
- Comment on “Analysis and Qualitative Effects of Large Breasts on Aerodynamic Performance and Wake of a “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” Character” 2 weeks ago:
They should repeat the test with Ilulu, to account for differences in height.
- Comment on Left-handed sep funnel anyone? 2 weeks ago:
It does, but only for racemic mixtures: instead of getting 50% R, you get 50% S.
