-
Soviet era Kerosene Lamp Generator gives new meaning to “Let’s fire up the radio!” | The SWLing Post
Tech finds a way: https://swling.com/blog/2020/05/soviet-era-kerosene-lamp-generator-gives-new-meaning-to-lets-fire-up-the-radio/
-
Terry Pratchett interview in Adventurer 11 (June/July 1987) | Stuffed Crocodile
This is a must-read, albeit poring over scans of an old gaming zine; you really get a sense of where TP was at that point in his life, just before Mort came out: “Before I could stop myself I was typing ‘The First Universal Church of the Cosmic Confidence Trick’ This is a nutty sect
Fediverse reactions
-
Critics decry Vietnam’s ‘draconian’ new internet law | Vietnam | The Guardian | …I am honestly wondering what @getyoti thinks of how Digital ID is being used in Vietnam
Social media users will need to verify their identities under new decree 147, prompting fears it will undermine expression and expose anonymous dissidents The law, which comes into force on Christmas Day, will compel tech companies operating in Vietnam to store user data, provide it to authorities on request, and remove content the government regards
Fediverse reactions
-
I wish I could believe that this good news was the result of HMG walking-back from the precipice of “if it moves, regulate it”, but instead…
…instead I reckon that it’s the result of safety pressure groups fearing that their ball would be taken away from them resulting in a fundamental loss of opportunity to complain:
Fediverse reactions
-
Getting it in early…
Normal service will resume later this week, including a backlog of posts that have been pointless to publish in the gap between Christmas & New Year. Happy New Year to Everyone. See you soon.
-
Cost of false positives | Kellan Elliott-McCrea: Blog
Kevin Marks (q.v.) introduced me to Kellan’s Paradox of False Positives in Social Media, which predates the themes I explored in Billion Grains of Rice by 5+ years: https://laughingmeme.org//2011/07/23/cost-of-false-positives/ Via: https://bsky.app/profile/kevinmarks.com/post/3lefwdts3n225
-
An Earth-Rocking Cosmic Explosion Turns 20 | Scientific American
An excellent read for people who have a scientific bent and would like to reflect upon gratitude at this time of year: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-earth-rocking-cosmic-explosion-turns-20/
-
Potatoes: Chinese state propaganda in mainstream TV
I did not know this, but we can look forward to such controls being imposed (misused or otherwise) on social media if various safety groups intent upon imposing control on public speech, get their way. If you’re watching the Chinese drama Blossom you know that it’s a cinematically filmed romance with two gorgeous leads and
Fediverse reactions
-
Media is flooded with complaints about AIs being trained on images or text & roughly reproducing them; meanwhile in the (human) music industry for the past 100 years…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound-alike A sound-alike is a recording intended to imitate the sound of a popular record, the style of a popular recording artist, or a current musical trend; the term also refers to the artists who perform on such recordings. In the voice-over world, it may also refer to those who recreate the voice and vocal mannerisms of a given celebrity’s
Fediverse reactions
-
Ofcom apologises for ‘ill-judged’ porn joke job ad | BBC News
Honestly, this would make me inclined to apply: “Always wanted to work in porn but don’t have the feet for an OnlyFans? Now is your chance”, joked the LinkedIn post by a senior staff member at the media regulator. Colour me unsurprised that it was baroness Kidron who lost her sense of humour: Leading children’s
Fediverse reactions
-
Zuck: “It’s sad that I basically have to tell our teams to launch our new AI advances everywhere except the EU at this point”
Douglas Adams wrote about the human tendency to introduce processes that make people feel empowered when in fact all they are is a kind of placebo, e.g. to help politicians cope with their overall powerlessness by actively making the lives of others less rich, protecting them from novelty and innovation: Nick Clegg: We welcome the