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Zaktor

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Zaktor ,

This is the best news I’ve heard since the debate.

Zaktor ,

Yeah, like what are the stats on 13 year olds actually shooting cops vs. just having toy guns? Like at some point you gotta realize it’s probably not actually a threat and proceed more cautiously.

Zaktor ,

I don’t think Harris guarantees a Trump win, even if she’s clearly a riskier pick than a more popular Democrat. And I don’t think she is a good pick. I feel like either party could win simply by putting up a younger and more competent candidate, but their internal politics prevented that. Harris, for all her focus-group flip-flops and questionable past, would be able to respond directly and forcefully to Trump while conveying a capability to do the job. For all the bad vibes Biden put off with his oldness and feebleness last night, in my opinion not effectively attacking Trump was the real loss.

And to be clear, I think she’s a terrible choice. She was a terrible choice when she was picked for VP and they’ve done nothing in four years to groom her as a successor, but I think the race is still tight and there’s so much potential for gain simply not being 80 that her risks don’t put us in a worse place. We’d be better with someone else, but I’m not sure the cost of passing over the black female VP when there’s no other clear leader to coronate would be worth what will already be a chaotic decision.

Zaktor ,

Out of respect for a great woman/man! Not being disrespectful to important people is much more important than human rights or democracy.

Zaktor ,

If the Democrats could ever get to that choice it would be an autowin and an instant rejuvenation for the party.

Zaktor ,

At his age the cold he supposedly had is a potential career ender. “He just had a cold that made him feeble” isn’t a great alternative explanation when you’re talking about an 81 year old.

Zaktor ,

And notably it wouldn’t just be a decree from on high, it’d be officially picked by the delegates. There was still (technically) a primary this year, with delegates heading to a convention to vote on who becomes the nominee. I’m sure there will be a lot of backroom plotting to try to figure out a good replacement before the open votes start, but at least there’s an air of legitimacy as (many of) the people who officially make the decision have some connection to votes cast. It’s more an appearance thing than actually separating the pick from “the party establishment”, but that’s a pretty important aspect.

Zaktor ,

I believe The Rock, despite his amusing connections with Elizabeth Warren, is actually a left-moving former-Republican. Not exactly a hard no in the Democratic party, but we can probably find a charismatic person who’s at least center-left.

Zaktor ,

A Big Two party can nominate someone out on the fringes, but then they will cede the general election to the other party if the other party runs a centrist candidate.

Phew, I’m glad we could never end up with a President Trump leading Republican party running rightward as fast as possible then.

Maybe centrist political wisdom is actually just trash and things like charisma, inspiration, and vision actually matter rather than some idea that all voters are on a single axis “politics” line.

Zaktor ,

She’s too old to replace a president for being too old, but she’s younger than Biden was when he was nominated.

Zaktor ,

She’s not good. She was rejected in the 2020 primary and I think she was a terrible choice for VP. Everyone in progressive circles is right to hold her time as AG against her. But Joe Biden literally wrote the crime bill, which is way worse, and that wasn’t a disqualifier. I wish that a terrible history of racial injustice was disqualifying for Democrats, but it’s just not.

Zaktor ,

LOL. Yeah, sure thing bud. People could be excused for believing this fantasy before his election, but they were dumb then too. And he’s on track to win again after everything he did and the transformation of the party into the vision that matches his fascist rhetoric.

Zaktor ,

The VP is a solution if he dies, it’s not a solution for him being unable to fight his own battles on the campaign trail. If he gets elected, I’m not worried about his age. He can resign or be puppetted by his staff or VP and things will be fine. But there’s no such solution for the campaign itself.

Zaktor ,

Yeah, there’s a lot of people I wouldn’t support in a primary that I would be happy to see. He was never a favorite, but I soured on Buttigieg when he abandoned his sort of forward-looking original platform to compete for the center track, but having a younger and charismatic candidate I can trust to handle himself in front of the camera would be a fantastic relief.

Zaktor ,

You have two counter examples, and one of them was incredibly successful, just for the side where success is bad for the country. Reagan wasn’t ineffective, he was effective for evil purposes.

Zaktor ,

unite the Democrats on… Israel… like Biden has?

Wut? Not being Biden on Israel is one of the major benefits of a different candidate. And all the other things are stuff the Democrats are already unified on, not some miracle of Democratic leadership.

Zaktor ,

And imagine the click-through rate for “hot barely legal candidate” ads going straight to a policy video.

Zaktor ,

If that were all it took to win, we wouldn’t have been worried before the debate and twice as worried after. Not-Trump isn’t the autowin the establishment wishes it was.

Zaktor ,

The “respect” is letting her decide and then dropping the issue. After she refused she should have received more pressure, first in private and then, if necessary, in public. She should have been disrespected for the good of the nation.

Zaktor ,

She was my favorite in 2020 and I’d personally love Warren to be picked. She’s got the stature, ability to draw volunteers and donations, and could put together the campaign infrastructure quickly. I just think Biden stepping aside puts a bad highlight on age that despite her being obviously more vital makes her a poor choice. Plus there’s no possible way the moderate establishment that runs Biden’s Democratic party would ever voluntarily choose her.

I’m at the point where anyone who’s younger and not a RINO is a valid choice. I found Buttigieg and Harris to both be uninspiring political chameleons without any core beliefs in 2020, but if that’s what it takes, so be it. My dream, but only minutely realistic pick for an under 70 replacement? Katie Porter.

Zaktor ,

Jamaal Bowman had one of the most extreme stances on the conflict, was in a disproportionately Jewish district, and was attacked by an unprecedented level of opposition spending from an outside group. Polls have repeated shown Democrats (and independents) not to be as supportive of Israel as Biden is. If he’s trying to lead them, it’s not working.

Zaktor ,

3/7 incumbent presidents since 1980 have lost. It’s indistinguishable from a coin flip. Whatever benefit incumbency holds in the presidency, it’s not strong.

Zaktor ,

My opinion has always been governmental spaces, especially those on or near the buildings lawmakers use, should always be an allowed campground for homeless people. They’re the ones most responsible for the problem, they should have to see it every time they go to work.

Zaktor ,

He’s carrying on a tradition for the House leader to endorse and support (with varying levels of “support”) all House incumbents. It’s not an indication of policy agreement or friendship, it’s just if you’re an incumbent, he supports you.

Which is… fine. It’s probably good that the House leader isn’t supporting primary opponents to people in his caucus. But of course some support will be a lot more substantial than others. Pelosi (when she was leader) went to the mat for Henry Cuellar in his previous close primary against a progressive, but would just give perfunctory endorsements to progressive incumbents. When most people know you endorse based simply on incumbency, it’s not really much of an endorsement.

Zaktor ,

Around the same time Bowman had his own poll (the DMFI poll is effectively a pro-Latimer poll) with him up +1. Also weak for an incumbent, but there’s no reason to place the baseline at -17. AIPAC money almost certainly had a strong effect on the race, otherwise they wouldn’t have felt spending $14.5 million was a good use of their donation money. That’s fully half of all their expenditures reported thus far. The people with full time jobs focused on influencing US policy very much believe spending money influences elections.

Zaktor ,

We’re there. Netanyahu referenced Amalek in his war speech, a story where god commanded the Jews to kill every last infant of an enemy nation. The deputy speaker in parliament explicitly said there are no innocent civilians in Gaza and it must be wiped off the face of the earth.

On Politics: Brad Lander's scheming shows Eric Adams' weakness (archive.ph)

Lander offers less potential excitement than Myrie, a Brooklyn state senator who is just 37 and could make history as the city’s first Afro-Latino mayor. He might be less of a political brawler than Stringer, who has survived several tough primaries and can pull plenty of votes from his old West Side base. Ranked-choice voting...

Zaktor ,

Could Adams actually lose? The short answer is yes, even if it’s historically difficult to oust an incumbent mayor. Adams only managed to win the 2021 Democratic primary by fewer than 10,000 votes. Kathryn Garcia almost became mayor, and a large swath of the city also voted for Maya Wiley, the leading progressive candidate.

And yet centrists everywhere acted like it was a landslide victory demonstrating a new mold for Democrats nationwide.

Boebert faces first election Tuesday since switching districts and the vaping scandal (apnews.com)

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert faces voters in Colorado’s GOP primary election Tuesday after she fled a tough reelection race to run in a more Republican-leaning district, harried along the way by accusations of carpetbagging and still bruised by an embarrassing video....

Zaktor ,

Not even mentioned in the article! In what world does the author live that “vaping” was the scandal that prompted her to flee her district? Conservatives couldn’t care less that she was being rude with vape smoke at a play.

Zaktor ,

Incidentally, he was also pardoned by Donald Trump for misusing campaign funds.

Ah, you’re referring to his vaping scandal. He was probably vaping while doing it.

Zaktor ,

It’s literally the first line of the summary. There was a district that most closely matched her previous one, but she’s running in a district she doesn’t live in because it would be easier to win.

Zaktor ,

You literally started the argument you’re now upset about. For some reason you thought it was important enough to tell me I was wrong, but after people told you your interpretation is wrong (or at best, in your evaluation, pointless) you’re suddenly wondering why we’re even talking about it.

You didn’t read the summary and felt compelled to make a point no one else here or in political coverage agrees with, just tuck your tail and slink away.

Israel's high court orders the army to draft ultra-Orthodox men, rattling Netanyahu's government (apnews.com)

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for compulsory service, a landmark decision that could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel continues to wage war in Gaza....

Zaktor ,

Two solutions to that problem:

  1. Choose the answer you like. Those other rabbis are wrong.
  2. Avoid breaking anyone’s rules (this is, I believe, roughly the actual method). If one rabbi says it’s forbidden to spin counter clockwise while dancing and another says it’s fine, don’t spin counter clockwise because maybe the first rabbi is right and the second just said it wasn’t required, not that you had to do it. There’s no electricity in the Biblical rules, but it’s kind like fire and there are rules about fire on Shabbat, so they’re not supposed to use electricity on Shabbat. It might be overkill, but better safe than sorry.
Zaktor ,

Wild that the Times of Israel, reporting second-hand, has a more factual accounting of the event.

Violent clashes broke out Sunday between pro- and anti-Israel demonstrators in Los Angeles after the latter held a protest outside the Adas Torah synagogue, where an Israeli real estate fair was being held.

The first line establishes the relevant information, not some vague idea that there were protesters just stopping Jews from worshipping. The only context missing is that the real estate fair probably isn’t for apartments in Tel Aviv. It’s probably for West Bank settlements, which are heavily populated by Americans.

CNN surprisingly actually had a more detailed accounting, albeit surrounded by the dominant anti-Palestinian narrative.

Synagogue hosted Israel real estate event

The protest stemmed from an Israel real estate event on Sunday at the Adas Torah synagogue, according to the synagogue’s security director and social media posts from organizers.

The event at the synagogue was organized by My Israel Home, a firm that markets real estate in Israel and West Bank settlements and was advertising on social media. CNN has reached out to My Israel Home for comment.

In one video, two men appear to be wrestling on the ground as others kick at them. Later, one of the men – holding an Israeli flag – appears to have a bloodied face and mouth.

Additional video showed an egg thrown at a pro-Palestinian activist and a man wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf, chased and punched on the ground by a man wearing a Jewish yarmulke or kippah.

During many of the altercations, bystanders worked to pull and hold people apart.

Zaktor ,

the city’s mayor, who called for more police patrols.

You don’t need more police patrols, this was a protest with insufficient police staffing, not a random event the police would need to stumble upon. Somehow even with planned events the police knew about and were already present at, mayor’s answer is just more police wandering around.

Zaktor ,

They even quoted a protester, which shouldn’t be an unusual event when covering protests, but here were are.

Zaktor ,

My only guess would be people can get better propaganda elsewhere and the CNN propaganda was supposed to fly under the radar as coming from a “real” news station. CNN has had various stories about right-biased reporting which actually damages their brand, unlike Fox where the target audience is all in.

Dell said return to the office or else—nearly half of workers chose “or else” - Workers stayed remote even when told they could no longer be promoted. (arstechnica.com)

Big tech companies are still trying to rally workers back into physical offices, and many workers are still not having it. Based on a recent report, computer-maker Dell has stumbled even more than most....

Zaktor ,

They’ve got plenty of time to make the jump since they can just coast along with their Dell salary until them. Quitting starts a clock until you have to just accept whatever is available, but staying employed and knowing you have to leave eventually let’s you start looking without the pressure.

Zaktor , (edited )

Fascist thought is perfectly compatible between countries of different races. The philosophy is the “right” type of people should expel (or murder) undesirable minorities and take the resources they need. If those minorities go somewhere else and oppress some other people, that’s just how the world is supposed to work when it’s not corrupted by things like equal rights or respect for personal freedom. It’s how Aryan-supremacist Germany had no issues allying with Japan. They both believed in a world order where it was the natural state of things for racially homogeneous states to dominate lesser races and claim the resources for their people. Because they’re just better, and all the problems are from race-mixing and kowtowing to the undeserving.

One of the early anti-Jewish efforts by the Nazis (promoted now by some Israeli politicians for Palestinians) was encouraging Jews migrate somewhere else, Israel being one of the common destinations.

Zaktor , (edited )

There are not no black people there, but they didn’t seem to even care enough to give them all spots in the front.

Zaktor ,

This is unhinged. Someone building the mainline of an interoperable communication service should absolutely be helping others making software trying to interoperate with it. Complaints can be made about Rochko rejecting PRs, but complaining that other people’s time is going towards a thing they don’t want is insane.

“So they reached out to us and we had conversations about what they want to do, how they can do it, and we had more detailed conversations about how to do X, how to do Y protocol-wise. We helped them resolve some issues when they launched their first test of the federation because we want to see them succeed with this plan, so we help them debug and troubleshoot some of the stuff that they’re doing. Basically, we’re talking with each other about whatever issues come up.”

But from the perspective of hundreds of instances have signed the anti-Meta FediPact, and hundreds more are blocking Threads without signing the pact, any resources devoted to to improving the Threads/Mastodon integration are wasted.

Zaktor ,

I’m 100% willing to claim that. The expected end result of this is fewer civilians taking the Chinese vaccine (with likely spillover for other vaccine efforts) and thus more disease deaths. That’s a pretty solid justification for war crimes.

Just like “shooting a gun” isn’t a war crime. It’s not the act that’s a crime, it’s the expected results and the victims.

Zaktor ,

You’re sanitizing this as a “disinformation campaign”, stripping away that the target was civilians and the likely result deaths. If the president ordered a general (this isn’t some nobody private with no agency) to implement a plan of bombings against civilian targets, that isn’t just “a bombing campaign” and following orders is not correct.

'LLM-free' is the new '100% organic' - Creators Are Fighting AI Anxiety With an ‘LLM-Free’ Movement (www.theatlantic.com)

As soon as Apple announced its plans to inject generative AI into the iPhone, it was as good as official: The technology is now all but unavoidable. Large language models will soon lurk on most of the world’s smartphones, generating images and text in messaging and email apps. AI has already colonized web search, appearing in...

Zaktor ,

It isn’t. People design a scene and then change and refine the prompt to add elements. Some part of it could be refreshing the same prompt, but that’s just like a photographer taking multiple photos of a scene they’ve directed to catch the right flutter of hair or a dress or a creative director saying “give me three versions of X”.

Ready to get back to my original questions?

Zaktor ,

No, not even remotely. And that’s kind of like citing “the first program to run on a CPU” as the start of development for any new algorithm.

Zaktor , (edited )

None of these appeals to relative complexity, low level structure, or training corpuses relates to whether a human or NN “know” the meaning of a word in some special way. A lot of your description of what “know” means could be confused to be a description of how Word2Vec encodes words. This just indicates ignorance of how ML language processing works. It’s not remotely on the same level as a human brain, but your view on how things work and what its failings are is just wrong.

Zaktor ,

What? Alexnet wasn’t a breakthrough in that it used GPUs, it was a breakthrough for its depth and performance on image recognition benchmarks.

We knew GPUs could speed up neural networks in 2004. And I’m not sure that was even the first.

Zaktor ,

All of my artist friends also found it soul sucking, they just needed to make (real) money. Friends of friends with the occasional $20 to spare for a commission just don’t pay the bills. I think the only artist friends I have that make a living off their chosen medium and don’t hate their job are lifestyle photojournalists.

Zaktor ,

Why stop there? The digital computer was introduced in 1942 and methods for solving linear equations were developed in the 1600s.

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