smallpatatas @ smallpatatas @lemm.ee

see also: @patatas@social.patatas.ca

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Joined

2 yr. ago

Huh, why is it that so many of these Liberal folks leave to go to AI companies? https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/palantir-macnaughton-ethics-1.5726443

By the way, if anyone has suggestions for how to get this in front of public sector union rank & file and/or leadership I'm all ears; IMO this stuff represents a near-existential threat to unions over the mid to long term.

SmartVoting isn't simply data, however. They have a "proprietary algorithm" that they refuse to share.

Not only that, but if the true goal of the site is strategic voting to keep Conservatives out of office, then you'd think that in a tied race between an NDP and Liberal candidate, with the Cons a distant third, there wouldn't be a strategic vote recommendation at all.

And yet, in a riding in that exact situation, with a NDP incumbent tied with a Liberal candidate yet to be named, it was recommending people vote for the Liberal up until a day or two ago (Hamilton Centre, Matthew Green's riding).

Then you start digging a little deeper and realize that the SmartVoting site is mostly (but not entirely - they have their secret algorithm!) based on the projections from 338. Which are reasonably accurate overall. However, in the recent Ontario election they under-projected the NDP's seat count significantly, projecting 16 seats, whereas they actually ended up winning 27.

I'm not a statistician, but that seems like a remarkable jump. If I had to guess, it's that 338's model is not capturing something about the NDP or their voter base, whether that's the party's ground game, incumbency, or some other hard-to-quantify aspect.

So I mean, if it were just data then sure, don't shoot the messenger! But the problem is more that the modeling and recommendations seem like they have real flaws, probably unintentional, but flaws nonetheless. And projections and recommendations can and will influence voter behaviour.

Hey just FYI when you type in alternating lowercase & capitals it makes it impossible for blind or sight-impaired people using screenreaders to understand you

This is an interesting comment, because on the one hand, you're saying that Carney's plan is not likely to be very effective, but on the other hand you're saying he sounds smart and that's reassuring.

To me that sounds like the definition of an emotional response ... no?

Without knowing how serious your relationship is, it's hard to say.

I would advise not doing this if the main reason is to save money, especially with one person being the sole owner. The power dynamic is too unbalanced.

But if you're both pretty sure this is a long-term, perhaps lifelong, relationship, then no one here can give you the correct answer. Set aside some time, sit down with your partner, discuss things from both a practical and emotional perspective, do this again in another week or two, and find an arrangement you both feel good about.

“Independent media should be allowed on the precinct, there’s no reason why it should be a small cabal of government approved mouthpieces,” Poilievre said.

Hmm ok yeah that's a fair point I guess

“I would love to see a scenario where every different kind of journalist from all backgrounds, of all opinions, is given a chance to report on what happens on the hill.”

Interesting, sure, go on

Poilievre’s spokesperson, Sebastian Skamski, did not respond to multiple requests from PressProgress seeking clarification ...

Ahhhhhh there it is

Oh wow - did not know that!

Bit of a weird choice, given that routers usually allow limiting connections to specific MAC addresses as a security feature. Everything's a trade-off, I guess...

Dunno, I found it pretty easy to set up different rules for different devices.

Yeah out of many changes that distorted or outright altered meaning, one of the worst bits was that the second version eliminated the crucial first few words - which acknowledged the original post and therefore set a particular tone.

Communication is way more complex than statistical relationships between words, and I sincerely doubt that any of these systems will ever be able to fully mimic that complexity

"Zuckerberg’s interaction with the page was first noticed by Gazpacho Machine, a man who posts reviews of food he eats while taking showers."

the internet was a mistake

After having recently restored some stuff from an aging external hdd, i'm seriously considering getting a few dvdr discs and burning the important things every now and then.

I know they don't last forever either, but - just as a random example that has definitely never happened to me hahaha - you can drop them from a height of 3 feet and still get files off them!

I mostly agree - however there are physical/mechanical reasons behind the use of some of those. For example, Phillips head screws will 'cam out' (driver will slip out of the screw head) rather than get over-torqued, which is useful in various situations - although TIL this was not actually an intentional design feature!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_out

Hex keys are better than a Robertson (square head) in tight spaces with something like an Allan key, and, in my experience anyway, Robertson can take a fair bit of torque, so they're great for sinking into softwood - and also for getting out again, even when they've been painted over.

Flathead screws, on the other hand, should launched into the sun

Unfortunately, Meta is listed as one of their partners

Would be very interested to know if Meta (listed as a "partner" organization) is providing financial support, like how fellow partner the Ford Foundation lists a $50k grant[1] in February 2024 to the Exchange Point Institute, which is the "fiscal sponsor" of the Social Web Foundation[2]

[1] https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/exchange-point-institute-149412/

[2] https://socialwebfoundation.org/donate/

Not to mention that their napkin math is wrong by a factor of 12

You may want to double-check that math ;)

Did no one in the replies happen to notice that this is a loan

Corporations and surveillance?

Yep absolutely, and even those numbers likely represent raw emissions figures vastly lower than the true impact these data centres are having on global emissions.

For example, that Google report talks about EACs - here's a great podcast episode that explains why these kinds of accounting methods are a complete disaster:

Reveal: It's Not Easy Going Green

https://revealnews.org/podcast/its-not-easy-going-green-update-2023/