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Comment Re:Modern Climate Denial (Score 4, Informative) 138

Do coral reefs really matter though? Sure, it's a milestone, but not an existential one.

Yes, they absolutely do matter, and yes it is potentially an existential one. Coral reefs are the most biodiverse part of the seas and are the source of many of the ocean nutrients that get carried around the globe on currents like the AMOC, so they play an essential part in the overall ocean food chain that many people rely on to survive. Removing the coral reefs from those people's food chains would be akin to the impact of removing Alfalfa from the US food chain that ultimately leads to all that beef and dairy produce.

Also, if their primary food source is unable to support them, they're not likely to stay put and starve for the greater good, are they? Where do you think they are going to start marching towards?

Comment Re:Incorrect (Score 3, Insightful) 138

The AMOC relies on a cycling of warmer water in the tropics and cooler water in the Arctic Circle to generate the circulatory current. The warm water flows north, cools and sinks below the thermocline, then flows back to the tropics. It is not a loop on the surface like tidal flows, but rather a loop in an elongated cross sectional view that stretches right around the Indian and Southern Oceans as well as the Atlantic and is, in effect, a gigantic natural heat pump moving energy from the tropics to the North Atlantic ocean. The basic idea behind the potential shutdown of the flow is that as the temperature differential declines, so does the energy in the system, resulting a slowdown of the current and, ultimately (if taken to a logical conclusion), it stopping altogether - just as a heat pump would once the temperatures on either side have the pump have equalised.

In terms of impact, there's a bit more to it than that to do with variations in salinity between different parts of the ocean, which in turn being compounded with the inflow of fresh water from the melting Arctic ice cap and (mostly) Greenland's glaciers, that it also bring nutrients essential for the supporting the marine life in the Atlantic, plays a key part in sequestering the vast amounts of CO2 the ocean captures into the deep ocean (which is a whole other feedback loop). Even if it doesn't stop altogether, but only slows significantly, the impact on the entire biosphere, and especially around the North Atlantic, is going to be profound.

Comment Weird subjective niche (Score 3, Insightful) 83

I've been online for a while and have not noticed Philadelphia being singled out in any way. Everything in the article's "notorious cultural touchstones" is unknown to me. Not that I'm celebrating my ignorance, but I just haven't seen anyone discussing those particular topics.

on the internet, Philly culture is inescapable

From my point of view, on the internet Philly culture is just one of thousands, not particularly emphasized.

I suspect the author has some connection to that city which has caused him to read about it more than average.

Comment Your favorite character (Score 1) 56

angry they can't make 10-second clips featuring their favorite characters anymore

Sorry, whose favorite characters? Did you mean yours or did you mean Disney's?

Not that I have a problem with you actually making a video of Disney's characters. I haven't seen any evidence that these AIs have any idea how copyright law and Fair Use work, so obviously it doesn't make any sense to restrict what they're allowed to do. The user is perfectly qualified .. well, ok .. the most qualified of the two, to make such decisions.

If Disney wants tools to try to figure out Fair Use vs not-Fair Use, then they should throw money at AI lawyers, which currently have an absolutely terrible reputations, since they're so incredibly unreliable and borderline-fraudulent.

And if Disney doesn't think they can make a near-perfect AI lawyer (at least one good enough to not enrage judges with fake citations) then they have no reasonable expectation that anyone else can/should do it, either, so keep your human lawyers away from our computers.

Comment Re:Correction (Score 1) 13

It would actually be quite wrong to just say "funded by taxpayer!!". It's funded by a central EU funding pot, yes, but that pot is fed from more than the individual taxpayers titheing money to their governments, which then use it to pay their EU dues. Both the EU's central pot, and the individual state's exchequer, will are supplied by more than the taxpayer and will include investment returns (that money isn't just sitting in a vault around doing nothing until it's needed), fines including the multi-billion $ ones levied against Apple/Google/Meta/Microsoft, etc., the sale of criminal assets seized through disgorgement like Bitcoin and tangible goods such as cars and properties, foreign visa fees, and customs fees, just for starters.

There's almost certainly a full breakdown of the sources on Europa.eu if you wanted to go and look for it; pretty much all of the EU's operational processes and finances are in the public domain.

Comment Market demand makes them do it (Score 4, Funny) 61

What's the reason OneDrive tells users this setting can only be turned off 3 times a year?

Because that's what their customers are demanding! Don't you hate when you're doing something, and you realize you've done it more than 3 times? Just yesterday I adjusted the mirror on my wife's SUV and thought "we keep undoing each other's mirror adjustments. Can't it just stop moving so that one of us permanently loses and one permanently wins? Why is this car letting us change it back'n'forth?"

Microsoft fights for the users!

Comment Re:What am I missing? (Score 1, Interesting) 112

It's coming to light due to the private equity buyout lead by esteemed real estate criminal Jared Kushner. This is likely anti-woke washing to entice a class of customers who have already moved along due to EA sucking for lots of other reasons which won't be addressed.

Why solve real problems intentionally created due to mismanagement when you can just play the culture war card and get a bunch of knee-jerk reactions?

Comment Entrenched giants ... (Score 2) 13

They do have a point about new players having trouble competing against abusive 'entrenched giants' but in the particular case of OpenAI I've got to say this is the pot calling the kettle black because OpenAI wants to become an abusive entrenched giant and if the way they have run roughshod over IP and copyrights to get where they are today isn't enough to convince the public of this then the public needs to be beaten over the head with a clue stick.

Submission + - French troops boarded Russian tanker (dailymail.co.uk)

schwit1 writes: French troops have boarded the deck of a tanker alleged to be from Russia's 'shadow fleet' and suspected of involvement in drone flights over Denmark last month.

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