Comment YES! (Score 5, Insightful) 47
I'm glad to see that Slashdot isn't above printing the occasional feel-good story.
Comment Re:TFA has no supporting data (Score 3, Informative) 120
You're not wrong!
Rolling blackouts used to be far more common and the government would issue a Flex Alert to indicate that rolling blackouts would be used. California has CAISO which manage electric related stuff and they have a PDF of grid emergencies since 1998 which include flex alerts. Spoiler, there hasn't been any since 2022 which is shown in this bar graph of flex alerts by year.
So now that we have established that rolling blackout haven't happened since at least 2022, the question is why.
Here is a bit more info but the TL;DR version is that in 2022 CA passed law to create the Strategic Reliability Reserve which has multiple programs aimed at preventing power outages, including that distributed energy grid system that was featured on here a while back.
However, is it really batteries that preventing outages? Well, it's already been shown that battery systems react much faster than normal energy production methods which prevents your power from "blinking" when a source goes offline. Also, here's a graph from 2024 that shows when battery power is being used and how much (noticed it's very negative when charging from solar). The point here being that the energy stores are substantial and can be discharged ad hoc. It's not definitive evidence but I'm sure if you dig into some of the stats on https://www.caiso.com/ that you could find you seek.
Comment Re: Bullshit. (Score 1) 115
Sounds like you're running up against the context window
correct.
Try converting your code to a minified abstract syntax tree first and pass that to your LLM
Can't do it. I'm refactoring on a large code base. I eventually had to tell it to work on just one task and ignore other concerns it had to prevent it from investigating until it got stuck in a cycle of investigation.
Comment Re: Bullshit. (Score 3, Informative) 115
if your super AI escapes long enough to establish itself--then it's game over for humanity.
LOL! Forget super intelligent, right now, I would settle for somewhat intelligent. I've been trying to get an AI bot to adapt some code but it keeps doing so much researching and checking that it keeps compacting and losing information. I narrowed it's task as much as possible and it still keeps deliberating and forgetting! If super intelligent AI is anything like AI then all we need to feed it a mobius strip of a conversation to paralyze it. *sigh*
Comment Bullshit. (Score 3, Interesting) 115
it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems,
What is he talking about? They have no ability to understand OR control these systems.
Here's a better idea, how about the go government does it job and start prosecuting corporations that hack into other companies? Think a slow down is a good idea? I guarantee that a $100B dollar fine will cool your heels really fast.
Comment Poor headline (Score 1) 1
The headline makes it sound like they are complaining about Apple encryption when in fact they support encryption.
Comment AI ports of Electron apps? (Score 1) 3
I was a little confused at first because when I searched for xepub, I found an Electron application that stalled out 6 years ago that happens to have the identical name and purpose. Considering the repo was suddenly spawned with a fully functional application, it seems there is a fair chance these are AI ports of existing Electron applications to Python that use their new library. I haven't looked close enough to determine if it's true but it seems worth investigating.
Also, if true, I can't figure out why they would bother to make a port and NOT make it a native application.
Submission + - Lawsuit challenges intimidation of DHS observers across the country (npr.org)
joshuark writes: NPR reports that a new lawsuit follows a handful of other cases brought by observers arguing First Amendment violations, but it is the most sweeping to date, as it includes incidents from multiple states and seeks national relief. It is asking a judge in Washington, D.C. to bar federal agencies from intimidating or retaliating against observers.
"The right of citizens to criticize and hold our government accountable is the backbone of American democracy – and it is under attack," Common Cause's vice president for litigation, Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, told NPR. "We want to make sure we're promoting participation in the political process. And obviously, if government officials are criminalizing peaceful observation, that hinders our mission," Jazini Dorcheh said.
The lawsuit describes disturbing encounters seven Common Cause members had with federal officers in Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey after trying to observe immigration enforcement. They include being photographed, followed, reported to police, pepper-sprayed or threatened with a visit to their home by federal officers. Federal officers did show up at one Common Cause member's Minnesota home.
NPR did not receive an immediate response from DHS or DOJ about the lawsuit's allegations. The FBI declined to comment.
"The right of citizens to criticize and hold our government accountable is the backbone of American democracy – and it is under attack," Common Cause's vice president for litigation, Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, told NPR. "We want to make sure we're promoting participation in the political process. And obviously, if government officials are criminalizing peaceful observation, that hinders our mission," Jazini Dorcheh said.
The lawsuit describes disturbing encounters seven Common Cause members had with federal officers in Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey after trying to observe immigration enforcement. They include being photographed, followed, reported to police, pepper-sprayed or threatened with a visit to their home by federal officers. Federal officers did show up at one Common Cause member's Minnesota home.
NPR did not receive an immediate response from DHS or DOJ about the lawsuit's allegations. The FBI declined to comment.
Comment Re:Kimmel Doesn't Want to give Republicans a Platf (Score 1) 274
Kimmel would love giving equal air time to a Green Party candidate. He'd make it entertaining and enlightening. Great television. He'd take his show down to Texas to accommodate Paxton for an interview, but it might be hard to pry Paxton out from whatever rock he's hiding under.
As far as allowing Democratic Socialists airtime, the FCC doesn't consider them to be any different than any other Democrats so it's a no go.
Trump has already called Democrats "godless communists", so that is the official party line. FCC clearly thinks that commies have no free speech rights at all, so no Talarico over the airwaves for you.
Comment And this isn't happening here in the USA? (Score 1) 50
Grow up.
Comment Re:Feels like the U.S. is turning into a dictators (Score 2) 274
Where's my $2000 from DOGE savings? Does no one remember the last time? How fucking brain dead do you have to be to not remember?
Also his offer is completely illegal and no one seems to be talking about that little detail.
Trump and the Republicans think that voters are whores and will sell their rights for an empty promise. I'm afraid they might be right.
Comment Good start. (Score 3, Funny) 26
Next they need to start replacing executives in publicly traded corporations. They would be equally evil but at least we could turn them off.
Comment Not by AI, by Anthropic. (Score 4, Insightful) 124
Don't go blaming this on a computer, this is a company that committed these crimes. The fact that they were unaware of it does not change the fact that their company committed multiple felonies. If someone had a computer that did the same thing, they would be in jail. These companies should be prosecuted but won't be because this nation has become a cesspool of corruption.
Comment Re:TOTAL FREE SPEECH (Score 1) 38
...there is no obligation to carry unpaid commercial messages.
A) Not all spam is commercial in nature.
B) If you are removing it from the platform then that is censorship according to your definitions.
In the same way, you probably have to filter out...
Filtering? By the end user is a personal choice but removing it from the platform is bias/censorship.
I'll just refer to you as hypocrite and a liar.
Submission + - Journalist Calls Out 'Collective Amnesia' of Schools' Romance with Big Tech 2
theodp writes: The74 reports that in her new book, Coding Kids: Big Tech's Battle to Remake Public Schools ("the inside story of how Big Tech catalyzed, co-opted, and ultimately came to capture computer science and AI education in America"), Natasha Singer, a veteran business reporter for The New York Times, traces Big Tech's bid to persuade schools to embrace their products, with industry-sponsored curricula and tools growing at astonishing speed.
In his book review of Coding Kids , Aran Shetterly begins with a Spoiler Alert: "Turns out, Silicon Valley isn’t especially altruistic." He writes, "At the center of her book is the story of the nonprofit Code.org and its charismatic, Harvard-educated leader, Hadi Partovi. Thirteen years ago, Partovi produced a five-minute video called “What Most Schools Don’t Teach.” This 'audacious act of Silicon Valley influencer marketing...aimed...at a low-resourced nonprofit sector: public schools serving millions of children,' delivered a worrying message: Kids who didn’t learn to write code would be left behind. And the long-term success of the United States economy depended on training these students to fill a million open tech jobs. [...] No word in Coding Kids chills more than 'democratize.' 'Democratizing' sounds a lot like 'democracy,' but the tech-elite byword has nothing to do with a form of government; from the lips of the tech barons, it means enforcing ubiquitous access to their products."
Fast-forward to 2026, and now we're dealing with AI, and tech is reading from a similar playbook. Asked by The74's Greg Toppo, "Does this moment seem different to you?", Singer replies, "This moment is different, but also similar. We are in a moment in society where a lot of people have increased distrust of these huge tech companies, and we see a wave of parents pushing back against tech in schools. [...] We have had these cycles of tech in schools where there are all these promises about the latest tech, laptops, learning apps, massive open online courses, virtual reality, big data's going to revolutionize schools and like democratize access to education for kids and get them these great career skills, and we keep having these cycles. My concern is that we don't learn anything. One of the reasons I wrote this book is because it feels like we have collective amnesia. Now we're in the sixth or eighth cycle of this — and shouldn't we be asking questions about the push for AI in schools, based on what we've learned about the push for all the other things that came before?"
In his book review of Coding Kids , Aran Shetterly begins with a Spoiler Alert: "Turns out, Silicon Valley isn’t especially altruistic." He writes, "At the center of her book is the story of the nonprofit Code.org and its charismatic, Harvard-educated leader, Hadi Partovi. Thirteen years ago, Partovi produced a five-minute video called “What Most Schools Don’t Teach.” This 'audacious act of Silicon Valley influencer marketing...aimed...at a low-resourced nonprofit sector: public schools serving millions of children,' delivered a worrying message: Kids who didn’t learn to write code would be left behind. And the long-term success of the United States economy depended on training these students to fill a million open tech jobs. [...] No word in Coding Kids chills more than 'democratize.' 'Democratizing' sounds a lot like 'democracy,' but the tech-elite byword has nothing to do with a form of government; from the lips of the tech barons, it means enforcing ubiquitous access to their products."
Fast-forward to 2026, and now we're dealing with AI, and tech is reading from a similar playbook. Asked by The74's Greg Toppo, "Does this moment seem different to you?", Singer replies, "This moment is different, but also similar. We are in a moment in society where a lot of people have increased distrust of these huge tech companies, and we see a wave of parents pushing back against tech in schools. [...] We have had these cycles of tech in schools where there are all these promises about the latest tech, laptops, learning apps, massive open online courses, virtual reality, big data's going to revolutionize schools and like democratize access to education for kids and get them these great career skills, and we keep having these cycles. My concern is that we don't learn anything. One of the reasons I wrote this book is because it feels like we have collective amnesia. Now we're in the sixth or eighth cycle of this — and shouldn't we be asking questions about the push for AI in schools, based on what we've learned about the push for all the other things that came before?"
