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Comment Re:Like in a 3rd world "shithole"... (Score 1) 254

Meanings can change ... Wikipedia: "Since most Third World countries were economically poor and non-industrialized, it became a stereotype to refer to developing countries as 'third-world countries'. In political discourse, the term Third World was often associated with being underdeveloped."

So there's the original Cold War definition, and there's what most people think the term means. Another conflict between linguistic descriptionism and prescriptionism.

Comment Re:How is this remotely controversial? (Score 1) 254

Obey the law and don't put our national security at risk. How the fuck is that controversial in any way? Oh wait, woke...

1. Daniel Ellsberg broke the law by releasing the Pentagon Papers and was prosecuted for it. That case was eventually dismissed. Was what Ellsberg did morally wrong? (He also photocopied several thousand pages of plans for nuclear war, as described in detail in his book The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, but these weren't publicly released, because he was kind of busy with the Pentagon Papers thing.)

2. Who decides what constitutes a national security risk? Is it possible they could be wrong or have ulterior, self-serving motives? Does the public's right to know ever override the government's interest in keeping secrets? (Or the self-interest of individuals in the government?)

3. Is obeying the law always obligatory? Including, say, the Fugitive Slave Act?

That's why this sort of thing is controversial.

Comment Re:Pentagon Papers (Score 1) 254

They don't have to do this but most "journalists" are hacks that engage in Access Journalism (which is a type of bribery).

Yes, I've heard actual professional journalists say the same thing, about others or even about themselves. They're concerned that if they're too negative, they'll lose "access" to the Important People. Being present at press conferences could be valuable, if they'd actually ask difficult questions. (Or if someone would occasionally throw a shoe at the speaker.) If they're only there to report what was said, then you're right, there's little value in it.

On a related note, it can be enlightening to pay attention to the sources of news items, phrases like "according to sources", or "The Department of Whatever announced". It turns out that a lot of the news comes from press conferences or press releases, which gives the news-makers a lot of power, in particular the ability to decide when to release selected news items. This is a common way either to distract from bad news or to prioritize good news.

It's well-known that unpopular government announcements are commonly made in the news lull after 5 p.m. on Fridays.

Comment Re:I never stopped using perl (Score 1) 85

Maybe so, but the problem is the network effect: "the phenomenon by which the value or utility a user derives from a good or service depends on the number of users of compatible products." Like it or not, Python has become ubiquitous, particularly in AI (which, I hasten to point out, is more than LLMs and GPTs). If all the other tailors are using sewing machines, and someone insists on sewing by hand, they may produce better products, but they're relegated to a niche market.

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