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Comment the solution to "the mental health crisis" (Score 4, Insightful) 179

...is not found in avoiding the problem.

You are here to educate these kids. This is your role.
Granted, these issues should have been addressed long before COLLEGE but the idea of entering supposed 'adulthood' without the mental armor to deal with things like "being rated for your performance" is...asinine.

STOP WRAPPING PEOPLE IN BUBBLE WRAP. You are not doing them favors, you are just kicking their mental health issues down the road (while exacerbating them, most likely) for someone else to deal with.

Comment Re:Zoom Should Not Be Trusted (Score 1) 12

It's silly that a browser sandbox is better than any native sandbox available.

It is. The fact that our dominant desktop operating systems are still using security models from last century is probably the #2 disaster of modern tech security, coming in just behind so much software with potential security implications still being written in languages like C and C++ at #1. And the understandable yet still deeply regrettable reason for both disasters is the same: momentum.

Comment Re:Zoom Should Not Be Trusted (Score 1) 12

I normally connect to all online conference calls via their web UIs. At least then it takes both a screw-up in the communications system and a screw-up in a browser security sandbox that is independently developed to allow something like an RCE or data leakage vulnerability to be exploited.

People have called me crazy for not wanting to install native apps from the likes of Microsoft, Google and Zoom in the modern era of remote working, but every now and then, there's another story like this one that reminds me why I am extremely careful about what native software I install on anything these days.

Comment Re:Just... wow (Score 1) 119

Interesting take.

If I understand your core point is that this group of (largely young men) is worthless, and suitable in your view for what, street sweeping? Picking cotton? What employment would you deem low enough for people who (shudder!) enjoy computer games?

I'm genuinely curious why you despise them so. Would it be better that these jobs remain unfilled by anyone? I expect that would lead to more deaths, is it worth that so these human dregs can be adequately punished for living at home or working low-wage jobs if that's all that was available?

Video game players would seem at least superficially to be a great alignment for the long hours, ocd-like-focus on a video monitor, attention to detail, and ability to evaluate/react to complex situations skills needed.

Comment What makes them ROBOTS? (Score 0) 44

Are they machines? Are they capable of deliberate movement? Do they have any decision-making of their own?

From TFA:

The externally generated [emphasis mine] magnetic fields made the robots spin and tumble through the liquid and squeeze through tiny water-filled gaps in the soil.

So, why are they referred to as robots? If I mulch my bushes — is each chip a "robot" fighting the weeds around the plant? When a brick wall is sanded, is each grain of sand a "robot"?

Comment Nano banana (Score 2) 77

...is by far the best engine I've found for generating images, editing images, etc for use as informative or scene-setting images during GM'ing ttrpg sessions. So much better than any other free options. Better at understanding my descriptions anyway, and better at amendments "ok move that person to the left edge of the screen but have them facing the camera, but wearing the same uniform as the other character in the scene" sort of direction.

I understand Grok's image 2.0 is available free for a bit, so I guess we'll see. But 'available for free' means 'will be for pay eventually' so I'll probably keep using banana.

Comment Re:At what cost? (Score 1) 52

If only that was cheaper than hiring a human to do it..

I purchased a used Radeon Instinct MI50 with 32Gb VRAM on eBay for $360 — in December. it is quite usable with llama.cpp under FreeBSD inside an older (DDR3) workstation. I use it to filter incoming email (with a plugin to SpamAssassin).

That same model is now being sold for over $500. On the one hand, this is the first time in my life a witnessing a piece of computer hardware costing more seven month later.

But on the other limb, it is still cheaper than simply providing a Western developer with coffee for a few months — much less than actually hiring him...

Comment Raises questions? (Score 5, Insightful) 70

The incident raises questions [emphasis mine] about supply chains, audits, and cybersecurity in the British armed forces

Raises questions? No, boys and girls — who slept through the journalist lecturer's implorations against cliches — it does not raise questions. It provides clear and obvious answers...

Comment Re:Ouch (Score 1) 72

You always shoot first and ask questions later?

No, I read the details explicitly quoted at the start of the discussion and responded to them.

Are you saying that this episode has not in fact resulted in (a) unplanned software being installed on end devices that will (b) automatically read data that is stored on those devices without the proper approvals? Either of those things alone can easily become a compliance problem if you operate in a regulated environment, whether or not things ultimately go any further on this occasion.

Comment Ouch (Score 4, Insightful) 72

It was obnoxious enough when Microsoft started pushing this kind of unwanted "feature" on home users, then small businesses and professionals on Pro editions. There are real legal and regulatory concerns over this kind of change that businesses have to take seriously. If they've screwed up so badly that even their large corporate customers have been hit by the same thing and there isn't even a good way to undo the damage at the moment, this could lead to meaningful lawsuits from their customers and/or interventions by regulators.

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