coffeetest

coffeetest , 20 hours ago

Firefox or Vivaldi. I prefer Vivaldi with its built-in blocking. I also use NextDNS for DNS level blocking. Free plan is good enough for my use.

coffeetest , 6 days ago

So I tried it. And where did that image come from?
https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/77e44a7e-0487-4bd6-8af0-afef93c3ac5a.webp

coffeetest , 5 days ago

I didn't make my point clear. My question wasn't really where the image was sourced, it was more about the value of what Google is doing matching an essentially random image next to the text it scraped from a website. Why did it choose that image? Adding a random image like that seems like what a low-grade SEO would do to tick the needed boxes not a high-quality product from a multi-billion dollar company. The image in no way enhances the meaning of what I asked. In fact, it does the opposite. It is a bit of Google becoming what it mocked.

coffeetest , 18 days ago

Nazi scientist probably made some advances, but that doesn't make it a good way to go.

coffeetest , 1 month ago

SEO is of itself is not all bad. Content creators need to do certain things, which do little directly for the consumer, but help the algo understand what the content is and how the owner would prefer it be seen. For example, something simple like the title attribute of a web page tells the search engine how it should label the content in the search results. That's SEO and generaly a good thing for everyone.

As you say, the "please like, subscribe, comment and say a prayer to the algo" annoyance is just what we have to accept for free content on these platforms. It's the cost of anyone being able to upload video to YT.

Where it goes wrong imho, is filling the world with essentially meaningless machine produced content to aid in the rankings. This isn't new with AI btw. People have been using article "spinning" or outsourced garbage content creation for years or decades to do the same and potentially even better than what AI does. In the old days building thousands of links from garbage content to your content in order to have the algo see the links as "votes" for the supposed quality of the content. Those of us who ran forums saw this all the time.

coffeetest , 2 months ago

Q: Do you believe in DEI?
A: I think we should judge people based on skills.

Except for himself, I guess. He seems clueless on a number of issues and unwilling to assess his own beliefs which is not a flattering quality in my book. I didn't think much of him before this interview and it only reinforced it. I am not sure I liked the interviewer much but he did bring up the right questions and follow-ups so I guess he did a good job.

coffeetest , 2 months ago

Well, I'm not sure what you make of crypto (or what I make of it) but there was a crypto project that was intended to be a decentralized wireless network. Participants were (are?) incentivized to maintain a wireless repeater of some sort. But the premise sounded semi-plausible to me at the time. I won't name the p[project since I don't know how people feel about crypto, but it's easy enough to search for if you are interested.

coffeetest , 3 months ago

It is completely crazy that businesses mainly do not have strong internship/apprenticeship programs in place. It is hard to predict who is going to be good at tech (or probably most jobs) until given a chance. Some of our most brilliant have been high school dropouts. Even those with credentials and experience will do better with time to learn the company systems and culture. "We need someone who can hit the ground running..." ug, grow up.

Collectivly, we need a major commitment to building the workforce not leeching off of disposable labor.

coffeetest , 3 months ago

An internship isn't a magic bullet that cures all ills but it does improve thing meaningfully in several ways.

To address your point, I agree with you in part but giving people a chance who otherwise would not, does build loyalty making it more likely they will stay longer (on average). You still have to be a good company to have a chance of retaining people, it isn't just a cynical ploy to fool people into working for you. There is a middle ground between your example of 20-40 years vs 2-4 that is very meaningful because it takes a lot more time than people give credit, to get good at a job. So that >2 years time frame is very valuable.

I do think a lot of companies, but crucially not all, effectively treat even highly skilled labor as a disposable asset to leech off of. I also think an employment system that expects career advancement to require changing employers, is crazy shortsighted. Just as is degrading the public education system and putting young people into massive debt with college. The system has problems all over the place but an internship is a very practical way for a company to do better.

coffeetest , 3 months ago

The GOP mistake was to kill Roe. The dog caught the bus. That was their issue and they blew it up. That's not working now so they are doubling down towards theocracy. They are going to rack up a lot of horrific news by denying basic freedoms and health care. For issues, they've pivoted to the border, an issue they are artificially maintaining now. It's a re-run and I am not sure how far it will carry them given how stupid they all look.

But the shoe is on the other foot now, isn't it? I am not as cynical to think Dems will do nothing about abortion but if they do something, it will be after the election. Maybe you are right but I hope not. On the other hand, we've seen some major state-level wins on abortion post-Roe that cut across party lines and can't be ignored forever.

Maga is on a self-destruct path it is just a matter of how much damage they do before they run out of time. It could be quite a bit. Dems can be compelled to do some good.

coffeetest , 3 months ago

Oh yeah guns, forgot about that and you are right. But abortion was the big one and they blew it up. Immigration for most is too abstract so I don't think it is that strong. It isn't nothing but it's mainly down to propaganda. Guns as an issue are a bit more real but very polarized. Women's health and family planning ultimately affect everyone and have proven to be not nearly as party line as believed.