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CommentYeah - bigger problems seems right (Score 1)24

I'm old enough to have been taught to write reports using COBOL. You really don't want to do that...

In the same way that the historic role of the computer programmer - turning highly specified instructions into computer code - has gone to be replaced by analyst programmers who work out what's needed and then write the code - the role of writing the code has been somewhat replaced by AI, though the test is also whether the code is bug resistant and secure, of course. At the moment AI code doesn't seem to be very good at that, so there's plenty of ways to measure the deficiencies in in the approach of the candidate from that.

CommentMake the change yourself (Score 1)161

Everyone can edit almost all articles*, so just go ahead and make changes. Offer sources for specific information you are including. Add an explanation on the 'talk' page of the article. I've tweaked the contents of many articles to make them more accurate. Just don't expect someone else to do it!

* A few very contentious ones need long term involvement with Wikipedia

CommentIn other news (Score 0)9

The Vatican confirmed that the Pope hadn't applied for membership of the Lutheran church, and ursine faecal material is still to be found in forests.

Perhaps what is interesting is that this doesn't come as a surprise - and would probably like to hope that the NSA is as good at this targeting foreigners, though not, of course US citizens, that would be naughty. I guess that society has always been this immoral; we've just not realised it until recently.

CommentTrue but understand why (Score 1)16

It is in the interests of home owners / landlords to discourage new housing not just because of the capital gain it generates for them, but also because those houses have to be built somewhere. Too often that will be to develop land that is a currently attractive, and will replace it with chunks of concrete. People like having green spaces around them, so will resist such development - and earn the title 'Nimby' for doing so. Note that to the Nimby this is an example of enshitification, and that is an understandable point of view; would you be happy if your view were to include a 50 storey skyscraper where there is now a block single families houses? This is a problem, and merely bemoaning it without understanding is unwise.

Submission+-Protect children, ban 'porn' from election posters (latimes.com)

Bruce66423 writes: In a new turn on the 'will nobody think of the children' motif: '‘Porn’ on election signs near Huntington Beach schools by councilman ‘inappropriate,’ officials say'

'When Megan Fowler dropped her 9-year-old daughter off at Harbour View Elementary School in Huntington Beach on Monday morning she couldn’t miss seeing some political signs near the school entrance that she was not expecting.

'“Protect Our Kids From Porn, No on A & B,” the large signs read. They were visible from the playground of the Ocean View School District school.

'Fowler was worried about her daughter, who is in the third grade, having questions about the word “porn.” She said she felt the signs used her child as leverage in an adult debate.'

Great excuse to ban free speech or legitimate?

CommentGreat response, thank you. (Score 1)146

I don't think racism is inevitable in anti-immigrant movements; the UK's Reform party has serious representation of ethnic minorities in its leadership, and Trump attracted significant ethnic minority votes. OTOH the AfD has gone down that route.

The core problem is, as you say, that centrist parties can't have a sane conversation about migration without being labelled 'racist'. The result is that the 'ordinary Joe' - who can see the damage it's doing to him - ends up voting for those who are talking about it. Overall this is revealing some new problems with democracy that we've not got a solution for, though the core problem: 'what to do when the majority demands the unacceptable' is a long term one. The present behaviour of Trump is about to test the US's dependence on the courts for this...

CommentUnwise work life balance? (Score 1)146

CEOs in both China and India have an expectation of 966 working at least - 9am till 6pm six days a week. As a result the work required to get a serious startup off the ground in the USA is less unattractive to them than to Americans - though given the ability of American C level offices to end up divorced, perhaps they suffer the same problem.

CommentThe BWS in Germany (Score 1)146

Who got a smidgen under the 5% necessary to get MPs in the Bundestag was founded by a member of 'The Left', the inheritors of East Germany's Communist Party. They left to add a strong anti-immigration plank to their platform which otherwise remained very left wing.

This shouldn't be a surprise; both the AfD in Germany and the Marie LePen's mob in France have very left wing economic policies, just holding onto views with the establishment label as racist. The BWS caused the Guardian a real problem, being forced to describe it as something other than 'extreme right wing'...

This, of course, shows that the Democrats in the US could recover nicely if they could show they were seriously opposed to immigration; sadly the perception of their record is otherwise;)

CommentNo... (Score 1)85

'Music completely created by an AI is not really music at all, music is 100% human created thing.'

But can you, or most of us, tell the difference? The value of a product is what the consumer is willing to pay for it. If the consumer is willing to consume AI generated music, then it's our right to do so, rather than succumb to the demands of the Musicians Guild to pay their members for it.

What, of course, we need is a genuine double blind test with AI and new non-AI music being played to punters and see if they can tell the difference. Seems like a great Master's Thesis for someone!

Submission+-US paedophile jailed in Wales (telegraph.co.uk)

Bruce66423 writes: The good news is that the evil man got caught. The worrying question is: 'How'. it appears the UK police got involved after a 'tip off from the US'. The question is; 'How did they know this evil was going on?' Would the evidence against him have survived in a US court? And should we welcome a case of where a 'will nobody think of the children' driven action has produced an apparently positive result.

Submission+-Three million child deaths linked to drug resistance, study shows (bbc.co.uk) 1

Bruce66423 writes: 'More than three million children around the world are thought to have died in 2022 as a result of infections that are resistant to antibiotics, according to a study by two leading experts in child health.

'Children in Africa and South East Asia were found to be most at risk.

'Antimicrobial resistance — known as AMR — develops when the microbes that cause infections evolve in such a way that antibiotic drugs no longer work.

'It has been identified as one of the biggest public health threats facing the world's population.'

We've been hearing about the threat of this for decades. The news that it's now actually killing a lot of people is scary.

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