CommentRe:Embrace, extend, extinguish (Score 1)39
Not replying to your comment, but rather to your sig. Hello, fellow Haven fan!
CommentRe:Embrace, extend, extinguish (Score 1)39
Was this actually deliberate though or was it just the standard Microsoft development practice of fucking around with things that don't need fucking around with, causing them to break, and then ignoring the fact that there's a problem? Witness the decade-old reports of serious bugs on Microsoft Community, to the point where 99% of the time you're just wasting your time even posting them.
Fair point. I guess I simply assume it has evil intent, because Microsoft.
I suppose I was being unfair in not giving the benefit of the doubt. OTOH, has Microsoft ever earned that benefit?
CommentRe:Smart People (Score 1)49
Nobody mentioned surveillance, so it does not sound like they prefer being spied on by Microsoft.
DDG != Bing. First, DDG gets some of its search results elsewhere. Second, DDG's raison d'etre is privacy. Using it doesn't rat you out to Microsoft, even though using Bing directly does.
CommentRe:DuckDuckGo (Score 1)49
what finally got me to change my default away from google was the effort of typing "-video:"
Thanks! I didn't know that was a thing. I exclude domains quite frequently but didn't know I could do it with video as well. And axing AI is a bonus.
I don't use Google that much anymore, but when I do those video results and AI crap that come first can be really annoying.
CommentRe:DuckDuckGo (Score 1)49
... when I am using more than 3 words in the query, it tends to pick up on the more frequently used ones and ignore the ones I'm using to narrow the search.
I've taken to putting every search term between double quotes, and it works wonders when it comes to bypassing the "here's the most recent / most popular stuff that roughly meets your criteria" results.
It's a PITA and I get tired of it - that's when I use Google. But I try hard to make DDG work because I don't want to give Google any more traffic than I have to. And I find I can make DDG give me what I need most of the time.
Sometimes the "all-double-quotes" trick narrows the scope too much and I have to fuck around to get it right. Google-fu and DDG-fu can be quite different skills.
CommentRe:I bailed out on Google years ago (Score 1)49
I typically use Duck Duck Go, but sometimes the search results from it just don't get me the result I need and as soon as I do a Google search, there it is at the top of the search results.
Seconded. It's a fairly frequent occurrence for me. In one extreme instance within the last two weeks I was searching for some very recent news item - I forget now what it was. DDG had ZERO results, and Google had a bunch. That said, I've found a few occasions where DDG gave better results on the same search terms.
DDG also requires putting EVERY search term in double quotes in order to reliably provide usable results, whereas Google doesn't.
That said, I almost always use DDG first, because it seems to honour privacy more, because variety-equals-redundancy-equals-resilience, and because fuck Google.
CommentRe:Remember the so-called Twitter files? (Score 1)161
The funny thing is, if they embraced the cult label that a large part of America wants to hang on them they could keep doing what they're doing and claim it's their beliefs but since they insist they're a repository of facts, they have to actually put out the facts and can't act as a propaganda source.
Way to PROVE that your sig - "Violence is like duct tape. If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough" - is not at all ironic and is in fact the serious belief of a Fascist MAGAtard.
CommentRe:Transparency (Score 1)161
Probably *way* behind eyeshadow editors, but ahead of lipstick editors.
Didn't you mean "eyeliner editors"?
Submission+-Univ. of Waterloo Coding Competition Results Withheld Over Suspected AI Cheating
theodp writes: Finding that many students violated rules and submitted code not written by themselves, the University of Waterloo's Centre for Computing and Math decided not to release results from its annual Canadian Computing Competition (CCC), which many students rely on to bolster their chances of being accepted into Waterloo’s prestigious computing and engineering programs, or land a spot on teams to represent Canada in international competitions.
"It is clear that many students submitted code that they did not write themselves, relying instead on forbidden external help," the CCC co-chairs explained in a statement. "As such, the reliability of 'ranking' students would neither be equitable, fair, or accurate. [...] It is disappointing that the students who violated the CCC Rules will impact those students who are deserving of recognition. We are considering possible ways to address this problem for future contests."
"It is clear that many students submitted code that they did not write themselves, relying instead on forbidden external help," the CCC co-chairs explained in a statement. "As such, the reliability of 'ranking' students would neither be equitable, fair, or accurate. [...] It is disappointing that the students who violated the CCC Rules will impact those students who are deserving of recognition. We are considering possible ways to address this problem for future contests."
Submission+-Should Kids Who Don't Take a CS and AI Class Be Denied a HS Diploma?
theodp writes: Code.org, the tech-backed nonprofit behind the 2022 CEOs for CS PR campaign credited with arm-twisting the nation's Governors into signing a Compact to Expand K-12 CS Education for their states, will be "bringing together a powerful coalition of industry leaders, including visionaries like Satya Nadella, to champion computer science and AI education as essential to building the workforce of the future" as part of a new national campaign called Unlock8 that will launch in early May.
By joining the Unlock8 Coalition, a Code.org Advocacy Coalition Unlock8 pitch deck aimed at attracting Business, Education, and Nonprofit leaders explains, "your organization and executives can publicly align their names and influence with this transformative initiative, demonstrating a shared commitment to making computer science a high school graduation requirement in all 50 states." A mock-up of a planned May 4th New York Times print ad to kick off the campaign is signed by the likes of Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer, Reid Hoffman, Michael Dell, and Marc Benioff. It begins with a question and some big assertions drawn from a 2024 Univ. of Maryland study: "What if a single class could help close wage gaps, unlock $660 billion in economic potential every year for everyday Americans, and address the skills gap we currently face? This is possible, today — if we include computer science and AI as a core part of every student's education. Just one high school computer science class boosts wages 8% for all students, regardless of career path or whether they attend college."
Tech led and bankrolled coalitions to push CS education into K-12 classroom are nothing new — Microsoft and Google kicked off the Computing in the Core Advocacy Coalition in 2010 (later merged into Code.org) with the goal of graduating a 21st Century Workforce. The call to add now-critically-important-to-big-tech AI into the K-12 education mix — jump-started by President Trump's signing of the Advancing AI Education for American Youth executive order earlier this week — and the call to deny high school diplomas to kids who don't complete a CS course merely ups the ante.
By joining the Unlock8 Coalition, a Code.org Advocacy Coalition Unlock8 pitch deck aimed at attracting Business, Education, and Nonprofit leaders explains, "your organization and executives can publicly align their names and influence with this transformative initiative, demonstrating a shared commitment to making computer science a high school graduation requirement in all 50 states." A mock-up of a planned May 4th New York Times print ad to kick off the campaign is signed by the likes of Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer, Reid Hoffman, Michael Dell, and Marc Benioff. It begins with a question and some big assertions drawn from a 2024 Univ. of Maryland study: "What if a single class could help close wage gaps, unlock $660 billion in economic potential every year for everyday Americans, and address the skills gap we currently face? This is possible, today — if we include computer science and AI as a core part of every student's education. Just one high school computer science class boosts wages 8% for all students, regardless of career path or whether they attend college."
Tech led and bankrolled coalitions to push CS education into K-12 classroom are nothing new — Microsoft and Google kicked off the Computing in the Core Advocacy Coalition in 2010 (later merged into Code.org) with the goal of graduating a 21st Century Workforce. The call to add now-critically-important-to-big-tech AI into the K-12 education mix — jump-started by President Trump's signing of the Advancing AI Education for American Youth executive order earlier this week — and the call to deny high school diplomas to kids who don't complete a CS course merely ups the ante.
CommentEmbrace, extend, extinguish (Score 4, Informative)39
Sound familiar?
Best get used to it. There'll be much more of this crap - and much worse varieties of it - now that the US is a full-on Fascist state increasingly ruled by robber barons.
CommentSorry not sorry (Score 1)38
Sure, if you've had the thing for ten years then replacing it isn't entirely unreasonable. OTOH, purposely withdrawing functionality you've already paid for is a criminal act and should be treated as such.
Buying products like this is stupid, and people burned in this way mostly deserve what they get.
Submission+-Vendors Slowly Patch Critical MegaRAC Flaw (networkworld.com)
itwbennett writes: From the Network World article:
Weeks after BIOS developer AMI released an update fixing a critical vulnerability in its MegaRAC baseband management controller (BMC) firmware used in many enterprise servers and storage systems, OEM patches addressing the issue are slowly trickling out.
The latest vendor to release patches was Lenovo, which appears to have taken until April 17 to release its patch. And although Asus patches for four motherboard models appeared only this week, the exact time these were posted is unconfirmed; the dates on the updates range from March 12 to March 28.
Among the first to release a patch was Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which on March 20 released an update for its HPE Cray XD670, used for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. Other OEMs known to use AMI’s MegaRAC BMC include AMD, Ampere Computing, ASRock, ARM, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, Huawei, Nvidia, Supermicro, and Qualcomm.
Submission+-China shares rare Moon rocks (bbc.co.uk)
AmiMoJo writes: China will let scientists from six countries, including the US, examine the rocks it collected from the Moon — a scientific collaboration that comes as the two countries remain locked in a bitter trade war.
Two Nasa-funded US institutions have been granted access to the lunar samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Thursday.
CNSA chief Shan Zhongde said that the samples were "a shared treasure for all humanity," local media reported.
Chinese researchers have not been able to access Nasa's Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by US lawmakers on the space agency's collaboration with China.
Under the 2011 law, Nasa is banned from collaboration with China or any Chinese-owned companies unless it is specifically authorised by Congress.
But John Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told BBC Newshour that the latest exchange of Moon rocks have "very little to do with politics".
While there are controls on space technology, the examination of lunar samples had "nothing of military significance", he said.
"It's international cooperation in science which is the norm."
Two Nasa-funded US institutions have been granted access to the lunar samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Thursday.
CNSA chief Shan Zhongde said that the samples were "a shared treasure for all humanity," local media reported.
Chinese researchers have not been able to access Nasa's Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by US lawmakers on the space agency's collaboration with China.
Under the 2011 law, Nasa is banned from collaboration with China or any Chinese-owned companies unless it is specifically authorised by Congress.
But John Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told BBC Newshour that the latest exchange of Moon rocks have "very little to do with politics".
While there are controls on space technology, the examination of lunar samples had "nothing of military significance", he said.
"It's international cooperation in science which is the norm."
Comment"People-pleasing tendencies"? (Score 1)98
How about pleasing us by not making shit up and then telling us it's factual!
