I have some respect for Alan Kohler's economic journalism. He should probably stick to that. "New life form" "other intelligence" blah blah
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-05/is-artificial-intelligence-a-new-lifeform/107226762
Remote
bencourtice
@bencourtice@aus.social
mastodon 4.7.2basalt plains bush regeneration. bolshie commentary. botany. banjo. books. bollocks. Bacchus Marshian. boy (he/him/hey dickhead).
Occasional blog:
https://astherivergoesby.wordpress.com
#nobots
Posts auto-delete after a while
459 Followers
488 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 01, 2022
You look out your window at the cold grey dawn
It's seven (or is it six) o'clock on a Monday morn
Pour a cup of coffee, better make it a strong one farkin
#daylightsaving ugh
Apologies to Redgum
ABC rewriting history from a conservative view:
"The 2025 loss of three lower house seats — including Bandt's — showed the limits of a strategy that had produced spectacular gains, even as the party's national vote barely moved."
No, wrong - that showed the limits of being the third party in a preferential voting system. The same electoral processes could just as easily rip seats away from Labor and Liberal in future.
I am not sure that people still reading supermarket magazines are the most likely uptake for LLMs...
#AI
Boosted by @Dragofix@veganism.social
Mob of locals protested against giant proposed #datacentre at Plumpton outside the Melton council meeting before going in to lobby the council to call on state government for #datacentremoratorium #datacenters #ai
Replying to
@DavidBruchmann@mastodon.world @RudolfVanAmstelveen@wandering.shop I guess I could cope with that, although I swear I only turned 21 like last month or something
"Dead internet theory" is all very dramatic and sci-fi but I have a theory of my own which is more a description of the present than prediction of the future. It's called "boring internet theory". Present company excluded, of course.
#deadinternettheory
Might be time to empty & turn over the bird baths, don't want to be a local disease spreader
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-07/victoria-h5n1-bird-flu-poultry-lockdown/107010162
#h5n1 #birdflu
Today's #BurningSeason pic. I ran burns on 3 small sites today. Quite the marathon of moving, setting up, briefing, lighting, smoke inhalation, blacking out, packing up and repeat (I have been catatonic on the couch most of the evening). Most of these sites have been burnt infrequently to never so hopefully we're promoting the native plants to germinate, regenerate and increase generally.
"In 2010, Mossad operatives carrying forged Australian passports entered Dubai, a country with which Australia maintained cordial diplomatic relations, and assassinated Palestinian leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh."
I remember this, but many others would not. This is the country who may not be publicly questioned? When Mossad tell our government that antisemitic attacks were carried out by Iran, our government and media accepts that without a shred of evidence.
#auspol #israel
https://michaelwest.com.au/the-enforcement-the-lobby-that-bought-australian-democracy/
Last week one of my workmates half(?) jokingly addressed me as "boss". I feel dirty. Is this what I have become?
Replying to
@benlockwood this is why I think work supervisors are always far more effective if they have also done the grunt work they are supervising (not necessarily a reference to academic supervisors)
Replying to
@FediThing@social.chinwag.org @ElenLeFoll@fediscience.org people citing papers they have not read/understood sadly is not new
Autumn river scene - Werribee River, Bacchus Marsh. Taken from the footbridge.
Replying to
@ratsnakegames@mastodon.social @PalmAndNeedle@norden.social @futurebird@sauropods.win @anonymouspl@expressional.social @cabel@social.panic.com Yes! we can bury both of them in the same registered landfill together
Replying to
@dgar@aus.social I just click on the "show results" button then move on, mostly (but this time I left a comment as well :)
Replying to
@theogrin@chaosfem.tw @ApaulD@aus.social there is a kind of precedent in the concept of seizing the proceeds of crime, which I think is normal in criminal law (?) but I guess not in environmental or employment law
Replying to
@johnquiggin@aus.social IMO hybrids should really be counted with ICE vehicles. If recent road testing of their actual fuel efficiency is accurate.
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@futzle@old.mermaid.town I use it occasionally, but only really as as an adjective, e.g. "thrice cursed" vs "cursed three times".
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@futurebird@sauropods.win my partner: "I don't approve of any of it. Not the ant experiments and not the person comparing it to humans." :)
Today I met some people from the other end of the world... suffering many of the same problems as Australia like internal colonialism, extractivism, climate denial, repeated climate disasters, growing authoritarianism, disregard for international law (admittedly much worse than us in some regards)
https://www.freeyakutiafoundation.org/
#FreeYakutia #indigenousrights #solidarity
Sixth day of the autumn #burningseason. This grassland was really interesting. We had burnt patches of it in late winter. In this pic you can see one such area area we deliberately excluded fire by wetting down (the big unburnt island at front). Plenty of unburnt areas behind it though which (mostly) didn't burn simply because of lack of fuel connectivity- the grasses hadn't yet grown back to an unbroken sward. More habitat islands for fauna post-burn. Great result.
Replying to
@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange I am far from a tech person but that was approximately my understanding already. I hope everyone gets it. Keep the sensitive comms to Signal. Or late night rendezvous in a seedy bar or something if you're old-fashioned.
goddammit the husky has a foot fetish as well as her ear fetish. Is there anywhere she won't stick her tongue... no actually best I don't find out the answer
Replying to
@DjityDjity@mastodon.social I don't think Labor have been left in anything but the most token fashion for decades now
Replying to
@jimbob circa 2002 I contemplated a career in IT. I am definitely not cut out for it, I have made many dumb and self-destructive career moves but that was not one of them. Imagine dealing with this shit as your primary work. Is anyone cut out for it? At what point does being directed to use it become an OHS issue?
Replying to
@patioboater@mastodon.social sadly the grandmaster Prince Lygar died a bit over a year ago. His apprentice, Cosmos, is trying to teach the new pup but is finding it tough going.
Replying to
@patioboater@mastodon.social our late cat managed to get 3rd breakfast one day. The dog was mighty impressed and developed a new respect for the cat. He also learned how to at least get 2nd.
Replying to
@adamgreenfield@social.coop I reckon I could handle petting cats all the way across a megacity
Replying to
@Catfish_Man@mastodon.social @inquiline@assemblag.es @divya@sfba.social It would be nice to also get this excellent graph with a line representing the median of all households instead of the average
(wouldn't correct those problems of calculating inflation, but median is a much much better indicator of the centre in such skewed data)
Replying to
@futurebird@sauropods.win @anonymouspl@expressional.social @Landa@graz.social @cabel@social.panic.com when I did asbestos handling training, they explained that it didn't get banned for lack of uses - it's very useful! - but because it happens to kill people horribly. A geologist friend was recently diagnosed with mesothelioma after workplace exposure many years prior. It's still killing people.
Replying to
@mattmay@mstdn.social @adamgreenfield@social.coop the myths are short and succinct, the responses predictably not. The myths are easier to remember. Mind you, you would have to be thick to not notice they are being refuted here even if you can't remember the refutation. A bigger problem with this kind of effort is that it starts to cut off the more radical options (and supporters) to appease the centre.
Blast beat and D-beat drumming is so fun to hear. like I just can't help but think of the Muppets' Animal. Quite different to death metal double-kick drumming, which is more like cool jazz by comparison. The double-kick death metal drummer may appear to be calm and suave even, above the kit, even though their legs are going crazy below the visible level.
#Grindcore #deathmetal
Replying to
@PalmAndNeedle@norden.social @futurebird@sauropods.win @anonymouspl@expressional.social @cabel@social.panic.com yeah. As long as someone else has to actually work with it!
Replying to
@hn100@social.lansky.name well there was that "LLM" that turned out to be employees in India frantically googling responses and typing them in
Replying to
@ainmosni@social.ainmosni.eu to paraphrase Rossa Luxemburg, the struggle for reform is the motive force of the revvilutionary movement (Social Reform or Revolution?, 1899).
Replying to
@eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place can we also go back to calling them "programs" not "apps"? Or am I alone in that peeve?