AntsInside's recent activity

  1. Comment on A note on Worm - A review of John McCrae's Worm in ~books

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    I read Pact, the modern day magic setting you mentioned. It has many of the same strengths and weaknesses of worm. A great deal of worldbuilding, full of the mechanisms of how the supernatural...

    I read Pact, the modern day magic setting you mentioned. It has many of the same strengths and weaknesses of worm.

    • A great deal of worldbuilding, full of the mechanisms of how the supernatural world fits together, probably the part I enjoy most in both. I think I have far more appetite for that than delphi and probably a lot of readers, and will happily listen to the documentary on your made up world thank you. Though I think it is overall a weaker setting than worm. Keeping the magic grounded requires inventing even more explanations.

    • A protagonist who as far as I remember is psychologically invincible and does not change much emotionally. The interest is in how he will solve the latest puzzle.

    • Some really messed up stuff. I don't remember it as viscerally nasty as worm, but things in it disturbed me for longer, though your mileage may vary.

      Spoilers
      Particularly Maggie getting most of her identity stolen and the blood hags stealing their children's lives.
      I don't remember anywhere there was nastiness without enough of a plot justification, as I agree with other commenters the Panacea thing is.

    • A long but gripping story that (I think an author's note admitted) ran out of steam eventually and required some questionable escalation to a final crisis. The ending seemed reasonably satisfying though was not as memorable as worm.

    2 votes
  2. Comment on OpenAI boss Sam Altman denies sexual abuse allegations made by sister, Ann Altman in ~tech

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    Most of it is, and there is nothing conclusive. Looking again there is less evidence posted than I remembered. But there is a will published that seems to name her as an heir that she claims not...

    Most of it is, and there is nothing conclusive. Looking again there is less evidence posted than I remembered. But there is a will published that seems to name her as an heir that she claims not to have been notified of and a supposed screenshot of her getting cut off. I can only really say some of what she was saying seemed plausible, and worth proper investigation.

    1 vote
  3. Comment on OpenAI boss Sam Altman denies sexual abuse allegations made by sister, Ann Altman in ~tech

    AntsInside
    (edited )
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    Heard a rumour about this a while ago and found this lesswrong thread laying out her accusations in detail. Very few other results about it, but a note at the bottom of the search results page...

    Heard a rumour about this a while ago and found this lesswrong thread laying out all the evidence her accusations in detail. Very few other results about it, but a note at the bottom of the search results page that some results had been removed under data protection law.

    The sexual assault allegations are based on a recovered memory. From what was presented in this thread they seemed plausible, but not impossible they could be a false memory. Accusations that the family gave Annie a really rough time in other ways like withholding her inheritance and financial support while she was suffering from multiple health conditions and felt forced into sex work seemed supported also plausible. I hope the lawsuit turns up more evidence and she gets some justice.

    8 votes
  4. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life.women

    AntsInside
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    Is there some way consent could be better recorded before sexual contact than just words, usually between two people with no witnesses? What if it was normalised that each partner recorded the...

    Is there some way consent could be better recorded before sexual contact than just words, usually between two people with no witnesses? What if it was normalised that each partner recorded the other consenting before at least the first few sexual encounters in a relationship?

    I have been turning this over in my head. It seems like the kind of idea that would be picked up for mockery and outrage by those opposed to change, but also like in theory it would help both those at risk of violence and those concerned about false accusations.

    Clearly not a perfect proxy for consent given that could change afterwards. Maybe privacy issues would be too great. There would be cases where any recording would put someone at risk of blackmail. Maybe video is too easily faked to be worthwhile evidence. Anything like this goes against apparent aspirations that sexual activity should be spontaneous, driven by emotions without careful planning and communication.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on I am looking for 100% ad-free apps for older adults with dementia. Things like jigsaw puzzles, coloring and the like. Paid is fine. in ~life

    AntsInside
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    This seems like a case where iOS' parental controls might help. (Unexpectedly appropriate name!) You can set a restriction to turn off in app purchases without a supervision passcode being...

    This seems like a case where iOS' parental controls might help. (Unexpectedly appropriate name!)

    You can set a restriction to turn off in app purchases without a supervision passcode being entered, which you could keep or just put somewhere they have to go and look up before making a purchase.

    2 votes
  6. Comment on Researchers describe how to tell if ChatGPT is confabulating in ~comp

    AntsInside
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    At the risk of being pile-driven, this AI news seemed more intriguing than hype reaction. This paper seems to present a relatively easy-to-understand step to progress on the inaccuracy problem...

    At the risk of being pile-driven, this AI news seemed more intriguing than hype reaction. This paper seems to present a relatively easy-to-understand step to progress on the inaccuracy problem that often seems the fatal flaw for uses of LLMs.

    23 votes
  7. Comment on I will fucking piledrive you if you mention AI again in ~comp

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    Agreed this is a valuable perspective. More generally, I am also interested to know whether experience with the value of AI at work have lead nacho to use it more widely, or if writing and...

    Agreed this is a valuable perspective. More generally, I am also interested to know whether experience with the value of AI at work have lead nacho to use it more widely, or if writing and personal assistant AIs generally available just do not measure up to their company tuned examples.

    5 votes
  8. Comment on NHS is broken - also, did my Pa have a stroke? in ~talk

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    You can add my sympathies for such a horrible experience. I really hope you get more clarity and treatment for your dad quickly. I also had to go to NHS A&E and various hospital visits this year,...

    You can add my sympathies for such a horrible experience. I really hope you get more clarity and treatment for your dad quickly.

    I also had to go to NHS A&E and various hospital visits this year, and some of my impressions are similar to yours. Staff usually compassionate and helpful but management systems full of inefficiencies. The system has not let me down nearly as badly as it did your family, but I see a lot oddities.

    • Waited in line of patients arriving at A&E standing out the front door into the cold, to be questioned on symptoms publicly by (I think) a nurse filling a paper form for each patient, before being able to then register at hospital and then sit down in the waiting area. Appears to be a self-registration computer system sitting turned off to one side. Same questions asked again later by nurse triaging.
    • Due to some symptoms, I was put on what the doctors euphemistically called the "two week" pathway - later heard it referred to as the cancer pathway. This really did get me through the system quickly, I got appointments in days and there was a completely separate dedicated team following up. This was great, but actually felt like overkill given the original concerning symptoms disappeared quickly and did have alternative explanations. As soon as it was declared "not cancer", I was back to long delays for things to move forward and no follow up. Good they managed to improve the process for cancer, but it did not feel like a coherent approach.
    • Went to hospital appointment to find all parking full. Eventually found a space in what I think was a staff car park but am still unsure because the signage was so confusing. Staff implied this situation was common. I probably could have found someone to drop me off, but there was no encouragement to avoid driving in advance.
    • Waiting in line behind someone who had apparently made an hour and half train journey to come for an appointment that had been cancelled.
    • Paper letters - appointment letters nearly always sent by paper mail, in a few cases after they were relevant. But then sometimes sent by email - usually when I made a change to appointment, so seemed to be just admin staff deciding this one they would email. Overhearing staff training in CT scan waiting area saying that they always have to send the scans by paper mail, so this can delay by weeks.

    I feel like perhaps too long operating in crisis-mode and fighting for resources, has led to an inflexible culture where it is hard to rework how things operate.

    4 votes
  9. Comment on SSL.com is evil and deceptive: Don’t do business with SSL.com in ~tech

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    Using LetsEncrypt is usually the right answer, but if setting up automatic cert renewal is awkward for some reason (eg environment not fully under your control), a longer running cert is not much...

    Using LetsEncrypt is usually the right answer, but if setting up automatic cert renewal is awkward for some reason (eg environment not fully under your control), a longer running cert is not much of an expense from a reasonable provider.

    6 votes
  10. Comment on [SOLVED] Debugging a slow connection between local devices in only one direction in ~tech

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    Thanks for keeping us all updated so well. Glad you got a solution!

    Thanks for keeping us all updated so well. Glad you got a solution!

    3 votes
  11. Comment on [SOLVED] Debugging a slow connection between local devices in only one direction in ~tech

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    It seems like the issue must be a confluence of factors whatever it is. One reason for suspecting the APs is that I tried to troubleshoot an issue for years with Unifi APs intermittently not...

    It seems like the issue must be a confluence of factors whatever it is. One reason for suspecting the APs is that I tried to troubleshoot an issue for years with Unifi APs intermittently not allowing connection from Apple devices. I never managed to pin it down, but I am pretty sure it was a bug with UAP-PRO APs sometimes getting into a problematic state.

  12. Comment on [SOLVED] Debugging a slow connection between local devices in only one direction in ~tech

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    If you SSH into the access points you can run a packet capture on the AP itself with tcpdump and see what is coming in and going out. I have done this before but would have to remember the right...

    If you SSH into the access points you can run a packet capture on the AP itself with tcpdump and see what is coming in and going out. I have done this before but would have to remember the right command line arguments.

    Do you see packets getting lost if you just run a ping for a while or only when the connection is loaded?

    2 votes
  13. Comment on [SOLVED] Debugging a slow connection between local devices in only one direction in ~tech

    AntsInside
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    My (not confident) guess would be a bug in the access points. You could try a different version of the firmware. Are they on the latest firmware? Have you seen the issue on other firmware...

    My (not confident) guess would be a bug in the access points. You could try a different version of the firmware. Are they on the latest firmware? Have you seen the issue on other firmware versions?

    You can SSH into the access points themselves and may be able to see errors in system logs or if they are suffering CPU or memory issues when a transfer from wireless devices to server A occurs.

    You could check the wifi status on the laptops to see if they are connected at the full speed profile expected. Not sure how to do that on Fedora or Mac, and probably not as they work in the other direction.

    Another thought: are all devices definitely on the same IP subnet and not going through any kind of firewall in the gateway?

  14. Comment on Cheap options(?) to run local AI models in ~comp

    AntsInside
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    I have also been playing with Fooocus and finding it usable if rather slow with a PC I put together last year for about $1300 with Radeon RX 6600 (8GB RAM). I get some system instability and run...

    I have also been playing with Fooocus and finding it usable if rather slow with a PC I put together last year for about $1300 with Radeon RX 6600 (8GB RAM). I get some system instability and run out of VRAM if I try some operations like upscaling. It feels like any less VRAM would be too little, but maybe it would work better with an nvidia card.

    2 votes
  15. Comment on The morality of using AI-generated art in my web app in ~comp

    AntsInside
    Link Parent
    In the terms, Midjourney assign to you the rights that they have in the art. The problem is that for AI generated art current case law (in the US at least) is that no copyright exists in the first...

    In the terms, Midjourney assign to you the rights that they have in the art. The problem is that for AI generated art current case law (in the US at least) is that no copyright exists in the first place because it was not created by a human author.

    12 votes