Hollow's recent activity

  1. Comment on Economic ideas and policy implementation: Evidence from Malthusian training in British Indian bureaucracy in ~humanities.history

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    Oh goody. So not only was he Malthusian in spirit, he was literally taught by the man and regurgitated his philosophy.

    Oh goody. So not only was he Malthusian in spirit, he was literally taught by the man and regurgitated his philosophy.

    6 votes

  2. Comment on Economic ideas and policy implementation: Evidence from Malthusian training in British Indian bureaucracy in ~humanities.history

    Hollow
    (edited )
    Link
    I wonder if the bureaucrat in charge of Irish famine relief, Charles Trevelyan, was trained by Malthus. He famously did not provide sufficient aid, defending instead the idea that the free market...

    I wonder if the bureaucrat in charge of Irish famine relief, Charles Trevelyan, was trained by Malthus. He famously did not provide sufficient aid, defending instead the idea that the free market would fix everything.

    4 votes

  3. Comment on Economic ideas and policy implementation: Evidence from Malthusian training in British Indian bureaucracy in ~humanities.history

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    Hi OP, check your comment for line breaks - on mobile displays, they make the paragraph wrap in odd ways. Eg:

    Hi OP, check your comment for line breaks - on mobile displays, they make the paragraph wrap in odd ways. Eg:

    replacing his economics instruction at a
    bureaucrat training
    college for that of a contemporary critic,

    2 votes

  4. Comment on ‘So tired I want to cry’: AI promotional giveaways swamp shops in China in ~tech

    Hollow
    Link
    (2 minute read) NB. The original article's title is ‘So Tired I Want to Cry’: China’s AI Subsidy War Swamps Shops. I tried to make it clearer for readers who aren't familiar with the context.

    (2 minute read)

    ‘So Tired I Want to Cry’: China’s AI Subsidy War Swamps Shops
    AI-driven Chinese New Year giveaways triggered a surge of instant drink orders, leaving shops and delivery riders scrambling to keep up.

    China’s tech giants are using Chinese New Year red envelopes to promote their AI assistants, flooding the market with billions of yuan in subsidies that have crashed servers, clogged messaging systems, and overwhelmed food service workers.

    The subsidy campaign, dubbed “red envelope war” online, began last week, when social media and gaming giant Tencent rolled out a 1 billion yuan ($140 million) red envelope promotion through its Yuanbao AI assistant, followed by a 500 million yuan campaign from search giant Baidu’s Wenxin AI and a 3 billion yuan push by Alibaba’s Qwen Chatbot.

    The Alibaba campaign quickly spiraled out of control. On Feb. 6, Qwen processed more than 5 million orders within five hours, sending the app to the top of Apple’s domestic free app chart.

    Photos and videos on social media showed receipt printers churning out long strips of unclaimed orders. Millions of orders rushed in at once, overwhelming the system and crashing servers. At physical milk tea shops, confused staff fielded nonstop questions from delivery riders asking about orders.

    NB. The original article's title is ‘So Tired I Want to Cry’: China’s AI Subsidy War Swamps Shops. I tried to make it clearer for readers who aren't familiar with the context.

    6 votes

  6. Comment on What are your food aversions? in ~food

    Hollow
    Link
    Anything slimy. That sounds vague I know, but it's the best description I have for why I can't stand mushrooms, aubergine, or courgette. Soft on the outside and strong on the inside, instead of...

    Anything slimy.
    That sounds vague I know, but it's the best description I have for why I can't stand mushrooms, aubergine, or courgette. Soft on the outside and strong on the inside, instead of the other way around.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month in ~tech

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    The customer support agency that was receiving the emails of ID document scans got hacked, Discord itself wasn't. I imagine they've been fired.

    The customer support agency that was receiving the emails of ID document scans got hacked, Discord itself wasn't. I imagine they've been fired.

    8 votes

  8. Comment on I made a word game in ~games

    Hollow
    (edited )
    Link
    FYI this is my first go: It Takes Time. I guess I'm too methodical for my own good ;)

    FYI this is my first go: It Takes Time. I guess I'm too methodical for my own good ;)

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Two small word games in ~games

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    There's a small "How to play" animation in the bottom right. Basically, there's five words all beginning with the same letter that have been fused together so each word is in the right order but...

    There's a small "How to play" animation in the bottom right. Basically, there's five words all beginning with the same letter that have been fused together so each word is in the right order but has to be separated from the other four.
    eg:

    O R U T B I E T R

    ORBIT
    +
    OUTER

    2 votes

  10. Comment on The Boring Company faces Nashville tunnel criticism in ~transport

    Hollow
    Link
    Thirty seconds of amused chuckling Yes, of course it will send a car every three seconds, 24/7, with no subsidisation, after they've already tunneled through incredibly difficult geology on their...

    The company says the project will be entirely self-funded, requiring nothing from taxpayers. In documents provided to Nashville officials, Boring says it will spend “a few hundred million dollars” to build a seamless and expandable underground network.

    Thirty seconds of amused chuckling
    Yes, of course it will send a car every three seconds, 24/7, with no subsidisation, after they've already tunneled through incredibly difficult geology on their own dime.

    5 votes

  11. Comment on I'm annoyed with mundane revisionist history in ~talk

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    On the other hand... It's a misconception that's probably saved several newts from unnecessary cruelty.

    On the other hand... It's a misconception that's probably saved several newts from unnecessary cruelty.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Alphabet plots big expansion in India as US restricts visas in ~tech

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    ... Isn't it? I remember HRC claiming she'd levy an 'exit tax' on US companies trying to offshore (no idea if that was practical or sincere)

    Offshoring isn't talked about nearly enough in the media or in discussions about the job market.

    ... Isn't it? I remember HRC claiming she'd levy an 'exit tax' on US companies trying to offshore (no idea if that was practical or sincere)

    1 vote

  13. Comment on New York City congestion pricing’s unexpected winners: suburban drivers in ~transport

    Hollow
    Link
    This is a fascinating analysis of the ripple effects from congestion pricing in downdown, and just as how congestion causes backups and jams far upstream of the affected area, reducing it and...

    As they expected, the researchers determined that the $9 charge has sped up vehicle journeys into Manhattan, nudging some people who would otherwise drive at peak times to instead ride transit, drive earlier or later, or forgo the trip entirely. Because traffic thinned, those still opting to enter Manhattan by car saved roughly 83,000 hours per week, averaging around three minutes per journey, according to the NBER paper.

    But drivers who never ventured into the toll zone also saved time: As a group, this cohort, including those traveling within Bergen County or from the Bronx to Brooklyn, racked up savings exceeding 461,000 hours per week. An average journey became just eight seconds faster, but because there were over 100 times more of them than Manhattan-bound trips, their aggregated savings were more than five times greater.

    This is a fascinating analysis of the ripple effects from congestion pricing in downdown, and just as how congestion causes backups and jams far upstream of the affected area, reducing it and encouraging public transit has eased travel far outside the city centre.

    19 votes

  14. Comment on The Devil Wears Prada 2 | Official trailer in ~movies

    Hollow
    Link
    There honestly isn't anything here to hook me. I'll probably watch out of curiousity, but alll the trailer tells us is Miranda and Andi meet; Miranda denies knowing who she is for a trailer gag;...

    There honestly isn't anything here to hook me. I'll probably watch out of curiousity, but alll the trailer tells us is

    • Miranda and Andi meet;
    • Miranda denies knowing who she is for a trailer gag;
    • Emily meets Andi and gives weak banter;
    • Stanley Tucci is also back.

    Now granted, the first TDWP didn't really have any scenes that could be put in a trailer to explain why it was so good either, since it's hard to compress writing, drama, pacing and acting into a few minutes in the same way a spectacle action scene or one-liner can. But all I'm really left with is "The main cast are back", and the comments reflect this with a focus on Meryl Streep being back (granted that one's important, but we already knew it), "We are so back", and "Cinema is so back".

    6 votes

  15. Comment on Terry Pratchett’s novels may have held clues to his dementia a decade before diagnosis, our new study suggests in ~books

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    Snuff is certainly an extreme step down, but before that point I would indicate the weird lighthearted tone in Making Money (a deliberate choice after Thud! and Wintersmith, but it went way too...

    Snuff is certainly an extreme step down, but before that point I would indicate the weird lighthearted tone in Making Money (a deliberate choice after Thud! and Wintersmith, but it went way too far), Nutt in UA (who has the very strange drawback of being too likeable) along with the sudden obsession with football, and I Shall Wear Midnight was pretty good but had awful antagonists.

    4 votes

  16. Comment on Terry Pratchett’s novels may have held clues to his dementia a decade before diagnosis, our new study suggests in ~books

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    Same. To me, everything after Wintersmith is a rapidly increasing decline in quality. There's still good stuff in there, but none of the books are 100% gold; in part because of their need to wrap...

    Same. To me, everything after Wintersmith is a rapidly increasing decline in quality. There's still good stuff in there, but none of the books are 100% gold; in part because of their need to wrap things up, and in part because of the sudden introduction of goblins. Presumably they were an element he'd intended to introduce for a long time and needed to force them in somehow before the end.

    4 votes

  17. Comment on Any good sites for e-book bundles besides Humble Bundle? in ~books

    Hollow
    Link
    Try Baen Books, they have both free and paid bundles from different authors in the SF genre.

    Try Baen Books, they have both free and paid bundles from different authors in the SF genre.

    3 votes

  18. Comment on Hunger signals messed up in ~health.mental

    Hollow
    Link
    Besides hunger and stress being closely linked, which is something you really should look for a psychologist for, you could also seek a gastroenterologist. Your stomach produces a hormone called...

    Besides hunger and stress being closely linked, which is something you really should look for a psychologist for, you could also seek a gastroenterologist. Your stomach produces a hormone called Ghrelin that stimulates hunger, and they might be able to tell you if there's something behind why you're getting unnecessary pangs.

    10 votes

  19. Comment on Netflix, but for public domain movies in ~movies

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    There's a fairly short and interesting article on the origin of the story and its copyright here! https://creativelawcenter.com/copyright-rudolph-reindeer/

    There's a fairly short and interesting article on the origin of the story and its copyright here!
    https://creativelawcenter.com/copyright-rudolph-reindeer/

    The copyright in the 1939 version of Rudolph expires in 2034 at which point it enters the public domain. The children's TV show was created in 1964 and, most likely, is protected by a new copyright and a series of licenses.

    Robert L. May died in 1976. But before he did, he established The Rudolph Company that holds the rights to Rudolph. Licenses are managed by a professional agency all to the benefit of Mr. May's children and grandchildren.

    What makes this a holly-jolly Christmas story for me is knowing that the heirs of someone who would have been an unknown author are still benefiting from copyright protection, properly registered and renewed, that was returned to him by an employer who couldn't have been less Scrooge-like.

    6 votes

  20. Comment on Star Wars shake-up: Kathleen Kennedy steps down as George Lucas protégé Dave Filoni, exec Lynwen Brennan take over Lucasfilm in ~movies

    Hollow
    Link Parent
    Filoni wasn't involved with Andor at all though.

    Filoni wasn't involved with Andor at all though.