vetch's recent activity
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Comment on Vegan recipe log in ~food
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Comment on A weakened Hezbollah is being goaded into all-out conflict with Israel – the consequences would be devastating for all in ~society
vetch Link ParentI don't quite understand how this comment fits in to the context of this discussion. JCPhoenix was not saying that they face a personal dilemma in deciding whether the US is right to support or...I don't quite understand how this comment fits in to the context of this discussion.
JCPhoenix was not saying that they face a personal dilemma in deciding whether the US is right to support or not support Israel, nor were they suggesting that the US is 'entitled' to influence in the region. They were pointing out the dilemma that US government decision-makers face, and what their reaction may be.
I happen to agree that states are not entitled to 'spheres of influence' outside their borders, and I also agree that 'realpolotik' rhetoric can often be dehumanising and diminish the importance of a populations right to self-determination, however in conversations about what the realities of international politics might be we need to talk about the realities as they stand right now. Describing is not necessarily condoning.
I don't see how we can approach conversations about these topics without acknowledging superpowers or their influence. To do so is not 'normalising' imperialism, it is responding to a reality which must be described in order to have a context in which a states behaviour can be understood, and to see how a favourable outcome for all might be reached. In order to make productive progress towards a future in which more people have self-determination, you must first understand the status-quo, even if you don't support its continuation.
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Comment on Telegram messaging app CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France in ~tech
vetch LinkJust wanted to note this last point which I haven't seen discussed yet. If Telegram was legally required by the French police to assist with a criminal investigation by handing over user data or...France's BFM and TF1 said that Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allowing possible criminality due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police.
Just wanted to note this last point which I haven't seen discussed yet.
If Telegram was legally required by the French police to assist with a criminal investigation by handing over user data or chat logs and they failed to comply, it makes sense that they would start threatening legal action towards Telegram and/or making arrests.
Telegram championing user privacy is great, but I can't agree with them also protecting and enabling criminal activities like "drug trafficking, child sexual content and fraud". If police obtained a warrant to gain access to specific data of Telegram users to counter this activity, I think Telegram is obligated to assist.
I think this is a far more likely reason for the arrest than anything to do with moderation policy, though I think that Telegram like any media platform has an obligation to perform responsible moderation.
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Comment on In Berlin, I experience icks I never thought possible in ~travel
vetch Link ParentI can answer this having been to Canberra a bunch and having lived in Berlin: I think the two are very different. There are perhaps a couple of parallels apart from the nature of their capital...I can answer this having been to Canberra a bunch and having lived in Berlin: I think the two are very different.
There are perhaps a couple of parallels apart from the nature of their capital status. Both have large expat communities, both have an abundance of brutalist architecture, and both host important government, arts, and cultural organisations, but that is where the similarities stop I think.
I get the sense that many people in Australia don't really love Canberra, but don't hate it. It's just...a bit odd.
People say it feels a little bit empty or soulless sometimes, which might come from it's 'artificial' construction. Personally, I think it's quite pretty and I quite like going there, but for a major city things do feel just ... slightly too far apart, which sure looks very nice and makes it feel much more in tune with the landscape, but also makes it feel a little sterile maybe?
Also it's cold and no beaches, so... there's that.Berlin is a whole different kettle of fish. For a variety of reasons, Berlin seems to have generally poor reputation to the rest of the country, thus the meme above which some might take as only partly ironic.
German Berliners I have spoken to as to why others dislike it have said:
- "It's too big". At ~4 million it is powers larger than every other city in the country.
- "It's not pretty". From what I have seen this is generally true compared to the rest of the country. Berlin has been in a constant state of rebuilding up until relatively recently, first from it's destruction during WW2, and then following the collapse of the GDR.
- "It's not 'Germany' to some". Berlin is far more multicultural and diverse than the rest of the country, with large immigrant communities from Türkiye and Eastern Europe. It is sometimes viewed as a bit transitory by both immigrants and Germans alike, though of course I have experienced more of this being from Australia. Living in Berlin you can get by speaking only English, and often as a non-native speaker German speakers will switch to English for conversation, although that may speak to my poor German.
- "It's in the East". There is a lasting prejudice against the parts of the country that were under the rule of the GDR, and because of it's location Berlin also receives some hostility from this. I have been warned by multiple Germans that the region surrounding Berlin is still home to many Nazis that were allowed to exist more freely in the former GDR, though I don't know how true that is.
All of these reasons also speak to how different the city is from Canberra: It's size, it's age, and involvement in 19th and 20th century history, and it's grittiness. Additionally, things like a walkable layout and less planned design, multiple rivers and canals, and alternative art scene stand out as differences.
If I had to compare it to an Australian city I would maybe pick Melbourne? But of course it's pretty different from there also.
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Comment on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach | State of Play announce trailer in ~games
vetch LinkKojima is one of the most talented game designers out there, and the moment to moment gameplay of the original Death Stranding was - to me at least - an absolute delight. Additionally, he should...Kojima is one of the most talented game designers out there, and the moment to moment gameplay of the original Death Stranding was - to me at least - an absolute delight.
Additionally, he should be kept as far away from the writers room as humanly possible. Please.
His worlds are so interesting, filled with many absurd, imaginative, hilarious and even thought provoking ideas, but his story beats fall flat, his characters are one dimensional (at best), and his dialogue is honestly some of the worst in the business. Even some really great performances couldn't save Death Stranding's narrative.
I'll play this game I think and I'll probably have a great time, but I'm mashing the skip button on every cutscene.
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Comment on Side trip from northern Italy in ~travel
vetch LinkI would strongly recommend investigating Slovenia, particularly around Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj. I was there at the start of last Autumn and it's a pretty magical place, I would say almost...I would strongly recommend investigating Slovenia, particularly around Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj.
I was there at the start of last Autumn and it's a pretty magical place, I would say almost offensively picturesque.There's great walking along the lakes and rivers (flat for the stroller), or into the mountains if you want something slightly more strenuous. Obviously there are many great lake based water activities like boarding, swimming etc... but there's also a bit of hang-gliding if you're feeling adventurous (it's pricey though!).
There are a few castles and old churches around, including one built on an island in the middle of Lake Bled, which you can get a little boat out to (very cute).
Restaurants I visited, despite being in a fairly tourist-based area, were pretty good and comparable to what I have eaten in both Austria and Switzerland (though maybe slightly better than the latter).
If you go out of town a bit you can also often find fresh dairy which is pretty sensational.Depending of where you're travelling from connecting there may be a little challenging, when we went we flew in to Salzburg for a night and then drove down the next day.
I would call it the slightly cheaper, slightly less touristed and manicured younger sister to Switzerland and Austria, but of the three it is my favourite.
I do second those Austrian walking trips though! -
Comment on "Rebel Moons": An abridged screenplay in ~movies
vetch LinkHaving watched this last night I'm so glad to see this detailed breakdown, but I do have some additional notes for people hungry for more details: Whenever anyone descends a spaceship ramp it is...Having watched this last night I'm so glad to see this detailed breakdown, but I do have some additional notes for people hungry for more details:
- Whenever anyone descends a spaceship ramp it is also in slow motion. This is a clever visual pun for Snyder buffs that references his constant use of speed-ramping.
- Buckbeak of the 'Harry Potter' series of books and films makes a cameo. This is the high point of the film. He is ridden by a space blacksmith who has an allergy to upper-body clothing.
- The Inquisitors from Warhammer 40K (famously space nazi heavy) are hanging out in a bunch of scenes, but their presence or function in the world is never explained in any way. They look like they're having a swell time though.
- At one point massively destructive weapons are fired at the Mon Calamari homeworld by the space nazis. The leader of the space nazis is actually still on the planet. Right near the target area. In the blast wave actually. In fact his dropship only just escapes complete destruction. This is not commented upon by any of the characters.
- There is a young space-nazi who is actually quite nice once you get to know him and helps the protagonist dispatch the other much naztier nazis from his town-terrorising unit. Following this he is never seen or mentioned again.
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Comment on Meet Nightshade, the new tool allowing artists to ‘poison’ AI models with corrupted training data in ~arts
vetch Link ParentI think perhaps to better frame this issue we should discuss who is actually making out well from the current art-for-profit status quo: large organisations with the power to lobby law-making...I think perhaps to better frame this issue we should discuss who is actually making out well from the current art-for-profit status quo: large organisations with the power to lobby law-making bodies and ignore legal challenges from individual artists, or indeed, many other smaller organisations, artistic or otherwise.
I think this is part of the point that Fiachra is trying to make, that while we are busy 'discussing' the heady moral and economic intersection of art and technology, large organisations are stealing art from thousands upon thousands of artists to throw at an algorithm that will in turn make them money. They could have taken only from the public domain, they could have (and in some rare cases have actually) paid artists to produce work for them and the LLM specifically. But they didn't limit themselves to these inarguably more ethical options. Instead they have used their money, lobbying, and strong legal teams to steal every piece of art they can get their hands on under the guise of fair use, and put it to work as an essential element of creating their commercial product.
Why should artists have to 'opt-out' from having their work used by a large organisation to make money? Surely, if artists really wanted their work used for this purpose, they would opt-in, don't you think?
Let's look at the inverse example: the recorded music industry.
If I sample the tiniest snippet of any song released by a major label to use in my work, even to use just one cool little sound in the background of a track, even if I transform it by slowing it down or speeding it up or running it through some kind of effect, even if it goes unnoticed for years, as soon as it makes makes any money, a major label can claim my work as belonging to them, either in part or more often than you would reasonably expect, wholly. No fair use, no justification that the samples use was transformative.
In their view, it's art that belongs to the artist (as long as the artists work belongs to a large label) regardless of any kind of use barring - maybe - parody.Here again, individual artists with comparatively small resources are punished by a political and legal system that, regardless of the moral or ethical discussion, will invariable choose the side of the largest wallet.
Finally, I can't agree that search engine indexing has anything much to do with this discussion. It collects and copies public data including text and images from across the internet, yes, but these texts and images are not used to create text and image facsimiles for profit.
Often, this indexed content is not considered valuable to those it is being collected from. Web stores, of course would rather encourage favourable indexing. However, when a search engine like Google does index and present data from a source that considers it's content to be the same as it's product, and the source is large enough, it will often pay them for the privilege. See this article about the deal between Google and the AP. -
Comment on What are your "must-read" books? in ~books
vetch Link ParentI think it's a very, very clever book for all sorts of reasons, and was one of the first books I read that so shrewdly investigated the phenomenon not just of writing but also of reading. It is...I think it's a very, very clever book for all sorts of reasons, and was one of the first books I read that so shrewdly investigated the phenomenon not just of writing but also of reading.
It is structured in chapters which alternate between intriguing segments of genre fiction (all very different to one another, and all very good), and a frame story about the character(s) reading these stories written from the 2nd person perspective, so from the point of view of 'you', the reader.
As you say, this means things get pretty self-aware, but this self-awareness has a point: to draw the readers attention to the act of reading, and to celebrate it with them.
Where this awareness would usually draw me out of a novel, it drew me in. Obviously the 'you' in the frame story is actually just another character, but by making this character a reader, one who is reading half of what we are reading, Calvino manages to align our feelings to theirs very closely. Our hopes for our reading match the characters hopes, our frustrations about what we are reading match the characters frustrations.
It really is a masterclass, not just in writing engaging pieces of fiction across multiple genres, but also on controlling and directing the emotions of the reader.I understand why some people would bounce off it, but I think it is absolutely worth reading.
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Comment on What are your "must-read" books? in ~books
vetch LinkI would recommend: Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut The Secret History by Donna Tartt Cat's Eye and The Handmaidens Tale by Margaret Atwood Once, On A Winter's Night A...I would recommend:
Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Cat's Eye and The Handmaidens Tale by Margaret Atwood
Once, On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino
One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nobokov
Tortilla Flat, Of Mice And Men, and East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin
Neuromancer by William GibsonI would also recommend the collected short stories of Roald Dahl
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Comment on YouTube is now rolling out disabling videos after detecting adblockers in ~tech
vetch LinkJust wanted to reiterate clearly for those using uBlock Origin that the extension by itself will block this new popup by default. No user rules required. If you have uBlock updated and installed...Just wanted to reiterate clearly for those using uBlock Origin that the extension by itself will block this new popup by default. No user rules required.
If you have uBlock updated and installed but are still seeing this, simply go to settings -> filter lists and select 'purge all caches', and then 'update now'.
You may have to do this every couple of days as youtube has been changing some things that bypass the filters, but so far they have been caught by uBlock updates.
I made a great Vegan Dan Dan Noodles tonight with a spur-of-the-moment recipe.
It does require you to have some slightly less common ingredients, however if you like Chinese food you'll probably have some of these around.
Accidentally Vegan Mushroom Dan Dan Noodles
For the topping
~ 400g Mushrooms per 2 servings.
1 packet/tin/whatever of preserved mustard stem (ya cai)
Whole Szechuan peppercorns
Garlic
Ginger
Cooking sake
For the sauce
Black vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar)
Chinese light soy sauce
Sesame oil
Chilli oil or chilli crisp (I just use Lao Gan Ma)
Sugar
Optional Garnishes
Scallions
Coriander
Peanuts
Cucumber
etc...
Your choice of noodle ( I recommend a slightly thicker square-cut Chinese wheat noodle, but whatever you have will be fine)
Method
Cut your mushrooms into chunky quarters or 6ths, depending on their size.
Fill your largest frying pan with a 1cm layer of water, and bring to a boil, then dump your mushrooms in with a healthy sprinkle of salt. Sweat on high heat until mushrooms are reduced in size and water has evaporated, then add a big glug of any neutral oil. Fry your mushrooms until deeply browned on all sides and ~halved in size.
While your mushrooms are sweating, roughly chop your ya cai and set aside with your peppercorns. Grate a bunch of both garlic and ginger, ~4 cloves garlic and equivalent ginger is what I usually do, but I have a problem so feel free to add less.
At this point, start bringing a pot of water to a boil for your noodles.
When mushrooms are pretty much done add another big glug of oil to the pan, followed by the ya cai and whole peppercorns. Fry for ~2 minutes until fragrant, then add your grated garlic and ginger, frying for another 2 minutes until even more fragrant. Immediately deglaze with some amount of cooking sake, stir until mostly evaporated, then set aside off the heat.
Add your noddles to your now boiling pot of water.
Combine all your sauce ingredients (use amounts to your preference, I usually go with 1 glug soy, 2 vinegar, tiny dash sesame oil, half a spoon of sugar, too much chilli) in your preferred ratios into each of your serving bowls. Add some of the hot noodle cooking water into each bowl to dilute, heat, and add starch.
When noodles are done, add them to each bowl, add mushroom topping, then add garnishes of your choice. Tonight I added chopped scallions and julienned cucumber.
Serve and eat immediately!