Alyx Woodward (obsolete) @Alyx@computerfairi.es
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
Facebook moderation horrors
There's another investigative journalism piece about Facebook's outsourced content moderation companies on theverge.com.
I only skim read it, but that was bad enough. As you might expect it's a catalogue of horrors combined with abusive work practices and very exploited workers. Being continuously exposed to disturbing content eventually takes its toll on mental and physical health, and as the article describes is sometimes fatal.
"It was mass panic. All the SMEs had to rush in there and try to help people. They were freaking out — they couldn’t handle it. People were crying, breaking down, throwing up. It was like one of those horror movies."
This is the hidden part of what Facebook really is. It might also be part of the reason why Zuckerberg claims that in the next few years the company will be moving to a situation where they can't access the content (presumably client side encryption with the ad targeting also on the client).
People can also post disturbing or illegal content on the fediverse, but the difference is that nobody is forced to view it and blocking can isolate off bad instances like an immune response. It's also a reason why instances should try to avoid having thousands of users, because the burden on the admin can become too much.
I only skim read it, but that was bad enough. As you might expect it's a catalogue of horrors combined with abusive work practices and very exploited workers. Being continuously exposed to disturbing content eventually takes its toll on mental and physical health, and as the article describes is sometimes fatal.
"It was mass panic. All the SMEs had to rush in there and try to help people. They were freaking out — they couldn’t handle it. People were crying, breaking down, throwing up. It was like one of those horror movies."
This is the hidden part of what Facebook really is. It might also be part of the reason why Zuckerberg claims that in the next few years the company will be moving to a situation where they can't access the content (presumably client side encryption with the ad targeting also on the client).
People can also post disturbing or illegal content on the fediverse, but the difference is that nobody is forced to view it and blocking can isolate off bad instances like an immune response. It's also a reason why instances should try to avoid having thousands of users, because the burden on the admin can become too much.
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
speculation, facebook coin, colonialism (boost with CW)
From @Ttle in https://knzk.me/@Ttle/102294299507104801
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facebook coin is aiming at ppl around the world who don't have banks. I don't have any data to back this up but my hunch is the majority of those people don't live in the west (because most people don't live in the west). Facebook is targeting the global south to hold onto what little money they have and to make a profit on relatively small fees on a giant economy of scale.
it seems like a kind of weird new imperialism where a stateless, multicultural entity is targeting the global poor
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
tech vitriol
TECH COMPANY: I think I'm gonna invent a new thing and try to get people to use it. should I make it proprietary so I can get maximal moneys from patent licensing?
HISTORY: if you make it proprietary, it will fail.
TEXH COMPANY: hmm ok but what if it's different this time
also considering xanthone as a building block? you can get that from salicylic acid, with a bit of foolery. might be a route to interesting polymers
had the idea last night that you could probably get anthrone (that's 9,10-dihydro-9-oxoanthracene) from natural materials, and get that to self-condense, with a Knoevenagel-type condensation between the keto group and the benzylic carbon
this paper seems to indicate feasibility
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0032386178901003
"hey look at my spiffy new microcomputer based on nanofluidics, made entirely out of renewable biopolymers!"
"damn that's sweet"
"it runs Arch Linux"
*drops it into the trash* "well at least it's biodegradable"
towards organic conducting polymers from biomass
not that I've got anything against really speculative, off-the-wall academic chemistry papers; they can be fun reading. but it's...questionable, how much of that work has any hope of being scaled up into something that's industrial-grade
towards organic conducting polymers from biomass
thinking idly about how you'd go about making organic conducting polymers out of stuff that can be derived from biomass, or some other renewable feedstock
"green organic semiconductors" is a thing that you can find papers on but *laughs* bet most of of the papers are kinda rubbish. what an old chemist acquaintance (really fearsome old trans woman. Gargron banned her from here once! hahaha) once called magic pixie dust chemistry
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
@kara_dreamer The book Cradle to Cradle Design (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_to_Cradle:_Remaking_the_Way_We_Make_Things) is about designing objects that can be completely recycled and remade indefinitely (as opposed to current recycling practices where quality degrades every cycle), and it's printed on a biodegradable resin composite material.
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
A visitor to Niels Bohr’s cottage noticed a horseshoe nailed over the door.
“Surely you don’t expect that a horseshoe will bring good luck?” asked the visitor.
“No, I don’t,” Bohr said. “But they say it works even if you don’t believe in it.”
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
my goblin cooking trick
a good meal is made of starch (thing that fill my belley), sauce (tastey), and chunks (meat or veggie for Healths)
cook chunks and starch. combine them. add sauce. heat until correct heat. congrat of lations you have Cooked
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
Could you recommend me any books (fiction/nonfiction) that helped you to either
* self-reflect,
* strongly reconsider the relation between yourself and the society you live in,
* or grow/change as a person?
If yes, which book(s)?
(Boosts welcome, I guess.)
food chemistry: basic nutritional analysis
now here's a fun topic. kinda wonder if they've got some magically easy methods now. seems like they can use mass spectrometry for literally EVERYTHING these days, even proteins and DNA and other macromolecules. just zap a sample somehow, sort out the gas-phase ions
but what about the other end, low-tech methods
like, I think you can estimate fats in foodstuffs simply by extraction with methylene chloride or similar
I almost feel like assigning you homework, @kara_dreamer@plural.cafe ;=D
design me a machine that will turn waste paper into sheets of recycled paper (not white paper, just...sheets of papery stuff), using an absolute minimum of process water
corporate recycling infrastructure is crap
anyone surprised by this sort of thing?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis
I've always kinda known that municipal plastics recycling was a really dodgy business. but yeah, it's real bad
ugh. Kara, you really need to start thinking about how to handle all your garbage on-site
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
Hey #MastoAdmin, is there any documentation outlining the commands available in tootctl? It seems shocking to me that I can't find anything on the subject online outside of peacemeal changelog updates and toots requesting fuctionality.
Alyx Woodward (obsolete)
boosted
@Alyx All programming could be considered dialectical between a human's desire to get a goal across and the computer (a very literal, very logical, perversely pedantic creature that).
Perhaps more useful to your question there is a small community of programmers that use/prefer what's called "literate" style esp. focused on persuasive essays with code embedded that feels quite dialectal when done well. But that mostly just recenters people in the above existing "debate".
so I am gonna ask a silly conceptual #programmer question
I am gonna make up a term here
is _dialectical_ computer programming a thing
@dirk good luck :=3
oh, and the thirst?
"and the porous Vycor plugs are cut from lengths of 1/8-in.-diameter porous Vycor rod (_thirsty_ glass or Corning Vycor No. 7930), available from the Electronic Parts Department, Corning Glass Works, Houghton Park, Corning, New York, 14830."
so there ya go. glass can be thirsty.
