Esme Povirk @madewokherd@computerfairi.es

Because a friend found this useful yesterday:
Before tackling a problem, figure out whether it's the sort of problem where when you've solved 80% of the problem, you've solved 80% of the problem, or the kind where solving 80% means you've solved 0% of the problem.

This is especially important in security and privacy because that last 5% might be impossible.

The season 1 trailer is here! Listen now - https://audio.jumpleads.zone/trailer/

Listen to Dolly, do it on purpose

Just absolutely floored that the state-of-the-art in keeping language models on the rails is "give it a really firm talking-to about staying on script" and that this approach has been publicly and embarrassingly proven not to work multiple times, and that they still just keep trying with more elaborate and forceful pep talks

Sometimes you see negativity directed against people who “collect hobbies”, that is: people who have an interest for a short while, get the stuff they need to try it, and then seemingly abandon those supplies.
This might be tied to a shame about wasting something (money, potential, time). But as a fellow collector I want to say: don’t think like that! Every interest migh cycle around and when it does you get much more fun out of it if you already have the supplies.
#art #specialinterest

Hey, how's that New Year's resolution coming along?

On a completely unrelated note, here is a completely random reminder that you can make improvements to yourself and your life whenever you'd like.

If you've failed before, then that is just practice for the next time. Learn from that failure, and try again.

You've got this. You can make you the you you want you to be.

game development is seeing an ask for "two characters carry a box together" and proposing that the box carries the characters and only the box moves as an alternative and vastly simpler solution.

PSA: If you don't have ADHD, you may be unaware how many of us keep going on & off our meds right now due to med shortages. It's not just Adderall anymore, there's no Concerta or Ritalin to be had either.

So please be patient with your scatterbrained coworkers and friends; we're trying. :) #ADHD

So OpenAI just released a detector of AI-generated text, I assume because of concerns in education / homework.

https://openai.com/blog/new-ai-classifier-for-indicating-ai-written-text/

Maybe this is good?

No, it's very bad.

They claim 26% true positives, 9% false positives. Assume 10% of submitted homework is chatgpt generated, you get the classic counterintuitive outcome of poor predictive power: if a homework is flagged, there's a 3:1 chance it's *human* generated.

This is going to cause a lot of harm. It should be immediately recalled.

@dolari It also gives us one of the greatest out of context images of all times.

ever think of the songs we’re missing out of because no one will sing about open relationships or polyamory

I activated my Facebook to reconnect with old friends after disappearing for years and my god that is the saddest website. The vibe is like those rows of old folks playing slot machines.

I’ve started muting people who use asterisks in place of letters in certain words in order to get past filters.

(Most often these words are the names of public figures or companies. This is completely unnecessary. Just be specific and let our filters do their work.)

#MastoTips

little-known fact, but PHP is actually short for "please headpat". because the programmers who have to deal with the language need it

#Podcast friends! If you interview people involved in audio drama podcasts and have an open slot in March-April for me to come on and talk about @JumpLeadsScifi (launching in the Spring!) please reach out. I have a couple of appearances booked, I'd love to book some more!

For those trans folk out there who are straight/hetero, I'm curious, do you view your orientation as a queer experience?

Please boost so I can find those other straight trans folk out there.

I'm not asking about being queer as an aspect of being trans, but rather, whether you view your orientation itself as queer.

For me, I view my orientation as inherently queer, but I get the feeling I'm very much the minority in that.

#trans #transgender #orientation #poll #queer #QueerIdentity