Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Pete

Dara O'Reilly @daraor.bsky.social · Jan 28

"We tried out a British AI. It worked well, until we asked it 'Who is Lance Corporal David James Cleary?'"

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

We tried out DeepSeek. It worked well, until we asked it about Tiananmen Square and Taiwan

The AI app soared up the Apple charts and rocked US stocks, but the Chinese chatbot was reluctant to discuss sensitive questions about China and its government

www.theguardian.com

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

I like old travel books and this was irresistible. £10 won’t get you much further than a coffee at Oslo airport now.

Title page of a book called ‘Norway on £10’ part of the ten pound series by Sydney A Clark, published by Nicholson & Watson in 1936. On the facing page is a line drawing of Akershus Castle in Oslo; the drawings in the book are by Edward C Caswell.

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rabagast @rabagast.bsky.social · 1d

been doing turkmenistan related work today. for 15 years they had an unusually bizarre dictator who got a huge arch built in the capital city with a gold-plated statue of himself on top that rotated to always face the sun.

after his death, the arch was dismantled and moved to the outskirts of town.

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Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 4h

(a) terf (b) victims pulling out of the inquiry in belief that it's rigged, which is a reasonable default assumption

Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 5h

Pays fractionally above average, not at all competitive with the US, but there's also a clear ceiling. And absolutely tiny number of open positions.
www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/cobo...

COBOL Job Trends, Salaries & Related Skills

Job vacancy trends, salary statistics, and co-occurring skills for COBOL

www.itjobswatch.co.uk

Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 5h

But yes the real problem is not the code but the system it codifies, which will be full of weird edge cases that aren't explicitly written down, or like the English constitution rely on assembling scattered sources and a letter to the Times

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Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 5h

This is basically like learning medieval Latin; not particularly difficult for people who speak English and a Romance language, which derive from it, but doesn't exactly point to forward looking careers

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Leftback @leftback.bsky.social · 8h

Fleur East, dressed in full military uniform (with additional flair and surprisingly gaudy medals) appearing at the start of the next episode to appeal for calm and promise that democratic elections for new hosts will be held once the old regime has been removed completely.

Rich @pibasedlifeform.bsky.social · 8h

Bloodless coup I reckon

Or maybe a genuine coup, and the defeated Tess and Claudia dragged out under duress from their bombed out strictly HQ to be forced to abdicate their duties

Probably going to be shot next but we won't hear about that

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Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 5h

How is the tech on "railcar full of 18650 cells" these days, I wonder

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Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️‍⚧️ @sharkabytes.bsky.social · 18h

What a sweet title screen. Makes me think of Galaxy Quest with its optimistically orchestral theme.

📺: Jet Force Gemini, Rare, 1999 (N64)

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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 1d

an under discussed angle of the louvre jewelry heist is that all the crown jewels stolen were from Napoleon III, the one no one cares about now. ooh wow you won the crimean war. big deal. get a life, bro

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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 1d

from my lunch today; "the trouble is not so much AI making you more productive, but that it's tripling the output of the biggest f***ing idiot where you work"

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Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 12h

This is why things like EU chat control and the brief plan to have Apple scan all images are so dangerous; automated CSAM hunting has a risk of false positives, but the allegations are devastating.

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Dracula’s Dog’s Groomer (1979) @jamiroqueer.bsky.social · 14h

"Friends" is a beloved American sitcom that aired from 1994 to 2004, following six young adults—Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe—living in New York City. The show explores their friendships, romances, careers, and personal growth over ten seasons.

A walleye-lens photo of the cast of “Spaced” (hey it’s six people!), all looking rather spaced.

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loren schmidt @lorenschmidt.bsky.social · 1d

i am at the museum today so get ready for so many photos. if you do not wish to see them, you can mute this thread.

taxidermy diorama showing to Caribou in their winter coats

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Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 22h

Now that's a Japanese game title

Videogame Beaches 🏳️‍⚧️ @videogamebeach.bsky.social · 22h

Beach Race (Zero4 Champ DooZy-J Type-R, PS1-Saturn, Media Rings, 1997)

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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 1d

Enough time has passed that I can definitively say that the “everyone is 12 now” post is THE load bearing post of Bluesky. The hall of famer Bluesky post. It commands respect even from Bluesky skeptics and haters

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Neil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra @fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social · 23h

Interesting picture choice.

Shortcrust?

A Telegraph article called ‘Good riddance to Pizza Hut’, with a picture of Ronnie Corbett holding a Pizza slice.

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Ewamore, Quoth the Raven @ewacat.bsky.social · 1d

my manager's manager came up to me and said "i've had enough, we're going back to stone tablets, pen and paper, no one can hack a pencil, an abacus never failed due to a software crash" so i already know she's having a great day

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Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 1d

I expect @dreadships.bsky.social is already familiar with this dazzling artwork

Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 1d

Drydocked For Painting And Scaling, 1918, by Edward Wadsworth.

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Neil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra @fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social · 1d

'The first time sci-fi was presented as serious drama': The forgotten 1960s show that was the original Black Mirror

Sixty years ago, anthology series Out of the Unknown premiered on the BBC. It served up serious, one-off sci-fi dramas exploring our relationship with technology, among other things.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 1d

Not bad, Scotland

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Pete @eyebrowsofpower.bsky.social · 1d

That's what they get for reading the newspapers, absolutely brain melting prejudices

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AAAAH-riadne Griffin @ariadnereviews.bsky.social · 3d

clean your fucking bread knife, Emma.

truth coming out of her well to shame mankind, but it's a frog emerging from a sewer

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good hyuck, babe! @markpopham.bsky.social · 1d

The thing that ended my Rand phase was: reading a biography about Ayn Rand. It would be impossible to write a work of fiction that illustrates that believing yourself to be intellectually superior to other people allows you to fool yourself into destroying your own life better than that biography

good hyuck, babe! @markpopham.bsky.social · 2d

I had an AYN RAND phase when I was thirteen and that's embarrassing enough!!!

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