Posts by dpnash@mastodon.online
(DIR) Post #ASRRJOnFAulb1YPUEi by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-02-07T16:24:36Z
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@john @Artemis201 @mike @PeterFalkingham I think it could pass pop quiz-type essays for a non-AP high school history class. Beyond that, I have my doubts.Its biggest fault was having 1 or 2 historical facts per paragraph with a lot of filler -- saying something was "important", "significant", "different" ... which is fine (if a bit cliched) as an intro, but then you need to go into some detail into why "it" was important/different/etc., and ChatGPT only did that very superficially at best.
(DIR) Post #ASRSKh1QzBgpntEE8u by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-02-07T16:36:06Z
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@john @Artemis201 @mike @PeterFalkingham Yeah, that'd be a good one to do, and unfortunately I don't really have a good comparison. I ... ummmm ... tended to discourage that sort of thing in my own children's school work.
(DIR) Post #ASS6UfUzV62S8qMgFc by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-02-07T16:28:02Z
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@john @Artemis201 @mike @PeterFalkingham I don't have my chat history at hand right now, but I remember one of the paragraphs (prompt: discuss western European social structure in 800 CE) began something like "Another social institution that was very important at the time was the Catholic Church. The Pope held a lot of political power, and bishops were significantly powerful throughout the region..." Sure, that's *correct*, but also pretty shallow. Now imagine 2 other topic paragraphs like this.
(DIR) Post #ASS6UgE0ni3EOTQdQO by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-02-07T16:30:38Z
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@john @Artemis201 @mike @PeterFalkingham Again, not sure about high school, but if I tried to pull this sort of thing off in an in-class writing assignment in my intro history classes in college (never mind an actual paper), there's no way this would have gotten a passing grade. I'd be lucky to have escaped actual derision at the hands of the instructor or grader.
(DIR) Post #ASS6Ui9pcDtaO5UKBc by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-02-07T16:32:56Z
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@john @Artemis201 @mike @PeterFalkingham It was like "We Didn't Start The Fire, Early Medieval Remix", with lots more filler words.
(DIR) Post #ASY0xmZcqGyxhln8nw by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-02-10T20:32:15Z
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@lauren One thing I've seen lately -- groups with a historically large established Mastodon presence often feel welcomed, others ... not so much:Many new FOSS/InfoTech/privacy techies: Yay, awesome!Many new LGBTQ+ people: Cool, this is great!Many new neurodivergent folks: Nice, cool place!Many new Black visitors: A lot of places here are waaaay racist and not at all inviting.I'm sure there are other examples, but this one has really stood out over the last couple of months.
(DIR) Post #ATaPLjOHyBzg9f1b4C by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-03-13T20:39:06Z
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@downey @kitsune 1996: "You can't see this website, you don't have a kewl browser, upgrade to Netscape v1.π today"2023: "You can't see this website, you have a stale icky browser, upgrade to advanced adware today"
(DIR) Post #AU7mW85vS9JU40X7h2 by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-03-30T00:30:36Z
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@simon @russss Before my first interaction with ChatGPT I had heard it had trouble getting factual details straight, so I asked it a question about a plausibly-named but very fake entity.It not only created a bunch of fake information about said nonexistent entity, the details it came up with were sometimes mutually inconsistent with each other.It actually took me more iterations to puncture the illusion with ELIZA almost 40 years ago.
(DIR) Post #AUqzlDHu0ZfZIhhqFs by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-04-20T20:02:46Z
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@kennethn In the animated version of Dr. Seuss's "The Sneetches", there is a scene where the Sneetches are running on an infinity-sign-shaped track between the Star-On and Star-Off machines, over and over again, as fast as they can.The blue check situation on #Twitter seems to have just about reached that point.
(DIR) Post #AVSgF6DYFDt0z47ay0 by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-05-09T00:22:47Z
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@lauren (thinks “no way”)(Twitter home page in Firefox Focus, not logged in, after clearing all the things) Oh good grief, yes way. And I count (after a little bit of scrolling) 2 or 3 tweets that are at least questionable.
(DIR) Post #AWBhYOJvtULoOqiBf6 by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-05-30T17:39:25Z
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@lauren 1980s/1990s: "But the computer says..."2000s: "But the website says..."2010s: "But the algorithm says..."2020s: "But the blockchain says..." Oh, wait. It looks like we may end up avoiding that last one. 2020s: "But the AI says...."Rats.
(DIR) Post #AWRv0Kj9FrMjITWEnQ by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-06-07T02:59:11Z
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@cube_drone Client errors (HTTP 4xx):404 Page not found409 Page needs cleaning420 Page is stoned451 Page is on fire476 Page has collapsed (Western Page Empire only)499 Actually an HTTP 500, but made to look cheap
(DIR) Post #AX0NtkbJJrwfD1eTjs by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-06-23T21:02:25Z
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@robpike I have three telescopes, built in 1985, 2001, and 2018. All work fine, though there's a rubber bearing in the focuser of the 1985 scope that needs to be cleaned a bit. It helps that precisely shaped glass doesn't rot, crash, require updates, throw up random paywalls, or eat all your CPU cycles if you look at it funny.(If we're talking specifically about computer/network tech, my almost 3 y.o. M1 Mac Mini pretty much just works as intended, albeit with the usual Apple quirky bits.)
(DIR) Post #AX0Ntm8JcdwLxg6Lp2 by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-06-23T21:51:22Z
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@robpike The simple answer is that at room temperature, glass doesn't flow. If it did, all telescope mirrors, which need to have a surface figure accurate to about 1/10 of a wavelength of visible light (so, about +/- 50 *nanometers* across the entire surface of the glass) would be ruined within years, if not days. See, e.g. https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/how-does-glass-change-over-time/.
(DIR) Post #AX9EouM8xLNoucUGki by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-06-27T19:01:02Z
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@privacat @ploum @dangillmor Yeah, I can't say I'm thrilled about this timeline:6 months ago - decided to try Mastodon, was totally fine with picking a server, but picked a largish one because I wasn't sure what small, tightly-focused server etiquette was (b/c, you know, *totally new user*)6 days ago - have to decide if I want to move again because a significant number of people I follow might be on instances that cut off the one I'm on b/c it *might* federate w/ whatever Meta cooks up
(DIR) Post #AXaPecwlkUjyRESdDU by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-07-10T22:51:23Z
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@fulanigirl @BootsChantilly @CatDragon @StillIRise1963 And those exemptions weren't outlawed nationwide until 1993! I'm somewhat younger than a lot of people posting on this thread, but I was an actual live adult by then.Even now there are *still* locations in the US where spousal and non-spousal rape are treated differently (with the spousal variant having higher burdens of evidence and/or less serious criminal penalties). Right. Now. In. The. US.
(DIR) Post #AYPhhDmMocgAjrGtMW by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-08-04T18:15:35Z
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@Neverfadingwood The NYT's crossword house style also strips diacritics.Every few months, they bring the Spanish word "año" ("year") into a crossword, with a clue like "January 1st in Jalisco" = "AÑO NUEVO".And the ñ loses its tilde every time.Which means the NYT is wishing everyone "Happy New Butthole."You get warned about this in Spanish 101 pretty early on, but the NYT doesn't care.
(DIR) Post #AZGgVFCoaXayFhMNAO by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-08-29T00:49:58Z
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@Minimus “Semper ubi sub ubi”: ❌“Semper vesti subligaria”: ✅
(DIR) Post #AZR8giqSvpt1vQKI8e by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-09-04T22:00:42Z
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@Rasp The origin of a mysterious phrase found in a fifteenth century English songbook, "Wastynge away agayn in þe towne of Marguerite", is now much clearer.
(DIR) Post #AaEsa1bIibHP27S080 by dpnash@mastodon.online
2023-09-27T22:29:00Z
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@Minimus Minimus: "Yay, done!"(distant rumbling)(a giant spherical boulder, straight out of Indiana Jones, rolls towards him through a corridor)Minimus: Aaah!(he dives through the entrance to the tomb just in time)(Minima is there, looking annoyed)Minimus: Where did I go wrong? I didn't do anything irritating, I befriended him before he died and mummified him.Minima: Dangit, didn't you read the warning carefully? It didn't say "NOLI IRRITARE LEONES." It said "NOLI CONDIRE LEONES".