Reading

Current Mood: angry

Entry tags:

YouTube wants your data to sell to other companies.

You should sign this petition to protest YouTube's new AI-powered age verification system. And here's why:

AI has proven again and again that it doesn't work right, and the ways it can mess up can be horrible. AI based age verification, which has no transparency at all, is going to hurt a lot of people. Customers and content creators alike are going to be kicked off for unknown reasons, reasons which may include "user is not white," "user looks younger than they actually are," "user has facial scars or burns," "user is disabled in a way that affects their face," "the AI just glitched," and many other reasons. We should boycott YouTube until they stop this nonsense.

Furthermore, companies are already finding that it's easier and cheaper to hire humans to do things rather than AIs, because AI keeps failing in weird and expensive ways. Recently, an AI being used as a programming tool deleted petabytes of the programmer's data for no apparent reason, data which was unrecoverable. What if YouTube's AI glitches and deletes entire channels for no reason?

Then there's the privacy issue. Companies like YouTube have far too much data about us as it is already, and now they want even more, including your face, credit card information, and maybe videos of you naked in your home. They aren't satisfied with the billions of dollars they're making in ad revenue, so they're trying to make you a product they can sell.

"But I have nothing to hide!" Of course you do. Data leaks are a weekly phenomenon nowadays. Do you really want to risk your nudes, your credit card information, your home address, or other important data being leaked online by giving that information to a service that is supposedly ad-supported and thus supposedly free to use? It's bad enough when that stuff happens to sites where you paid money for something; we can't let it happen for free sites like YouTube.

And lastly, YouTube already has a special version of their site aimed specifically at kids, where comments are disabled. They claim they're doing this data mining to protect the kids, but they're lying to you. This age verification won't work properly, it won't protect kids, it won't even keep kids out of places they shouldn't be. And why are we giving that job to corporations like Google anyway? That's meant to be the parents' job.

Entry tags:

Hobbies On The Side

I essayed

Why Project 2025 is still deadly important to understand...

I've had some people say "okay, Ryk, now that we see what's going on is it important to keep posting about Project 2025?"

The answer is "absolutely YES" and I'll explain why. First, for those who haven't seen my long writeup on 2025, here's the link. Note that the ORIGINAL document is about 900 pages, and even my summary and high points commentary is something like 150.

Okay, now, WHY is it important to keep talking specifically about Project 2025, even though we're well -past the point where we can prevent someone (whose name begins with T and ends, appropriately, with RUMP) from initiating it?
( ... cut for length... )

Entry tags:

The Four Wishes (Cheon of Weltanland, volume 1) By Charlotte Stone

War crime survivor turned expert swordswoman and student sorcerer Cheon resolves to obliterate the nation responsible, make herself queen, and find a like-minded woman to court.

The Four Wishes (Cheon of Weltanland, volume 1) by Charlotte Stone

Current Mood: worried
Current Location: Seattle, Washington

Entry tags:

So Much for Switzerland

While I was traveling to Seattle, Lisa was heading to Lucerne, Switzerland, where I had arranged for her to stay at a Holiday Inn Express in a suburb of that city. The location was good (only about 150 m from the station platform on the suburban rail line), but the property was not. It was the most expensive Express we've ever booked, and Lisa reported that room was tiny, had a bunch of gnats swarming on the windows, and was generally not a good room. They did acknowledge that Lisa could stay in the room (I'd worked that out with them by email in advance), but the housekeeper apparently kept coming to tell her she wasn't supposed to be in the room. After a few hours of this, she'd had enough, handed back the keys, and left. Unfortunately, getting back to Munich, while possible, took a long time and involved riding in the Chair car of a NightJet sleeper train (covered by the rail pass; she would have bought a compartment, but there were not available) to Salzburg and then a Dreaded Bus Rail Replacement service to get back to Munich. This morning, Lisa relayed to me the sad story.

The hotel acknowledged by email to me that Lisa had handed over the keys and left. I contacted IHG and complained about the room condition and the poor treatment she received. IHG says they are going to work to have all of the points I used to book that room refunded.

Holiday Inn Express is a decently good brand in the USA and Canada. However, our experience of those in Europe has been for the most part deeply disappointing, unlike all of the other IHG properties, like the Crowne Plaza in Ljubljana and the Holiday Inn (not Express) Heathrow Bath Road.

That's now two cases where Lisa had an unsuccessful sortie from Munich to what was supposed to be a multi-day stay but turned into an unwanted extra train trip. At least the train trips were all included in the cost of the rail pass. I think Lisa will be regrouping for a few days.

Kuma Bear reported a bit on the trip. He likes trains as much as we do, but maybe not this way.

At last, an advice column we can all get behind!

Ask the Algorithm!

****************

( Links )

Entry tags:

bundle of holding

Bundle of Holding: Ironsworn-Starforged

Ironsworn, Starforged, and Sundered Isles, tabletop roleplaying games of perilous fantasy, space opera, and seafaring adventure by Tomkin Press.

Bundle of Holding: Ironsworn-Starforged

Entry tags:

clarke award

Clarke Award Finalists 2009

2009: The Horrible Histories TV show debuts, Britons are treated to a Giles-worthy winter, and police decline to investigate the cash for influence incident so that they might better focus on the custard-tossing scandal rocking the nation.

Poll #33480 Clarke Award Finalists 2009

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 31

View Respondents

Which 2009 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
1 (3.2%)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson
26 (83.9%)

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
9 (29.0%)

Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
0 (0.0%)

The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
6 (19.4%)

The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley
7 (22.6%)

Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2009 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley

With an * on the McAuley because it was too grim and I didn't finish it.

Entry tags:

The Writer's Life

Today, I meme'ed

Entry tags:

cut to the snake

I think I may have to muck about with how many heads the snakes have. One by one is too slow. The snakes are menaces, not things to tick off as they advance

Perhaps only odd numbers of heads?

Entry tags:

Sanders' Union Fourth Reader

Sanders' Union Fourth Reader by Charles Walton Sanders

Despite the titles, this is more recent than his New Fourth Reader. It repeats three or four readings from the earlier works, not all of them from the fourth reader.

Interesting nowadays chiefly for the views of edifying works and science of the time.

A few unrelated questions

(Some of which I may have asked before, in which case, forgive me.)

1. People often do say that the English subjunctive is in decline. However, literally nobody I've ever heard say this has provided any sort of evidence. Is there any data on this other than "yeah, feels that way to me"?

1a. I've also heard that the subjunctive, or at least some forms of the subjunctive, is more common in USA English than UK English, from somewhat more authoritative sources but with roughly the same amount of evidence.

2. I got into it with somebody on the subject of "flammable/inflammable". I am aware that there are signs that warn about inflammable materials, and also signs warning about flammable materials. Is it actually the case that anybody has ever been confused and thought they were being warned that something could not catch on fire? Or is that just an urban legend / just-so story to explain why the two words mean the same thing and can be found on the same sorts of signs?

3. Not a language question! I've recently found one of the Myth Adventures books in my house. Gosh, I haven't re-read these in 20 years. Worth a re-read, or oh god no, save it for the recycle bin?

*****************************

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

aurora

Congratulations to the 2025 Aurora Award Winners!

The winners are:

Best Novel: The Siege of Burning Grass, Premee Mohamed, Solaris
Best YA Novel: Heavenly Tyrant, Xiran Jay Zhao, Tundra Books
Best Novelette/Novella: The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed, Tordotcom
Best Short Story: “Blood and Desert Dreams“, Y.M. Pang, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 408
Best Graphic Novel: Star Trek Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way, Ryan North, art by Chris Fenoglio, IDW Publishing
Best Poem/Song “Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka“, Y.M. Pang, Invitation: A One-shot Anthology of Speculative Fiction
Best Related Work: Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Two
Stephen Kotowych, editor, Ansible Press
Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration: Augur Magazine, Issue 7.1, cover art, Martine Nguyen
Best Fan Writing and Publication: SF&F Book Reviews, Robert Runté, Ottawa Review of Books
Best Fan Related Work: murmurstations, Sonia Urlando, Augur Society, podcast

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Seattle, Washington

Entry tags:

Traveling Fan

Today I flew from Reno to Seattle on Alaska Airlines. It was a very good flight: traveling in first class is something I could get used to, although in this case it was primarily because I had a lot of extra stuff to carry, so the two-checked-bag allowance made the bigger seat almost incidental extra expense.

I was running so far ahead of schedule that I almost was too early, but the check-in desk opened just as I got there. With my first class ticket, I went though a shorter queue, and even though I had to once again take out my computer, camera, and put my shoes through the belt, I was still through Terrorization only 15 minutes after dropping my bags. That gave me loads of time to have breakfast before heading down to the gate, where I still had an hour to wait for my flight

( Heritage Fleet and Hotel Upgrades )

I then walked down to the Sephora to confirm that I had understood the map properly and to figure out how long it would take to get there. After that, I located a Walgreens that wasn't too far away. I'd forgotten a couple of toiletries items that were easy to replace there, and I also bought some milk and soda. Across the street from Walgreens was a Chipotle, and I got a burrito to take back to the hotel. I was pretty tired already, and besides, having such a nice room, I wanted to get some use out of it.

Anyway, that was the trip to Seattle. I do not expect to update daily on this trip, for the reasons I've already given.

Entry tags:

fiction reviews: mundane

To Tame a Land

To Tame a Land by Louis L'Amour

You can do a lot of things in Westerns. This one is a bildungsroman.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: Not as accomplished as I woul
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: Ship of Stone

Done Since 2025-08-03

Up and down. Ame's thirty-fifth birthday, and the atomic bombings 80 years ago. OTOH m's return from the US Wednesday, and for some reason I noticed being in a good mood shortly before bedtime. Possibly from getting out of one of my support groups early. Or it could have been something somebody said in the group. Also, my balance seems to be improving a little after finding a test that I can practice against. But I should also find some exercises.

Not exactly a good week for walking either. I skipped Tuesday because (IIRC) I was running late after helping N give Cricket her meds, and had a doctor's appointment after that. Then I did something unpleasant to my right ankle Friday morning, probably on the stairs with an excessively heavy bag of garbage. (Mostly cat litter.) I went to the end of the block and back this morning but didn't want to push my luck. I have no idea what became of my little plastic bin full of knee, ankle, and wrist braces.

On the gripping hand, I have the old household server, Nova, running again. That's notable mainly (only?) because it's still running Mint version 21.3, so it still has Python 2 installed, so I can run my Dreamwidth posting client on it. (I also have it on Raven, but N is borrowing it. When she's done with it I'll be able to upgrade it.)

Nova is headless. I could ping it, but not ssh to it, which turned out to be because it was on the wrong subnet. Fixable by widening the netmask on Nova and one laptop. That was an interesting exercise, though, because I had to do it over ssh (i.e. without a display), which meant that I had to learn the text user interface for Network Manager. Feeling mildly accomplished from that.

Also, m and I had a good rehearsal of Ship of Stone yesterday. The plan is to do one song per day to use as scratch tracks for the next album. My intended recording hardware was not cooperating -- I seem to be missing one of my large-diaphragm vocal mics. May have to fix that. Meanwhile I used my trusty old Zoom H2, which is perfectly adequate for scratch tracks.

In links, last week Mastodon was added to the Digital Public Goods Alliance’s Registry, which is pretty cool. And the World’s first Facebook museum helps users face the future after its hoped-for demise.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Entry tags:

hiatory

"Dying Georg"

I keep hearing people -- even people who are supposedly history educators -- saying that people only lived about 40 years back in the day. That is NOT true! That is a MYTH caused by a failure to understand how averages work! Yes, the average life expectancy was about 40 back then, but that was because so many children died back then, it drove the average down. Very few children made it out of childhood alive, which is a large part of why people used to have so many kids. If you didn't count the kids when doing the averaging, people generally lived just as long as they do now once they made it to adulthood, assuming they didn't die in a war.

Or put into meme speak: "Old timey kids were the 'spiders georg' of dying back in the day, and 'should not have been counted.'"

Entry tags:

vignette

YouTube wants your data to sell to other companies.

Hobbies On The Side

Why Project 2025 is still deadly important to understand...

The Four Wishes (Cheon of Weltanland, volume 1) By Charlotte Stone

So Much for Switzerland

At last, an advice column we can all get behind!

Bundle of Holding: Ironsworn-Starforged

Clarke Award Finalists 2009

The Writer's Life

cut to the snake

Sanders' Union Fourth Reader

A few unrelated questions

Congratulations to the 2025 Aurora Award Winners!

Traveling Fan

To Tame a Land

Done Since 2025-08-03

"Dying Georg"

vignette

Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg

Apple weirdness