MetaFilter

I don't care if "Free space" is a space you get for free without having to post something, I rolled a 13 today and I'm gonna post about FreeSpace!
posted to MetaTalk by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 4:12 PM on December 1, 2024

Perhaps the most famous sequence created using this technique.
posted to MetaFilter by jabah at 8:36 PM on November 23, 2024

The general name for this is "video feedback" and it can get trippy and complex.
posted to MetaFilter by BungaDunga at 7:49 PM on November 23, 2024

Uh. Wow. I wrote that comment at 9AM and then spent the next 18 hours lifting heavy things, wrapping up my move around 3AM so I apologize for seemingly abandoning the thread. I apparently missed some fireworks.

As someone on the spectrum I'm pretty accustomed to accusations of being a robot in the colloquial sense - I make the comparison myself on a regular basis - but this is the first time I've ever been accused of being an LLM or authoring my comments with one. Not... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ryvar at 9:13 AM on November 18, 2024

Wait. Kfb you think Ryvar's comment was in bad faith or generated by AI?

This is heartbreaking. Their comment lead me to begin drafting an fop on exactly the thing requested below - a basic guide to using these things offline, understanding their limitations and operating parameters, and discussing several free and truly open source approaches to the technology.

Especially their noting with empathy the genuine and founded fears for employment... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Lenie Clarke at 9:46 AM on November 17, 2024

Don't be that person.

Based.

It just pukes up whatever people say to it. It's not an intelligence. If people send it trolling, it trolls. It doesn't know what it's saying, it doesn't know what saying is, it doesn't know what knowing is.

Responses like this are always really challenging for me because I want to tailor my reply to the audience but the audience often appears to be in a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ryvar at 6:32 AM on November 17, 2024

Are there specific projects that you are seeking help with yet or committees you are forming?

The top priority right now is finalizing a closing checklist so we make sure there are no disruptions to the site or to staff during the transition.

Second, we need to finalize the policies and procedures manual. Dale is working on this but if someone has experience with corporate governance their input could be useful.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by 1adam12 at 2:11 PM on November 8, 2024

I'm beyond tired of the "dems ignore the working class!" take

So is electoral-vote.com:

What, exactly, does [Bernie Sanders] propose Democrats should do? Should they, for example, talk about raising the minimum wage? Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did that. Should they actually INCREASE the minimum wage? Biden tried, and was stymied by the filibuster and by pro-corporate types in his very narrow Senate... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by grubi at 8:54 AM on November 7, 2024

It is time now, if you have not done so yet, to read up on what Orbán has done in Hungary. In all likelihood, that's close to what we're going to be getting. We can expect this, because the GOP and the Project 2025 folks have been open about using that as their model.

The good news is: this would not be a situation where we'd be Nazi Germany 2.0 by February or anything. The bad news is: institutions are going to be steadily rebuilt to consolidate power for the GOP in a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 7:32 AM on November 6, 2024

Trump 2.0 is going to be disastrous in every imaginable way for everyone in the world (except billionaires) regardless of how anyone voted or where you live. What we have learned is, it's VERY difficult to fight a well funded disinformation machine in a world where people use Facebook, TikToc and Instragram to educate themselves. If nobody can agree on a source for objective news, if we can't agree on facts, or any basic truth, it's impossible to have meaningful conversations.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pjsky at 7:28 AM on November 6, 2024

As a whole, I tend to think Phillipschall's take has the most explanatory power regarding the decisive margins this time around:

1. Consensus reality via corporate top-down journalism is done. Podcasters, tiktok, youtube, influencers, persona journalism is the new name of the game.

2. The American voter operates on a simplistic first level of maslow's. Are food, water, and shelter worse now than they were before? It's the king's fault,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kewb at 5:24 AM on November 6, 2024

TikTok video of the good day I had being a poll worker in Savannah, Georgia!
posted to MetaFilter by Brandon Blatcher at 5:16 PM on November 5, 2024

I logged in at 5:30 this morning to the DNC Voter Protection hotline to take calls as the polls opened. (Not the same as susiswimmer, Election Protection is an independent nonpartisan org, DNC VoPro is both voter assistance and frontline reporting intake from field teams on polling locations that need to be sued into doing their jobs.)

Things started quiet but picked up in earnest at 7am. TTalked to a young person in Texas who was voting for the first time but didn't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bl1nk at 3:56 PM on November 5, 2024

Back again also.

2020 election thread was a great real time tracker, with a banging soundtrack.

Are people assembling a Spotify playlist again this time around?
posted to MetaFilter by UbuRoivas at 2:32 PM on November 5, 2024

I've been away from Ye Olde Metafiltere for a few years...I come back for two reasons -- the identification of The Most Mysterious Song, AND Election Night 2024, which coincide very neatly with one another.
I was overconfident in 16, doom-n-gloomed in 20 and just sitting back for the ride here in 24. Bless you all.
posted to MetaFilter by splen at 2:30 PM on November 5, 2024

On poll clerk break. It’s been amazing and moving to see so many first time voters with their proud parents!
posted to MetaFilter by Brandon Blatcher at 1:26 PM on November 5, 2024

Dick Van Dyke is still with us at 98 and posts a Youtube message for us.
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 11:59 AM on November 5, 2024

The site banner seems pretty appropriate today: USA MeFites, go vote (hide)
posted to MetaFilter by mittens at 10:01 AM on November 5, 2024

The Onion is also currently streaming BREAKING: Live Look Inside Voting Booth
posted to MetaFilter by Catblack at 9:32 AM on November 5, 2024

The last time I saw that was in Alabama, and it briefly got a Democratic Senator

For those curious: Democrat Doug Jones represented the state of Alabama in the United States Senate from Jan 2018 through Jan 2021. I know 2021 feels like a long time ago, but it's fairly recent.

IIRC that was thanks largely to a special election where Black women turned out in force and Roy Moore had to contend with the noteworthy disadvantage... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by howbigisthistextfield at 8:04 AM on November 5, 2024

I am desperately trying to stay pessimistic.

Pessimism of the intellect: optimism of the will.
posted to MetaFilter by Paul Slade at 7:53 AM on November 5, 2024

Sometimes I hate being aware.
posted to MetaFilter by grubi at 7:25 AM on November 5, 2024

The thing about the "most important election of our time" thing is that while it is annoying when we say this every time, it's fucking horrible when it stops being said each time and finally rests at one particular election.

Ask Hungary. Theirs was 2010.
posted to MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 6:45 AM on November 5, 2024

I saw on Reddit (I know...) that Dixville Notch tied 3-3. What that post also said, and what I cannot find corroborating evidence for, is that in D.N. there are 4 registered republicans and 2 registered independents. I do know as a fact that in the primary all 6 voted for Haley. So maybe this shift is a good thing if it's real!
posted to MetaFilter by Snowishberlin at 5:37 AM on November 5, 2024

I know 2016 traumatized everyone, but the circumstances are real different this time round. Trump was actually funny back then—still crude and horrible, but funny—and he's got nothing left in the tank, now. Back then, he could at least plausibly for some people seem like an agent of change for the better; now, everyone knows he's a shitty failure. His rallies are half-empty even in smaller venues, and just like she said in the debate, people are bored and leave early. He's the butt of the jokes... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by outgrown_hobnail at 5:33 AM on November 5, 2024

Hot takes?

If it's a bad night: Republicans take Virginia 7th district quickly, early in the evening. Michigan looks weak mid-evening. Sherrod Brown race in Ohio is called fairly quickly for Moreno. North Carolina is called tonight for Trump, instead of stretching into absentee ballot counting tomorrow and beyond. Contested Michigan House races go mostly to Republicans, Republicans hold in contested New York House races. Iowa 1st and 3rd go to Republicans. Presidential... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gimonca at 5:02 AM on November 5, 2024

I read this post in the voice of a "Previously on..." summary. Then I threw it into the Star Wars Intro Creator, and goddamn if it didn't give me chills.
posted to MetaFilter by Molesome at 4:21 AM on November 5, 2024

[[Thank you so much, Rhaomi, and everyone participating! We've added this to the sidebar and Best Of blog!]]
posted to MetaFilter by taz at 3:45 AM on November 5, 2024

*cough cough*

Sorry that I startled you there, America. I have been asked by the world to bring you a message.

How long have I been standing in the corner watching you? Longer than is healthy for either of us to know.

Anyway, the other nations got together and we talked. Well, almost everybody. We sent Russia an invite with the date November 6th.

I should say that the UK is here in body but not... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus at 3:33 AM on November 5, 2024

This is a FANTASTIC post, well done.
posted to MetaFilter by saladin at 3:22 AM on November 5, 2024

My socials have been full of people reposting the McSweeney's essay "I Will Be Away From My Desk On November 6," by Lauren Thoman. Sharing here in case anyone needs a laugh, a lolsob, or related reaction.
posted to MetaFilter by cupcakeninja at 2:57 AM on November 3, 2024

'November surprise'?
posted to MetaFilter by blue shadows at 8:09 AM on November 3, 2024

Apparently the Access Hollywood tape has been making the rounds on TikTok recently because a lot of young voters have never seen it.

It came out eight years ago.
posted to MetaFilter by AlSweigart at 7:08 AM on November 3, 2024

Alternatively, let Ann Selzer carry you to calm in these last few days: A new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Vice President Harris leading former President Trump 47% to 44% among likely voters just days before a high-stakes election that appears deadlocked in key battleground states.
posted to MetaFilter by yasaman at 4:37 PM on November 2, 2024

Loup’s adverbs are later/never.

I agree with basically all of the critiques of the mods/administration, but could you not with this? I don't think that telling people they need to do a better job is harassment, but this kind of is.
posted to MetaTalk by dusty potato at 12:57 PM on October 29, 2024

[[btw, this pretty baby has been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog!]]
posted to MetaFilter by taz at 3:33 AM on October 28, 2024

Anyone want to put up a small post to the blue with a link to say the conversation is over here tonight? I would, but I think someone who is more well known in the community would have a better chance of not having the post deleted. Following two rapid fire threads would be.... a lot.
posted to FanFare by a non mouse, a cow herd at 5:20 PM on October 1, 2024

Are there any details available on how this was trained? Is there a podcast corpus out there? I wonder if there are separate processes for script generation & voice mannerisms/inflection generation or if they are somehow intertwined.

Simon Willison has collected some sources on what's going on under the hood.

It sounds like it's text to speech, not a multimodal model like o1 that directly synthesizes speech from text... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by BungaDunga at 9:25 PM on September 29, 2024

This?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Diskeater at 4:37 AM on September 22, 2024 marked best answer

A friend just created one of these, based on a totally forgotten band we were in way back in the mid-‘90s. (I wrote up a bio for the band at the time.) The results were astonishing - it sounded like an NPR feature on our band, with the host queuing up all these questions for the expert to go deeper on. I can totally see how this could be useful in finding the deeper meaning inside long pieces of text.
posted to MetaFilter by saintjoe at 2:04 PM on September 27, 2024

This is amazing. I gave it my mum’s self published book and she literally cried a little hearing the hosts talk about it as if it were the latest bestseller. She feels seen!
posted to MetaFilter by bakerybob at 1:50 PM on September 27, 2024

I would give a great deal to never read or hear another word from Ed Zitron that does not acknowledge the existence of the open source AI community, the tens of thousands of models on Hugging Face, or the enormous gains in efficiency from their efforts. He's not just laser-focused on LLMs to the exclusion of all other machine learning, he's positively fixated on the billion-dollar blowhards and Silicon Valley hype. That is not all that exists under the sun, not even close, and conflating it with... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ryvar at 6:55 PM on September 17, 2024

I think Ed's falling into the trap that many people here do, as well. "AI" is not LLMs and generative models for images. That's like a tiny fraction of what deep learning brings to the table. It is absolutely revolutionary in robotics (my field), for example.

Similarly, companies (Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA) are using generative models to design chips and circuitry; deep learned techniques perform better than human experts at this point. Protein modeling, drug... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by riotnrrd at 4:26 PM on September 17, 2024

“Solar is terrible and it takes a whole desert full of panels to barely get any power. By the way I’m a big fan of solar.”
posted to FanFare by soundguy99 at 6:45 PM on September 10, 2024

Millennial's Worst Nightmare!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by O9scar at 12:09 PM on September 6, 2024 marked best answer

I wonder how many real life sieges have ended that way?

In the ancient and the medieval world and even the early modern era, armies were frequently swept with epidemics of dysenteric diseases. They were already frequently endemic in most large cities. The Romans understood the importance of public sanitation better than many - they build the Cloaca Major, the main sewer under the city of Rome quite early in their history. But Rome was one of the very... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Jane the Brown at 9:44 AM on August 19, 2024

I found this Mastodon post to be informative on the financial and logistical dilemmas the Russians now have. A lot of money is coming in from those gas pipelines... https://infosec.exchange/@littlealex/112925288375029203
posted to MetaFilter by anthill at 10:38 AM on August 13, 2024

I've seen it said around a couple places online that with Ukraine making an offensive into Russia, Russia has spent the last couple years going from the second strongest army in the world, to the second strongest army in Ukraine, and now the second strongest army in Russia.
posted to MetaFilter by tclark at 12:10 PM on August 12, 2024

I know this is a deadly serious situation, but that headline made me laugh, Rhaomi.
posted to MetaFilter by Laura Palmer's Cold Dead Kiss at 11:54 AM on August 12, 2024

A classic tale of a fake UI:
Coinstar is a great example of this.

The machine is able to calculate the total change deposited almost instantly. Yet, during testing the company learned that consumers did not trust the machines. Customers though it was impossible for a machine to count change accurately at such a high rate.

Faced with the issues of trust and preconceived expectations of necessary effort, the company began to rework the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by steveminutillo at 8:36 AM on July 12, 2024