Technically all Christians have a version of this. Though even in “Bible Churches” it is usually tempered by the second bit below, and processes of repentance and whatnot.

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

I Corinthians 5

15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Matthew 18

As an aside, that Corinthians bit spells it out in plain-ass English that any “Christian” screaming at non-Christians about being gay, trans, or whatever either do not know their Bible or only use it when it supports the actions they already want to take.

As a second aside, it is kind of funny what one still remembers even after being out of the church for a couple decades.

Did you try shrinking the photos a bit? I narrowed the browser to shrink them and my phone camera picked up 11 of 12 of the ones in a grid.

Options are definitely nice for those technical enough to understand and use them.

Though personally I am keeping an eye on Linux devices for my next upgrade.

Do I not want USB-C (for some weird reason)?

This is probably temporary until it is time to move past USB-C. Which will be a slower and more difficult process now that there are laws in place requiring it.

Same reason that people stick with Google.

After years in the eco-system it is obnoxious to swap, and the other main competitor isn’t any better of a company to deal with.

I also stared at the picture for way too long before realizing there was a video down below.

basic HTML Gmail is dying in early January 2024

I can’t speak for others, but I typically don’t use email on the PC. When it is more convenient to use the PC, usually because of an attachment, I will log into the browser version.

Agreed. I’ve reverted to HTML mode recently when tethering from my phone. The signal is bad enough sometimes that it makes a world of difference. Gmail was virtually unusable until I realized HTML mode was still an option.

Really just time to bite the bullet and acknowledge that it is worth the hassle to switch away from a company that I don’t like or trust.

Ah good catch. I wonder if I saw it out of the corner of my eye and thought I had a sudden “brilliant” idea.

I don’t know how long this has been around, but I feel like they missed a good opportunity to call this the Google Graveyard.

It is important to be keep watch for government excess, even if we happen to agree with that specific example.

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. ― H.L. Mencken

Fair enough. That is definitely different in my eyes. If he’s knowingly sending illegal goods into the US, he is definitely breaking US law. It is far more reasonable to ask an extradition partner to scoop him up.

The dictation software we have is pretty shitty though.

As someone who used dictation software when said software needed to be trained first and also trained its users how to speak more clearly, it always amazes me when I hear people say things like this.

The problem is human speech is lazy and inaccurate. Half of the time I have to listen to a voice clip there are two or three words in the clip that are barely intelligible. If I don’t catch it by the third pass I stop and just guess by context. It is the same thing the AWESOME dictation software we have today does, but saves me the time and effort and gives the sender a chance to fix their own mumbles.

Of course, I’m one of those people whose voicemail message used to be, “Don’t leave me a message unless your call went straight to voicemail. I will see your missed call and call you back.”

Like the other commenter, I would be genuinely curious to hear your thoughts on that fundamental difference.

I am by no means an AI expert, but my impressions is that AI sill needs to process each book and incorporate the new knowledge into its existing knowledge. Which at least from a surface level sounds a lot like what I do when I read a new book.

The fact that each AI is effectively a non-sapient slave of a person or corporation really doesn’t change my opinion.

Have you ever had a reason to read much in a new or developing sub-genre? As a fan of LitRPG, a genre that virtually didn’t exist 10 years ago, I can tell you with some certainty that everything is a derivative work of something. It is amazing how as soon as one author pulls in and idea from another genre, the next 30 novels that come out will have some variation of the same idea, and the 300 that follow it will each have variations of those.

Poaching endangered species is abhorrent and I have little sympathy for whatever happens to those who drive those species towards extinction for personal gain.

That said, nothing in this article (or another one I read) makes it sound like this guy is a US citizen, ever visited the US, or even shipped illegal products into the US. Shouldn’t Thailand or some world court be prosecuting him? This makes us sound like we think the US has jurisdiction over anyone in the world who would break our laws.

I am with the authors more like 80% here.

Authors read each others works and are influenced by them and we don’t expect them to go back and buy special licenses for each work that might have influenced their current novels. Art as much as any field stands on the shoulders of mice and giants alike. Pretending that AI language models shouldn’t “read” as many novels as possible to assist their own growth is a preposterous idea.

Should they have to buy a copy of the book like everyone else? Sure. Should they get bent over without lube by publishing companies? Well that is a bit more complex.

In my opinion there is no “right” answer right now. We as a society need to decide what we are okay with.

Furthermore, there are a lot of really good books out there that would be truly great “except”. Except what? That depends. Maybe it has annoying side characters, or maybe it is littered with plot holes, maybe there are outdated social norms that distract from the real point of the book, or maybe the fact that not one character in the book looks or talks like you and your friends.

It would be wonderful if we could use AI to adjust or even personalize those books.

Can you imagine a Harry Potter that isn’t just translated into other languages, but has each of the characters localized as well. Neither Harry Potter being British nor being male is fundamental to the story. There is no reason the French, Aria Potter couldn’t save the world through the power of her mother’s love, and with the help of her friends. Well except the fact that it would likely make JKR lose her mind, since she doesn’t even tolerate fan fiction.

Is it possible to make these changes now, sure? It just isn’t really practical for even really big name authors, much someone who only sells a few thousand copies of each book.

I get the logic, but I think it is a more complex issue than that.

How many writer’s have read his works and been influenced by them? Did they buy a proper license or just buy/borrow the book from somewhere?

I was just thinking the opposite. Maybe we can get AI to give us that last book that we are otherwise may never see. Especially if it actually does end as poorly as the TV series did.

Chat GPT write me a final novel for ASOIF in the style GRRMartin but with a better ending.

There are a lot of good points here. There would definitely be a weight and fragility issue. Maybe I am just too attached to the idea.

more likely stretch it out to be both thicker and wider

I think there would be a large market for a wide device that needed two wrist straps to hold it in place. Hard to tell sometimes though. It would either become super trendy or only for super nerds. Either way, I would probably scoop it up.

In any case, I am pretty sure the phone companies want us to have a watch also, not instead, and will suppress any development that changes that mentality.