thazework

Constrained generation i've found to produce the most creative-like results.

Example: The stench of smoke and blood filled their nostrils as they crouched behind a fallen tree, its splintered trunk providing the only cover from the relentless hail of bullets, their heart hammering in their chest, threatening to burst free, as sweat mingled with dirt on their face, catching the frightened gaze of their comrades, their eyes wide with terror yet burning with determination, knowing they were all in this together with no turning back, seizing the opportunity as the gunfire briefly subsided, yelling "Move up! We've got to take that hill!" their voice breaking through the deafening cacophony of war, breaking cover without hesitation, boots pounding the earth as they ran through the hellish landscape, explosions erupting all around, the concussive force rattling their bones and sending tremors through the ground beneath their feet, seeing a fellow soldier fall, his anguished cry piercing their soul, diving to his side, dragging him into the meager cover of a shallow trench, his blood staining their hands, no time to mourn, continuing their charge, every muscle screaming in protest, lungs pleading for air, cresting the hill, the enemy bunker coming into view, sprinting towards it with a final surge of adrenaline, their hand shaking as they lobbed a grenade inside, the explosion tearing through the bunker, debris flying like deadly shrapnel, winning this small battle, but the weight of the war still pressing down on their shoulders, gazing out at the smoke-choked battlefield, wondering how many more battles they'd have to endure before the war was truly over.

Until a few days ago the best solution for text only + no ads + offline reading was a kindle subscription to whichever periodical you fancy. This is gone now.

Nook still has a newstand store (for now?) but I haven't used it so can't comment on the formatting and UX.

Eink: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26143779

Combine that with Amazon's newstand dominance in Eink news delivery, and the end result is that newstand's closure leaves readers with no viable alternative.

For the Economist you should be able to download offline editions through the app- https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/Whats-included-in-...

Absolutely agree on it being poorly communicated, only heard about in this thread!

In terms of alternatives, buying an Android powered E-reader and subscribing to the publication via the app or the e-newspaper service could work, although it will not be as optimized for E ink of course. The advantage of Boox and other Android E-readers is that you can access whatever you want, and the browsing experience for text heavy websites is decent.

Cutting off access to information in such a barbaric, offhanded way is the logical conclusion of the monopoly structure that enabled Amazon to do this without repercussion. A triple monopoly in this case Amazon/Kindle/ E ink.

This will disproportionately impact those who do not live in the US/UK and rely on their subscription as the only reasonable means of timely access.

I urge you to write to write to jeff@amazon.com to voice your displeasure.

Oxbridge education producing incompetent leaders was a running joke in the series.

Map: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/2i631h/visiting_19...

Hebrew script but not in Hebrew.

The first recipe in Hebrew would probably be Ezekiel 24(א) but it's all a metaphor for a badly behaved city (Jerusalem). Lots of dietary laws in there too, naturally, but also sitophilia:

  סמכוני באשישות רפדוני בתפוחים כי חולת אהבה אני (ב)
 

(א) 3 Thus saith the Lord God; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it: 4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 5 Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.

(ב) Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

Blair's legacy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4tXPx5Bk5w

I fed ChatGPT all of the responses (as of UTC 13:38:38) and asked it to analyze the sentiment:

The forum is discussing whether ChatGPT and other generated responses should be banned. Some argue that these technologies can be useful, but that they should be used responsibly and in combination with human input. Others suggest that the best solution is to raise the community's standards for what counts as a good comment and make posts that are so thoughtful that the question of whether a comment is generated never comes up. Some also warn of the potential labor market impacts of advanced AI technologies, and the need to be cautious about their development and use. Overall, there seems to be a recognition of the need to be cautious about the development and use of these technologies.

Edit: my conclusion is that such generated summaries can be useful for very large threads (proceed with caution etc.)

Bartleby

English subs: https://youtu.be/dVSRJC4KAiE

>The bill proposed to cap personal fortunes at $100 million.

Around 2.2 Billion in today's dollars.

Yeah, I recall being quite taken a back, initially, when a Hemingway profile mentioned his A&F spree.

A highly recommended book about (real) football that transcends the genre is The Miracle of Castel di Sangro. Ostensibly an 'account by American writer Joe McGinniss of the first season Italian association football club Castel di Sangro Calcio spent in Serie B' it's really about an author's descent into madness through fanatical self-identification with his subject matter.

This article suggests about 5k euros in social costs per year for Germany

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180092...

>However arguing that he was traumatized from seeing Socrates’ trial is basically just making stuff up.

Traumatized is the wrong adjective to describe Plato's reaction (though probably an apt description of Popper's characterization) but Plato was shaped by the trial in respect to his view of the relationship of the philosopher and the (democratic) city.

This is depicted not just in the apology but also for example in the Gorgias where Socrates' death is foreshadowed:

>For as it is, if somebody should seize hold of you or anyone else at all of your sort [philosophers], and drag you off to prison, asserting that you were guilty of a wrong you had never done, you know you would be at a loss what to do with yourself, and would be all dizzy and agape without a word to say; and when you came up in court, though your accuser might be ever so paltry a rascal, you would have to die if he chose to claim death as your penalty.

There is further complexity here, after all Socrates proves himself quite capable of defending himself both in his reply to Callicles here and in the Apology, he was by no means at a loss of what to say. And so the notion that a philosopher cannot defend themselves in the political arena should not necessarily be taken to be Plato's position. Neither is Callicles espousing a particularly democratic position here, in fact the idea that the law can and should be abused like that would never be espoused by an Athenian democrat.

Still, the idea found in the Republic that a wise man would do well to stay quiet in a democratic city was certainly not shared by Socrates (and so may be a reflection of Plato's attitude).

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%...

>Is there anyone who died in the last decade you could make that sort of claim for?

One day Dylan will die, we can preemptively add him to the list

A list that includes the Hungarian Two Tailed Dog Party*

>The party platform promises eternal life, world peace, a one-day workweek, two sunsets a day (in assorted colours), lower gravity, free beer, and low taxes. Other electoral pledges have included building a mountain on the Great Hungarian Plain. Party election posters can mainly be seen in Szeged; most of them featured the candidate István Nagy, who is a two-tailed dog, with slogans such as "He's so cute, surely he isn't going to steal".

*which received nearly 2% of the vote in the last elections

I'm partial to the Athenian version of free speech. Every citizen was invited - nay, encouraged - to speak their mind and offer political advice in the assembly. But if your policy turned out to be disastrous to the city you'd be banished, your property confiscated, or worse.

The answer is direct cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty with few strings attached.

https://apolitical.co/solution-articles/en/brazil-lifts-mill...

http://blog.gdi.manchester.ac.uk/just-give-money-to-the-poor...

Note the paper advocates two separate policies (the second even less likely to happen than the first due to lack of political will) - taxing the global richest; spending it on the global poorest. Printing money isn't terribly relevant to this proposal since most of the global poor do not live in countries that can print US $.

Only one of these explanations is pluasible.

Berlin's population hasn't increased significantly since the end of WW2. There may be desirable areas that are experiencing demand spikes but the price increase seems city wide. Why is supply more of an issue right now? It is a question of (money) supply.

Orwell addressing his inner contradictions: 'I have no particular love for the idealized ‘worker’ as he appears in the bourgeois Communist’s mind, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on.'

The politics alluded to in the title involve obfuscating the nasty things done by governments through bureaucratic, convoluted or academic language.

Some of the most effective propagande is very clear and direct. Emerging forms of mass communication - from the radio to twitter - lend themselves particularly well to such lies.

Unfortunately the belief that power desires to mask itself (out of shame?) sometimes proves naïve.

The passage from Ecclesiastes is itself a translation of course, and though it is a very old translation it's not particularly good.

'I returned and saw under the sun' - where exactly is the speaker supposed to have returned from?

What is being conveyed, poorly, is that the speaker is having a moment of clarity.

https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt3109.htm

You are not getting full self driving.