Fabrice Bellard:
- creator of FFmpeg
- creator of QEMU
- creator of tiny C compiler
- held the world record for digits of pi calculated by coming up with his own algorithm
- created a compression scheme for text that holds the number 1 place

— kache (yacine) (e λ /) (@yacineMTB) August 4, 2023

(Daily Mail) Janitor pulls the plug on storage freezer in New York lab to stop incessant beep - but also destroys DECADES worth of science research worth $1million

• An unnamed custodian allegedly unplugged a freezer containing cell cultures, samples and other elements to further analyze photosynthesis

• The sudden temperature change 'compromised, destroyed and rendered unsalvageable' the majority of the specimens

• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is seeking an unspecified amount of damages from the third-party contractor

A janitor - apparently fed up with a constant beeping coming from a freezer at a New York lab - allegedly shut it down for some peace and quiet but in the process also destroyed $1million worth of research.

The unnamed custodian from Daigle Cleaning Services was working at the Cogswell Building at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, on the night of September 17, 2020, when he said he heard 'annoying alarms'.

He opened an electrical box and shut off the circuit breaker, a lawsuit filed in Rensselaer County court claims, sending the temperatures inside the freezer to jump from negative 112 degrees Fahrenheit to negative 25.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The move caused damages believed to be at least $1million, but the university is seeking an unspecified amount of money in the lawsuit against the janitor's third-party contractor.

'A majority of specimens were compromised, destroyed and rendered unsalvageable, demolishing more than 20 years of research,' the lawsuit says.

The freezer alarm had been triggered by a mechanical malfunction that stopped the unit from maintaining a constant temperature, according to the lawsuit,

Repairs for the freezer — which held cell cultures, samples and other elements to further analyze photosynthesis to improve solar panel development — had been scheduled for September 21.

In the meantime, the suit argued, a letter hung on the freezer explaining the source of the alarm, with instructions on how to silence it.

'This freezer is beeping as it is under repairs,' the sign reportedly said in all capital letters. 'Please do not move or unplug it.

'No cleaning required in this area,' the letter continued. 'You can press the alarm/test mute button for five to 10 seconds if you would like to mute the sound.'

But the cleaner has claimed to public safety officers on campus that he thought he was flipping the circuit breaker on.

'People's behavior and negligence caused all this,' RPI's attorney Michael Ginsberg told the Albany Times Union. 'Unfortunately, they wiped out 25 years worth of research.'

Ginsberg added it would cost an estimated $1million to replicate the work under Professor KV Lakshmi, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology.

Daigle Cleaning Services, meanwhile, had a $1.4million contract with the school to clean facilities during the fall 2020 semester.

Of course they did. Powerjannies have no backbone except to powertrip on the only thing they have in their pathetic little lives, Reddit.

Also lmao Reddit won a phyrric victory at best

Lemmytards

Orange Site

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37003134

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/15ic0td/the_reddit_protest_is_finally_over_reddit_won/

Here's a statement that captures the annoying semiotics of what is going on with the LK-99. https://t.co/f9DtAw1vQR

— Iris (@iris_IGB) August 4, 2023

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36996337

edit: thread theme:

!admin

!codecels

[dead] Most men live lives of quiet desperation, but I'm not one of them

1 point by davix55 28 minutes ago | flag | unvouch | hide | past | favorite

There's a lot of ways to give meaning to life. You can get married, have pets, get the job of your dreams, you fill your time with cheap dopamine, you can have many acquaintances you call friends who are just as average as you - that should feel familiar enough to know you are enough.

But to find true meaning you have to know the real you. I have many traits, many masks. The mask of fear, the one of smarts, the mask of joy, but in the rare glimpses where I can be the real me, I am a dreamer, I can build realities in my head and believe in them with all my heart without ever knowing if they will be real. I can imagine worlds and even see them, I can live 1000 lives in my head, and I have, but how can the real me in a dream world? Conventional wisdom doesn't interest me, nor conventional pathways in life. I always believed I was a teenager rebelling against his parents, a poor boy trying to be rich or at least make enough money to buy new shoes, never knowing that that's the real me. I don't quit. I don't give up. When I set my mind to it, I make it happen. What I haven't realized is that the power of the universe is infinite and all anyone has to do is feel, understand and dream. That and work your butt off. There's a famous saying: millionaires don't believe in astrology, only billionaires do. I want to be me more than I want to be rich, because once that happens, peace will follow.

I have a very important interview tomorrow and I practiced with a friend, asked around, prepared, I did prepare. I prepared more than I usually do, that's how I know I'll get it. But something was missing. When talking about the team I automatically thought that I have no achievements and my employees do. So I put some phases in CHATGPT to see what it comes up with. It was pretty good, but the word that kept repeating was “nonconventional”.

And I am. After a lot of preparation, thinking about the go to market and whatnot I almost forgot the most important: be me. I'm a maverick, a square peg in a round hole, I'll never fit in, and why would I? The moment I'm close to fitting in I get bored because I'm an infinite learner fascinated by human behavior. At every party I have fun because I observe people, it's like a TV show. I look through the eyes of my persona and see how people see me, but when I look into the eyes of my persona it is hard to understand my achievements because all that matters is the next one and while biggest one hasn't happened yet: being myself.

Funny that I said "every party". I don't go to parties because I'm not invited. I'm not invited because I don't answer people when they call, I don't text back or when I do text I just say "ok".

Is a person defined by the actions they take, the feelings they feel, the words they say, the lives they live, personality traits? The problem with finding the real me is what makes up a "me".

For me, a person is defined by their actions so can I define myself by my actions? Most men live lives of quiet desperation, but I'm not one of them. I am chasing my dream, I prolonged the chase so I didn't reach the goal because the goal was always to be myself and there's nothing more scary. Until now. Regardless of the interview, I will be me, the real me and more than enough to succeed.

NEW: Hyun-Tak Kim (writer of the 6 author LK-99 Superconductor paper) has provided the New York Times with a new video showing the levitating LK-99 sample. pic.twitter.com/Y3OwPhJlzP

— Floates0x (@floates0x) August 3, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/03/science/lk-99-superconductor-ambient.html

The jiggle is bizarre. If it's not Meissner, that's a hoax. If it's Meissner, the effect is strongly biased towards one end and the repulsion is very strong. It also rotates with the magnet. If it's a hoax- at this point, wtf. Would be the end of all scientific reputibility in SK for life.

!codecels add anything that non-nerds would appreciate about LK-99 and superconductors.

OKAY CARP. You know how your phone gets hot sometimes, or if you feel the bottom of your computer () it can feel like it is on fire? That's because electricity makes things hot as it runs through them. This isn't good, and it's why your computer has a fan in it that buzzes all the time! It's also wasteful, because that heat is actual energy that could be powering things, so it's costing YOU money! (That's also how electric blankets work BTW )

What if there was something that didn't get hot when you ran power through it? That would be pretty cool, literally. Since your computer wouldn't get so hot, you could actually run it faster (if you run it too fast right now, it would melt ). It could also reduce your electric bill, since you wouldn't have to worry about waste heat! That's what a superconductor is - it's a conductor, just super powered.

There's also some other really cool things about superconductors that you should know as well. Superconductors can make things levitate really well. Watch this:

C'mon, you've got to admit this is cool!

Some people made it into a train track. I've cut to the cool part. Watch it zip around!

At the very least you have to admit that would be fun to play with

Right now the biggest problem with superconductors is you have to keep them super cold or under tons of pressure . Which sucks because earth doesn't get that cold or that highly pressurized, or you'd die instantly . The Koreans claimed to have made a superconductor that you can play with in your normal day-to-day life - it can be at normal temperatures. They call it LK99 (idk why). We are all watching and hoping it's the real deal because that would be SWEET.

I'm switching my Linux install away from PopOS because GNOME is shit. With the release of Solus 4.4 and MX Linux 23 I've narrowed it down to those two, which should I pick?

!chuds !codecels !schizomaxxxers discuss

As we know by now (see previous installment if you haven't already), the Brexit guy, Nigel Farage has been kicking up a fuss about having his Coutts business account closed due to his political wrong-think, mainly being a racist and xenophobe according to internal documents (Coutts lied about the commercial viability of course). But since we last posted about this, the story has evolved again: Alison Rose, the CEO of Natwest (which owns the Coutts bank) has stepped down (supposedly by force from the Treasury) after disclosing private information to the BBC about Farage.

Boss number 1 (defeated):

Another small victory as a result of this chaos is that banks will now need to give customers 90 days notice and the reason for the account closure. Based Jacob Rees-Mogg has also brought up the issue in parliament (video) and Farage is even getting support from the Left media as can be seen by the Guardian.

The battle is far from over however.

According to Farage, up to 1000 bank accounts are being closed every day by bong banks (a typical publicized case here). They are even using an international agency called Refinitiv (see 6:40), which they use to snoop in on customer's social media accounts to advise banks of our credit worthiness. Suffice to say, Nigel wants more vengeance, including litigation letters involving compensation and face to face meetings with the BBB (bank bong bosses) as well as more legislation in general to prevent banks from cancelling bongs. Listening to him below, he has the kind of tenacity we usually see from the likes of Null or Bardy perhaps, or maybe like a pitbull that doesn't release its grip........., but the good kind of pitbull. <cue Marsey pitbull emoji>

Nigel mini speech here: https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1686078436778115072

Nigel is now after Boss number 2, otherwise known as Coutts' CEO or Peter Flavel:

This is the guy who was apparently ultimately responsible for Nigel's account being closed, though there's someone else too - Camilla Stowell, the head of private clients - a (surprise) hardcore Remainer who "has judged a diversity essay prize" I present - Boss number 3:

She has been Farage's point of contact throughout this whole ordeal, and Nigel described his conversations with her (xer?) as “very condescending”.

So, other than the bosses, Farage has also put a site together called accountclosed.org which enables the victims of bank closures to submit "subject access requests", in an effort to gather data on the nature of the account closures, ultimately with the goal of taking this info to parliament and act upon it further. Some politicians are already drafting bills to enshrine the right to a bank account into law. People can also contact the Financial Ombudsman Service which have the power to force banks to reopen the customer's account.

To end with, I'll post this video clip from Ricky Gervais. I wonder if you'll be able to remember it. Something about old fashioned women (with wombs). It was apparently a factor in Farage's original account closure and Farage was labelled transphobic by Coutts for retweeting it (Ricky sketch starts 15 seconds in):

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1681579165152059392

I have made the painful and necessary decision to undertake a restructuring and we will reduce the size of our team by up to approximately 12%. This comes as disappointing news, as we've all built strong connections with our fellow Hackeronies.

@hi discuss

Paywalled but here is the text:

The lawsuit began like so many others: A man named Roberto Mata sued the airline Avianca, saying he was injured when a metal serving cart struck his knee during a flight to Kennedy International Airport in New York.

When Avianca asked a Manhattan federal judge to toss out the case, Mr. Mata's lawyers vehemently objected, submitting a 10-page brief that cited more than half a dozen relevant court decisions. There was Martinez v. Delta Air Lines, Zicherman v. Korean Air Lines and, of course, Varghese v. China Southern Airlines, with its learned discussion of federal law and “the tolling effect of the automatic stay on a statute of limitations.”

There was just one hitch: No one — not the airline's lawyers, not even the judge himself — could find the decisions or the quotations cited and summarized in the brief.

That was because ChatGPT had invented everything.

The lawyer who created the brief, Steven A. Schwartz of the firm Levidow, Levidow & Oberman, threw himself on the mercy of the court on Thursday, saying in an affidavit that he had used the artificial intelligence program to do his legal research — “a source that has revealed itself to be unreliable.”

Mr. Schwartz, who has practiced law in New York for three decades, told Judge P. Kevin Castel that he had no intent to deceive the court or the airline. Mr. Schwartz said that he had never used ChatGPT, and “therefore was unaware of the possibility that its content could be false.”

He had, he told Judge Castel, even asked the program to verify that the cases were real.

It had said yes.

Mr. Schwartz said he “greatly regrets” relying on ChatGPT “and will never do so in the future without absolute verification of its authenticity.”

Judge Castel said in an order that he had been presented with “an unprecedented circumstance,” a legal submission replete with “bogus judicial decisions, with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations.” He ordered a hearing for June 8 to discuss potential sanctions.

As artificial intelligence sweeps the online world, it has conjured dystopian visions of computers replacing not only human interaction, but also human labor. The fear has been especially intense for knowledge workers, many of whom worry that their daily activities may not be as rarefied as the world thinks — but for which the world pays billable hours.

Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics professor at New York University School of Law, said the issue was particularly acute among lawyers, who have been debating the value and the dangers of A.I. software like ChatGPT, as well as the need to verify whatever information it provides.

“The discussion now among the bar is how to avoid exactly what this case describes,” Mr. Gillers said. “You cannot just take the output and cut and paste it into your court filings.”

The real-life case of Roberto Mata v. Avianca Inc. shows that white-collar professions may have at least a little time left before the robots take over.

It began when Mr. Mata was a passenger on Avianca Flight 670 from El Salvador to New York on Aug. 27, 2019, when an airline employee bonked him with the serving cart, according to the lawsuit. After Mr. Mata sued, the airline filed papers asking that the case be dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired.

In a brief filed in March, Mr. Mata's lawyers said the lawsuit should continue, bolstering their argument with references and quotes from the many court decisions that have since been debunked.

Soon, Avianca's lawyers wrote to Judge Castel, saying they were unable to find the cases that were cited in the brief.

When it came to Varghese v. China Southern Airlines, they said they had “not been able to locate this case by caption or citation, nor any case bearing any resemblance to it.”

They pointed to a lengthy quote from the purported Varghese decision contained in the brief. “The undersigned has not been able to locate this quotation, nor anything like it in any case,” Avianca's lawyers wrote.

Indeed, the lawyers added, the quotation, which came from Varghese itself, cited something called Zicherman v. Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd., an opinion purportedly handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in 2008. They said they could not find that, either.

Judge Castel ordered Mr. Mata's attorneys to provide copies of the opinions referred to in their brief. The lawyers submitted a compendium of eight; in most cases, they listed the court and judges who issued them, the docket numbers and dates.

The copy of the supposed Varghese decision, for example, is six pages long and says it was written by a member of a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit. But Avianca's lawyers told the judge that they could not find that opinion, or the others, on court dockets or legal databases.

Bart Banino, a lawyer for Avianca, said that his firm, Condon & Forsyth, specialized in aviation law and that its lawyers could tell the cases in the brief were not real. He added that they had an inkling a chatbot might have been involved.

Mr. Schwartz did not respond to a message seeking comment, nor did Peter LoDuca, another lawyer at the firm, whose name appeared on the brief.

Mr. LoDuca said in an affidavit this week that he did not conduct any of the research in question, and that he had “no reason to doubt the sincerity” of Mr. Schwartz's work or the authenticity of the opinions.

ChatGPT generates realistic responses by making guesses about which fragments of text should follow other sequences, based on a statistical model that has ingested billions of examples of text pulled from all over the internet. In Mr. Mata's case, the program appears to have discerned the labyrinthine framework of a written legal argument, but has populated it with names and facts from a bouillabaisse of existing cases.

Judge Castel, in his order calling for a hearing, suggested that he had made his own inquiry. He wrote that the clerk of the 11th Circuit had confirmed that the docket number printed on the purported Varghese opinion was connected to an entirely different case.

Calling the opinion “bogus,” Judge Castel noted that it contained internal citations and quotes that, in turn, were nonexistent. He said that five of the other decisions submitted by Mr. Mata's lawyers also appeared to be fake.

On Thursday, Mr. Mata's lawyers offered affidavits containing their version of what had happened.

Mr. Schwartz wrote that he had originally filed Mr. Mata's lawsuit in state court, but after the airline had it transferred to Manhattan's federal court, where Mr. Schwartz is not admitted to practice, one of his colleagues, Mr. LoDuca, became the attorney of record. Mr. Schwartz said he had continued to do the legal research, in which Mr. LoDuca had no role.

Mr. Schwartz said that he had consulted ChatGPT “to supplement” his own work and that, “in consultation” with it, found and cited the half-dozen nonexistent cases. He said ChatGPT had provided reassurances.

“Is varghese a real case,” he typed, according to a copy of the exchange that he submitted to the judge.

“Yes,” the chatbot replied, offering a citation and adding that it “is a real case.”

Mr. Schwartz dug deeper.

“What is your source,” he wrote, according to the filing.

“I apologize for the confusion earlier,” ChatGPT responded, offering a legal citation.

“Are the other cases you provided fake,” Mr. Schwartz asked.

ChatGPT responded, “No, the other cases I provided are real and can be found in reputable legal databases.”

But, alas, they could not be.

We’re not banning AI. Our policy requires that projects:

✅ Involve human creative input
✅ Credit and obtain permission for any artist's work that it references

We want Kickstarter to be a place where creators can embrace emerging tech. But it's crucial to continue honoring…

— Kickstarter (@Kickstarter) August 1, 2023

Kickstarter Policy:

https://updates.kickstarter.com/introducing-our-new-ai-policy/

There's nothing in the comments you wouldn't expect to hear since it's such a tired subject, but it's amusing how much energy and seethe people are still putting into it.

"Eunuchs, as everybody knows, are dangerous people to cross..."

— John Julius Norwich, History of Venice

— Paul Graham (@paulg) August 2, 2023

Second #lk99 replication from China pic.twitter.com/jcI3C35hxF

— LERE (@lere0_0) August 1, 2023

Re-uploaded for my rate-limited bros

Notice how the rock does the same thing irrespective of which way the magnet is oriented? Notice the absolute lack of refrigeration equipment? This is the real deal. I feel like we can finally relax. Everything's going to be just fine.