Daily Tech News 23 September 2023

Top Story

Remember when NFTs sold for millions of dollars? 95% of the digital collectibles are now probably worthless. (Markets Insider) (archive site)

Remove "95% of", "now", and "probably".

My personal theory is that the NFT bubble was quantitative easing - free money flooding the economy looking for somewhere do go, and ending up in annoying place and making everything smell, the way floods always do, and why I live on a hill.

Tech News

Who is the son of Tom Cruise's mother? ChatGPT has no idea. (Substack)

It knows who Tom Cruise's mother was, but it doesn't know who her son is.

This is because LLMs - what passes for AI right now - don't know anything except which words commonly go together.
The tragedy of Google Search. (The Atlantic)

Leaving aside the moment the irony of The Atlantic commenting on a once-prominent institution turned to shit.

Google is facing an antitrust lawsuit right now, and is arguing that there are limits to economies of scale, which is absolutely true. But Google Search has turned to shit because (a) Google has turned to shit and (b) the internet has turned to shit, and is propped up by Google spending billions to keep it the default search engine everywhere.

The real problem here is (b). How can anyone build a good search engine today when the good content is drowning in shit? Breaking up Google doesn't help, because the internet is still shit.
Ten reasons why Windows is going in the wrong direction. (PC Magazine)

Actually, 10 features that show that Windows is going in the wrong direction.

The reason is Panos Panay, who is leaving Microsoft and heading over to Amazon to ruin their devices division.
Can government debt solve fertility? (Overcoming Bias)

When the underlying problem being discussed is government debt.

No.

This is stupid, you're stupid, and I feel stupid for having read your nonsense.
The problems with Cython. (PythonSpeed)

Cython is a halfway house between Python and C, which is great if you want to interface Python and C, but bad for anything else.

The solution on offer here is Rust, with code examples that look like a compiler vomited.
I'm fed up with it, so I'm writing a browser. (A Day in the Life Of)

Not me, someone else.

Good luck. Not an easy task but all the worthwhile advances are created by people who are fed up with the status quo.

100 opinions I hold.

Not me, the browser guy.

Though almost all of them are opinions I share, which is pretty damn unusual with lists of opinions found online.
The PQXDH Key Agreement Protocol. (Signal)

How Alice and Bob can chat privately in a post-quantum world without that damn Carol sticking her nose in.

Disclaimer: This open-source project is governed by the Pipkin Pippa Community Guidelines, as laid out below:

1. Fuck you.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1
Happy Spring, Pixy. What for us is Autumn is Spring for you upside down peoples.

Sol enters your hemisphere. Good on ya.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz) at September 23, 2023 04:03 AM (Mzdiz)

2 Still gonna be 0C overnight.

Not complaining, I moved here partly for the cooler weather.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 23, 2023 04:07 AM (BLOW1)

3 It's Caturday!

Posted by: Ciampino - Be scared Hydrogen, Helium has a contract out. Oxygen is gunning for you... at September 23, 2023 04:10 AM (qfLjt)

4 100 opinions I hold.
Not me, the browser guy.
Though almost all of them are opinions I share, which is pretty damn unusual with lists of opinions found online.

44 - It’s ok to have another opinion than everybody else.

If this were true, there would be no Internet.

Posted by: mikeski at September 23, 2023 04:18 AM (DgGvY)

5 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 04:20 AM (fwDg9)

6 "Can Government Debt Solve..."
STOP. The only thing government debt can solve is "How to kill an economy"

Posted by: Wally at September 23, 2023 04:28 AM (hqVaF)

7 No reason to be up now, have to get truck worked on mid morning. I'll go make coffee and think about it.

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 04:29 AM (fwDg9)

8 >>>How Alice and Bob can chat privately in a post-quantum world without that damn Carol sticking her nose in.

What did they do with Ted!!??

Posted by: m at September 23, 2023 04:30 AM (SbC6h)

9 Bigger the government the more corruption
Bureaucracy breads more Bureaucracy

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 04:30 AM (fwDg9)

10
Australia follows the superior 'meteorological' method of determining seasons, so their spring occurred on September first. It doesn't always work for everyone everywhere but here in SE PA it works for me. One helluva lot more accurate then some stupid groundhog.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 23, 2023 04:32 AM (enJYY)

11 Should have missed the Japanese Grand Prix qualifying, race it around 12:30am tonight.

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 04:32 AM (fwDg9)

12
27 - The more we rely on tools, frameworks and abstractions, the dumber we get.

Or as I like to say, “The chief benefit of JavaScript toolkits is that they condense to fifty or so kilobytes what would otherwise take several hundred bytes to do.”

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 23, 2023 04:40 AM (EXyHK)

13 Divide by Zero the Paoli Battlefield memorial is this afternoon but guessing a washout, would have liked to go

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 04:42 AM (fwDg9)

14 Pretending what we call "AI" to be an actual intelligence is a yuge mistake.

This would mean that all of the people who wrote text-in, text-out programs on a Zilog Z80 were the first "AI" pioneers.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 23, 2023 04:44 AM (KVGVf)

15 What did they do with Ted!!??
Posted by: m at September 23, 2023 04:30 AM (SbC6h)

Ted was a dick.

Posted by: tcn in AK, Hail to the Thief at September 23, 2023 04:45 AM (LOVUx)

16
The rain bands from 'Ophelia' haven't hit yet but they're sure gonna be here soon. All day. If we keep power on this weekend I'll be surprised.

Buried power lines, what a concept.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 23, 2023 04:46 AM (enJYY)

17 >>>100 opinions I hold

42 - Simple is better

AKA KISS

Posted by: m at September 23, 2023 04:53 AM (SbC6h)

18 >>>100 opinions I hold

43 - There are always people you hate, and there are always people who hate you.

; (

Posted by: m at September 23, 2023 04:54 AM (SbC6h)

19 Ted sleeps with the fishes.

Posted by: Tom Hagen at September 23, 2023 04:54 AM (C26rB)

20 “Ted didn’t drive the longest lasting most dependable truck on the road. Ted drove a Ford.”

Posted by: m at September 23, 2023 05:00 AM (SbC6h)

21 >> Australia follows the superior 'meteorological' method of determining seasons

I knew that. Well, recently. I didn't know about meteorological season definitions until a few years ago, when my cousin, the re-tard (redneck for retired) meteorologist 'splained it to me. That is, Northern hemisphere, Fall is Sept, Oct, Nov, Winter is Dec, Jan, Feb, etc, with the South 180 degrees out of phase.

This makes the most sense for average weather patterns.

Astronomical Season definitions have their uses. Meteorological is only "superior" relative to weather patterns. On average.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz) at September 23, 2023 05:01 AM (Mzdiz)

22 I use qwant search engine and can usually find what I’m looking for.

My complaint with the internet differs little from everyone on the right wing spectrum; censorship and shadow banning. And for reasons mostly boring and petty I especially dislike Internet Archive censoring and unindexing hundreds of anti-communist-Marxist ebooks.- and Google then unindexes those same books.

Posted by: 13times at September 23, 2023 05:03 AM (JlPlf)

23 I think NFTs was something they thought they could make a thing. They looked at the 'skin' market in games and figured 'Can we write this large?'

No. A game skin has value (to you) because you are already invested in the game and you want to personalize your character. Remove that initial investment and NFTs become 'art'- which means they have to stand on their own merit. There is a lot of shitty, worthless art.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at September 23, 2023 05:09 AM (zZu0s)

24 This is because LLMs - what passes for AI right now - don't know anything except which words commonly go together.

Are LLMs the irritating "type ahead" feature on many phones and computers?

Posted by: Bruce at September 23, 2023 05:10 AM (vd8XM)

25 22 I use qwant search engine and can usually find what I’m looking for.

My complaint with the internet differs little from everyone on the right wing spectrum; censorship and shadow banning. And for reasons mostly boring and petty I especially dislike Internet Archive censoring and unindexing hundreds of anti-communist-Marxist ebooks.- and Google then unindexes those same books.
Posted by: 13times at September 23, 2023 05:03 AM (JlPlf)

It is an odd thing. We all figured the internet was forever, but if you cannot find something, it might as well not exist. There is an article by Florence King called 'Matchstick Men' where she talked about a particular dude feeling that seems to be specific to dudes. Cannot find it now.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at September 23, 2023 05:11 AM (zZu0s)

26 Are LLMs the irritating "type ahead" feature on many phones and computers?
Posted by: Bruce at September 23, 2023 05:10 AM (vd8XM)

I have not seen it on the computer except when typing in autofill search results. I hate it on the phone. I'll type out my own 'ok' thank you very much!

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at September 23, 2023 05:12 AM (zZu0s)

27 Good morning morons

Local TV news reports a fencing operation well-known to the police is operating unmolested about a block from the Tenderloin police station.

fIGHtiNg CrYMeZ you guyz!
-Genius Mayor London Breed

Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 23, 2023 05:13 AM (RIvkX)

28 Who boy! I just read the content,

Don't cross Pixy today, he's in a mood.

Posted by: Bruce at September 23, 2023 05:13 AM (vd8XM)

29 44 - It’s ok to have another opinion than everybody else.

If this were true, there would be no Internet.
Posted by: mikeski at September 23, 2023 04:18 AM (DgGvY)

02 - Lots of comments are good. Incorrect comments are bad.

Actually, both are true- for everyone on the internet.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at September 23, 2023 05:16 AM (zZu0s)

30 I'll type out my own 'ok' thank you very much!
Posted by: Aetius451AD

HA!

Yep, it irritates me in conversations when someone tries to finish you sentence or thought. My wife loves try and do that to me for some reason.

Posted by: Bruce at September 23, 2023 05:18 AM (vd8XM)

31 Local TV news reports a fencing operation well-known to the police is operating unmolested about a block from the Tenderloin police station.

fIGHtiNg CrYMeZ you guyz!
-Genius Mayor London Breed
Posted by: San Franpsycho

Psst, hey kid. Ya wanna buy a foil?

Posted by: Bruce at September 23, 2023 05:19 AM (vd8XM)

32 There is an article by Florence King called 'Matchstick Men' where she talked about a particular dude feeling that seems to be specific to dudes. Cannot find it now.

Huh, you're right. I just gave it a try and could not find it.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at September 23, 2023 05:19 AM (C26rB)

33 What did they do with Ted!!??
Posted by: m

Ted gave a talk

Posted by: Pikov Andropov at September 23, 2023 05:20 AM (y7zkd)

34 Ted gave a talk
Posted by: Pikov Andropov

HA!

Posted by: Bruce at September 23, 2023 05:24 AM (vd8XM)

35 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 23, 2023 05:24 AM (ju2Fy)

36 What did they do with Ted!!??
Posted by: m

Oh Ted?...won't see him no more.

...Clemenza...

Posted by: Bruce at September 23, 2023 05:25 AM (vd8XM)

37 Bureaucracy breading Bureaucracy, case in point.
https://www.americanthinker.com/new federal credit card late fees rule will harm consumers

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 05:26 AM (fwDg9)

38 G'morning, all.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 23, 2023 05:31 AM (1n+EO)

39 I think I'm still getting wood from reading the opinion from the California magazine ban getting shot down in court yesterday.

https://tinyurl.com/y3ww9jtp

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 23, 2023 05:33 AM (1n+EO)

40 I heard audio from that F-35 pilot that ejected, when he was speaking to the 9-11 operator.

It does indeed sound like a male pilot.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 23, 2023 05:34 AM (1n+EO)

41
Florence King? The author of the "Misanthrope's Corner" in National Review in the Before Time?

I used to enjoy this. She died in 2016, and was objecting the "populist direction" of American conseratives at the time.

I'll remember her fondly, in the Before Time.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz) at September 23, 2023 05:37 AM (Mzdiz)

42 I don’t really know what to look for.

Florence King:
Our little old ladies get locked in the courthouse overnight because it's hard to see matchstick widows crouched in the stacks behind huge black-bound public records. They research things like the maiden name of the wife of Thomas Jefferson's overseer's grandfather's cousin — and they find it, too, because they have been practicing shintoism for so long that they are expert self-taught archivists. Even our baton-twirling airheads can manage history class because they know how to read genealogical charts and keep all the kings and queens straight.

Posted by: 13times at September 23, 2023 05:39 AM (LXlRM)

43 NFTs were amazing....if you were the conman selling, not so much for the buyer.

The only way that whole endeavor would have been great is if everyone involved ended up broke, because you had conmen selling to greedy and vain jerks. But the people facilitating the sales got rich, and lots of the sellers/flippers got rich, which is shit.

Hopefully they end up in a new scheme that changes that.

Now to chew on these tasty tulip bulbs i just purchased.

Posted by: Rbastid at September 23, 2023 05:43 AM (4POYX)

44 Odds were going to be it was a male pilot, wonder how many male to female qualified fighter pilots there are.
Wouldn't think even %1 women

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 05:43 AM (fwDg9)

45 40 I heard audio from that F-35 pilot that ejected, when he was speaking to the 9-11 operator.

It does indeed sound like a male pilot.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 23, 2023 05:34 AM (1n+EO)

I can't tell if this is fake. Considering the source, I would say "fake."

https://nitter.net/MJTruthUltra/
status/1705227729979777202#m

Posted by: m at September 23, 2023 05:46 AM (SbC6h)

46 Why would a downed pilot call 911? Reporting crash if saw it?
I would think calling his own command would be priority and let them call emergency personnel

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 05:51 AM (fwDg9)

47 Good morning all.
Has anyone heard from Sis AKA Maria l8ly ?

Mahalo
Noah Bawdy

Posted by: Noah Bawdy at September 23, 2023 05:53 AM (/tS8U)

48 I'd be happy to be wrong. I just don't see how to authenticate that audio. 24-hour rule, maybe.

Posted by: m at September 23, 2023 05:54 AM (SbC6h)

49 "I can't tell if this is fake. Considering the source, I would say "fake."
"

That audio is what is making the rounds down here in Charleston on the TV news.

So I'm pretty sure it's legit.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 23, 2023 05:54 AM (1n+EO)

50 Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This
is a really well written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful info.
Thanks for the post. I will definitely return.

Posted by: fuck at September 23, 2023 05:55 AM (cu51W)

51 On the upside of Google searches turned to shit, I no longer waste hours, and hours..... and hours late nights reading thru search results that actually provide relevant links. Anyone else used to do that? Sun would be coming up, a few hours before the alarm....damn, better grab a few Z's here....

So much potential enlightenment and entertainment turned to political trash.

Posted by: Son of Dad at September 23, 2023 06:00 AM (8JB5s)

52 KRAK OF DAWN HAS ARRIVED

Posted by: Skip at September 23, 2023 06:01 AM (fwDg9)

53 Local TV news reports Elon Musk has said he will donate $100K to defeat Supervisor Dean Preston.

Elon didn't like some comment Preston made about car break ins. Thanks Elon for getting ... involved.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 23, 2023 06:01 AM (RIvkX)

54 49 "I can't tell if this is fake. Considering the source, I would say "fake."

___

That audio is what is making the rounds down here in Charleston on the TV news.

So I'm pretty sure it's legit.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 23, 2023 05:54 AM (1n+EO)

Ok!

Posted by: m at September 23, 2023 06:03 AM (SbC6h)

55 Dallas mayor Eric Johnson has switched party affiliation from D to R. He railed against the new city budget saying there was no need to spend that much money

Posted by: Ben Had at September 23, 2023 06:08 AM (GcmTI)

56 Morning, all.
Orion is beautiful this morning- being able to walk into the back yard and see some of the night sky never palls.

I'm reading "The Boniface Option" by Andrew Isker, an evangelical writer. It's a counterpoint to "The Benedict Option" of several years ago and addresses one of my "Benedict" questions: where is the 'hunkering down and waiting out' going to take place?
Very few places, since 2020 is not 300 AD.

He refers to society today as "Trashworld" , which I am using from now on.

Posted by: sal: tolle adversarium et afflige inimicum at September 23, 2023 06:18 AM (KB0Aa)

57 Just gotta say, (as a former software engineer who gave up following tech news a couple decades ago) I really enjoy your posts Pixy (they're compelling, informative, and of course humorous/entertaining) -- and am glad you've become a daily contributor here at Ace of Spades HQ.

I often keep the tab open for them to share with the wifey, herself a retired software engineer who still does some occasional Open Source and Android App programming.

Cheers! -- ShainS

Posted by: ShainS -- Deplorable AND Listless Vessel AND Overimaginative Scamp at September 23, 2023 06:21 AM (2O5Io)

58 51 - It’s ok to fail

I actually hate this one. Yes, it does happen to all of us. It is best not to dwell or over invest in a failure.

BUT.

It should not be ok to fail. You should feel bad if you fail. You should want it to never happen again. Don't turn it into a psychosis, but there is a REASON we feel bad when we fail. A good reason.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at September 23, 2023 06:23 AM (zZu0s)

59 Dallas mayor Eric Johnson has switched party affiliation from D to R. He railed against the new city budget saying there was no need to spend that much money

Posted by: Ben Had at September 23, 2023 06:08 AM (GcmTI)

--------------

Saw that story earlier (I think over at CTH with a post by Sundance).

Whenever I see these red-pill stories, I always think of and quote by Golda Meir when Anwar Sadat finally visited Jerusalem in 1977: "What took you so long?"

[BTW, Brave Search -- which is my default search engine -- sucks and is horrible (BIRM); I couldn't find any reference in searching for that quote above (search term: "Golda Meir quote Anwar Sadat What took you so long"), so always have to go to Google (despite it being evil) to usually find what I'm looking for).]

Posted by: ShainS -- Deplorable AND Listless Vessel AND Overimaginative Scamp at September 23, 2023 06:27 AM (2O5Io)

60 He refers to society today as "Trashworld" , which I am using from now on.

Posted by: sal: tolle adversarium et afflige inimicum at September 23, 2023 06:18 AM (KB0Aa)

--------------

Trashworld > Clownworld vis-a-vis accuracy.

Posted by: ShainS -- Deplorable AND Listless Vessel AND Overimaginative Scamp at September 23, 2023 06:29 AM (2O5Io)

61 51 - It’s ok to fail

I actually hate this one. Yes, it does happen to all of us. It is best not to dwell or over invest in a failure.

BUT.

It should not be ok to fail. You should feel bad if you fail. You should want it to never happen again. Don't turn it into a psychosis, but there is a REASON we feel bad when we fail. A good reason.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at September 23, 2023 06:23 AM (zZu0s)

---------

Agreed. Same goes for shame.

Which is why the Western World had gone to ~~trash~~ hell, as the epidemic of narcissism has eliminated the concept of shame in many -- primarily of course among The Left.

Hellworld > Trashworld > Clownworld.

Posted by: ShainS -- Deplorable AND Listless Vessel AND Overimaginative Scamp at September 23, 2023 06:33 AM (2O5Io)

62 Bravo Pixy, also LOL!

meh, at least you can eat tulip bulbs ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - these lying bastardi e stronzi have been lying for decades at September 23, 2023 06:42 AM (YNbPJ)

63 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at September 23, 2023 08:08 AM (NBVIP)

64 So, the LLM-style of AI is basically the new Markov chain? Just now full of sound, and fury, but signifying nothing?

Posted by: Another Anon at September 23, 2023 08:24 AM (hwP7U)

65 I take pleasure in, lead to I found exactly what I was taking a look for.
You've ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day.
Bye

Posted by: fuck at September 23, 2023 09:01 AM (efWxU)

66 100 opinions I hold.

Not me, the browser guy.

Though almost all of them are opinions I share, which is pretty damn unusual with lists of opinions found online.

Of those related opinions I have, I agree with The Browser Guy. Seems to have his head screwed on right. Huh. I wonder how that happened.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at September 23, 2023 12:22 PM (iZEhM)

67 NFTs? Wait'll they find out about the ones with pictures of presidents on them.

Posted by: MartynWW at September 23, 2023 12:26 PM (sHP7b)

68 "The real problem here is (b). How can anyone build a good search engine today when the good content is drowning in shit? Breaking up Google doesn't help, because the internet is still shit."

Yes, but still; Fuck Google

Posted by: McDizzle at September 23, 2023 02:39 PM (97RSK)

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Posted by: jav at September 24, 2023 06:08 AM (JU1qh)

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Posted by: bellatrix at September 24, 2023 02:57 PM (+jUtP)

71 Piece of writing writing is also a fun, if you be acquainted with afterward you can write otherwise
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Posted by: casestudy.sbs at September 27, 2023 07:36 AM (wIgeV)

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