@cdarwin@c.im2026-07-13 03:18:46
There are some words out there that are brilliantly evocative.
Yiddish has the word shlimazl, which basically means a perpetually unlucky person.
German has the word Backpfeifengesicht, which roughly means a face that is badly in need of a fist.
And then there’s the Japanese word tsundoku, which perfectly describes the state of my apartment.
It means buying books and letting them pile up unread.
The word dates back to the very beginning of modern Japan, the M…
@BBC3MusicBot@mastodonapp.uk2026-07-14 20:45:00
🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#TheEssay
- The Dawn of Music
When did we learn to make music from green and growing things? Grasses, reeds, woods. Archaeologist Dr Brenna Hassett unearths the origins of human music.
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002yn2g
@fgraver@hcommons.social2026-05-05 14:53:29
«Yet, here’s the thing. Paradise Lost is too great, too bizarre and too outrageously excessive a work to be handed over, even in part, to a construct based merely on finding the most likely outcome to any given question. No matter how gifted the prompter, it is hard to imagine Midjourney or Runway wowing us with anything more than the most cliched and over polished visual deja vu. It’s also slightly ironic that if anyone actually asked Satan what he thought about this turn of events, the Pri…
@scott@carfree.city2026-06-11 17:59:18
We need to bring back the concept of “selling out.” Nothing could be more opposed to the spirit of Last Black Man in SF than Joe Talbot’s new propaganda video for Daniel Lurie’s billionaire agenda. Talbot is a hack and a disgrace who betrayed his city.
https://
@mxp@mastodon.acm.org2026-07-07 19:27:17
“When the time comes, the AI industry must burn. It must be allowed to die. Generative AI has already been given far too much money, oxygen and attention, and if it cannot survive without continual venture capital and media coddling, it is unworthy and unnecessary, and must face the cold, hard reality that every regular person faces when they fail.”
Amen to that!
@Techmeme@techhub.social2026-05-08 00:50:49
Mozilla says Anthropic's Mythos Preview and other AI models helped it identify and ship 423 Firefox security bug fixes in April, compared to 31 a year earlier (Russell Brandom/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/07/how-anth…
@BBC3MusicBot@mastodonapp.uk2026-07-13 20:45:58
🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#TheEssay
- The Dawn of Music
When did we, as a species, first start to sing? Archaeologist Dr Brenna Hassett unearths the origins of human music, starting with the first ever instrument: the human voice.
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002yml9
@pre@boing.world2026-05-11 09:30:55
Starmer is doing a thing about election results. Is he resigning? 
He says the elections were tough, he lost brilliant representatives. He feels the hurt and takes responsibility. Not just for the results, but also for explaining how they'll do better in the years ahead.
Times are dangerous, opponents are very dangerous, if we don't get it right the country will be on a very dark path.
He takes responsibility for navigation in this dangerous world and for not walking away.
Oh right, he's not resigning then. 😦
He says he'll prove his doubters wrong. He's learned a lot! And realizes now we need a bigger response to this unordinary times.
Times demand serious progressive leadership he says, and Zack or Nigel can't provide that. [Citation needed] Only Labour can [Really, come on, citation needed]
He's pleased to be reducing NHS waiting lists and crime, and for some reason is pleased migration is coming down too.
He says he realizes that people don't think Labour cares about them. So that's something.
So his plan to fix things after this election is to talk more about why he's doing things instead of just saying what he's doing.
Right. Sure. That'll help.
He admits millions of people, like his sister, don't get respect or help and are held back because the status quo doesn't work.
He says he's fighting for them but, eh, perhaps he should be doing that thing where he says more about why and how?
He says we need a complete break to take control of energy and defense and fairness (he isn't resigning though, not THAT complete a break)
"Strength Through Fairness, Hope and Urgency" is his plan.
Three concrete examples of the plan:
Sure, about time, not like the Greens are against that.
Doesn't sound like he wants a re-join though, so not really sure what this means. The EU don't allow partial memberships or cherry picking benefits. Some kind of external heart I guess, an outside-body heart pump?
No. He's going to guarantee training or work placements to school leavers.
So in response to likely being unelected next time, he'll nationalize steel (now he's failed to find a corporate buyer anyway), is going to renegotiate with Europe (again, they have no better offers to give), and offer apprenticeships to education-leavers (who are still going to be mostly in debt by then).
Right.
Oh, and he's going to ban more marches too. Almost forgot that.
What a cock.
He did sound a bit passionate at least for a change.
#ukpol #starmer
@Techmeme@techhub.social2026-06-03 06:06:10
UnearthInsight: Indian IT companies have spent $7.1B on acquisitions since the start of 2025 to gain clients, as AI-led pricing pressure weakens organic growth (Shristi Achar/The Economic Times)
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/t…
@BBC3MusicBot@mastodonapp.uk2026-07-16 20:45:07
🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#TheEssay
- The Dawn of Music
How did the invention of clay change how we made instruments? Archaeologist Dr Brenna Hassett unearths the origins of human music.
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002yn8b