#data tricks

[odinsblog]

The website says it will help the viewer register to vote. But once a user clicks “Register to Vote,” the experience he or she will have can be very different, depending on where they live.

If a user lives in a state that is not considered competitive in the presidential election, like California or Wyoming for example, they'll be prompted to enter their email addresses and ZIP code and then directed quickly to a voter registration page for their state, or back to the original sign-up section.

But for users who enter a ZIP code that indicates they live in a battleground state, like Pennsylvania or Georgia, the process is very different.

Rather than be directed to their state’s voter registration page, they instead are directed to a highly detailed personal information form, prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age.

If they agree to submit all that, the system still does not steer them to a voter registration page. Instead, it shows them a “thank you” page.

So that person who wanted help registering to vote? In the end, they got no help at all registering. But they did hand over priceless personal data to a political operation.

Specifically, a political action committee created by Tesla

CEO Elon Musk, one aimed at giving the Republican presidential nominee Trump an advantage in his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic nominee.

“I have created a PAC, or a super PAC ... the America PAC,” Musk said in a recent interview.

(continue reading)

[taazaofferss]

FREE PharmEasy Plus Membership

 FREE PharmEasy Plus Membership  FREE PharmEasy Plus Membership – Hi guys, Hope you are enjoying Our Super duper free shopping offers & discounted deals on our Best telegram channel for loot deals & blog. Recently , we have posted Apollo Free membership & ₹100 Free products loot for Airtel Users. meanwhile , here is one more useful offer of the day if you are ordering medicines online & doing…

[chicago-geniza]

I am famously agoraphobic but the second I am prevented from going outside by forces external to myself (today: wildfire smoke), it feels like I am under temporary, arbitrary house arrest or like I've been unfairly grounded by a strict authority figure and it becomes absolutely imperative that I find a way to Sneak Out. Girl the AQI isn't your mom, you're not being punished, and if you go outside you will not feel the intoxicating thrill of broken rules, you will just have an asthma attack

[otakween]

[hackeocafe]

How To Learn Math for Machine Learning FAST (Even With Zero Math Background)

I dropped out of high school and managed to became an Applied Scientist at Amazon by self-learning math (and other ML skills). In this video I'll show you exactly how I did it, sharing the resources and study techniques that worked for me, along with practical advice on what math you actually need (and don't need) to break into machine learning and data science.

[rcsea]

discord domoai psa

Seeing a lot of misinformation about that new discord "ai bot" so hopefully this will alleviate some concerns. They are not scraping (as far as we know*) and though generative AI is icky, the bot only interacts with what you give it access to via the AI editing apps integrated into discord. There are still valid concerns to be had, but let's not fearmonger. Everything is at risk to AI when you post images in public spaces these days, but as this person tactfully explains below, you are no less safe than you were prior. Do with that what you will, but I encourage you to read through the entirety of this thread to address further concerns. It's one thing to be reasonably cautious with the information that we do know, and another thing to fearmonger over information that has either been disproven or has no proof to support it in the first place outside of public paranoia. Everyone has a right to make informed decisions and misinformation fearmongering interferes with that ability to remain correctly informed.

tl;dr

domoai is not scraping images (as far as we know*); it can only access images that you choose to edit in discord via the app integrations when you access that option yourself

domoai is not automatically in servers; it is an integrated app into discord itself

You cannot ban domoai because it is not in the server; if you do the "ban ID" trick people are suggesting, it appears as if it works because you can ban people who aren't even in your server and it will show successful every time. But the bot isn't truly a bot, it's an app integration and cannot be fully banned, no matter what the "success" popup may say. The way to really "ban" it is through outside permissions with discord itself.

The biggest issue with domoai in discord is not that they are automatically taking your images to train their ai, because they are not. The biggest issue is that other people in your server can use the ai apps on images you post in these shared servers, even if you don't. THAT is the true problem here at the present; your consent may rely on your fellow server mates.

GenAI is bad. Period. It's okay to be cautious. But you are at no greater risk of your images and artwork being stolen from discord than you were before, as is unfortunately the risk with posting art in any public forum these days.

READ THE FULL THREAD HERE

[sometimesanequine]

bonus horse brought to you by mental illness today

[fluffypotatey]

“Here we go.” “Hobie, you’re not helping.” “Good.”

i was already a fan, but this moment here??? this sealed my love for Hobie Brown. like, just that oh, oh i love him moment where you’re seeing a character who watches Miles criticize Miguel who eggs him on

[idol--hands]

Data: Do you think your soldiers can fire before I snap your spine? Madam Vivo: …We gave him…technology. A…remote space station, for his pet scientist. I’ll…give you the coordinates. Data: “WHAT IS HE DOING THERE?” Madam Vivo: “…being a…crazy &%@hole. Something you should…understand…”

[sluggybunny]

the shoulder is messed up and i dont wanna fix it.... but younger saturn for da comic. i considered shorter hair to make it more obvious but she doesnt cut her hair lol

[kaurwreck]

If you're following KOSA, you should also be following state legislation, which is much more rapidly adopting tech regulation related to child safety than Congress. For reference, in 2023, 13 states adopted 23 laws related to child safety online.

Even if your locality hasn't adopted similar tech regulation, online platforms, apps, and websites are rarely operating in only some states. When regulations become patchwork, it's often easier for companies to adopt policies reflective of the most stringent regulations relevant to their service for all users, rather than try to implement different policies for users based on each user's location.

I know this because that's what happened when patchwork data privacy regulations began swelling — which is why many webites have privacy policies reflective of the GDPR that apply even to users outside of Europe. I also know this because I'm a tech lawyer — I'm the wet cat drafting policies for and advising tech and video game companies on how to navigate messy, convoluted, and patchwork US regulatory obligations.

So, when I say this is how companies are thinking about this, I mean this is how my coworkers and I have to think about this. And because the US is such a large market, this could impact users outside the US, too.

[relto]

have to update a file system mount on some of our crates, which do NOT have nano installed, which means i now have to figure out how to use vi.. cry

[miles-edgewords]

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how much I wish we were taught in school how to interact with people online (and just how to use the internet in general) and then I remembered that I can type.

So, without further ado, I present…

How to Argue with People on the Internet

A (sort of) comprehensive guide on discussing everything from world peace to your blorbos

Forewordwarning: This is a long (but hopefully useful and entertaining) post. You have been warned.

SECTION I: The Decision

I have read SO many posts that essentially say “want to stop getting annoyed and fighting strangers? Just don’t! Simply do not!” and if that works for you? Fantastic! That is commendable and I salute you for it and I’m only a little bit jealous. (Okay, maybe more than a little bit jealous.) But if you’re like me—an absolute yapper, that is— you will likely find yourself in quite a few situations where you simply must yap. The urge is too strong. The stupidity of this collection of pixels on your screen that may or may not be the vessel for another human somewhere in the world is too much and you just have to tell them so. I understand. I will not tell you to hold back. I will, however, advise that before engaging with any individuals, you follow a few simple steps that I like to call “RAT”— otherwise known as Rest, Analyze, and Type.

Let’s say, for a moment, that you’ve just run into a comment hating on your favorite character in your favorite TV show. Yes, that one. You want to reply—but wait—you’ve just remembered to use RAT first! You intelligent human, you.

First, you REST. You take a moment to bookmark the comment (whether mentally or literally is up to you) and you step away from your phone (or you do what I do and look at that one youtube video of a parrot asking Alexa to fart 939472 times, you know the one) and you wait. Is this comment something you’re willing to take time out of your day to handle? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with deciding that it is, in fact, worth it— but it’s important to consider it first. You won’t ever have time to talk about the things you’re actually passionate about if you reply to every comment that bothers you. (Trust me— I’ve been there.)

Now, if you’ve decided to continue, reopen the comment and ANALYZE. This can mean many different things depending on the situation: is this comment generated by an AI? Is this person expressing a genuine opinion, or are they a troll? Have other people argued with them? If so, how did they respond? These are all important questions to ask, but it’s okay if you don’t know the answers to all of them. Just get the best information you can; you can always come back to this step later.

Finally, it’s time to TYPE. Let those words fly, friend! You tell ‘em!

SECTION II: Debating vs Fighting

So, you’ve RATted it up, and now you’ve decided it’s time to yap. But how to go about this? Should you be aggressive? Appeal to the enemy? What to do? Don’t worry, I’ve got another acronym for you! It’s time to take MOUSE into account: Motive, Openness, Understanding, Success, and Education.

First, think about your own MOTIVE. What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to change the other person’s mind? Are you unconcerned with changing their mind, instead going in with the intention to change the minds of others who might be reading through the conversation? Do you not care about changing anyone’s mind and simply want to discuss the topic at hand? All of these are valid, but they’re all very different. Deciding what your goal is prior to replying is one of the most important things about debating, whether it’s over the internet or face-to-face.

Once you’ve got that cleared up, it’s time to consider your OPENNESS and UNDERSTANDING. How open are you to potentially having your mind changed? Can you see a piece of truth in the other side of the argument? Do you understand where the commenter is coming from, or are they just being ridiculous? It’s okay to have opinions you aren’t open to changing on a whim— everyone has core beliefs that shape who they are as people. But sometimes looking at the other side through a lens of open-mindedness and a desire to understand is the most effective thing you can do. Give it a try— the worst thing that happens is the other person being just as bad as you thought they were.

Next, it’s time to address SUCCESS. What would succeeding look like here? This is similar to MOTIVE, but now we’re looking at the potential completion of the debate. What is the outcome you’re striving for?

Finally, EDUCATION. Is this a fact-based topic you want to educate people about, or is it purely opinion-driven? Either is fine, but if it’s fact-based, you should brush up on the facts of the situation— you don’t want to be caught in a lie and potentially humiliated, I hope. Also, misinformation on the internet is a huge issue. But mostly the humiliation thing.

Section III: Tips and Tricks

My last acronym contains an assortment of tips and tricks for internet usage and communication: Consent, Anonymity, Privacy, Yapping, Blocking, Apps, Reason, and Ability (CAPYBARA).

One of the most important things in life and on the internet is CONSENT. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to ask permission to voice your opinions— just that you should take into consideration the actual, living person on the other side of the screen. (Unless you’re arguing with an AI, in which case I suppose it probably doesn’t care much one way or the other). Ask before you DM people unless they state that their DMs are open. If someone blocks you, DO NOT make another account to harass them (yes, even if they’re really terrible). Consent online may look different than it does in real life, but it still follows the same ground rule: when in doubt, ASK.

ANONYMITY is another important thing to consider when you’re surfing among the virtual tides. Remember that even if someone displays their real name and picture on a website, you still don’t know them. They could be someone entirely different from the persona they’ve put up on the internet, and that’s okay. We all act differently depending on the situations and settings we’re in, and that’s dialed waaaay up when social media allows us to literally customize ourselves into what we want other people to see. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat people as if they’re real, but it does mean that you should take everything with a grain of salt— especially if someone is being an absolute jerk.

Okay, PRIVACY is the one section in here that anyone under a certain age probably did learn in class— along with its annoying younger cousin, PIRACY (you wouldn’t steal a CAR, would you?) You probably know by now that you shouldn’t share personal data online, so I won’t go into this one too much in this post. There are a billion textbooks about it, and as important as it is, it’s not something I’m really qualified to cover. Just don’t do anything stupid and you should be fine.

YAPPING— everyone’s favorite thing to do on the internet! For the most part, this is a reminder that you should have fun. If you feel like you can’t yap about your interests in the space you’re in, maybe you should relocate— whether that’s to a different app, a different blog, or even just to a different comment section is up to you. You should feel free to voice your opinions and talk about the things you love (within reason—don’t get yourself on an FBI watchlist—but you get the idea).

BLOCKING is one of the most underrated features on many social media apps. There is absolutely nothing wrong with blocking someone and moving on. It doesn’t make you a coward; it makes you someone who values your own time and safety. You are never obligated to argue with someone just because they said so. And—this is one of my favorite internet secrets—you can block people you agree with. If someone’s posts are well-meaning and useful, but they upset you or make you uncomfortable? You can still block them, or mute/restrict them if the app you’re using allows it. You are not a bad person for not wanting to see things that upset you in your day-to-day life. You can support good causes without reading about tragedies every morning. Digging yourself into a depressive hole isn’t going to help anything. Please, please use the block button. It’s there for a reason.

APPS are another variable you should consider when catering your online experience. For instance, you can make a nuanced post on Tumblr and more realistically expect reasonable replies because you aren’t confined to a tiny amount of characters. Trying to express the same point on Twitter, however, likely risks people getting extremely angry at you due to the nature of the app not allowing nuanced conversations. That’s not to say Tumblr is necessarily superior— just that they’re different areas with different setups. The reason Twitter is so no-nuance a lot of the time isn’t just due to the people— the app is deliberately set up so that users can’t make multiple points in one post. This also attracts people who don’t want to have nuanced conversations, which feeds the cycle. This is an (extremely oversimplified) explanation of why most social media apps feel so separate from each other, even if you follow all the same people. You should know your audience—but you should also know your stage.

It’s important to have a certain amount of REASON and common sense when you’re talking to someone about the skrunkly little guys in your favorite movie. It’s not that you can’t be passionate—I once essentially made an entire powerpoint presentation about why I think my opinion about a fictional cat person is the correct one—but you need to remember that not everything is the same level of seriousness. Expressing an opinion about whether Team Rocket are actually villains is not the same thing as expressing an opinion about the upcoming US election. (Though I think Team Rocket could potentially do an okay job, to be honest. Meowth 2024?) You can 100% have intense, long discussions about fictional characters, but it’s never worth genuinely harming your own mental health or attacking someone else because of an opinion that ultimately doesn’t hurt anyone. It’s okay to agree to disagree.

Lastly, remember that a lot of this is not intuitive. Your ABILITY to make smart decisions online is a skill that takes time to develop (as is evidenced by 99% of past me’s Twitter posts) and it’s important to give yourself grace. As much as the internet hates to admit it, we all make mistakes. Just own up to those mistakes and move on. It’s okay to delete a post you made because you don’t agree with it anymore. It’s okay to come back to an argument and apologize for going too far. It’s okay to not be perfect. Accept the consequences of your own actions and move forward.

[neomedievalist]

This is so fucking cute. imagining a world where fate zero was good. everyone myself included has already daydreamed of writing a fic where they grab sakura and run and become her new dads and have yaoi together. Please god

[canyouhearmeow]

i doubt anna had an especially pleasant time working with the ai dev team but also she's likely handled hundreds of problem students and difficult classrooms in her lifetime. four high-achiever asshole programmers are Nothing to her

[planeoftheeclectic]

Trick or treat!

For you, a magical trio of images!

These are three pictures showing Saturn's ultraviolet aurorae over its southern pole! Here on Earth, our magnetic field is relatively weak, so auroral storms only last for a few hours. On Saturn, the aurora never seem to stop! The aurora on both planets are caused when the planet's magnetic field meets the solar wind - a stream of charged particles from the Sun. Even though Saturn is almost 10 times further from the Sun than Earth, its magnetic field is so much stronger that its auroras are much brighter and energetic! We can't see them with the naked eye, but with the help of UV instruments like the ones on Hubble everyone on Earth can marvel at the dancing lights above a planet very far from home. That's my favorite kind of magic!

These images were created using Hubble's ACS camera and STIS spectrograph in 2005!