Vale Tito Jackson.
Really sad news about a talented musician who was far too often overlooked in favour of his more famous siblings: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2kddp5x5zno
Here's a performance by Tito from earlier this year, with Austin Brown and BLVK CVSTLE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBobSF68Tdk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65eEHAMZMSo
#TitoJackson #music #Pop #PopMusic #MichaelJackson #JanetJackson #Jackson5 @music
And another one bites the dust — this time it's Rex.
It's a real shame, because (at least from my experience) their staff were far friendlier and more accommodating. And their prices were reasonable.
(They also never seemed to sell all their business class seats, so a seat up the front could be yours for $50 extra if you wanted it.)
I wonder whether Qantas or Virgin will pick up the regional routes?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-30/rex-airlines-enters-voluntary-administration/104155898
#airlines #Rex @australia #business #auspol #airline #bankrupt
Adam Neely makes a really insightful point about the limitations of "generative AIs"/LLMs and music.
LLMs can mimic the output of music, but they can't handle the process of making music.
I think his insight applies to many other creative fields as well. LLMs mimic the output, but not the process:
https://youtu.be/N8NyEjB_XeA?si=sUgCV6aeITBqas5E
@music #LLM #music #GenAI #generativeAI #tech #technology #chatGPT
It's time to call a spade a spade. ChatGPT isn't just hallucinating. It's a bullshit machine.
From TFA (thanks @mxtiffanyleigh for sharing):
"Bullshit is 'any utterance produced where a speaker has indifference towards the truth of the utterance'. That explanation, in turn, is divided into two "species": hard bullshit, which occurs when there is an agenda to mislead, or soft bullshit, which is uttered without agenda.
"ChatGPT is at minimum a soft bullshitter or a bullshit machine, because if it is not an agent then it can neither hold any attitudes towards truth nor towards deceiving hearers about its (or, perhaps more properly, its users') agenda."
https://futurism.com/the-byte/researchers-ai-chatgpt-hallucinations-terminology
Time for an ICQ for the Fediverse?
Looks like ICQ is finally shutting down, just as interest in retro internet tools is growing.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/25/24164579/icq-shut-down-june
I'm thinking seriously about getting Google out of my life, and trying NextCloud.
Looking to get a personal account through a managed provider.
Does anyone have any experience with it?
How does it compare to ownCloud?
Any hosts I should look at or avoid?
Any apps I should get for it, or avoid?
Any issues I should be aware of before I switch?
A huge congratulations to @philipthalis on his well-deserved award.
Philip is undeniably both one of Australia's most respected architects and a tireless advocate for good urban design.
More importantly, he's not afraid to speak up publicly against bad state government planning decisions, as he did with Barangaroo, even when there's a personal cost.
@urbanism #Planning #UrbanPlanning #Cities #Urbanism #Buildings #Architecture #Transport #Architect #Walking #Walkability
So despite climate change, Australia's federal government has just committed an extra $3.25 billion into building a toll road and a 20-lane freeway widening.
For those who wonder why Aussies think toll roads are a scam (https://aus.social/@LesserAbe@lemmy.world/112405373613706682), here's a great example of why.
"Pouring an extra $3.25 billion worth of federal funds into Melbourne’s North East Link is a good use of taxpayer money, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted, despite the project’s cost doubling just a few months ago.
...
"The North East Link – which includes 6½ kilometres of tunnels – will stretch from Bulleen to Greensborough. It will widen the Eastern Freeway by up to 20 lanes.
"Allan revealed in December that the 10-kilometre toll road had more than doubled in cost since it was first announced.
"The toll road was initially budgeted at $10 billion and reassessed in 2019 at $15 billion. But the government revealed last year that the updated cost estimate was $26 billion."
@fuck_cars #Urbanism #Auspol #Vicpol #roads #UrbanPlanning #transport #cities #Melbourne #Naarm #Victoria #Australia
The toll road scam: A government-made monopoly you pay for.
Here's a funny-because-it's-true take on Transurban and the poor tax it imposes, from Punter's Politics:
https://youtu.be/FlKBakPAtiw?si=G39_0GcJzSB0SSA8
#cars #roads #fuckcars @fuck_cars #tolls #tollroads #memes #funny #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #auspol #vicpol #nswpol
So the RTA's own modelling showed the Rozelle Interchange would be a traffic disaster—but generating more toll road trips for Transurban was more important.
"The [NSW Roads and Traffic Authority] finalised the first business case for the WestConnex tunnel project in June 2013, with the help of road designers from around the world.
"[Paul Forward, a former CEO of the RTA] said the initial concept did not include the Rozelle Interchange.
...
"In 2014, an expert review group was formed to assess these plans.
"Mr Forward said it was at this point that TfNSW bureaucrats began to question the connectivity provided by the design.
"The RTA's former director of traffic Chris Ford told the inquiry that 15 alternative designs were modelled.
"Mr Ford said the modelling found that another motorway leading to the Anzac Bridge would cause congestion.
"'The issues that we see today were very clearly established in the modelling in 2014,' he said.
"In November 2015, after Mr Forward and Mr Ford were dismissed, TfNSW updated the WestConnex business case to include the tunnel to the Anzac Bridge, despite the congestion concerns raised by the modelling.
"In 2016, Transport for NSW updated the business case a second time ... creating a tunnel linking the Iron Cove Bridge to the Anzac Bridge."
...
"In 2018, the NSW government sold its 51 per cent stake in the Sydney Motorway Corporation, the body responsible for operating WestConnex, to Transurban for $9 billion.
"Mr Forward said the final design would generate a larger number of toll trips than previous options."
@fuck_cars #roads #cars #urbanism #nswpol #sydney #WestConnex #UrbanPlanning #transport
@ajsadauskas
@aus.social