@TheBreadmonkey
My server's vibe is more like this:

One more thing and then I'll stop on this topic. In 1995 our Computer Vision / Robotics lab at UVA had a waist-high, trashcan-shaped robot with lidar, sonar, and bump sensors. It was powered by something like an 80486 CPU, and probably had something generous like 32Mb of RAM. (Megabytes, not gigabytes). And this robot could do the "R2D2 bench."

In Return of the Jedi in 1983, there's a brief scene where Jabba the Hutt has R2D2 serving drinks on his barge. R2D2 is autonomously roaming around the party floor with a tray of drinks and people are picking them up. Our robot could do this in 1995 using far less than a billion dollar data center.

It's absurd to use such horrendously wasteful technology (LLMs) to solve a problem that has already been solved far more inexpensively.

When people spend time to make DOOM run on something absurdly underpowered or unexpected like a photocopier, I get it: do it for the sake of doing it.

This experiment burned outrageous amounts of resources doing it with an LLM, when it's a well-known problem with far better existing solutions. And then the LLM does it worse than basically everything we already have (40% completion rate, to say nothing of how well it did it), the "do it for the sake of doing it" reasoning doesn't make sense. Why try to refine this and make an LLM do it better, when it can't possibly be better or cheaper than what we already have?

The objective of the stupid experiment was to use LLMs, not to make cost-effective robots that work in practical home situations.

It’s not depression.
It’s being forced to live under an oppressive, capitalist, misogynoir driven, white terrorism based system as a Black Woman.

ChatGPT Temporary Chat feature seems to work flawlessly.

Big thread of #Linux #FOSS & #OpenSourceHardware accounts on #PeerTube

(If an account looks blank, read this: https://fedi.tips/why-does-someones-account-page-look-completely-blank-is-it-really-blank/)

➡️ @thelinuxexperiment - Linux & FOSS news

➡️ @vkc - Fun vids on Linux, FOSS, tech etc

➡️ @fsfe - Free Software Foundation Europe official video account (NOTE: FSFE is not part of the American FSF, and they are not affiliated)

➡️ @kde_community - KDE official video account

➡️ @thunderbird - FOSS email & comms suite Thunderbird, official video account

🧵 1/6

I may have exposed myself to scrutiny by officials even posting about this, but did you know why Finnish Mastodon admins can't mention donations? Welcome to Finland’s rahankeräyslaki (Fundraising Act) - a law so problematic it's been submitted to UN human rights reviews and noted in OECD reports on Finland's civic space. Finnish people often say Finland is "Sääntö-Suomi" (Finland of Rules) because we have too many rules and laws. Most of them are there to protect us, but some work against us. It can go too far.

Here's the problem: The law defines "fundraising" as any appeal to the public to give money. "Appeal" means any verbal, written or other request or invitation. This includes simply stating "we accept donations" with any payment information or bank account number on your website.

The Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi) case shows how absurd this gets. Effi, a digital rights nonprofit, was prosecuted for rahankeräysrikos (fundraising crime) just for having text on their website saying they could accept donations per their bylaws, along with bank account details. No active solicitation. No manipulation. Just information. They fought this for years through multiple courts.

There are two pathways, neither simple for a solo admin. You can either: (1) register a nonprofit organization (constitution, board members, PRH registration at 50 €, annual financial statements, bookkeeping, tax filings), then apply for a full fundraising permit from the National Police Board, OR (2) find at least 2 other people to form a group and file a "pienkeräys" (small collection) notification with local police for collections under 10 000 € lasting max 3 months. Solo admin running a server? You can't legally ask for donations alone - you need bureaucracy or co-signers just to mention server costs.

The law was updated in 2020 to add "small collection" notifications (max 10 000 €), but the core problem remains: you cannot simply mention donation options without navigating this bureaucracy. The law treats someone running a community server the same as the Red Cross running nationwide campaigns.

This is why many Finnish admins stay silent about funding and run things for free out of their own pocket. It's not that they're secretive - it's that Finland's fundraising law hasn't caught up with how the modern internet works. Effi has submitted complaints to UN human rights reviews calling this a violation of freedom of association.

So when you see a Finnish-run instance and wonder why there's no donation info: now you know. It's not always impossible, but it's complicated enough that many choose silence over bureaucracy.

Obviously, I hate this law, and putting this information out there is risky for me. So let me be crystal clear: please don't donate us money. I don't encourage it at all as I am not allowed by law to do so, and I'm a law-abiding citizen, after all.

EDIT: A commenter correctly pointed out that you don't necessarily need a registered organization - you can also use the "pienkeräys" system with at least 3 people. I've updated the post to reflect this. The core issue remains: even casual donation mentions require navigating legal processes that most countries don't have.

#MastoAdmin #Finland #Donations

My wife and I pay for life insurance even though we have never died. I pay for fire insurance even though my house has never burned down. That's not because we want to throw money at insurance companies. It's because THAT'S HOW INSURANCE WORKS.

Sums up the BBC

🖊️ Cartoon by Stephen Collins

#BBC

Oh fuck I think I might need to use recursion to do what I want to do

https://retro.social/@reb/115525182275260931

BREAKING: The Supreme Court DENIES former county clerk Kim Davis's request for the justices to take up her longshot bid to overturn 2015's Obergefell v. Hodges marriage equality decision. No justice even writes about the request.

Academia.edu's terms of service are so evil it's almost funny. I'm surprised they don't make you give them your first-born son!

But it looks like they mean it. I'm reading people saying things like:

"I quit it when I got an email saying they had generated a podcast using AI based on one of my papers without my permission."

and

"I got off academia dot edu 5 or so years ago, when I discovered it was sending automatically-generated emails in my name without even telling me - I found out when a very senior member of the profession replied to one."

https://bsky.app/profile/aidanmcglynn.bsky.social/post/3lz2macyqm22a

Portugal faces general strike on the 11th of December due to proposed labour reform package. ✊ https://www.portugalresident.com/portugal-faces-first-general-strike-in-a-decade-due-to-proposed-labour-reform-package/

📷 Dead still and 31º F on the Mountain at 3:10 AM.

#FediversalPictures

Oak trees

#FotoMontag #PhotoMonday #Photography

Happy Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to those who celebrate