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Homebrew LLMs and Open Source Models
With a decent local GPU and some free open source software like ollama and open-webui you can try "open source" LLM models like Meta's llama, Mistral AI's mistral, or Alibaba's qwen entirely offline.
Ka mate, ka mate! Ka ora, ka ora!
The haka is a Māori ceremonial dance best known internationally as the pre-game ritual of Aotearoa/New Zealand's All Blacks rugby team, but that association can sometimes obscure its true power as a symbol of formidable indigenous opposition, never better demonstrated than in Parliament yesterday when MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke led colleagues and members of the public gallery in one of the best examples in years.
If we can go out on any high note for 2024, this is a good option
My mom was happy with the display right away
Jan Miksovsky's mom can't make new long-term memories, and gets anxious about her family. So he created a simple e-ink display for her: MomBoard.
Take a sip
As part of its open ethos, BlueSky provides access to "the Firehose" -- a real-time feed of all updates from across the entire network, an increasingly rare feature as more and more of the web gets walled off. The code for it looks pretty complicated, but it enables some really neat visualizations: there's the Firesky infinite scroll, with messages firing too fast to read -- Nightsky, a charming page that imagines the network as stars twinkling in the heavens -- and coolest of all, Firehose 3D, which converts the BlueSky feed into a three-dimensional dungeon crawl in the style of old Windows screensavers. Discover more projects built on the API via the Community Showcase, or check out the growing list of MeFites that are active on the platform, now that it no longer requires an invite.
Who are MetaFilter's BlueSky favorites?
Like millions of others, I just signed up for BlueSky. Who are your favorite accounts to follow?
Baba Yaga: Action Ficture Edition
An enterprising MFA student at East Tennessee State University created a Baba Yaga "collectible figurine" as a thesis project. Ariel Adams' project involved designing the character, building it, and painting it, using a variety of analogue and digital tools. Her style and interpretation of the figure are interesting, not a 1:1 with the conventional depictions we most often see of Baba Yaga, and her thesis is absolutely worth a read, if you are interested in Baba Yaga, action figures, and/or character design.
Loveliest places to window shop online
I like to shop online. I seldom buy anything, but I enjoy the eye candy. What sites have a pleasurable browsing experience and beautiful products?
There’s no such thing as a person who survives alone
This belief that ideas literally originate in a single person’s mind, and that they should be paid by the rest of humanity for the rest of time is fucking ridiculous. Ideas do not reside inside self-contained people - they reside in a network of interdependent and interconnected people - but the fact that Bezos, or Musk, or whoever, was an early-mover in articulating a particular idea means they get locked in as somewhat arbitrary figureheads, and the fact that they’re billionaires simply reflects the legal reality of share ownership. They are products of our system, not creators of our system. from The Stone Soup Theory of Billionaires by Brett Scott
The daily political writers I should be reading
I generally read WaPo, NYTimes, my local paper, AP and Reuters(email updates) for a quick overview, MeFi. I usually read Heather Cox Richardson. Often Joyce Vance and Rebecca Solnit. To deal with the coming times, I'd like another couple of reads - well-documented, reasonable but willing to speak out. Kind of an early warning system for whatever fresh hell is looming. Not podcasts or video.
Inefficiency in search has long been the norm; AI will snuff it out
The change will be the equivalent of going from navigating a library with the Dewey decimal system, and thus encountering related books on adjacent shelves, to requesting books for pickup through a digital catalog. It could completely reorient our relationship to knowledge, prioritizing rapid, detailed, abridged answers over a deep understanding and the consideration of varied sources and viewpoints. Much of what’s beautiful about searching the internet is jumping into ridiculous Reddit debates and developing unforeseen obsessions on the way to mastering a topic you’d first heard of six hours ago, via a different search; falling into clutter and treasure, all the time, without ever intending to. AI search may close off these avenues to not only discovery but its impetus, curiosity. from The Death of Search [The Atlantic: ungated]
Help me find songs for my 2025-2029 Playlist
I'm looking for songs from any era or genre that will get met through the next four years and beyond, that I can listen to at the start of the day or when things are starting to feel hopeless, to help lift my mood. Thanks for your suggestions!
The Best X You Can Buy for under $50
#giftideasfilter - What are some things that represent the best quality of their category, but in a small enough quantity that the price still comes in under $50(-ish)?
“Is that an icicle in your pocket or...”
[CW: implied fornication, mortality, death] Starring Lacey Chabert and Dustin Milligan, Hot Frosty is a Netflix rom-com. Stylist: Hot Frosty might look like fun festive fluff, but it deals with a complex female fantasy. Forbes: Hot Frosty currently has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, which is not exactly what you’d expect about a magically hot snowman seducing a widow. The Wrap: It’s because this movie is, unlike the rest of the overwhelmingly chaste films in this subgenre, incredibly horny. There’s a scene where Lauren Holly (“Dumb and Dumber”) gets her car stuck in the snow and the shirtless sleetcake asks questions like “You want me to get behind you and push?” and “Are you ready for me?” before she revs her engine and moans with satisfaction. Hallmark would never. Roger Ebert review.
“We have enough. We can take care of people. We just choose not to.”
Infiltrating a Bay Area anti-trans meeting is hardly standard fare for a restaurant critic, but Soleil Ho isn’t your average food writer.
How Writer Soleil Ho Reimagined Restaurant Criticism
Looking for YouTube cozy home recommendations
I like watching a YouTube genre I would best describe as 'everyday life in another country.' Looking for more recommendations in this style.
The Secret, Magical Life Of Lithium
Favorites websites? I can only refresh the blue so many times...
I looked for a previous post for this, but the one closest to my ask is ten years old. I'm looking for websites with good writing on current events – not even mostly political, but also pop culture, accessible science-y content, and other stuff I might not even know I'll like...
How to cook food, mostly plants, not too much.
Looking for cookbooks/recipies that Michael Pollan would approve of for someone who absolutely hates cooking and has no time.
For those who suffer from recurrent UTIs, there's a vaccine
For those who suffer from recurrent UTIs, there's a vaccine. Urinary tract infections can be extremely painful and some women experience them frequently. Now there is a vaccine to help prevent UTIs.
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OpenAI, in its announcement of its new search feature, wrote that “getting useful answers on the web can take a lot of effort. It often requires multiple searches and digging through links to find quality sources and the right information for you. Now, chat can get you to a better answer.”
Effort! God knows we don't want to do anything... [more]
posted by Frowner to MetaFilter on Nov 18 at 11:44 AM
116 users marked this as a favorite
posted by Frowner to MetaFilter on Nov 18 at 11:44 AM
116 users marked this as a favorite
In a few years, we're going to have the first generation of adults who basically willfully didn't learn anything in school because they did all their work via cheat machine. When I think back to myself as a conscientious and nerdy kid, I still think that if all my peers had been using the cheat machine, I would have used it at least sometimes,... [more]
posted by Frowner to MetaFilter on Nov 17 at 6:08 AM
86 users marked this as a favorite
posted by Frowner to MetaFilter on Nov 17 at 6:08 AM
86 users marked this as a favorite
TBH, speaking as a librarian that works + researches heavily with old print, the current online-primarily search environment is already so attenuated and janky that it's likely just death through a few more of many, many cuts. There are a handful of big web pools that I now find indispensable (Hathi, Chronicling America, Internet Archive), but... [more]
posted by ryanshepard to MetaFilter on Nov 18 at 11:48 AM
85 users marked this as a favorite
posted by ryanshepard to MetaFilter on Nov 18 at 11:48 AM
85 users marked this as a favorite
This frankly mean-spritedness from the community, is something that would have been unheard of in days past.
chmmr, I both agree and disagree with that. I disagree because, if you go back and look at old Metatalk threads (as well as threads on the blue and green), the overall tenor if transplanted here today would seem incredibly... [more]
posted by trig to MetaTalk on Nov 16 at 8:09 AM
78 users marked this as a favorite
posted by trig to MetaTalk on Nov 16 at 8:09 AM
78 users marked this as a favorite
more context, and more previously, which i wrote up elsewhere and am now reformatting/editing for here:
one of the things that i really, really, really wish more people realized is that virtually everyone talking about the 4b movement in a positive light here in the west is not korean or korean diaspora. even most of the people... [more]
posted by i used to be someone else to MetaFilter on Nov 15 at 10:15 AM
66 users marked this as a favorite
posted by i used to be someone else to MetaFilter on Nov 15 at 10:15 AM
66 users marked this as a favorite
Because I’m a chronic optimist I’m going to give this one last time and then I’m taking a few weeks’ break.
I have written many MetaTalk comments over the years but I don’t think I’ve criticized specific moderation a ton. I have been consistent in saying a more professional organizational approach would be good for a number of things.... [more]
posted by warriorqueen to MetaTalk on Nov 19 at 4:08 AM
66 users marked this as a favorite
posted by warriorqueen to MetaTalk on Nov 19 at 4:08 AM
66 users marked this as a favorite
The other day in one of these threads, Loup mentioned being a project manager, and a little light-bulb went off above my head: Aha. It gave me some insight to these threads, because--and this is just a theory!--project management is entirely the wrong skillset to be the Voice of the Mods on Metatalk.
As I say, this is just a theory.... [more]
posted by mittens to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 7:24 AM
65 users marked this as a favorite
posted by mittens to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 7:24 AM
65 users marked this as a favorite
This is a discussion board. We absolutely need open discussion, even if you don't like the opinions expressed. The whack-a-mole of closing threads and banning discussion topics doesn't work: people will just comment in the next not-closed thread, or find different ways to express the Forbidden Opinion.
What we need is: more truth. The staff... [more]
posted by TheophileEscargot to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 6:51 AM
64 users marked this as a favorite
posted by TheophileEscargot to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 6:51 AM
64 users marked this as a favorite
For anyone who missed the original comment, at least the one that I saw: It was a short, frustrated comment that said that questions like "How does your culture use rice cookers?" were themselves stereotypical and reductive (or another similar word, I don't remember).
Deleting that comment instead of showing some understanding of,... [more]
posted by trig to MetaTalk on Nov 14 at 11:42 AM
63 users marked this as a favorite
posted by trig to MetaTalk on Nov 14 at 11:42 AM
63 users marked this as a favorite
reached out to the member in question privately.
This is a lie. I was only sent a message telling me I had been banned for a day.
“they were deleted based on the guidelines and content policy alone, saying things like…”
Using deletions to mislead people about what someone commented should not be allowed. One of my comments you... [more]
posted by snofoam to MetaTalk on Nov 14 at 7:37 PM
63 users marked this as a favorite
posted by snofoam to MetaTalk on Nov 14 at 7:37 PM
63 users marked this as a favorite
I'm writing this while listening to training so it will be long I think but here goes:
The question of the mods' job is a really good one (I disagree with teaching because I don't think the mods are conveying subject matter expertise; that's actually I think a big issue, when they try to behave as if they have it - maybe facilitation.)
My... [more]
posted by warriorqueen to MetaTalk on Nov 16 at 9:26 AM
62 users marked this as a favorite
posted by warriorqueen to MetaTalk on Nov 16 at 9:26 AM
62 users marked this as a favorite
This post was framed as a BIPOC board initiative so I feel the need to chime in as a member of the BIPOC board.
I'm not sure if the meeting minutes from our last meeting have been published yet, but when they are, those minutes will reflect that during the meeting all the attendees explicitly discussed and agreed that we should NOT do this... [more]
posted by MiraK to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 5:29 PM
59 users marked this as a favorite
posted by MiraK to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 5:29 PM
59 users marked this as a favorite
I'd prefer to be moderated by someone who actually wants to be here. [view]
posted by phunniemee to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 5:53 AM
56 users marked this as a favorite
posted by phunniemee to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 5:53 AM
56 users marked this as a favorite
Don't be that person.
Based.
It just pukes up whatever people say to it. It's not an intelligence. If people send it trolling, it trolls. It doesn't know what it's saying, it doesn't know what saying is, it doesn't know what knowing is.
Responses like this are always really challenging for me because I want to tailor my reply... [more]
posted by Ryvar to MetaFilter on Nov 17 at 6:32 AM
55 users marked this as a favorite
posted by Ryvar to MetaFilter on Nov 17 at 6:32 AM
55 users marked this as a favorite
Area man buys InfoWars [view]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Nov 14 at 6:30 AM
54 users marked this as a favorite
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Nov 14 at 6:30 AM
54 users marked this as a favorite
And again: if Metafilter is led by people who think that shutting down an expression of offense and frustration because they don't like the way it was worded is the right thing to do, without responding to the actual offense and frustration behind the comment - then I think Metafilter is not being moderated by people who understand moderation... [more]
posted by trig to MetaTalk on Nov 14 at 12:13 PM
54 users marked this as a favorite
posted by trig to MetaTalk on Nov 14 at 12:13 PM
54 users marked this as a favorite
I promise you, I'm not trying to control anyone.
If you weren't trying to control anyone, then you wouldn't keep on asking the same type of question. [view]
posted by saturdaymornings to Ask MetaFilter on Nov 16 at 1:12 PM
54 users marked this as a favorite
posted by saturdaymornings to Ask MetaFilter on Nov 16 at 1:12 PM
54 users marked this as a favorite
A spiral of heavy handed moderation leading to a breakdown of goodwill and increasingly antagonistic behavior of users towards mods leading to more heavy handed moderation is the oldest forum failure mode in the book and it is fairly absurd to see it occurring on a 25-year-old site that prides itself on moderation. Seriously, what is even happening... [more]
posted by atoxyl to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 12:30 AM
51 users marked this as a favorite
posted by atoxyl to MetaTalk on Nov 15 at 12:30 AM
51 users marked this as a favorite
I don't see any isssue with using AirBnBs for this, after all they want to be treated as hotels, and hotel rooms have long been a staple of many pornographic shoots. [view]
posted by zekesonxx to MetaFilter on Nov 19 at 10:05 AM
51 users marked this as a favorite
posted by zekesonxx to MetaFilter on Nov 19 at 10:05 AM
51 users marked this as a favorite
There is almost nothing available in a grocery store that I would bother feeling embarrassed about. I would march down the street balancing a box of tampons in the bowl of a plunger I was carrying like I was leading a marching band, wearing a hat made of Charmin.
Occasionally I buy two boxes of Franzia wine at a time, when it's really on sale,... [more]
posted by Lyn Never to Ask MetaFilter on Nov 16 at 11:20 AM
48 users marked this as a favorite
posted by Lyn Never to Ask MetaFilter on Nov 16 at 11:20 AM
48 users marked this as a favorite