RansomStark

I've been thinking for a while, there's not real winners here except the incumbent technology providers. Hear me out: all models are converging towards the same level, gains are getting smaller and harder to come by. The models are commodities nothing more.

This is the leap, nobody really wants to front a model for someone else. If i build an agent, or a service that requires a model, I'd prefer to push the model onto someone else, preferably at no cost. This is a leap as I'm sure right now, most people / businesses are thinking actually i do want to own / front the model.

However, if you accept the leap the easiest way to do this is to make the model the users problem.

From a business point of view that makes things really easy, from a customer point of view, they simply have to accept whatever their vendor of choice is pushing down their throats.

So as a business I build for whatever model Google makes available to android, and whatever model windows bundles, and whatever model Apple bundles, and, excluding the long tail of Chinese vendors and Linux (sorry, its always left out) and that's it, problem solved, and the customer picks up the tab for the tokens

In this episode, I look at the new wave of AI "creators" that are cannibalizing attention and resources away from real creators. It's time to do something but no one seems to care.

There's a bunch of SDR cyberdecks, there's a few that both lots more.

Take a look at this one:

https://hackaday.io/project/174301-raspberry-pi-sdr-cyberdec...

Or this one:

https://hackaday.io/project/192016-the-obsium-cyberdeck

Or take a look at what saveitforparts does on youtube

That is what they do. Male, female, man, woman, boy, girl are sex categories, not gender categories, that is they predate the very idea of gender as distinct from sex.

Sports categories never had anything to do with gender.

The other difference of sexual development are different sexes

I have proclaimed RAG is dead many times, and I stand by it.

RAG is Dead! Long Live Agentic RAG! || Long Live putting stuff in databases where it damn well belongs!

I think you agree with the people saying RAG is Dead, or at least you agree with me and I say RAG is Dead, when you say "Simply using docling and transforming PDFs to markdown and have a vector database doing the rest is ridiculous."

I fully agree, but that was the promise of RAG, chunk your documents into little bits and find the bit that is closet to the users query and add it to the context, maybe leave a little overlap on the chunks, is how RAG was initially presented, and how many vendors implement RAG, looking at tools like Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Bases here.

When I want to know the latest <important financial number>, I want that pulled that from the source of truth for that data, not hopefully get the latest and not last years number from some document chunk.

So, when people, or at least when I say RAG is Dead, it's short hand for: this is really damn complex, and vector search doesn't replace decades of information theory, storage and retrieval patterns.

Hell, I've worked with teams trying to extract everything from databases to push it into vector stores so the LLM can use the data. First, it often failed as they had chunks with multiple rows of data, and the LLM got confused as to which row actually mattered, they hadn't realized that the full chunk would be returned and not just the row they were interested in. Second, the use cases being worked on by these teams were usually well defined, that is, the required data could be deterministically defined before going to the LLM and pulled from a database using a simple script, no similarity required, but that's not the cool way to do it.

If you're rights are contingent on circumstance, they're not rights.

I don't see anything there encouraging a riot. There is no call to action.

We should know this isn't enough to convict, since a Labour councillor who called for far-right activists' throats to be cut at an anti-racism rally [0], actually inciting violence, was cleared of wrong doing.

From the article, you'll notice politicians calling out situation:

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said of the decision: "It is astonishing that this Labour councillor, who was caught on video calling for throats to be slit, is let off scot-free, whereas Lucy Connolly got 31 months prison for posting something no worse."

[0] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjeykklwn7vo

That non crime hate incident goes on your criminal record and if you need an enhanced criminal records check, it will show up, and can be used to deny you employment. Its not just intimidation.

there's many to choose from, you can google for more. But here's what got Lucy Connolly a 31 month sentence:

"Mass deportations, now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care, if that makes me a racist, so be it".

Racist maybe, although she doesn't seem to care about race.

Offensive, yeah, seems that it could be interpreted as offensive, but thats not technically illegal (the high court has repeatedly affirmed to right to be offensive).

Inciting violence (the offense she was convicted of) no, not at all, she was stating her political opinion and her belief that the lives of immigrants is worth less than british children.

Although people will point out she admitted guilt, but the threat of significant pre-trail imprisonment was used a lot at this time to force guilty pleas.

That's the position I came to based on these rulings, or lack thereof. I think of all the reasons open source shouldn't accept AI created code is that it can't be protected, and that has the potential to threaten the whole project.

OpenClaw, for instance has an MIT license [0], but, per the creators own words, they didn't even review the code. OpenClaw isn't MIT licensed, the MIT license relies on copyright, and because there was not even human review of the majority of the code, no substantial human input, that code base can't be copyrighted.

No need to steal AI code, it doesn't belong to anyone.

[0] https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw?tab=MIT-1-ov-file#readm...

In this case isn't it more that: Every sculpture that is made, every picture drawn, every bed left unmade, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

From where I'm sitting, this is theft, its forced wealth redistribution, from people that are potentially already struggling,to people that choose to slum it as artists. Its not even means tested, this really will result in money transferring from those on the edge of poverty to rich art school kids.

There's currently 16,000 homeless / at risk people in Ireland, including 5000 children [0]. I can think of at least one better use for that money.

[0] https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2025/11/28...

Yeah, its almost as if the knives aren't the problem. The gang memebrs will use whatever gives them an advantage, guns, knives, acid, bats, bricks. We can't ban everything, we should possibly tackle the cause instead of the symptom...

But don't worry, in the mean time they're coming for our regular knives.

The BBC has already rolled out Idris Ebla to explain that kitchen knives shouldnt have points[0]. Yes this has been picked up by politicians with the minister for policing at the time calling it an interesting idea [1].

[0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1j...

[1] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/...

Sorry about the amp links

No, and the blades created because of the methods used, would likely not be covered by the legislation anyway, theres a carve out for antiques and weapons made using traditional methods (now define traditional methods, because the law doesn't, but hammer and anvil would seem to be the most obvious traditional approach).

However, in practice the police continually take and often destroy legally owned antiques claiming they are zombie swords.

The law is written in such a way the police can take anything and you have to prove to a judge they aren't illegal.

One very large example of such police practices: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RPm4Pts23Qg

No, this is exactly how Amazon management works.

Members of a team creates a report explaining the state of their small section of the business, usually a 2x2 grid of boxes to fill.

This is then reviewed, usually in an in person meeting that requires full team participation.

These are joined together to create a weekly business review, that will require another meeting to review.

Each month the WBRs are combined to created the monthly business review, with a massive meeting requiring participation by multiple teams.

The pyramid of documents and meetings continues all the way up to the CEO.

I should probably point out, none of this information is unavailable at any level, its copied and pasted from system to 2x2 then copied from doc to doc. It's a spectacle that needs to be seen to be believed.

And that just the reporting, planning is another exercise in multiple report writing that I'll save for another day. But, hopefully you get the idea.

Amazon is 90% internal document writing and 70% work (9-5 does not really exist, it could, it just doesnt).

It's essentially a massive jobs program for middle management that aren't capable enough to join the TSA and that's being unfair to the TSA.

The only reason I can think for the existence of the reporting is to give managers something to do between pipping staff.

I can't get enough of Borges.

His way with words and way to highlight to absurdity of situations is first class.

My favorite is the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. It's a critique of the classification used by the Institute of Bibliography which he considered nonsensical. He claims to have found the list in an ancient Chinese encyclopaedia:

- those belonging to the Emperor

- embalmed ones

- trained ones

- suckling pigs

- mermaids

- fabled ones

- stray dogs

- those included in this classification

- those that tremble as if they were mad

- innumerable ones

- those drawn with a very fine camel hair brush

- et cetera

- those that have just broken the vase

- those that from afar look like flies

No, the age verification doesn't, the linking of adult profiles to real human people, which is required to enable the age verification is.

Did you watch the linked video? There's an MP admitting they are doing this

I never thought I'd say this, but I now fully approve of social media bans for children, screw under 16s, let's go further no children on the internet full stop. No mobile data plans for under 18s, arrest parents if they are found allowing their children to use a computer with an internet connection at home. Remove the internet from schools.

Then we can get rid of the online safety act, no need to dox adults if we just ban the children.

Then when the government refuses to repeal the OSA, we can then have an open and honest discussion about the real reasons that act exists.

Being sarcastic, but at the same time...

political dissent. Uncomfortable truths. Any speech that does not align with the official narrative.

A Labour MP foolish attended a GB News show and when pushed admitted that the Online Safety Act was also about identifying speech by adults [0].

Sorry about the quality of the link, but the video is there (higher quality is available on X) and its not like the paragon of truth that is the BBC reported on this.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/uk-government...

that's difficult when most post is dropped in a metal box on a street. But I'd argue that not the issue people have with the way these laws work in practice.

For those that don't use the UK postal service, Royal Mail has a recorded delivery option that can show that, at least something, mostly likely what was sent, was delivered to the address.

The issue here is that the UK government has given itself a pass that, 'trust us, we sent it' is fair and legal, while at the same time refusing to allow not the government to use the same argument.

People tend to get upset when laws and legal defenses are asymmetric, doubly so when its skewed to protect the bureaucracy at the expense of the citizen.

Just for reference the Royal Mail uses complaints to track losses, in the year 2017-2018, Royal Mail received 250,000 complaints for lost items, out of around 6 billion items processed [0]. Of course that requires that the sender somehow knows that the item was lost, so losses are likely significantly higher.

Without a recorded delivery, 'I never received what you sent' should absolutely be a valid defense. Although, 'Trust me I sent it', should not be a valid argument for either side, unless they can show that the item was send and received.

[0] https://descrier.co.uk/business/how-frequently-is-post-lost-...

It's interesting that other native groups, all of which have intermixed with others over thousands of years don't have to defend their right to their ethnic identity.

The English ethnic group is defined by a shared genetics and culture, the English enthic group isn't just political it is biological and can be identified via DNA.

I wouldn't consider my definition eccentric, it's based on the UN defintion: Ethnic group or ethnicity refers to a group of people whose members claim a common heritage or common ancestry and usually speak a common language and may have some common cultural practices.

The other thread argued that Boris Johnson is ethnically Turkic (I have no idea if that is true) on the assumption it is true, Boris Johnson may meet the requirement of a common language, but does not meet the requirement of a shared ancestry to be ethnically English.

Many of the groups that you mentioned existed in the UK over 1000 years ago, and shared in the same invasions, same issues, and developed a shared culture due to that shared history and closeness of relations, and of course as evidenced by DNA analysis interbreeding.

So yeah I would say that in the space of a millennium multiple groups can become one group.

I also

Sports teams aren't a particularly good criteria, I could be Scottish or Welsh and play for England, it's one of those idiocracies of living in a country that pretends to be 4.

Denying the existence of an ethic group is extremely racist, and is often considered a precursor to other much more serious issues.

If you have any acquaintance with English history you would be well aware that there are native ethnic groups that have been in the UK since approximately the end of the younger dryas around 11,000 years ago.

The last major migration was the anglo-saxons around 1500 years ago.

These groups still exist and the majority of the UK population can still trace their origin back to one of these groups.

I agree, they are not ethnically English, they are British citizens and have all the rights that come with citizenship, the same as every other UK citizen including those that would call themselves English. You think there's some kind of gotcha there, but there isn't.

England hasn't had an English king since 1066, that's not controversial, and even then the inbreeding between the European royal houses was creating a pan-european elite that made world world 1 more of a really bad family argument than anything else.

What's really odd is that Rishi Sunak is extremely proud of his ethnicity and heritage, it's unfortunate that we've made it almost impossible for other people's to have that same pride.

That might be true, but the votes (not seats, first past the post, almost guarantees people aren't represented): Labour: 9.7M Conservatives 6.8M Reform: 4.1M Liberal Democrats 3.5M

The point clearly stands that had Reform not been a thing, 2024 would have been a conservative landslide.

What we got was a Labour landslide, what we should have got was some coalition.

Wait a news channel gave more air time to the current prime minister and his cabinet, the guy and team with the power, than someone else. Consider me shocked!

Have you considered that by choosing different time periods you get different results.

Maybe the BBC bends the knee to whoever is calling the shots, that's what it looks like to me.

think its important to leave some context here:

As far as it is known, Kelly walked a mile (1.6 km) from his house to Harrowdown Hill. It appears he ingested up to 29 tablets of co-proxamol, an analgesic drug; he also cut his left wrist with a pruning knife he had owned since his youth, severing his ulnar artery. Forensic analysis established that neither the knife nor the blister packs showed Kelly's fingerprints on their surfaces [0].

and a letter to the editor:

As specialist medical professionals, we do not consider the evidence given at the Hutton inquiry has demonstrated that Dr David Kelly committed suicide.

Dr Nicholas Hunt, the forensic pathologist at the Hutton inquiry, concluded that Dr Kelly bled to death from a self-inflicted wound to his left wrist. We view this as highly improbable. Arteries in the wrist are of matchstick thickness and severing them does not lead to life-threatening blood loss. Dr Hunt stated that the only artery that had been cut - the ulnar artery - had been completely transected. Complete transection causes the artery to quickly retract and close down, and this promotes clotting of the blood.

The ambulance team reported that the quantity of blood at the scene was minimal and surprisingly small. It is extremely difficult to lose significant amounts of blood at a pressure below 50-60 systolic in a subject who is compensating by vasoconstricting. To have died from haemorrhage, Dr Kelly would have had to lose about five pints of blood - it is unlikely that he would have lost more than a pint.

Alexander Allan, the forensic toxicologist at the inquiry, considered the amount ingested of Co-Proxamol insufficient to have caused death. Allan could not show that Dr Kelly had ingested the 29 tablets said to be missing from the packets found. Only a fifth of one tablet was found in his stomach. Although levels of Co-Proxamol in the blood were higher than therapeutic levels, Allan conceded that the blood level of each of the drug's two components was less than a third of what would normally be found in a fatal overdose.

We dispute that Dr Kelly could have died from haemorrhage or from Co-Proxamol ingestion or from both. The coroner, Nicholas Gardiner, has spoken recently of resuming the inquest into his death. If it re-opens, as in our opinion it should, a clear need exists to scrutinise more closely Dr Hunt's conclusions as to the cause of death.

David Halpin - Specialist in trauma and orthopaedic surgery C Stephen Frost - Specialist in diagnostic radiology Searle Sennett [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly_(weapons_expert)#D... [1] https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2004/jan/27/guardian...

I guess it depends on what you mean by English. England is a country, but you can't have an English passport, you can only get a UK passport. so, English is a kinda-sorta a non-nationality, but it is very much an ethnic group.

I don't think anyone is claiming that Rishi Sunak isn't a UK citizen, but he certainly isn't a member of the English ethnic group, or any of the Celtic ethnic groups that also make up the UK's native population.

Maybe this is the key takeaway of GenAI: that some access to data, even partially hallucinated data, is better than the hoops that the security theatre puts in place that prevents average Joe doing their job.

This might just be a golden age for getting access to the data you need for getting the job done.

Next security will catch up and there'll be a good balance between access and control.

Then, as always security goes to far and nobody can get anything done.

It's a tale as old as computer security.

Turns out the Hobbits had it right [0].

[0] https://andreian.com/hobbits-coming-of-age/#:~:text=What%20y...

Docs here: https://docs.openwebui.com/tutorials/integrations/firefox-si...

I think its technically experiemntal, but ive been using this since day one with no issue

Use openwebui with ollama.

Openwebui is compatible with the firefox sidebar.

So grab ollama and your prefered model.

Install openwebui.

Connect openwebui to ollama

Then in firwdox open about:config

And set browser.ml.chat.provider to your local openwebui instance

Google suggests the you might also need to set browser.ml.chat.hideLocalhost to false. But i dont remember having to do that

My mistake, I left a step out. Use openwebui with ollama. Openwebui is compatible with the firefox sidebar.

So grab ollama and your prefered model, install openwebui.

Then open about:config

And set browser.ml.chat.provider to your local openwebui instance

Google suggests the you might also need to set browser.ml.chat.hideLocalhost to false. But i dont remember having to do that