@hardindr

19 Followers
88 Following
1,074 Posts
Living the dream in Upstate NY
Pastebinhttps://pastebin.com/u/hardindr
A man used LLMs to generate hundreds of thousands of "songs", then used bots to stream them billions of times, to collect $8m in royalties. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/north-carolina-man-pleads-guilty-music-streaming-fraud-aided-artificial-intelligence-0 Is there a better metaphor for late-stage capitalism than burning resources to make songs that are never listened to, then steaming them to robots that will never hear them, ad infinitum?
@doughenwood.bsky.social he has since he descended the golden elevator in 2015…
Nick Gillespie recalls a "devastating" 2009 critique of Cesar Chavez at @[email protected]'s old Left Business Observer, as well as a 1997 Reason cover story on the UFW's finances.

Cesar Chavez's other crimes
Cesar Chavez's corruption was known long before sex abuse allegations came out

Accused of rape and sexual abuse, the late labor organizer's UFW mercilessly bilked its members and taxpayers for years.

Reason.com
@walterolson.bsky.social @doughenwood.bsky.social I hope he does a radio interview with Yates about Chavez and the UFW
Syrians protest alcohol restrictions in Damascus

Crowds of Syrians have rallied to protest authorities’ efforts to limit the sale and consumption of alcohol in Damascus. Sunday's demonstration reflected rising anxiety in the cosmopolitan capital that Syria’s new Islamist government may threaten residents’ long-held secular freedoms. Hundreds of protesters including those from a range of religious sects poured into a grassy square in a Christian neighborhood of Damascus to urge the government to safeguard personal liberties and religious minorities. The decision on alcohol limits comes as the interim government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa faces growing pressure from hard-liners to impose more conservative religious values.

AP News

RE: https://flipboard.com/@bbcnews/top-stories-hc55lmo2z/-/a-UtiPWdi_RsGy5EpyYTT9GA%3Aa%3A3199692-%2F0

Global super power continues to starve and pummel helpless nation 90 miles off its coast, on the basis of the whims of a madman…

@idoubtit Substack does allow you to only see posts from authors you follow at the moment, but they can change it at anytime, I am not very hopeful it will stay that way…
@megazone if you are looking for something different, consider trying to track down one of these PM Spirits Single Malts, was delicious… https://www.pmspirits.com/pm-projects #whiskey
@megazone interesting, I have heard good things about English whisk(e)y, primarily Wire Works, but I have never tried it.
‘It’s stupid’: why western carmakers’ retreat from electric risks dooming them to irrelevance

Iran war should be wake-up call about costs of not going full throttle towards EVs as Chinese have done, experts say

The Guardian