The unimportant news thread

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

NYT: Bing (Yes, Bing) Just Made Search Interesting Again.


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/technology/microsoft-bing-openai-artificial-intelligence.html

[Todd]

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters says he has re-recorded 'The Dark Side of the Moon'

I'll freshen up the bong water.

[LKB]

Burt Bacharach has passed, he was 94.

RIP...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/entertainment/burt-bacharach-death/index.html

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Burt Bacharach has passed, he was 94.

RIP...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/entertainment/burt-bacharach-death/index.html

Great composer!

[Florestan]

A 7.7 or 7.8 earthquake hit southern Turkey/northern Syria hit late Sunday/early Monday (their time). Considerable damage, numerous buildings seem to have collapsed. A number of refugee camps are located on either side of the border in the area affected.

Death toll in the thousands and counting. A tragedy.

Problem is, while Turkey (with international help, including Romanian) is perfectly able to manage the situation, the situation in Syria is an unmitigated disaster.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Roger Waters: Former Pink Floyd star's UN speech criticised by Ukraine.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64580688

[Florestan]

Roger Waters: Former Pink Floyd star's UN speech criticised by Ukraine.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64580688

Rather than representing the view of Russia, the musician said he was speaking on behalf of "four billion or so brothers and sisters" - the majority of Earth's population.

Not on my behalf, Mr. Waters. Definitely not on my behalf.

I abhor all this flower power, pink and pinko rhetoric. Come live with Russia as a neighbour for 300 years and then talk. Until then, just shut the fuck up!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Microsoft's Bing is the first threat to Google's search dominance in decades.


https://news.yahoo.com/microsofts-bing-is-the-first-threat-to-googles-search-dominance-in-decades-210913597.html

[Wendell_E]

Microsoft's Bing is the first threat to Google's search dominance in decades.


https://news.yahoo.com/microsofts-bing-is-the-first-threat-to-googles-search-dominance-in-decades-210913597.html

Just for kicks, I asked Bing how many operas Verdi wrote. Bing answered 14. Wrong! Hell, the Met's done 18. The correct answer is 28, or 26 depending on how you count a couple of major revisions. Google answered 28.

[Todd]

Microsoft's Bing is the first threat to Google's search dominance in decades.

https://news.yahoo.com/microsofts-bing-is-the-first-threat-to-googles-search-dominance-in-decades-210913597.html

Industrial org folks will now be able to observe unambiguous monopolistic competition in action, as two gigantic companies, one a formerly vilified poster child for monopoly, duke it out.  Both companies enjoy $1 trillion+ in market cap and ~$200 billion+ in revenue.  (And the story is reported by a dinosaur of tech.)  OpenAI, currently chewing through millions per month, is the hot new thing.  Even Harvard Business Review wrote that ChaptGPT is a tipping point for AI.  Of course, in 2013 Harvard Business Review wrote that 3D printing would change the world.  No, no, OpenAI is not being oversold.  Elon Musk and Peter Thiel projects never get oversold. 

(More jaded sorts may notice the timing of this article, which touts the shiniest new object while the DOJ is pursuing Google on antitrust grounds while deemphasizing consumer welfare in the case.)

There's always DuckDuckGo.

[Wendell_E]

Odd. See picture below.

And although the number '25' is shown prominently, the text does mention 'more than'...

Weird. I tried again, still get '14',

[drogulus]

    Russia to cut oil output by 5% as sanctions bite


Russian Urals crude traded at a discount to Brent crude of $28 a barrel on Friday. Over the past few months, India and China have snapped up cheap oil from Moscow, just as the EU — once Russia's biggest customer for crude — has ended all imports.

     Keep snapping, baybee!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Marie Kondo, declutter movement icon, in effect dumps her declutter ideology.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230210-why-being-messy-is-good-for-you

[drogulus]

     Pet Emu Flees Home and Runs Wild Through Suburban Massachusetts

     

     Make sure you tax it before you kill it.

[Karl Henning]

Pet Emu Flees Home and Runs Wild Through Suburban Massachusetts

   

    Make sure you tax it before you kill it.

I'll go ahead and ask: who in Massachusetts keeps an emu for a pet?

[Florestan]

Weird. I tried again, still get '14',

Gptta love this paragraph:

"His major works are "Un ballo in maschera", "I Lombardi", "Ernani", "La forza del destino", "Les vêpres siciliennes", "Don Carlos" and the most important one he wrote was "Macbeth". Verdi composed a total of 14 operas in his lifetime. Verdi wrote his last opera, "La battaglia di Legnano" in 1849 while he was living in Paris."

in which every claim is inaccurate. 

[Wendell_E]

Gptta love this paragraph:

"His major works are "Un ballo in maschera", "I Lombardi", "Ernani", "La forza del destino", "Les vêpres siciliennes", "Don Carlos" and the most important one he wrote was "Macbeth". Verdi composed a total of 14 operas in his lifetime. Verdi wrote his last opera, "La battaglia di Legnano" in 1849 while he was living in Paris."

in which every claim is inaccurate. 

Yeah, I noticed that, and had a good laugh.

[Florestan]

Yeah, I noticed that, and had a good laugh.

What an impressive trick from Verdi, to have written three of his "major works" after he composed his last opera. 

[Wanderer]

Gptta love this paragraph:
"His major works are "Un ballo in maschera", "I Lombardi", "Ernani", "La forza del destino", "Les vêpres siciliennes", "Don Carlos" and the most important one he wrote was "Macbeth". Verdi composed a total of 14 operas in his lifetime. Verdi wrote his last opera, "La battaglia di Legnano" in 1849 while he was living in Paris."
in which every claim is inaccurate. 

"His major works are "Un giorno di regno", "I masnadieri", "I due Foscari", "Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio", "Alzira", "Attila" and the most important one he wrote was "Stiffelio". Verdi composed a total of 14 operas in his lifetime. Verdi wrote his last opera, "La battaglia di Legnano" in 1849 while he was living in Paris."

#fixed 

[Florestan]

"His major works are "Un giorno di regno", "I masnadieri", "I due Foscari", "Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio", "Alzira", "Attila" and the most important one he wrote was "Stiffelio". Verdi composed a total of 14 operas in his lifetime. Verdi wrote his last opera, "La battaglia di Legnano" in 1849 while he was living in Paris."

#fixed 

 

I wonder whether that article was actually written thus on (an unknown) purpose. It's hard to believe that in the age of the internet fact-checking Verdi's operas proves such an insurmountable task.