aspenmayer (u/aspenmayer)

aspenmayer commented on YouTube made AI enhancements to videos without warning or permission bbc.com/future/article/20... · Posted by u/jakub_g

dahart · 36 minutes ago

There’s a song about Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, and there’s a monument to the Marion Steam Shovel in Le Roy, New York…

aspenmayer · 26 minutes ago

I don't think parking an old steam shovel is much of a monument, but I'll give that one to you. No one built it for display, but they did put one there for that purpose, so I'll meet you halfway. I was wrong to suggest no one would do so, and there is clearly interest in such a thing, but I can't say that I agree that a statue exists. The song exists, the steam shovel monument exists. Appreciate the correction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Steam_Shovel_(Le_Roy,_N...

aspenmayer commented on YouTube made AI enhancements to videos without warning or permission bbc.com/future/article/20... · Posted by u/jakub_g

npteljes · 5 hours ago

Unfortunately the article doesn't have an example, or a comparison image. Other reports are similarly useless as well. The most that seemed to happen is that the wrinkles in someone's ear changed. In case anyone else wants to see it in action:

https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_sh...

I skimmed the videos as well, and there is much more talk about this thing, and barely any examples of it. As this is an experiment, I guess that all this noise serves as a feedback to YouTube.

aspenmayer · 43 minutes ago

YouTube Is Using AI to Alter Content (and not telling us) [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44912648 9 days ago (6 points, 0 comments)

aspenmayer commented on YouTube made AI enhancements to videos without warning or permission bbc.com/future/article/20... · Posted by u/jakub_g

ta8645 · 2 hours ago

My guess is that guys being replaced by the steam shovel said the same thing about the quality of holes being dug into the ground. "No machine is ever going to be able to dig a hole as lovingly or as accurately as a man with a shovel". "The digging machines consume way too much energy" etc.

I'm pretty sure all the hand wringing about A.I. is going to fade into the past in the same way as every other strand of technophobia has before.

aspenmayer · an hour ago

No one ever wrote a song or erected a statue for a steam shovel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_(folklore)

aspenmayer commented on Prison isn’t set up for today’s tech so we have to do legal work the old way prisonjournalismproject.o... · Posted by u/danso

pfannkuchen · 10 hours ago

While true that some people do end up in that situation, I think the probability of the average hner ending up in that situation is basically zero. The people who are overrepresented in being harassed by police tend to be underrepresented in technology circles.

aspenmayer · 2 hours ago

I was in a relationship, and they were cheating on me, but I did not know that at the time. They also were not sober, which I only found out after the fact. I went to their mom's place to get my things that were there and try to talk to her if possible, and the situation became untenable because of them being unreasonable. I decided to go, and wanted the cat to be in the house while I packed the car. I was a bit more concerned with this issue than might have been reasonable, but didn't use force or anything I can't explain. I needed to recover a legally owned firearm from the property, but didn't want to inflame the situation. I was just concerned for the cat. I told them I would call the authorities if they weren't going to try to resolve the situation without me doing so. I placed the cat inside the door and made a move to go back to our old shared room, as we both stayed with her mom occasionally. They flipped out and hit me with a ceramic dog bowl in the face, nearly knocking one of my teeth out. I was so confused. I knew they didn't want me there, but I wasn't seeking to stay. I wanted to get my things and go, and I wanted the cat to not have to be in a carrier in the heat, because that is cruel and not safe for the animal. I insisted that I call the authorities at this point, and they did too.

The police arrested me, and charge stacked me with multiple felony charges. The case was dropped a year and a half later, mere days before my jury trial was set to begin. My public defender tried to get me to take their deal: 20 years suspended sentence, 10 years time served. I dodged a bullet.

I made a bad call by dating this person, and I had no idea how bad it was until that day. I'm sure I was culpable by being there and allowing this to happen. I could have walked away. I didn't mean to be party to this situation, and I don't like violence or conflict, but it has been normalized in my life due to circumstances prior to the relationship, so I didn't see the warning signs beforehand. I am single now, and am working on myself. I have been given a second chance, and wish my ex well. I don't hold any ill will. It's just not worth it.

I think that these cases are common, or at least ones like it are more common than you think. The authorities have to deal with the situation in front of them, and I don't think folks understand how charge stacking works, or the plea bargain system. I had to tell my lawyer to do their job because I wasn't taking a deal, and that is only because I know enough to know better. Most folks aren't as blameless as I was, and I know I wasn't entirely so, but I did know I didn't break the law in any way, even if I would have done things differently.

This is not to say other folks don't deserve punishment, or leniency. I can only speak for myself. I made a mistake, but I didn't deserve to be a felon over it. I didn't even break the law, though I didn't handle the situation well at all. It was a learning experience, to be sure. Until you've had to try to bond out on felony charges, I think you should not assume how probable these things are. It could happen to anyone.

Be good to each other.

aspenmayer commented on Burner Phone 101 rebeccawilliams.info/burn... · Posted by u/CharlesW

Desk1com · 3 hours ago

yeah the definitely not as succinct as it could be. They all seem to pad out content with the same generalities. But fair enough, there is no foolproof solution looks like

aspenmayer · 3 hours ago

Leave your phone at home. You won't need it if you plan to not have it. A simple device like this can even keep it company for you while you're away:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourne-montre

Print this out and you can take notes on the back of the page, or even read it if you get bored while you're out and about without your device, to remind yourself why you don't really need your phone:

> Evil Never Sleeps: When Wireless Malware Stays On After Turning Off iPhones

> Jiska Classen, Alexander Heinrich, Robert Reith, Matthias Hollick

https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.06114 | https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2205.06114

Previously on HN:

When Wireless Malware Stays on After Turning Off iPhones [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31364849 May 2022 (5 comments)

You might have already heard about this news from Mental Outlaw:

iPhones Could Still Be Attacked (Even When Powered Off) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwrjT8hxGzM

aspenmayer commented on Halt and Catch Fire Syllabus (2021) bits.ashleyblewer.com/hal... · Posted by u/Kye

hnlmorg · 8 hours ago

That’s one gimmick and it was weaved throughout the show. It was also used to further the story telling.

HCF created drama in places it wasn’t earned. And did so just so that episodes could have cliffhangers.

Think of it like a shower scene in a movie. More often than not, it has literally no relevance to the movie. It doesn’t further the plot. It’s not even part of the story. It’s just there so that it can be used as a clip in the movie trailer.

Well HCF was full of stuff that, admittedly wasn’t there for trailers (or at least I don’t think they were), but they also added nothing to the story. They were just there to artificially add some drama. But that drama wasn’t earned.

For example, the suicide was very poorly handled. It was used as vehicle for discussing open source vs proprietary code. But you could have easily done that without the death. Instead you ended up with interesting plot themes being overshadowed by this one lazy plot device.

The show was absolutely full of stuff like that. Things that were completely out of the blue and if it made it to the cutting room flow then the show would have flowed just the same without it.

aspenmayer · 3 hours ago

> Think of it like a shower scene in a movie. More often than not, it has literally no relevance to the movie. It doesn’t further the plot. It’s not even part of the story. It’s just there so that it can be used as a clip in the movie trailer.

Depends on the movie. Once I studied films and film theory (just in undergrad, not trying to claim any special authority on the subject), I appreciated more how these interstitial scenes are meaningful. It's all part of mise-en-scène. It lets the scenes feel alive and lived in, and not just a 2D image flying by at 24ish FPS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise-en-sc%C3%A8ne

> Mise-en-scène has been called film criticism's "grand undefined term". Ed Sikov has attempted to define it as "the totality of expressive content within the image". It has been criticized for its focus on the dramatic design aspects rather than the plot itself, as those who utilize mise-en-scène tend to look at what is "put before the camera" rather than the story. The use of mise-en-scène is significant as it allows the director to convey messages to the viewer through what is placed in the scene, not just the scripted lines spoken and acted in the scene. Mise-en-scène allows the director to not only convey their message but also implement their aesthetic; as such, each director has their own unique mise-en-scène. Mise-en-scène refers to everything in front of the camera, including the set design, lighting, and actors, and the ultimate way that this influences how the scene comes together for the audience.

If you've seen many horror movies, you know to expect a jump scare, but because the actual original scare in a shower scene[0] is so played-out by now, audiences expect it, so it has to be subverted.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_(1960_film)

Edit:

Just was going over the thread again to see if there were any new posts, and I glanced over your comment again and wanted to reply to this point, because I agree with you and I think I didn't acknowledge this, and it really brings your point upthread home and validates it.

> For example, the suicide was very poorly handled.

I completely forgot about that part. Good call-out. Mental health issues and self-harm, especially imagery of it, are not plot devices to be used carelessly. Representation matters, and yet it's so hard to do well because those being represented need understanding also, not just seeing triggering stuff on TV and movies. That definitely didn't feel earned, and it didn't land well. I don't know how else it was supposed to feel though, considering the seriousness of the issue. It's a hard topic to put to film. Thanks for mentioning it.

aspenmayer commented on Live. SpaceX Starship Flight Test 10 – Starship IFT-10 Launch Coverage youtube.com/watch?v=XPp8L... · Posted by u/bookofjoe

xyzsparetimexyz · 8 hours ago

The reasons aren't obvious to me. They still have a YouTube account.

aspenmayer · 3 hours ago

I think in this specific case, it was due to using trademarks. I can't remember the specific channel name, but I think they were half-ass posing as SpaceX.

aspenmayer commented on · Posted by u/maciejw

maciejw · 4 hours ago

I don't have means to verify this at all, privately I consider it blunt propaganda. HN is not the site to discuss politics.

I'm more surprised it's possible to post ads on such loaded issues on YouTube. I would appreciate comments from anyone with better knowledge of ads industry.

aspenmayer · 4 hours ago

I found this page, but when I tried to view it, after clicking through a Google search to a Google support page, where I passed a captcha just to do the search, I somehow failed the second(!) captcha on visit to the support page, where Google said it detected suspicious activity on my network and wouldn’t let me actually view the page, but maybe it’s enough to get you started on your end? I suspect my VPN host has me lumped in with some noisy neighbors or something.

https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/10249050?hl=en

Edit:

The actual error says this:

> This page appears when Google automatically detects requests coming from your computer network which appear to be in violation of the Terms of Service. The block will expire shortly after those requests stop.

> This traffic may have been sent by malicious software, a browser plug-in, or a script that sends automated requests. If you share your network connection, ask your administrator for help — a different computer using the same IP address may be responsible. Learn more

> Sometimes you may see this page if you are using advanced terms that robots are known to use, or sending requests very quickly.

I'm not doing anything like that except maybe the advanced search terms, but I don't know which ones bots use, and I don't use bots, so I can only assume it's the VPN in combination with some of my search terms. The first time I saw it was right after recaptcha failed to load in on mobile, so who knows. I blame Google. When you can't even click on the Learn More link because you get another error, and you have no actual customer support, I think I might call my Congressperson. This is an ADA violation waiting to happen.

aspenmayer commented on Burner Phone 101 rebeccawilliams.info/burn... · Posted by u/CharlesW

Desk1com · 4 hours ago

This one's a good overview where he references his own deeper dives into the tech details. Disclaimer he's selling his own de-googled phone but he's transparent about it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I9bFIrFhDs

aspenmayer · 4 hours ago

I appreciate the link. I get the sense that he is putting out a lot of content because he’s doing updates for his project, along with broad strokes videos for why folks should care about the issues, and also nuanced takes for specific topics, so I couldn’t cut through the noise to find the signal, as I haven’t followed his content closely, but I did like what I saw.

aspenmayer commented on · Posted by u/maciejw

maciejw · 5 hours ago

Ads like the one in the link appear before unrelated videos on YT.

aspenmayer · 4 hours ago

I mean, it’s hard to verify this, and that seems to be the main aspect of reporting on Gaza that makes me question the veracity of this information, given the source of it. I can believe that it’s true, but I think it’s fair to trust, but verify. If only there were some independent journalists in Gaza they could have worked with to give this project more legitimacy.