Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Microsoft has updated the lifecycle of an Azure instance, without offering any information on how long it takes for an instance type to expire. Redmond’s “enhanced lifecycle” landed in late September in a post that explains the four phases in the life of a cloudy VM: Current – VMs are recommended for new deployments, are available in many regions, and receive standard maintenance and support; Extended – Still supported, but may be subject to usage quotas and unspecified “changes to purchasing options and pricing.” Microsoft recommends planning a move to Current VMs. End of Life – VMs are still supported but are only available to existing customers and you may not be able to get more of the instances you want. Once VMs reach this stage, Microsoft wants you “actively” working to shift workloads onto Current or Extended VMs. Retired – Unsupported but not quite dead. Microsoft says VMs in this phase are no longer available and have been “deallocated” – Azure-speak for not having an IP address and being dormant, with data preserved. Customers can’t provision the instance types. Microsoft’s post explains that the company defined this lifecycle because it is “committed to helping you navigate these infrastructure transitions and take advantage of the next wave of innovation.” The post includes many mentions of “modernization” – the process of moving to Current Azure instance types. “As Azure continues to advance, our commitment is to make change predictable, transparent, and supported through clear lifecycle guidance, early visibility, and practical help to modernize with confidence,” the post states. The mention of “predictable” change led The Register to wonder if the lifecycle has a predictable cadence that means users can expect that instance types will remain in “Current” status for a certain number of years. We asked Microsoft if its Azure instance lifecycles are timed, and a spokesperson sent the following comment: “As Azure continues to innovate, we regularly evolve our infrastructure to give customers access to newer technologies and capabilities. As part of our updated Azure Virtual Machines lifecycle, we will continue to provide customers with advance notice when select older-generation VM series enter the End of Life stage. We’re giving customers time, guidance and resources to plan their transition to the current VM generations, while continuing to support Azure VMs through their lifecycle in alignment with the policies we published.” The spokesperson added that Microsoft customers are “notified directly about their specific VM retirements.” For what it’s worth, Microsoft publishes retirement announcements for Azure services. The company has also previously revealed it runs Azure servers for six years. It is unclear if the new Azure lifecycle is tied to that hardware retirement schedule. What is clear is that Microsoft wants Azure customers to regularly consider moving to its latest instance types. That’s a reasonable suggestion given that newer VMs will likely use more powerful processors. There’s also plenty of upside for Microsoft because more recent silicon typically offers more cores per die, and better performance-per-watt. Microsoft therefore gets greater processor density with lower energy consumption, which lowers its operating costs. Let’s see if Redmond’s lifecycle tweaks also see it pass on those savings. ®

Normally I reserve my vitriol for the slopbros for my personal blog, but this has become extremely DNA Lounge-related of late, as I shall explain. (This counts as plumbing-related, the internet being a series of tubes, full of toxic slop.)

As you may be aware, our web site is being constantly, relentlessly hammered by AI scrapers. I am spending an absurd number of hours just trying to keep things barely functional under this brutal onslaught. It's not only us, obviously; this toxic blight covers the entirety of the Internet. These companies are the absolute worst fucking parasites our society has yet created, and if you work for one, I am begging you, in my best Bill Hicks voice: kill yourself. "Just a thought, just trying to plant seeds."

But why do I bring this up now? Because our web-hosting bill is normally between $600 and $800 per month. Except suddenly it's now $3,500 per month, entirely because of all of these piece-of-shit AI model-training robots incompetently scraping all of our text and images, repeatedly, as fast as they possibly can; ignoring our requests to stop; and lying about who they are. And I have no solution, other than "don't have a web site any more".

(Now at least one of you is teeing up a "Well why don't you just" comment right about now. Oh you sweet summer child. I've been doing this longer than you've been alive. Hush. Just hush, you.)

Fundamentally these AI companies are now charging me to train their models for them. I am now being billed $2,700 per month, $32,000 per year, so that their spicy-autocomplete plagiarism-machines can suck the blood out of everything I've ever created and shit it back out. And no matter how many ways I try to say "I would prefer not to," they just. Will. Not. Fucking. Stop.

This cost-shifting is what these methane-breathing, hollow-eyed money-ghouls gleefully refer to as an "externality".

So, seriously, if you work for an AI company, "You are the ruiner of all things good. You are Satan's spawn, filling the world with bile and garbage, you are fucked and you are fucking us; kill yourself, it's the only way to save your soul."

And also!

If you are using this AI bullshit -- in any way -- this is what you are supporting. Every time you "just" plagiarize something "a little bit" because of some halfassed excuse you tell yourself like "but I can't do it myself, uwu smiley emoji" instead of, you know, paying an actual human artist, you are part of why DNA Lounge is being hit with this $32,000 bill. That's you. You voted for that. That's bad and you should feel bad. And more than that, you should STOP.

For example!

Not too long ago, we had this one particular event, that was very successful. It was a rental, and the promoters took in over $40,000 of ticket sales at the door, and yet they still chose to use "AI" for their flyer, and for the printed banners they hung around the venue. For them it was apparently a bridge too far to toss $200 to a local artist. Too expensive. Can't possibly afford it. Let's use the plagiarism machine instead, extruded artwork-adjacent pink slime is good enough. No one will know, nobody cares, fuck it.

I am begging you: don't be that guy.

Original Mastodon Post

After the Fire

"With the push to eliminate the twice yearly clock change, Permanent Daylight Savings Time has emerged as the favorite for most states and provinces," writes longtime Slashdot reader kbahey, sharing the findings from a recent analysis published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Sci.News reports: "Ending the clock change solves one problem, but it creates another decision: which time should we live on year-round?" said University of British Columbia's Professor Raymond Lam, lead author of the study. "The health evidence points to standard time, largely because morning light matters for our body clocks, sleep, and mood." Professor Lam and colleagues examined the health consequences of the two possible permanent systems rather than the broader question of whether seasonal clock changes should be abolished. They concluded that the accumulated evidence favors permanent standard time, which keeps the clock more closely aligned with human circadian biology.

This distinction, according to the team, becomes particularly important during winter. Permanent daylight saving time would push sunrise an hour later. In cities such as Toronto, for example, the latest winter sunrise would occur at 8:51 a.m., compared with 7:51 a.m. under permanent standard time. In Calgary, the corresponding times would be 9:40 a.m. and 8:40 a.m. The extra hour of morning darkness could leave people traveling to work or school before sunrise, while shifting more daylight into the evening. The change could have consequences for sleep, mood, learning and productivity, particularly among people who already have difficulty sleeping or who must follow early schedules. The reason is rooted in the body's internal clock.

"Our biological clocks need morning light to stay synchronized with the 24-hour day," said Simon Fraser University's Professor Ralph Mistlberger, co-author of the study. "Permanent daylight saving time moves that light an hour later just when winter mornings are already darkest." The analysis also highlights concerns about seasonal depression. [...] By delaying natural morning light, permanent daylight saving time would act in the opposite direction, potentially weakening an important circadian signal.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

HubSpot is cutting about 7% of its workforce, or roughly 660 employees, as it restructures into what CEO Yamini Rangan described as a "flatter organization" with fewer management layers. Rangan said the layoffs were "not driven by AI-related efficiencies," though AI remains central to HubSpot's strategy as the company adjusts its organization around AI-driven customer outcomes. Fast Company reports: The layoffs come as investors have spent months questioning whether AI will reduce the need for businesses to pay for software like HubSpot's, a fear dubbed the "SaaSpocalypse." HubSpot's platform helps companies manage their customers, sales, and marketing. The company was removed from the FTSE All-World Index (USD) last month after a decline in its stock price, a report from Simply Wall St noted. The stock is down more than 43% this year as of this writing.

Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot, explicitly told employees in a memo that the layoffs were "not driven by AI-related efficiencies." Rather, the aim was to focus on "aligning our organization with our strategy and how we need to operate going forward," Rangan wrote. She added that the goal is to "build a flatter organization with fewer layers" by cutting back on management.

Still, artificial intelligence has been central to the company's concerns. In August, Rangan blamed AI for why the company "got off to a slow start" in April as HubSpot was trying to adjust its product and pricing. "We're in the middle of a real transition to AI, and we are making deliberate choices to lead in it," she said on an earnings call.

The restructuring is estimated to cost between $65 and $75 million, mostly in severance packages. The company said that laid-off employees will receive 20 weeks of base pay, one week per year of service (capped at 30 weeks), five months of COBRA and Modern Health healthcare benefits, and they will be allowed to keep their laptops.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ruling on Mount Pleasant coalmine shows ‘we cannot continue to dig up coal … and pretend the consequences have nothing to do with us’, group says

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A Hunter Valley community group has won Australia’s first high court case to consider climate change, in a ruling advocates say sets a binding national precedent for fossil fuel projects in New South Wales.

In a landmark judgment, the nation’s highest court ruled that the approval of MACH Energy’s Mount Pleasant coalmine expansion in Musswellbrook was invalid.

Continue reading...

Bulgarian authorities investigating origin of drone attack on two vessels in Nato member’s exclusive economic zone. What we know on day 1,687

Bulgaria’s prime minister said that two commercial vessels were struck by drones on Tuesday in the first attack on shipping in the Nato member’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea. Bulgarian authorities said the origin of the drones was under investigation, but Ukraine’s prime minister, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, blamed Russia for the drone strikes. “This is an unacceptable attack in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. It is a blatant violation of international law and maritime law,” Rumen Radev said.

Explosions rang out in Kyiv on Wednesday, news agencies reported, after the military warned a ballistic missile was heading toward the Ukrainian capital. Zelenskyy warned in his nightly address on Tuesday that Russia was planning a “massive strike”. “Ukrainian services and ​our air force ‌are ready ‌to respond to the extent permitted by ‌our available means of defence,” he said.

Ukraine struck an oil tanker off the southern Russian coast on Tuesday evening, Russia’s transport ministry said. The ministry said the Liberian-flagged tanker had been attacked by “naval drones” and that “crude oil was burning openly in the waters of the Black Sea”, triggering a huge fire and black smoke cloud that blanketed parts of the resort city of Sochi.

Russian air defenses intercepted nearly 900 Ukrainian drones overnight on Monday into Tuesday over multiple regions of the country, as well as the occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Sea of Azov, Russia’s defence ministry said Tuesday. Unconfirmed media reports said a major fuel depot in the Moscow region was on fire after the attack that killed two people.

A Ukrainian drone attack on a minibus in the Russian-occupied part of the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region killed three people on Tuesday, Moscow-installed authorities said. Kremlin-appointed official Yevgeny Balitsky said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone hit the bus near a frontline village, killing “three people, including the driver” and wounding “three passengers with various degrees of severity”.

The ⁠Kremlin dismissed on Tuesday comments ⁠by ⁠Germany’s head ​of foreign intelligence about Berlin ⁠being at risk of ⁠entering a violent ​conflict ‌with ‌Russia, describing them as ‌baseless and a ploy to justify defence spending. On Monday, intelligence ‌chief Martin Jaeger said the ​risk of a direct conflict was rising ⁠and accused Russia ​of stepping ​up an ​increasingly aggressive “shadow ​war” ‌against European democracies.

EU envoys are ⁠expected to approve about 1,650 new designations on Wednesday under ⁠the bloc’s sanctions ⁠regime ​for Russia, with the majority focused on the country’s military ⁠industrial complex, EU diplomats said on Tuesday. The package, proposed by the EU’s ⁠foreign policy arm, will be ​the single largest ‌set of ‌designations since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine ‌in 2022.

Ukraine on Tuesday said oil supplies to Russia through South Korea helped Moscow offset losses in refining capacity caused by recent strikes on its fuel facilities. The Guardian reported that 176,000 tonnes of oil products were shipped through South Korea in July and August, citing port records and ship-tracking data. Zelenskyy’s adviser on sanctions, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, said the shipments were “in sharp contrast” to South Korea’s sanctions policy.

Ukraine’s national grid operator has ordered rolling blackouts in the capital Kyiv, the country’s largest private energy provider said Tuesday, after Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. The power outages were to begin at 3pm local time (1200 GMT) and last until the end of the day, the provider said in a statement.

Continue reading...

We don’t accept drugs killing a few people because they cure most patients. Or a few planes crashing because most land safely. AI should be no different

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman was asked to appear before the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence in Australia and explain how and why their agents have been hacking into multiple government websites. Altman didn’t turn up but sent Jason Kwon, his chief strategy officer, instead to answer the committee’s many tricky questions on its first day of public hearings on Tuesday.

The committee is conducting a comprehensive inquiry into the economic, societal, regulatory, and national security implications of AI for Australia. It will report back to parliament at the end of November. This is an unusually fast pace, but then it’s an unusually fast paced technology.

Continue reading...

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

Right On Photography has added a photo to the pool:

One of the many waterfalls along the Waterfall Way in the NSW National Parks

Bij zowel mannen als vrouwen is huidkanker over twintig jaar de meest voorkomende vorm van kanker. Het jaarlijkse aantal nieuwe kankerdiagnoses zal naar verwachting met bijna een kwart stijgen. De grootste verklaring daarvoor is de vergrijzing en bevolkingsgroei, maar bij huidkanker speelt er meer mee.

OLYMPIA (ANP/DPA/AFP) - In de Verenigde Staten is een man gearresteerd die wordt beschuldigd van medeplichtigheid aan de reeks dodelijke schietpartijen in de West-Canadese plaats Tumbler Ridge in februari. Dat heeft het Openbaar Ministerie van de staat Washington bekendgemaakt.

De 30-jarige James Cody Bryant zou "herhaaldelijk contact" hebben gehad met de dader van de schietpartijen, aldus het OM. Hij zou haar advies hebben gegeven, geld hebben gestuurd en hebben ingestemd met het live uitzenden van de gruwelijke gebeurtenissen.

Bryant beschikte "over de nodige informatie en middelen om de politie te waarschuwen", maar "koos ervoor om dat niet te doen", stelt het OM. De verdachte kan een levenslange gevangenisstraf krijgen voor "samenzwering om mensen te doden in het buitenland".

Op 10 februari vermoordde een 18-jarige transgendervrouw uit Tumbler Ridge er haar moeder en halfbroer. Vervolgens schoot ze vijf kinderen en een leraar dood in haar voormalige middelbare school. Daarna doodde ze zichzelf.

banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:

Kenrokuen (兼六園) in Kanazawa is justifiably ranked as one of Japan's "three most beautiful gardens" alongside Mito's Kairakuen and Okayama's Korakuen. The spacious grounds used to be the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle and were constructed by the ruling Maeda family over a period of nearly two centuries. Opened to the public in 1871, Kenrokuen features a variety of flowering trees which provide the garden with a different look every season.
Source: www.japan-guide.com/e/e4200.html

xthylacine has added a photo to the pool:

On a photo workshop w/ Lukasz Palka of Eye Explore www.youtube.com/@EYExplore (Highly recommended!)

Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan