BenVimes

Copilot is one of two LLMs I've briefly tried. It was noticeably better than Gemini was at the time, but still seemed entirely pointless. Nothing it (or Gemini) offered to do were things I wanted help with. I enjoy research and writing, so why would I outsource those things and burn down an acre of rainforest in the process?

"Swearing"

5th grade, first day at a new school. I'm trying to meet new kids, but I'm terribly awkward. I try to lead one conversation with some humour "Did you know the Bible says you shouldn't covet your neighbour's ass?"

Cue some other kid running off to find a teacher, which resulted in me having to skip recess and write an essay about how I shouldn't swear because it is a bad influence on younger kids.

Over the following four years I was on the receiving end of invective many times more aggressive and offensive, sometimes right in front of teachers, but I never saw another kid punished for foul language.

The zeal of the convert.

According to his Wiki page:

"In August 2019, Vance was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church in a ceremony at St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati, Ohio."

I'm not a Tolkien superfan, and for me it was mostly just kind of boring.

Also, this portrayal of Middle Earth seems to have very limited ontological inertia. Everything not on screen might as well not exist. Even the things that are shown feel static and shallow, like there isn't enough "stuff" to actually fill out the world and support the complex societies within.

I seem to remember visiting their homepage last year sometime, and every headline was some variation on [Name of politician][aggressive verb][target of ire][reason for the spat], e.g.:

• "John Bloggins slams Joe Blow for wearing a plaid tie"
• "Mary Sue rips Judicial Committee for goat scandal"
• "Peter Flarking haymakers Geraldo over unreturned library books"

And this is the saddest part. The primary victims will be young children, suffering through a potentially deadly disease because of their parents' credulity.

It doesn't matter if you guys somehow manage to get adults back in charge in the next 2-4 years. There is nothing stopping another Trump-esque person from being elected again soon after and tearing everything down again. Until you guys purge MAGA and can prove you are in no danger of a relapse, we simply can't trust you.

I'll do some research today to see if they are available where I live, or if they can be made so. Thanks for the tip.

There are, but they aren't feasible for us to use. We would love to, and even discussed it before our first kid was born, but the realities of our lives make them impractical.

It's generally going well. I already did this boycott once before during Trump 1.0, so I know what do look for.

It's a bit harder this time around because there are things we need where a Canadian (or at least non-American) alternative doesn't exist. The big one is diapers, as we haven't been able to find anything non-American that also works within our budget and time constraints.

It's unfortunate, but also only temporary. My kids should be out of diapers in a few years, provided the world doesn't end before then.

The post I was responding to was about steaming services, so I responded in-kind. Torrents have obviously always been an option, even in the heyday of streaming.