As suspected, this paper is based upon Paul Ekman’s Facial Action Coding System, better known as micro-expressions.

This controversial literature borderlines on pseudo-science, with Ekman’s work having significant conflicts of interest in the form of undisclosed funding from US defence, police, and border control, who wanted Ekman to create systems that can detect lies based on supposed micro expressions. Subsequent independent meta analyses have found that micro expressions cannot be consistently read, even by Ekman’s own researchers.

Unfortunately, despite this, world governments have poured millions of dollars into private contractors to develop AI systems based on this flawed research for border control.

Munecat’s video essay on debunking body language experts goes into much greater detail:

https://youtu.be/Y0VQyEY-B2I

Usual suspects

South Korea is infamous for very high cost of living, especially considering the very low salaries.

You can check numbeo for more specific comparisons, but Seoul and Busan are only 20% and 30% cheaper in terms of cost of living compared to Atlanta GA, respectively. Not nearly enough to make up the salary difference.

The fact there there are migrant workers already tells you the situation. People’s behaviour generally follow economic incentives. There’s a reason why South Korea is struggling with emigration.

Because money, sadly.

An automotive factory worker averages around $25/hour in the US, or an annual salary of around 50K.

An automotive factory worker in South Korea averages around 17,000 KRW/hour, or an annual salary of around 36 mil KRW, which is roughly $12/hour or 25K annual.

No need for any new extensions. Just add a new uBlock filter for AI slop.

https://github.com/laylavish/uBlockOrigin-HUGE-AI-Blocklist

Even browsing existing small to medium sized sites has become such a chore, with all these verifications and rate limiters as part of the anti AI scraper effort.

So many cloudflare verification checkboxes. So many Google sign ins. So many cross site cookies and tracking for even basic functionality.

Care about privacy and restrict browsing data even a little? Captcha hell.

Date rapists in shambles

For context, these containers are really popular for storing drugs like GHB

Ben Garrison’s comic of Greta Thunberg getting spanked (spoiler for your protection):

If your online content is audio or video then you can replace the default subtitle track with nonsense. This is because AI scrapers generally only check the default subtitle track to understand audio or video.

The process would be more difficult with text or image content, but you can still apply the same principles.

Poisonining AI with “.ass” subtitles:

https://youtu.be/NEDFUjqA1s8

Someone (allegedly) fucked the principal’s dog

I don’t think the any interaction definition is too broad at all. Primitive forms of social media such as mailing lists and forum threads form are very similar in functionality to simply following hashtags, or I guess whatever the algorithms suggest.

The distinction using account based versus conversation/thread based is not too helpful, because the majority of users of modern social media don’t really use it to follow accounts, with the majority of their time is spent doomscrolling generic hashtags or algorithm recommendations.

The similarities are easier to see if you think of how people actually used these technologies in their daily lives. Pre Facebook, people would log in and refresh their Usenet, emails, and forums threads to keep in touch with friends and interests. Post Facebook, people would log in and refresh Facebook/Insta instead.

I owned a Remarkable and returned it because it is so frustrating.

Remarkable runs a scuffed version of Linux, which requires developers to release a separate version of whatever app they have. Although the selection is growing, it is paltry compared to offerings from a typical Android or iOS device.

Below is a list of so called “best” apps. No syncthing, no Obsidian, no Saber, etc. Multiple scuffed versions of Zotero that can’t do annotations.

https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable

Even for the few custom apps available, these are all uninstalled and reset with every OS update.

https://remarkable.guide/faqs.html#what-happens-to-third-party-software-when-i-update-or-downgrade-my-os

If you don’t want to use the few third party cloud sync options, then Remarkable charges money for cloud sync.

https://remarkable.com/shop/connect/pricing

Remarkable’s notes are also stored in a proprietary format that cannot be read by other applications. Attempts to reverse engineer it are jank af.

https://github.com/akeil/rmtool

It it works for you, great 👍. But I cannot whole heartedly recommend it. Even if you love eInk, just grab an Android based one like Boox.

Thumbs down for Remarkable. Dumb vendor lock-in with subscription fees and inability to easily transfer notes, no external app support, yet still retails close to iPad prices.

At that point, deploying locked down iPads is easier, cheaper, and offers more flexibility. Which is exactly what a lot of schools and universities already do.

This is basically the central thesis of world famous economist Thomas Piketty.

Inequality inevitably worsens if the rate on capital exceeds the rate on labour. That is, when society rewards simply owning capital and wealth more than working.

Could American Evangelicals Spot the Antichrist? Here Are the Biblical Predictions: - Benjamin L. Corey - https://www.benjaminlcorey.com/could-american-evangelicals-spot-the-antichrist-heres-the-biblical-predictions/

Trump 79, Sparks Health Concerns With ‘Heaven’ Declaration

FTFY

Africa tech is just Chinese tech so they’re already cooked.

Australia basically banned encryption long ago and in doing killed off their tech industry.

We need a New Zealand tech revolution, which is where all the Australian IT firms relocated to following the encryption ban.

Encryption laws are hurting Australia’s tech sector, Atlassian says | Australian security and counter-terrorism | The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/27/encryption-laws-are-hurting-australias-tech-sector-atlassian-says

Don’t even need to do that, their websites with recruitment information has such poor security that leaks happen all the time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 2/3 of the Oath Keepers are former military and/or law enforcement officers. The leak obtained by DDOSecrets included membership ID, membership type, name, physical and email address, and join date.

Inside The Pro-Trump Militant Group The Oath Keepers - The Atlantic - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/

The database leak included such granular detail that economists have been able to study their firm-like behaviours, including running discount codes for memberships and promises of pre-order welcome packages that are never fulfilled.

Selling Violent Extremism - https://www.ucigcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024_wp10_klinenberg_v2-FINAL.pdf

Usual suspects

As much I despise Spotify, I’m trying out Qobuz and it’s just not really it.

No folder organisation for playlists or albums.

No Linux application.

No lyrics.

No support for smart speakers.

No information linking to artist tours and merch.

No dedicated classical music app.

Generally lacking when it comes to non western artists.

Prides itself on providing high quality music, yet still only has lower quality masters for some artists compared to Apple Music, Tidal, and even Spotify.

I want to love it, like the way it loves and respects the music industry, with it’s special magazine etc, but it’s just not it.