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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 months

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Even if you think AI search could be good, it won’t be good

TONIGHT (May 15), I'm in NORTH HOLLYWOOD for a screening of STEPHANIE KELTON'S FINDING THE MONEY; FRIDAY (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.

The big news in search this week is that Google is continuing its transition to "AI search" – instead of typing in search terms and getting links to websites, you'll ask Google a question and an AI will compose an answer based on things it finds on the web:

https://blog.google/products/search/generative-ai-google-search-may-2024/

Google bills this as "let Google do the googling for you." Rather than searching the web yourself, you'll delegate this task to Google. Hidden in this pitch is a tacit admission that Google is no longer a convenient or reliable way to retrieve information, drowning as it is in AI-generated spam, poorly labeled ads, and SEO garbage:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse

Googling used to be easy: type in a query, get back a screen of highly relevant results. Today, clicking the top links will take you to sites that paid for placement at the top of the screen (rather than the sites that best match your query). Clicking further down will get you scams, AI slop, or bulk-produced SEO nonsense.

AI-powered search promises to fix this, not by making Google search results better, but by having a bot sort through the search results and discard the nonsense that Google will continue to serve up, and summarize the high quality results.

Now, there are plenty of obvious objections to this plan. For starters, why wouldn't Google just make its search results better? Rather than building a LLM for the sole purpose of sorting through the garbage Google is either paid or tricked into serving up, why not just stop serving up garbage? We know that's possible, because other search engines serve really good results by paying for access to Google's back-end and then filtering the results:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

Another obvious objection: why would anyone write the web if the only purpose for doing so is to feed a bot that will summarize what you've written without sending anyone to your webpage? Whether you're a commercial publisher hoping to make money from advertising or subscriptions, or – like me – an open access publisher hoping to change people's minds, why would you invite Google to summarize your work without ever showing it to internet users? Nevermind how unfair that is, think about how implausible it is: if this is the way Google will work in the future, why wouldn't every publisher just block Google's crawler?

A third obvious objection: AI is bad. Not morally bad (though maybe morally bad, too!), but technically bad. It "hallucinates" nonsense answers, including dangerous nonsense. It's a supremely confident liar that can get you killed:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/01/mushroom-pickers-urged-to-avoid-foraging-books-on-amazon-that-appear-to-be-written-by-ai

The promises of AI are grossly oversold, including the promises Google makes, like its claim that its AI had discovered millions of useful new materials. In reality, the number of useful new materials Deepmind had discovered was zero:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/maximal-plausibility/#reverse-centaurs

This is true of all of AI's most impressive demos. Often, "AI" turns out to be low-waged human workers in a distant call-center pretending to be robots:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/31/neural-interface-beta-tester/#tailfins

Sometimes, the AI robot dancing on stage turns out to literally be just a person in a robot suit pretending to be a robot:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain

The AI video demos that represent "an existential threat to Hollywood filmmaking" turn out to be so cumbersome as to be practically useless (and vastly inferior to existing production techniques):

https://www.wheresyoured.at/expectations-versus-reality/

But let's take Google at its word. Let's stipulate that:

a) It can't fix search, only add a slop-filtering AI layer on top of it; and

b) The rest of the world will continue to let Google index its pages even if they derive no benefit from doing so; and

c) Google will shortly fix its AI, and all the lies about AI capabilities will be revealed to be premature truths that are finally realized.

AI search is still a bad idea. Because beyond all the obvious reasons that AI search is a terrible idea, there's a subtle – and incurable – defect in this plan: AI search – even excellent AI search – makes it far too easy for Google to cheat us, and Google can't stop cheating us.

Remember: enshittification isn't the result of worse people running tech companies today than in the years when tech services were good and useful. Rather, enshittification is rooted in the collapse of constraints that used to prevent those same people from making their services worse in service to increasing their profit margins:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/26/glitchbread/#electronic-shelf-tags

These companies always had the capacity to siphon value away from business customers (like publishers) and end-users (like searchers). That comes with the territory: digital businesses can alter their "business logic" from instant to instant, and for each user, allowing them to change payouts, prices and ranking. I call this "twiddling": turning the knobs on the system's back-end to make sure the house always wins:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

What changed wasn't the character of the leaders of these businesses, nor their capacity to cheat us. What changed was the consequences for cheating. When the tech companies merged to monopoly, they ceased to fear losing your business to a competitor.

Google's 90% search market share was attained by bribing everyone who operates a service or platform where you might encounter a search box to connect that box to Google. Spending tens of billions of dollars every year to make sure no one ever encounters a non-Google search is a cheaper way to retain your business than making sure Google is the very best search engine:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Competition was once a threat to Google; for years, its mantra was "competition is a click away." Today, competition is all but nonexistent.

Then the surveillance business consolidated into a small number of firms. Two companies dominate the commercial surveillance industry: Google and Meta, and they collude to rig the market:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue

That consolidation inevitably leads to regulatory capture: shorn of competitive pressure, the companies that dominate the sector can converge on a single message to policymakers and use their monopoly profits to turn that message into policy:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/

This is why Google doesn't have to worry about privacy laws. They've successfully prevented the passage of a US federal consumer privacy law. The last time the US passed a federal consumer privacy law was in 1988. It's a law that bans video store clerks from telling the newspapers which VHS cassettes you rented:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

In Europe, Google's vast profits lets it fly an Irish flag of convenience, thus taking advantage of Ireland's tolerance for tax evasion and violations of European privacy law:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town

Google doesn't fear competition, it doesn't fear regulation, and it also doesn't fear rival technologies. Google and its fellow Big Tech cartel members have expanded IP law to allow it to prevent third parties from reverse-engineer, hacking, or scraping its services. Google doesn't have to worry about ad-blocking, tracker blocking, or scrapers that filter out Google's lucrative, low-quality results:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

Google doesn't fear competition, it doesn't fear regulation, it doesn't fear rival technology and it doesn't fear its workers. Google's workforce once enjoyed enormous sway over the company's direction, thanks to their scarcity and market power. But Google has outgrown its dependence on its workers, and lays them off in vast numbers, even as it increases its profits and pisses away tens of billions on stock buybacks:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/#enshittification

Google is fearless. It doesn't fear losing your business, or being punished by regulators, or being mired in guerrilla warfare with rival engineers. It certainly doesn't fear its workers.

Making search worse is good for Google. Reducing search quality increases the number of queries, and thus ads, that each user must make to find their answers:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

If Google can make things worse for searchers without losing their business, it can make more money for itself. Without the discipline of markets, regulators, tech or workers, it has no impediment to transferring value from searchers and publishers to itself.

Which brings me back to AI search. When Google substitutes its own summaries for links to pages, it creates innumerable opportunities to charge publishers for preferential placement in those summaries.

This is true of any algorithmic feed: while such feeds are important – even vital – for making sense of huge amounts of information, they can also be used to play a high-speed shell-game that makes suckers out of the rest of us:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/11/for-you/#the-algorithm-tm

When you trust someone to summarize the truth for you, you become terribly vulnerable to their self-serving lies. In an ideal world, these intermediaries would be "fiduciaries," with a solemn (and legally binding) duty to put your interests ahead of their own:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/07/treacherous-computing/#rewilding-the-internet

But Google is clear that its first duty is to its shareholders: not to publishers, not to searchers, not to "partners" or employees.

AI search makes cheating so easy, and Google cheats so much. Indeed, the defects in AI give Google a readymade excuse for any apparent self-dealing: "we didn't tell you a lie because someone paid us to (for example, to recommend a product, or a hotel room, or a political point of view). Sure, they did pay us, but that was just an AI 'hallucination.'"

The existence of well-known AI hallucinations creates a zone of plausible deniability for even more enshittification of Google search. As Madeleine Clare Elish writes, AI serves as a "moral crumple zone":

https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/260

That's why, even if you're willing to believe that Google could make a great AI-based search, we can nevertheless be certain that they won't.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/15/they-trust-me-dumb-fucks/#ai-search

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

djhughman https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Modular_synthesizer_-_%22Control_Voltage%22_electronic_music_shop_in_Portland_OR_-_School_Photos_PCC_%282015-05-23_12.43.01_by_djhughman%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #twiddling #ai #ai search #enshittification #discipline #google #search #monopolies #moral crumple zones #plausible deniability #algorithmic feeds

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govtdebtreliefa · 2 years

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Garbage Pickers and Dumpsters: A Comprehensive Guide

It seems like paradise for a garbage picker. You can work all day and never run out of dumpsters to clear. But what if you can’t find a dumpster near your workplace? What if you need to get rid of garbage quickly but don’t have the time or resources? Then you need to find a different way to handle your waste. That’s where garbage pickers come in. They can help you get rid of your trash quickly, without having to spend hours picking it up and dumping it in a landfill.

How to Avoid Getting Stuck in a Garbage Picker or Dumpster.

A garbage picker is a tool that is used to remove garbage from a designated area. A garbage picker typically has a small reach and can be difficult to use if you are not familiar with it.

A dumpster is another term for a specific type of trash container that is often used to dispose of materials such as plastics, metals, and other large items. A dumpster may be too big or deep for one person to fit inside, so it is best to call ahead and ask the rental company if they have any smaller containers available.

What is a Garbage Picker

A garbage picker typically has a small reach and can be difficult to use if you are not familiar with it.

What is a Dumpster

A dumpster may be too big or deep for one person to fit inside, so it is best to call ahead and ask the rental company if they have any smaller containers available.

How to Use a Garbage Picker or Dumpster.

To use a garbage picker or dumpster, first determine the location of your trash and debris. For example, if you live in an apartment building and your waste accumulates on the ground floor, you may need to call for help to move the trash. If you’re living in a single-family home or some other communal area, simply place all of your garbage in one pile and let everyone know where it is (via a sign or announcement).

Once everyone is aware of the situation, open up the dumpster or picker and start sorting through the waste. Make sure to wear gloves when handling any hazardous materials – these are especially important if you’re picking up any large items such as appliances or furniture.

After sorting through the rubble, it’s time to generate an estimate of what needs to be disposed of. Many cities and towns have low-cost pickup services that can take away your entire load at once – this can save you a lot of money in the long run. In addition, many municipalities offer free composting services that can help reduce landfill costs.

How to use a Dumpster

If you don’t have access to a garbage picker or dumpster, another option is to rent one from a local business. This will allow you to sort through your trash more easily but will also require some preparation on your part – make sure to bring anything that needsolition (like heavy appliances) with you so that the person renting the dumpster knows what to do with them.

How to Avoid Getting Stuck in a Garbage Picker or Dumpster.

If you find yourself stuck in a garbage picker ordumpster, the first thing to do is try to free yourself. Try reaching out with your arms and legs if you can, and pull as much of the garbage out of the way as possible. If that doesn’t work, you could also try kicking and yelling for help. If your situation gets too dangerous, call a tow truck or emergency services.

How to avoid getting stuck in a dumpster

If you find yourself stuck in a dumpster, the first thing to do is call for help. Place your handsbreadth-wide front and back of your body into the opening at the bottom of the dumpster so that you are centered within the opening and keep your head down. If that isn’t enough, put all of your weight into pushing and pulling from one end of the dumpster to another until someone arrives to help you.

Conclusion

If you're ever stuck in a garbage picker or dumpster, be sure to use a garbage picker or dumpster to avoid getting stuck. By using a garbage picker ordumpster, you can avoid being stuck and get your products off the market quickly.

#garbage picker or dumpster

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henk-heijmans · 1 year

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Garbage pickers, ca. 1955 - by Alexander Strelinger (1934 - 2022), Slovak

#Alexander Strelinger

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scarynewboyfriend · 4 days

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having some brained thoughts vis-à-vis Disco Elysium and Haibane Renmei

possible spoilers for both below - especially regarding The Pale

The Pale is loosely described while playing Disco, although it is never quite so explicitly defined or presented to you all at once... I think this is largely because The Pale behaves somewhat paradoxically, but loosely has a set of rules that it follows

From what I've gathered:

it is a symptom of humanity - in which innovation, imagination, and novel change seem to encourage its spread. Speaking to the cryptid confirms that it did not exist before humanity came into being

The Pale manifests in the world most prominently as a sort of fog

it is known to be traversable in some cases (presumably where it is thin), and there are records of using it to alter real world items (the medical applications of The Pale book you can find comes to mind)

while it can be traversed, it is likely to cause some form of damage to humans. Talking to The Pale lorry driver can confirm this

whatever is consumed by The Pale ceases to exist in its entirety. As in, a man consumed by The Pale ceases to be known or remembered in history. It is unclear whether or not this erasure actually alters history, or if it merely eradicates all trace of whatever is consumed going forward from the point of consumption

Powerful nations are profoundly aware of how The Pale works, and will conduct acts of espionage and murder in order to fit their agenda, as well as attempt to prevent the spread of the Pale

This all explains the state of Revachol, in the sense that it very much feels trapped in a bygone era. Technology seems to have stagnated in the radio era, though it is often used ingeniously. There are things like automobiles, books and games, but they are at their most simple. The most advanced example I can think of is the radio game that you can discover in the bowls of the city under the book store. Nothing grand is proposed for technology - but expansions on what currently exists are present.

There are theories that the revolution encountered such intense intervention from The Coalition is partly due to the fear that a new ideology taking root would create vast amounts of The Pale - and the unfortunate thinking the keeping the unfair status quo would prevent this. To contradict this idea, the anodic dance club (should you choose to support the ravers) actually prolongs Revachol's existence from being erased by The Pale, though it is inevitably destroyed in its entirety when later it gets nuked by the Coalition (possibly due to a 3rd revolution taking place in the future?).

I appreciate how this idea is reinforced subtly by how Harry goes throughout the world. You don't have too many opportunities to have "new" things. Most of what you use and receive are borrowed, found, or recycled (garbage picker). You end up finding some semblance of refuge by housing with communists on the outskirts of town - a room that used to belong to someone else, cared for by a community you are just now joining. You don't own property, and you barely own anything of note. Just the scraps you've found and made use of while wandering through the world.

Let's talk about the Anodic ravers for a minute.. Noid offers perhaps the greatest insight into what they stand for, which is love, peace, and freedom... and music.

The irony is that, while this too is an act of creation and innovation, it actually appeases the spread of The Pale to some degree. Noid says something profound about "Left-Right mentality," and alludes that this is what he truly despises: the illusion that the world has created to convince people that there are only so many choices available.

It's possible that the spread of the Pale can only be stopped by uniting all of humanity, working and living together in harmony. The Pale is sometimes described as an allegory for Nihilism, the dangers of over-saturating in nostalgia, and the divide that people create between themselves (beliefs, alignments, preferences, etc. used to segregate us from one another). When you take into account that survivors of Pale exposure have symptoms of alienation, loss of identity (sometimes shown as having no discernible names, but concepts that usually feed into despair), and confusion, it's easy to see this connection. If it weren't for the eventual glassing of Revachol, it's possible the church under andonic influence could have fulfilled it's true potential towards limiting the Pale's spread in a more significant fashion.

So what about Haibane Renmei??

Haibane Renmei, if you haven't seen it already, is a wonderfully eerie anime that follows the lives of Haibane - people who have mysteriously appear in the town Glie with no memory of who/if they were anyone before arriving. They are distinguished by angelic features of small wings and halos, though they do not have any angelic or religious affiliations beyond this.

Their names are designated by the Haibane Renmei (community of Haibane) who use their only prevailing memory as inspiration for what their name will be. In each case, their only memory is of a dream they have before waking.

In both Disco and Haibane, names play a significant role in establishing character and sense of self - see Doom Spiral and Don't Call Abigal, who have defined themselves by their most critical life moments. Pissfaggot and others fall into this category, alongside Harry - who can remain ignorant of his true name for much of the game.

Their lives in the town are largely separate from that of its regular citizens, distinguished by a few rules:

They may only occupy residency in structures that have been abandoned

They must hold a job

They are forbidden from handling money (they and their employers are responsible for recording their "earnings" in a notebook. This limits the places they are allowed to work to businesses who are willing to accommodate these rules.

They are not allowed to "purchase" new items. Clothes and goods must be thrifted or recycled. This also limits where they are able to "spend" money

The town itself is surrounded by giant walls, which all the townspeople - Haibane included - are forbidden to approach. Designated envoys are allowed to do so, and regular townsfolk are permitted so long as they never return.

These themes, in my opinion, are interesting parallels to Disco. Both have a group of people who, for some reason or another, are forced to live off of the charity others, and are unable to leave the city/town that they find themselves in.

The Pale in Disco, and the walls beyond Glie are large unknowns to both the viewers and those living in these worlds. We are not completely sure what happens in the Pale - due to it's memory and existential properties. With the world beyond Glie, there is simply no way of knowing, because no one can return to describe it.

I've always believed that the Haibane are reborn individuals who died of, or died after a life of suffering. While their lives in Glie are restricted to some degree, the town and its people are nothing but pleasant and kind to them. Glie may in fact be a kind of purgatory, or paradise in this sense, though for the Haibane it is typically short lived.

Haibane will eventually encounter their "Day of Flight," where they disappear forever - presumably flying out of the town. The symptoms proceeding this are consistent for each:

Feeling of peace and happiness

Behaving distant and strange

Unaffected by the world and people around them

The idea here is that, perhaps after achieving fulfillment or true peace, the end is an unstoppable and compelling force for Haibane. Typically, Day of Flight is considered to be the ultimate objective for Haibane - though for those considered Sin Bound, it is terrifying, and impossible for themselves until they are cured of the condition.

A Sin Bound Haibane has some minor physical differences, but the most prominent appear to be a prevailing sense of dread, fear, depression, and desire to go beyond the walls of the town. This is not a permanent symptom, but being cured is no simple task, and cannot be done alone. The Haibane are ultimately obliged and happy to help one another achieve their "Day of Flight," but it requires a Haibane reaching out and accepting this help first.

Here's where I see some parallel between Haibane and the anodic ravers:

It's clear that the ultimate goal for both is love, unity and harmony

Achieving "Day of Flight" may be analogous to accepting the anodic philosophy

Sin Bound Haibane experience dread and lack of self-actualization in a similar way that survivors of the Pale do

Community support is the cure

An interesting thing to note here is that Haibane are not born Sin Bound, as the main protagonist succumbs to the condition after her friend achieves their "Day of Flight."

Both stories centre largely around this feeling of confusion and powerlessness. That Nihilism, pain, and isolation from eachother perpetuates a destructive cycle, not just for the individual, but for the whole, are large driving forces in both worlds. And equally, healing and spiritual wellness are presented as daunting, yet necessary goals to bring peace to the world.

They both have this sort of ever-present sense of doom - Disco Elysium is sort of wrapped in the idea that the world is so fucked that the Pale can never truly be stopped, and Haibane Renmei deals with the fact that, even in a perfect world, death is inevitable, and you still need to heal during your lifetime despite that. But I don't think the messages are entirely hopeless. There is love and community in the inbetween for each.

Even though Revachol is ultimately doomed to be destroyed, and even though Harry's district coworkers still see him as a self-destructive drunk - you save the town from the disaster of the week, you can sober up, you can find friendship and be loved.

Even though the Haibane will eventually lose their closest friends to the "Day of Flight," you will never truly be alone. You can heal from your wounds, you can save and be saved by other people in your life. Much of the story is about letting go and moving on. The cycle of death is unstoppable, but so is the cycle of life. It is not impossible to find happiness in new places, and it's never too late to get help and to help others.

I could write so much more but this is already huge and has taken up so much of my time...

#Haibane Renmei #disco elysium #essay #of sorts #theory #disco elysium spoilers #haibane renmei spoilers #communism #the pale #day of flight #rambling #the inevitable cycles of pain and healing #you will hurt #and you will heal #and none of it will have been a waste of time

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shieldfoss · 11 months

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Keyboard shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts in actual use are clearly historically contingent and path dependent - there are no standards, which means there are no ways to avoid conflict - even if you want to!

That is - unless you know every shortcut for the operating system you are compiling for and the operating system doesn't add more shortcuts and no third party programs are installed that were unaware of your presence.

EDIT:

Post got Long, it's under a readmore now so it won't clutter your dash

But please do read it if you have software opinions.

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Hardware thinks (shortcut) means A

Operating system thinks (shortcut) means B

Background service thinks (shortcut) means C

Browser thinks (shortcut) means D

Open browser tab thinks (shortcut) means E

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Hot garbage!

In the interest of avoiding conflicting commands it would be great if people could agree on some standards.

I feel like, with [super] and [ctrl] and [alt] and [shift] and [Esc] and [space] and [Fn] - it ought to be possible to do some deconflicting here!

Since the operating system is in control of the keyboard, it can impose those standards unilaterally - it would be chaos during the transition but the future would be much better.

Except no! Inherently impossible!

Because the user will - once again - install third party software and even if we get excellent deconfliction between layers, if you install two different background services that both did their due diligence and ensured that the operating system didn't use ctrl+shift+q+w+g - it is functionally impossible for them to know about each other

Still, I want to sketch something.

NB: I've never used a Mac, maybe Steve Apple solved all of this decades ago for his platform, it seems like the kind of thing he would do. I'm gonna write like he didn't though.

The domain

I'm seeing two ways users interact with software - background/foreground - and two types of software they're interacting with - hosts and clients.

The terms are necessarily underspecified but think along the lines of

Background/Foreground

Is this shortcut supposed to consistently do the same thing every time I use it (for the OS or some background service) or might it do different things depending on which app I currently have focused?

This is muddled by the fact that the background modes have active modes e.g. if you have Nvidia Shadowplay running in the background, listening for input that tells it to turn on or off, you probably also have an Nvidia Shadowplay app that you can actively focus on.

In that case, the software is simply counted twice - it has a persistent background component and a separate component that might or might not be focused.

Host/Client

The difference between Host and Client is essentially whether the developer is responsible for intermediating with third party software. This is obviously recursive[1], I am going to pretend it isn't though.

Hardware

To the extent that your hardware sends messages to your operating system, those can be ignored for the purpose of this diagram. To the extent that your operating system sends messages to your hardware, the hardware can be treated like a persistent background service.

Scenario

You are writing code in an IDE.

Four pieces of software have five different uses for the key "e"

Your OS wants E to mean "Open default Email client."

Your Emoji Picker background service wants E to open the "Pick Emoji" dialog.

Your IDE is currently in focus and wants E to open the Project Explorer pane.

Your IDE has a plugin that format your current tab according to your Editorconfig file.

And finally: You just plain need the letter "e" in your source code.

Today: Any fucking thing might happen depending on how those different apps and plugins have their hotkeys set up.

But let us consider:

[super]+[e] opens the email client.

[super]+[shift]+[e] opens the emoji picker

[ctrl]+[e] opens the Project Explorer pane

[ctrl]+[shift]+[e] formats according the editorconfig

[e] inserts the letter "e" into the source code.

Enforcement between OS, Third party service and active client.

How do you prevent the emoji picker from squatting on [ctrl]+[shift]+[e] and fucking it all up? Especially if it is written by a third party who didn't get the memo?

Easy.

If you press [ctrl]+[shift]+[e] the emoji plugin never sees it. When the emoji picker event loop asks for new events, those WM_KEYDOWN events aren't on the list.

"How?"

From the perspective of the OS, there are three groups of software that may need to know about key events

First party background software (The OS and OS services)

Third party background software (like the Emoji picker)

Active focused client software (First or third party)

When you input a key sequence:

The OS reads through the keys:

If [super] is present, check for [shift]

If [shift] is present in the key sequence, the key events go into the Third Party pool. On receiving them, the Emoji Picker opens the Emoji dialog.

Else only [super] is present in the key sequence: The key events go into the OS private pool, where they are made available only to first party background services. The "default email" hook fires.

Else [super] is not present in the sequence: The key events go into the "focused client" pool, which is made available only to the single, currently active, focused client. They are read by the IDE.

Enforcement within active client

Write it correctly lmao

But it is just recursively the same problem! Please do the same thing!

When the IDE reads the key events out of the OS, it checks for the presence of [ctrl]

If [ctrl] is present, check for [shift].

If [shift] is present in the sequence, the key events go into the plugin pool. Upon receiving them, the formatter activates

Else only [ctrl] is present. The key event goes into the IDE's private pool. The IDE opens the Project Explorer pane.

Else [ctrl] is not present in this key sequence. The key events go into the active editor tab which inserts a single 'e' in the current file.

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Expanding the shortcut configuration space

"What about [alt]?" Is that button just irrelevant? [Esc]? [Fn]?

Nah, nah. You can do a bunch with all of them. They're fundamentally the same as the shift key here. Maybe the OS reserves for itself the space of all shortcuts like [super]+[letter/number] and [super]+[alt]+[letter/number], and every other shortcut that starts with [super] is available for third party background services. Maybe clients that support plugins (browsers that support sending key events into websites) reserve [ctrl] only and everything else is fair game. However it shakes out.

Really, this is too strict, too. The purpose of the exercise is not to hobble third party background services or third party plugins, it is more to reserve a space to ensure various things don't conflict. Insofar as it can be done without leading to conflicts, you can be much more lax than this.

The two issues that brought this on are both VSCode related, because VSCode has two shortcuts.

Well, it has a lot of shortcuts. But it has two specific shortcuts that I want to talk about: [ctrl]+[b] and [ctrl]+[shift]+[e].

In the Linux keymap (VSCode has three separate keymaps for windows/linux/mac) [ctrl]+[b] opens the side pane, and [ctrl]+[shift]+[e] opens the project explorer window.

Except not for me they don't.

I am writing this text in markdown, and I have a markdown plugin installed. Somewhat reasonably, the markdown plugin feels [ctrl]+[b] should bold the selected text (that is, insert ** on both sides of the text.) And VSCode gives priority to the plugin - when my active editing pane is on a markdown document, I cannot open/close the side pane.

And the fucking IBUS emoji picker is squatting on [ctrl]+[shift]+[e]. Across the whole OS! "Yeah no matter what you're doing, you're probably gonna need emoji so we're taking first claim on incredibly ergonomic real estate for an incredibly niche use case" who the fuck accepted that pull request into my distro?

And, like, is Microsoft going to change the default key bindings for VSCode on Linux because of that insane decision? No of course not.

Are they going to change their idiocy - just to stop inconveniencing Microsoft users? Yeah that is not how I am modeling the situation unfolding I must admit.

That sucks! Shit sucks! And the only good solution is for the OS to say "We are laying absolute claim to (this namespace) for OS and background services and we are giving third parties absolute claim to (that namespace).

Which they're not gonna do but I can waste a day writing about the perfect world I want to live in.

---

[1] "My Mac hosts a VM running Linux hosting a VM running Windows running an open Browser with a tab with an open webapp with a user plugin."

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grabo-grabber · 10 months

Text

Effortless Fall Clean up with Reachers and Pickers

As autumn arrives, bringing the joys of cozy sweaters and warm lattes, it also heralds the start of seasonal cleanup. However, for those facing mobility challenges or the effects of aging, even simple tasks like leaf clearing can become daunting. Explore litter pick-up reachers and pickers, making fall cleanup a breeze.

Understanding Reachers and Pickers

These trash grabber tools are extended-reaching devices crafted to grasp seemingly unreachable objects. With a pole featuring a claw, they eliminate the need for bending, stretching, or straining. Whether reaching high branches or collecting leaves, these litter grabber tools are essential for fall.

Simplify Your Cleanup Routine

The extended reach and robust design of Reachers and Pickers streamline the cleanup process:

Extended Reach: Easily touch high spots that were once challenging to access.

Tight Grip: Securely hold various items, from delicate glass ornaments to everyday objects.

Strain and Sprain Prevention: Minimize physical strain and reduce accident risks by eliminating the need for ladders or constant bending.

Versatile Use: Ideal for reaching high shelves or retrieving items from tricky spots.

Effortless Fall Cleanup

Reachers and Pickers shine in lawn care, especially during fall's leafy season:

Seamless Leaf Collection: Effortlessly gather leaves into piles or bags without handpicking or using a rake.

Time Savings: Quickly capture multiple leaves, saving valuable time during lawn cleanup.

Back-Friendly: The ergonomic design promotes an upright posture, decreasing the risk of backaches and strains.

Versatile Utility: Beyond leaves, use them for small branches or any trash on your lawn.

Secure Yours Today!

Step into a new era of fall cleanup with Garbo Grabber Reachers and Pickers, blending versatility, ease of use, and health-conscious benefits. Conquer all your leaf-cleaning missions and more. Don't miss out – secure yours today and equip yourself with a reliable helping hand!

#trash grabber tools #litter grabber #Garbo Grabber #garbage pickers

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hidden-scarlet-whispers · 5 months

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Ok so imagine Saint and Osiris's first date ever. Osiris obviously asks first because he's overconfident as fuck and would totally make the first move.

Saint is flabbergasted and absolutely blushing however an Exo would blush. He accepts without hesitation.

Osiris nods and tells him good, they'll meet here tomorrow evening and go to his favorite restaurant together. The place serves the most wonderful and well made dishes in the entire Last City.

The next evening when the two meet up, Osiris reaches and grabs Saint's hand, causing the Exo to be super elated and giddy. Osiris guides him through alleyways and between buildings, through to a dingy district that's pretty run down, and up to a small, decrepit structure. Calling it a building would be... an insult to architecture everywhere. Osiris leads Saint past the bar guarding the entrance, and the place is... lights are dim and flickering rapidly, some are out, the wall paint is peeling, and there are two tables and a back counter where a VERY tired person stands. She looks up wearily.

"Ah. Osiris. Back for more cheese fries?" she asks.

"The biggest helping you can make!" Osiris replies proudly. "And Saint, what would you like? Hot dogs? Onion rings? Chicken wings? But don't go for the pizza, it tastes like cardboard."

With how this place looks, Saint is surprised the pizza isn't made with cardboard. Awkwardly, he politely orders some onion rings. He and Osiris sit down at a table together.

Minutes later, the tired worker comes out with two GINORMOUS takeout containers, one with cheese fries, and the other with onion rings. There is enough of each to last for at least a week of dinners.

Saint has no idea what to do with this many onion rings. He goes ahead and grabs just one, eating it.

However, Osiris shoves his entire right hand into his helping of fries, scoops out as much as he can, and bites into it directly, filling his mouth until both cheeks are puffed outward. With a mouthful of food, he asks, "So how are the onions?"

"........ Good......." Saint hesitantly replies.

Within the hour, Osiris has consumed his entire container, including scraping the cheese clean with his fingers and licking it off.

However... Saint has barely made a dent in his food, it seems, even though he swears he ate at least half the container.

Osiris sees this and shrugs. "Well! Leftovers for a while, right?" And with that, he helps shove the massive container of onion rings shut, and hands it to Saint. "Next time you can choose the place!! I'm excited to see if it'll match this food!!"

He's dead serious, Saint realizes. Osiris truly believes this is fantastic food in every sense.

Saint makes a personal note to find a place with cheese fries for their next date.

(Omg sorry this took me forever to write lol. But you can't tell me that Osiris eats healthy, wholesome meals at all. That man would find a hamburger in the garbage half eaten, and think to himself that no one's gonna eat the rest, so he will.)

HHHHHH oh my, at first when you described the place I thought that this was gonna be a Balto moment LMFAO this is hilarious

I would've gone with the chicken wings 👀LOL! I eat the same as osiris… just picker.…

#hilarious #I love it

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dollcherray · 5 months

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Random questions if you don't mind! <3

1- How you do these gradient colours in the title?

2- Where you do these headers for your hcs?

Thanks if you answer! You are very creative! :D

Heyy! thank you for the asks<3

1- the gradients is something very complicated to explain but ill try my best to just give a quick summary.

I first go and create my title without writing anything else, just the title, go to chrome and open the Tumblr website (make sure its in "PC version" if ur on mobile or else it wont work)

i edit the drabble and go to the settings, there are a "rich text" box, click on it and then click HTML.

ok, this is where it gets complicated

you will open another page called "text colorizer" write the title you want in the writing box.

there will be a box with "one color" click on it and there will be alot of options, click on the three or the other version you desire of the type of gradient.

there will be two codes when ur done picking the colors.

(tip: if you have a specific banner with specific colors, sometimes to make the title match the banners colors i go to color picker website and upload the image that i used on the banner)

ok, back to the code, you copy the last one.

i recommend you to go to text replacer and put ";" to replace with nothing, but its just a recomendation because it can bug :C

then you copy the replaced text go back to the Tumblr page, there will be a "<p> TEXT <p>" replace that with the code

and boom! ur done.

(it may appear a little "code not supported" but dont worry, it still works)

after that you can go back to the Tumblr app to add some details.

2- i do it on Alight Motion, i go to the custom size and put "1500 x 500" and then i put the images i want with some details! ✨ (i use the transparent background)

thats all and thank you for the compliment, i appreciate it<3

the websites i talked about:

if my explanation is too confusing about the gradient, theres a tutorial on YouTube! if your on mobile just do everything the person says in the "Pc version" option that chrome has.

xoxo<3

#✮⋆˙ cherry answers #Tutorial tumblr #tumblr tutorial #gradient text tutorial

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bnnuy-wabbit · 4 months

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what is the goiania incident?

It's considered one of the biggest radiological tragedies in the world! It happened in the state of Goiania (GO) in brazil in 1987 and involved Cesium-137. We learn about it in school.

A group of garbage collectors/pickers (people who collects materials from the trash such as iron and tin and copper for reselling) found an old radiotherapy machine while they were looking through an abandoned building. They poked and prodded it to look if it had anything of value (despite the warnings on the machine) and disassembled it, contaminating themselves and the place. The remainder of the scrapped bits and pieces were taken to the local junkyard, where the owner found some sort of beautiful, shiny blue dust inside a capsule (the cesium salt itself, kept in the machine). Not knowing what it was, he decided to take it home to show to his family, friends and kept some over there to show to the people who stopped at the junkyard because he found it interesting. The people who disassembled the machine, all his family members and several people who had contact with the substance quickly became very ill. Many were hospitalized. It took several days for the government to assess the radioactive material, and for the local health workers to treat the victims properly, but by then the damage was already done for many many. Several people who had direct contact with it died over the course of the week, and others died of cancer or complications years later.

The saddest part of it was that he first brought the pretty blue dust to his daughter, who played with it and even accidentally ingested it. The radiation later found in her body was so high that doctors refused to get too close to her to treat her and the locals didn't want her buried anywhere nearby, afraid of further contamination.

The event completely annihilated the area comercially for decades despite it being the capital of the state because people were too afraid of Going There and getting contaminated too. A lot of people moved out out of fear. They tried to deep clean the entire city. They emptied a couple homes. Thousands of people were directly affected by the contamination, and many years later people still die and get sick because of it. The contamined people complain that the gov has stopped caring completely and doesnt provide medicine to help with the ailments anymore.

It's really sad. None of it happened out of ill intent. the garbage pickers were just trying to make a living and, like, the guy seriously just found something cool and went oh huh i should show this cool thing to other people! i think my daughter would love this!!

#asks #death

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