• 14 Posts
  • 71 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: September 18th, 2023

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  • SmartVoting isn’t simply data, however. They have a “proprietary algorithm” that they refuse to share.

    Not only that, but if the true goal of the site is strategic voting to keep Conservatives out of office, then you’d think that in a tied race between an NDP and Liberal candidate, with the Cons a distant third, there wouldn’t be a strategic vote recommendation at all.

    And yet, in a riding in that exact situation, with a NDP incumbent tied with a Liberal candidate yet to be named, it was recommending people vote for the Liberal up until a day or two ago (Hamilton Centre, Matthew Green’s riding).

    Then you start digging a little deeper and realize that the SmartVoting site is mostly (but not entirely - they have their secret algorithm!) based on the projections from 338. Which are reasonably accurate overall. However, in the recent Ontario election they under-projected the NDP’s seat count significantly, projecting 16 seats, whereas they actually ended up winning 27.

    I’m not a statistician, but that seems like a remarkable jump. If I had to guess, it’s that 338’s model is not capturing something about the NDP or their voter base, whether that’s the party’s ground game, incumbency, or some other hard-to-quantify aspect.

    So I mean, if it were just data then sure, don’t shoot the messenger! But the problem is more that the modeling and recommendations seem like they have real flaws, probably unintentional, but flaws nonetheless. And projections and recommendations can and will influence voter behaviour.





  • Without knowing how serious your relationship is, it’s hard to say.

    I would advise not doing this if the main reason is to save money, especially with one person being the sole owner. The power dynamic is too unbalanced.

    But if you’re both pretty sure this is a long-term, perhaps lifelong, relationship, then no one here can give you the correct answer. Set aside some time, sit down with your partner, discuss things from both a practical and emotional perspective, do this again in another week or two, and find an arrangement you both feel good about.


  • “Independent media should be allowed on the precinct, there’s no reason why it should be a small cabal of government approved mouthpieces,” Poilievre said.

    Hmm ok yeah that’s a fair point I guess

    “I would love to see a scenario where every different kind of journalist from all backgrounds, of all opinions, is given a chance to report on what happens on the hill.”

    Interesting, sure, go on

    Poilievre’s spokesperson, Sebastian Skamski, did not respond to multiple requests from PressProgress seeking clarification …

    Ahhhhhh there it is






  • Yeah out of many changes that distorted or outright altered meaning, one of the worst bits was that the second version eliminated the crucial first few words - which acknowledged the original post and therefore set a particular tone.

    Communication is way more complex than statistical relationships between words, and I sincerely doubt that any of these systems will ever be able to fully mimic that complexity







  • I have no idea what the views of the person in the article are, but the Idea of a supposedly federated platform like blusky banning people is a bit ridiculous

    This take is ridiculous, more like.

    The whole point of federation is that each provider is responsible for moderation on their own service. Bluesky is indeed running a service, not just writing the AT Protocol specification. It shouldn’t be controversial to boot people who have explicitly said they’re there to promote bigotry.

    And, because federation, then those bigots can make their own instance, right? Sure, and the Bluesky instance and everyone else should then defederate that instance due to harassment.

    That’s how federation works.


  • After having recently restored some stuff from an aging external hdd, i’m seriously considering getting a few dvdr discs and burning the important things every now and then.

    I know they don’t last forever either, but - just as a random example that has definitely never happened to me hahaha - you can drop them from a height of 3 feet and still get files off them!



  • I mostly agree - however there are physical/mechanical reasons behind the use of some of those. For example, Phillips head screws will ‘cam out’ (driver will slip out of the screw head) rather than get over-torqued, which is useful in various situations - although TIL this was not actually an intentional design feature!

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

    Hex keys are better than a Robertson (square head) in tight spaces with something like an Allan key, and, in my experience anyway, Robertson can take a fair bit of torque, so they’re great for sinking into softwood - and also for getting out again, even when they’ve been painted over.

    Flathead screws, on the other hand, should launched into the sun