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* Posts by silver darling

21 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Jul 2010

Facebook let advertisers target 'Jew-haters'

silver darling

Already used for political ends, no?

Didnt Brexit and US presidential elections show how FB was used to target voters' racism -

"Facebook was the key to the entire campaign, Wigmore (Andy Wigmore, Leave.EU’s communications director) explained. A Facebook ‘like’, he said, was their most “potent weapon”. “Because using artificial intelligence, as we did, tells you all sorts of things about that individual and how to convince them with what sort of advert. And you knew there would also be other people in their network who liked what they liked, so you could spread. And then you follow them. The computer never stops learning and it never stops monitoring.”"

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy

Merely targeting keywords in user profiles is simple, the articles above suggest more sophisticated targeting. Facebook are themselves busy spinning their 'AI' capabilities to all kinds of clients.

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The web is past peak innovation: It's all negative returns from here

silver darling
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Re: Not one "web designer"

yes, that Asktog website is 'a bit poor to say the least' . Applying some basic print desgin principles would improve it immensely.

If mr tog can't design a dirt basic website so users can quickly scan through the content to see where they want to go next (check a dead tree tabloid for how to do that) why would they consider any further exploration?

He needs a lesson in how to make text content readable and attractive. He needs a web designer.

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Paper mountain, hidden Brexit: How'd you say immigration control would work?

silver darling
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Re: Propaganda by CEO's

yeh done that as a migrant brit - fruit n veg picking in germany , appalling conditions/pay, 'black' work on german building sites, better pay (but sometimes no pay at all) more dangerous work.

that's how it was for many brit workers in germany before UK and Germany 'integrated' into EU. sounds like nothing's changed then, which isn't great because for those of us in the north of britain Germany was a common escape from unemployment. and now we'll be back (if we're lucky) to the european labour market of the early 1990s. Or on our bikes in Basildon.

Those whingeing about immigration always forget others' need to emigrate.

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Bill Gates cooks up poultry recipe for Africans' paltry existence

silver darling
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Re: Thinking it through

no, there's mass import of brasil and euro chicken in WA, legally and illegally. In WA urbania western chicken is cheaper than quality local meat.

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silver darling
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Headmaster

Re: Thinking it through

"harder for European/American farmers to dump capacity in Africa and depress prices" not really. both europe and brasil dump second rate factory chicken onto west african markets. WA countries that have tried to ban or tax imported chicken have had usual problems of contravening trade 'agreements' or smuggling via 3rd countries. in WA urbania it's usually cheaper than local chicken which being mostly organic tastes much better.

chicken in WA is regarded as a luxury food and chicken consumption is increasing rapidly. one way for west africans to raise chickens is to buy days old chicks from market. these sell for a lot less than $5 (about $1 last time i asked) and supplying chicks is a burgeoning business for entreprenuers.. the chickens are usually eaten by the people that raise them and not sold. chicks are euro-yank strains grown from imported eggs,. and in WA are generally only good for dry season , ie half the year, raising. in the wet season they die pretty easy. solutions are to interbreed local african breeds (tougher) with faster growing euro-yank strains , there's good research going on in e.g. israel and cameroon to develop hardy fast growing breeds. there's also interesting research on using black soldier fly for feed.

maybe mr m$ could help by investing in breed research or supplying loans to mid-range entrepenuers. Egg hatching machines cost from $3 (5 egg hatcher from china) to $2000 (lot of eggs, south african) and up. when i researched this for business i estimated a $2500 set up would give me an income of c. $150 a month in the dry season, not bad but there are less risky businesses opps.

broiler bill seems a bit late to the table here, and , though it may be the article, not that clued up ..

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E-cigarettes help save lives, says Royal College of Physicians

silver darling
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Windows

Re: addiction central

yeh me too . stopped smoking = v good , nicotine consumption through the roof != good

We now have an industry advertising extremely addictive (> opiates) products with twenty-something fit folk cooly vaping in swimsuits. My local gloop dealer dedicated to increasing my nicotine consumption with stronger batteries and stronger fluids. People on the streets sucking on gloop exhaust pipes fitted to car batteries. Last time the chinese profited this much from our addictions we had to pay for our tea fix by fixing them up with an opium fix.

And Big Baccy doesn't have shares in all these gloop sellers? Heroin, alcohol, nicotine, sugar; big bread heads want to keep us hooked. I'm glad i can breathe again but there's something not right about legal drugs businesses profiting from our weaknesses. 2 headlines away the commentards are whingeing about win10 lock in , where will it all stop?

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'Profoundly stupid' Dubliner's hoax call lost Intel 6,000 hours of production

silver darling
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Re: Common Sense

bigoted would-be-atheist nonsense, like most of hitchens' output ... evry wiki ful kno that --

Hades - The Fields of Punishment was a place for those who had created havoc on the world and committed crimes specifically against the gods. Hades himself would make the individual's punishment of eternal suffering based on their specific crime.

-- and a whole bunch of other religions have some version of hell. you (along with the dead drunk) will get reincarnated as a chicken for your willful ignorance

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Junk your IT. Now. Before it drags you under

silver darling

IT - the best argument for a command economy

Everybody on the same 10 year plan: update > learn > produce > tweak > maintain

swashbuckling blades giving market advantage? we don't need cut to shreds, we need to produce what the people need, consistently and reliably.

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Female blood-suckers zero in on human prey by smelling our breath

silver darling
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Re: ding-dong!

True, sheep didn't create Rannoch Moor and many areas of Scotland may well have had midge for a long time ... but sheep farming, compared to cattle farming, acidifies an environment and spreads the peat, and therefore the midge. Stripping out the trees 19/20th century style hasn't helped either.

Compare midge populations in Norway and Scotland or try and find references to midge pre 19th century. Surprising an 18/19th century English army so quick to bemoan the bleakness of Lochaber forgot to mention the misery of midge, a misery recorded by many modern day tourists.

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silver darling

and the vaccines?

Good to see research in this area but as other commentards note this research is somewhat superfluous. What we need are malaria and dengue vaccines, perhaps when global warming brings malaria to middlesex we'll see the investment needed to create those ...

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silver darling
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Re: ding-dong!

With the amount needed, dubious effectiveness and price of skin-so-soft (and making sure you get the right version), it'd be cheaper to napalm your chosen scottish west coast bbq area. Commandos sent to Knoydart armed only with Avon? there would be Brecon Beacons type recriminations

The wee bams don't like DEET , no-one likes DEET but it is effective ... long term, and to avoid 60's style poisoning, full body nets are the answer ...

The longer long term answer is SHOOT THE SHEEP and deacidify the environment this type of farming causes and the midges love so much ...

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ALIENS ARE COMING: Chief NASA boffin in shock warning

silver darling

fund nasa fund

'We know where to [get funding]. We know how to [get funding]' = tell them the wee green man is just around the corner and we'll be rich as spielberg .

In the interests of humanity rather than ET money would be better spent on proper training for the police.

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Million Mask March: Anonymous' London Guy Fawkes protest a damp squib

silver darling

There could have been an opportunity here for some analysis of tech influenced politics but instead it's 'look at the fanbois queuing at the shop' stereotypical sneering. The bigot journo directing tedious apple v microsoft v linux rabble rousing at another target.

Perhaps it's too much to expect that the reg's rent-a-machinehead writers and tea swilling keyboard tapping readers could comprehend a world outside of little labeled containers.

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Google hits back at 'Dear Rupert' over search dominance claims

silver darling
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Re: Dear Rupert

@ deive

.. and anyone with the money can pay the money to have their point of view further up the search rankings, SEO ...

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Lenovorola TRIPLE-ola: New Moto G, Moto X and 360 wristputer UNZIPPED

silver darling

i ♥ motorola defy+

i miss you, my smart smart phone, with your petite 3.7" screen and relaxed removable battery. you were tough where it counted, fitted in easily and enjoyed camping ... there will never be another one like you ...

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True fact: 1 in 4 Brits are now TERRORISTS

silver darling

yougov surveys and hiding under rocks

Consider that :

- yougov reward survey participants with entry in a prize draw

- the same participants are asked to take part in multiple surveys - typically 2 or 3 a week

- it may be in participants interest to click whatever answer and get back to watching the cat videos, especially if the wording of the question could lead to any confusion

- anyone taking the survey and aware of the police 'you're a terrorist if you watch it' stance may be more inclined towards a 'never heard of it' answer.

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Kate Bush: Don't make me HAVE CONTACT with your iPHONE

silver darling

more for our money?

gig tickets are ludicrously expensive these days, which can give a bit 'i've paid for my right to record' attitude, so why not add a recording of the show + pics to the product.

so for your ticket you get -

- - live show

-- pro pics of show sent (weblink/email/text/app) to you at end of show

-- pro vid recording of 'best bits' a while later (after mix)

of course these would quickly get shared outwith paying customers but this approach may give more control for the artist and more entertainment for the fans while reducing 'phone in the air' nippiness.

and on the candles/lighters theme it would be good to see an artist creative enough to use fans' smartphones to somehow add to crowd participation rather than detract from it.

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Governments block YouTube over that video

silver darling
Stop

hate crime

the twisted hate of so many islamophobes. who are you people? are you the same people who think its fine to bomb afghanistan, libya, iran ? kill and supress people in the name of democracy and free speech, because they're all non-scientific mad mullahs anyway.

the video is deliberately provocative, hateful and insulting. google, and by extension, the western 'democracies' are broadcasting this rant to the world, in the name of free speech. where's the benefit in this?

if you believe so passionately in your right to gravely offend people's beliefs why don't you get on a plane to karachi, kabul, marrakech, algiers and explain to the people face to face why their way of life is so inferior to yours and why you have the right to tell them so?

if you came to my christian town and did that at best you'd get a slap and treated with contempt. and you would deserve it.

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Apple, Amazon and Google take lazy punters hostage

silver darling
Unhappy

the tesco effect

sounds much like our friendly local supermarkets. Will content/product makers soon have to pay to have their goods displayed in the digital shops? or to get indexed by google search? is it goodbye to the long tail same as it's goodbye to the local grocers? how many people need to be caught napping before everyone else loses the choice? and who do apple, google and amazon pay their taxes to?

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Police told terror ads too terrifying offensive

silver darling
FAIL

Deductive policing?

How do i connect 'the man at the end of the street' with 'closed curtains' , 'not using a card' and 'not speaking to neighbours' unless I'm the shopkeeper where 'the man' shops either living in the same stair, or I the shopkeeper live in the same street and I often discuss the spending habits of my customers with other customers, or follow them home.

Ok, perhaps I the shopkeeper run a 'Military Excess and TNT' store very close to 'the man at the end of the street' or 'the man' keeps buying large amounts of soda bicarb, nutmeg or hair dye for cash from his nearest/my cornershop. So, if somehow I make these connections, should I not merely dismiss 'the man at the end of the street' as an imbecile incapable of making an effective terrorist attack and probably from the same 'terror cell' responsible for all the other recent dud 'attacks' ?

If this is the real size of the threat that al-quaida poses (and the cops seem to think it is) can't we cut that anti-terrorism budget a tad Dave, or simply ask shopkeepers to put up a sign 'Nutmeg - Card only' ?

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UK.gov slams Facebook over Moat fan clubs

silver darling
Flame

what about the budget Dave?

Mirror says ... "most expensive manhunt in British police history .. final bill expected to run into millions" Hardly value for money, after all it was General Public that spotted him .

The ROI is in the TV and newspaper rights, pics from helicopters aren't cheap and the chase was viewed by millions. Next time let Gazza do the negotiation, for the price of a crate or 10 of lager it would've lasted into the primetime weekend slot .. a little celebrity goes a long way and Gazza and lager's cheap these days ..

Dave, you're getting close with the 'Full stop' line but a couple more 'he was a bad un' comments and that would be Question Time and the red tops full for next week, possibly getting a last snigger on 'mock the week' next month. Where's ya media savvy now Dave ? and why wasn't Sam in Northumberland ?

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