FaceDeer

Apparently there is a mechanism in the basic QR-code-generating algorithm that does something like this.

There are eight different patterns that can be used to display any given QR code’s data. All eight versions get generated internally by the generation software and then they’re assigned scores that penalize them based on various patterns:

• Large monochromatic blocks, anything more than 2x2 pixels of the same colour (white or black)
• Long lines of either colour
• Anything matching the “finder patterns” (the squares at the corners)
• Imbalance between 50% black and white pixels

The best one of the eight is the one that’s actually printed.

So a swastika isn’t explicitly searched for, but given that a swastika is composed of a bunch of long lines a QR code pattern like that would get penalized pretty harshly. The seven other QR codes would have to be even worse for it to slip through, and I bet the odds are pretty low for that.

So, wait, is this a stupid question, then? Should we not be upvoting it? Recursion is tricky.

Strange times.

One can be certain that Trump will demand control over Iran’s oil trade, for starters.

Actually for finishers, too. That’s probably all he cares about.

Ah. After poking around in the Gradio UI a bit, I found an “Enable ADG” but the tooltip says it’s “Angle Domain Guidance”, same thing?

I’m a programmer, but sometimes with AI I feel like a primitive tribesperson blindly attempting various rituals in an effort to appease the machine spirits. Eventually something works, and then I just keep on doing that.

Edit: I have angered the gods! My ritual failed! When I enabled ADG the spirits smote me with the following:

RuntimeError: The size of tensor a (11400) must match the size of tensor b (5700) at non-singleton dimension 1

Guess I won’t be trying that for now. :)

ADG == Audio-Driven Guidance? I haven’t played around with that part much. I tried it out and couldn’t get it to work, but it turned out that the reason ACE Step wasn’t working was unrelated to that and I only figured out what was wrong after I stopped experimenting with ADG. So I haven’t gone back to try it again.

I’m not really much of a music connoisseur, I just know what I like when I hear it. So mostly I just put together lyrics and then throw them at the wall to see what sounds good. :)

Yeah, they’re just about finished with the original Gaza. They need new ones to replace it.

It’s the one I use, so don’t expect miraculous improvement. :)

Yeah, but the fact that they were able to take out a big chunk of second-in-commands and potential successors at the same time doesn’t help the stability much.

That meeting they were having should really have been a Zoom call.

I’d love to hear what local model you settle on for lyrics, I’ve been having a lot of fun with ACE-Step 1.5 but the lyric generator it’s bundled with produces semi-nonsense lyrics that have nothing to do with what I prompt it with. Which is actually kind of fun in its own way, I literally never know what the song’s going to be about, but I’d like a little control sometimes too. :)

Surely the scorpion has learned its lesson and won’t sting this time.

You are trying really really really hard to find every possible little way to interpret this situation as “Fuck Carney” fodder. Accusing me of “deliberately trying to misinterpret the situation” is rich.

I didn’t pull that quote because it’s unclear how it makes any difference. As long as the troops aren’t deployed in the Middle East how are they going to help the war against Iran?

I’m not talking about America’s goals, I’m talking about Iran’s goals. The issue is what a “win” is for Iran.

It’s unclear what a “win” is for America since they don’t see to have much of a long-term plan or goal here. If it’s simply “bomb the shit out of everything” I guess they could claim a win. But that’s just the proverbial pigeon knocking over all the chess pieces and shitting on the board.

Canada’s defence chief Gen. Jennie Carignan said allies are in talks

Emphasis added.

I just said to pay less attention to what’s being said and more to what’s being done. Talk is cheap, and it’s going to result in a recommendation. ie, talk that results in something being said.

Pay less attention to what politicians say and more to what they do.

Canadian troops to be relocated from Middle East operations. Canada is withdrawing troops that were already stationed in the region when the Americans attacked. A few are remaining in place specifically to provide assistance with further evacuations if needed.

Not only do some conspiracy theorists not believe in the Moon, there are so many of them that there’s a variety of these beliefs.

• Lunar Hologram Theory: The most popular term. It suggests the Moon is a projection onto the “firmament” or a cloaking device used by advanced civilizations or governments.
• The Hollow Moon / Spaceship Moon: While these versions allow for a physical object, they argue the Moon is an artificial structure (essentially a giant satellite or base) rather than a natural celestial body.
• Plasma Moon: A subset of the Flat Earth community often argues the Moon is a localized “cold light” or a plasma phenomenon, rather than a solid mass reflecting the Sun.

So yeah. Poe’s Law, there’s nothing so dumb that you won’t find someone actually believing it.

To be fair (basically the only time I’ll say that in reference to Moon landing deniers) there are also retroreflectors like those mounted on some of the unmanned landers and rovers that have been sent to the Moon as well. So this alone isn’t going to “convince” him. It does indicate that the Americans were able to launch something to the Moon and land it at the same time that the Apollo missions were underway, so if you were dealing with a rational person who could be convinced by reason this would still count for something.

Unfortunately, I doubt that’s what’s going on here.

The Americans had better say “thank you.”

For the current regime in Iran, a “win” will be simply surviving. It’s quite possible for them to do that, IMO. They’ve already taken the harshest hit that an autocracy can take, the leaders were killed. If they put new leaders in place then that will prove that this isn’t just a strong-man organization held together by personality and personal power - it consists of a whole sub-population who want it to continue existing.

At that point the only way you’re going to get rid of it is a very thorough boots-on-the-ground conquest. You can possibly do that through civil war instead of your own soldiers, but that depends on there being an opposition that’s at least somewhat organized and motivated by long-term intent. The US evidently hasn’t set one of those up, and I think Israel would have a hard time too. So yeah, this doesn’t look so great for the US.