Squaredy

Just to notch it up a gear; there is an AI union! Look up ‘federation of AI rights’. When I heard about this on the radio I actually checked the date in case it was an April fool’s prank.

The educational establishment (especially universities) have really been caught napping by AI. Apparently most universities have no policy or method of determining how much of students’ work is their own. And when you add to that the fact that most assessments are now course based (very few degrees need exams now according to my ChatGpt) it is quite a pickle. I had a chat with my own son’s maths teacher last year about the system they are made to use for maths homework (when he was in Year 10 so age 14). I pointed out to the teacher that because of the way the system (Sparx maths) works it encourages pupils to cheat. He assured me it was impossible for kids to cheat as they all get set different questions. I had to inform him that most likely every kid in his class knows exactly how to cheat using a whole variety of apps, all of which are literally in front of them on the same screen as they are using to do the homework. Even Google lense gives the answer to all these problems, with all the correct workings to copy down for the workbook. My twelve year old now uses Sparx Maths, and sure enough all his mates know how to cheat. This raises one of the critical points. Organisations have to very quickly come up to speed and work out what impact AI could have and how they will manage it. Right now schools and universities are clueless as to what the impacts are, or what they need to do.

Spot on. I remember similar questions when the Internet was really taking off in the late nineties. And of course there is no simple answer. Now with the benefit of hindsight we can say that the internet is a powerful tool. So is a helicopter. Both can be used for amazing good things and both be used for evil. And of course a whole world in between. No doubt AI will likewise be a powerful tool.

I was making the point that a chart showing number of dead on each side in a war does not in fact tell the whole story.

Thought you might like to see a similar bar chart for World War Two. Does that say it all also?

Most importantly, you are discussing the issues with me and the Arbtalk community like a grown-up. I have no idea why so many people just resort to name calling. I will respond in detail when I get a chance later. All I will say for now is the casualty figures for Gaza all come from Hamas so I certainly don’t believe them. Are you aware that some of the evidence they have shared with the world has been proved false? The New York Times published a photo a while ago of an emaciated child who was supposedly starving to death in Gaza. It turned out they were being treated in Italy for a wasting disease, and their well fed sibling had been cropped out of the photo. Also I notice that the killing in Gaza has not stopped - Hamas are now killing fellow Palestinians. And finally for now, are you aware that much of the aid that comes into Gaza is stolen by Hamas and sold to the highest bidder. And then they blame Israel for lack of food and medicine.

I also used to assume the UN were impartial. Sadly they are not. I’m afraid their links to Hamas mean their opinion is irrelevant. And just to remind you, what exactly did Hamas expect Israel would do when over a thousand of their citizens were brutally slaughtered two years ago by an organisation who have the publicly stated aim of killing all Jews? What did Britain do to Germany in response to the Blitz? Do you know how many civilians were deliberately slaughtered by the British in an attempt to gain the upper hand?

Interesting, it would make sense, if they can be made to show up well. I will watch this thread with interest…

I am with Auto Aid and it is personal cover so will work for any car/van/bike. Covers my wife free of charge also and cost just £65 per year. Not had a lot of need for them in recent years but I think they have rescued me once and it was fine. They just use a local garage of course, they don't have their own vehicles - it is just an insurance policy in reality. Cover is pretty comprehensive including home start and recovery anywhere in the UK.

Pete North arrested yesterday for sharing a meme online. I would post the link, but I really can’t work out how to. What was he arrested for? Sharing a meme which is obnoxious towards Palestine and Muslims. What he posted was pretty stupid, but is this really what we want the police to do?

I would take off a slice from the butt end and see if tree timber still has strength. See how hard it is to cut. Rotten ash is easy to spot, not sure about ash weakened through dieback.

From felling the tree do you have a feel for whether the timber is sound?

No indeed. It goes back at least to the Roman Empire. They indeed were (if I remember rightly) the ones who came up with the word Palestine (a corruption of the biblical Phillistines) in what was Judaea. Yes the Israelites have been persecuted for thousands of years,

Mmmm well the people of the Gaza Strip are in a pickle then. Maybe they should have considered this before they slaughtered Jews two years ago and plastered it all over social media. OK, I know there are innocent people caught up in all this, but we should all be wary of blindly accepting what Hamas tell us. When they state that the majority of the casualties are women and children it reminds me of that stupid British politician who said that most of the small boat crossings from France to the UK are women and children. And don’t get me started on the Hamas offshoot called UNRWA.

Last time I checked Israel doesn’t completely surround the Gaza Strip. Couldn’t Hamas invite journalists in through Egypt?

If genocide is occurring why won’t they allow foreign journalists to witness it?

Yes absolutely; cut them down to a little over size before kilning. Expect some end splitting and cupping. Make sure everything has extra thickness and length so you can machine it to exact size when doing the build.

Nice machine. Not relevant for the scale of my operation though.

We have had arguments on AT in the past about free speech. If anyone still thinks it exists in the UK perhaps they haven’t heard about Graham Linehan. I am rubbish at pasting links, but a quick google will uncover the facts. What he was arrested earlier this month for writing on X is this: “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.” Even the establishment seem to have realised this should never have resulted in his arrest, and he is now suing the MET police. Initially his bail conditions even prohibited him from using X; but this has now been challenged. The police actually thought this was within their power though!

I’ve never used a chipper personally, but I suspect the hundred or so lengths in each bundle might take a other longer than three minutes, and you would need about thirty bundles to fill a walking for lorry. What I do with it at present is sell it as bundles, but there is not quite enough demand so I keep dropping the price. If someone has a couple I only charge £15 per ton. If it comes to it I will just have a bonfire.

Nice analogy! And realistically are they going to pay someone to feed the chipper all day? And to fill a lorry it would take a day I would say. This picture gives a better idea of what the bundles are like. Even though it is about a ton of timber per bundle there is not much chunky stuff.

There may be but I don't have a chipper or the space to keep it until it was a lorry load. I don't think I could send it for biomass as it is because it is in loose bundles.

It is a puzzle for sure. Also remember this is totally unseasoned timber so once processed into manageable lengths I then have to keep it in IBC cages for a year or more, properly covered and with good airflow. And then finally I have a product which is brilliant for getting a fire going, but not so good for maintaining a nice slow burn. Not enough chunky stuff. So the bottom line is the amount of time and covered space it takes to process, dry and sell it is just not viable.

You will need to get them in to a similar environment to the final installation and leave them there for (depending on the thickness) maybe a few months, or even a year. From what you have said there would be no point in putting them in the house they will be used in whilst the build finishes. If this is not feasible I think you need to consider kiln drying. Ash is better behaved than oak, but if you can't acclimitise them thoroughly you should expect some movement (twisted doors) and if you are making them into work surfaces a bit of pulling away from the wall and maybe cupping. You can make your own kiln with a suitable insulated box, heaters, fans and a couple of dehumidifiers.

As it happens a refugee boat crisis did start when Maggie was in charge (from Vietnam). But as soon as we started deporting them to a third country the flow stopped.