Interesting Links for 09-07-2019

[andrewducker]

MT-DNN Achieves Human Performance in General Language Understanding Benchmark

(tags:language ai )

For 40 Years, Crashing Trains Was One of America's Favorite Pastimes

(tags:history trains usa )

Young women in academia - this clothing will guarantee you respect!

(tags:clothing women funny )

'Babylon 5' is great, so why does it look so bad?

(tags:TV cgi OhForFucksSake money )

NHS waiting lists soar as doctors stop working overtime in pension row

(tags:tax pensions doctors nhs )

AI pilot 'sees' runway and lands automatically

(tags:airplanes ai )

"I ran a bookies for 12 years - they deserve no sympathy for these store closures"

(tags:gambling UK business )

Earth's eighth persistent lava lake found on remote sub-Antarctic island

(tags:geology lava )

Bitcoin mining on an Apollo Guidance Computer

(tags:bitcoin computers space history NASA )

If you're not careful then your children will spend hundreds of pounds gambling for football players

(tags:gambling children games football )

Stricken Russian Nuke Sub Crew Prevented 'Planetary Catastrophe'

(tags:nuclearpower submarine ocean OhForFucksSake firefox )

Labour's message to Remainers: "Don't vote for us"

(tags:Labour UK europe )

Comments

[jack]

'Babylon 5' is great, so why does it look so bad?

Agh! If they couldn't do it right, couldn't they just show it in the original 4:3 size? Or show some scenes in 4:3 and some in wide? It's an example of the tendency to try to make things better in some specific, narrow way, while actually making them worse :(

I remember hearing there was a lot of footage, especially from the most climactic episodes, that didn't fit: it would be nice if that were kept, and the CGI programs, and so on, so everything could be added now. But I'm not surprised not, in which case, why not just show what there is, instead of "less, but blurrier" :(

"I ran a bookies for 12 years - they deserve no sympathy for these store closures"

Yeah. If you have extra stores only because to exceed the legal limit on pseudo-slot-machines per shop, it's not a surprise if they close.

I am torn because I don't like banning things people want to do, but it does seem slot machines do just screw people over. And random loot-box-y things too. Like, that's why they exist: we've gone far beyond the point anyone could pretend the way games work is more fun, they do it like that BECAUSE it manipulates people into spending money.

[andrewducker]

Yes, I'd also be much happier if they made the original available. Making tweaks that make it actively worse seems completely pointless.

If only I had £10 million to spare...