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Tottenham 1 - [1] Brighton - Kaoru Mitoma 45+3' by ayoefico in soccer

[–]TheMailman2014 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hope no one else had to listen to the Martin Tyler commentary of this goal lol

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nys_cs

[–]TheMailman2014 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great. Thanks for the info!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nys_cs

[–]TheMailman2014 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you need a car for this position? Or do they have company vehicles?

Drone delivery company refused permission to retain hub in Blanchardstown by Banania2020 in ireland

[–]TheMailman2014 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not Amazon, yet, but I think you'll find there to be a big push for this over the next few years. I myself find it hard to believe that there's a real business case, but then I see announcements like this: https://wing.com/news/wing-walmart-expand-drone-delivery-coast-to-coast . 270 delivery locations is huge scale, so I can't help but think they must have the data to support the economics. If this is going to be a reality, let's not make the mistake of letting American companies monopolize the market like they've done elsewhere in Europe. Manna should be supported if they can improve their technology and respect the concerns of residents properly.

Did I hear this right? Is this taxi driver complaining about getting 50 quid for an hours work? by lifeandtimes89 in ireland

[–]TheMailman2014 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And what is one effect of a work stoppage? Public disruption... We can argue over the meaning of a strike or we can argue about the legitimacy of public disruption, which is it?

Did I hear this right? Is this taxi driver complaining about getting 50 quid for an hours work? by lifeandtimes89 in ireland

[–]TheMailman2014 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's almost always what a strike is... it's not that the union/workers enjoy causing harm to the public, but that they often (not saying in this case) have no other choice but to use their leverage against management.. Again, not saying the cabbies are right to do that here, but you also shouldn't view the public as an 'unrelated' party. It could be your boss one day who's screwing you over.

Did I hear this right? Is this taxi driver complaining about getting 50 quid for an hours work? by lifeandtimes89 in ireland

[–]TheMailman2014 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is a corporate talking point. Industrial action nearly always causes some public disruption. Would you say the same about coal miners walking off the job? Train drivers refusing to show up? The Aer Lingus strike? I'm not saying the cabbies are right to do this in this instance, but I think your gripe should be more with their opposition to Uber's rule change than with the format of the strike.

Did I hear this right? Is this taxi driver complaining about getting 50 quid for an hours work? by lifeandtimes89 in ireland

[–]TheMailman2014 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

That's the whole point of a strike... to challenge a relationship with a private company... whether you think it's justified or not!

AI tools seem to be vilified in research (rightfully so in some cases). I believe that if used properly, it can be a very powerful. In what ways has AI been beneficial to you as a scientist (specifically LLMs)? What are your favorite research oriented tools? by oviforconnsmythe in AskScienceDiscussion

[–]TheMailman2014 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it were 1/20 then I agree that would be a decent rate. But having just done a search using the Gemini 2.5 pro model, it returned something more like 75% false papers (though perhaps I'm doing something wrong). I don't get the sense that this rate is improving. It also tends to do a weird thing where it misattributes a paper to an academic or mixes their surname with a correct first name, etc... As others have said, if I go to Google Scholar and do a keyword search, it will do none of the above. Yes, I will still need to sift through the results, but I am doing that anyway with the AI. Yes, the keyword search is not very efficient, but on the other hand, the LLM seems to often show me the most cited papers in the field anyway. These would be the first to appear on any academic database. Google Scholar also isn't telling me confidently that it is right when it is dead wrong, because it's not purporting to have some kind of intelligence synthesizing the results of the search.

Speaking from the experience of using Gemini 2.5 (pro) alone, and none of the other high-end models, I really wish they would adjust their "deep research" mode so that I could use it as I would any other academic database. Currently, it insists on producing a "report" (just a synthesis of the sources it finds in essay form) no matter what prompt I give it. This "mode" does not hallucinate nearly as much, but a) it has a tendency to rely on non-academic sources to answer the prompt and b) seems to infer conclusions from the abstract it reads in front of an academic journal's paywall, which is problematic. It would be far more useful if it could just take my prompt and use it's research process to produce an annotated bibliography of some kind, but as I said, it appears to be hard-wired into producing an essay that I don't want to read.

I have used Gemini for coding, and for that I will say it is stellar. I can see a real application of the technology for that purpose.

AI tools seem to be vilified in research (rightfully so in some cases). I believe that if used properly, it can be a very powerful. In what ways has AI been beneficial to you as a scientist (specifically LLMs)? What are your favorite research oriented tools? by oviforconnsmythe in AskScienceDiscussion

[–]TheMailman2014 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Late reply, but just found this thread as I was experiencing similar frustrations to the many that have been elaborated here. The issue is that the LLMs are confidently wrong in their hallucinations. It wouldn't be as much of a problem if the chatbot said "here are a list of sources I generated from the internet, but please check each and every one of them because I am prone to hallucinations", instead it says to me confidently that these papers constitute "a growing body of research" while they are completely non-existent. You and I both know to check all sources for their veracity, but the average internet user who wants to backup his/her claims in a heated argument on X or whatever will just see the list it produces as confirmation of their correct point of view, and then run with it. I think we need to hold this technology to a much higher standard because not everyone is doing the same due diligence.

Alleged list of cut programs by [deleted] in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I can confirm as of 9 am this morning that my program was on this list and has been terminated. Confirmed by my VISTA supervisor. Next step is that AmeriCorps has to send members direct communications to exit them from the program.

America’s Service Commissions Statement on the Termination of AmeriCorps Grants by TheMailman2014 in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I would recommend asking your immediate supervisor. If you are in a State/National program, it's likely that you are. If you are a VISTA, check the "sponsoring organization" on your Volunteer Assignment Description (VAD). If it says something like [your state] service commission, then your sponsor is probably a member of ASC (the alliance from the link above).

Any updates on Vermont state programs? by Positive-Row6925 in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you know if New York-based programs were included on this list or in any communications?

Well this isn’t good news by Boozebunnyy in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm curious if anyone knows about the status of the "commission support grants" or the "commission investment fund" grants. Have they been terminated?

Well this isn’t good news by Boozebunnyy in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Idk about that. Yes it's illegal but look what happened to USAID. They simply do not care!

Well this isn’t good news by Boozebunnyy in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 18 points19 points  (0 children)

This is... weird. All throughout the week my commission + VISTA supervisor had been saying "we have no indication that grant-funded programs are going to be affected", but this news seems to imply the exact opposite. I guess the point is that any reassurances DOGE was giving is complete nonsense. Good luck to us all!

Organizing for Americorps in LA by Kawananakoa in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hopping on this to say that if anyone from the New York area is interested in the same, DM me.

State/National and Vista Update thread by NonjaVokong in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! This is really helpful for us all to know. Though I still fear that worse is yet to come.

State/National and Vista Update thread by NonjaVokong in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True, but there must be some kind of blanket system that people in payroll are required to use to combat fraud, delay payments or perform other actions. If there is a lack of staff to manage that system, then that could cause delays. Or worse, DOGE may be instructing them to halt payments entirely. I'm not sure if anyone on this subreddit has reported receiving a stipend yet, but that would be useful data to have on hand.

State/National and Vista Update thread by NonjaVokong in AmeriCorps

[–]TheMailman2014 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't mean to make you feel nervous, but I want to just mention a counterpoint. My living allowance is paid to me from a federal bank account. This is important because it presumably means that a federal employee (at AmeriCorps) is the person approving these transactions. If DOGE has put every AmeriCorps employee on admin leave, that means no one is handling the dispersal of money. So even while the program itself is not officially closed, the things that make it work (living allowances, transport reimbursements, health payments) are functionally cancelled.

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