Country: All

Currently working on a Llama LLM, also doing ML with Python scikit… however, I'm not doing it for DMS&UY and good, humanitarian reasons, playing a role in helping to bring about a legitimate change—as I’d hoped—since, combined with the journalism-geared, topic-relevant etymology and taxonomy I’ve developed, along with the DBs I’ve spent hundreds of hours compiling, those efforts could have provided the framework, tools, and insights that indie news outlets can only dream of, certainly not being able to afford those kinds of devs by anyone focused on the usual, dare I say "normal", life stuff.

As I couldn’t afford it or accomplish it on my own, not without field-appropriate “allies” and less than $20,000, which includes the “salary” I was willing to take, such an amount being peanuts for some or easy to raise if those with thousands of fans combined fundraising efforts, instead, I’m doing it for a super-rich corporation just so they can get richer and leverage more power over all of us.

But, at least, I’m making money, right?

Am I genuinely happy? Not really; I could be far happier. But now, at least, I can eat and pay my bills.

Anyone who thinks that the money is what really matters to me doesn’t “get” anything about me, period.

The irony is that I’ll now be doubly shunned, accused of being nothing more than a part of the PMC—Professional Managerial Class—after I’ve tried damn hard to bring my PMC-ness and skills to those who whine incessantly about PMCs... yet rely on them in one form or another.  

•      •      •

I received news two days ago that changes everything; had I been aware of this two week ago, I don’t think I would have accepted the job.

In truth, what this change made me realise is that the only real reason why I took it is because I strongly felt that I needed to do the expected and responsible thing in order to pay off certain debts, the main one, which is the largest and the one I felt most guilty about, is being wiped clean, though not without a long-term cost in the form of a major rent increase, albeit, now being the only original tenant from when I moved in, it’s one that still keeps my monthly rent $200+ below the 7 other similar units in the two apartment blocks owned by my landlord—prices have skyrocketed in Montreal (and Canada as a whole). He’s putting both up for sale in July and this increases represents a big advantage for him and, in a way, helps protect me as well, as a new landlord would surely use the declared loss by my landlord and my far lower rent to boot me out and raise the monthly rent by $400-500.

Anyone not familiar with Quebec rental/leasing laws may think our laws strange and excessive, favouring either renters or landlords, depending on the issue and which side one finds themselves on, but, having been both renter and owner, and having experience in these matters across three provinces and some familiarity with the laws across Canada, I do think that Quebec is the best system in Canada and one of the best in the world.

The laws here are firm, easily accessible, and real clear, and aim to protect renters and landlords equally, providing clear, efficient, and binding recourse for any abuses suffered, be it on either side of the renting tango.

However, one particularity certainly makes Quebec a “special case” worldwide: July 1st; that’s our official moving day across the province. All leases officially start and end on July 1st of every year, making one’s first lease either shorter or longer than 12 months to adjust for that date if one happened to move in before or after July 1st.

February 1st is the deadline for landlords to notify you of any changes, such as rent increases—which are capped yearly—and March 1st is the deadline for renters to notify landlords whether they accept the increase or wish to cancel their lease. Three months notice is the minimum time required by law to cancel a lease, and (crappy) landlords can hold renters responsible for the monthly rent until July 1st. If a landlord wants you to move out prior to that day, they have to have a good reason among those accepted by the Régis, and pay you a minimum of three months of rent plus one month for every year over two years for which one has been a renter.

These days, landlords are real happy to see any long-time tenants leave so they can adjust the rent way up, per current rates. Many of them lie, telling renters that they wish to rent out their unit to a family member, immediate or not—which is one of the valid reasons—but if you can prove that it’s not a family member who moved into your place, then they’re in trouble, facing big penalties paid out to you.

Our system that protects employees and employers is equally well-defined and good, with stern repercussions against those who abuse the laws, so that simply threatening to file a case with that Régis against any employer who knows they’re in the wrong is usually enough to get them to do what’s right.

•      •      •

All and all, having developed the habit to not spend more than I had over a decade ago, my whole debt load is now below $5000, most of that having been incurred since COVID, and roughly 1/5th of that is federal income tax from 2022—due to governmental COVID aid—that I haven’t yet paid off.

My situation could be far worse.

To think, when I was 24, mortgage, vehicle, credit cards and all, I was close to $140,00 in debt.

•      •      •

Since I work remotely, this aspect keeps me relatively isolated and continues to feed my loneliness somewhat, which I’ve put some degree of effort toward rectifying by re-establishing contact with some long-time friends, this change having been helped by my mention that I was leaving Quebec, probably for good; all of the above confirms my notion that life is little more than an ironic twist with a big dollop of absurdism.

I feel I’m back in control of my life and I'm no longer in a depressive state. Yet, albeit I no longer find myself having to leave, there’s a deep yearning in me for a drastic change that’s still present, and, for reasons that are too hard to explain, I feel a sense of regret for not having finally followed through on a long-time dream to sell everything and travel the world freely, writing about my adventures. Plus, the work I now do is "remote", which means I can do it from anywhere.

•      •      •

I’ve looked into Airbnb, which isn’t allowed for the postal code I live in—a regulation passed a few years ago to limit all the conversions to Airbnb-focused units that made renting just a regular apartment increasingly harder—and I discussed a sublet with my landlord, as this would allow me to keep much of my stuff as well as a pied-à-terre in Montreal, and at a relatively decent price, while having the rent paid off and making a bit of extra cash each month, all whilst living out an adventure… but he's entirely against the idea of me subletting the apartment. I've to comply, especially after all he's done for me.

So, what to do???

Like much of the world, but all the more so on a personal level, I’m in need of a drastic change, and staying here, working for a corporation, sure as hell isn’t it!

I'd been contacted by a firm in Bahrain on 4-Apr, and finally decided to contact them back on Friday, 12-Apr. I won't offer more pertinent details at this point, for whether there's something worth telling at all now depends on them.

But I will offer some bits about the reflection that analysing, deciding, and acting on have led me to have.  

One aspect that surprised me: I seem to be willing to accord better intentions to individuals if said individuals are foreigners from certain countries and from certain types of institutions then equal "ranking" non-foreigners from similar, North-American-based or Western institutions. I see one as them offering me potential and opportunity and the other as seeing only a potential opportunity for them in me.  

The last is mostly true if a US firm within any financial/banking sphere. Anything "Wall Street" makes me cringe and recoil. Maybe lash out, too.

But there's no hard-and-fast rule that I'm aware of; instincts and non-tangibles based on personal experience appear to largely account for any variance, which may offer the reverse given a different reason altogether to consider 'which would be the best option'.  

Then there are those I'd never trust or wish to be associated with in any form whatsoever... The Nigerian Princes are among them, but only because they always seem so desperate to leave Nigeria, so, leaning on any "Nigerian" part like they do makes me think they're not serious as Princes; I like my royalty to be dedicated to their kingdom, thank you.

I was also contacted by UAE tech firm about entirely different matters, which I definitely should reply to; I hadn't as I'm always expecting the DMS&UY site to be forced down due to a lack of funds, yet, months later, I'm still here whilst having established that contact and adding my name to their "vendors list" may have helped in rectifying that.

I truly am an odd one. Perhaps far too caught up on correct principles and on good morals, always acting in concordance with my strict personal ethics and within my own moral framework?

If only I'd given more thought to my ethics and morals before becoming so attached to my framework, I'd surely have a more world-friendly and economically-functional take on "killing babies" and about what to do with those dreaded "others"?

As long as it's 'other' people's babies and kids, where's the problem, right?

And if I really were serious about earning my rightful place in the world, I'd scrap fluff-words like "people" and learn how to use "animals" properly instead whenever I'm dealing with such within a pertinent context.

Damn my parents! I blame them for those word choices I invariably seem to make.

Any hoot, related matters provided another instance that reminded me just how impossible it is for me to ever do things the "proper" and "expected" way, for which a "How To" or set template is almost always available. So many times, a voice in my head tells me I shouldn't... just follow the by-the-numbers cookie-cutter approach... But if I did that, then, I'm not being genuine, making "honesty" a secondary feature less desired than "expectations"? That definitely ain't right, leading to false presentation and unwanted representation on my side, and, possibly—and more than likely—on theirs as well.

Here's a post scriptum to my email, a formal business one sent to a person located in Bahrain; I added it because I felt a need to address one aspect, but felt that doing so brought me to a place that just isn't me, which gave me license for absurdity rather than simply avoiding any mention unless/until absolutely necessary: 

P.S. Times being what they are and cause for condemnation quickly found when so desired, I specify the following to avoid potential headaches only, doing so given your location: I’m willing to focus my efforts, but I’m not interested in betraying the West in any manner whatsoever for money; I’m just as equally uninterested in betraying any nation, or any religious, political, or cultural group for money. Except, maybe, that country with weird toenails and pubic-like curls to their hair… what‘s the name of that place?

If it’s on the tip of anyone’s tongue, that may not be a good sign. At all.

Honesty. True impartiality. A genuine attempt to understand. Hatred-free. Better steps leading to a true, lasting peace. These are things I will never betray, unless the amount to do so is so big I can then buy the world and set things right. Maybe get rid of those people who don’t like my music or cooking, while at it. Cursed be those people!

That was the email; the "formal" doc I'd attached offered similar moments...

All these formalities, they're always a firm slap in my face, for they act as a reminder that I seem to operate on a different plane of reality, one that's detached from the set formulisms put in place to gauge one's worth within said formulisms that operate per a set hierarchy, itself defined and dependent on set formulisms. If without them, then how is anyone to judge what's good or bad, right or wrong?

Thinking on that brought me back to my nine-year-old self and a second-grade art project I'd been chosen to create first, so the class would then have a model to go off of; I was almost always selected for such roles when artistic goals and imagination were the focus. One day, I wasn't... I had a mini identity crisis, age 10. 

We'd moved to Toronto from Montreal and, at that point in my story, I couldn't say with any degree of confidence that I spoke English, but neither could I longer claim total ignorance; I "got" the gist, not the details, but this facet doesn't explain my boneheadness, which is the appropriate label, in this case, I feel.

The project: Use your initials to create a colourful patterned overlay on a holder-box for notes that we first had to create.

Here's the thing: I somehow never caught the "your initials" part; I selected my letters based purely on a letter's aesthetics, per the font used to create the stencils from which we were to create our masters. O, Q, and R. The letters had zero meaning to me.

My initials being PL, or PDL for those who know me well, and PDGAJL for those who know me too well... I didn't even manage to hit one! When the teacher, Mr Cody, then used my model to show the rest of the class what to do, none of the kids understood why, then, did I use those letters. It took a few minutes for what people were saying to sink in and what had been meant by "initials", which sounds a lot like the French "initiales", though not so much like "yorreenētials" to a young Québécois with no English.

When it finally sunk in, I felt kinda foolish... pretended those letters had a meaning. Maybe I was making a gift for my mum; how do they know I'm not... so there. Also, in my defense, the teacher had placed much emphasis on "example", and I recall that having an impact on my choice.

For the rest of the year, students had a personalized holder-box that identified them. The one that identified no one was mine...

That reminds me of a speech I did for the annual competition we had, winners going on to the regional and then national competition. I'd discussed video games, mentioning a "pool" game in the speech, but referring to it as "billiards". Except, I didn't know how to pronounce that in English, and used the French pronunciation—it being a French word, after all—which sounds like "B Arr" in French, and nothing like the English "bill yards".

When I was done, a student raised his hand and asked me what "B-R" was. 

"Bee-har", I asked back, "where?" I hadn't a clue what he was referring to, getting caught on B and R without being able to link it to the French "billiard" that sounds like "B Arr".

"Yes, I wondered that, too," said another student. "You mention B-R a lot, and I hadn't a clue what you were saying."

The whole class wondered about that, too...

I finally clued in weeks later, upon hearing someone pronounce "billiards" the proper English way and reacting with "Oh, I thought it was pronounced Bee-harr."   

Kyrsten Sinema AND Victoria Nuland announcing their retirement on the same day?!

Well, I'll be. Maybe there is a god?

What's that? Nope. Sorry. Without clearer proof, "maybe" is the best you'll get from me on that topic, but only because I refuse to adhere to any one group's version of a god.

My own God, however, totally hates me. That, I believe. Time for a reformation, maybe?  

I didn't follow up on Sinema's case but I'm assuming that the local venom got to her, but the corporate dollars were there to console her? Despite some having pinned her as a moderate-centrist tethered to a non-crazy reality, that's not quite what I or many see. Rather, she essentially betrayed her party and blocked what the Dems had clearly made their campaign promises, deceiving and disappointing many, though she got richer because of it. Her position between the two poles hardly matters past that.    

Nuland, however, that's a surprise. Not sure what to think about her decision yet other than "get out before the crap really hits the fan."

•       •       •

Trump.

But, Nikki. Still.

Something odd there. Hope she's not slated to be the next Sec. of State or Defense Queen, or anything like that.

•       •       •

Unfortunately, being the beings we are entails a course along the lines of the one that I feared, and quicker than we all expected, it would appear. I'm speaking of AGI.

There seems to be some confusion—which I share—in regard to which milestones have been crossed, hence, Elon Musk suing Sam Altman is something I applaud, I think... from what I can gather.

The problem: It really is unclear whether or not AGI has been achieved or if it's to be achieved within three months, or two to three years. Frankly, even the latter would be way ahead of the time frame in which most expected to see the technological singularity materialise.

Personally, I expected a loud pop or large flash along with the event, maybe a fetus appearing in the night sky, next to a monolithed moon, who knows?  

I'm now limited in regard to internet access and can't really check everything out, but I did see a headline that was meant to be taken as Altman announcing that ChatGPT 5.0 is full AGI. Given how these things go and that one is taking a gamble by assuming that a headline's intended interpretation matches the article's content, that may not be the case, but it's clear that full transparency isn't what's been offered, until after the fact.

Any which way, and although I'm not certain that Sam Altman deserves all of the blame, Musk's suit should be stamped Humanity vs. OpenAI, Microsoft, US Gov. et al.

The next step in our evolution that this singularity entails isn't one that should be rushed into in isolation, and certainly not within a global atmosphere that's teetering on the brink of a full-scale war.

You can bet that war efforts are what's feeding the true motivation to fund such hubris, by-passing all that shouldn't despite Altman's claims that safeguards are being carefully implemented. If for war, machines will learn how to best kill. Can we really contain that past that point?  

Previously discussed but here it is again: the 2023 756-page "Final Report" by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which is chaired by Eric Schmidt, of Google fame.

•       •       •

There's a data problem. What's needed to train the system "doesn't exist". Synthetic data is what all are finding themselves having to rely on.

I'm still unsure what could be, realistically, the potential ramifications of that.

•       •       •

Gemini 1.5 Pro not only solved the needle-in-a-haystack test, it achieved 99.7% recall pushed to 10 million tokens within a context window of up to 1 million.

Beats the pants off of humans. Socks and undies, too.

I'm not sure how OpenAI's Q fares in comparison, but the Q system architecture is, apparently, the key that accelerated matters.

In medical spheres is where humans are quickly becoming embarrassments to the field.

•       •       •

A 4-Feb-2024 Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Andy Kessler called "Power Corrupts, Absolutely" clearly established just how ridiculously-obsessive and deluded by a belief in free-market magic that a segment of right-wing libertarians manage to be.

Kessler begins with:

...OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested that a “global regulatory body” was needed to monitor artificial intelligence. This is a colossally dumb idea. But Mr. Gates doubled down: “If the key is to stop the entire world from doing something dangerous, you’d almost want global government.” Wait, global what? ... In fact, of his 2023 world tour meeting heads of state, Mr. Altman noted, “there was almost universal support for it.” Well of course there was. Demand for power is insatiable. (Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI.)

The article sees Kessler make the same, tired argument regarding "government bad" without really establishing the fact or considering the difference between "a bad government", "government bad", and "efficient government" beyond some vague notion relating to "size".

He affirms that "[g]overnments don’t like to govern, but they like to control. Human freedom always takes a back seat" while being "reminded of something P.J. O’Rourke told [him] in 2009" about government always wanting to tell others what to do, O'Rourke's conclusion for this behaviour being: "Government is just a form of bullying for weaklings. Politics is the art of achieving power and prestige without merit.”

In closing, Kessler offers:

I prefer limited government. Spend enough on defense to keep us safe and secure, help the truly downtrodden, do some basic research and then, as Grover Norquist so eloquently suggested, get government “down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” For the economy, the government should set the rules of the sandbox, then get out of the way and let markets and competition do their magic.

In Kessler's own words: colossally dumb.

The self-adjusting free-market lunacy is just that, perhaps due to short-term-memory issues or little knowledge of recent history, but deregulation led to deeply corrupt, lobbyist-run  government that's responsible for globally-affecting market crashes and the geopolitical and economic now that people like Kessler do nothing but whine about.

There are some areas that shouldn't be left to magic or idiocy.

And there are areas that demand total, global cooperation. For all.

To be frank, I know I'm wasting my time, but thought I'd give it a try, as any help would provide a huge relief to me as I set off into the world with no safety anchor.

Please take the time to consider what I'm undertaking. It's one hell of a scary situation I've willingly opted to take, by, simply, allowing events to force me on this path.

Also another new for me, as a whole, but, as far as DMSaUY goes: I've never attempted to fundraise previously as asking for any charity does not make me comfortable but, more importantly, I hadn't felt that I could justify such an act. Now I can, and must; failing to offer a 'product' means I wither and die. I didn't become homeless and give up all my comforts and material goods to just drift around and find some meaningless job elsewhere.

Here's the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/paving-the-street-to-deliver-up-yours (if unavailable: still temporarily "paused" by GoFundMe)

Here's the text:

Howdy!
Whether I was aware of it or not, and whether I acted willingly or not to make it happen, all that is moot as the reality I experience is the same either way: I'm now set to live out my dream, having passed any point of no return. And I'd be lying if I were to say that I'm not totally scared right now.

So, what is the plan?
Taking a leap; attempting to grab some of that happiness I've long sought.
Taking the jump; I've given up any footing and safe space I can call "my place", or "home", having committed to moving out by 15-March-2024, and, now, I'm in the process of getting rid of all I have save what I need to set off on my journey.
Though I'm sure I'll eventually lay my hat somewhere I can call "home", again, I'm breaking free of any holdbacks that may influence one's mobility and perspectives, hence, simply allowing myself to go where a story lies and it may take me, merging with local folks as best as I can in order to tap into regional political sentiments that impact their views on global affairs, especially any conflicts, the last being my primary focus.
I do have India as a target, Cambodia, too. For what and for how long... time will tell, if I do make it out there.

Developments on site functionalities that exploit relevant data and the graph protocol are to be continued, since, after all, besides covering the minimal monthly fees due for the hosting and data storage space I'm utilizing, an internet connection is all I need to pursue ongoing devs.
The graph approach I'm implementing lets one perform all sorts of analysis and to unearth links and correlations, narrative mapping being a small part of what this allows, this method also facilitating efforts to identify relationships between any two entities. Given Down My Street & Up Yours' (DMSaUY) focus, you can trust that, corporations, NGOs, think tanks, as well as, governmental players and their organisations, are what I focus on, along with the role of each in any narrative that's playing out, or sold as reality. Media outlets of all types are increasingly being added to that, for, without media allies, it's then to my benefit to treat all of these the same way, no matter their stance.
 
Keep in mind that this is being done, in part, to counter the "narrative" approach applied by Western governments in order to censor individuals or clusters delving into narratives the official bodies prefer left alone, for whatever reason. The narratives that are targeted by the government and corporations aren't those that DMSaUY concerns itself over, except to establish relevant contexts.

Any help is awesome and qualifies as "tremendous help", as any support is a clear sign of encouragement, this providing important and powerful 'fuel' for such a project.

Your generosity will help me cover what's needed and offer a small buffer, if I'm to leave with some peace of mind and not find myself struggling for food before I'm able to complete even one story...

In addition to the perks offered with each donation tier, all those who donate will be granted access to exclusive content and site features, as well as being provided the ability to voice aspects or questions you'd like me to tackle or ask.

A big, hearty thank you.